I walk into the local mall and enter the Pawn shop looking for something to spend my paycheck on, but nothing catches my eye. Generally, I don’t look at the top shelf, because there’s almost always something lower, but nothing today, so I get on my tippy-toes and look. Then, I saw something shining. A sword with a phantom knight hilt reflected the light off the florescent light in the corner. The price tag said $50. The cashier bolted towards me.
“I drop price for you! Favorite customer!” she yelled overenthusiastically,"40 Just for you!". I put $40 up on the counter and left with the sword in hand.
I was walking home when I started to fall down, or up rather. The sword on my back glowed as I rose. Suddenly I was in a checkered room with a little white rabbit. I looked at my hands, which were covered in dark purple armor, in fact, my whole body was. The rabbit hopped towards a monumental door. Another huge object loomed above me in the middle of the room. It was a white table with two vials on it, one small and one large. I jumped onto a huge chair and then onto the table. I was thirsty anyway from the strange thing that had just happened to me, so I took the small one and drank it. The room suddenly went from a coliseum to a small dining room. The door stood almost as small as me now; or rather I was almost as large as it. I walked through the door and arrived in a black hallway. My senses were heightened. I dashed at nothing, my movements were not my own. I saw something in the distance, a black figure. My legs would not stop their stride and my sword was raised. The figure gets closer to me. A second and I would be a killer. My, no, their life flashed before my eyes and all that I felt in my heart was excitement and happiness. I plunge my sword in deep and puncture the skin on the other side of the victim, then cut open their chest. The heart was still beating. It looked so delicious…
I’m so hungry. I’ve been waiting what seems like centuries for this feast. My mouth widens as I rip the heart out of the open body, then I proceed to pluck all of the insides from the child-like corpse.
When I’m finished with my meal, a rush of wind comes from down the hall. Picking up my sword, I go to check it out. As I get closer, I see that it’s another door, this time fit for someone of my stature to open. My hand rests on the hinge now, slowly turning until the door creaks open. I hush my breaths as well as my footsteps. Anything could be in here, yet nothing is…
The door closes itself and suddenly I’m in an arena surrounded by cards. Standing, walking, and talking cards. A strange occurrence…
They lunge at me like a pack of wolves to a downed elk, but my speed was overwhelming. I didn’t know what I was doing; it was like my sword was guiding me.
Soon the army of cards was a heap of paper shreds and I craved a more human opponent.
“Give me something that BLEEDS!” I scream to no one in particular. I have no idea what I am doing, yet I feel so alive, so why stop now?
A gate slams open and a man walks out. He wears an awkward hat and looks quite mad, but then again, I myself am plunging into madness as well. He offers a dual, and I stab him in the neck. A shot to the jugular has a tendency to bleed. I hold the body in one hand and the head in the other, dripping the blood from the neck into my mouth. The gate that the man walked through is still open, so I go inside. As soon as I step foot into the new setting, I see the life of the man I had just killed.
“The Hatter…” I say, “Quite an interesting name…”
As soon as I look through the place I had just entered, I realize it’s not a room at all; in fact, it’s a whole new world, a land of wonder.
More cards charge towards me and I quickly dispatch them. They start to come in an interval, which just makes them more predictable, yet with each one I kill, a memory of their life invades my mind.
I push on, disregarding the thought storm inside my head. Arriving at a maze, I chop each hedge down as they come. When the maze has finally been butchered all the way through, I see an estate, with hearts wherever they can fit in with the architecture.
I sever the gas line and light a match, awaiting the fireworks, but right before they start, a figure darts out of the home.
I rush after them with one thought overruling all, “NO SURVIVORS”
We soon arrive at a dead end and I can see that there is an oddly shaped woman in the corner of the right side. As I approach, she asks me, “Who are you?” I take a moment to sit and think; so many memories in my head…
Then I get it.
“It’s not who I am that matters, it’s what.” I explain, “And the answer to that is: I’m mad as a Hatter!”
