House Of Madness

Chapter 1 White Rabbit

Ivy didn't have anything.
Than again most humans didn't, that's just how it went when you lived in SkyWood the fae country in the prairies.
She did however have family which was rare as it is but having a family that actually loves you that's rarer than any shooting star or jewel.
Until she didn't.
One day she had two loving parents and two older brothers the next day her parents were both dead.
A year later her middle brother died and two years after his death she found her oldest brother dead.
Leaving little Ivy scared and alone.
Ivy didn't like to dwell in the past, she was all about the future, always focussed on the now.
Never looking back, always in the present was how she chose to live her life.
More specifically the only way she knew how.
It has been two years since her older brother's death and she had less than nothing now.
She never had consistent food, clean water, clean clothes or toys but she had family and enough love that it didn't matter.
She never felt empty or hollow.
Now the days were a blur, always hungry, thirsty, cold and worst of all alone.
Call it stupidity, call it whatever you want but Ivy was done.
She'd enough and she wanted out.
She didn't come to this decision lightly.
Nonetheless, at only eleven years old Ivanna Rose Mcquinn was ready for it to end.
She missed her family too much and felt a sense of peace knowing there would be no one to mourn her.
It would be on her terms, of course, she did have some self-respect.
She did her research and looked into every way an eleven-year-old could kill them self.
She still wasn't sure which way was best but she did know she didn't want a messy death but she didn't want to rot either.
She found killing yourself to almost be an art form.
One she studied thoroughly since she didn't want to mess it up.
After her research, (watching many people die) Ivy decided that jumping from a high place was best.
That's not entirely true, her first choice was a gun.
A clean shot through the heart, she thought that it would be poetic to see her heart.
At eleven years old Ivy didn't know that even if you could see your heart from a bullet wound to the chest it wouldn't matter because she would have been long dead by that point.
Thankfully, she didn't go the gun route because she couldn't find a gun.
She did try though, she looked for two weeks. At least she thought it was about two weeks. With her search for a gun unsuccessful she then decided on jumping.
To prepare she looked for a nice building one she could easily climb to jump from.
It didn't take long for her to find one; a nice tall building.
If nothing Ivy was very resourceful.
Ivy climbed to the very top and went right to the edge, it was perfect.
Ivy stepped off the edge and started to climb down the building.
Most suicidal people would have just jumped but that wasn't Ivy's style.
If anyone saw Ivy on the edge of that building they would think she had chickened out.
That she came to her senses and chose to fight one more day.
Anyone who thought that was wrong.
Ivy was a lot of things including structured and not a quitter; even at eleven years old.
Ivy knew she would jump from that building on a date of her choosing.
It was only a matter of time.
Ivy thought long and hard about the date, she thought about doing something on the 1st day of the 1st mouth since the cold January was approaching but she thought that was too cliché not to mention too far away.
She ended up not choosing a date, and know it wasn't because she was suddenly not suicidal it was because she thought the right day and time would speak to her.
She was right.
A few days later Ivy woke up ready to die.
It was a cold crisp morning, everything was covered in frost and Ivy knew today was the day.
She got up from the little shack where she currently resigned with joy etched into every bone, feature and feeling.
She walked the ten minute walk to the building and got ready to climb.
When she was at the top she took a second to appreciate the cold.
Something she had never dared to do before, after all that's not something mental healthy people do.
No sane person appreciates something so harsh, something so deadly.
The movement had passed so Ivy walked to the ledge and just when she was about to jump she had a horrific thought, 'what if I don't die? What if instead I break every bone in my body? And have to live days in that kind of pain for before I die?'
Ivy was so mad at herself! She was strategic that's the only way she'd managed to stay alive this long on her own.
Yet she didn't even consider the possibility that she could survive the fall!
Death sounded peaceful to Ivy, excruciating pain however did not.
So with that thought Ivy moved from the ledge and climbed down the weathered building.
The next day wasn't the day, or the next day, or the day after that.
Finally, she woke and she knew today was the day.
She wanted a meal before she went so she scoured garbage cans and found a sandwich with only a little mould and a half eaten apple that wasn't too brown.
Ivy enjoyed her last meal, only wishing she had found something to drink.
When she was done she left she shack and started walking to the old building.
Ivy was pretty sure if she jumped from the highest point she would die instantly or almost instantly.
As she walked she smiled because she felt the winter sunlight on her face.
Unlike the last time she tried to kill herself today was actually warm for a winter day. When Ivy got near her building, the building she was going to jump from she saw a bunch of people surrounded at the bottom.
She ran over to get a closer look and was not happy with what she found.
On the cold wet snowy ground she saw a young man lying face down.
Unbelievable! She couldn't believe it!
This man had stolen her building!
This was the building she was supposed to jump from!
Now if she jumped she would be a copycat!
At eleven years old being called a copycat even in death was a big deal to Ivy!
With no other choice Ivy turned and left the dead man with the spectators.
Saying Ivy was disappointed was more than a understatement.
What Ivy would later realize is at eleven years old she hadn't wanted death but she had wanted glory.
Because with glory comes attention and with attention comes the chance of being loved. Being loved was what she truly desired.
On her way back Ivy decide to take a different way to her shack.
She told herself it was to look for a new building but in reality that wasn't the reason.
Ivy liked to people watch, that's all she did.
The problem with people is deep down they're all the same, predictable.
Watching people quickly became boring even watching people kill themselves became too predictable.
So it was no surprise that Ivy started heading to town square.
After all she wanted to people watch, just not watch people.
She made it to town square and wondered if she was going to die.
Town square was ran by fae and even without trying humans always end up dead.
Ivy was surprised that the idea of being killed either on purpose or on accident by fae did not appeal to her in the slightest.
It was too common, being killed at the hands of fae.
Technically so is suicide, too common but Ivy ignored that.
Ivy was good at ignoring anything she didn't particularly like.
Town square was loud and busy.
Ivy was looking for somewhere to sit for a minute to fae watch than she'll go home.
As she was looking for a spot to sit she saw a fae man in a dark top hat, white rabbit ears sticking out, dark trench coat with a watch peaking out and dark black boots.
Ivy was mad, this fools outfit was top designer no doubt worth enough money to feed her for a lifetime!
'Why does he get to have such luxury?
While I have less than nothing?' Ivy wanted the man to suffer.
She just didn't know how to make her want a reality.
Ivy decided with nothing to lose and everything to gain she followed the fae man.
Ivy knew he would kill her without any effort or even a look if he knew he was being followed.
The thought of being killed in such a insignificant manner made Ivy careful.
She made sure she gave the man much space as she followed him on her toes.
The white rabbit man was clearly in an hurry, she should have picked someone else to punish.
Countless fae were in town square like any day but for some reason Ivy wanted to punish him; the white rabbit man.
Ivy didn't know when but somewhere along the way of following him she came to the conclusion that she'll take his pocket watch.
It seemed right, she didn't know how or why she wanted the watch so bad but she knew she wasn't leaving without it.
Ivy knew she would die trying to get that stupid watch.
Looking back Ivy knew this moment in time would be how Ivy figured out she didn't want death or even glory.
Because Ivy could have picked anyone to rob, anyone to try to steal from.
Bigger stronger, richer fae so if it was glory she wanted she did a piss poor job at trying to get any.
Ivy jumped from the top of the tunnel on the rabbit man as he went through.
He shrieked, "get off me! Right now!" Ivy would never forget how annoyed he sounded, "I'm late! I can't be having any distractions!" Ivy tried to grab the watch but the rabbit man wasn't having any of that.
He continued to walk very fast the only difference being Ivy was now on him.
Ivy fiddled with the watch, the man who she was now on top of must have been so late he didn't  seem to care.
Ivy wanted off this fae man so she just stared pulling as hard as she could at the watch. Anyone watching would think that the fae man was somehow holding her because no one in their right mind would risk being killed for a stupid watch.
As discovered, eleven year old Ivy was not in the right mind.
'Got it!' She thought happily as she shoved the watch in her pants.
Just as she was about to jump off the fae man someone else grabbed her. "Really Nivens? This weak thing actually succeeded in robbing you?" The white rabbit who's name must have been Nivens reached to his left side and gasped a loud and very over dramatic gasp as if he was shot when he realized his pocket watch was gone. "I was in a hurry! I'm late!"
"You're always late Nivens", the man who held Ivy said. "As for you human you're coming with me.
Hope you've enjoyed the sunshine because where your going that's something you're not going to be seeing ever again."