Through the Looking Glass (Alice's story)

England, 1863

The little girl sat at the window and looked outside to see the family carriage being packed, all while petting her little orange colored kitten in her lap. She was only about ten years old yet how well her long dark hair was combed, how clean her blue dress and stockings were, and how large her room was, it was clear she was raised and treated a little older than just a ten year old girl. Her green eyes were dulled by the expectation of what was to come once the carriage was ready, making her sigh as she waited.

A moment later the door to her room opened, the girl not looking back already knowing who it was. Her mother had taken a moment to look before seeing where she was sitting. At first she’d checked over by her small desk where a number of drawings and books were stacked, then toward the bed and wardrobe she thought she may have tried hiding near. But she’d found her daughter at the windowsill, sitting with her cat and looking less than enthusiastic about what was about to happen.

Her mother huffed before saying “Alice? Why are you not getting ready?”

Alice didn’t look away from the window as she answered “Father still needs to pack the rest of the bags. That should take him at least ten minutes. And then Mr. Percy still has to make sure the horses are ready. That means five. I have fifteen more minutes left, mother.”

Given her tone her mother sighed before saying “Alice, please try to act a little more excited about this trip.”

She looked down to her cat in her lap before saying “I’m tired of always going to East Sussex. It’s always the same. There’s nothing special there anymore.”

“You’ve always loved going there. What about those days when we went for a swim on the beach? And your aunt Emily hasn’t seen you in ages.”

“It’s only been a year.” Alice retorted. “Besides, why not just tell her how I’ve changed. That should satisfy her.” Her mother gave another annoyed sigh before trying to talk to her daughter yet again. Alice looked a little sadder before saying “I don’t want to leave Dinah behind, mother. What if something happens to her while I’m gone?”

“She’ll be fine here.” Her mother tried to convince her. “Amanda and the other maids will take good care of her.”

Alice, still holding her dear Dinah close on her lap, looked up to her mother and pleaded “Please, mother? Just a little longer?”

At first it seemed as if she wasn’t going to stand for her disobedience, but eventually Alice’s mother sighed. It was hard to argue with such sad eyes and so innocent a tone of voice. And after all, she knew how her daughter had treated that cat like her only friend in the whole world.

“Another ten minutes, Alice.” She said. “And then I want you downstairs, with your sister and ready to leave by then. Not a moment later. Understood?”

Alice gave a small “yes, mother” before she left. Alice then turned back to the window, seeing as her father was still helping to pack while speaking with Mr. Percy as they tended to the horses.

After a moment she spoke to her cat, saying “I wish you could come with me to East Sussex, Dinah. It will be ever so boring without you. I wish you could see the shore there. It’s so beautiful when the afternoon comes and we see the sun setting. But made you would find the sand very uncomfortable for your small cat paws. Maybe if you wore shoes like a person.” She sighed a little again before looking out across the large field in front of her house and saying “I wish I could go across the sea, Dinah. Maybe when we’re older we can both go. It’ll be like traveling to a whole other world.”

Suddenly Dinah’s cat senses had detected something that made her hop from Alice’s lap. The girl called in protest for her to come back before the cat ran towards the large mirror standing in Alice’s room. Alice called for Dinah to stop before seeing something that made her heart jump.

Dinah had ran through the glass of the mirror, not breaking it but rather running straight through as if into a pool of water. Alice rushed over to look, seeing if her cat was in the reflection somewhere, only to see her own surprised reflection looking back at her.

With her want for getting her cat back, and her own curious nature getting the better of her, Alice reached her hand forward before she felt it slip into the pool-lie glass. It felt so odd to her, like a warm coat of something sticky and yet when she checked there was nothing on her hand.

Alice wondered if this was magic, some once in a lifetime thing that only happen at special moments in peoples live and perhaps so many other were scared to go through their mirrors. But she wasn’t afraid, not with Dinah lost where she was.

With a deep breath Alice called “Hold on, Dinah. I’m coming!” before stepping through the mirror herself.

Passing through the glass Alice felt like she was walking through a thick curtain made of mud, or something equally unpleasant. Her little body felt like it would have almost been crushed by how heavy everything felt, yet there was soothing feeling of something else. The warm sensation that could almost be described like breeze rushing past her as she walked. Not as if she were running….but more like if she was falling.

Alice’s eyes were closed so when she’d finally exited through “the glass” she didn’t realize where she was standing right away. She slowly opened her eyes and realized she wasn’t in her room, or her house for that matter. A little gasp escaped her lips when she looked around, realizing she’d stepped into what she believed was an entire new world.

It was nighttime. She was standing in what she realized was a small alleyway. There was a dumpster, something she didn’t recognize, in front of her before the alley lead into a street. She could see people walking by the alley and lights everywhere. Alice tried to look closer but it was hard to tell with the lights, but some of the people were dressed funny or looked funny from where she stood. And there were odd noises too. Horns and whistles and other abnormal sounds she’d never heard before. Something whizzed overhead and she quickly looked up to see a small disk-like object flying high in the air. Lights were glowing from the bottom of it, making it look like a moving star. And speaking of the stars, she could see they were out. Amongst the stars was the moon, or rather two moons that were hanging in the sky.

It became all the more clearer to Alice she wasn’t home anymore, but then where was she? Needing to know in the hopes that someone would help she walked towards the street and the lights. Once at the corner she peeked her head out and could see more sights that amazed her.

There were hundreds of people walking the sidewalks of the street. All of them were dressed in odd clothes. Large, hulking metal vehicles were on the street but were a few feet off the ground as they passed by very fast. There were more vehicles up in the air flying as high as birds, some possibly higher. The lights she’d seen were coming from both the vehicles and large signs that had lights attached to them.

As she looked to the people, ready to ask one of them for help, she realized not all of them were human and gasped. Some were regular people, if dressed in such a bizarre manner, but others were so different. There was one with pure white skin walking with another of pure red. Some of them looked like animals dressed and walking like humans, the ones she could point out being a dog, a bird, something she would later remember as a rhinoceros, and even some with large antennae sticking out that looked like rabbit ears to little Alice.

She was afraid to step out of the alley, fearing one of these monsters would eat her, but found they saw her and passed by uncaring that she’d seen a normal looking girl. Upon further inspection Alice could see the normal people talking with these non-human things as if they were friends or at least familiar with each other. At least she knew they were safe to be around.

Her thoughts returned to the mater that brought her here, finding where Dinah had run off too. She started looking around, hoping there would be some sign of her. She’d only walked down a little ways on the street before fearing if she’d ever find her.

Suddenly she heard the sound of a cat meowing and instantly looked to see if it was Dinah. She stood on her tiptoes to try and see past the bunching crowd of people before hearing the meowing again. It was coming from ahead of her, near another alleyway.

She hurried, squeezing her way past a few people and pardoning herself as she did, before finding the spot where she’d heard the meowing. She could see someone sitting on the ground with his back to her.

Hesitantly she asked “E…excuse me, sir? Have you seen my…?”

Before she could finish the man, or at least what she’d thought was a man, turned and revealed he wasn’t human. It was a cat creature that was shaped and dressed like a man. She shrieked when he growled and hissed at her before standing. Alice backed away as it kept doing it, she fearing it would scratch her or eat her like a mouse.

Alice suddenly felt as she bumped into someone who said “Oi! Easy now, big guy.” The man she realized talking to the cat creature. “No need to get snappy.”

Alice looked up to see the man and took a moment to examine him as he’d spoken to the cat creature. He was dressed in a funny manner, his clothing seeming common and yet bizarre compared to what everyone else was wearing. What she noticed right away was the funny hat he had on, thinking how it looked like something she would see someone where in her homeland and not this odd place.

The cat creature continued talking to the man with its hisses and growls before he said “Well you can’t blame her for that, can you? She’s just a little girl.” More hisses and grunts before he said “Oh don’t be like that. Have a heart, will you? Take me for instance, I have two.” Alice looked at him oddly when he said that before the cat man said more. “Alright, alright. Look just apologize at least.” More hissing. “Hey, now you’re the one that started it. Not her. Now c’mon. Say you’re sorry. And mean it.”

The cat creature looked down to Alice before reluctantly looking back to the man. He gave the creature and threatening look before it looked down to Alice again, giving a little grin fully of sharp teeth. He grunted something to her, making her think that was its way of saying an apology in whatever language it had.

After that the funny hat man said “Good, now go back to your business.” When the creature walked off the man kneeled down next to Alice as she turned before asking “You okay?”

She was trembling a little as she pointed to the cat man and said “Th-that cat….he…he…”

“Oh don’t worry about him.” The waved it off. “He’s just cranky ‘cause you woke him up from a nap. You know how the Catkind can be sometimes.” Alice didn’t fully understand, as it was showing on her face, before the man asked “Now what’s a little girl like you doing around here? Lost your parents?”

She shook her head and answered “No…I…I lost my cat. My regular cat, not one that looks walks like a person.”

The man had a little worried look on his face before saying “Oh, now that is sad. I mean I’ve never had a cat. But between that and losing my parents I couldn’t tell you which was worse.”

She reluctantly asked “You’ve….lost your parents?”

He only answered with an odd look as he waved his hands and said “Bit of a long story. Anyways, your cat. When was the last time you saw her?”

Alice gave a brief explanation of “I…I was sitting with her by the window and then she ran into the mirror. I…I followed and wound up here.”

The man looked at her oddly before asking “Through your mirror?” She nodded before he hummed with interesting, afterwards saying “Well, I’m sure that’s nothing. Meanwhile we need to find your cat. What’s her name?”

“Dinah.” She answered.

“Aw, now that’s a perfect name.” he said as he reached into his coat for something. “Goes with anything. A girl. A pet. A ship. Actually I think I met a Silurian called Dinah once. Bit complicated there.” He could see the confused look on her face before saying “Never seen a Silurian?” she shook her head as her answer before he said “Well basically they’re just lizard people. Some have names like Vatishda and Altalor, others have easy names like Bill.”

He finally pulled out what he needed from his jacket. Alice could see it was some sort of metal stick or wand with a glowing point at the end. When he pointed it towards her it made an odd buzzing-like noise she’d never heard before.

Seeing it she asked “What is that? A magic wand?”

He pointed it down towards her stomach and answered “Uh, something like that. A sonic magic wand.”

With that question answered she raised her next which was “Are…are you a wizard?”

“No, actually. I’m a doctor.” He answered, still pointing his wand at her. Eventually it made one final beep making him say “Ah! There we go. Genetic sample from some hairs stuck on your dress.” He pulled one off her skirt and showed it to her before going on with “Now that we have that it’s just a matter of finding the source.” He started fiddling with it and said “Hang on. Just need to make sure the other feline genetic markers don’t muddling things up and….there we go.”

He stood up and pointed the magic wand, as Alice still called it, around until it buzzed again. He took her hand and told her to come along with him, Alice slowly taking his hand and walking with him on the grounds he was the closest thing to a normal person she could trust.

As they walked Alice asked “If you’re a Doctor, where’s your case full of tools and instruments?”

He didn’t look down to her but only shrugged and said “All I ever really needed was this.” Indicating the wand.

“Does that wand make magic that heals people?”

“Well….it does a lot of things. Like opening doors, which is very handy.”

“But you wear that hat to let people know you ARE a doctor, yes?”

He stopped and looked down at her oddly before saying “What’s wrong with wearing a hat just because you like it?” Alice gave a little shrug, not really having an answer or argument for that, before they continued on and the Doctor asked “I mean if you’re going to question me about hats, I might as well question why you’re dressed like that. I know some parents like to dress their children in a more retro fashion these days, but this is thousands of years behind.”

She took a little offense to that before saying “This dress is new. My mother bought it for me only a week ago. Apparently it was one of the latest designs from McPherson’s.”

The Doctor shook his head as they walked on before saying “Mr. McPherson’s got some really old taste apparently.”

Eventually they’d walk and crossed a few streets before coming to another ally, this one leading to an open door to a warehouse. The Doctor led Alice towards it before stopping, his wand buzzing as he looked into the open doorway for a moment before looking away.

“Is Dinah in there?” Alice asked.

He answered “Apparently she is. But I don’t think she’s alone.” He peeked back inside before looking to Alice and saying “Okay, I want you to wait here. Understood? Wait right here and I’ll bring Dinah back. But do not come in. No matter what you hear. Got that?”

Alice was a little scared when she heard him say that. What exactly was she going to hear? She could tell something bad was going to happen but, feeling this Doctor knew what he was doing, she trusted him to do what he had to in order to bring Dinah back. She nodded, he nodding back, before he held is magic wand at the ready and slipped through the door.

Alice stood against the wall, trying to listen in on whatever was going on inside. She could faintly hear the sounds of the Doctor talking but so was something else. A few other creatures were heard talking in some odd language Alice couldn’t understand. She was trying to hear any sounds of Dinah but so far it was just the Doctor talking to whatever was in there.

Suddenly she heard the sound of commotion, like fighting, going on inside. She backed away from the door a little in fear that something other than the Doctor might burst out. Alice could hear the Doctor shouting followed by sounds of creatures screeching and things being tossed around.

Then something ran out of the doorway and made Alice jump for a moment before she looked and cried “Dinah!”

It was indeed her cat, she could tell the moment she saw her. She looked unharmed which she was thankful for, making her pick the cat up and hold her close and tight in her arms so she wouldn’t fall out of her grip.

A moment later the Doctor burst out of the door and slammed it shut before using his magic wand on it, Alice asking “What was in there?”

“A couple of scavengers.” He said with an exhilarated tone. He finished whatever spell he cast on the door with his wand before running and saying “Come on! Hurry up!” Alice took a moment to look back at the door, hearing something slamming against it, before running after the Doctor as he said “That’s not going to hold them for long!”

As she ran with him she asked “What are they?”

“Like I said: scavengers. And apparently I just stole their lunch!”

Alice, realizing he meant Dinah, hurried her pace before hearing the crash of the door behind her. When she looked back she saw three large creatures chasing after her and the Doctor. One had a head like a walrus, with two great big tusk-like fangs. Another was some monstrous thing with many arms and bug-like eyes, looking to Alice like a man-caterpillar creature. The final one was a lizard-like animal with yellow eyes and long tendrils on its mouth and vicious rabbit-like teeth.

Alice screamed as she ran, finding it a little hard to keep up with Dinah in her arms. The Doctor looked back and slowed up a little for her to catch up before scooping her up in her arms and carrying her as he ran. Basically it was Dinah being carried by Alice who was being carried by the Doctor.

“What do we do?” Alice asked, scared for all of their lives as she looked back towards the chasing monsters.

“We’ll be safe once we get to the street.” He said. When she asked why he said “Because that’s where the authorities will be!”

They’d managed to get to the street before the creatures did, the Doctor looking around before taking a left turn and running. Alice looked back to see they’d only reached about a yard before the monsters were already on their tale. She looked back to see where the Doctor was going, seeing that he was trying to run towards what looked like, to Alice, a knight of sorts.

The dressing he wore looked like armor, large white with bulky pads on the shoulders and chest. He had a belt that had a number of odd objects on it, one a dark club that looked more like a sword to Alice.
As the Doctor rushed by the knight looked oddly at this before seeing the creatures and stopping them. Alice was surprised to see them halt when the knight stood in their way, a sigh of relief leaving her lungs as the Doctor kept running.

She looked down to him and said “You can stop. The knight is dealing with them.”

“Well just want to make sure they don’t spot us is all.” He said as he ran a little further. After a few moments he stopped and looked back, saying “There. No way they’ll see us now.” He let her down on the ground and asked “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

She looked at him oddly before, surprisingly, answering “Aside from the horrible…..things….I suppose it was rather exciting.”

He Doctor chuckled at this before scratching behind Dinah’s ears and saying “Well at least she’s alright. And so are you. And so am I. All-in-all success.”

She giggled a little at how strange he was before asking “So those things wanted to eat Dinah?”

“Oh yeah. Well I mean you can’t blame them. Ordinary cats are like a delicacy for them. Haven’t been seen around these parts for nearly a hundred years.” He then look oddly at Alice and said “Didn’t your parents warn you to be more careful with cats around here?”

Alice merely answered “I don’t think my parents even know about this place. I didn’t either until I wound up walking through the mirror. But I’ve never heard of any sort of monsters like those in England. Especially not ones that eat cats.”

The Doctor looked at her even more oddly and asked “England? You think this is England?”

Alice shrugged as she still held Dinah and said “I….I assumed it was. Unless I somehow wound up in Australia or perhaps Africa.”

The Doctor still looked at her, seeming a bit confused, before asking “What’s your name?”

“Alice, sir. Alice Carrington.” She answered with a little matter-of-fact tone.

He gave a curious hum before asking “Alice, what years is it? I’ve, uh, sort of forgot my watch.”

“You have a watch that tells the years?” she asked. He waved that question off and repeated his before she answered “1863.”

“And you said you came through your mirror, right?” When she nodded he then asked “Where did you end up?” When she answered an alley way and where it was he asked “Mind taking me there so I can see for myself?”

She nodded before taking the Doctor’s hand and leading the way. Within a few moments they’d arrived back at the alleyway where Alice had come from.

The Doctor told her to stay where she was before walking ahead and stretching his arm out. He stepped closer until his hand disappeared into thin air, looking at if it went through the same material that Alice’s mirror had been when she stepped through it. Pulling his hand away the Doctor pulled out his magic wand and pointed it towards the spot, it buzzing as if it was examining the invisible portal.

After a moment he checked his wand and said “Now that is interesting.”

Alice walked closer and asked “What? What is it?”

As he put his magic wand back in his coat he explained “Alice, I think what you need to do is go back through that portal. You’ll wind up back in your room safe and sound. And you might want to be quick about it.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because there’s a good chance it might not be there anymore.”

Alice looked a bit shocked by this, the idea of almost being stuck in this place, wherever it as, before the Doctor indicated for her to walk ahead of him and go for the portal. She nodded and took a few steps forward before stopping and looking back.

“I’m sorry, but I never did know your name.”

“I told you, I’m the Doctor.”

She looked a little confused by that before asking “What….what is this place?”

He shrugged a little before saying “Well, Alice Carrington, I suppose you could call it….” He stopped for a moment before he seemed to realize something. A big smile went across his face before he finished with “You could actually call it something of a wondrous land.”

She smiled a little at this, seeing that he was happy to call it that, before asking “Will….will I ever see you again?”

Not really giving an answer the Doctor said “You’d best get home before that door closes.” After saying that he tipped his hat to her and said “Off you go now.”

Alice gave a little curtsy to him while still holding Dinah before finally turning and walking through the portal. She closed her eyes before feeling that odd sensation of walking through mud and yet falling at the same time before finally feeling as she stepped onto the wooden floor of her room.

She opened her eyes and sighed with relief, glad to be back, before realizing how long she’d been in that other world. She rushed out of her room, knowing that her parents and sister and all of the maids would be worried about her.

When she exited her room she called out “I’m back! Mother, father! I’m back!”

She ran down the hall to the stairway before seeing all of her family standing down near the front door to the house. They’d already been looking towards her when they’d heard her calling out before seeing her hurry down the stairs.

“I’m back!” she said as she kept hurrying. “It’s alright. I’m back.”

“Back?” her father asked. “From where?”

Alice looked confused before saying “I was gone for so long. Didn’t you try to look for me?”

Her mother asked “Look for you? I left you up in you room not five minutes ago, remember? You still wanted to spend time with Dinah before we left.”

Her sister, Lizzie, commented “Alice, you’re sounding full of nonsense.”

“But you don’t understand.” She tried to explain. “Dinah ran through the mirror and I went after her. And then I met this man called the Doctor, and we wore a funny hat and…”

Her father sighed and said “Alice, please, we don’t have time for these games. You need to get ready before we’re late.”

“But, father!” she pleaded. “It was real! I swear. Come and see. I can show you!”

Both her mother and father looked to each other, a little unenthusiastic about indulging in their daughter’s odd fantasy, before he sighed and agreed to come with her. She hurried up before her father, eager to prove her story was true, before the two eventually reached her room.

She put Dinah down before saying “Now watch, father.”

Alice held her hand out and slowly pushed it towards the mirror. Her hand came closer and closer to the glass. When she came close enough to where he hand should’ve gone through, instead it just went flat against the glass. She tried using both hands after that before realizing it portal was gone.

Looking back to her father she said “No….but….it was here. I swear, father. It was here.”

Her father, annoyed at this point, sighed and began to say “Alice, please. This is….”

“No, I swear. There was a portal to a land. A wonder land! Right in this mirror. And there were cats that could smile and monsters and a man with a funny hate and a magic wand and…”

“Alice, enough!” he raised his voice to silence her. “This is the last time I’m going to tell you to stop this childish nonsense. Obviously this is just some way for you to try and cancel on the trip. Well you can’t. Now come along.”

Alice watched as her father exited the room before looking back at the mirror. She began to understand that the Doctor was right about the portal closing, she was just sad that it had closed so soon. Not only did she look the fool in front of her family but now she realized there was no way back to that place. She’d hoped she could find the Doctor and make him come to her world to prove her family she was telling the truth, but now maybe that was impossible.

With her father calling for her Alice had no choice but to run out of the room and hurry down to her waiting family, and from there leave for East Sussex.


In the following years Alice would tell her incredible tale to others, from friends of the family to teachers and, eventually, psychiatrists. Each time they would always say her story was either a dream, an imagination, just some means of getting attention, or just that: a story. She tried convincing them it was true but of course given what she'd talked about it was hard to believe any of it.

It took almost six years before the treatments and talks were able to convince her that what she'd experienced wasn't real. They made her believe it was just a fantasy concocted in her childish head as a means of escape from what she'd considered a dull life.

In that time someone else, a man by the name of Carrol, produced a book based on her stories. This only served to make others think her travel to this "Wonderland" was all the more a delusion.

Everyday since that day with the mirror, Alice had always checked it. She put her hands against the glass, hoping they would slip through only to find they would flatten against the mirror. She kept waking up and hoping that the Doctor would be there, or maybe Dinah had managed to run through and found him for her.

But in time Dinah was gone. The mirror was gone. And Alice was left with only her memories. And the memories soon became dreams. And even now the dreams become all the more vague with each passing day.

The only thing she couldn't seem to forget was him: the man with the funny hat. She forgot who he was called and the funny little magic wand he carried, but she still remembered that hat and how she missed seeing the man who wore it.