At the Stroke of Madness

Chapter One – Welcome to Wonderland

Pulling his coat tighter around himself to divert the patter of rain and the frozen breeze from passing through, Ace stared past the dripping wet marble headstone. Until now, he hadn't been able to even bring himself to Alice's grave. He didn't want to accept that someone so amazing and inspiring could just vanish from the world; leaving behind such impacting works of art and a history of documented episodes discerning her memory altogether.

There weren't too many headstones in the Liddell graveyard and Ace was thankful that it was tucked away, surrounded by high, wrought iron fences which, in turn, were smothered and intertwined by a thicket of prickly and thorny hedges. The grass surrounding the graves and pathways was flush green and the apple tree beside the mausoleum was full with its fruit. Ace thought everything must have been so fresh and crisp looking from all the rainfall lately; just another thing he commended about this place and its location. The graveyard was situated on a private piece of Liddell property which meant that there was no one to disturb Ace on his short, and often unsuccessful, visits – if you could even call walking-up-to-the-gate-and-leaving-before-the-key-was-even-inserted-into-the-lock a visit.

Breathing a ghost of laughter, he smirked at the thought of him fitting in more with the dead than the living. Though that thought hit a little too close to home and his amused expression quickly vanished. Having memorised each and every one of the epitaphs Ace dared to spy, the young man couldn't keep from heaving a sigh. He was able to do anything he set his mind to, anything he wanted! But, as usual, he couldn't bring himself to look down at the only grave that mattered to him. The one grave that he now stood two-feet away from. All he had to do was look down and let his eyes explore the inscription. Then he would have accomplished something by coming here. Ace thought, if he did that, he might even be able to move on. But, perhaps that's what frightened him, why he couldn't look down at Alice's grave.

“Do I... want to move on?”

The thoughtful question left a bitter taste in his mouth. Gritting his teeth, Ace kept his head up and turned on his heel, sliding down the front of Alice's headstone. Pulling his knees up, he rested his head on them and closed his eyes, drifting off with a whispered apology on his lips.

Snap!

Slowly opening his eyes, Ace suddenly sat up straight. He wondered when it had gotten so dark and when it had stopped raining, for that matter. Another branch snapped and the disruption now had his undivided attention. He looked around, but couldn't see anything or anyone through the fog. He knew better than to call out to the intruder, indirectly inviting them over, so he remained silent, waiting and listening for another sound. Eventually, he let out a nervous laugh and shook his head. Rubbing his eyes, Ace let his head fall back against the cool marble while he stretched his legs out.

“I should probably be getting back,” Ace checked his watch, noticing it had stopped at 6 o'clock on the dot. Running his fingers through his hair and pushing his hood off in the process, he continued. “I'm sorry that I still couldn't look at you. I'll be back again, soon.”

Moving to get up, a crack of lightning made Ace jump to a stand. Thunder followed closely, but the rumbling could not top the beating of his heart. Taking a deep breath, Ace refused to let it out when he felt a warm and damp breathing now against the back of his neck. Eyes wide, he was frozen. His mind trying to decide if it was just a heated breeze or... something else. Another crack of lightning lit up the graveyard and the shadow before him, that was not his own, was a shocking enough silhouette to force Ace to turn around and see the creature with his own eyes.

A huge, ferocious animal stood there. Its eyes were so bright they appeared to be glowing a pink hue. Its white fur was matted and in dampened clumps, making it look even more feral. Its claws were elongated and razor-sharp. It had thick, muscular legs that were tucked under its weight and kept it balancing on the pads of its feet. Its huge, floppy ears weren't so terrifying, but the extremely long front teeth chewed up all sense of courage and confidence around this creature. What truly inspired his fear though, was finding its fur wasn't wet from the rain, but from blood that was splattered and streaking its white fur.

Falling to his knees in horror, Ace quickly pat himself down in search for his firearm. Being a trained soldier, he was well accustomed to carrying such weaponry on a regular basis. At this moment, Ace knew he had no chance in fighting this... rabbit? - It looked like one to him, at least. A very, very scary and mutated one. Unable to bring himself to run, he needed a distraction; something to shock him back into thinking straight. Into moving! He knew what happened when you hesitated. Nothing good ever came from it and he wasn't about to succumb to the thousand-mile-stare now!

“I need to run.” Ace whispered, his eyes fixated on the enraged, overgrown creature. Cocking his gun after finally fishing it out of his deep coat pockets. No longer aware of what he was saying, he prayed to the one person he thought to be his saviour. “Please, save me. Alice... I–”

The rabbit's stare hardened upon hearing Ace's words and quickly repositioned itself to pounce at him. Though before it had a chance to, the ground began to shake. Startling Ace, he put his hands in the mud to steady himself and looked around, away from the rabbit. The ground around him began to sink and out shot a skeletal hand that grabbed his. The very act nearly caused the contents of his stomach to be emptied there and then.

“Down... down here,” a hushed voice floated in his mind. “Fall for me.”

Disgusted and frightened, he hit at the bones furiously with the handle of his gun and pulled away. Once free, he scurried off to the side and got back onto solid ground, backing himself up against the apple tree and trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. The ground squelched beneath his feet and he was on the verge of hysteria when he found the ground to be smothered in rotten apples, the tree no longer holding them up and breathing life into them.

The animal growled and had his undivided attention once again. Ace realised it was readying itself to come at him again. His mouth agape, the rabbit leapt and Ace only just managed to dodge the attack. Pushing himself to run as fast as he could, Ace wasn't ashamed to admit he was terrified. He stretched his arm out behind him and shot at the animal blindly, emptying his magazine while trying not to trip on the uneven ground. His mind was ticking rapidly, trying to wrap itself around what was actually happening. He hadn't even realised he was speaking aloud to himself, blurting out how it couldn't be real and that he must be going mad!

Rounding a mausoleum, Ace nearly lost his footing. Daring to look behind him, he found the rabbit was still hot on his trail and gaining speed fast. Ace pushed himself harder, his muscles already burning from the workout, but his will to survive kept him going just that little bit further. Reaching the gates, he slammed into the metal bars and desperately tried to open them. The thorns in the thicket biting into his skin deeply every time he attempted to grab at the set padlock on the outside. Unable to get to the lock right away, he swore and slapped the gate. It barely even shook, having been secured and locked up tightly. Quickly reloading his gun with a new magazine, Ace tried to shoot the lock off, but it didn't even scuff the metal. Vines had weaved and threaded themselves around each bar, chain-link and even inside the mechanism. It made him wonder how he'd missed seeing the state of the gates on his way in, but the thought died quickly when the rabbit had caught up and was now breathing just as heavily as Ace.

It roared loudly, clouds of spittle flying everywhere. Aiming his gun at the rabbit's head, it growled again. Ace didn't know what else to do but shoot and try to make a run for it. He pulled the trigger a few times and got two steps to its right before being whacked with a force he hadn't thought possible. Dropping his gun, he flew across the graveyard until he came into contact with the mausoleum, smashing against its stone. Disorientated, Ace got back to his feet but was hit again without time to recover. This time, he was knocked flat against the willow tree across from Alice's grave.

Holding his throbbing head, he was unable to stand on his feet. Legs giving out, he landed on all fours. Turning his head to the side, he could see the glow of those pink eyes nearing. He could hear the thudding of its steps slowing and its growling was becoming lost in its throat. Ace really did feel sick now, but managed to start crawling over towards her grave. Mud clung to his clothes, it was cold and sticking to his skin in the most uncomfortable of ways. Ace looked up to read the headstone, but his vision had blurred and when he reached out to touch the marble, he came up short. Moving himself closer, his hands and knees began to sink; the ground started disappearing beneath him and just before his fingers could graze what lay ahead, he fell through the hole over Alice's grave.

“Welcome to my Wonderland, Ace.”