Story:A Short Drop and a Sudden Stop

“The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, screamed `Off with her head! Off…” read the Mother from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

 “What happens to her” cried the little girl, who in spite of the late hour was still wide awake.     

      “Calm down, Little One.  Nothing happens to Alice,” said the mother with a roll of her eyes, as she took in her daughter’s panicked expression.

  “So does that mean she really went to Wonderland?” asked the little girl in awe.

 “Of course she did, and that said, promise me if you see one of those tricky white rabbits you won’t follow him,” the mother said with a tender smile.

 Henry, the young girl’s brother, looked on from the doorway. He turned away in disgust, how anyone could believe such childish stories was beyond him. Henry was very practical for his age. He saw the world in black and white. One where no colors existed and imagination was just a term adults used to describe overly creative children. He walked to his room trying to get the silly image of a white rabbit out of his head.   

Henry grew up hearing the stories about the white rabbit who was running late and the young girl who followed him. Being a “grown up” boy he regarded these childish tales like any rational person would, he considered them rubbish, nothing more than stories told by parents to get their fussy children to bed.

That night as he was falling asleep he thought about his mother’s story. How could anyone be foolish enough to fall down a hole in pursuit of a rabbit?

The next day Henry was walking home, after staying late at school, he took a short cut through the willow woods, a place that was plagued by rumors of monsters. Henry was a kid who instead of heeding the rumors, decided to ignore them to prove a point. After all, monsters were just for kids with over active imaginations, anyone with a brain would know that. So Henry walked through the woods to get to his house. However, something seemed off tonight. Wanting to get home faster Henry began to run until he stumbled over a branch. When he got up he saw that there was a giant hole before him. Intrigued he bent down to get a closer look at the hole.  As he peered into the black abyss, all he could see was a faint light. Suddenly he felt a pair of hands grab him and as he flailed his arms to get away, he fell forward.

 When he landed, he slowly sat up, and to his astonishment was not hurt at all; he looked up to try and gauge how far he had fell but there was no hole!  Above him was a beautifully lit chandler attached to the ceiling. Standing up he decided to search the room. Finding nothing to help him escape, he went to the single door that garnished the room. Walking out the door he looked around and saw that the butterflies were not the only strange things here. There were huge flowers covering the ground, trees the color of water, and a sky of brilliant orange. As a slight wind blew over the grass, it seemed as if the grass was walking. He turned in a circle so he could take in the extent of his surroundings, and spotted a white rabbit in a jumper with a pocket watch in hand, saying, “I’m late” and rushing around in a frantic mood. All of a sudden, Henry stopped mid-turn; the last remnants of his childlike mind had already begun to piece this together. This was exactly like the story he had dismissed last night. He looked at the rabbit, only to see he was scampering further into the unknown world. As Henry chased the rabbit into the thick woods, he lost sight of it. Why did that surprise him? He knew that the characters in this story were unpredictable. He began walking and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight as if to alert him to an unknown presence. 

 “Where are you heading, boy? This way or that, left or right, up or down, around or around?” asked the mysterious creature. Henry turned and only saw a smile, one with straight gleaming white teeth and cherry red lips.

Trying to be braver then he felt he asked the mouth.

 “Where am I? How can I get home?” The mouth in response wore a grim-looking smile and started to transform. The first thing that came into view were big eyes with a mistrusting gleam to them, next was an exotic body of purple and pink fur, then came was the paws and a bushy tail. It was a cat!

 “Why leave when the fun’s here? Don’t you want to stay” the cat asked.

The cat’s eyes began to glow and Henry could feel himself nodding along against his will. Staying did see like a good idea after all. The cat began to walk off and before Henry could follow, someone tackled him to the ground.

            “Trust me, you do not want to follow that cat. He works for the evil queen and once she has you she will never let you go.” Said the girl who tackled him to the ground. Henry shook himself off as the cat’s persuasion slowly wore off.

“Please, I have no idea where I am can you help me? My name is Henry,” he said as he stuck out his hand.

“You are in Wonderland, I can show you the way home.” Said the girl as she started walking the opposite way that the cat had gone. Just as Henry started to catch up she turned around and said,

 “By the way, I’m Alice.”

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, NYC. Web Source

Author's Note: 

In my readings this week I really enjoyed how theatrical and how detailed the stories where. In my story I wanted to play with the idea of a story within a story. To give the story more detail I didn't want to make Alice the main character. She was already such a strong character that I wanted to take the focus off of her. Alice and Wonderland stories have always reminded me of Peter Pan. So, that is why I made my character a little boy who thought he was grown up. This was a twist on Peter Pan and Alice and Wonderland.