*Author's note(Wow, how official does that sound? And you want to know something? When I put the final parentheses on here so it is all proper, it will make a frowny face. How sad.): Some of you may have noticed that I changed the name of Alice Liddell's younger sister. This was my decision when it came to modernizing the story. I felt that Edith was far too old fashioned for the purpose of the story.*

Have you ever had that feeling when you were listening to the radio and a song came on that you really, truly loved? And it was one that you hadn't heard in an extremely long while? Your heart suddenly felt pounds lighter, and any hope that had left suddenly came rushing back in like water from a rapid river as it traveled down the riverbed?

That feeling is what I felt when I saw the Oxford Church. It was as beautiful as I had remembered it, all those years ago. It was an image in my head that no photo could recapture, no matter how many pictures I took with my digital camera. No matter how many times I had seen the picture in books or online, it would never be as beautiful as I saw it now.

Lorina was snapping pictures next to me, but I could see from just her facial expressions that she was nowhere near as enthralled as I was. It was if she was there, physically, but not mentally. Her mind was somewhere else entirely. I wished she would return to earth. It was moments like this that I wished that she was the way she was a few years ago. She was always there for me, always on earth, and never failing to see the true beauty in everything she saw. I had never discovered the change that made her the way she was today, but it was something that I had always wanted to know.

"Lorina, what's wrong?" I asked quietly as we walked around the outside of the church. My parents had taken all my younger sisters, including Elizabeth inside, leaving Lorina and I outside.

She looked up at me, her eyes dead. I had always been jealous of her eyes, they were beautiful, like some sort of jewel. I wasn't jealous of them today. It looked like she had suffered from a sleepless night, a night full of nightmares raging through her head, preventing any sort of comfort.

"What do you mean, Alice? Nothing is wrong." Her words were short, clipped, and cold. She began walking faster, becoming a few steps ahead of me.

"I don't believe you," I said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back to where I stood just in front of the church's entrance. I pulled her out of the way so that visitors could get through the doors.

"Why? What's not to believe? Nothing's wrong, Alice. Just trust me and leave me alone."

Even with my camera in one hand, I didn't let her go. I wasn't letting her go anywhere until she told me what was eating at her. I could tell that there was something.

"You aren't the same person that I remember. Slowly, ever so slowly, it's been like you've been moving apart from me. I don't want to lose you to whatever it is I'm losing you to. I need to know what it is."

She pulled out her cell phone and ran her fingers over it, then over it again. She stared at it's screen, silent.

"Alice, it's not something I can talk about. It's not something I want to talk about. I remember who I was, too. It's not something I can forget. I know that I was happy, and full of life. I know that. I know that now I'm like every other rotten teenage girl out there, who feels she has to waste her time on her cell phone or looking at the latest tabloid magazines. I'm that way because it's the only thing that makes me feel normal. I'm not normal, Alice. I used to be, but I can never be normal again. I'm ruined."

"Nobody can tell you who you want to be, Lorina. Nobody but you. I don't see why you can't tell me. You used to tell me everything. I remember you on the plane, when you said that the church might not be as beautiful as it once was. I remember you sticking your head into that magazine. I also know that who you were then is not who you really are. I won't rest until I know what is eating away at you. I'm not going to let you change who you are."

She looked at the street and shook her head, her hair swishing back and forth. "Don't waste your time on me, Alice. I'm not worth it. Your life is so filled with talents and potential, don't waste the time that should be used developing those on me."

She clicked her phone shut and walked up the walkway and into the church, the doors closing behind her.

I stood out there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what had made my sister, my best friend, this way.

I sighed and lifted my camera, walking out a few paces to catch another picture of the church.

Just as I was about to raise the camera and take a picture, a voice stopped me in the action.

"Are you a photographer, too?"

I spun around and saw a man, no older than the age of 28 or 29. He may not have been very old, but to my 16 years, there was an entire lifetime between us. The obvious age difference made me a bit nervous, and I suddenly wished that I had my entire family at my side. It wasn't that I was afraid that the guy might try anything, but-one could never be too safe.

"No," I said, letting my arm that held my camera rest at my side. "No, I'm not. Just a tourist, but, you said 'too,' are you a photographer?"

He smiled at me, a friendly smile, a smile that made me feel a slight bit better, but sent chills down my back all the same..

He raised a fancy camera up from where it hung on his neck. "Yes, and today seemed the perfect day to come and get pictures of the Church. It's a beautiful day," he said, looking up at a cloudless, blue sky.

"It is a nice day," I agreed, looking up to the sky. It only enhanced the church's beauty.

"I'm Lewis," he said, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I took his hand, but hesitantly. "Alice," I said, introducing myself.

"Hello, Alice. I was wondering if you would do me the honor of posing in some of my pictures. Still lifes like a picture of the church are always beautiful, but much more dazzling with life in it."

I couldn't help but feel flattered. "I would love to."

He directed me where he wanted to stand, told me how I should pose, and then proceeded on saying a whole mess of other photography terms that I didn't understand.

That was how I met Lewis Carroll.