The main thing about living in the city is that your “quiet” is the beeping of horns and the loud noises cars bring with the people inside of them. The noise outside only simmered down to a few dogs barking and some odd birds awake at this hour. I stayed up a little bit late into the night to do a bit more research on this new job I got hired for. The job was only a 20 minute walk from my dorm building but if I speed-walk I could most likely get it down to 15 minutes. I couldn’t bomb my first day tomorrow. I needed this job in order for my parents to get off my back about them leaning away from paying my tuition for my junior year in college. Their nagging in my ear and the text messages that blew up my phone every pay period was practically suffocating me. College tuition, paying for room and board, plus the extra necessities that came with me being a female in New York? Oh, they wanted me to lose my mind and have me thrown into an asylum. My eyes started to burn from the bright white light of my laptop, that being my signal to stop looking at the environment of this job and head to sleep.

I’m losing it. I slept through all of my alarms and now I'm rushing down the streets of New York to try to at least make it on time by a little bit. I looked down at my watch to check the time, causing me to bump into someone but I couldn't pay them any mind. I don’t know how I would be able to move faster with these boots I was in. Every single cough, laugh, voice, sound was echoing my brain and bouncing off every wall to where I just needed some form of quiet. My lungs felt as if they were shrinking in on themselves as I impatiently waited at the crosswalk with my hands shaking. Come on, come on, come on. A man stood with his back leaned against a wall, a cigarette in his mouth and his eyes sunken. From across the street there didn’t seem to be a light in his eyes and his gaze was unfocused but they were just…staring at me? I averted my gaze to the walking signal whilst I ran across and down the street. Were they going to dock my pay? Was I even going to be able to get there on time? Oh this was going to be a horrible first impression for my boss. Without notice cold steam clouded all my senses. My lungs seemed to squeeze in on themselves as I went into a coughing fit, trying to open my eyes only to be met with a cold burn. What in the world?!

I blinked and I blinked and blinked to try to get the sting out of my eyes only for when I opened them, I wasn't in New York anymore. A dark black vast space stretched out in front of me, the silence so deafening you could hear a needle drop. I looked from side to side and couldn’t shake the feeling of my stomach turning. Something was watching me. I could feel the stare like someone hesitating to touch your shoulder. A deep rumble made me snap my head to the side to white eyes looking at me. I could make out the figure of the eyes that stared at me. Had to be around 6 '4 and with a bulky build, the build vaguely similar to one guy from the night i tried to block out. My feet seemed to move on their own. I took a step back, the figure took a step forward. I took another step back and the figure took two steps forward. My heart pounded in my chest as this seemed like a waltz to my death. How did I even end up here? Without hesitation, and my fight or flight finally kicking in, I turned to make a run for it. Another set of heavy footsteps followed behind me as I pushed myself to go faster, not daring to wait for my impending doom. My foot tripped over something I couldn't see, causing me to fall and a scream to erupt from my throat. I closed my eyes, awaiting to meet the harsh black floor. But…I didn't? It felt like I was in molasses, stuck slowly falling and it got harder for me to breathe. I thrashed around and tried to break free and breathe. It felt like the molasses was seeping into my nostrils and infiltrating my lungs before a hand grabbed hold of mine and pulled me up.

I snapped my eyes open and began to cough into my elbow, still holding tightly onto this unknown hand to keep me grounded.

“Wonderland to welcome!” A voice echoed in my mind whilst I looked forward.

“What he’s trying to say is, welcome to Wonderland.” Another voice echoed before the echoing stopped and I could hear normally. I stared ahead of me to see twins, both wearing top hats and dapper suits. The twin on the left had on blue lipstick and his hat was tipped to the left while the twin on the right had on purple lipstick and his hat was tipped to the right. Where the hell am I at right now?! I snatched my hand away from the blue lipped twin and I took a step back. I slowly looked behind them to see the most colorful city I've ever seen in my life. The buildings rose high and were vibrant colors of the rainbow, even some had different colored bricks in a pattern that made an image I didn't recognize. Some people rode on unicycles, bicycles, tricycles, and bicycles with four wheels. The cars varied in shapes, sizes, faded colors, wheels, how many windows there were, everything was just a complete flip from New York City. Steam came up from a nearby vent, causing me to flinch and take a big step back.

“Where the hell am I and who the hell are you? I have a job interview and I can't sit around and be in La La Land right now.” I spat, drawing my attention back to the twins in front of me whispering.

“Not La La Land, Wonderland.” The twin with blue lipstick quipped back. It seemed like he was the one who actually could talk in a normal sentence. He seemed around an inch taller than his purple lipped twin so pushing 6’0 and his brown curls spilled from under his hat. His eyes shined up the Sun’s light as they gave off a dark purple hue, just like his brother’s. Who was oddly staring at me with a smile and flashing me a smile. One that showed…he didn’t have his front right tooth.

“Right…right…how do I get out of here?” I asked while still looking around. Could I possibly be living through the 20 minutes in my head before I die and everything goes black? That could be a possibility. One that just worsened the pit in my stomach because if something really did happen to me so i could end up here then that means i was cooked. I would’ve missed my first day on the job completely and not even make it to payday.

“Hey, how did you know my brother’s name?” He spoke up again and I looked back at him with a knit in my brow. Was he actually serious?!

“So your names are Right and Left? And let me guess, Right is the one with the purple lipstick and you’re Left because you have the blue lipstick?”

“About talking you are what?Lipstick wearing aren’t we?” Right finally said and I could feel my brain jumble up into pasta noodles.

“He said he doesn't know what you’re talking about because we aren’t wearing lipstick. How rude.” He mumbled the last apart under his breath and I released a groan of annoyance.

“Both of you, Right, Left, Up, down, I don't care! You’re not telling me how to get out of here!” I urged, running my hand down my face. I blinked up at the sky to look for some sort of sense anything could give me and I was just met with a bright yellow bird.

“You have to take the train station but that's all the way across the city. We can take you there.” Left finally offered and I quickly looked back at him.

“You speak normal?!” I exclaimed and he looked over at Right confused.

“About talking she is what? Normal speak always I?” He murmured over to Right and another groan left me. What the hell?!?!

“He doesn’t know what you’re talking about but if you do need to get to the train station we can take you there before the Sun goes down. Just follow us.” Right said while a sigh left me. Finally some sense in this trippy place. I looked around one last time, my gaze settling on whatever was going on across the street, the hair on the back of my neck sticking up. The same ominous, bone-chilling, tall dark figure was staring at me once more. Its body had a dark aura around it that looked like it could hiss at the wind if it wanted to. A big yellow double decker bus drove past and when I looked in the same spot across the street, it wasn’t there. I slowly looked back to the twins who were awaiting my answer while I swallowed the spit that pooled in my mouth.

“Yeah…take me there the fastest way you can.” I quickly rushed out. They both nodded at each other before turning around to begin walking, my pace quick behind them.

“You might need an umbrella when you get there.” Right spoke out from over this shoulder.

“Why?” I shouted over the loud car horns beeping, very similar to New York.

“It never stops raining over there.” The twins sent in unison and chill ran down my spine. I needed to get the hell out of here and fast. I could feel myself already going crazy…