Return to Wonderland

Return to Wonderland
based on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass"

Disclaimer:
The original story belongs to Lewirrolrrol (god rest his soul) and I'm only borrowing the characters.
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Return to Wonderland
AJ Angelique

Chapter 4: Garden of Death

It was sometime before sunrise when Alice was roused out of sleep by something cold. Her eyes slowly opened and she took in a deep breath of air before looking up to see Dinah right before her face. Yet what struck this as odd to Alice was the fact that the cat was giving off soft mews that sounded to her liked worry whines.

"What's wrong Dinah?" Alice whispered. Dinah immeditaly got off the bed, padded across the room and jumped up to the window sill. Carefully, Alice slipped out of Hare's arms so as not to wake him and joined Dinah at the window. When she looked out, she was mildly surprised to find the this window looked out into the backyard where the tea table sat, still dressed in all its vestments. Alice glanced around a bit before she finally saw what Dinah was mewing about, there was someone in the backyard. Alice silently watched as the figure made its way around the table and went to the very back of the yard where the sculpted hedge wall stood. While the hedge wall looked to be solid, the figue was somehow able to pass right through it somehow. Fuled by curiosity, Alice decided to go and investiagte this. So once she was dressed again in her borrowed nightgown and had on a robe, she quietly slipped out of the room and tip toed down stairs with Dinah hot on her heels.

Alice made it out of the house without waking a soul and stepped into the porch of the backyard where she shivered slightly for two reasons. The first being was the fact that the night cold was colder thhe hhe had expected it to be outside. The second being that the backyard looked a bit spookier during the night for some odd reason. It seemed unnatural that the tea table sat alone and waiting for someone to sit down. Alice shook off this feeling and ventured deeper into the backyard as she honed her sights in on the hedge wall across from her. Once she was face to face with the hedge, Alice noted that it was twice as tall as her and smelt of roses even though she could see the roses. Yet no matter where she looked, she couldn't see a door or gate in which to pass through.

"So, how did they get in?" Alice asked to herself. Dinah let out a soft new and Alice looked to her right in time to see her waltz right through hedghedge. Alice went to the very same spot and tentivally touched the hedge only to be surprised that a crack appeared in the wall. Alice pushed against the hedge even more to find that she opening an secret door. Apparently, someone has grown the hedge around a gate and kept it cut so as it opened easily while keeping it look hidden. The hedge door opened quietly, save for the small creak when the door was open fully. Alice cringed in reaction at this and glanced back at the house, hoping that it hadn't waken anyone. She stared at the house for a moment before she let out a small breath of relief before she turned back to the other side of the hedge wall.

Alice's eyes had adjusted well to the night by now and she was able to see that the hedge was more than a wall, it was four walls. Peerinf around, Alice estimated the area to be 20ft wide and 30ft long with yellow roses lineing the inside walls...real rose none the less. Apparently, someone had been trimming them off the other side for some reason. In the very middle of the area was a queen sized four poster bed sitting atop a three step stage. Even in this darkness, Alice can see that the bed in dress in white linens, even the gauze like curtains are white and give off a light shimmer. Scattered around the area are smaller, more rounded bushes that grow even more yellow roses...yellow roses which match the color her hair used to be when she was there last.

Alice ventured furthur into the secret room, making her way to the bed seeing as how she noted that there was something dark lain on the bed. As she did this, she noted that while the scent of roses was strong in the air, it was mixed with a strange pungent scent Alice had never smelled before. It was odd because as she got further into the room, it seemed as if the two scents were competeing against each other. Once Alice was at the bed, she was surprised to find what appeared to be her old blue dress with the white apron. Yet rather than it being child size, it appeared as if this dress could fit her at that very moment, which struck Alice as odd. As she stared at the dress, Dinah let off a small yrowl that made Alice snap her head up to look at Dinah, who was standing at the head of the bed with her back arched.

"Dinah, what's wrong?" Alice started but was swiftly cut off when she was tackled from behind and fell forward onto the bed.

"Welcome to my garden Alice," said a harsh voice in her left ear.
"Hatter?" Alice gasped and she was answered by a low laughter.
"You've been a naughty girl Alice, snooping around like that. Also, I know about you and Hare," he said and her eyes grew wide with surprise. She thought he was going to get off her when she felt some of his weight being lifted off her, but this was only so as the he could gather up the end of her robe and nightgown. Alice gasped and was about to cry out in protest when his other hand quickly slapped itseld across her mouth and muffled her voice.

"Now now, this is 'our' alone time Aice," he said, this time in her right ear as he swiftly pulled up her cloths to expose her nether reagions to the cold night air. Alice could feel the fear gathering inside of her as he shifted around once more and positioned himself at her entrance. Wine sne swift thrust, he was inside of her and she let out a muffled cry of pain as his other hand still covered her mouth. He continued to thrust in and out of her as pain made itseld known inside of Alice while she continued to cry out in pain as she felt tears sting her eyes and roll down her face.

At one point, her left hand slipped up and under the pillows where it encountered something cold and metal. Alice's attention was drawn to this as her finger felt the item a bit more and she found it to be a knife...a sharp knife seeing as how she cut her index finger on the blade. Acting out of instinct, Alice quickly grabbed the knife and stabbed behind her. Hatter let out a howl and pain and stopped his thrusting to reach for the embeded knife. Alice took this chance to jab him off er wer with her elbow and she scrambled away from the bed. Alice made her way for the still open hedge door but before she could reach it, she tripped over something and fell face down on the floor. Alice cursed under her breath and was about to get back up when she looked up to see the decaying face of a young girl with blonde hair and brown eyes.

Alice let out a shout of surprise and scrambled away to her right only to collide into two more bodies of dead blonde girls. Alice jumped back only to land on her tush and she looked rapidly around the room to find that even more bodies of young girls were scattered around the area, each one in a various stage of decomposition. Alice would have lost it right then if the Hatter hadn't started to laugh right then and she turned around to find that he was still laying on the bed, his left hand on his hip where the knife was lodged.

"Who are they Hatter? What's going on here?" Alice demanded and he grinned.
"They are you and yet they are not you," Hatter replied.
"I don't understand."
"Don't you see? Each one of these girls reminded me of you Alice, when rst rst met them they were you...but when I brought them here they weren't you so..."

"You killed them?" Alice spatted out.
"Yes, but only because they weren't you," Hatter retorted.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you so obssesed with me to do all of this?"
"I'm not obssesed with you, I' lov love with you."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't you see Alice? I love you, I have always loved you since the day you first joined our tea party all those years ago. My heart nearly broke when you left so suddenly," Hatter said, each word weighing heavily on Alice.

"But now you're back, and we can live together. Happily ever after, just like in a fairy tale," he said. Alice frowned at this statement, but got the feeling that he wouldn't hurt her as long as she coporated...but that wasn't to be. For as soon as this thought crossed her mind, Alice began to hear the soft voices of young girls. Alice looked around for the source of the voices as they got stronger and it wasn't long before Alice realized that it was the voices of the dead girls. They were speaking in urgent voices telling her...

"Leave, leave this place."
"Don't listen to him."
"He killed us, he'll kill you too."
"Leave, leave now."
"Leave."

The voices repeated these statements over and over again as Alice looked from one body to the next to see that they were looking at her now. Alice began to get scared as the voices began to blend together and sound nothing more than babbeling as she crouched on the ground with her eyes closed and hands over her ears.

"Stop it. Please stop," Alice whined, the tears begining to fall from her eyes again.
"Alice, what's wrong?" Hatter asked, genuially worried now as Alice continued her pleas for the voices to stop. Fighting the pain in his side, Hatter pushed against the bed and managed to get himself standing as the knife cut a deeper hole in his side. Yet the moment that he was standing, the voices shifted from simple warning to a single screamed command...run.

Finally, Alice let out a chocked sob type scream and she made a sprint for the doorway as the Hatter's cries were drowned out by the voices of the girls. Alice made it out of the room safely as Dinah ran by her feet. After that, Alice made for the side gate and ran blindly into the woods as the tears of fear stung at her eyes. The moment she was out of sight of the house, there a single clap of thunder as rain poured down from the sky. It was a soft steady rain that washed away her tears and soaked her cloths, but it also quickly turned the ground to a slippery mud that finally mad Alice slip and fall on the ground as if she was a runner sliding into home base.

Still filled with fear and panic, Alice scrambled to get up and continue her flight only to nearly run into a male figure with ears protruding from their hair.

"No!" Alice cried out as she backed away and spun around to run away only to run into a tree. She hit the tree with a heavy thud that made her flinch and she could feel herself fall backwards. Yet she never reached the fround for the figure quickly jumped forward and swiftly caught her in his arms.

"No! Let go of me!" Alice cried out as she tried to squirm out of his grasp.
"Alice! It's me! You're safe," said a soothing male voice. Alice stopped her strugling and looked up to see the familar figure of a cat man. Yet a single flash of lighting confirmed what she already knew.

"Chesire Cat," Alice gasped and hugged him out of releif. He held her for the moment, lightly stroking her hair in an attempt to comfort her as she cried on his chest. A distant clap of thunder reminded him of where they were and he knew they had to go someplace dry.

"Come, let's get out of the rain," he said and led her to a place he knew they could get dry and warm in which to talk.

Next)
Chapter 5: Out of the Rain

PS:
Look out for some of my Alice in Wonderland art at:
The Tangled Web
www.angelfire.com/ok5/tangled_web