Madness Within

02 Welcome to Underland

Alice opened the door and stepped into the unknown land.

The world she stumbled upon's appearance was quite the sight. It was wild looking, with plants with faces and multicoloured trees that swirled towards the slate sky. A stone pathway lie beneath her which lead deeper into the unknown land.

Although this place was filled with exotic things, it seemed to have a strange eerie vibe to it. All of the plants looked dull despite their odd color.

Alice slowly walked down the pathway, taking in the new surrounding. It was very much different from her world, so she couldn't bring herself to believe it was real.

The blonde's stroll through the new area came to a halt when she came face to face with a dormouse.

It wasn't your average mouse. No, this mouse was close to a foot tall. Maybe ten inches tall. It wore a red tunic that looked a bit too small with a checker patterned underskirt which was revealed since the tunic was small. There was a white belt wrapped around the tunic. The door mouse had a rapier pointed toward Alice. The dormouse asked, "Are you Alice?"

The girl was baffled enough that the mouse was large and clothed, but now it could talk? Alice said, "Why do you ask?"

"Just answer the question. Are you or are you not the real Alice?"

"Is your sword a real sword or not?" The girl spit out. If the strange creature was going to ask questions that made zero sense she would ask dumb ones as well. Well, she was a bit curious if the sword would hurt her, but that didn't matter.

Before Alice could register what happened, the mouse had climbed up to the 19 year old's hair and held its blade to her neck. The cream colored mouse grumbled into the human's ear, "I'm not playing any games. Yes this is a real blade, and I will not hesitate to stab you with it if you aren't the real Alice and you say you are. So let me ask you more time, are you the real Alice?"

The blonde's instincts took over and she knocked the mouse off her shoulder with her fist. The mouse sliced Alice's cheek with her rapier when she was knocked off. She clutched her cheek and before the mouse could strike, Alice yelled, "I don't know! All I know is that my name is Alice and I wandered into your strange land. That's it!"

"Ladies! Ladies! Please cut it out!" yelled a quivering voice. Alice whipped around to see the rabbit from earlier. The mouse bounced over to the rabbit, "Okay, she may be the right Alice. She's got spunk that's for sure."

"I noticed. She didn't hesitate to knock you down."

"Shut it, Peter CottonTail."

"We've been over this. I'm not the easter bunny."

"Easter bunny, messenger bunny, practically the same thing."

"I am not a messenger rabbit either! I knew I would regret sending you to the overworld one day."

"Not my fault you sent me whenever they were celebrating some weird holiday dealing with rabbits."

"Do you mean Easter?"

"Yes! I said that earlier!"

As the rodents continued to bicker, Alice stode there baffled once more. There were two animals bickering. Animals. In order to get their attention, she cleared her throat. The rabbit's ears twitched and he turned in her direction. He announced with a nervous tremble in his voice, "Oh, I'm sorry. So so sorry. Where are my manners? I'm Neville McThimble, although I go by Nev. My colleague whom you already have met is-"

"Just call me Mally."

"Uh, right, this is Mally. And who may you be?"

"I'm Alice Kingsley. Whether I am the right or wrong Alice is clearly up to you," Alice said with a little curtsey. Mally scoffed while Nev bowed as well.

"Did you two find the correct Alice after all?" said a boyish voice.

Two large boys shuffled over to Alice and the rodents. The duo wore matching outfits of black pinstriped suits with red ties. They seemed to be overweight and were rather round in shape. Mally scoffed, "Oh look, the tubby twins have showed up."

"Hey, that's Tweedle Dee," one of the twins pointed to himself, "and Tweedle Dum," he pointed to his sibling, "to you, mousy."

"Okay, everyone, enough arguing. We need to escort Miss Kingsley here to Absolem," Neville shakily announced. Tweedle Dee grabbed the petite blonde by the waist and slung her over his shoulder. The group began their walk down the twisted pathway. Mally laughed, "Welcome to Underland, my dear."