Untold Alice: The King of Spades

The 'Rabbit' hole

Have you ever heard of a place called Wonderland? Only in stories, no doubt. 

A few months ago I was on my way home from the cafe. Mark, my boss, had asked me to work late, so it was about 9:30pm when I left. The street lamps stretched my shadow for miles and lit up the street as if trying to bring back the sunlight. It didn't make much difference though. I remember I quite liked the look of Whitmere at night. The skyscrapers from the city cast long shadows over the town, but made the horizon look even more spectacular. The moon stretched its reflection along the river like a silver ribbon. I was walking along the Rossendale Bridge, quietly daydreaming of a life in the big city, when a man bumped into me. 

He was quite tall, with big dark brown eyes surrounded by circular spectacles and chestnut hair tied in a low ponytail at the back of his neck. His bright green waistcoat was recently tailored and topped with another startlingly green overcoat, his shoes were freshly polished, and his trousers looked ironed to perfection.  A white shirt peeked out from under his ruffled collar.

"Oh dear, I'm very sorry miss. Please excuse me, I'm running a little late." 

"Don't worry about it" I replied, but he was already off.

I puzzled over his accent for a moment. His voice was so pronounced and perfect, unlike one I'd ever heard before. I was about to begin walking again, but something on the floor caught my eye. It was a pocket watch. I picked it up and studied it. Like the strange man's shoes, it was polished extremely well. Anything taken care of this well is surely important?  I thought to myself. The slow movements of the watches needles and the quiet tick every few seconds was mesmerizing. I looked up just in time to see his emerald green coat flap around the corner of the bakery.

"Hey! You! Wait up, you dropped something!"

I started running, calling out to the man, but he didn't hear. The longer I followed him, the more I noticed how he ran. It reminded me strangely of a rabbit.

The streetlights grew dimmer and the roads thinned into a winding garden-like path entering a forest. I should have stopped, but I didn't. I couldn't. Something inside of me kept pulling me forward, like a lasso wrapped tightly around my waist. Suddenly, the trees opened into a peculiar looking clearing. The man had vanished. I looked around hoping to see a glimmer of green. Then I saw it. Underneath the bush was a blue purplish light. As I got closer it became clear it was some sort of whirlpool, not unlike a wormhole made of purple and blue spiraling lights. My brain was telling me to run, to be scared of the extraterrestrial portal that was burrowing its way underground, but I moved closer to it, going against my every instinct. This was the only place the rabbit man could have possibly gone.  If he did it,why cant I?  

The spinning circles of light were captivating, and I couldn't help but lead myself into them.  I fell down a rabbit hole.