Alice: Wonderland is My Home?

Part 1: The Beginning of the End

"November 10th, 2015

Dear Diary

It's been 10 years since my father went missing. Vanished, without a trace. It's almost like he never existed. But I know he's not dead. I can feel it in my heart. I think he's still alive.

For the last ten years, I kept telling myself that he was on holiday or something like that. When I was ten I used to say that he was on a secret mission for the government and he was protecting me and my mother from harm by not contacting us. I used to wake up during the night screaming with tears flooding down my face each time I dreamt of him.

But if he isn't dead... then, where is he?"

Present Day:

"Alice?" My mother called "Jonathans here!"

"Coming Mom!" I replied. Taking a breath, I stopped as I finished combing through my long and annoyingly thick blonde hair. I stood and took a moment to look at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes scanned up and down at my lace skater blue dress and All Star converse thinking to myself 'Here goes nothing'. My mother peered around the corner and smiled, "How do I look?" I asked as I questioned my outfit, was I too casual or too formal? She smiled,

"You look beautiful sweetheart." I smiled and gave a sigh of relief as she walked out of my room. I began to walk down to the living room, taking in every sharp breath as though it was my last. I placed a smile on my face and slowly raised my gaze to see Jonathan, dressed in a blue suit with a crimson red bow tie and his brown hair perfectly quaffed to the left side of his face.

"Hey Beautiful..." He began, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to grab my jacket." I turned and gracefully grabbed my leather jacket from the table and took Jonathan's arm and headed for the door.

2 Hours Later:

Jonathan and I were sitting in the restaurant where we first met, and now here we were a year later celebrating our anniversary.

"It's been a great year don't you think?" he politely asked in his English accent.

"Yeah" I replied with a smile. He reached for my hand and placed it delicately around it.

"Alice...you know I love you ...and this has been the most incredible year of my life..." he began to slowly get to his feet, "... and I would be... eternally... grateful..." he slowly went down to his knees and gently reached for his pocket. My heart began to pound violently against my chest. His hand surprisingly revealing an antique bronze cylinder case covered in perfectly detailed patterns and gems. He opened it carefully to expose an astonishing silver ring with a crystal sapphire stone. My heart stopped. I couldn't breathe.

"Alicia Mariah Ravensworth ... will you marry me?" He finished and began to gaze at me, waiting for an answer I could never give. 'Is it too soon? I mean do I really know him? Do I really want to get married at 22 years old?' 'What could I do? What would my mother say?' I thought to myself. I sat silently in shellshock.

"Jonathan, don't you think it's a bit soon. I mean how much do we really know about each other? I barely know anything about you, apart from the fact that you live alone because of your parents' accident and that you have no relatives. Come to think of it, I have never even been to your apartment." At this point, everyone had stopped dead in their tracks and noticed what was happening between us. They were expecting me to dive into his arms and yell 'Yes' at the top of my voice. They all stared, like statues. Daggering me with each eye, and impaling me with their looks of disgust.

"Alice? What are you saying?" he condemningly raised his voice as he began to stand. "Are you unhappy with me?" his voice grew louder. I had to do something to calm him down. What could I do? I just rejected a marriage proposal.

"Jonathan, it's not that simple... I'm sorry I should go." I grasped my jacket and raced for the door. As I got outside, I felt like I had my heart torn violently from my chest and crushed in front of me. "What have I done? Have I just lost the one thing that made me fight through all the bad things that held me down?" I questioned myself. I began to walk back home. I had never felt this much pain in a long time.

I was halfway home, when I heard a voice calling, "Alice! Alice, Wait!" I turned to see Jonathan in the distance racing towards me. "Alice" he said softly, clasping his arms around me, taking me back into his warm embrace. "All I know is that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If I must wait then I will, because you are worth waiting for." He confessed lovingly. I took a breath and started to stare deeply into his eyes. I leaned in to kiss him. When all of a sudden, I was suddenly ripped away and thrown to the floor. I hit my head hard on the ground and as I pulled myself up, there was Jonathan being dragged away by some dark hooded figures. "Alice!" he yelled.

"Jonathan" I cried before getting to my feet and began racing after them. Weaving and wandering I followed them as they carried Jonathan through alleyways and shortcuts I never knew existed before. I came to a complete stop down a murky alley and... there they stood. Cloaked dark figures. Jonathan was in the middle of them all knocked out defenceless, lying on the cold floor near a large antique mirror that was leaning on the cobbled street wall. In sync the figures turned to face me, the tallest one stepped forward.

"Let him go!" I cried, The taller hooded figure began to raise its hand and drew its hood back. What I saw would scar a child's nightmare forever. It was a disfigured face, a patchwork of different men's faces placed onto this one. Scars that ran red across his face, stitched together with red thread and eyes were oozing black liquid.

"It wasn't him that we were after." He snarled. "It was you all along, he was just the bait." Suddenly, I felt my arms being clawed and gripped tightly from behind me. I pulled and tried to resist against them but as I tried to break free, I felt a quick sharp pain rush through me. My vision began to blur, the figures became glossy until... Nothing.