SHAWMILA ONE SHOTS

WONDERLAND

You have a million different faces

But they'll never understand

Unless you let them in

You've been a million different places

So give yourself a chance to

Get lost in wonderland

Shawn walked into the living room of his apartment to the sound of a beeping alarm and sat on the sofa, picking up his guitar and strumming absently. Outside the window, two swallows sat on the sill, cooing at each other, staring at him as if they knew him and had important news to impart. Around him, books were stacked on the floor, the coffee table and in shelves while both finished and unfinished artworks were propped on his easel. He put the guitar down and walked to the mattress that lay on the floor, flopping down on his back and lifting his hand to play the notes on his piano. They reverberated in his head over and over until it ached. He rubbed it, then stood, walking towards the window and shading his eyes from the bright light pouring in. Without a second's hesitation, he stepped up into the window. The swallows flew off, up into the firmament, down towards the sea and he was running, as fast as he could, across the sand, as the birds rose and fell in a twisting dance before plunging into the water.

He rubbed his eyes again. He felt that he might have a headache, but it was distant, as if it had been there and was now gone. He slowed to a walk, realising he had no destination, just as a light rain began to fall, soon soaking him to the skin. He looked around and headed for the thick vegetation that grew beside the beach. Stepping inside he was at once in an emerald world, surrounded by foliage and walking along a path, the rain completely gone. The air was thick and steamy and beams of golden light shone through the canopy. Insects buzzed about him and flowers opened their brightly coloured petals as he passed. He looked at them in amazement, but was suddenly distracted by a blur of movement in his peripheral vision. A burst of white darted from side to side across the path.

He stopped in astonishment. It was a rabbit, a white rabbit, standing on it's back legs, pince nez glasses propped before it's eyes, and it was holding a pocket watch.

"Well come on, we're late," it urged him. It could talk. Curiouser and curiouser.

He didn't question it, he just followed, glad it was warm since he wore only his pleated trousers, white tank and brown and white Oxfords on his feet. His long hair curled wildly in the humidity which also left a sheen on his bare skin. Soon he was running to keep up with the rabbit and then it stopped, and just as suddenly disappeared. Shawn kept up his speed as he approached the place the rabbit had last stood and then found himself falling. It was hole that became a tunnel, plunging he and the rabbit down into nothingness.

The fall seemed to last forever and at one point he found himself face to face with the rabbit.

"Who are you?" He asked and the rabbit just laughed and spun away, but before he did so he threw something towards Shawn. He reached out for it, it was a key, a big old fashioned one, ancient and gnarled, the bow bearing a stamp in the shape of a sunflower. He slipped it into his pocket and promptly forgot about it as he continued to fall.

His descent slowed and he put his feet down and found that he was floating only a little above the ground, and a moment later he was walking on a spongey surface, following behind the rabbit who now held a lantern to light the way. Beneath his feet the grass was thick and writhed along the ground, curling and uncurling around his feet allowing him to bounce in a most disconcerting way. He was peering down at it when he realised they had come into the open and he was stunned at what he saw.