Hell In Wonderland

3. Waking up

Where amI? Oh wait, nope, still in this bloody dream. I heard some voice trying to talk to me, but I shook them off.

“Alison! Alice! Wake up!” I heard, I’d know that voice anywhere, even if I’d just heard it for the first time not that long ago.

“What?” I mumbled, and shot up, realising I was still in the dream. I heard our mumbling of pain before I felt it. We bashed heads as I sat up. I rubbed my forehead and leaned away from him.

“Jeez! Don’t you know better than to wake me up so close! Ouch,” I murmured, at the end of the small ramble.

“Oh, well sorry for trying to wake you up!”

“Well, I still had a couple more hours sleep in me,”

“You should be conscious while I leave for a minute, hell could take over or try and kill you!” I fell silent, he handed me the dagger that he held in his hand, and I took it. I’d never handled a weapon before, other than a kitchen knife, but I knew nothing of killing and fighting. “And Alice?” I looked up from the weapon and towards him. “Don’t do anything stupid. For my sake, and for Wonderland’s sake, please don’t be an idiot with a weapon.” He said, and left me alone. I stared after where he left.

I then looked back at the dagger. I saw the small mouse, Mallyumpkin or something like that, was on his shoulder, standing and holding on to Jadon’s neck so it wouldn’t fall.

I have to wake up! Don’t have a fucking crush on some hot guy in your realistic dream! I yelled at myself, but I couldn’t listen, and then I thought about what could possible wake me up. Pain usually worked, I usually pinched myself or something to wake myself up, but I have tried that and this dream must be too deep for that to work. I tried something else. I held the dagger, and dragged it along the skin of my forearm. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t wake, I had to face facts, I was stuck here.

Thick, red blood covered my arm soon enough as I had cut quite deep. It dripped onto my skirt and the white apron I was wearing, they turned splattered with my blood as well as the rest of my blue dress.

Something leapt beside me, shocking me, and making my eyes draw away from the blood pouring out of my arm. The thing now beside me was blue striped, but so skinny that you could see it’s bones in its neck. It looked like some sort of cat, and then I thought about something, a flash back to a painting my mother showed me. It was of a plump cat that had a smile like the crescent moon and with dark aqua eyes that were as wide and circular as the sun.

This cat, looked skinny, worn out, starved, yet it had that same crescent smile but with now sharp teeth. Its eyes were narrowed and now aqua with hints of red and yellow. 

“Good morning Alice.” It said, my name rolling off its tongue.

“Who are you? What are you?” I asked, holding my bleeding arm to try and stop more blood gushing out.

“I’m Cheshire, and if I were you, I would rip off the bottom of your skirt and wrap it around your arm. May I ask how did this?” I started to use the dagger in my hand to cut a thin strip of my dress off and then I started to rip it the whole way around my skirt. The bottom of my skirt was now torn.

“Me.” I muttered under my breath as I finished ripping my skirt and started tightly wrapping it around my forearm.

“Ah, your mother tried pinching herself, trying to wake up? This is no dream, my dear, it’s is very much real, you have entered hell.” It said the last sentence as if it was some kind of greeting. I glared down at my arm, still holding the knife in my hand, and then, I lurched out and tried to kill this creature. It jumped out of reach easily.

“Cheshire! Away!” came a voice that was already so familiar to me. Jadon, I sighed. The cat thing ran off, leaving with a screech that hurt my ears. Jadon looked at my arm in shock.

“What have you done to yourself? I leave you alone for about two minutes and already you’ve been stupid with yourself!” he exclaimed

“I was trying to wake up!”

“I’d like to inform you that this isn’t a dream!” he said, the mouse jumping of his shoulder and sitting on a rock next to me. I looked down at Mallyumpkin who’s wide eyes stared up at me with curiosity. I leaned down to pick it up and it instantly got its tiny sword out, that looked to be a needle or something and started to swing it at me. I smiled, she reminded me of Zoe, cute, small but vicious and deadly at the same time. I smiled at a memory of my friend. I sighed and looked back up at him.

“Well, clearly it isn’t reality!” I said gesturing to everything around me.

“How so? Anything is possible.” He said, wow, one of the cheesiest lines I’ve ever heard, yet I liked the way he said it.

“People can’t be as hot as you in reality! Animals don’t talk! There is no ‘darkness’! This isn’t reality!” he shook his head and smiled at me.

“You think I’m hot?” ah hell, I shouldn’t have said that.

“Out of everything I just said that is all you picked up?” he shrugged and his smile grew, almost as big as the cat thing I saw earlier…and that lead to another question. “What was the cat thing?”

“Cheshire, he’s very wise yet quite naive. But you were clearly scared by him so I sent him away. Darkness has taken over his mind, a madness beyond comprehension and insanity that is incurable but none the less he is on our side…most of the time at least.”

“What do you mean by most of the time?”

“His insanity confuses him. And enough explanations, we must get you to the white queen.”

“The what who?” Halloween costumes aren’t what I would be planning to wear when I meet a queen. Let alone a queen that I’d heard great things about from my mother in stories.

“The white queen, it’s a three day walk to get there.”

“Wait, did you say walk?” I squeaked, he looked amused at my uneasiness. I wasn’t the world’s fittest person so this was clearly going to be embarrassing.

“You have a problem with walking?” he asked. I shook my head and tried to look as small as possible. I stood up and first thing I did was trip and land face first into the dirt. Great, blood spattered dress covered with dirt and had a ripped hem. I must look fabulous. I dusted myself off and looked at him questioningly.

“Go that way.” He said pointing in some direction that was covered in forest. I started walking and then stopped. I didn’t hear his footprints following me and when I turned around I saw him just standing there.

“Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked, he shook his head. “But why not? I can’t go alone! I don’t know where I’m going!”

“You’ll find your way.” I wanted to argue but I knew that he wouldn’t budge.

“Fine.” I said and stormed off. I pulled the hood over my head, covering my face as I walked. It was silent except for the crunch of my black converse against the crunching leaves. I didn’t know what he meant that I would find my way but I sure as hell wasn’t going back to ask him.

I have no idea where I’m going. Just walking in a straight line through the forest. The trees and vegetation are weird, they curl and grow way too large. They are different colours, some striped and others looking normal.  

It was rather peculiar…but all as my mother described it. This id Wonderland.