Chapter One: Down the Rabbit Hole

I would like to say a bit of something before we continue with the storyâ€you may have read Alice in Wasteland by Disturbed Care Bear – she is my friend, and the one who created the idea for this with me. Go check out her version if you haven't already.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from the book, and am making no money from this.

A girl looked around outside the house, checking the address to make sure she had the right one. She walked up the small driveway to the door and rung the doorbell. A girl with long brown hair and black framed glasses opened the door.

"Can I help you?"

The girl asked politely.

"I'm Alice"

"Oh, sorry, please come in," The girl replied. Alice walked into the house and the other girl shut the door behind her. "I'm Emily. My parents aren't home, they went out for dinnerâ€I doubt they thought that you'd be coming today" The girl said as she led Alice down a hall. Alice just looked about her. "This is your roomâ€this is where you'll be stayingâ€this is a closet, you can put your stuff in there." The girl motioned to another door. "And this is my room, I'll be here if you need me for anything. 'Night." With that the girl went into her room. Alice walked into her room and flopped down on the bed.

Later that night Alice peeked out of her room door. She was holding a backpack. She opened the closet door, turned on the light, and hung the backpack on a hook inside. Alice was about to turn and walk out again when the wall caught her attention. It was pulsating, and looked like a wall of water. She cautiously approached it, reaching out her hand to touch the wall. When her finger made contact, ripples spread out across it, and then as though it sensed her presence, the pulsating stopped and the wall returned to normal.

It was shortly after eleven when Emily heard a slightly frantic knocking on her door. She groaned and got out of bed, putting on her glasses. She opened the door, blinking, and saw Alice standing there looking quite alarmed. Emily groggily said, "What?"

"The wall, in the closet, it was moving!"

Emily blinked again. "Alice – "

Alice ignored her and pulled her out into the hallway and to the closet, gesturing towards the wall. "It was moving."

Emily looked at her skeptically and pushed on the wall. "It's not moving." She then rolled her eyes and started pushing Alice out of the closet. "They were rightâ€you really do belong in a mental hospital. Go to bed."

"But – I swear!" Alice tried, but Emily wasn't having any of it.

"Go to bed!" and she cut Alice off by slamming the door in her face.

"Wake me up in the middle of the night for that, stupid girl" she could be heard muttering as she went back to bed.

Alice turned off the light and got into bedâ€she was convinced that she had seen the wall movingâ€that she had felt the wall moving. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, while she slept she dreamtâ€voices and sounds filled her head as she remembered a day that had happened seven years before. It was the day that her family had died. Although she was only six years old at the time, she could remember everything down to the last detailâ€what her mother smelled like, the clothes her sister was wearing, what brand of cigarette her father was smoking that day.

She also could remember the odd voice that spoke to herâ€spoke to her and got her to wake up before her parents voices could reach herâ€she had stopped having that nightmares for awhile, but they had just come back a month before. Although the screams of her family were all horrid, it was the high-pitched scream of her sister that woke Alice from her slumber. The girl rolled over and looked at the clock, noticing that it was almost twelve AM, she got out of bed to get a needed glass of water.

She opened the door to her room quietly, so as not to disturb anyone who was sleeping at that time and stepped out into the hallway. As she walked by the closet door she heard someone call her nameâ€softly and wispy...somewhat like the wind. She looked around, seeing if she had just heard something

"Alice"

There it was againâ€the voice. It sounded as if it was coming from the closet but she couldn't be sure. Alice pressed an ear against the door and turned the knob, pushing the white piece of wood open – to see an empty closet. She scowled and stepped into the small room, promptly falling through the supposedly solid floor.

Alice sat up slowly, looking around. According to what her eyes were currently telling her, she was in a forest. She stood up and turned, hoping to see a road or something through the trees. Instead, what she got was a personâ€standingâ€on a rockâ€like a statueâ€wearing a cloakâ€Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Umâ€excuse me" she said cautiously. It's head turned towards her and it blinked. "Oh hello. Are you looking for someone? You could try over that way," it pointed in a direction, "Or that way," it pointed in another direction, and kept going like that until Alice got fed up and started walking in the direction the statue/person had pointed to in the first place. At first she didn't see anything – then, leaning against a tree, she saw a teenager with black hair and a top hat shading her face.

"Hello?" Alice inquired. The teen tipped the hat up and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you might be able to help me. You seeâ€I'm a bit lost." Alice said. The teen studied her. "What's your name?"

"Alice"

The teen grinned, then walked up to Alice.

"So you're the one he was talking about" she circled Alice slowly, looking her up and down.

"I'm the one who was talking about?" Alice wondered.

"Caterpillar. He knows everything..."
The teen rolled her eyes, then smirked. "He said you would be coming to save Wonderland. Or Wasteland"

"Woah, save Wonderland?" Alice replied, holding up a hand. "I don't even know what Wonderland is. I don't even know who you are."

The other teen sighed. "Ah, wellâ€I suppose nothing worth it is easy." She leaned against a nearby tree and crossed her arms. "My name is Hatter. This place," she gestured around them, "Is Wonderland, or Wasteland as many now call it."

"Why call it Wasteland? It doesn't seem all that bad to me." Alice said, looking about her. Hatter smiled grimly – suddenly they were in a graveyard. Alice took a step back.

"What just happened? Why are we here?"

"Dead men tell no tales."