Rabbit Hole

Welcome To Wonderland

I still remember the wake. In the moment, there was a sense of fear, confusion, skepticism, but I'll admit, there was a bit of hope in there too.

I open my eyes in a blue room wearing something remeniscent of a hospital gown. As I take a longer breather to look around,everything else seems to remind me of a hospital too. The bed I woke up on almost feel like carbon copies of ones I've been in after sugeries before, and the chairs in the room and door out of it seem very remeniscent of those I saw during my time in there. But I've been into our local hospital enough times to know that this isn't it. As I get up, the door opens, and a guy dressed like a doctor walks in, but I know that I am in somewhere completely new, and it doesn't feel like this is an inpatients ward.

"Clyde, she's awake." I hear him call out down the hallway. He starts to approach me next.

"Amanda, is it?"

I stare at him shocked. How did he know what I went by? How did he know I was a girl?

"Yeah, it is. Where am I?"
"Oh, right. This is an operation called Wonderland. My name's Lewis, I founded this place. Essentially, we're a rebellion against conversion therapy. What we do is that we hack into conversion camps or facilities, see who's scheduled to go in, work on rescue missions, then take care of them until it's safe to go home."

Wait, what?

"I fell in the woods with my parents on my trail. How did you turn that around?"
"We'd already made our way there, and we saw your run. That car you saw was your parents, but believe me we were only a few seconds behind. When your parents stopped, we took the chance there. Clyde confronted your parents while me and Carol helped you out. You've been out for the whole night."
"My parents or someone walking by would have called the police. To any outsider it would have been a kidnapping."

I want to believe this story so badly, but it just doesn't seem real.

"We work with the government, they know what we're doing and try to ease everyone through it."
"Wait, why'd you call it a rebellion if it's with the government?"
"It's just how we describe it. It's still a sort of fight against how things used to have been done."
"Yeah, I get that, but isn't a rebellion usually against what's in control?"
"Is it- you know, it doesn't matter. It's just the words we chose to describe it because we thought it worked, but the definition doesn't work. We'll think of something new."
"Alright, but back on the other thing, what do you mean by ease them through it?"
"Try to make them see where they went wrong and help them come to terms with yor identity. When it's safe for you to return home, we send you straight there."
"And what if they refuse to change?"
"It won't be safe for you to go home to them, so we try to find a stable place for you to stay. So essentially, we go through an adoption system."

This still doesn't feel right, but I can't exactly put my finger on what's wrong. So I keep on pushing for more information.

"Nick and Jade."
"Who?"
"Nick and Jade, two of my friends. I messaged them before I tried to run away and-"
"Oh, we already took care of that issue. We told them about what happened, they're on board. I'll admit, they were skeptical, but they changed their mind once they realised we weren't the same place that they were trying to send you."

Ok, now I'm starting to think that this is real. Nick wouldn't easily believe something like this and Jade would instantly be hostile and assume a lie, so if they were on side, then this could actually be fine. Of course, he could be lying and he has no idea who they are and they have no idea where I am, but I've been thinking nihilistically long enough, maybe I should just accept that they actually had my best interests at heart here.

At that point, I feel a really sharp pain in my left side. I react instantly, and Lewis warns me not to panic.

"When you fell, you bruised your rib, so you'll want to be careful. Word of advice, avoid lifting stuff, try not to stay still or lie down, when you go to sleep, try to sleep more upright, try to breathe normally, and about every hour, take in about 10 slow, deep breaths. It'll help you recover quicker."
"Yeah, that looked like it would be a rough landing. I'm not really incredibly active anyway, so it should be fine."
"Ok, I think that's everything, so I should probably show you around."
"Oh ok, so I'm not gonna be in here the whole time."
"Of course not! We've got others here, so maybe socialising would help."
"Right."
"Ok, first you'll need to get changed, then I'll introduced to the others. So, you ready to start now?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."

In hindsight, it was kind of obvious. The rebellion blunder was one thing, but a lot of things didn't make sense.
Why would the government commission this? Conversion therapy was still legal, and they weren't taking any action to change that anytime soon, especially for trans people.
My left rib was bruised, but I landed on my right side.
He had no idea who Nick and Jade were the first time I mentioned them, but instantly claimed to know them once I said they were friends.
None of it made sense.
But, if I was being honest, that didn't really feel like much of a change from how things were already going.