Through the Looking Glass (And Back to You)

Chapter 1: The Girl Who Forgot Her Name

Long before the dark curse was ever cast, there was a secluded estate in the Enchanted Forest that no one knew of except for a few servants who worked there. There was a little girl who lived in this estate that was far from any prying eyes. Her name was Alice Rocinante Mills.

She was of the age of nine. Alice spent her afternoons tracing the patterns on the estate's locked iron gates, staring at the empty road where her mother's carriage had disappeared days ago. Her mother would often leave for the palace to deliver luxury goods, but her mother always promised that she would come back as fast as she could.

Alice always dreamed about one day leaving the gates that surrounded the estate to explore the vast world outside with her mother. But the moments that Alice cherished above anything else was the time she spent with her mother.

On a perfectly sunny afternoon, Alice was playing vigorously in the garden when all of a sudden she spotted a white rabbit. But this rabbit was no ordinary plain-looking rabbit. It stood upright on its hind legs like a person.

It had a perfectly tailored frock coat on with a cravat around its neck that cascaded down its chest.

The cravat had an exquisite rectangular jeweled sapphire that reminded Alice of what she believed the dark depths of the sea looked like, for she had never even been anywhere near the shoreline where the waves of the sea moved along the sand.

After making eye contact with the rabbit, they stared at each other for a couple of seconds. All of a sudden the rabbit pulled out a golden pocket watch, which it immediately looked at.

"Oh dear, look at the time," the white rabbit said to himself, but his voice was loud enough that anyone within distance could hear him with great clarity. "I'm going to be late for an important date," the rabbit muttered in an anxious tone, and it began to hop with great speed while repeatedly muttering.

Alice's curiosity got the better of her. She bolted after the rabbit, her light-colored shiny blonde hair trailing behind her while the black satin ribbon that wrapped around her head flapped as she ran.

In order to keep the rabbit in sight, Alice had to squint really hard due to her wavy curtain bangs that kept getting in her eyes.

The rabbit jumped into a large gaping rabbit hole. Alice stood at the foot of the rabbit hole contemplating whether to jump. She jumped. She felt the rush of wind blowing through her hair.

She fell down the rabbit hole. She saw all sorts of strange things: a mirror that reflected her upside down as she was falling upright, teacups being poured into by a teapot, and tons of top hats.

Once Alice made it through the rabbit hole into Wonderland. She didn't see the white rabbit anymore. A gigantic blue caterpillar that was perched on top of a massive mushroom, lazily smoking a pipe. Puff. Puff. Puff. Ringlets of blue smoke puffed out of the pipe.

She was in a strange new land that was foreign to her. A sinister smile emerged from nowhere, followed by a massive domestic cat appearing that was the size of a panther. It had horizontal stripes across its body that alternated between pink and purple. It had black irises, but the white area of its eyes was replaced by a sickly color of yellow.

"Why hello," the cat said.

"Where am I? Who am I, and where am I even from?" Alice spoke.

Poor Alice was not used to traveling in places containing high levels of magic, and it made her forget who she was.

"Oh, dear Alice, do not fret. You are in Wonderland, and we have been waiting for you for a very long time," spoke the cat. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Cheshire."

~˙✧˖°🪷 ༘ ⋆｡˚~

A few months later, as Alice was walking back to the place she first appeared in Wonderland in order to find a way to go home. Alice wanted more than anything to live a more stable life far away from chaotic tea parties, chasing white rabbits that trick you, dealing with the fury of the Queen of Hearts, and a Queen who manipulates you into becoming a weapon. Cheshire materialized out of thin air with a sinister smile that stretched across his entire face.

"Hello, Alice. Are you looking for a way back home?" spoke Cheshire.

"Yes, I am. Would you know how I can get back home?" Alice asked.

"Why would you want to go back home to a place you don't even remember? Are you sure you want to leave behind a place where you are hailed as a hero?" Cheshire responded.

"I want to go back home so I can figure out who I am," Alice retorted.

"Well, since you are so adamant about going home, who am I to get in your way? Find a looking glass, walk through it, and you shall be home," Cheshire spoke before vanishing into thin air.

A looking glass magically appeared in front of Alice. She touched its surface and the once solid glass rippled like a puddle. She stepped through the glass. She was now surrounded by enormous evergreen trees. She was finally back home in the Enchanted Forest.