Malice in Wonderland

I sit in the corner of dark room, hugging my knees to my chest, feeling the tattered and dirt-covered dress beneath my pale finger trips. Shakily I take deep and unsteady breathes, studying the room that is only lit by dusty rays of sun that slip in through bars over the windows. Stringy blonde hair dangles over my eyes. I clench my eyes shut, trying to block everything out.

"Is she in there?" A deep, bass-like voice echoes through the vent and into the room. They must be in the hallway outside the heavy metal door.

"Yes, she hasn't spoken since we brought her in, is, she's been mumbling about rabbits and how she will be late for tea," a second voice floats through.

"Rabbits you say? Maybe she remembers. Are you sure all you told her was her name?" The first voice speaks again.

"Yes, I'm positive. We should go ask her and start again," the second voice suggests.

"It's worth a shot," the first man answers and the door swings open, filling the space with harsh, artificial light. I look up, narrowing my eyes and knotting my fingers into my pale blue dress.

"Hello sweetheart, can you please tell us your name?" The shorter of the two men with a bald head bent down in front of me, I look up at him, he has kind eyes. I glance between the two of them, he is clearly the nicer of the two.

Weakly I open my mouth while wobbly rising to my feet. "A-Alice," I squeak out. My name is all I remember. The two men exchange a look and that's when I do it. I sprint towards the open door as fast as I can, I turn down the hall, my bare feet squeaking on the polished white tiles.

"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" The man shouts loudly. I ignore him and keep running, my torn dress brushing against my knees.

The doors start morphing and changing, getting smaller and smaller, the only one that stays the same size is the one at the end of the hall, I pick up the pace until the voices behind my shoulder seem like whispers.

I reach the handle and throw it open, running into the darkened garden. I take heavy breaths and slump against a tree, my back to the door. Suddenly a blood curdling scream erupts, the horrifying face of a stone gargoyle is eye to eye with me. I realize the scream is pouring from my own mouth and I quickly cover it with my hand.

I look around, there are large mushrooms, twice my size, and roses, they are drenched in red that looks like freshly applied paint. All the foliage is dark and rain gently pours down, quickly I duck under a mushroom.

"Hello there! Who are you?" A voice that sounds like dripping molasses speaks from above, I look up and around yet I see no one. "Up here!" The voice pipes up again. I peer upwards and shriek, stumbling back.

Atop the mushroom sits what I believe used to be a caterpillar. It's blue skin is mottled and and rotten, one eye is entirely gone and one is only hanging by a tendon, dangling grotesquely out of the socket. Blood is spattered all along it's segmented body, and it's tongue lulls out. The smell is absolutely putrid, a rancid potpourri that makes my nostrils burn, I leap back, tearing my already ragged dress on a large stone.

"What...w-what are you?" I stammer slightly, I glance down at the blood dripping down my scraped shin, I take a deep breath and look back at the zombie-like caterpillar.

"I am a caterpillar and what are you? Are you an Alice? You look like an Alice," he seems to ponder this. I tilt my head, strands of dingy hair falling in my eyes when I do so.

"I look like an Alice? What do you mean?" I take a hesitant step forward.

"Yes, you look like an Alice. There have been many Alice's they come. And they go. And then when the last one...leaves, another appears almost in an instant. And you, my dear, look like an Alice."

I furrow my brow in confusion when a large SNAP rings out. I jump back and my eyes dart around.

I stop my gaze at a figure masked in shadows. "Who are you?" I question curiously, leaning forward towards the silhouette slightly to catch a glimpse.

The figure steps forward slightly, it's a rabbit, one of its ears is broken and hanging down, the other is missing a large chunk from the top. It's fur is a dingy and disgusting mixture of red and dirt, large patches are missing revealing green tinged skin, it's nose is crooked and moist with black bile.

"I-I have orders from the Queen, you-you are to be escorted to her court!" It feebly declares, reading from a well-worn scroll.

I look around, the giant garden is dark and haunting, I shudder as a cold chill passes over me. "Alright...only because I don't know where I am," I warily agree. The rabbit nods and starts hopping off, a pocket watch dragging along the ground behind it. I hug my arms to my chest and follow being cautiously.

"We have been expecting you, Alice," the rabbit continues down the chillingly dim path, eyes are gleaming menacingly in the dark on either side, the bodies they belong to hidden within the overgrowth.

"Expecting me?" I ask, puzzled. The decaying rabbit turns to face me, when it does, the malice in its eye glints like obsidian.

"Expecting you," it grins and I start backing away fearfully.

"Leaving so soon?" A voice drifts into my ear and I leap forward, whirling around to see a man in heart coated armor red armor behind me, along with a flotilla of soldiers on horses, armed with deadly looking blood splattered weapons.

A scream tears from my throat and is abruptly cut off as the wicked looking man clamps his hand over my mouth. He bends down to my eye level as I struggle against his grip.

"I wouldn't try that my dear Alice. The Queen is so delighted you've arrived, wouldn't want to disappoint her would we now?" He purrs like a cat who has eaten the canary in my ear. "You two," he points to a pair of soldiers in heart shaped helmets, "bind her wrists," the man orders them. They strike the butts of their spears on the ground and nod, walking over to me, quickly tying my hands behind my back with coarse rope, and then gagging me before throwing me on the back of a horse. Everything begins to go black as a soldier bashes me on the head with the but of his sword.

______________________________________________________

I slowly open my eyes, memory almost entirely blank of the recent events that have unfolded prior to my capture. I groggily inspect the room, I am strapped into a chair, my wrists are held down by thick constraints. All I can see out of the corner of my eyes are tools, there are metal tools on a small tray to my left, they look old, like they are from a different time period. The walls are made of wood, it looks like I am in a shack. There is a heart shaped cut out on the door at eye level.

The door swings open and a man in a long leather coat enters, he is wearing an odd circle on a band across his forehead, on his cheek is branded a blistering red heart. He walks over to the chair and tilts it back, smiling maliciously at me.

"Hello there little Alice, good to see you're back. The roses are starting to lose that certain sheen they get," he seems to be making friendly conversation, but his voice hides a darker tone as he grabs a sharp looking metal blade.

"Roses?" My voice quavers as I speak the word. He grins evily and nods.

"The roses. We need more blood, for that color the Queen loves," he states this matter-o-factly.

"B-Blood?" I feel myself going faint.

"You ask too many questions," he chuckles darkly before slicing into my vein on my wrist making me scream in agony. The pain is excruciating, I scream louder and more frenzied as he pushes down on my arm, making the blood pour out and into a bucket below it.

He quickly does the same to my other arm, cutting deeper. Tears run down my cheeks and I feel my head spinning, I keep shrieking, my throat getting raw.

The man's laughs intermingle with my pain-filled cries, soon more laughter joins in. I can barely force myself to look over at the heart shaped peephole to see a small crows gathered, all laughing hysterically at my agony, the woman in front wears a red crown with designs of cards and hearts on it. She is laughing the loudest.

Everything seems to turn black as more blood than I thought was held in my body spills out and into the buckets, maniacal laughter is the soundtrack to my pain.