Wonderland in Turmoil

A Rabbit, a Palace and Some Rainbow Gas

My short slumber had been filled with strange dreams of a black rabbit, strange looking cat-man hybrid and eccentric guy wearing more hats than one person needed. They had stolen children to take to their queen, an innocent-looking young woman with perfect golden ringlets cascading down the sides of her crowned head and a heart-shaped mouth that smiled down upon the innocent children bowed before her. Their high pitched pleas for mercy had been drowned out by her sweet laughter as she had lifted a girl's chin with a perfectly manicured nail, telling her that what she was going to do to them wouldn't hurt a bit. But I had been startled awake from these charming dreams by a poking at my back. I shook my head to rid myself of the strange images and prepared myself to stand up and continue walking. But then I felt that same poking at my back, only this time it was more noticeable. I launched myself to my feet and inspected the space I had been sitting in only a few moments ago. A pair of yellow eyes were looking up at me from a deep hole that had definitely not been there when I'd sat down. I shivered and stepped back as the creature revealed itself. It launched out from the deep hole and landed in front of me. It was a man. A very strange-looking man. His eyes were a strange, animal-like topaz and he was wearing a long, immaculate tuxedo, with odd black ear-like things poking out of his top hat. A large tag hung off the side of the hat, reading Made by the Mad Hatter. What was happening? What kind of joke was this? I turned away and began to march off, hopefully in the right direction, determined not to be fooled by these strange happenings.

"Oh, no you don't."

I was pulled to a halt by the odd man's hand grabbing my shoulder. Oh no, he didn't.

"And who do you think you are to stop me?" I demanded.

He stepped towards me and chuckled, earning an eyeroll from me.

He gestured toward the hollow under the tree. "You are going down there." he drawled, as if he expected me to jump down there willingly right now. Me? Down there? Nuh-uh. I shook my head, backing away. He followed me, only stopping when my back hit the trunk of the tree with the hole at it's foot. Oh great, I was right where he wanted me.

"Gotcha now, don't I?" Were the last words I heard before I was pushed down into infinite darkness.

As I watched the small circle of light that was my escape disappear quickly above me, I wondered what would become of me. Would they find my school bag resting by the tree and follow it's lead to the bottom of this deep hole, to find my body, twisted and marred at the bottom of this abyss, or would I remain missing forever, nothing but a mystery in life that would never be solved? My mind still half focused on these gloomy thoughts, I asked myself three things: One, why this fall was taking a lot longer than expected, two, why - and how - were there clocks and other objects that had obviously seen better days just floating around, and three, what was that big furry black thing falling fast towards me?

Then it hit me. Literally. I landed on my back with a giant black ball of ratty fluff, which I had determined to be some kind of mutant rabbit, on top of me. The ground down here was surprisingly comfortable. I prodded the rabbit slumped on top of me and grunted with the effort. It was heavy! I tried again and again to get it off of me, but after several minutes of fruitless attempts, I gave up and collapsed back onto my back, staring up at the furniture floating above me, as if taunting me with their ability to move so freely. It seemed like an eternity passed before the rabbit finally budged from its position. It shuffled off of me and I sat up eagerly, watching as it stood up, eyeing me with eyes of a disconcerting butterscotch colour. I blinked at it and rose to my feet, eyeing it up. It reached my chest standing on all fours. It gave me a grimace which looked like it could have been a grin and hopped awkwardly over to a table loaded with strange boxes that was, thankfully, obeying the laws set by gravity. I looked over at the rabbit but did a double take as I saw that it had been replaced by the strange man in the tuxedo. I rolled my eyes. Not this guy again.

"Surprise!" He announced. "I'm Alice's rabbit! I'm sure you remember the white one, don't you? Yeah, we didn't get along too well. One of our main differences was that he's always in a rush, whereas I have plenty of time. So take your pick, I sure do have all day." he declared, smirking and gesturing to the odd little boxes resting on the table.

I looked at him incredulously. He didn't seriously expect me to trust him, did he? He'd just pushed me down a deep hole and crash-landed on top of me in the form of a mutant rabbit, and he expected me to do whatever he told me to do? He snapped his fingers to bring a chair floating down to the ground. I hustled towards the table. He obviously expected me to take a long time, so I wanted to be quick, if only to irritate him. So I picked up the plainest box I could find and opened it up, careful not to drop it. Inside was a heart shaped, biscuit like thing. I took it out, returning the now empty box to it's original position, and lifted the thing to my mouth. I heard a guffaw from rabbit-guy, and glared at him. I was supposed to eat it, right? that's what Alice did, at least.

"You don't eat it. Throw it on the ground by your feet and step on it." he said, as if he did this everyday. Which, now that I think about it, he probably did. I sighed and did as he had instructed. My mouth formed a small 'O' as I watched a wash of colours drift slowly out of the crushed heart. It enfolded me and I felt a sudden thrill at being covered by rainbow smoke. Wait, he hadn't put me on drugs, right?

My question was answered when the smoke disappeared and I was left standing by the table, feeling completely unchanged.

"Hmm, good choice." rabbit-guy said, winking. I shivered mentally. This guy creeped me out. I looked down at my hands bunched up in my school skirt, but let out a squeak when I saw nothing there. I was invisible!

"Look behind you." Rabbit guy said. I was interested as to how he could still maintain eye contact, despite the fact that I could no longer be seen. I turned around and found myself in front of a rusted metal door that seemed to be made for a person 3 feet tall. I looked back at Rabbit-guy. I was far past being surprised. I suppose in a place where people turn into rabbits and can turn invisible any time they want, disappearing doors wouldn't be all too unusual.

"It's a door." I said. He stood up and held out both hands, fed up.

"So use it." he ordered. I scuffed over to the door and turned the handle. Surprisingly, it wasn't creaky or rusted in the hinges. I opened the door wide, confidence growing. I walked into the dark room beyond, only to come across another door. Painted in peeling forest green, this time. I groaned. Of course I had to go through this whole millions-of doors thing. Rabbit-guy hopped up behind me, rabbit ears twitching. He just had to be a giant terrifying rabbit right now. I gestured angrily to the door. He obviously wanted to go first. He pushed open that one, then nosed through a bead curtain, opened a shiny metal one and bounded through a plain wooden one. I followed along through it all.

Six bead curtains, at least fifteen metal doors and a huge number of wooden doors later, we reached a tall, regal-looking door, made out of a pristine white stone that could have been opal. Intricate designs of unicorns, dragons, roses and playing cards were carved on it, all weaved into one big, beautiful forest of a picture. It was stunning. Rabbit-guy nosed it open and I followed after him. As we entered the room, I felt like I had just walked straight onto the page of a fairytale book. On the walls hung tapestries spun so delicately they could have been made from spider's silk. The floors were made from the same stone as the door, and the throne at the front was all twists and curls, made from a silver so radiant it would have been an insult to call it shiny. Rabbit-guy looked extremely out of place here with his dreadlocked black fur. He hopped towards the throne, the people creating an isle for him to pass through. He must be really important here. I moved to follow him, but he pushed me back with a back paw, shooting a look over his shoulder, warning me not to follow as he made his way to the front of the throne room, where the princess from my nightmares earlier perched on the silver throne, the cat-man and the mentally unstable guy occupying two others. There was a fourth throne which I assumed to be for rabbit-guy.