Follow Me Down

Alice watched the butterfly fly into the hole. She watched it disappear in the darkness of the hole.
Leaning to the whole, and placing her hands on the dirt, she felt a pang of nostalgia.

“It’s too big for a rabbit,”

Suddenly, the weight of her caused the dirt to crumble and Alice fell into it. She screamed as she tumbled head over heels down the rabbit hole. Frantically grabbing at the walls which are hung with exotic objects: paintings, ancient maps, cracked mirrors, demonic maps, and other things. She pulled out books, jam jars, crystal balls, everything she saw! A frantic effort to stop herself from falling, but still down she falls,

She looked up and saw the round bright circle of the rabbit hole and the blue sky above which grew smaller and smaller as she plunges down.

Gradually, it grew darker as the day passed into night, but still she falls. Now she can see stars twinkling in the dark round circle of the hole as she plunges deeper and deeper beneath the earth’s surface. Finally, for what seemed like hours. Alice dozed off, still plunging down until…

WHAM! She hits bottom and hit her head on the wooden floor that knocked her wind out. Alice gasped, and after a moment she was able to breathe again, she sat up and rubbed the bump on her head.

“The falling dream again,” Alice muttered, looking around, she was in a round hall lit by lanterns on the walls and many doors, “Only, I’ve never hit bottom before”

She notices she wasn’t in her usual attire when she got here, instead she notices she was wearing the pale dress that she wore at the almost proposal of Hamish for her. It was ironic really, this is what she was wearing when she fell into the rabbit hole last time!

Alice stood up and tries a door. It’s locked. She tried another and another. Giving up, she tried knocking.

“Hello? Hello! Anyone there?”

No answer. She moved around the hall from door to door, knocking and calling. Every door locked.

“No way out,” She huffed and turned around to see a three-legged glass table with a little golden key sitting on top. She picked up the key, furrowing her eyebrows as she did, She felt a Déjà vu moment occur. Have she been here before? Of course not ! In her dreams she never had hit bottom only the continuous falling! Then why does it feel like she has?

Shaking the thoughts away Alice tries the key in a door, but the key is too small for the lock.

“Too small. But if there’s a key there must be a lock that fits,” She sees a curtain and pulled it aside to reveal a door about two feet high.

“Ah.” She tries the key in the door. It fits! She opened the little door and bend down to look through the other side. She saw a garden with a fountain, she tried to fit through but her shoulder got stuck! She pulled back, stumped, and goes back to the table, putting down the key when she saw a bottle on the table.

“Was this here before?” She asked herself, the label of the bottle said drink me

“Drink me.” She read aloud, “hm. What if it’s poison?” she opens and the bottle and sniffed the contents, recoiled, and puts the bottle down and stares at it.

What if it is poison? It could kill her! But an idea popped in her mind.

“But how can it hurt me if I’m dreaming?” shrugging the fears away, she opens the bottle and takes a drink, gags from the taste. In a moment she notices that the table is getting larger.

“Curious Is the table getting larger or am I getting smaller?” Alice is getting smaller! She shrinks until she was only two-feet tall. The door loomed over her. She took a step and trips over her now-oversized clothes. Dragging them behind, she tries to open the door. But it’s locked! She groaned as she realized.

“I did not leave the key on the table!” She ran back to the glass table and glares up. She can see the golden key through the glass.

Alice slapped her forehead, “Alice you are not using your head!” she screamed at herself as she attempted to climb the glass table’s leg, but she gets tangled in her too big clothes and keeps sliding off. She sat there, frustrated, until she notices a little box under the table. Alice opens it. Inside, there’s a cake with the word eat me written out in ornate icing letters.

“If the drink makes me shrink, then the cake should make me grow. But then again, dreams are never logical.”

She takes a tiny taste of the cake. Not bad. She took another bite. There’s a beat and then WHOOSH! Alice shoots up toward the ceiling. Her clothes fit her again, but she keeps on growing. Buttons pop, seams are strained and her skirt gets shorter. The ceiling is getting closer…too close! She squeezed her eyes shut and stopped growing just as her head grazes the ceiling. She bended down and took the golden key. Crouching low, she made her way to the little door and fit’s the key to the lock.

Alice laughed, “Where’s my head?”

She went back to the table and picked up the little bottle.

“Hope there’s enough left.” she takes another drink, shivers from the bad taste. In a second she starts to shrink.

“Down again,” Alice shrinks to two feet-high, dragged her clothes behind her again, ran to the door, out the key in the lock, opened it and stepped into a fantastical place. It was bizarre, this place was very vibrant though it was obvious that it was night time now. The garden was brown and tangled, its statue broken and overgrown, the mossy fountain was silent. She looked around and saw the blue butterfly fluttering around with what seemed to be rocking-horseflies. Alice was transfixed not by fear but by fascination.

”Curiouser and Curiouser” she muttered and looked at the empty patch of grass, she blinked and a flashback of strange creatures waiting for her, filled her thoughts. She blinked again and her vision was gone.

A loud growl startled her, and huge monster with a squashed teeth-bearing face of rabid bulldog came out of the trees.

Alice yelped as the monster growled at her, it was half blind, for its right eyes was forever gazing upward as if someone sculpted it out and monster just placed it back in.

She was afraid now, very afraid of this monster in front of her. But then again, she was dreaming so it can’t hurt her so she just stood there, her feet planted in the ground, trembling.

The monster studied Alice for a moment, its anger died down, instead it smiled at Alice and licked her arms. Like a dog seeing his owner when she come back home.

“Ick!” Alice squealed, relief washing over her. Did it know her? Dreams can be unpredictable.

The monster whimpered, and leaned its head. Alice pats it’s head.

“Have you by any chance know where I can ask directions?” Alice asked, the monster smiled and leaned its head beckoning her to climb on.

Alice grinned and climb on though it was hard seeing she was only two-feet high! The mosnter rolled its eye and with a help of its paw helped Alice up to its back.

“Thank you,” she breathed and the monster whisked off.

The monster took her to a sort of tea-part, there was no one sitting in the table. It was empty! It stoped and leaned its head and Alice got off, looking at the long table.

“Hello?” She called out, and walked over to the table. It was like a building for her! Damn being two-feet high!

“Who is there?” A voice said, throwing her a tea pot, it was good thing she was small! She easily dodged the teapot.

“Uhm. Alice.” She mustered.

Suddenly, a hare ran to her, twitching as he did. “ALICE!?! ALICE?!”

The hare focused his vision to the small girl in front of him, he gasped. “Alice it’s you!”

“Yes?” Alice queered unsure again on how the hare knew her.

“How did you get here?” The hare asked Alice lifting her up to the table.

“I fell.” Alice said embarrassed.

The hare cackled, “The hatter said you were always clumsy.” The hare smiled widely, “The Hatter! Oh he will be thrilled to see you again!” he clasped his paws and dragged Alice to the other end of the table.

Alice gazed upon the Large dark arm chair, “The hatter?”

“Yes!” The hare exclaimed setting Alice down, and knocking on a Tea pot, “Mallymkun! Guess who came!?”

The lid popped out revealing a dormouse who just woken up from her nap, “Who?” she croaked, looking around until her eyes darted to the little girl awkwardly standing between the cup and the sugar cubes

“Alice!” The dormouse exclaimed, groggily getting out of the tea cup to hug Alice. “You’ve came back!”

“I did?” Alice asked, looking at the strange creatures. Another flash of her memory came. Though it wasn’t very vivid it quickly fazed out.

The dormouse frowned, “Don’t you remember us?”

Alice shook her head quickly.

The dormouse and the hare looked at each other. Uh-oh