Chapter Text
Alice had fallen asleep in the lush green grass. The sun warmed her face as a gentle summer breeze played with her golden hair, sending a few strands to tickle her nose. She rubbed it absentmindedly and turned over, hoping to steal a few more moments of rest before the long walk up the hill back home.
Time seemed to stretch, soft and slow, as if the world itself were dozing alongside her. She wished she could stay there forever, far from the responsibilities that waited beyond the hill.
But then, a voice cut through the stillness.
“This simply won’t do. I’ll be dreadfully late.”
Alice opened one eye, then the other, squinting at a white, fluffy rabbit.
Their eyes met.
She smiled faintly, stretching her limbs, sitting up slowly. “Hello there, White Rabbit,” she said, unsure if she was still dreaming.
The rabbit barely spared her a glance. “Utterly unacceptable,” he muttered, thumping his large foot against the grass. “Young ladies shouldn’t nap in fields. You never know what might crawl up your skirt and into your unmentionables.”
Alice blinked and rubbed her eyes. Surely she hadn't heard him correctly.
“I beg your pardon?” she asked, sitting straighter.
The rabbit spun on his heel. “No time, Mary-Ann! I’ve dawdled long enough as it is. I need my gloves and fan. Her Majesty expects me before tea. Move your legs, girl, not your lips.”
“Oh, err…my apologies.” She stood and brushed the dirt and grass from her blue dress. “Wait a minute. Who is Mary-Ann?”
But the rabbit was already bounding away, too far ahead to answer.
“Wait! Come back!” she called.
Gathering her skirts, she ran after him, feet pounding through the grass. The rabbit was faster than he looked, darting through the wildflowers and spotted mushrooms with surprising swiftness. Still, she gave chase, laughing breathlessly. Her heart pounded with curiosity more than fear.
She closed the distance, daring to believe she might catch him. She would have, if not for the massive hole in the ground.
One moment, she was running.
The next, she was falling.
She assumed, of course, that it was all just a dream.
She would soon discover how wrong she was.