Alice and the Lost Kingdom

The White Rabbit and All His Friends

I grabbed my journal from my desk and headed to a well-lit corner of my room. There, I sat on the wooden floor and opened up the leather book. On the first page, where the night before had been my butterfly, was a shining silver outline of what I had drawn. It took me by surprise. Usually my drawings simply ripped off the page. This journal was special, though. It managed to record my drawings, even after they broke free. Excited, I grabbed a pencil off my desk and headed out to the garden. Once again I sat under the large tree at the heart of our garden. What could I draw that wouldn't cause a ruckus? I began to move my pencil across the paper. It arced into a flower petal. One petal at a time a daisy came to life. There was the sound of ripping paper and soon a daisy laid on top of my journal. I picked it up with a content smile. Finally, I could draw again. I gazed at my silver art on the page. A gold trail spread across the paper above my flower.

Playtime is over, Alice. It is time you draw your destiny. It is time you drew your way to the Kingdom.

Playtime is over, Alice. It is time you draw your destiny. It is time you drew your way to the Kingdom. As the words vanished a sudden longing filled my heart. For what, I'm not sure. I simply felt as if what the journal was telling me was important, and true. As if by their own accord, my hands flipped to a clean page. Unwillingly, my drawing hand flitted around the page. It traced a perfect circle followed by a strange symbol in the middle of the circle. The symbol looked like a cross, but two opposite ends where pointed while the other two where rounded. At the end of the four points was a thin line that came just short of connecting every end. At each almost corner of the almost square was a dot. Finally, once the strange symbol was complete, my hand froze above the paper. I let out a surprised gasp as I was suddenly lifted off the ground. My pencil and journal slipped from my hands and dropped to the earth below. I spun my head around and found that the rabbit-man had lifted me across his arms and was holding me 'princess style'.

"You...!" I gasped. The man looked into my eyes, a small smile emerging on his face.

"It is me, Alice dear. I have come for you here," the rabbit said merrily. His voice was sweet as honey yet strong enough to be more than a squeak. My voice was the squeaky one.

"Put me down! I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried, finally finding my voice. It was high pitched and not at all threatening. I wiggled, trying to jump out of his arms. Maybe if I hit the ground I could make a run for it. The rabbit made a tsking noise and held on to me tighter.

"Enough of that! We are running late!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of art coming to life, only louder than I'd ever heard it. It shattered through the air, causing me to reach up and cover my ears. There was a bright flash of golden light then all at once everything went still. I uncovered my ears slowly. A steady, golden gleam was on the ground to my right. I glanced over at it and found my drawing. It had grown and become one with the ground. The symbol was gone and all that remained was a hollow circle that formed a deep, dark, and seemingly never ending hole.

"Now it's done! Off we run!"

Without warning the rabbit-man took to a run then leapt into the hole. I felt a scream rip from my throat as we began to fall into pure air. There was another bright golden flash before the world turned white then faded to black.

"Anthony! What the hell did you do?" a distraught male voice cried. It seemed to have a hint of an accent, a mix between Australian and southern American.

"I did nothing. You are to quick to accuse," came the rabbit-man's voice. Anthony. So he had a name. I gave a small groan as pain rushed to my head. I let my eyes flutter open. The bright sun caused me to squeeze them closed again as I slowly sat up. A strong hand rested on my back to keep me from tipping.