A young girl full of hopes and dreams wandered alone in a field.

Her wishes and desires were ridiculed by those she held dear.

Images that were liked, shared or even had a smiley face stamp of approval were only disliked and responded to with hate.

An invisible thief, known only as the Mad Hacker, broke into her virtual world and stole her popularity, her fame, and confidence.

Feeling empty and lost she searched for a way to escape.

But no matter how far she distanced herself from the ones who brought her down,

her mind could not cease replaying all the nasty and hurtful words.

 “You are so fat.”

“Please just stop posting pics. You’re hurting our eyes and only embarrassing yourself.”

“You’re stupid.”

“You should kill yourself @AdventourousAlice.”

Was all that really true?

She loved the attention her picture got.

She had fun, felt accepted, loved and cherished.

But it wasn’t fun anymore.

Her online life was becoming a nightmare and she couldn’t separate it from her real one.

 “Ugly.”

“Fat.”

“Worthless!”

“Kill yourself!”

“Kill yourself!”

Her mind couldn’t take any more torment.

She was desperate to relieve herself of such anguish.

Covering her ears with her small, feeble hands and closing her piercing blue eyes,

she let out a ferocious scream in the empty field.

She surrendered to her grief and collapsed onto a patch of poopy flowers.

Her arms were stretched out at her sides.

Her hair, yellow like golden beams of summer sunlight shining through a window, was pasted against her head with sweat.

Her chest rose and fell vigorously to match her breathing.

She tried to contain the tears welling up in her eyes but it all came pouring out like a broken dam.

Drenched in desperation and hopelessness, she uttered in between a gulping cries:

 “I’m never going to get away from this. I don’t want to think. I don’t want to feel this pain anymore. I’m alone.”

She closed her eyes wishing to come to an end.

A thumping sound off in the distance broke the silence.

The sound was approaching the devastated girl surrounded by flowers.

She sprang up!

Eyes darting in every direction in search for the origin of the sound.

Off in the distance, the tall grass danced as whatever caused the disruption of her sorrow brushed passed each blade.

As if lightning struck, she chased after the sound.

A small, white rabbit with a chain wrapped around its foot was the culprit to the noise that distracted her from her troubles.

Taking pity of the helpless creature, the girl tried to release it from its restraint.

But the animal had no time to concern itself with the chain around its foot and hopping along faster.

Paying no attention to where she was heading, Alice’s main concern was catching up to the rabbit.

Before she could stop herself, she slipped off a hill and spilled down a hole.

She landed flat on her back.

Stunned and briefly disoriented, air quickly filled up the empty space in her lungs.

Unprepared for the surge of oxygen that took the place of what she lost from her fall, she choked and coughed.

After she grasped a desperate hold on her breath, she sat up trying to make sense of where she landed.

The hole was too deep to climb back up so she resolved to locate another way out.

She followed a crystal blue light beam out and found herself in a ginormous room.

The room was mostly empty, save for a large chair.

Loops of smoke bounced around the seat.

Alice made her way around the to the chair only to find a man smoking.

He was tall and lean.

His hair was longer than she had ever seen on a man.

He was dressed in mute colors.

Long pants that were ragged at the hems.

His long sleeved shirt was full of self made tears.

He wore a tall, ratted hat on his head.

His eyes were large and glassy looking.

His demeanor was loose and calm.

He seamed to be in a type of daze.

Seeing another human being reminded the girl of the troubles she had back in the life she was trying to escape.

How can a person like me be so calm?

“Hello there” she shyly said hoping not to disturb the man she wasn’t sure even knew if she was there.

Unaffected by the interruption, the man asked: “who are you?”

“My name is Alice.”

“What brings you here Alice?”

“I fell and I’m really not sure exactly how I ended up here?”

“You fell?”

“Yes. I was chasing a rabbit in a field.”

“What were you doing in a field?”

“I was trying to get away from my life”

“I have just the fix for you.”

 With that he handed over a steaming vase of smoke.

Alice never saw one before nor did she know how to use it.

She mimicked the way the man used the odd contraption and immediately coughed at her first attempted.

The expression on the man’s face had not once changed from the time Alice first saw him.

“What is this stuff?” She asked.

“It’s what gets me through life.”

“How does it do that?”

“By numbing the pain.”

“It doesn’t take the pain away?”

“No.” He answered and took back his smoking vase.

“I don’t want my pain numbed. I want it removed.”

“Alice, nothing takes away pain. It will always be there.”

Seeing the crushed expression of Alice’s face, the man stood up and walked over to a side table.

This was the first time she saw how tall the man towered over her.

Inside the drawer he took out a small bag of plastic that held to small, blue crystals.

“These will take your pain.” He said as he held the bag out for Alice to see.

She reached for the bag but he snagged it away from her reach.

“They are not for free Alice.”

“I don’t have any money to buy them.”

“Are you serious about not wanting to feel pain?”

“Absolutely! I don’t want to feel anything anymore.”

“I will give them to you in return for something.”

“Oh of course. Yes.”

“I want that pale ribbon tied in your hair.”

Alice stopped for a moment.

The ribbon in her hair was special to her.

“I can’t give you my ribbon.”

“Then I can’t give you these crystals.”

“But please. Is there anything else I can give you? You don’t understand. I need my pain gone.” 

“Everyone wants their pain gone.”

“Please. Is there anything else I can give you?”

“No.” He said as he went to place the bag back in the drawer.

“Alright.” She said in desperation.

He slowly walked back over to Alice.

Reluctantly, Alice untied her precious, pale ribbon.

She caressed it in her hands for a moment feeling its softness for the final time.

She held her treasured ribbon out to the man with the crystals who snatched it from her fragile grasp.

He placed the bag of crystals in her hands and sat back in his chair to resume smoking.

She stared at the crystals inside the cold, stiff plastic bag that rested in her palms.

Immediately she tore it open and took a crystal.

She felt odd.

Very small.

Even smaller.

She felt as small as an ant and found herself in a rose garden.

She took another crystal.

This time she felt tall.

As high as the clouds in the sky.

However, this was not good enough.

She took a third round of crystals that brought her back to her normal height.

This time she was able to smell the roses in the garden.

She saw the creatures that inhabited this new land she found herself in.

Identical sets of people danced around playing tricks on each other.

Anger and violence, fear and death flashed brightly in her eyes.

The crystals didn’t take away her pain but instead caused more problems for her.

She downed some more crystals trying to take her pain away.

A large woman with a strong temper stormed over to Alice.

With a booming voice she spoke down to her.

Groups of people gathered around, encircling the woman and the miniscule Alice in comparison.

She did not understand what the woman or the people surrounding her were saying.

It wasn’t until the woman reached for the crystals did Alice get upset.

She traded her pale ribbon for these crystals.

She wasn’t going to let the woman just snatch them away.

Alice returned aggression to the angered woman which the crowd responded to with cheer.

Before she knew what came over her, Alice and the woman began to violently fight.

With a forceful blow, a splash of red flew out and all was silenced.

The satisfied crowd dispersed as quickly as they assembled.

Alice laid sprawled out soaked in a blanket of warm red.

 What happened?

She looked over and what remained of the large woman was only a strip of her black as night hair.

What have I done?

 Alice began to violently quiver.

She jumped up and ran.

I have to get out of here.

Alice ran into a dark forest and only stopped when she was sure her lungs were going to burst inside her chest.

She started to cry.

She gave up everything.

She ran away from her life.

She traded her ribbon.

She took every desperate measure to escape pain only to fail and end up with more troubles than she could have imagined.

She cupped the remaining crystals in her hand.

Prepared to take the rest of them, a voice chimed in.

“Hello there” Came the voice, in a timbre she was unsure of was male or female.

“Um, hello. Who’s there?” Alice responded. Her eyes darted in every direction trying to locate where the voice was coming from.

“What have you got there?” The voice sounded in a direction opposite where Alice last heard it.

“I have some crystals.”

“Are you going to finish them?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure if I should keep taking them. They were supposed to help but have only caused me more problems.”

“It sounds to me like you’ve answered your own question.”

“It sounds like you’re probably right.”

“I know. I’m always right.”

And with that, a breeze blew by and Alice new the mystery voice went along with it.

I’ve got to get out of this place.

I came to this place from fall down a hole.

That may be the way out.

Alice jumped down the first hole she could find.

Just as she landed the first time, her return to reality was a much harder blow.

She planted so hard on her back that not only did the breath escape her body, her consciousness did as well.

Her body was resting on the same patch of poppy flowers she had before.

Images of all she had experienced in the strange land danced around in her head.

The rabbit with the chain, the strange man who had her ribbon, the crystals, even the large woman, and the red warmth.

Her mind was slowly returning when she felt something cold and refreshing sprinkling over her.

The sky was blue and the sun shown brightly, but at the same time the rain fell.

Alice was awake and aware.

She knew what she had to do and she knew what her purpose was.

She rose up off the ground and started off in the direction of a freshly formed rainbow.