It was a curious thing to wake in stages, to become aware of things slowly, and as if was someone other than yourself expierncing it. The burning pain of an unforgiving landing, the stinging of cuts inflicted by many things. And then came the whispering, words she couldn't make out because it sounded as if they were being muted somehow, but not so much that she couldn't tell something, or someone was speaking. Odd that she had thought someone instead of something first… or maybe it wasn't so odd…

Even though Alice had finally woken, or had she only been out for just a bit, she knew something was wrong? How could she tell? It was the ominous feeling of being watched and studied as she laid there like a limp doll. She had to do something to ease the overwhelming tension before her remaining sanity snapped. She could open her eyes, but she didn't think she was quite up to it yet. So, instead, she took stock of herself. She knew she had multiple cuts on many different parts of her body. Her face, her arms, her legs. The position she was in was not comfortable in the slightest. One of her arms was thrown above her head, tangled in, and pulling, her hair. Her other arm was under her, pressing uncomfortably against her spine. And her legs were in even worse situations. The whispering grated on her nerves, and now that she was awake this position was too painful for her to keep. Hesitantly Alice began to "wake up". She slowly opened her eyes, and began to sit up. The world around her was… terrifying really. It made her cringe. Alice wanted to close her eyes again, and hope and pray that when she opened them again that the sight she was gazing upon would be gone. Would be removed from her memory, like she had never seen it.

The grass was dying, the trees leafless and bent, as if cry wooden tears that stretched so long the touched the ground and began to grow into it. Dead, and possibly dying, flowers littered the ground. The ground was littered with much more than flowers. There were leaves, feathers, and what looked like droplets of blood. God, and she thought she could even see a bone sticking from the ground. A scared moan left her lips as she stood from the ground and stared in horror down at her clothing. Leaves stuck to her dress, leaves flowers and who knew what else."My dear God!" She said in a voice laced with terror and fear. When she had thought of escaping she hadn't had this in mind, no, nothing close to this. This was twisted and sick, she had wanted happy and light as a replacement for her horribly boring life…

Which would have bored her to tears as well, Alice realized with a pout. "Well…" She started but let it trail off as she had nothing else to say. Nothing she could think of and no one to say it to in the first place. With a frown she realized she couldn't brush her gown off, because that would mean she would have to touch what was on it, and that was absolutely out of the question.

The whispering was louder now, and Alice turned in circles trying to figure out exactly where it was coming from, and who, or what, was making the sound. "And she fell down the hole, injuries took their toll. " Was the person (or thing) speaking of her? It sounded like it, and that just made her shiver. "Looking around me, oh, but how can you locate what you can't see?" It was really annoying, the cryptic riddle that was spoken, because whoever had been speaking had raised their voice at that last sentence.

"Well," Alice began with a slight frown still on her lips. "I don't guess you can, unless you keep speaking." Again her eyes flashed around her. Everything around her was so… unfortunately real looking. And here she had been hoping this was all a dream, though it could still be… but at this point she was begging to doubt that it was.

"True, true." Louder now, as if the voice was right behind her, close enough that she could feel the air it took to form those words stir her hair into movement. "Little Alice isn't so little anymore is she? My, how you've grown. It must have taken a lot to forget me… How could you forget me?!" The voice sounded angered and Alice spun around to empty air. A frustrated groan left her lips and she stamped her foot fire in her eyes.

"I don't know who you are, where I am, or why I should know you, so I would like if you didn't speak to me in such a manner." Alice said as she bit her lip from saying anything more.

"Oh, and you've gained a temper. I must say it looks lovely on you." Again, the voice was behind her, in her ear. A shiver of dread moved down her spine, but this time she didn't turn around. "Scared Alice? I think you should be. There are many others besides the Queen that want your heads nowadays. I myself like what you've done with the place." The voice, it was a man's voice, made her head hurt. Not the sounds of his voice, but his words. She lifted her hands and pressed her fingers against her temples.

"I don't understand!" She yelled and spun around. The time he was there, and she almost wished he hadn't been. What kind of… she couldn't even think of a word for the creature that stood before her. He was strikingly beautiful, in that creepy sort of way that intrigued her. Purple hair grew from his head, and stopped centimeters from his eyes. His eyes! They were a mixture between human eyes and cat eyes, a color that should not have existed, and she knew no name for it. The closest she could think of was yellow, but that was not it at all. Her eyes moved of the rest of him, he was dressed in clothing that would have been considered… unacceptable was the best word she could think of, in her world.

With a furrow of her brow Alice asked, "And you are?" Alice acted as if she saw this sort of person every day, like his odd appearance (Were those whiskers?) was something she was used to. The creature, man, thing, laughed. It was a harsh sound that shot another shiver down her spine.

"So, you really don't remember, but why did you forget?" The man asked and tilted his head at an impossible angle that made her own neck hurt just looking at him do so.

"This cryptic game is grating on my nerves." Her already fragile and frayed nerves. Her sanity. How much of this could she take before she ended up truly insane? It was a dream, she told herself again, induced by the boring day, a dream her subconscious had pulled together to keep her occupied.

"You aren't dreaming sweetheart, I'm sorry to inform you. No, this all real. All reality. Your reality." Well at least he was straight with her on something.

"So, where am I? And who are you?" She asked, her brow still furrowed, but now because she was trying to remember what he said she should. Those faint, distant, memories were somewhere in her mind, she knew. Had she not tried for so long to remember, before finally giving up because she couldn't? It had kept her going for a while, the thought that she might have been happier in her childhood, but those memories had been lost to her so she had found solace in other things. There hadn't been much, the garden, her room… Father's office when he hadn't been home, which was often. Her sister's old room… sometimes.

The man's voice sliced through her thoughts. His tone was… reverent and awed, as if he almost ashamed that he had to tell her what he was. Why? There were too many questions she needed answers to. "This place? It's Wonderland, thought not much about it is wonderful any more. As you can see, the place really has gone downwards. I think that started to happen when you forgot… or when you started to grow up." Alice frowned; it wasn't as if she had wanted to particularly grow up. No, she hadn't, to her knowledge, even experienced childhood. Well, of course she had, but remembering it would be essential to experiencing it. It was as if she woke up one day and her entire life was different. She had adjusted immediately, as if this had been normal. Alice realized now how odd that was. Why hadn't she noticed? "And me? Oh, who am I? But more, who are you? Just kidding, sort of…" He frowned and straightened his neck. "I'm The Cheshire Cat, much different than whom I used to be, can't you see?"

"No, I don't see at all!" Alice said and stamped her foot hard against the ground beneath her. Dust flew up, dark and spoiled. It was probably from the decaying flowers, she thought. And why this didn't scare her or make her cringe she didn't know. It was almost insensitive, the way she handled it. Her eyes flashed back to the man's. "The Cheshire Cat? What sort of a name is that?" She asked.

His grew might have spilt a normal man's face in two, it was as if it stretched from one side of his face to the other. It was quite gross, and interesting. He took a step towards her, and Alice froze, watching him cautiously. Another step and her body went rigid, prepared to turn and run. Alice didn't think she could out run him, not at all. She didn't have a chance there, but maybe if she just stood there and let him get close enough… maybe she could take him by surprise. She doubted this too. His grin looked painful up close, and she almost looked away, but she couldn't bring herself to remove her eyes from that captivating face. Maybe that was her demise.

"It's the name you gave me." This was said to her as his fist rose up beside her head and came down upon it. Hard. The blow reverberated through her body as she felt it go limp and fall. That was the second time the world went black for her. Once was enough, and twice was certainly too much. As her eyes closed she saw him lean over her with that grin, and she knew that things wouldn't get better, they were only going to get worse.

And she wondered why she felt like it was all her fault.