Polly Olly Oxen Free: Prologue - The Namebearer (DRAFT 1)

The start of the story, according to Uncle Ali.

There is a smile in the sky. Saffron stained and saccharin as a sirens call. I go to it as I have every time the crescent slips from the sky into the Tulgey wood—every night since the striped demon dragged me here thirteen years ago.

It was coincidental, I was told. The wood had lost its protector and happened upon an available namebearer in need of a good soul scrub-up. In other words, I was the closest and easiest mark for them to sink their tiny little claws into.

I blame my mother.

In fairness, I should be blaming my aunt Icee, or my Grandfather Ali, but therein lies the problem. My mother blamed them before anything had even happened. She kept me as far from the name bearers as was feasibly possible in the tiny suburb we all got stuck in. And that is exactly what made me feel inclined to see what all the fuss was about that final night he came.

I was warned. Mother had done her duty on that front. I knew the basics. And I had refused the locket for years up until that point. Because I was a lawyer after all. Responsibility was my middle name. I didn't have time to go gallavanting off down some cold case rabbit hole, regardless of how tantalizing they were. I knew a trap when I saw it—and I knew it was safer to make sure there was a next name bearer on the docket before I took the leap.

What I didn't factor in was the Looking Glass changing the game. Which seems ignorant in hindsight, trust me, I know. But you have to understand, part of me still believe all of this was just some family myth. Sure, I had seen the rabbit. I had even seen the damn cat. But I honestly assumed that just meant our family had a propensity to hallucinate under stressful conditions, not that we actually called forth metaphysical worlds into which we'd be forced to sort things out before we'd be allowed to return.

So, when I came to the hospital, and I saw Pollyanna sitting there in the NICU, holding the small hand of Thibado and that goddamned rabbit came up behind her and was about to tap her on the shoulder and call her into fix my world? My problem?

Fuck no.

It all fell into place in that moment. And it is something I will never forgive my mother for. Every name bearer must enter the world when the rabbit comes for them. If they don't, the Looking Glass starts to tilt our own dimension. Story book tales start to play out in real time with the people you love the most.

I thought it was unique that my brother had named his daughter Pollyanna. Cute that he'd named his twins two names that started with T. But that night when I saw that rabbit behind her I knew that I had started something and unless I found a way to reverse it? Pollyanna and the twins were bound to suffer beyond anything any of them should have to bear.

So when that goddamned smile dropped that night, and I went into that dark wood and found not only Chesh but Archi, holding out a new golden locket, I knew I was too late.

The Looking Glass had already taken the final turn in their story, and now, like me, they would need to come face the Jabberwocky to find freedom from the pain.

I only hoped they would be more successful than me.