The End is Only the Beginning

Prologue B: Distance

Prologue B: Distance
Sabrina Wonderland

Distance: an amount of space between two things or people.

Seven-thirty in the morning I was leaving the house, as usual, when my dad stopped me practically on my way out the doorway.

"Sabrina, we need to tell you about something," he said in a more stern voice than I had expected.

"Okay...." I responded, back tracking into the kitchen. My mom stood around the counter drinking tea. She was never up this early in the morning anymore, though she claimed she once had the same habits I have now.

My dad looked to my mom, who looked at my dad, and when my dad didn't say what I suppose they were trying to tell me, my mom turned around and glanced around her as if he was staring at something behind her and not at her. "Well, Alistair, you were saying?"

"Kat, we agreed-"

"What? I can't hear you over the sound of my own voice."

Ladies and gentlemen, my parents.

"What?"

"This is Wonderland, how are you not used to me saying that by now when I'm avoiding...."

This is happening again?

"I understand it I just don't get why you continue to do it."

Why is this my life?

"Fight me." This is a term my mom likes to overuse that was popular when she was in high school.

My dad stared at my mom waiting for her to break her "come on, fight me" expression. She didn't, as usual.

I cleared my throat, reminding them that I had places to be.

My dad turned his attention back to me, bringing my mom's attention with it. "Right. So as your mom and I were saying-"

"You're going to the high school we went to called Ever After High," my mom cut him off.

"Why did you want to fight me if you were just going say it anyway?"

"It's funny," my mom giggled.

"But that's, like, not in Wonderland," I stated.

"Yeah, it's like, not, it's in Ever After of course," my dad sassed me. Did you see that? He just sassed me!

"But I need to be in Wonderland," I protested. How could they do this? I love Wonderland! Not only have I grown up here, but we only have school once a year, and it's awesome. Every other day I just hang out with my friends or go to work, which is where I was supposed to be now.

"Sorry Bri, but you can't change our minds," dad said.

I scrunched my eyebrows and scowled at my parents, but my mom was even better at intimidation than me. "Fine, whatever. I'm out," I groaned before disappearing from the room and reappearing on my friend Ace's front lawn.

I didn't hesitate to just walk into his house. Ace's mom was already at work, and I always waited for him before going to our job together. We had the same shift every day of the week at the Wonderlandian clothes store called Spin, where we both bought most of our clothes. Today I was wearing shorts and a Cheshire Cat tank top from there, honoring family heritage a little. "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there," it read. Ace emerged from the direction of his bedroom and zipped right past me and into his kitchen, only giving a half-wave as a greeting. I followed him.

As he dug through the never-quite-organized cabinets for something to eat, I climbed up and sat on the kitchen counter and crossed my legs, waiting for him. "What's new?" He called to me over his shoulder.

I considered mentioning what my parents had told me less than fifteen minutes earlier, but I didn't know if I had it in me to tell him I was going to boarding school. Ace and I weren't just friends, we were best friends. Sometimes.... We're even more than that.

I shrugged, not realizing he wouldn't see me anyway.

I guess he did. "Kitz, are you lying to me?" Ace liked to use the nickname "Kitz" that my parents had started when I was younger based on a nickname of my mom's in high school and her Cheshire Cat bloodline. He was the only one who used it sill. He opened up a new box of Lucky Charms and poured some into two plastic bags.

"It's nothing," I lied.

"Yeah, okay," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving me that 'I totally buy that, Sabrina' look that he was no stranger to.

"Don't do that," I mumbled, not looking at him.

"Do what?" He smirked even more.

"That." I wouldn't look at him.

"I know it's because you think I look really hot when I do that." He isn't exactly wrong... From his black hair with those perfectly peculiar color streaks, to his crystal clear blue eyes, to the muscles and built figure he somehow naturally had... He kind of was perfect. I couldn't be blamed. Especially when he did the thing he's doing now- when he crosses his arms over his chest, his biceps are something else.

"Haha, very funny."

"Kitz." Before I'd even looked up, he was kissing my lips. It wasn't your ordinary innocent kiss either, it was passionate and kinda rough. I hated how he could do that sometimes but we were never more than friends after.

"I'm going to boarding school," I blurted out as soon as he stopped. I needed to tell him before I could mentally talk myself out of it again.

His expression went cold and distant. "Oh," he said emotionlessly. He sealed the bags of cereal and dropped one on the counter for me. I stuffed it in my backpack absentmindedly, shuffled off the counter and followed him toward the door. He locked up, and we made our way to work, but I knew he would be angry the rest of the day. Once he was in one of his moods, it was pretty hard to get him out of it. It sucks to only get ten seconds of sunshine before a whole day of rain.

New Characters in this part: Sabrina Wonderland, daughter of Kitty Cheshire and Alistair Wonderland (nickname "Kitz") and her best friend "Ace"