The Heart of Wonderland

Chapter 2

Alison's eyelids fluttered as she slowly made her way back to consciousness. She took a deep, cautious breath, anticipating a wave of pain, and was pleasantly surprised when none came. She opened her eyes wider and stared at the ceiling above her, then wrinkled her nose in confusion. Where sky or ceiling should have been, there was a smooth expanse of mirror, reflecting her own image back at her.

She rolled her head to the side, trying to figure out where she was. The last thing she could remember was driving in the car with her mother and father, and then...something had gone wrong. She frowned. Had her parents had an argument? She couldn't quite remember.

Then it came back to her. Her father's speed, her mother's cries to slow down. And then the terrifying drop in her stomach when the car had left the ground and gone crashing into the side of a building.

Alison rose shakily to her feet and looked around, trying to understand what was happening. Instead of finding herself on a downtown New York sidewalk or inside a hospital room, she was confronted on all sides by more mirror images of herself.

"Mom?" Her voice wavered. "Dad?"

She whirled around looking for a door, another person, anything that would explain what she was doing in this place.

Am I dead? She wondered suddenly. Is this what happened when you died? Maybe she was in hell or purgatory, or something.

It definitely didn't look like heaven.

Alison took a few tentative steps forward. Maybe if she reached one of the walls—mirrors—whatever—she could find a door. But the reflections made it impossible to determine how big the space was or how close she was to the edge.

"Please don't let me be dead," Alison whispered. Not now, when her life was just starting. She had recently turned fourteen and was going to be attending her dream school in the fall, the LaGuardia School of Music & Art. The audition process had been intense and she'd hardly been able to believe it when the letter came saying she was in.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alison saw a flash of white and turned toward it.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Her voice sounded small and unsure.

There was no answer, but again she saw a flash of white in her peripheral vision. Desperate not to be alone in this strange place, Alison ran after it. As she got closer, she saw that she chased a small white rabbit. It stopped and looked back at her, twitching its nose, as if to say "follow me."

Alison slowed her steps, trying not to scare it away. Although she'd been hoping to find an exit, or at least another human being, the rabbit's presence was heartening. Surely there wouldn't be a single white rabbit in the afterlife, would there? She had to be dreaming, she reassured herself.

As she inched closer, the rabbit hopped away. She tried again, and again the bunny evaded her.

"It's OK, little guy," Alison whispered. "I won't hurt you."

She reached out a hand to the fluffy creature in what she hoped was a non-threatening gesture. This time it allowed her to approach. She bent down slowly and the scent of jasmine filled the air as she drew closer. But just before her hand touched its quivering ear, it took off again.

"Darn it, hold still!" she muttered at the rabbit.

As if in defiant response to her order, the animal took off at a run.