Mad's In Love! -bxb-

Chapter 1

Al's POV

"So what does Al even stand for?" was the question my friend Tay asked me the first time we met. "It stands for Al" I simply told me. "That's an odd name" he chuckled at me. I simply shrugged my shoulders, "I have a strange mother. I've grown accustomed to the odds."

"Well, my name is Taylor, but I'll let you call me Tay." the odd lad told me right after. "That would be an odd name to call you by." I said simply. My bluntness tends to make me rather unpopular. Yet Tay grinned, "I figured another odd one in your life wouldn't make much of a difference."

I didn't know why the boy became so attached to me since that day. But it seemed like we were never apart. At some point, mother even took him with us to the odd land. Unexpectedly, he reacted calmer than I'd expected. Perhaps even my friends are odds now.

"So this place is called wonderland, huh?" he chuckled, "What a fitting name for such a wonderful place." I couldn't help but agree. "Curious are you?" mother giggled. She led him on a small tour of Wonderland, as she did when I first came here. This time, the people of wonderland greeted me as well, Alice's child, they called me. Which was accurate. I was indeed her child. They've perhaps forgotten my name.

At the end of the tour, we arrived at our usual tea party right on time, as always. "Alice! Al! You're on time, just as always." the crazy rabbit giggled. I smiled, feeling a sense of superiority that someone finally called out my name.

"w-who's that behind you!" the mouse trembled, pointing his tiny toothpick at Tay. "This is our guest! He is Al's first friend." mother proudly stated. I held down the sense of embarrassment, avoiding my gaze from a certain man in particular.

"Well," Mr Hatter grinned, "Any friend of yours is a friend of ours! Let us begin the party!"

I didn't fail to notice his failure of calling out my name. Only once had I heard my name come out of his lips; the first time I met Mr Hatter. I still remembered the bitterness in his tone of voice.

____

"That will be seven pounds" I smiled. The lady gave me exact change and left with her paintbrushes. I sighed, finally done with the last customer of the day.

"Al, let's go" Tay smiled, coming into the store in a thick jacket, fresh out of work. I nodded, throwing away my apron. This life was not exactly what I had imagined I would do at the age of 19. Yet as an orphaned child, what opportunities lied ahead?

Tay walked happily beside me, humming the same tune he'd been humming since he was nine. "How was work today?" he smiled. I shrugged, "Same as the last year." He giggled, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Things will look up for us. I know it."

This statement was something he would repeat every now and then. Yet I've still failed to see anything in my life getting better. After my mother's death, everything fell into ruin. My father changed from a kind and patient man into a hardcore alcoholic that spent my mother's entire fortune on failing investments. Nonetheless, he still took care of me. It wouldn't have been so bad had he not committed suicide two years ago. Now I live with Tay at his run-down apartment, the only thing he had inherited from his debt running parents.

"My friend, I fear that this is up for people like us." I smiled. I continued to ignore his pitiful gaze, wanting more than anything to fall into my recycled mattress and fall asleep. "You know..." Tay muttered under his breath. I hummed in response.

"We could always go back to that place." My fatigue drained from my body and I stopped in my tracks. Tay stopped three steps in front of me, looking back with an unsure expression. "We will do no such thing." I seethed, "Not as long as I'm alive."

I curled my hands into hard fists, a mixture of anger and sadness rushing in from the memories of my last day there. I'm never going back. Never to the place she disappeared, and the place that he is in.

Tay's arm returned to my shoulders. "Alright, it was just a suggestion."