Home at Last [Twisted Wonderland]

Prologue

I hate them. By them I mean humans. How ironic knowing that I am a human myself. This was a vow that I made to myself and it is also what I had taught my siblings. Anyone other than my family are our enemies as none of them will ever have a pure heart of gold. They used to call my family well distinguished, well-respected, and prominent. Now that our father, the head of the family, has died 5 years ago, weve been chased from our house into the streets where we now live in the back alleys where we can barely take care of ourselves. I try my best, I really do, I try my best to go out into the market to bring back food but all that those civilians say to me is that I am a foul, dirty living being that doesnt deserve to be here. It doesnt bother me at all, what they say. Afterall, they are wrong, THEY are the foul ones, and THEY are the ones who should be erased from the face of Earth.

Today was just like any other day, I went out, scavenged for food, and returned home to feed my family. I returned to the place where we resided, which was an abandoned basement behind a closed down building. Dont get me wrong, we dont have access to the building itself as we dont have the key, so we did what we could with the basement infested with a few flies and rodents.

"Mother, Im back." I yelled out.

"Welcome back, my little dove." My mother sat up from the run-down bed. Everything we owned was all dirty and run-down. We were all pretty much dressed in rags. The only thing that wasnt dirty was the necklace that I wore. Father gifted this necklace to me on my birthday before he was killed. This is the only memory we have left of him. She used to look so healthy, and happy. Now shes basically as skinny as a skeleton(not that we werent like one as well), she was also pale, as she had become sick due to the harsh living environment. I fed my mother first, as she was the one who was the most sick out of all of us and the one that was closest to death. She smiled at me and gratefully accepted. She tries her best to act positive around us and I commend her for it. Just now, she seemed way happier than usual. Im guessing its because Ive brought home a baked turkey that some family threw in their garbage, how wasteful of them. After I was done feeding my mother, I turned towards my siblings.

"Jill, Zephyr, its time to eat." I smiled at them. Older brother was probably outside and would return home late at night, so Ill just leave the leftovers at the small table in the corner.

"Sister! Youre back!" They yelled and hugged me. I hugged them back and gave them their portion of their food. I then ate a portion myself, and went to clean everything up once they were done eating. I then started to educate them on the alphabet and every other subject as I was deemed a child prodigy before the murder. I taught them until it was night time. I put them to sleep, then proceeded to put my mother to sleep, and finally, myself. I hugged my teddy bear tight, mother gave it to me as a present, using up all her money just for me. Both the necklace and the teddy were precious to me, and I may have shed a tear from those memories that night.

"Sister, sister! Wake up! There is a fire! Sister!" I jolted awake at the sound of my siblings screaming that there was a fire. I went outside to see that there was a fire nearby and that there were people with torches, protesting on the streets. My mother was already awake and I told my siblings to guide her to somewhere safe. My older brother was nowhere to be found so I couldnt worry about him right now as I had to take all of our stuff and run with my family to a safer area. Eventually, we arrived at the outskirts of the town and settled there. I told them to wait here and set out all of our stuff while I went back to see what the commotion was all about. My mother begged me to stay, but I had to. I had a gut feeling that whatever happens today may change our lives forever.

As I arrived, I tried to listen to what the people were yelling about. They were yelling something about the royal family and how they should be dethroned. Ah, of course, the royal family. Who could forget? They exploited almost everyone and that included us aristocrats, and they never protected us from outside dangers. They were snobbish, and the crown-prince was in my opinion, not suited to be the next king as he had no political knowledge. Our country, the Kingdom of Celestine, perhaps this will mark the end of the monarchy era. What I failed to notice was that there were also others as poor as I who were running around desperately. It only took a moment for me to realize that the townspeople were not only trying to take down the royal family, but they were also trying to kill off the poor as they deemed that people as filthy as us shouldnt live alongside them.

I turned around to see that there were a group of angry men who spotted me, slowly inching their way towards me. In a panic I ran. I ran towards the forest that everyone knew not to go into as there were a lot of predators who resided in them. It was the only place I could run to, anywhere else would draw attention from the others. I was glad that my family was safe of course since they were in the outskirts of town, but me? Im not so sure anymore myself. Suddenly I heard a neighbor nearby. Have they caught up to me? I turned my head back and saw that a carriage was chasing after me. Adrenaline kicked in and I ran faster, faster than I ever have in my entire life, but unfortunately I tripped over a trees root and I ended up hurting both my knees, my arms, and a little bit of my face. All I could do was look on in fear as the carriage ran up to me, however when it came to a stop, it opened its door automatically for me. There was no one inside and I was confused. I know that this carriage looked abnormal, but this seems like witchcraft. I hesitated to get on until I heard yelling from nearby. It seems that the men have followed me into the forest. Wanting to escape from them, I quickly got up, ignoring the pain I was in and hurriedly climbed into the carriage.

That was how I arrived in this mysterious world called Twisted Wonderland. Im grateful that I survived that night, and Im grateful that I could now live a normal life now. However I will always hate myself for this. I abandoned my own family for my own survival that night.