Wonderland

When I awoke again, Gabe was no longer beside me. There was a slight indent left in the sheets next to m body, but nothing occupied the space.

I couldn't help but feel that emptiness inside of me, as well as on my skin. I wasn't quite sure where this attachment to Gabe is coming from, nor am I sure I like it. But I think I can live with it for now.

I heard a clock ticking, but didn't see one anywhere in the room. The sound was kind of hollow, and seemed to come from all around me. It echoed through my mind, and it seemed almost as if I were going insane... if I wasn't already.

"Ryan?" the vaguely familiar voice pulled me from the concentration I apparently had on the sound. William's face peered through the cracked doorway. "Can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure." the way my voice felt coming from my throat was strange; I guess I'd been sleeping a while, my mouth was dry and I couldn't quite keep the cracking out of my voice.

"I meant to be here yesterday, when I heard that you woke up," he looked down at his feet, digging them into the floor nervously. "But it would seem I'm never on time for things." He sighed then, mumbling something to himself before looking back up at me.

"So how are you?" I didn't really know how to answer his question. On one hand, I was hopelessly confused. Whatever had happened to land me here, I wasn't sure. And I don't know if I really want to know.

However, I was feeling a sense of relief at being here in Wonderland. As if there's something about it that wasn't there before. Something that makes it that much more important to me. As if I could loose it any moment.

"Good, I guess." It was the answer he was expecting. I knew he came here to be polite, not to talk about my conflicting feelings.

I looked up at him, and watched as he lifted the cuff of his fancy shirt over the watch on his wrist. "OH! I really should be going! My, my, how time flies..." his voice became a mumble once again, and he fled from the room.

This time, it was I who sighed. I can never quite keep up with all these people. And just as I thought I could have a moment of sanity, it was pulled right back out of my grasp when Gerard and Frank walked into the room, hand in hand.

"Ryan!" Frank grinned, and ran up to hug me. I hugged back awkwardly, then looked over to where Gerard was laughing hysterically. It seemed he took amusement to this situation.

"So, Ryan," Frank said, pulling away from me. "We heard you got yourself in a bit of a predicament..." He giggled, holding his hand over his mouth.

"Uh, yeah." I muttered, looking down at my hands folded over my stomach. "I guess you could call it that." Frank laughed then, holding his stomach and falling to the ground.

He and Gerard seemed to find amusement in everything. Frankly (pun possibly intended), it got quite annoying.

"Weeeeeell..." Gerard said, dragging out the 'e' until he ran out of breath. "We thought we'd visit you." He joined Frank in the laughter, and at this point my eyebrows were furrowed in a glare, directed right at them.

When Frank noticed the harsh look I was sending him and Gerard, he smirked, running up to me and putting his mouth closer to my ear than I was comfortable with, considering his general volume.

"You know," his voice was raspy when he whispered. "It happens to all you people." I was surprised that I could barely hear him, even though his mouth was mere centimeters away.

"Frank's right," Gerard said, a creepy look overtaking his face. "We'll just have to see if you're really one of us. If you can handle it." I felt my eyes widen, and I looked up at them in what I assumed to be a mixture of confusion and uneasiness.

"You'll see." Gerard said, starting up the ever-present laughter. Only this time, there seemed to be a dark edge to the sound, and it really dug into my brain.

Frank stood from his kneeling spot next to the bed, and walked out next to Gerard. Their hands were grasped, and their lips were attached. As per usual.

Their laughter echoed in my mind as I drifted into dreamland.

I've found that dreamland seemed to be neutral territory between Wonderland and the real world. Dreamland was that place where you thought you were insane, but you can wake up on either side of the bed.

Either the real world, where you're sucked back into the mundane sense of everyday life, or Wonderland. Where you don't just think you're insane, you are.