Twisted Wonderland: Yulia

Prologue: Down the Rabbit Hole

How fitting it was to be raining on the funeral of someone's death. Just as the tips of a young girl's shoes touched the dusty gravestone, the sky began to match the mood. As if on cue, a downpour slammed the ghastly grey headstones as a bright bouquet of flowers fell to the ground.

There were a few silent sobs, but it was hardly heard over the girl's ear-splitting shrieks. Clinging to her parents like a lifeline, she screamed and screamed and screamed until her voice eventually gave out. The funeral-goers watched in pity from afar.

—

This happened exactly one year ago. Yulia's bright and bubbly personality had recently returned to her, and she seemed to be feeling fine on this anniversary of her sibling's death.

It struck her parents as odd, so they treated her well today. They went out and bought things that they thought would make her happy. Repeatedly, they asked if she was okay. Yulia's answer was always the same: "I'm perfectly fine, so don't worry!" The great big smile she showed them managed to convince them of her words.

But as Yulia was studying for a test, a tear rolled down her cheek. It landed on her paper along with another tear and then another. She shoved her notebooks and stray papers off her lap, crumpling a few in the process. She got up from her bed and paced around the room taking in breaths to stop the tears. It wasn't working, so she tried to console herself by grabbing a large pillow to hug. It took her a moment to realize that it was her brother's pillow. This only made her emotions spiral.

She dropped the pillow and dashed out of her room. A few steps away was her brother's bedroom. Quickly and quietly, she entered and locked the door behind her.

It was just the same as it always was. There were his pictures, posters, and whatnot still here untouched. The only thing that was new was the coat of dust that lay over everything. It made Yulia sad.

Tears still streamed down her face, but she had calmed down. All she felt was an emptiness inside that grew bigger and bigger the longer she lived another day without her big brother. She had managed to keep her real feelings a secret from her parents. They didn't need to know. They had it hard enough.

Yulia sat there on the bed scratching away at her arm. It was a bad habit she had gotten that she used to occupy herself in order to not think as much. She couldn't, however, stop her light brown eyes from drifting around the room. Memories popped up as she scanned each and every item. Some were sad and others were happy.

Finally, her eyes stopped upon a large mirror located in the corner. The frame was cracked, and the glass had little fingerprints all over it. She couldn't help but let out a sad laugh.

She had just barely learned to walk. Her brother was looking after her. Baby Yulia had just discovered her own reflection at this very mirror. She put her little hands on the mirror curious at the other "baby" she was seeing. With enough banging on the glass, the mirror began to topple over. Just in time, her big brother came to the rescue. He grabbed her and pushed the mirror aside, cracking the plastic frame in the process. He used to tease her so much about it. It made her so mad.

With a frown, Yulia got up from the bed and walked over to the mirror. The thing was so old, and no one had ever bothered to clean the surface because they wanted to keep that memory alive. Her brother even had a better mirror located more towards the doorway, but he never got rid of this one.

She observed her baby fingerprints and set her hand on the mirror's surface to compare. She's grown so much since then. Someday, she'll grow old, older than her brother. She had cried all her tears for today, so her frown only deepened at this thought.

Her legs were beginning to grow sore in the position she was in. She stood up straight, interlocking her fingers together and raising her arms for a stretch. Sighing with her eyes shut, she noticed something damp on her face. Was it another tear?

She opened her eyes and wiped whatever was off her face. There was only the dim moonlight filtering in from the window to see, but she noticed that it wasn't a tear. It was darker, messier, almost like....

An inkblot?

She looked up at the ceiling searching for the source of the black substance. To her horror, the entire ceiling was starting to drip this inky matter. The ceiling was leaking? She had to go tell her parents!

She made a mad dash for the door, but the unnatural substance swallowed it up. She looked to her second escape route, the window, but the ink seeped through and bloomed along the window sill with corrupted black roses.

All she could do now is scream for help and evade the growing dark muck. It clawed at her legs like some beast, wrapped around her arms like tentacles and snakes. It felt cold and poisonous. She feared for her life as the darkness ate up the room just like a raging fire.

She struggled toward the last patch of unsullied carpet where the mirror was and saw her horrified reflection. Behind her, the black ink was closing in. It coiled around the mirror in the form of ebony thorns. Yulia sobbed slightly, losing hope.

"Ah-ha... This is crazy. I'm just dreaming right?" She said to herself with a laugh of disbelief as she grasped the edges of the mirror to pull herself up. Her fingertips brushed the cracked plastic frame which began to shine with a brilliant white luminance. The light swirled around in a hypnotic motion and made its way to the center before transforming into a pale hand. It beckoned her, inviting her through the looking glass.

"Are you like some white rabbit leading me into wonderland?" Yulia asked with a mixture of a sob and a laugh. "I guess I'll play along. It doesn't matter since this is a nightmare, and I'll wake up soon." Slowly, she reached out her hand towards the mirror. She put her whole weight upon it.

The glass shimmered when she put her hand on its surface. Yulia's reflection distorted, and she saw a flash of her small baby self, that dear memory, before the glass shattered to pieces. Yulia fell through, her heart pounding in shock as she suddenly fell past the cracked mirror's frame into more darkness.

Down the rabbit hole, she went into a rather...

Twisted Wonderland.