"Mom!! I don't want to read this! I hate fairytales. You can't make me read something I don't want to. It's against some law!"
"I am your mother. I can do what I want in regards to my children, and one of those things is making you READ!"

She's always doing this to me you know, making me read dreadful books that I don't want to read. It's summer! I'm not supposed to exercise my brain for the duration of my escape from prison, but that's clearly not going to happen.

I walked to my desk and picked the old leather-bound book: Alice in Wonderland. A little yellow sticky note was stuck to the cover displaying whatever sentiments my mother had concerning my reading the book. But it was Alice in Wonderland. Everyone knows the story so why should I read it? I heard a subtle click from the other side of my door. "It's for your own good! I expect you to read that book while you're in there because you have nothing else to do. I made absolute sure of that," my mother called to me as she padded back down the stairs to watch her cheesy soap operas.

"Well, I really don't have anything better to do," I thought to myself, "might as well read this dreadful piece of literature." I laid down on my bed with my legs dangling off the sides and opened the dusty pages, ready to be "immersed" in the words that would most definitely lull me to sleep.

I read the book. I hated it. My mom came up to my room with a hopeful smile on her face. I couldn't lie to her, but I knew I would have to. "It was um...I read it, and uh, I read it.

"You hated it didn't you?"

"NO! Not at all. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Get it? Alice? Tea parties? Cup of tea? I'm hilarious!"

"Sure you are. Come downstairs I made dinner."

After dinner, I walked lazily up the stairs and fell into bed. As I drifted off to sleep I could here carnival music drifting in from the distance, and I was completely drawn to it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help but walk towards the source of the enchanting spell that had been cast on me. I reached my destination at the top of an abandoned hill of green, where the dark began to touch the light, where the dead grass grows.

In the valley below, I could see an old worn out carnival. The irony of the situation-it was called "Wonderland". It must have been some cruel twist of fate, whatever that is, that led me to one spot in the galaxy I would never have thought to go and wouldn't have wanted to anyway. Being the confident, dapper young gentleman that I am, I walked calmly down the embankment, grass crunching under my feet. I reached the rickety iron gates and pushed them open. The metal on metal screeched loud enough to wake up the dead, making me cringe as I stepped gingerly through into the park, watching my shadow as it darkened my footsteps. The music had stopped, but it picked up again spiking my interests once more. I wandered around without finding anything remotely appealing enough to hold my attention. But I hadn't seen her yet.

She was behind the cotton candy stand, carving letters into the wood with a pocket knife. I tried to walk quietly towards her, but she heard my heavy footfalls, causing her to look up at me with the deepest blue eyes I had seen in my life. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and her black tshirt read "Wait For Someone Who Cares." Blue jeans and black converse completed her look. "Well hey stranger. Haven't seen you in awhile. Where've you been?"

When she spoke, her lip piercing moved a little, and I couldn't help but stare at it. It might have been rude, but she was different, and I liked different. She looked at me with a crooked grin, "Hatter. Wake up! Whatcha lookin at? You act like you've never seen me before."

"Well that's because I haven't. I just got here. I don't know who you are and I've never seen you before, because I wish I had. You're kinda pretty. I'm-"

"Keep your hands to yourself. I'm Alice, but I prefer Al, and welcome to Wonderland! How about a tour? What's your name? You know what? I don't care, I'm not trying to be mean, but I have a space filled for planning tomorrow's schedule scheduled for later on my agenda and I don't have time. We'll most definitely get to know each other better tomorrow. We can have tea!!! I love tea. You make the best tea ever. Wait....you're not Hatter. So you might not make the best tea ever, but you could learn. Don't worry, I'll teach you. It just takes practice."

She stopped chattering long enough to press a kiss to my cheek. "That's not happening again, so don't count on it," she said with a wink. She stalked away with her hands in her back pockets. I stood rooted to my spot staring at her as she turned around. "Aren't you coming?" she asked.

"Uh, yea," I mumbled.

"Well come on then you big lug. Daylight's waistin'! We don't want to be out after sundown. That's when she comes out."

"Who's she?"

"You don't want to know, but you'll find out anyway when we me Chesha."

"Who?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions."

"You sure don't give a lot of answers."

"Hold up." She held out a hand to let me know we had arrived at our destination. "She's here."

"Who's here?"

"Chesha.

"Who?"

"Just look."

I looked ahead at the dark foliage rustling in the stale wind. A flash of color streaked across the branches, and came hurdling towards them.

"Hi guys! I'm Chesha. Hatter! Haven't seen you in ages. I've missed you quite a bit. You never come by anymore. You should really stop by. With Tea! You make the best tea."

"Chesh. This isn't Hatter. He's some guy I met about an hour ago. Oh, I'm Al. I've heard a lot about you."

"All good things I hope, but why're you here? You haven't seen her have you?"

I watched the two girls talk about the mystery subject. The new one, Chesha, was short and perky, but she looked like she could snap at the drop of a hat. Hat. Hatter. Get it? No? Okay. Her dark hair was curled around her shoulders and she wore a cat headband, with a little white diamond in her nose. Purple skinny jeans, a white "This Is A Need-To-Know Relationship" tshirt, and white converse contrasted against Alice's darker style.

As I listened to their conversation, I realized that none of my questions had been answered and I needed to know what I was getting into. "You two," I said, "tell what the crap is going on."

"Well," Chesha started, "there's this lady,"

"and this lady's kinda bad," Al finished.

"She owns the park and everyone in it."

"What do you mean 'owns'?"

The two girls shared a look, and showed me their wrists. They had matching playing card tattoos, no specific number, but they were both hearts.

"That's cute. You have matching tattoos."

"Cute? You think this is cute? It is kinda cute but that's beside the damn point. These tattoos are like her proofs of purchase. We get this tattoo and she claims us. We can't leave and no one should be able to get in. But you did, so you must be important, though you are a little skinny. You need to eat more."

"Chesh. That's enough. I think he's perfect just the way he is. Anyway. The woman who owns this park, Heather, she, she,"

"It's okay Al. I'll tell him."

"Tell me what?"

"She killed Hatter."

It took a moment to take in the information. "What do you mean she killed him?"

"He just vanished. We saw the card men, her security team, walk to his tea room and we haven't seen him since. We all assumed he was dead, but then we saw you. You look like him you know. Silly mistake. What'd you say your name was?"

"That doesn't matter right now. If we're going to save this Hatter we need to think of a plan. I, of course, will lead."

"Sure. Whatever you say."

"Yay. Fun. New boy gets to lead."

I shot Chesha a look. This would be interesting. We moved to Hatter's tea room, which I must say, was pretty swanky. The guy had taste, I had to give him that. Our plan was to go something like this: 1. Chesh would go to Heather to give the daily report and would swipe security passes

2. Al and I would go in through a back entrance dressed like card men

3. Find Hatter at all costs

4. Get him back to the tea room

I thought the plan was pretty good, at least until we heard the click of walkie-talkies and the locked sound of guns. Card men. How they found us, we didn't know. We were sure no one had followed us, or at least I was sure, but maybe we hadn't paid close enough attention. We rushed to check all the exits and we were surrounded.

"I can't die like this!!!" Chehsa screamed. "I had so much to do, so much to see!"

"Shut up and get your stuff together," I yelled. "We're going to be okay."

"Wow," Al whispered, "he's good in a crisis."

"Yes I am," I thought.

My thoughts and our situation were interrupted by the click of stiletto heels on the smooth tile. We turned around and there stood a tall pale woman with rosy cheeks, red hair flowing down her back, and a red dress. Red lipstick was painted thickly on her lips like blood. Red. The only color in her wardrobe apparently.

Time stood still, and at that point Al couldn't complain about being late for her scheduling time. We couldn't complain about being late for anything every again, because we'd never get a chance to be late.

"Hello," Heather said in a voice smooth as silk, but colder than ice, "it's nice to see you here. How about we take a little trip. Hatter is dying to see you."