After we were in the clear, Chase let go of me.
“What are you doing here Alice?” He questioned as he leaned against the wall. He had that sly smile that he always seemed to wear at school. He wore a pure black suit, tailed jacket and all, with the black tie loose around his neck. Bizarre, but not surprising compared to everything else. Maybe he was just trying to fit in. Other than his attire, something else seemed off. Then I realized what it was.
“Your eyes.” I stepped closer to him to examine them. They were yellow with black slivers, like some type of contacts I had seen at Kumoricon, the nearest anime convention. “They are like a cat’s! Are you wearing contacts?”
He rolled his eyes, which looked weird with cat’s eyes. “Yes, yes I know, and no I am not. These are what my eyes look like in my true form. Now answer my question.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I went back into the school and I saw you guys. You entered your locker. I got curious so I opened the locker.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, Alice,” Chase sighed.
“But satisfaction brought it back,” I responded. Not many knew the second half of the quote, so I made it my duty to finish it every time I heard someone say it in the typical anticlimactic fashion.
Chase appeared semi-impressed. “Well, well, you have quite a mouth on you for being so quiet at school.”
I gave him a look and then shook my head. “Still wasn’t my fault, I wasn’t going to go inside, I swear! Something pushed me!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you know who it was?”
“No. I didn’t see who or what it was. Next thing I knew I was here.” I peered around. It was all a lot to take in. I had found myself in a strange new place, one that I had never seen pictures of before or heard anyone talk about. So I asked the obvious question that had been on my mind ever since coming here. “Where are we?”
“Alice, you are in Wonderland,” I heard a voice say behind me.
I turned to find Malcolm standing there along with Davis and Melvin, all of them were also in some of my classes. These were the four boys that I had seen jump in the locker. They each wore some Victorian gear like Chase, but Malcolm’s was a little more extravagant. His was dark green with light green lining and ivy embroidery. He had a burnt orange top hat with deep violet flowers pinned to one side of it covering his raven black hair. His light blue eyes stared at me, making my heart beat a little faster. Kate, my BFF, correctly saw I had the hugest crush on him but I never admitted it out loud because, well, let’s face it—he was completely out of my league.
“You mean the arcade? Is this some new attraction they added in the back?” I asked, referring to the arcade called “Wunderland” off Market street. I looked at Davis and Melvin. They didn’t say a word but just glanced at each other. He must have meant that, maybe they got a new attraction in the back, like laser-tag but more like a virtual reality game. I heard they were making great progress with VR in Utah or Idaho or something. As I kept an eye on Melvin and Davis, I noticed Melvin had bunny ears matching his orange hair. I was just about to point them out when Malcolm shook his head and answered my question.
“No, not the arcade. This is the real deal. This is Wonderland.”
“I don’t understand. You can’t possibly be talking about the children’s tale, can you?”
“Yes.” He peered around, as if making sure no one else was around. “But you shouldn’t be here. It is too dangerous and you aren’t ready.”
“Aren’t ready for… what? “I began when Melvin and Davis grabbed me and Malcolm pressed a vial of liquid to my lips. I tried to struggle, not quite sure what the heck he was trying to give me.
“Drink this, Alice. You must go home now, and forget everything you saw.”
Forcing the drink down my throat, I felt the sweet liquid start to make my body tingle. My vision was getting blurry and I had no idea why the world felt like it was spinning around. How could he do this to me, I wondered. Why couldn’t he have just asked?
I shoved him back, but it was too late as the vial was empty. “What the hell did you just give me?”
Before answering, I felt Chase wrap his arms around me and pull me back into the doorway that Malcolm had appeared out of. I let out a slight girly yelp, which I of course immediately regretted.
“Come on Alice, we’re going for a ride!” Chase laughed as we started to travel down and down and down.
Great, the falling feeling all over again. It wasn’t like my head wasn’t already spinning.
CHAPTER 2
When I opened my eyes, I found my friend Kate standing above me. Her long brown hair was braided back, in contrast to my short blonde hair that always seemed messy no matter what I did with it. Kate also always wore jeans and a cute designer top, much nicer than the oil-paint covered jeans and simple t-shirt I usually wore. Just a note, oil-paint doesn’t come out of anything. Ever. It even keeps that grease smell to it, which
