Down The Rabbit Hole

A. 2. "The Antipathies"

The Antipathies ▼

Alice believed she would meet these folks who walk with their heads downward if she kept falling. Write your adventure of discovering such a place. (<1000 words)

Word Count: 883


         Never play in a cornfield! Even on Sunday's fried chicken and cornbread night.

"Krissy, go and fetch some corn for tonight's dinner." Her mother's voice shrieked above the clamor of dishes she was washing.

"Can't Devon go this time," she whined as she slapped Papo's old pocket watch from her right palm to her left and back again.

"No, miss! He can't now go and fetch the corn as you've been told."

Still griping the watch, Krissy stormed out of the house. Slamming the door behind her, she trudged angrily towards the small field of corn. Papa, being the environmental activist that he was, never removed the Jasmine Trees from its center. This was Krissy's favorite spot because it was cool and easy to hide away from the rest of the family.

Krissy approached the tree and stopped. It was different. There was a board resting against its trunk.

That's strange, she thought, it wasn't here this morning. She leaned down and slowly removed the board.

"Ouch!" she screamed as she tumbled to the ground. Looking up, she noticed a White Rabbit dressed in a red jacket swinging Papo's pocket watch back and forth. Before she could speak, he disappeared into the pitch-black hole at the base of the Jasmine Tree trunk.

"WAIT!" she screamed. She scrambled to her feet and stuck her head inside the hole's entrance.
Feeling a hard shove from behind, Krissy fell forward and felt herself falling and falling and falling.

         Krissy opened her eyes. She found herself lying on a flat shelf covered with brightly colored pebbles. Their arrangement reminded her of a rainbow. There was a long row of red pebbles next to a row of orange, a row of yellow, and a row of green, followed by a row of blue. Off to her right and her left, she noticed more pebbles. There were huge piles of white pebbles everywhere.

She stood up, straightened her blue dress and white bid-apron, and smoothed back her tousled blond hair. Hmmph...if I didn't know better, I'd swear this was the sky. she thought to herself as she looked around. "Now, where is that galling rabbit? I got to fetch that corn for Mama."

"Are you looking for me?"

Krissy swung around and didn't see anything except some children playing. She blinked her eyes several times. She was sure they were playing, but they were upside down. In fact, the people walking, shopping, and talking were all upside down.

"You know, they have never seen a person like you." Krissy turned again and saw the White Rabbit standing upside down, still swinging Papo's pocket watch.

"Me! Upside Down! It is you and everyone here that is upside down. What is this place?" she shouted back.

The White Rabbit laughed. With a smile, he said, "Welcome to Huller om Buller Land. It's a one-of-a-kind paradise."

"PARADISE!" she retorted. "Everything is so...so...so topsy turvy. I can't stay here. I don't like it!"

"Perhaps when you return home, you will appreciate what you have and help your family more?"

          Alice stood quietly. She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. She was guilty of being a spoiled brat, and she knew it.

"Please, Mr. Rabbit, show me the way back home. I promise I will be better. I gotta fetch the corn for Mama. Just show me the way back."

The White Rabbit rubbed his chin with his right paw. lifting the pocket watch up and away from himself, he scratched behind his right ear.

"Well, I really think that your journey today has been rather uneventful. I am not sure that you have learned what it is that you need to learn.

"Oh please, Mr. Rabbit. I'll be good. I promise I will," she pleaded from her knees.

"Very well. Remember, if you fail, you will be brought back here for good—understood?

Krissy vigorously nodded her head.

"Take Papo"s pocket watch. Hold it out before you. When it strikes three, close your eyes," he whispered as he placed it in both of her hands.

It was two minutes to three. Krissy stared at the watch, waiting for it to strike three.
One minute to three.!
Three o'clock!
Krissy shut her eyes tight. She felt a light breeze circle her body. As it became stronger and stronger, she felt her body rise. She felt like she was falling and falling and from the falling. She was falling upward from the Land of Huller om Buller.

Krissy felt water dripping on her face. She opened her eyes. The sun had disappeared, and dark storm clouds had taken their place. She was still leaning against the Jasmine tree. Jumping to her feet, she quickly grabbed her corn basket and headed toward the rows of corn to fill it. Before disappearing into the rows of stalks, she stopped, turned around, and looked back at the trunk of the Jasmine Tree. There was no visible hole or board or White Rabbit. Dangling from her bib-apron pocket was a chain. Slowly, she pulled on the chain, and Papo's pocket watch followed. When she held it up, it struck three o'clock.