Alice Pleasence Liddell, 17 years old, beleives that Wonderland is only an imaginary world, created for her and her siblings by Reverend Dodgson. But when returning a pair of gloves left by a rather jumpy guest, she will find out just how real, and just how dark Wonderland really is.

White Rabbit

"This is a madness we can't control." A soft voice whispered, invading her sleep, the girl twisted unconsciously, fighting with the invisible noose that hung her in her dreams. A flash of dark cherry hair before her eyes; and a slender icy hand enclosed her neck, sharp blackened nails digging into her flesh. "Wake up Cricket, revel in your sane world until they find you."

The noose continued to tighten, cutting off her air supplies, causing Alice to wake, clawing at her throat. Her hands came in contact with her long braided black hair which had become wrapped around her neck in her sleep. "Oh!" she laughed nervously as she unwound the dark coil. "And to think that if I had only stayed asleep a little longer I may have suffocated myself to death." She shuddered at this thought, eyes wandering towards the clock as she massaged her throat.

Her eyes widened at the time, a quarter past seven, and she was still in bed. Pulling on her robe, she hurried to her wardrobe and pulled it open, the maid who usually woke her had been taken terribly ill, half a week ago, and a replacement maid had not been found.

Choosing a simple pale blue morning gown trimmed with cream, she removed herself to the powder room to dress. Tightening corset strings and tying in ruffled crinolines was not Alice's idea of a fun way to start the day, the whale bone tended to chafe horribly and the less said about the bustle, the better, but her mother was a stickler for fashion.

Glancing in the mirror, Alice notice that her hair must have left bruises on her neck. Upon closer examination, she found that there were a series of small cuts on her neck, as if someone had dug their nails into her skin, a chill went down her spine as she recalled the strong, cold hand that had wrapped around her neck in her dream, along with the noose.

Don't be silly Alice, it was only a dream.

"Alice, please come down, you mustn't keep our guest waiting."

A guest, now who could that be?

Tying a wide black ribbon around her neck to hide the bruises, she rushed out of her room and down the stairs.

Lorina Hanna Liddell watched in disapproval as her second eldest daughter skidded into the Drawing Room, looking much like a disarray of fabric and black thread.

"I had been hoping to introduce a lady, but as it seems that said lady is non-existent, I would like to introduce you to my fourth eldest. Mr. Weiss, this young…lady is Alice. Alice, this is Mr. Weiss, he is traveling on business from Austria."

Mr. Weiss was a small, plump old man, dressed in a white suit and red waistcoat. His face was friendly, if a little agitated around the edges, topped off with a fluff of white hair. All and all, he reminded Alice greatly of the white rabbit in the stories Reverend Dodgson used to tell.

Why even his name means white in German!

Mr. Weiss stood and took her hand, "A-a-a p-p-pleasure to m-meet you m-m-m-miss Liddell." He stuttered, his hand shaking slightly.

Oh, the poor man, such an unfortunate stutter.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Herr Weiss." Alice replied, knowing full-well that her mother disapproved of any language but English being used under her roof.



Mr. Weiss, however seemed to brighten, his watery blue eyes shining with gratitude. "Y-you speak d-d-deutsche, how v-v-vonderful! You have such an intelligent daughter, Mrs. Liddell."

"Thank you Mr. Weiss, now, what was it you were saying about the silk riots in India?"

Alice sighed,

Trust Mother to only be interested in fashion related news.

Alice's eyes wandered, as she listened on and off, to the conversation, her eyes rested on Mr. Weiss's pocket watch, which he held in one hand, and seemed to tap nervously against the arm of his chair. It had a strange design on its silver frontage, almost like a tree.

That is if a tree was capable of appearing able to swallow one whole.

"Off course, if it were up to me, I would send the Marines in there to straighten those barbarians out!"

Alice's attention was drawn back to the conversation by her mother's remark. "But what is so wrong about the Indians governing themselves?" Alice enquired; it seemed like the obvious solution to her.

Lorina laughed, "They need us, my dear. Without the British, they would be back eating raw meat and living in caves."

"But I read that they had a flourishing culture before we took over."

"Dear, that was Muslim infestation."

The clock chimed 9 o'clock, startling Alice; she hadn't realized just how much time had passed.

"D-dear me, is it r-r-really n-n-nine?" Mr. Weiss muttered, fumbling with his watch. "I-I-I m-must b-b-be off, i-i-it h-has b-been a p-pleasure." He bowed and left hurriedly.

Lorina turned to face her daughter, "Really Alice, we'd just started a pleasant conversation and you had to bring up such subjects. You've embarrassed our guest so much that he left, he even forgot his gloves!" She gestured towards a pair of white kid gloves. "Now be a dear and return them to him."