World of Wonder

Chapter 10

I fought against the urge to open my eyes. I was so comfortable, so warm, but my neck was really throwing off my desire to not move. Begrudgingly, I moved my head upward and laid it against something hard, and that's when I realized I wasn't under a bed. Or even laying down at that.

I opened my eyes and squinted up at the bright warm sun beaming down at me. I heard birds chirping around me and looked around. I was in a hole? Next to that old dead tree from before?

Did I.. fall and hit my head? Seems like it. I carefully stood from the small hole in the ground and looked around. The clearing was the same as when I first came across it. The only difference was that the hole I fell into was now just a small pit of dirt.

Looking towards the trees circling me, I saw a path that wasn't there before. Instead of fueling my curiosity by going, I relented.

"Tom?"

No response.

"Tooom?"

Nothing but chirps could be heard.

"Tom? Are you really.. not here?" My voice cracked a bit there at the end, but I was focused on seeing rather or not he'd appear.

Seeing not a trace of the one who supposedly held my fate, I followed the trail to leave this dreaded place.

But it was all too familiar as I returned to the clearing without leaving the path or even turning back.

Instead of fighting it, I sat down in front of the hole and looked down in it. Nothing.

Great, not only am I no longer in Underland but I'm right back to my earlier dilemma. I had nothing to even try anything, so I just stayed put. Sure I could keep wandering, but I just didn't have the energy. I just closed my eyes and just let myself fall asleep against the tree, it wasn't until I heard some bushes rattling in the distance that I opened my eyes to see it was now dark out. Disregarding the fact that time has passed, I got up and just hid behind the tree.

It was silent, but the sound of footsteps filled the night as they got closer to the tree.

"Mum, why are we here?"

It sounded like a little boy, I heard more shuffling, but he got no response. After a moment longer, there was another voice.

"Stay here, mummy will be back soon. Do not leave this spot, you hear me?"

"Yes mummy."

"Good boy, I'll be back soon."

Then, the footsteps picked back up again, but this time, they were getting further away. I peaked around the tree and saw a little boy sitting against the tree, just staring ahead. I looked up, but only saw the back of his mother as she disappeared into the forest. I glanced a the boy, he was just sitting there.

I inched closer to the boy when he put a hand up, signaling for me to stop.

"You're not supposed to be here. Climb inside the trunk and you'll find yourself back at the shack."

I glanced up and noticed a few branches I could step on to get to the top, so I began to climb and soon reached the top, the boy spoke out again.

"Wait."

We stayed silent. I glanced down the truck and saw that it looked to lead me into a hole. I leaned in and heard something.

"They're looking for you. Give it a moment more and then go in."

Sure enough, I waited a little more and soon heard the noise die down. I hesitated, but the boy said nothing more. I went in feet first and felt as if I had went down a slide. The further I went the faster it got, and soon, light blinded me as I was thrown off the slide and suddenly slammed against something.

Holding my head, I opened my eyes to reveal that I was back in the shack and got Toms shelf. I glanced around and saw that the place has been raided. Many of his things were missing and the place was a mess.

"Did you hear that? I sounded like it came from inside!"

The door knob turned, acting quick, I pushed the shelf in front of the door and stepped back. The sounds of them trying to get in sent me into high alert. I grabbed the bag of treats and opened the window, leaping out and running to god knows where. I just kept running until I couldn't anymore. The sight before me was something I could've never imagined. It looked like a fantasy kingdom. Guards were cards and everything looked like it was on acid.

The more I looked around, the more I realized I looked like everybody else. Keeping the bag close, I joined the people walking around and tried to find somewhere that could take me to Tom, but the more I searched, the more questions I had.

There were many propaganda posters depicting two women. One was pale and dressed in an all white gown, the other was just as pale, but dressed in reds, black and yellows. A little more searching lead me to find that they were the White and Red Queen. All the posters were slandering the Red Queen, depicting her as a criminal and a traitor. But the White Queen was depicted as some sort of Angel of mercy.

Those weren't the only posters I saw. Others were warning the people to always have their card with them or risk imprisonment. There were checkpoints around and even certain buildings that wouldn't allow entry with it. Looks like I'll have to get one soon.

But the other posters is what mainly caught my attention. Wanted posters. Edward Gold and Matthew Hatter: wanted for assisting the Cheshire evade the guards. I already know that from what I heard from the guards, but the final one is what really sent alarms ringing in my head.

WANTED FOR
THEIF
ARSON
ARMED ROBBERY
ATTEMPTED MURDER
3RD DEGREE MURDER

.. what?

I looked around before taking down the poster. It certainly was Tom.

Who exactly am I dealing with?