I squeezed through the hole in the fence-and instantly fell into a pit of darkness. "AAAAH!" I screamed, as I bumped my head, and scraped my knees. I shrieked, as my blue dress rose over my head, and my stomach dropped almost to the pit. My screams echoed off the walls of the hole several times, and bounced back to me in several voices.
I began to flail my arms violently, as tears fell upward from my face. This is it, I thought, this is where it all ends. I pushed my dress back down over my head, and strained my eyes to see anything in the blackness.
From below, a flicker of golden light lit up a tiny room. I let out a shriek and braced myself for the ever approaching landing.
My blue dress suddenly swayed me back and forth gently before ungracefully dropping me onto the dirt floor. "OOF!" I hit the bottom with a loud thud, and the air in my lungs escaped me. A cloud of dust filled the room in an instant, and I lay there on my stomach gasping for breath.
"Welcome, dear Alice!" Said a calm voice. I let out a gasp as I lifted my head to a tall figure standing above me.
"I've been waiting for you, for a while now".
The shadowy figure turned around and walked towards a small table in the center of the room.
"W-who are you?" I asked, scrambling to my bloody knees.
"I know who I am, but the question we need to answer is- who are you?"
The dark figure grabbed the candle off the small table, and knelt down beside me. The golden flames danced off every feature on his face and I could finally see what he looked like. He had purple crazy eyes, and strong dark circles. He had a thin nose and sharp lips. His eyebrows seemed to twitch crazily with every word he spoke. He was wearing a top hat, ripped and torn around the edges, and a purple shirt that was entirely too small for him.
"You know who I am apparently! SO WHO ARE YOU?" I asked again fearfully, crawling away from the strange boy.
I looked around desperately for an escape, but there none but the hole I fell in, miles and miles up above my head.
"I'm Mad." He said in his raspy voice. He crawled up beside me once more.
"And so are you."
I crossed my arms tightly and gave him a crossed look. "Enough of these sick games!"
The Mad man looked surprisingly regretful and inched up closer to me apologetically.
"Erm, such a pretty girl, in such a pretty dress." He said, as his eyes unknowingly looked me up and down.
"Ugh! Keep your eyes off me!" I said defensively, pulling the velvet fabric lower over my legs.
"Oh! Sorry, Alice, dear, I, uh, was just trying to be polite, and to uh, apologize."
I studied him for a second, the way his violet eyes glimmered nervously in the light, and how his angular arms fidgeted slightly. Who is he? Where am I? How does he know my name? My heart was beating too fast for me to think clearly so I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.
"I was on my way to Wonderland, this isn't Wonderland so- where am I? And once again, who are you?" I opened my eyes to watch the boy relax and lean back on the dirt wall.
"You can call me the Mad Hatter." He extended his slender hand towards mine, and I shook it hesitantly.
"Alice." I confirmed.
"We aren't in Wonderland right yet, love, we're in Mr. Rabbit's hole." He scratched his chin. "He was supposed to lead you here to keep you safe, so I could fill you in." the Mad Hatter looked at me for a reaction. I shot him a confused glance.
"Fill me in on what?"
"How can I explain this—ehm, without you, Wonderland wouldn't exist. You know…because we live in your head and all…" His big eyes looked at my head uneasily before continuing, "You left Wonderland for a while, and while you were gone you were sad, miserable really, and Wonderland grew in turmoil as well."
He gulped loudly, "You see, Wonderland is greatly paralleled from the life you are living or the life that you leave behind." I nodded slowly, thinking of how I spent all of my time in the hospital self-loathing, lonely, and depressed.
"In order to bring your Wonderland back, you must find who you are, and figure out how to stop what's troubling you in your life."
He scratched his wiry brown hair under his hat, and let out a deep sigh. His purple eyes mellowed and a sweet grin softened his face as he looked at me. "Long story short, only you can fix these things that went wrong in your head, only you can save us all." Save who all? I thought. Save from what? I had so many questions that I couldn't even bear to begin!
I looked at the sunken eyes of the Mad Hatter and seemed to forget them all. I scooted next to him slowly and held his quivering hand. "I'll fix this, I'll fix whatever happened to the place that I had known and loved dearly." I reminisced quickly about the wonderful creatures I had met and befriended in my paradise.
His wide eyes glanced over at mine quickly and his hand held onto my hand tightly in return.
"All that matters is that you're back where you belong-here" The Mad Hatter said softly. "Don't worry. I'll fix it all" I said, mostly to myself.
"I'm assigned to be your guide into the new Wonderland, love." He said eagerly. "I'll protect you and show you the way. We'll fix it all- together."
The Mad Hatter smile and tipped his torn top hat at me, "Shall we get on our way then, Alice?" "Yes, let's get on our way."
