Chapter Two: Festives
Parties suck. Or, that one at least. Hamish and stupid Fiona were both snooty, and Hamish was bitter at Alice, for not choosing him. He'd gotten older now and even uglier.
Alex stood by a tree in lord Ascots garden, when she saw Tim running towards her. Oh god, she thought.
"Alexandra! Alexandra!" he yelled.
"Tim, " she said to him, when he came up to her. "How many times do I have to tell you this: Call me Alex. "
"A thousand and one times by now… " Tim said, looking down, put still smiling. He'd always been mad. "What are you doing. " She smiled at him.
"I'm about to play hide and seek with my lil'bro… " Alex said.
Tim beamed like a thousand suns. "Really?" he said, smiling. Alex smiled at him.
"Yes, you'll hide, and I'll seek.. " Alex smiled, thinking, that now she could get rid of him. She looked down at Tim, who was smiling. She closed her eyes, and began to count. "One, two, three, four… '' she heard Tim running, probably towards the rosegardens. "Five,six, seven, eight, nine, yeah, right.. " she said, opening her eyes. She looked around for Tim, but he was already out of sight. Finally, she sighed. And then she saw something peculiar. But no, it couldn't be. She had to think logically. But it really did look like… a rabbit in a waistcoat. He was looking at an old pocket-watch, with a panicked look at his face. Did he have to be somewhere? No… no… it wasn't real. She couldn't start believing it was. But it was there, right in front of her, and she could see it, it wasn't in her mind. Or at least she thought so. She walked towards the rabbit, but the he started walking the other way, so she began to run. And then he began to jump.
"Wait!" she yelled. "Come back here!". But that didn't help much, it only scared him more. So she started running faster. Now she could hear him mumbling words, such as: Oh dear, I'm so late, and: Have to get Alice down, have to get Alice down. But that couldn't be right.
Alex´ legs began to feel numb, as if she had been running for a long time, but she wouldn't slow down. She had to catch him, had to feel that he was there, that he wasn't at fragment of her imagination. And then she saw him jumping down a hole. She began to walk now, giving her legs a break. She then inspected the hole. She looked down. It didn't look that deep. And it was big enough for her, at least in the top. But if it got narrower, she could always crawl up. No… no, she couldn't possibly be thinking of crawling down the rabbit hole. That was something her mother would suggest. But why not? She didn't want to go back to the party, she didn't even want to be at that stupid party. So she rose, and jumped down the rabbit-hole.