Wonderland


Wonderland

By: E.A. Addams

Rated: R

Main Characters: Alice Kingsleigh, Craven McTier, Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, Coraline Jones and her cat

Additional Characters: Various characters from Wonderland and characters from other lands.

“I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.” Alice Kingsleigh

Unrestrained Calm

Alice sat in the shade of the big old oak tree on the school property. Alice had all of her students sitting in a semicircle around her, and she was giving her lesson outside. It was so beautiful outside, and it felt, even if for a moment, that everything was perfect.

That perfect moment was short-lived because Alice's stepmother was up to her old tricks again. Ever since she returned from Wonderland the first time at the tender age of 10 Alice's stepmother had been trying to get her committed. Alice was a smart girl, and she knew that she was not crazy or, as her stepmother and the police were fond of saying, 'hysterical'. 

The word <i>hysterical</i> in itself was hysterical. The word was such a misnomer. She was in no way upset by her trip down the rabbit hole, the only ones that seemed to be upset by it were the ones that did not go down it. Alice was calm more or less...it was a kind of unrestrained calm and again not because She was upset by the events of Wonderland, but because she was excited. Alice wanted to tell my father of her adventures in Wonderland, but something told her not to tell him either; even though her father was a great believer in the impossible, and he loved adventures. 

Alice stood up and sent her students back to the classroom and asked her stepmother and the police what they wanted. A cruel and almost evil smiled twisted her stepmother's face into an almost demonic face that Alice did not recognize. 

"We are taking you in, Miss!" The first officer said. He reached out for her arm and Alice jerked away. 

"I have done nothing wrong!" She exclaimed. 

"You are coming with us. We are taking you to the Asylum for Hysterical Women." The second officer said to her; and he, too, reached out to grab her arm, and she pulled away and began to run. 

Alice ran and ran, she did not know where she was going to go, but she was not going to the Asylum; she had been once before and was able to convince them to let her out, but that was hard, even when her father intervened it was still hard to get her back out. Alice's father was a good man and loved his daughter very much, but his new wife had gone behind his back and gotten Alice put into the Asylum; she did not like Alice and wanted to start her own family with Alice's father. 

As Alice ran she tripped over a branch on the ground and the next thing she knew she was falling...and falling...and falling. At first the fall and lack of a sudden stop scared her, but when she opened her eyes she realized where she was. Alice was falling down the familiar rabbit hole that she had fallen down when she was a child...the one that lead to Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland

Briefly, Alice wondered if all rabbit holes lead to Wonderland or just this one? Was this the same rabbit hole that she had fallen down when she was a child? She didn't know the answer to that question.

Looking around, Alice saw all the familiar things in the rabbit hole. There was a player piano, books on shelves and piled up here and there. There were oil lamps, and even that same old rocking chair that always plunged her through what felt like the center of the Earth. 

 It wasn't the first time Alice had been to Wonderland, it wasn't even the second or third time -- the difference this time was Alice was all grown up, and she had a whole new appreciation for Wonderland and just things in general. 

Everyone had thought she was crazy when she returned from Wonderland the other times and told them stories of all the wonderful and not so wonderful things there. It was such a fanciful story that Alice herself, sometimes, was not so sure if it was real. Then she thought hard about it and knew that it was not something she had dreamed up, it had been real, she had been to Wonderland on multiple occasions. 

After what felt like the longest fall of all, Alice stood up after a hard thump on the ground. She looked around and found the door with a small table sitting next to it. She picked up the key, learning a long time ago that you pick up the key before eating the sweet treat. She nibbled the sweet, and she instantly began shrinking and became the perfect size to pass through the door. 

As Alice began to place the key in the lock of, the door opened its mouth and greeted her, "hello, Miss Alice. It has been a long time and how have you changed so much." The door said to her with a knowing smile. 

"Oh!" Alice started, having forgotten, if only for a moment, that everything was alive in Wonderland. Everything was surreal, and contrary to what you know things to be in the 'real' world. "Hello!" She greeted the door back.

Slipping the key into the lock, Alice unlocked the door and then twisted the knob; and into Wonderland she went. It had been some time since she had been in Wonderland, but so far it looked like nothing had changed; but often times in Wonderland things were not what you thought they were. There were surprises around every corner.

The Return of Alice

The Cheshire Cat sat perched in a tree watching the goings-on in Wonderland when he felt that there was something different in Wonderland; someone that he had once known was back. Who could it be? Could it be Alice? Maybe the whispers that he was starting to hear were true. Was it true, had Alice come back?

The Cat jumped from branch to branch through Tulgey Wood towards the Hatter’s house. Maybe he would know if it was Alice that he felt enter Wonderland.

Upon reaching the Hatter’s house as usual, the Cat found the Hatter getting ready to take tea. He was softly singing to himself, and he seemed very happy with himself.

“And what makes you so happy on this day?” The Cat asked of the Hatter.

“It is my unbirthday!” The Hatter replied.

The Cat had heard this all before, and it never changed; though the Hatter did seem even more chipper than normal. The Cat watched him for a moment before jumping from the branch and onto the table before him.

In a moment the Hatter became very clear and lucid, saying, “She has returned as foretold. She returns to Wonderland, this time to stay…”

“Whatever do you speak of?” The Cat asked the Hatter.

“Alice. She has returned.

“It was her that I felt enter through the door.” The Cat replied. The Cat began to sing to himself, Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.

The Hatter had wandered off, tea cup in hand, and the Cat figured he should find Alice before someone she did not want to see found her.