Twisted Wonderland

Prologue: The Vorpal Blade

Darkness. That was all she could see before her eyes. She found herself falling, almost weightlessly, into the black abyss that seemed to have no end.

The last thing she could vaguely recall, was a rather peculiar white rabbit in a waistcoat carrying a pocket watch, which lead her to the hole.

As strange as all of this might be, she had an even stranger feeling that she'd somehow experienced all of this before, sending a strong vibe of deja vu tingling through her mind.

After all, did a place of such wonder and madness ever exist in the first place?

Well, she was about to find out.

***************

The play was the highlight of the school year. Being a competition between classes, as well as a way to earn marks for the English examinations, everyone was motivated to put their best foot forward.

There was just about an hour left. It might count as a decent amount of time for some people, but not for them.

There was still so much to attend to, and almost everyone had their hands full, let it be tending to the props which were still only half done, or practicing the dance routine which was a leap away from perfection.

******

"Guys, one last practice please!" Sophie announced enthusiastically, gathering up the remaining choir members, signaling Erica to turn up the background music.

"Wait. Aren't we missing someone?" Yvonne piped in out of the blue, averting her attention to the choir group.

Sophie took a quick glance at the small group, and it didn't take her more than a split second to find out who the missing person was.

"Has anyone seen Molly?!" An ear piercing screech tore through the quiet atmosphere of the sports centre, jolting the group by surprise.

"Speak of the devil." Erica pointed out, as she watched a rather frantic Daniel sprinting across the hall, barreling straight into Sam by accident soon after.

"Which one of you has stolen her again?!" Daniel demanded furiously, jabbing an accusing finger at the others.

The group exchanged various looks of confusion, but returned similar shrugs back at him.

"Perhaps she might've taken a trip down the drain, and sailed off to paradise to find her soulmate." Simon joked playfully, knowing full well that it would bring Daniel to his boiling point.

"Calm down, it's just a fake spider," Elise reassured him, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "You don't have to be so obsessed over it."

"Why don't you tell that to Sam?" Daniel huffed impatiently, shooting a death glare at his friend. "He's equally obsessed with his own spider Anderson."

"At least I know how to keep him safe, while you lose yours every five seconds." Sam argued, ready to fire back a handful of insults if the situation called it.

"Whatever. I'm continuing my search to find Molly." responded Daniel, hastily darting off in the opposite direction before anyone could say otherwise.

"Wait! The play's about to start! Forget about your damn spider!" Sophie hollered sternly, but that only resulted in him turning a deaf ear to her.