Once upon a time there was a wealthy couple who was blessed with their first son. They named him Alistair. As he grew up, the young boy enjoyed playing in the gardens and daydreaming of an alternate world without any rhyme or reason. When in etiquette classes the boy would often frustrate his teachers by saying, "If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense."

     The longer he wished to be somewhere else, where rules didn't apply and he could do as he wished, the harder it was to distinguish between reality and imaginary. His imagination began to run rampant, and neither Alistair nor his strict parents could contain it. About this time, his daydreams started to morph into something more sinister, so the boy would try to avoid thinking about his world. The daydreams seeped into his unconscious mind while he slept and became nightmares that kept him awake at night. Poor Alistair had become an insomniac, but his parents were too self-consumed to care about their son's internal struggle.

     Finally, Alistair completely lost his mind on one summer night. It was past midnight and only Alistair was awake. He was a frantic mess, washing dishes for reasons he couldn't remember. He was so tired he couldn't concentrate on anything that had happened previously that night. That was when he saw it, a flash of white in his peripheral vision. He turned and saw a white rabbit sitting in the middle of his dining room. The beast had blood red eyes and sharp teeth and claws. Alistair, confused as to how the rabbit got in his house, looked around and found the door leading from the kitchen to the garden wide open. "It's watching me," thought a paranoid Alistair. Then, he chased the rabbit around the table and back outside into the garden. He was persistent in his pursuit until he plowed through a cluster of flowers that sent their sweet smelling perfume all around him. Blinded and choked on the abundance of flower spray, Alistair stumbled forward. That is until the ground gave way beneath him and down the rabbit hole he went.

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     Alistair woke up in a plain, dusty room with the rabbit on his chest. He couldn't contain his scream as the creature stared down at him with its red eyes. The rabbit was scared off by the loud sound and ran for a tiny door that was ajar across the room. Alistair took a few deep breaths to prepare himself, then stood up and looked around. The room was empty except for a table with two things on it: a piece of old, stale cake and a cup of spoiled milk. The last oddity about the room was the tiny door that the rabbit ran through.
    
     He cautiously walked toward the table where he saw the gross cake and milk was sitting. While Alistair was staring at the table in disgust, the rabbit tentatively peeked its head back in the room. "Eat the cake to grow bigger and drink the milk to shrink. Or was it the other way around. I don't remember, why don't you try one?" whispered the rabbit.

     Alistair's head snapped up from the table to see the rabbit. "You-u can talk?" stuttered the startled boy, backing away in fright.

     "Of course I can talk! You made it that way!" exclaimed the rabbit, shaking his head as if Alistair was stupid for asking such a question. The rabbit seemed to get over his timidity very quickly as he shifted into work mode. He pulled an old pocket watch seemingly out of thin air. "Oh my! You're a few years late, but nothing to fret over. You are here now! Be quick, Alistair! You have people to meet! Our paths shall cross again!" cried the rabbit as he hopped deeper in the land on the other side of the door.

     Alistair, perplexed about his situation, decided to do as the rabbit suggested. He figured the cake wouldn't be the worst of the two, so he ripped off a piece and tossed it in his mouth. He swallowed the horrid tasting cake, hoping it didn't have an even worse aftertaste. Then, he waited. After a few minutes of nothing, he finally felt an odd sensation everywhere. As he looked down at the table, it seemed to get smaller and smaller. No, he was getting bigger as the seconds went by. He got so tall he hit his head on the ceiling. Thank goodness when he did so, the growing stopped.

     Alistair was shocked. He had had doubts about the authenticity of the rabbit's claims. This was the wrong reaction he wanted though; the rabbit went through the tiny door. Alistair knew now he had to drink the yucky, spoiled milk. He reached down with an enormous hand and scooped up the seemingly tiny cup. He held his nose with one hand and used the other to tilt the cup in the process of downing the wretched drink. He almost lost the contents of his stomach as he waited for the shrinking effect to occur. After a little bit of gagging later, that weird sensation was back. This time Alistair shrank and shrank and shrank until he could fit through the tiny door that wasn't so tiny anymore.

     Alistair wandered through the door into a dark and dreary land. The sky was grey and the plants were black. He traveled along the only dirt road. Less than a mile along his travels, he ran into two twin girls. They wore matching grey dresses with blood stains above each of their hearts.

     "Hi," they both said at the same time with matching, creepy grins.

     "Hi, could either of you tell me where I am?" Alistair asked, weary of the girls. He felt as if he recognized them, if only slightly.

     "Where are you? Where are we? We're in... psst where are we again, Deborah?" questioned Deniece, not so sure of herself anymore.

     "You're an idiot! We're in Alistair's head! We're in your world, Alistair, your Land of Madness!" exclaimed Deborah in irritation. "Come on, Deniece, we're leaving!" called Deborah, already walking away.

     "Bye, Alistair!" shouted Deniece as she chased after her sister.

     "Wait! Where do I go now?" questioned Alistair, running after the twins. As soon as he got off the path, he realized it was no use and the girls were gone. He turned around to get back on the road but found himself surrounded by trees on all sides. A lost Alistair roamed aimlessly in the woods for what seemed like hours. What he didn't know was that he was being watched.

     Exhausted, Alistair sat down against a tree and looked up at the massive canopy the trees made. The Cheshire Cat decided now was the time to reveal himself. A smile to begin with, then the rest soon followed. "Hello there," purred the cat.

     Having seen the unveiling of the cat from nothing, Alistair was convinced he was seeing things. To top things off, it was talking, just like the rabbit. "Do all animals speak in this place?" wondered Alistair out loud.

     "Yes! Why wouldn't they?" cried the cat joyfully.

     "I think I'm losing my mind!" exclaimed Alistair while rubbing his hands over his eyes.

     "Well, that's good! Means you'll fit right in! We're all mad here!" yelled the cat with glee. "How about we visit the caterpillar; he might be able to help you?"

     "Do I have a choice?" asked a defeated Alistair.

     "How about you ask yourself that question, Alistair! Then, tell me what you decide!" exclaimed the cat with a crazy gleam in its eyes.

     Alistair forced himself up and he obediently trailed behind the cat. He started to smell smoke the farther they went, until he saw puffs of it floating everywhere. It seemed Alistair was getting used to this world because he wasn't shocked to see a huge caterpillar smoking a pipe while sitting on a mushroom.

     "Alistair, I have no words of wisdom for you other then I fear you have in fact lost your mind," stated the caterpillar with conviction.

     "I already figured that out!" declared an irritated Alistair. "Is there any way you can help me?"

     "No! The question should be can you help yourself. Now leave! I have no time for such childish games!" said the caterpillar.

     Then, the duo marched on. Deeper into the forest they walked. "Did that clear anything up for you, Alistair?" inquired the curious cat.

     "Nope! Not anything I hadn't already figured out!" said a frustrated Alistair. "Where are we going now?"

     "We're going to a tea party! Where else would you go to finish a long, tiring day?" questioned the cat.

     "We might as well!" proclaimed Alistair.

     The tea party was a disaster! There were broken cups and saucers everywhere. The food looked as old as the cake in the room earlier and the tea looked like black sludge. Thankfully there was only two participants: The Mad Hatter and his rabbit friend.

     "Alistair!" cried the hatter, "Have some tea with me before we go to meet the Queen!"

     "No, thank you," Alistair politely declined.

     "Whatever you say! I guess we'll be on our way!" sang the nutty hatter with his unruly red hair and fabulous hat. From two to three, the duo became a trio. Together they traveled to the ruins of a once marvelous castle. There they found a powerless Queen. The Queen of Hearts to be exact, yet all that was left was a shell of the woman she once was.

     "Are you here to kill me?" she whispered.

     Alistair went to say no, but instead he stated, "Yes!"

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     Meanwhile in the real world, the disappearance of Alistair's family didn't go unnoticed. The police were alerted and when they got to the house, they found a bloody massacre. His mother, who was always treated like a Queen and loved the color red, was killed first. Then, his father who was a tea loving hat maker. Next, came his older twin cousins. They were both stabbed perfectly in the heart. Finally, his pipe smoking grandfather was the last to die. They found the murder weapon mostly washed in the sink, and they found Alistair at the bottom of hill in the garden. He was knocked out cold with the family pet, a cat named Cheshire, resting on his back. They also found out that his garden was full of Devil's Snare, a hallucinogenic flower, that had slowly been driving the poor boy insane.

     When Alistair came to, he was strapped to a bed in the hospital. They immediately transported him to the insane asylum for his crimes. They allowed him to have a room with a window and he could bring Cheshire with him. Every day through his window he saw the rabbit, staring at him with its red eyes. His therapist told him writing about his experience would help. The story couldn't be in first person, so he could detach himself from it. Here is the story of Alistair and how he figured out the madness would never end, especially when Cheshire was here to remind him, "We're all mad here!"