Insomniac in Wonderland

   It couldn't really be said exactly how long I'd been sulking in the darkest corner of the lab. An hour? 20 minutes? A day? 2 days? I didn't care. I felt like a monster; like one of those bad people I had warned others about. Worst of all, I felt a seething hatred. It felt like it had been locked away for a long-time and just now it seemed to finally take a hold of my mind.

               "I'm not quite gone yet you know."

   The all-too loud sounds of banging on the locked metal door only felt like far off whispers to me. That hateful voice in my head was the only thing clear enough for my ears to understand at the moment. Then, it had done something completely inconceivable: It showed compassion.

                 "Are you alright?"

       It was so odd to hear worry in a voice that had constantly claimed it would make me go insane. And now? Now that it was finally close to it's goal, it decides to care? To be honest, I didn't know whether to feel jipped or think it was some kind of ploy.

           "Your not broken."
     
       Strange, that voice didn't sound like my sub-conscience. I felt something small soothingly brush my bangs out of my tear-stained eyes. I looked up to see of all people, Miseo's manifestation.

           "Stop trying to fix what's not broken."

         I wanted in that moment to yell. To cry. To do anything to get someone to understand. I wasn't broken. I knew I wasn't. But I darn sure wasn't fixed. But, it felt like I was breaking. It was slow and it was painful to realize that. For the first time in a long time, I felt true anger. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd lunged at Miseo.

        Unfortunately, I never made contact with her. Instead, midjump I simply fell and continued falling. I didn't understand. I looked up to see Miseo grinning at me from the top of the hole in the world I was currently freefalling down.

       "Get back here you cheating louse!"

       I tried calling to the seven year old brat but it was too late. Any outline of Miseo had disappeared much to quickly for it to have heard me anyway.

        A lot of time passed as I fell through this strange place. I kept passing broken clocks and strange foreign books. I grabbed one such book and tried to flip through it. I knew a great many languages but I couldn't understand any of the words in these books.

     "You know young lady, it's very improper to sit like that."

   I lay the book down and looked up only to come face to face with what by all accounts should've been my uncle; although his usual plague mask seemed to have gotten dipped into a yellow paint at the beaks tip; he sort of resembled a Dodo.

       "Sorry sir. Not to be rude. But you like very much like my uncle."

      I tried to be friendly as this new person freefell too.

                  "I wouldn't know. I don't believe we've ever met."

           I nodded and smiled despite myself. Polite conversation after dealing with Miseo was a nice change.

                      "Where are you headed?"
               It was a simple question of me to ask.
                          "To the bottom"
            Of course it was returned with a simple answer.

        Our feet finally touched the ground and we bid each other farewell. The Dodo person insisted we'd see each other again soon. I politely denied though and continued on my way. After all, I felt much better about this whole predicament after a friendly chat.

"I can figure out how to get back now. That is, now that I've got my head on straight."

    I heard a sigh and looked to see Benito in his usual butcher's attire; only now two cat-like ears were sporting from where his usual ears would've slightly protruded. He also had a tail that swung from side to side as if he was constantly in thought.

           "Did you put your head on wrong?"
   The Benito-doppleganger asked with a look of intense worry; although it was hard to tell due to the Chelsea grin. However, I hadn't bothered with the inquiry or these new details. All I knew was that Benito was alive at that moment.

           The creature hadn't seen it coming when I tackled him to the ground and hugged him so close that it seemed he would disappear if I let go. He patted my head with his clawed hands with the same expression of worry.

                  "D-don't go away again. I miss you Benito."

             His doppleganger sighed and held me as close as I had held him before letting go.

                     "I'm sorry miss. We've never met."

          He whispered to me slowly through a false grin as he disappeared as slowly as he possibly could.

        The was an idiotic laughter nearby. I growled and turned to see a friend dressed in a silly tux made to look like it was caterpillar skin. The strange person was standing next to a large building and if one tried to peek through the window, one could see that a myriad of illegal items were stored away in there.

               "Let me guess. Your not Pro?"

                          I tried.

      "Sorry. But you know, while your here, maybe you should try one of my products? Not all of them are drugs. There must be something in there for those nasty cuts."

        I didn't know what he meant but when I looked down my usual purple long-sleeve was gone and my old cuts had returned.

             "No thank you. I'd rather be in the right state of mind while I'm here."

                    At this, the strange person laughed at me. It developed into a full-blown laughter-filled coughing fit and I would have to wait for him to calm down to explain just what exactly he found funny about my statement.

                        "Kid, your mind is all in pieces."

              I waited for the silver-haired person to elaborate on that but he said not a word more. When I didn't answer back, I suppose he took it as the message that I wasn't interested in any of his products. He simply just turned and walked back into his store. I saw what looked like a beautiful woman hugging him and welcoming him back; she looked much like Lex. However, another prominent feature in my mind was how the back of his funny suit was designed to look like a butterfly.

             Deciding it was high time to leave this area, I started for a patch of woods. They looked strangely like alleys but the temperature was warm and it was a nice climate change. I was deep into the woods when I found a small burrough being sniffed out by of all things a Coyote in a mask shaped like it's face. In the small burrough, a small white rabbit was busily claiming it wasn't edible; it also sported a mask that looked like it's face.

            "Okay, this is a stretch...even for me."

          I sighed and was gonna continue walking but then the little rabbit almost had it's tail bitten. I sighed and lifted the creature out of the way of the coyote's jaws.

   "Just what do you think your doing? Mr. Rabbit hasn't done anything to you Aunt."

                         "Aunt?"
                  The two asked in unision.

            "Nevermind. But you shouldn't hurt something just because you can."

        They both stared at me with forlorn faces. I didn't quite understand why the statement would upset them.

               "You don't need to remember."

      The voice came from a nearby monster; it was scary as it had many claws and s serpentine head but it looked genuinely concerned about something as it's yellow glowing eyes flicked open and closed every now and then. By all appearances, it seemed to be a bonefied Jabberwocky.

      "Just turn around and go back the way you came. It's safer that way."

      The small rabbit agreed with the monster and the coyote just stood there; I don't think he had much of an opinion for what happened either way.

    Unfortunately, some crazed feathery purple creature had jumped into the clearing and began attacking everyone around it; having claimed it did so because it was hungry. This creature, in all likelihood, was the JubJub bird. I had no time to contemplate as the Jabberwock had quickly pushed me out of the fight and bade me to run; which I complied wholeheartedly to; I don't think I could've handled seeing blood right then.

    It felt like it had been hours when I finally stopped running. Unfortunately, it hadn't been out of my will to; I'd accidentally crashed into someone's tea table.

         What looked like Kon was sitting next to what looked like Sal at the table. The Sal doppleganger had been trying each time the Kon-double looked away to take his hat. Meanwhile, what looked like Nito calmly poured tea for the two while a double of Steph lay asleep in the middle of the table.

                  "Mouse pajamas?"

              "Is there a problem with that?"
           Was the snippy answer from both Sal and Kon.

              "I don't have time for this."

              I sighed annoyedly.

              "Your right ma'am. You don't. Your already late for trial miss."

    Nito's doppleganger informed before handing  me a cup of warm tea; which was quickly taken out of my hands then downed by the Sal-double. From the nonchalant expressions, that must've been the norm for their tea-time. Kon's double had politely offered some more to me but both Nito's double and Sal's double insisted I was late enough and sent me on my way.

                Wait? I was late for a trial?! What did I do?!

            Before I really knew what was going on, I was roped and gagged by some lizard-like scum that looked far too much like Bill.

                             "It's all in the cards."
   He laughed as two card-soldiers dragged me the rest of the way through the woods and then into an open court.

                        "Sire, ma'am, I have brought the defendant."

  Bill was bowing to two empty chairs. From behind him, a woman dressed in an elegant Victorian dress tapped his shoulder before walking to one of the chairs. She looked very much like myself but her hair was tidily pulled into a bun and she pointedly did not smile. Next, a man dressed just as beautifully brushed past Bill and sat next to the woman; I say it's Bill because nobody in their right mind would ever want to be a Bill except Bill himself; but then, so far, nobody here was in their right mind.

  At any rate, the man himself also looked very much like me but his eyes were hidden under a brown top-hat and a firm scowl made itself constantly known on his face; although, at least his hair was as unruly as my own.

         "The defendant pleads Guilty. Off with her head."

           Both sighed in an altogether bored fashion.

                         "NO I DID NOT!"    
              I tried to defend.

                          "Silence!"
                     They both said once again in unision.

          Unfortunately for them, I just couldn't shut up. All these things I've wanted to tell my parents dripped from my lips as I cursed and threatened the pair's scandalized faces. I didn't care...at least I finally had the courage to tell them how I felt.

          Of course, all it earned me was being thrown into a cage. At least I wasn't alone. There was someone in here busily writing notes. He looked alot like Uncle Adler.

             "Never thought I'd see you in a cage."

         The person barely looked up from his notes as I said it.

                    "I'm not in a cage."

                 Alright...this guy was in denial.

           Miseo smirked from the cage's entrance.

           "Well well, hello doc Adler. You owe me something I believe."

      This Adler just pointed to the door Miseo was standing by; it looked like an ordinarly lab door. I looked around again, what happened to the cage?!

          Miseo sighed and gently put a hand on my shoulder. She pointed to the door as it slowly creeped open and I could see hints of blood splatters. She gently pushed me towards the door. I wanted to run away. I wanted a choice, but I just kept getting pushed into the room.

                      "Come on, it's time."

              .....and with that, I woke up.......