Content warning: A story the subject of Me Too. Nothing explicit, but could be troubling for anyone with a sexual assault history.
–
It was supposed to be a fun date. A picnic in the woods, but he ruined that.
He’d ignored her “no”.
He’d pushed her over a fallen branch, her hair wrapped around his fist, his hand covering her screams. She’d tried to block it all out. She welcomed the darkness as it swallowed her whole…
–
Wonderland
“Alice.”
Batting away the thing tickling her lips, Alice tried to roll over.
“Alice.”
She opened her eyes and sat up. A fog seemed to hover over her vision. She blinked to clear it, but the almost dream-like haze lingered.
“Oh, good, you’ve finally woken. I was beginning to worry. You can’t avoid all your problems by sleeping”
A squeaky voice drew her eyes. She gave a start when she found herself eye to beady eye with a large rat.
“Rat? I’m no rat.” He wiggled his nose and Alice realized he was actually a rabbit. And was talking. Looking around, she realized she was in some sort of distorted forest with the overgrown white rabbit. She tapped her temple with the heel of her hand, hoping to clear the fog now filling her head.
This was the strangest dream. Perhaps the pie she’d had before bed was causing this funny turn.
“You’re a rather rude girl.”
He startled her again. White whiskers twitching rapidly as he crossed his arms.
“Oh, did I say that aloud?”
“Rude.” He sniffed and the hopped back. “Come along, girl, we’re late.”
“To where?”
He was off in a flash, leaving Alice to scramble to her feet and chase after him.
“Wait!” She cried as she stumbled through the ever darkening woods, the white flash of his fur barely visible in the distance. “Wait, I don’t know where I’m go-“
Her words were cut off as the ground disappeared beneath her and she fell.
Down
Down
Down
Alice’s descent seemingly endless and slow. Her dress billowed out beneath her, slowing her even further.
“What in the world is going on?”
Enveloped in darkness, she saw a wide faceless smile before her.
“Going on? Life is going on, my dear.” The mouth moved as wide yellow eyes appeared above it. “Though yours appears to be at its end. Do you know you’ve fall into the never ending hole?”
“I don’t know what’s going on.” Alice tried to smooth down her dress, hoping to hasten her descent. “I don’t know where I am or what’s happening.”
“Poor little girl. Things are just a bit confusing aren’t they?” The face winked out. “Here, let me help.”
There was a tap on her shoulder and suddenly Alice was falling at a much higher speed.
“Oh no. Help.”
Just when she opened her mouth to scream, she landed with a thump. Swamped with dizziness, she closed her eyes. Only to open them again when she felt something curl around her.
“Stop avoiding your problems. This is no time for sleep.”
The smile and eyes were a cat. Its tail had curled around her. What was with the animals here? Was everything supersized?
“The rabbit did say you were rude.”
Alice clapped a hand over her mouth. She really must stop doing that. The cat seemed unfazed.
“Can you help me get home?”
“Home? Where the heart is? Where you lay your head? You don’t really want to go home. Why can’t home be here, on the mushroom cap?”
She looked down and then jumped, nearly sending her toppling off the oversized mushroom.
“No, no. Home. To my home and bed and things, where it’s safe.”
The cat simply shrugged. “I’m sorry. No way to home from here.”
Tears stung her eyes. There had to be a way out of this dream. Surely this wasn’t reality?
“Perhaps if you wait long enough.” The cat’s body disappeared, until only his smile remained. “A way home will be found.”
“Wait.”
The smile was gone before she could finish her word. Alice crossed her arms in a huff, barely resisting the urge to stomp her feet.
“Now what?”
“I’d get a move on before you’re late.”
The cat’s voice filled the space before she was once again left alone. She had to get down. Clamoring over to the edge, Alice looked down. A wave of vertigo hit her. That was a long way down to the ground.
“If only there was a ladder or maybe if I was bigger.”
Turning around, she found two cups with ”drink me” scrawled across the sides. She grabbed one of the cups, and a little note dropped into her hand.
Drink now, thank me later.
She wasn’t so sure so she sat it down to grab the other.
Drink now, think you later.
Neither made sense, but the one in her hand had the loveliest smell so she drank deep. There was a weird tearing sound as her body seemed to suddenly stretch. She seemed to grow until her head popped up through the purple clouds, her clothing shredding like paper.
“Oh dear.” Her voice echoed across the sky. “This was not what I expected.”
She ducked under the clouds, scanning the ground to watch her feet as she took giant steps. A crowd seemed to gather and, with it, an arsenal of weapons. They held spears, guns, catapults, and fire. All amassed and pointing at her very naked form. She attempted to hide her nudity with strategically placed arms.
“Alice,” trumpeted a voice up at her. “Alice, you must come down from there.”
“Come down?” She shook her head in confusion. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“Alice, come down at once.”
Heat burned along her shins and up her bare thighs. They were firing on her, sending those shooting tendrils of pain higher and higher up her body.
“Hey! Stop it.”
She took a swipe at them, but it only opened her up to more stinging blows.
“Alice, surrender at once.”
Another sharp sting hit her breast and she swiped out at the army, flinging some of them away.
“Alice, come down from there.”
She leaned down, determined to stop the attack once and for all. In her haste to protect herself, she missed the catapult aimed at her head.
“Fire.”
One shot to her temple and Alice found the ground rising up rapidly to meet her.
–
The heavy sting of reality
“Ma’am?”
Alice had been wandering naked in the woods, confused and crying, for a while. She dropped to the ground and curled into a ball in the cold leaves.
Someone called to her again, but she couldn’t bring herself to respond. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to block out the light.
“Are you alright?”
Was she alright? The ache from bruises forming on her breasts and hips from his hands said no. The pain radiating up her thighs where he’d held her against the tree said no. The way her temple throbbed where he’d hit her said no. The swollen flesh between her legs and the dried semen on her inner thighs screamed no.
Alice didn’t move when they draped a blanket around her. She’d rather return to her wonderland.
