There was Alice, sitting at the desk her dearest sister, Margaret, had once used. Surrounded by books that belonged to someone else, Alice started investigating. Where did Margaret go? What did she do last before disappearing? Was she even alive? These were the questions Alice longed to answer. That was, until she got distracted. You see, the desk Alice was sitting upon was positioned in such a way that you could see the entire hill her and her sister used to play on just outside her window. It had a big oak tree at the top and a tiny bench – now entirely mossy. It was a clear day, too, so she could see all the little details, including those she had never seen before in the span of about 7 years.
Completely astonished, Alice stared, and stared, and entirely forgot why she was sitting on Margaret’s desk anyway, until eventually deciding to clear her mind with a walk in the garden. Going back and forth between her anxiety and inner thoughts, eventually, Alice saw what appeared to be a… human-sized white rabbit with a monocle sprinting towards a cramped rabbit hole that clearly didn’t exist beforehand. The little girl understandably thought she was going crazy, but upon further inspection, the scene seemed more and more real!
Running towards the hole, Alice heard this strange bunny say “Oh heavens, I’m gonna be late!” in an posh British accent while looking towards a golden pocket watch. Now she was chasing a bipedal, man-sized, verbal, British rabbit holding a pocket watch! In the heat of the moment, though, Alice didn’t even notice most of this – she was just trying to catch up with the creature’s surprisingly fast hind legs, before finally and inevitably falling down the rabbit hole. And oh, how far down she fell…
After her fall, being cushioned by some strange, soft material, Alice made her way to where she thinks the rabbit went – though it was difficult to navigate the way. The room was pitch black, and all it’s walls seemed to loop around themselves forever. Even the light being cast from the initial hole she’d fallen from completely faded into nothing at all. Just walking around the room, the girl thought of giving up, until eventually she grabbed on to something tightly. The object itself was rigid, like a hardcover book.
“Hey, you might not want to grab that,” echoed a hushed voice in the barrier of quiet.
Alice flinched, only to bang her head from behind on something.
“Are you okay, Alice? That might hurt,” the voice reacted.
Although her words were weak and frail – much like Alice herself – she managed to get a few words out to this odd voice. “How.. How do you know who I am? Who are you, in the first place?!” Alice asked, trembling as she did.
“Alice, oh my dear Alice. You mustn’t worry about that for now,” the voice replied, stern as ever, “I just want you to know, I can help you get out of this room.”
“Really? Well.. Thank you, I guess. But, can you- can you just turn on the lights first?” Alice stuttered.
The voice replied, “My, where’s your respect? Demanding are we?”. Just as they said that, the lights flickered on, revealing she’d been in a snug room, made of wooden planks, carpeted floors and metal bolts. It was comforting to her to find she was only in a place that seemed so familiar, rather than wherever she was imagining, and as it turns out, the thing Alice had originally pressed her fingers upon was nothing more than a slab of concrete attached tightly to the wall, at least, that’s what it appeared to be.
“So, any reason that brings you here?” the voice asked, sounding closer than before
“I- uhm- I guess. I was just following a white rabbit, then it led me here.” Alice responded, more confident than before. “But,” Alice added, “I must get going now, I don’t know where that little fluffy critter went. So.. bye!” Alice says, pressing her hand on the cold, presumably exit door.
“Apologies, Alice, but I cannot help you anywhere outside this room. Good luck on finding that white…thing.” the voice beckoned, one final time.
Behind the exit was a large, empty field, with a kind of dark-turquoise grass across it, exclusively populated with pink, purple, and even blue mushrooms. It was coated so finely with fungi, even the ‘trees’ looked like massive versions of these toadstools! The sky (at least, where it would’ve been) was a stunning black and had aurora borealis across it that made the field feel even magical to Alice.
Relatively close by, Alice could spot a door. It didn’t seem it had anything behind it – matter of factly, Alice walked behind this lone door and felt absolutely nothing. But the real reason this door was so strange: it was tiny compared to Alice! About half a meter tall, it would be impossible for anyone to enter! Other than maybe a two-footed rabbit, which is why the door was a large suspicion as to where it could’ve disappeared off to. While trying to discover a solution, she noticed a shortcake with a sticky note taped on it with the words ‘Eat Me’ written on it, not too far away from the door. It was bite-sized and had small strawberry slices between the fondant. The entire thing looked so appetizing to Alice, especially when she realized how peckish she actually was when she wasn’t talking to strange voices she didn’t see or chasing bunnies. So, although her survival instincts were practically yelling at her at this point, the skeptical young girl took the cake and followed the instructions on it’s note.
“That tasted wonderful!” Alice exclaimed after grasping that this cake, matter of fact, wasn’t deadly. “Though… I do feel really weird…” she added on, speaking to herself.
And with that, Alice shrank to the point where a blade of grass would be hard to climb on top of, and those mushrooms towered over her like skyscrapers, only more round.
“What happened?” She asks herself, clearly going insane, but this time, she heard a response.
