Alice's Not-So-Wonderful Wonderland: The Beginning

“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was going to get out again . . .There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked, and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.”
------ Lewis Carroll

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Alice had always loved her name ever since she was a little girl. The name had connotations of tea parties, rabbits, smiling cats and a whole world of wonder. When she was young, Alice would have her own tea parties. She’d invite all her favourite teddy bears -especially the white rabbit she insisted her mother buy her- to the extravagant event which took place in her own, flower covered section of the garden (or in her room if the weather turned up short). Not only that, she begged for a pet cat, which she finally received when she was thirteen years old. His name was Cheshire, obviously. The girls walls were lined with playing cards. From top to bottom and all around her room, creating a mosaic of black and red shapes and people. Her room was filled with odd trinkets that she thought she could associate back to Wonderland. On her table she kept a tiny bottle that she had wrapped a small “Drink Me.” note around. Also on the table, she had a small silver box, that she filled with love heart sweets, as these were the only ones she could find with writing on them. A vase filled with fresh flowers would always be kept in her room along with an ever growing collection of hats (can you guess why?). She believed that if she managed to recreated the setting as closely as she could, that one day, she would wake up in the real Wonderland.

And one day, she did wake up in another land. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as wonderful Alice expected.

Alice was now seventeen. It had been three years ago that she had discovered her own “Wonderland.” The happy child that once frolicked in the garden had long since died and in her place now stood a self-loathing shattered soul. So much had happened over the past few years, so much had changed. Happiness was a rare thing for her now.