Alice vs. Wonderland

Chapter 1. Visions.

Footsteps. Closer and louder. Someone was approaching, but the darkness that enveloped everything around offered no chance to see anything. The darkness conjured frightening images of monsters lurking in the shadows. Tick-tock. Invisible clocks ticked away the minutes, leaving the current time a mystery. Suddenly, everything went silent. Alice listened intently to the silence and tried in vain to make out anything in the darkness before her. She wasn't sure how long she had been there; she could only guess it had been about half an hour, and in that time, the rabbit had not appeared. She continued to listen to the silence. Footsteps again, this time very close. She thought she should run, but how could she run when she couldn't see anything?

"Alice..." a whispering voice said. It sounded calm, but there was an underlying danger. "Alice..." Now the voice was closer.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

Silence. Alice looked around; still, she could see nothing.

"Alice!" This time the voice shouted right behind her. She turned sharply and...

"Alice?" Dr. Richards looked at her in confusion and slight concern. "Are you alright?"

She glanced around: familiar walls painted in an absurd yellow, ridiculous paintings of smiling cats... Clearly, this was Dr. Richards Doyle's office.

Seeing the doctor's questioning expression, she quickly responded:

"I'm sorry, Doctor. It seems I fell asleep."

"Perhaps we should postpone the hypnosis session until tomorrow?" The doctor drummed his fingers on the surface of his desk and continued. "You look frightened. Did you have another nightmare?"

"No, just a rather unpleasant dream. I'm fine, really," Alice tried to infuse her voice with confidence, but it wavered at the end.

"Well," he said with his usual smile, often discomforting to Alice, as he absentmindedly ran his hand over the cheap upholstery of the chair she was sitting on. The doctor pulled out a small red glass jar from his desk drawer and handed it to her. "You know, two pills before bed."

Reluctantly, Alice took the medicine from the doctor's hand.

"May I leave now?"

"Of course!" he smiled, watching her reaction with interest.

Alice stood up and headed for the door when Dr. Richards said:

"Do you still see the white rabbit?" His smile remained, but Alice knew it held no good intentions.

"No, I haven't seen it for a long time," she replied, turning around.

"Good! Please let Edgar know he can come in."

As she closed the door behind her, Alice sighed, thinking that this time she managed to escape with just the red pills.

"How did it go?" A small eight-year-old boy with curly red hair sat on a bench near the office door. He held a stuffed raccoon with a pink ribbon on its tail. Stroking the raccoon and looking around, he whispered, "Rose says the doctor is a bad man and that we need to be careful. Isn't that right, Rose?" He brought the raccoon's face to his ear and continued. "She says the pills in the yellow jar are dangerous and make children mean."

"Maybe Rose is right," Alice said. "He said you could come in."

The boy sighed, got up from the bench, and walked towards the door, hugging Rose tightly.

Alice watched him go, thinking that the poor kid wouldn't escape with just the red pills, just as she hadn't.

The doctor's office was at the end of a long corridor, with several rooms on either side, including the infirmary and the staff lounge. At the other end of the corridor was a large main hall that combined the play area and dining area.