entranceway | OPINION } from Images May Disturb You, the Blog of Georgia Mason, entry #2

If there's one thing I've learned about Wonderland in the weeks that I've been forced to start calling it home: it's that it lies to you. But so do lots of people, right? Everyone has a reason to lie. Some people lie to hurt other people, but some people lie out of kindness. Some people try to protect you with comforting falsehoods. How do we know that Wonderland isn't lying for our own good? I can't tell you that. I don't know Wonderland's motivations, if there even is any sort of guiding intelligence behind it and not just pure chance. What I can tell you is this: it doesn't matter. Lying out of kindness is just as bad as lying out of cruelty. Possibly even worse. Comforting falsehoods might be nicer in the moment than cruel truths, but I'll take the truth every time. Is it better to spare a family by telling them their dying child might get better? Or to allow them to cherish the time they have left? Is it better to tell someone their writing is good? Or send them an honest critique that could let them actually improve until you could say so without it being a lie? Is it better to lose the memories that have hurt you and spend a weekend in blissful ignorance? Or hold onto every iota of the pain that has built you and remember exactly why you fight? Lies won't take the time to heal you. Only the truth can do that. Wonderland is the biggest lie I've ever seen. I cannot promise a way out of this gilded, wonderful cage. That would be a lie, even if it's one I'd like to believe. I can only promise that I'll do everything I can to find the truth all of those lies are working at concealing. I won't quit until I uncover all the secrets Wonderland is hiding. Or until Wonderland gets tired of all the prodding and sends me home. Here's hoping, right?

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Got nothing left back home, but I've built a good life for myself here.
I know that's not the case for most people. Most have lives and families to get back to.
I'm pretty grateful for the time Wonderland has given me. I met my husband here.

I'm dead when I get home myself. I still wouldn't say I like it here.

[But she does have Shaun here and he has her and she doesn't know if she can give that up if given the choice. She wants to live. She wants to finish her story. Why can't she do both?]

Does that mean your husband isn't from the same world as you?

You too, huh?

[That level of self-disclosure deserves some disclosure in turn.]

No, he's not. His world has pretty much ended, too. Overrun with zombies.

According to my brother, who may be an asshole but wouldn't joke about that. So when you say you have nothing left, that's what you mean?

[And knows better than to lie to her, if he even could, considering just how badly he's taken her death. It's a little hard to hide the fact that he's talking to her in his head.]

We have zombies too, though I wouldn't call it the end of the world. But it sounds like most places have it worse than we do. That might change if they give it a few decades. Our Rising happened before I was born.

That would be a pretty shitty thing to lie about. But yeah, that's what I mean.

[It hadn't been a pretty death, either. No coming back from that one.]

I don't usually spring that information on people, but given we have that in common, seemed appropriate.
Your world has kept going even with zombies?
Honestly, even if Simon's word does recover, things weren't looking good for him personally.

I appreciate that. You, me, Simon... do you think they bring in people with nothing more to lose on purpose? I haven't made up my mind about how I feel about this place, but I do enjoy not being dead. I know Shaun's happy about it too.

[They were neither of them meant to be only children.]

It did. There were heavy losses--Alaska, India, big swathes of land all over the world that have never been reclaimed--but we figured out how to fight the zombies and we figured out how to stay alive and eventually, we figured out how to catch the disease before people had a chance to amplify. The world is very different than it was pre-Rising, but it's still here.

I've thought about it from time to time. If it were all just people like us, I'd say yes, but then there are all the people who have been torn away from their families. Their lives.

[People who want to go back so desperately that Wonderland really does feel like a prison.]

It's incredible that your world managed to pull through.
I wonder if Simon's would do the same if they had enough time?

I don't know. I like to think so, given the resilience of humankind and all that, but the fact is, we never lost the internet, and that's a big part of how humanity managed to win. It sounds like a lot of other places that had Risings of their own don't have that advantage.

The other big advantage we had was Romero movies. There's a reason so many people my age are named variations of George.

I can see how that would be a huge asset. Most places seem to have lost power completely, forget the internet.

My world's got those, too. Good to know some things are constant.

And without communication, everyone really would be screwed. Even if more people survived than they expected, there wouldn't be any way to know or get organized. It really would be the end of civilization as we know it.

They managed to get radio systems up and running, at least where Simon's from, but that's about it.
Seems like it's even worse in other places. Kinda feel like you should all compare notes sometime.

Honestly, I plan to. I was thinking of writing a comparative article.

I'd love to read it whenever you do. Let me know if I can help you round people up for info or anything.

I will. It seems like it could be a valuable resource, especially with how events seem to go.

Seriously. Nobody should ever underestimate the power of documentation.

It's what saved the world when the zombies came.

Good lesson for anyone, if people here could take what they learn home with them when they go.

It's too bad they can't. I could write one hell of an article.

Trouble would be getting people to believe it, but I trust you could write persuasively enough.

My reputation would help. But I'd need to bring back evidence. My brother being the only one backing up my story wouldn't exactly be convincing.

Well, maybe if someone ever figures out how to take memories back with them, they'll figure out a way for you to bring some evidence along, too.

We can hope. And if they can't figure out how to take memories back, it's a moot point. Can't report what I don't remember.

There are a few things here in Wonderland that need fixing. That's definitely one of them.

OPINION } from Images May Disturb You, the Blog of Georgia Mason, entry #2

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