WONDERLAND
Alice hurled through the door and landed with a hard knock on
the cold floor, the men walked in behind her. From the floor, she slowly lifted
her head, her blurry eyes rose until his figure began to focus.
“The Mad Hatter” is what they
call him. He sat still at the table. A fog of smoke glazed the room. From her
bruised eyes she could just make out the giant top hat, hiding his heartless
eyes. She could feel him watching her…
“Alice”
He spoke without moving. Her
heart began to race.
“Did you really think you
could escape from Wonderland…?”
This was not a question. No
one had EVER escaped from Wonderland before. Once you came to Wonderland, your
body didn’t belong to you anymore, it belonged to them. It belonged to Hatter.
Alice didn’t purposely find her way to Wonderland, unlike the
other girls who came; young, addicted and desperate. Once a girl found herself
in Wonderland, she became property –traded and prostituted at the will of Hatter.
Their bodies used up and sold…To them it seemed a small price to pay for their
fix. Reality so distorted by drugs they saw Wonderland as their sanctuary. Slaves
to their own addictions.
Hatter used drugs as a tool,
to keep order in Wonderland.
Shrinking Mushrooms to
Potions, Tripping Teas, Pills, any and every kind of substance, each different but
just as effective.
Or worst of all…the White
Rabbit. White Rabbit lead you to a deep, dark hole, empty and evil. It was a
drug so wicked the moment you inhaled the thick white poison, you became
immortal, but cursed. Once you follow the path of the White Rabbit, there’s no
going back, stop taking the drug and you will die. However even though the White
Rabbit makes you live forever, it slowly turns you insane.
White Rabbit smoke released
in thick, white circles from Hatter’s mouth.
He stood.
Alice’s breathing became heavy as he paced his way towards her,
eyes still hidden by his hat. He stood before her face, Alice shut her eyes tight.
* * *
Two days earlier, Alice’s plan commenced.
She spent exactly one year
devising this plan. It wasn’t just a plan of escape… It was a plan of total
destruction.
Alice would bury the people responsible for trapping
her in this prison of hell. She didn’t belong in Wonderland. She wasn’t like
the other girls, in need of White Rabbit to live, willing to sell their souls
to the Hatter himself to keep their miserable lives.
No. She came into Wonderland
having lost everything she knew, desperately looking for a safe place. She was
befriended by a man named Cheshire. He was kind to her, she trusted him and he promised her
safety and a new beginning. She was tricked.
One year she had spent in the
dirty cell behind Wonderland’s glamorous façade. One year of feeling cold and
alone, forced to dress up in dolls clothes and dance for men more like creatures,
who used her body and controlled her with drugs. But finally the time had come…and
timing was everything.
* * *
Hatter bent towards her face.
He grabbed her hair and twisted her neck until she was forced to look at him. She
let out a shriek.
She looked into his eyes -bloodshot
with madness, eyes which once long ago were a light green colour, were now black.
His eyes shined at her but looked empty and hollow inside.
She diverted the gaze,
Hatter’s eyes followed, then he noticed it; A golden brown colour, clenched in
her fist. He grabbed it. Tea leaves, she had been trying to smuggle out of
Wonderland with her. Tutt Tutt.
‘Addicts’ he thought, Hatter smirked.
“Alice, Alice, Alice. Now what shall we do with you? Think we could escape
from Wonderland did we? Must have lost your mind. Do you know what happens to
people who lose their minds Alice?”
Behind the fog of thick
smoke, Alice noticed the tiny clock quietly ticking on the wall in
the corner.
“THEY. LOSE. THEIR. HEADS!”
He threw her to the ground.
Hatter’s men struck into
action. They pulled Alice to the table. One man grabbed an axe. Alice panicked but the man slammed her head on the table and held
it there. She looked at the clock in the corner, 10 seconds to six…Right on
time.
Hatter grabbed the rusty axe
and held it above Alice’s bare neck. His smile was crooked, everyone knew more
than well he took joy in what he was about to do. He lifted the blade taking
aim… DONG! Interrupted! DONG! The clock bells rang. Hatter looked up, 6 O’clock?! Tea Time!
Hatter was surprised that he
actually forgot, too caught up in the mess of catching Alice. One could NEVER be late for Tea. The men looked to
Hatter slightly confused as to what to do next, Hatter looked at the men.
“Tea Time!” he exclaimed.
“Suppose this can wait until
after the Tea Party, think of this as your lucky day Alice”.
The men began to set up. Every
6 O’clock exactly, Hatter was pedantic that he and his men underwent
the ritual of sipping on Tripping Tea and smoking to restore White Rabbit
poison into their system. Hatter placed the Golden Brown Tea Leaves in the 5
spouted Teapot.
Alice took a deep breath. She waited.
As he poured the Tea a hum of
noise arose as the men began to chat and snigger. Hatter glared at her, sipping
his Tea, and she sat silently staring back at him.
Moments later a man began to choke,
coughing and spluttering red blood all over the Tea Table. Then another! Clenching
their throats, desperate for air and drowning in their own blood. Alice remained motionless, eyes fixed on Hatter’s now panic
stricken face.
He dropped his cup.
“The Tea Leaves! You posioned the..” blood consumed his mouth.
With every powerless struggle,
she watched him. She watched his eyes roll into the back of his head. She
watched his convulsions on the floor, now blood stained. She watched him until
his body became still with paralysis. He wasn’t dead yet, only lack of White
Rabbit would truly kill him. But all in due time…
Alice picked up the axe off the table, she glanced at the
clock. 6:15…Right on time. She walked over the unconscious bodies on
the floor and made her way towards the door. Time to finish getting out of
Wonderland…
