Adventures in Wonderland

Chapter 1

Thirteen Years Later

A horse-drawn carriage careens down a bumpy road at a full gallop. Alice and I are now nineteen, and its been 9 years since Father died. I'm seated beside Alice while mother is sitting across from us in the carriage. I can already tell Alice is in a foul mood, but mother seems to be oblivious to it as she fusses with Alice's blonde hair and dress. "Must we go? I doubt they'll notice if we never arrive," Alice tries to reason. 'Yes they will. It is your pre-engagement party after all.' I think as I look out the window. "They will notice," Mother states as she reties Alice's waist sash.

Mother stops mid-tie, "Where's your corset?" She quickly lifts up Alice's skirt to see her bare legs, "And no stockings?" She huffs. Mother then reaches over and pulls up my dress. I blush and quickly turn my gaze away from the window and to mother, "You could at least buy me dinner first." Mother just looks at me as I smirk and Alice giggles. "I was just making sure you were wearing stockings and a corset." She puts my skirt back in place. "Why can't you just wear them, Alice?" They're back to being serious. "I'm against them," Alice defends herself. Mothers starting to get angry, "But your not properly dressed." Alice is starting to get angry too, "Who's to say what is proper? What is it was agreed that 'proper' was wearing a codfish on your head? Would you wear it?"

Mother sighs exhausted, "Alice..." Alice cuts in quickly before mother can say anymore and mumbles, "To me a corset is like a codfish." Mother pinches the bridge of her nose, "Please. Not today." Alice looks out the window, "Father would have laughed." I go rigid in my seat and look at my lap. For a few seconds the only noise is hooves on dirt. I can't believe she would be so cruel as to bring father into this. I can see the hurt in mothers eyes, the same hurt that's mirrored in my heart. Alice must see it too because she starts to apologize, "I'm sorry. I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night." Of course, she's making excuses for being a spoiled brat who doesn't care about anyone but herself.

Mother pats Alice's hand, "Did you have bad dreams again?" I'm not the type of person to keep a grudge but I make an exception for Alice. After I stopped telling her my dreams she had to start making stuff up to get attention, and after father died she told mother about them bur said it was always the same one. "Only one. Its always the same ever since I can remember. Do you think that's normal? Don't most people have different dreams?" Its not always the same, yes the characters are the same but the content isn't. "I don't know," Mother says absent-mindedly. She takes off her necklace and puts it on Alice then takes off her ring and put it on my ring finger. Its the ring father gave her when they got married. I can feel the tears stinging at the back of my eyes, but I quickly blink them away, "Thank you." Mother smiles at us brightly, "There! You both look so beautiful. Now, can you two manage smiles?" We both give her a small smile.

Today we've all dressed in our finest clothes. Alice is wearing a baby blue dress that went to her ankles, with black buttons from collar to waist and black lace at the collar and bottom. It has short sleeves and she's wearing white and blue fingerless, cloth gloves that go to her wrists and black and white boots. Her bleach blonde hair is put up with small ringlets going down her neck. Mother is wearing a dress that's a lighter shade blue than Alice's. Mothers dress goes all the way to her feet and she's wearing a small, black hat with her hair up in an elegant bun. I'm wearing an ankle length white dress with black lace overlay from the waist down. Its white from the waist up and the sleeves go to my elbows and are black lace. Like Alice I'm wearing fingerless, cloth gloves but mine are black and white with black boots. My naturally straight hair is loose and flows down my back and stops at my waist. While my bangs are down and slightly in my eyes.