Wasteland

I ran down the corridor as doctors and security either called angrily after me or follow me in a hot pursuit. I knew my own personal safety, as well as the well being of Wonderland depended on me getting out of that hospital.

Turning down a hallway that looked long and deserted I spotted a beautiful, neon red exit sign. Hearing the commotion of followers behind me, I felt adrenalin kick in and I sprinted faster than I would have though possible towards the door. 

Upon reaching it I didn't even bother with the handle, instead I rammed my whole body into the door and stumbled out into the rain. The door closed with a tight snap behind me and I wondered what would have happened if my fingers had been caught. Shuddering, I looked left and right down the alley in which I had popped out and tried to decide which way to flee.

I had a good feeling about going left but I had a rule that I never followed my good feelings. Instead of letting my gut lead me I took off in the opposite direction praying that I would be able to escape the horrible hands of the nuthouse doctors. 

The street I was running down looked to be a rundown alley with the backsides of shops on either side. If I hadn't been so intent on saving myself I might have been interested in the novelty downtown stores. As it were though, I just kept going, letting the background blur in my peripheral vision, not letting my surroundings distract me at all.

Until the ground fell out from underneath me and I screamed.

My fist reaction was to stop screaming, but as gravity became nonexistent I couldn't help the high pitched sounds escaping my mouth. The pitch black that was all around me frightened me, but not as much as the idea of landing from such a high fall. I wasn't even too concerned about where I was going, though I faintly wondered if the doctors had struck me on the head and this falling down a long tunnel was an unconscious dream.

When suddenly I landed, square on my butt. My eyes had to adjust to the dim, yellow light that surrounded the pale yellow world that I had landed in. What the hell is happening, and where am I, I wondered as my eyes took in the dead trees that surrounded me. 

It had to be a dream. It had to be. A person just can't be running down a side alley one second and then be sitting in a wasteland full of decayed vegetation the next.

I heard a twig snap from behind me and I instantly sprang up and spun around. Gasping with shock, I was confused as to why I recognized the hideous being in front of me. 

"Please, it hurts when others stare, truly it does," and when it spoke I at least understood that it was male. I hadn't been able to tell at first, with his red voluminous hair billowing out from under his obnoxiously patterned top hat. 

"I wasn't staring," I stuttered, nearly gagging on the taste of the air. "You just startled me."

"I startled you? Why, I'm your welcoming party," he said, clearly offended. 

"Welcoming party?" I asked, "But isn't this just a dream?" I hated sounding so cliche, asking if I was a in a dream while in a dream, but I was so damn  confused. I needed answers.

However, all my 'welcoming party' did was laugh. "A dream? A dream? You seriously think you're in a dream?" He said hysterically, and I looked at him, my face in a tight, annoyed expression. "Oh, um, I mean, this is real," he backtracked, sounding as polite as a little finishing school girl.

"But I was in the city one moment and the next..." 

"The next you were here. Well, yes, that's how rabbit holes usually work. Didn't dear Alice explain that to you?" 

"Alice? How do you know my aunt?" I demanded, my mind reeling at the sound of her name.

"Listen, let's not be too hasty here. I haven't even introduced myself yet. Oh oh! How rude of me." he stuck out a pale hand and I grasped it cautiously. 

"I'm the Mad Hatter," he told me, his steel grip on my hand the only force keeping my from falling to the ground. "And I welcome you to what is left of Wonderland."