Alicia has been waiting her whole life for this moment, it feels. The gates in front of her slowly open, and she is the frontmost figure in a small crowd, all waiting for the same thing. The grass seemed to grow taller as it came into vision, until finally it appeared more lush and green than anywhere else she had seen on Earth. The streets were welcoming this crowd of eager souls, and they marched off hurriedly in their independent directions. Friday after school was always pretty magical.
Her iPhone was quickly pulled from her pocket in order to send a text to her patient parents concerning her imminent return. What popped up on the homescreen however was a strange notification from a previously unnoticed app, named RABBIT. The notification just told her she had a new message. She clicked the option to Read it Now, and was shown a strange place with a little rabbit in it. It was pointing in a direction, and after some thought, she decided she had better follow it.
Alicia navigated through her neighborhood, to a strange backwoods looking area she had only passed by now and again. As she was directed through the thicket, she decided the rabbit might respond if she were to speak with it.
"Hello?" She asked, very curious about the creature.
"Hurry, Alicia! You don't want to be late!"
Oh my! she thought. It knew her name!
"Late for what? Were am I going?"
"Please, hurry!" The ever cryptic critter insisted.
After going deeper into the forest area than she thought was even possible, she took a look around her. These looked like woods children might never escape from. She hears the muffled laughter of forest children, looking for her to play with them. Undaunted, she asks the rabbit where they are, but the rabbit keeps pointing in the one direction.
"They will try to take it from you! You must hurry past them!"
What is it? Are these children to be feared? Where was she going? Many thoughts were buzzing through her mind, but she decided it best to follow what the rabbit wanted of her.
After enough travel, she came to a very large tree. By its roots was a huge hole that seemed to suck into the earth infinitely. As she approached the large hole, the rabbit interrupted her.
"No, not there! It's on the other side of the tree!"
"Oh, I'm sorry."
She moved to the opposite end, which was previously out of sight. Against the tree were a slew of vines, and she was sure something rested behind them. She looked toward the rabbit for guidance, and it gave her a simple, telling nod. She began to work at the draping foliage.
"It's..." She started, shocked at what she found.
"Yes. You get to play it first, because you found this before those other kids."
What she uncovered was an ancient video game, with a strange controller to boot. She picked up the device and clicked the ancestral power button. The screen that came up read simply: WONDERLAND, followed by (PRESS START). The forest children finally caught up to her, and she recognized the faces of her classmates who also just got off the bus. They would have to wait for their turns.
She was immediately engaged, and worked through twelve incredibly detailed and immersive levels that took her to another world entirely. She collected power-ups, she beat bosses, and she enjoyed the sandbox style gameplay that not even her real sandbox at school could offer. To this day, she reflects on her experience fondly, noting, "It was pretty fucking sweet." But eventually, she did get a game over, as all video games tend to make happen when they're in an arcade setting (which it was), and she was forced to relinquish her gaming power to the next person waiting; Alex. (Who would be followed by Alec, then Elise, and a whole bunch of other kids with variations on the name Alice. But not Alice.)
Alicia's parents took away her video games after she had not come home for hours, and she either became resentful and depressed, or she turned the other cheek and learned to play sports. (I haven't really decided.) Either way, she never returned to Wonderland again.
The End!
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