Wonderland

Gabe grabbed my hand, leading me out the door of the cabin. I followed in a confused daze, still trying to figure out how exactly my hair wasn't sticking in a million directions, and how my makeup wasn't smeared unattractively across my face.

"Ryan, love, do not fret. I'll send you back to Gerard and Frank." I looked at Gabe with wide eyes, shaking my head pleadingly. I didn't want to be left alone with those two lunatics for a single second.

"Here in wonderland, we only see the inside." Gabe said. "No one cares that your makeup is smeared on your face, therefor, it isn't." I had to admit that that confused me, but then again, everything Gabe says confuses me.

"So... what exactly is this... surprise you've got in store for me?" I asked. I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be too weird, some normalcy would be nice. But obviously, as long as I was with Gabe, normal wasn't happening.

"But Ryro, if I tell you, it wouldn't be a surprise!" Wasn't that my argument last night, when Gabe was trying to convince me to ask him questions?

I opened my mouth to argue, but decided against it. I walked silently next to him, clutching his hand in my own as tightly as I could while he lead me... wherever we were going.

He halted suddenly, causing me to walk straight into his back. I snapped my gaze down from where it was wandering among the tree tops. "Gabe?"

He turned around, looking me in the eyes. He was blocking something, all I could see was a white, ivy-covered arch with light pouring out of it's opening. Gabe looked like an angel, his body swathed in gold light.

He grinned, not saying anything, but instead stepped aside and motioned towards the arch. More specifically, what lay behind it.

I walked past him,pausing momentarily to look up at the trees once more before continuing through the arch. What I found there blew me away.

It was a garden, a huge garden. Not just vast, but the flowers were taller than me! "Oh my god, Gabe!" I heard him laugh behind me.

"The flowers have been wanting to meet you since you got here, but it's not like they can get up and walk to you." Gabe said, setting his hand on my lower back and pushing me further into the garden.

"...Wanting to... meet me?" Gabe never ceased to... I guess the word would be amaze. At lease, in a kind of odd way.

"Yes, only of course!" He brought me even farther into the garden, and only then did i realize something even more mind blowing. The flowers were talking.

Not as in some metaphorical, philosophical shit, but they had actual mouths, and they were making words come out of them. I didn't really know what to think of this...

"They... they're talking." I said, almost too shocked to be shocked. If that makes sense. "The plants are... talking. With like... words and shit." Gabe laughed, nodding his head and grinning at me.

"Yeah, generally that's what they do, Ryro." he rolled is eyes, laughing again quietly to himself.

I found myself wandering away from him, and farther into the depths of the hugely extensive garden. It seemed every flower had something to say:

"Hi Ryan! Nice to meet you!"

"It's good to see you've finally made your way over to us, Ryan."

"I never thought I'd see such a pathetic face allowed here in Wonderland."

Wonderland... the place I worked... didn't some other prostitute say that to me when I first started working there?

Since I've been in this Wonderland, I haven't really thought about my life. Sure, I'd thought about the real world, and how it differed from here, but I hadn't thought about anything specific.

Suddenly, a heavy wave of harsh thoughts crashed over me. I thought about my job, my shitty apartment, my unpaid bills. Being a prostitute, even the best in the club, it doesn't always bring in enough money.

Images of my life started swirling around my head, and almost seemed to be pulling me. I didn't know where, nor did I actually feel like I was moving, but I was definitely being pulled.

Suddenly, the colorful and joyful Wonderland around me blurred, and something else came into view.

I felt a horrible stinging in my chest, and I opened my eyes I hadn't realized I'd closed to see the white walls of a hospital. It was all white, a stark contrast to the garden I thought I was in just seconds ago.

A doctor came in the door, and I shut my eyes, the world around me spinning back into the colorful Wonderland I'd rather be in.