Alice in Wonderland PART O N E OF TWO

"Alice, honey, your darling, Charming is here, and he's asking for you!" The woman laughed, making a slightly whooping sound with the last word. "Come on, open the door, Alice! You've been here the whole morning! Were you that excited to see Charming?"

The door opened suddenly, making the woman flinch back in a sudden motion, her mouth set in a grim line.

"Charming is not my darling, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" Wearing a poffered sapphire blue dress that matched her deep ocean eyes perfectly, Alice, with her flawless, beautiful pale skin, cried out, enraged at her mother's words.

"It is no matter, you must marry him. Today is your engagement day, and you must not, I repeat, must not, ruin the day with your selfish whining." She paused, forcing the sickly-sweet smile up again on her ruddy lips, caked with makeup. "Charming," she added, after some thought—"is a dear, and you are lucky to have him, sweetie.

Hearing the snarl on her mother's breath in the last words she uttered, Alice deftly sprinted back into the bathroom, her refuge, and locked the door in a split second, her hands trembling, shaking like leaves in the wind.

"I won't." Her voice rang out, loud and clear, bouncing on the marble walls of the rather large room. "I won't." She clenched her fists, her teeth grinding against each other—eyes burning blue as she slowly found her calm, Alice let herself relax against the cool, supporting door, whispering to herself. "I won't marry him."

- - - - -

"I'm happy you decided to do what was best for you, dear." Her mother, trotting, struggling to catch up to Alice, chattered breathlessly, her face lit up in joy. "This is going to be the best day of your life, you'll see."

Alice paid no heed to her mother, who had an obnoxiously constant speech; she strode on, not wanting to hear of the torture she had gotten herself into. She had forgotten that she had not strength, nor courage of any kind; there was no way to stop this engagement.

* * *

She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to rid herself of this miserable blackhole of a person; the person now standing in front of her, smiling overly cheesily and holding a ridiculous bouquet of white roses.

"Alice!" His mouth smiled, but his eyes stayed in place, glinting lustily; Alice quite thought that he, Charming, looked like a pig.

"I've been waiting for you," he spread his hand out, attempting to fake his disappointment, which, she knew, she just knew was a tactic to make her mother grovel beneath his feet.

"I'm—" Alice paused: she so obviously knew what he wanted: her complete submission.

Clamping her mouth shut, she stared at Charming, listening to the silence growing bigger in the half-empty ceremony hall.

Abruptly, a snow-white rabbit, double the size of normal rabbits, dashed in, stopping in front of Alice, hopping impatiently: as if Alice could read his mind.

He had spectacles on his bunny face; he held a golden watch, which lay open on his furry paw; he stood on his hind feet, which were stomping as if he were frustrated with her.

"Mr.Bunny? What are you doing here?" Alice had heard of these rabbits from a place called wonderland: of course, she'd believed them completely when she'd been a child—but his furry face, along with his ruby-red eyes, were so real...

"Alice? Oh, yes. Alice. That's jer name." The rabbit muttered to himself, flipping the golden watch open and repeatedly checking the time. "There's no time, please follow me."

Without any warning, Alice's wrist was grabbed, giving her not time to protest nor to exclaim; what surprised her more was that no one in the hall moved: not even Charming, who was still smiling his awful smile at her, his eyes glazed over.

"Oh dear, oh dear. We are going to be late, and he's going to be angry, and oh, my, oh my!" Everything became a blur excepting the rabbit pulling her alongside him, his legs propelling him about 80 miles per hour.

"Who are we going to meet?"

"That is for you, miss Alice, to find out for yourself," the bunny, not even turning his head, replied steadily. "He wanted it to be a secret."

A dark hole loomed beneath them suddenly; the rabbit, without hesitation, jumped into the choking, black-as-night darkness, pushing Alice in front of him.

"The best of luck to you in Wonderland," he shouted, steadfastedly growing further from Alice's gaze. "Be careful of—"

Although she strained her ears to hear the last words of the rabbit, her body instead hit solid ground, making her wince in pain, her ears vibrating with an unknown noise.

Be careful of what, she wondered, after her pain had faded away; now that she had time to look around, she saw, now, that Wonderland was beautiful beyond measure: it was just as she had imagined—treetops glistening, glossy in the radiating sunlight in gold; the grass, green as could be and soft as silk; the skies as blue as her sapphire eyes; only the gentle breeze lulled her hair, slightly, away from her face, pulling back with gentle hands her yellow-golden strands of hair.

to be continued..