UpSide Down Alice

Alice swayed like a leaf before falling into the water. Brief terror flashed on her face until Wonderland wiped it away. She splashed into paint pond, soaking her whole body in gold paint. She laughed and splashed about with small gnomes, all of which whom adore her. These little creatures would bend to her every whim, what a group they were. I sat up annoyed as they spoke the most sense Wonderland has ever heard. I flicked my tail causing one to fall over.

“Alice,” I purred, “I am going to take a nap.”

“Oh no Cheshire, don’t leave yet.” She pouted her lips, the color of them getting deeper every day.

She splashed over towards me, following me deep into the mushroom woods. The tall luminescence glowing through the skin of the growths, which had begun towering above our heads as we grew smaller and smaller. The spores they send out in the air causing us to shrink in size. Alice gazed up at them in pure awe.

“How curious,” she stated to herself.

“Curious indeed my dear Alice.” I began to fade, my teeth the only thing left gleaming.

“Miss Cat, where have you gone?” She searched all around for me.

I knew why this game of cat and mouse had begun. It was time for Alice to do bit of exploring on her own, Wonderland called for her. The way her skin emitted a soft glow was another change, unnoticed by her, that Wonderland had induced.

“Which way shall I go?”

“Oh, you could go this way,” I point with my visible tail, “or that way.”

My tail vanishes leaving nothing but my grin to float about in the air around her.

“I have often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat before.”

She stared at the direction she assumed I was in, her face twisted with curiosity. I am sure she was wondering why I was speaking in riddles. Or perhaps just way I decided to vanish, but time was different here in Wonderland, and today was Alice’s first day here. This was her true introduction to this topsy turvy world. I had a role to play in this; I was to guide her without guiding her. Alice was bright enough to figure this out on her own, besides I won’t really be far behind. I have never really been far behind her.

She strolled through the thinning forest until she found a clearing. She startled the wits out of the rabbit in the clearing. He began to scurry across the grounds, pieces of her life flashing behind her. As if she was in a tunnel of her memories. She bumped into an empty long table, abandon tea cups, a stained table cloth. She ran her fingers over the cloth with a small smile on her face, unsure why the place makes her so happy.

“Oh you missed the party?” She turned to find a flower, speaking to her from the ground. “What a lovely party it was. Unbirthday party, my very favorite.”

“You are a talking flower.” She giggled in delight. “How silly.”

“Well I’ll be,” the flustered flower responded, “how rude you are young girl. What does an outsider like you know about Wonderland?” The flower scoffed at her.

“More then you do silly plant.” Then she wanders away from the unhappy creature. “Where are you mister rabbit? Where are you curious cat? Come out and play with me. I am bored and want to be entertained.”

She pouts alone at the long table. She picks up cups and throws them to the ground in a tantrum. She broke several plates until she grew bored. Wonderland shifted under her and I, returning us back to the pond of gold paint. She danced back into it, completely unaware of the strange occurrence. To her it would seem as a distant off memory and not as something that just occurred.

“Cheshire come play.”

I arched my back and pounced into the paint, instead of it staining me gold, I stained it purple and pink. Alice was thrilled by this feat and continued in her merriment. She giggled and tossed paint at Wendy, whose sudden appearance surprised neither one of us. I wonder if she realized that she was rarely guarded anymore, that Wonderland was stripping her of inhibitions, worries and fears.

With each passing day Alice became more Wonderland and less who she was. She was free here, I wonder if she truly knew why? I wonder if the one secret that hid beneath my fur would ever be discovered.