Chapter One

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Each calculating stroke her brush made is perfect. With absolute precision and care, the thick paintbrush in her hands glided around the once white portrait. Careful and clean.

The lass's lightly tanned fingers were smeared with paint, and her apron-clad body is as well. A strawberry pocky biscuit stick was sticking out from between her lips, the girl chewing slowly as if it helped her concentration.

Which did.

The girl pulled her hand back, setting the paintbrush on the table that stood next to her, and stretched, taking in a break to crack her bones to soothe the soreness of painting for many hours.

She sat in a half-empty studio, where the only thing inside is her on a chair, an easel with a painting resting on it, a small table with her paints and brushes next to her, and her satchel and guitar case, both sat abandoned behind her. The rest of the needed supplies were boxed up and stacked, all cluttered on the left side of the room. To the right side of the room is a large window that acted as the wall, donning pure white curtains that allowed the light to seep in during the mornings and afternoons.

She stretched her arms up above her before resuming her work, painting with pure concentration once again. Soon, the blank portrait was now filled with a creative image of her extraordinary imagination.

A man in his late thirties, with dull brown hair and light gray eyes, came into the room, wearing an expensive Armani suit. He sighed, almost happily, seeing the girl at work before he strode towards her.

She flinched, hearing his footsteps, but continued. "I see you're still practicing, Sonata," The man said, watching the girl paint with extreme interest.

Sonata grunted lightly in response, finding herself too busy to reply. The man walked up to her and gasped as he peeked at the canvas. "Oh, my!"

Sonata took one last stroke before pulling her right hand back and set the palette and brush down on the table. It was not the best, but it was done. She felt proud of finishing it. Her newest painting was an inspiration from a peculiar dream…

A dream involving Alice in Wonderland.

There's a room with a 'Drink Me' bottle and the 'Eat Me' cake. The little blue bottle and currant dotted cookies so pastel-colored and bright. It almost looked both appetizing and poisonous.

The treats are fantastical welcome gifts, guiding the eyes to Wonderland and its attractive features. The large polka-dotted mushrooms seating The Caterpillar smoking from a pipe.

The deep green and lush forest greenery are surrounded by plenty of strange signs pointing at all sorts of directions, and among the branches lazed a purple, striped cat sat giving a wide, toothy smile. The Cheshire Cat.

Past the grinning cat stood the Mad Hatter sitting at a long table enjoying a cup of afternoon tea with the March Hare and The Dormouse, snoozing away in a jar of sugar. Not too far stood the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, standing side by side with similar smiles of mischevious delight to confuse the guests.

The Duchess stood around near the Forest, and then to the far end was Heart Castle, defended by cards. The Queen and King of Hearts stood with The Knave of Hearts. Tarts of strawberry glaze tumble out of his arms with a doofy smile on his supposed to be serious face.

At the bottom, the White Rabbit is hurrying towards Wonderland, glancing at his oversized pocket watch.

Sonata's painting, Wonderland.

Inspired by a dream, which ironically is what Wonderland was. Her eyes drooping, she fell into a short sleepy daze as the man, Mr. Browne, kept admiring her latest practice.

"Hey, did you know? Every game has its rules."

Sonata flinched, hearing another man's voice, and continued to cringe as the unfamiliar voice continued.

"And those rules are cemented from the very beginning… But you already know this, right?"

"…I see you have a strong liking towards Alice in Wonderland, don't you, Sonata?" Mr. Browne commented as Sonata woke up quickly, snapping her head up with her eyes wide open. The palette was almost chucked at his head, but her thumb painfully dug into the wood and she was left awake with throbbing pain. "It's illustrious and cartoony, almost a fantasy, just like the novel. …but…"

Sonata glanced at the pondering man, who stared hard at the painting. "Yes? Something wrong?" There was absolutely nothing wrong with her painting, was there?

"The more I look at it and recognize most of the characters, I can't help but think it's a shame that this Wonderland is missing its Alice. It ruins the whole visual, I think."

Sonata froze before looking at her painting in response to that statement. Quickly scanning it, she realized that what he said was, without a doubt, true. Alice was missing—the main character of the novel—and all the other characters were there. Yet…it didn't ruin anything. It felt…

True.

"I personally don't think it's wrong," Sonata said, crossing her arms as she turned away from him. "It's perfectly fine without Alice, don't you think?"

That's right. Her dream had everything but Alice. Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, card soldiers, Queen of Hearts, and so on and so forth. All but Alice. As if…she had left.

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She left.

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"I do suppose you're right, but without Alice, it's a complete waste, eh?" Mr. Browne pressed on, causing Sonata to ignore him. He blinked and sighed. "Ah, well, it's your painting, and it's impressive all on its own. A grand painting!"

Sonata nodded before she began untying her stained apron.

"There's another time where we can simply have you put in Alice in there. It'll fetch a higher price." Sonata froze as Mr. Browne glanced at his watch and gasped, "Ah! We should hurry and go back to the hotel! Our flight to America is in an hour. Hurry, clean up!"

Mr. Browne turned and rushed out of the room.

Sonata shook her head before dropping her apron onto her seat. "I'll leave once the painting is dry…"

As she began putting her paints up, she glanced at the painting once more, feeling nostalgic. Sonata glanced at the clock before turning the easel towards the window where the sun came in through. That should help it dry faster.

A Wonderland without their Alice. It seemed so right and perfect. As if that's what Wonderland is right now. Yes, Mr. Browne was right, it was a shame that she left out Alice, but still… Why did it seem so right?

Why did it seem so true?

Without thinking, she flung the palette towards the wall, letting the leftover paint splatter all over the crisp white wall. She turned away as the palette clattered to the ground and rubbed her stained hands together, feeling the need to clean them, but sleepiness overtook her and she sat down by the stool, right next to her satchel.

Rubbing her face, she yawned. "I'm so sleepy…guess a nap wouldn't hurt, right?"

Closing her eyes, she blacked out, hugging her knees as if it would protect her from the room's chill. The sunlight that beamed through the glass warmed her up rather comfortably. It was no wonder that sleep easily claimed her.

*Tap-Tap-Tap*

Struggling to open her eyes, everything was hazy and blurry. But the more she had her eyes open, her vision readjusted and focused.

"What's…that noise?" Sonata stifled a yawn as she stood up and stretched.

Over by the large window, an adorable white rabbit, dressed in a red checkered waistcoat, brown pants, and carried a large gold pocket watch stood, outside. On its little button nose rested a pair of frameless round spectacles.

It looked…familiar. Maybe it belonged to that weird old photographer next door. He liked dressing up animals into these cutesy outfits and post them online. Maybe one of the animals wandered out?

Its little paw continued batting against the window, wanting to come inside, causing a light tapping sound to fill the room. She considered letting the rabbit in, but before she could make a decent decision, her feet began moving by itself and she found herself at the window, opening the only door that stood in the middle.

Sticking her head out, she smiled, "Hey, little guy. Did that crazy old man leave you out?"

The rabbit smiled, to her shock, and hopped over to her, walking inside. Confused, Sonata left the door open as she turned around, seeing it head towards her now dried painting. How long was she asleep? That was no longer her concern when she noticed the rabbit's whiskers twitching in a delighted manner.

"You like it?" Sonata asked, crouching beside the rabbit. It glanced at her, nodding. She giggled and placed a hand on its little head. "Well aren't you a smart rabbit?"

She pulled the rabbit into a hug and stood up, holding the small animal closer to the painting.

"I'm still practicing, but I think this is my best work. I call it, Wonderland. Not the most creative name, but I like it." Pointing to the White Rabbit in the painting, she giggled, "And there you are!"

To her surprise, the rabbit held out a paw and ran it across the painting, as if to feel the texture of her hard work. Because her painting was surprisingly already dry, the colors did not smear, so she didn't mind. What she did mind was that the rabbit started talking.

"It's wonderful, my darling love! So beautiful and descriptive, your talents are high and above!"

Sonata deadpanned in shocked as it jumped out of her arms. It landed right in front of her and continued to stare at the painting.

"Lovely… Absolutely stunning. I've never seen a painter capture truth as well as you," The rabbit said as Sonata stood there, completely confused. There's a talking rabbit right there, hello.

"You're talking. Why are you talking? Am I still dreaming?" Sonata gasped as she snatched her bag, stepping away from the rabbit, "I'm not crazy, you're crazy."

"Who's crazy, my love? Ah, well, you've captured the emotion in this painting so well. An emotion of happiness and wonder, but also…sad and grieving. Just as how Wonderland is when Alice disappeared."

Sonata turned to the rabbit, wanting to smash that canvas onto it, only to see her painting gone. The easel was there, but her hard work was missing. "Where did it…?"

Only the rabbit was standing there, and it was looking at her with its red blood eyes, sparkling in intense emotions.

Loneliness.

Sadness.

Agony.

"Will you follow this White Rabbit to Wonderland?" The rabbit asked as Sonata stepped back, eyes full of horror when she heard voices flooding around the room. Coming from them.

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"Follow him."

"I want to see you."

"Won't you replace our Alice?"

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Sonata felt her breath hitch in her throat as she lost feeling in her legs, shaking and twitching. What are these voices? What are they even trying to say? Replace Alice?

"Alice is gone! I have no idea what you want from me, but I'm leaving!" Sonata snapped as she turned on her heel, heading for the door. She'll call Mr. Browne to pick her up and she'll take her nap on the taxi and plane. That rabbit can have the painting if it shows up again. Hopefully, once she leaves she'll wake up to Mr. Browne screaming that she's late.

"Good grief, you're hopeless."

In a split second, she felt an arm grab her shoulders and another underneath her knees, and she was now off the ground. The person who now carried her was a man, round-rimmed glasses pressed in front of crimson eyes and white hair. On his head sat a pair of white rabbit ears. If she wasn't freaking out, she would have fawned over those ears.

"AHHHGH?"

"Please don't scream in my ear, my dear," He said before heading towards the door that leads outside to the garden. She was thrown over his shoulder, one hand on her waist and another under her knees, and one of her hands was gripping softly to one of his ears.

"Who the…?! What the…!? Put me down!" Sonata cried as he rushed out the door, darting into the green garden that Mr. Browne held in high regard. "HEY OLD MAN, COME GET YOUR STUPID RABBIT!"

Either that old man was older than she thought or asleep because he didn't come out to yell at her for yelling. She even tried to kick but that tired her out quick when the kidnapper held her legs down. "Let me down you four-eyed jerk!"

The man ran, letting a smile curve on his lips. "I'm afraid I can't do that. But don't you worry—I'll put you down when we get there."

Up ahead, in front of the relaxation fountain, stood a large chasm, its black hole showing the deepness of it. "We shall jump down that hole, my little painter!" Sonata jerked the hand that gripped his ear, causing him to jolt as he stopped in front of the giant hole.

"HOLE?! Why on earth is there a chasm in Mr. Browne's garden?!" Sonata cried, trying to kick for freedom. Oh, how she wished Mr. Browne was here, then he would beat this kidnapper senseless!

Then they would go back to America and suffer a ten-hour flight, leaving the creepy kidnapper into the hands of the police. Unfortunately, she's learning she isn't so lucky in her life.

"Why indeed, hmm?" The man laughed, snuggling the side of his head against her body, "Regardless. If there's a hole that we know, then, down it we go!"

And with that rhyme, he jumped down into the endless chasm, causing Sonata to scream.

"NOOO, YOU F**KING RABBBIIIIIIIIIT!"