The Wonderland Killer

I don't really remember everything about this story, so I guess I'll just start from where I can remember. Everything was fine until I started university... I was so excited about the idea of living with a roommate, the idea of being able to do what I wanted without my parents keeping tabs on me, being totally independent! Everything was absolutely fine. Until the murders began.

I was only twenty when they started. Some psycho was running around campus killing off students, faculty, even visitors. We were told to go everywhere in pairs, or groups, but honestly, what good was that? For all we knew, we were paired up with the killer, walking straight into their trap. Walking to and from classes was terrifying, and going back and forth between the main buildings and the dorms was daunting, especially since we were surrounded by forest.

The more bodies that kept showing up, the more the environment at the school began to change. The police started to question whether or not we were being threatened by one killer or by a group of them, a gang, that they called The Wonderland Killers.

Each kill seemed to be performed by someone different, until they eventually began to back track on themselves and repeat. The public wasn't aware of all the information, but there were a few people in our school that interned at the local station, who managed to smuggle information from the case files. The police suspected that The Wonderland Killers were a gang of five people, each with their own preferred method and victim profile. Each of these killers were nicknamed, since the cops had no suspects or even names the killers called themselves, and each of the murders had a different calling card. This lead to the killers being named after different characters from the beloved children's novels by Lewis Carroll.

The first to make himself known was The White Rabbit. Originally, he was seen as a stand-alone psycho with a scalpel. Nobody saw him; he seemed to be choosing people from random - drunks, homeless people, randoms from the street. The slices were crude and messy, until they got to the chest, where they would get surgical and precise, almost as though the man was rushing, scared he would be caught by the police. The only thing left at the scene was the body, a bloodied handkerchief with an embroidered white rabbit on it, and a drawing of a clock on the wall pointing to four pm, smeared in the victim's blood. That last piece of evidence was actually how the police realised that his first murder wasn't the only one he had committed, when handkerchiefs and bloody clock drawings started popping up all over the place.

Next was The Dormouse. One of the creepier of the killers, nobody knew what gender they were, just that they lured men away from bars and clubs to quiet alleyways, where they would strangle them with their own belts, leaving them hung up like decorations. The only thing that they left behind was a stuffed dormouse toy, hence the nickname. The police were checking everywhere these killings happened, hoping to find some sign of who The Dormouse was, but with no such luck. Nobody survived them; the only people that had seen The Dormouse seemed to be the men they had killed.

Then there was The Tweedles. Pulled from the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the strange twins from the novels. The police believed that The Tweedles may have been two separate people, based on how they left their victims. Nobody investigating the case could believe that the bodies left behind had been killed by the same person, potentially two people, leading to the kills being credited to the creepy twins. Apparently they would find two victims, one for each of them, and the injuries were so vastly different. One body was left with their head bludgeoned, something wide and flat having been bashed into the skull multiple times. The other had their bones broken, left to bleed out at unnatural angles.

The public was then introduced to The Queen of Hearts. The killings were getting more and more graphic as the months went on. This killer was believed to be female, based solely on their murderous calling card. Quite literally, in fact. The Queen of Hearts would behead her victims, leaving a brand new packet of playing cards behind, with a bloody red queen card left in the mouth of the severed head. Her weapon of choice was believed to be something sharp and heavy, such as an axe.

Finally came The Mad Hatter. As the name suggests, this individual was far from sane. Once again, the police had no idea this person's gender, but from the severity and depth of their murders, they were believed to be male. The public believed The Hatter to be the leader of the gang, the most unhinged. They would lead criminals to their gory end, as well as predators, rapists, even some of the town's known neglectful parents. They would lure them away to some abandoned building, a different one each time. Once was a warehouse, once was a burned down home, and once was even a creepy murder cabin in the middle of the woods. Once there, The Mad Hatter would slice them open, pulling out their organs while they were still somewhat living, trailing them around the place like twisted tinsel. We all knew that this was the one to look out for, the craziest, the most dangerous.

It's funny thinking about it now. How I was so scared of these characters. How I was worried I was going to be one of their next victims. Not much left to worry about now, I've gotten used to them. They all have their own triggers.

The White Rabbit shows up when we can hear the clock ticking too loudly. He gets nervous when he's aware of time passing, I mean, he's always running late.

Dormouse comes out of her hole when we go near a toy shop, or she sees one of my plush animals. She can be calmed down with tea at least, but she doesn't let me drink alcohol.

The Tweedle brothers are more unhinged. They can be tamed with sweets and treats, and they like believing that they're doing something good; they're being praised. If I don't get sweets fast enough, they look for an achievement somewhere else.

Queenie is impossible to control. She is a royal, after all. Although she does like croquet - she plays it with the Tweedles sometimes... Although it didn't end well, the boys love their new mallets. Queenie isn't all that bad. She likes playing chess, or cards, or really any games. As long as I don't tell her what to do, she won't come out.

The Hatter was a completely different story. He was uncontrollable and insane. He does like his hat and his coat, though. His coat always has sugar cubes in the pockets. He makes me wear white makeup when he goes on a rampage, though it always makes my skin feel uncomfortable when I take it off the next morning. He also makes me keep his knife clean. It's a beautiful blade. It always makes me feel odd and tingly when I see my reflection in it. One thing I have noticed is that he doesn't seem to like the police. Right now he's pushing his way in front of the others, vying for attention.

I'm coming to the end of my story,.I guess that's all they need to know. So before the Hatter returns, the police want me to sign my statement. I don't really remember my old name, it doesn't get used much, so I'll just use the name the others give me.

Alice.