.:Ch. 2:. Down the Rabbit Hole

"W-W-What's going on?  Where am I falling? T-T-This has to be a dream," thought Alice as she continued to fall through the rabbit hole.  "Is it ever going to e-e-end?"

Looking around, Alice tried to grab at the dirt on the walls of the hole.  The dirt was wet and slippery, so her hands just slipped on the dirt.  It caked under her nails.  She made nail marks, but grabbing the dirt did not stop her descent to the bottom of the hole.  Looking once more, the teen saw the white rabbit falling beside her.  Reaching an arm out, she managed to grab the falling animal.  Bringing it tightly to her chest, Alice made sure that it would not get loose from her grip.

"Oh, Mister Rabbit, what are we going to do?  This hole seems quite endless."

The rabbit only twitched its nose.  Its whiskers moved at the same time.  Looking over, it jumped from her arms landing on a tree root.  Alice blinked as she realized that tree roots were starting to show on the side of the wall. Looking once more, the blonde noticed different objects on the wall.  Some of them were starting to fall.  Her descent had caused enough wind to knock loose some of the objects.  A light blue vase had started to fall after her.  Alice moved as it fell past her at a greater speed.  The rabbit was hoping from tree root to tree root.  It seemed to be following Alice.  Soon, she had an idea from watching her little white friends.  Twisting around, her pale hands grabbed a tree root.  The root stopped her fall.  Alice sighed in relief as she just hung there.  The rabbit jumped on the same root.  The girl smiled at the white rabbit.  Suddenly, a tear had appeared on the root.  Alice's face grew pale.  The combined weight of the rabbit and herself was too much for the small root.

"O-Oh dear," she whispered.

The root ripped around from the dirt wall.  Alice threw the root away as she started to fall once more.  The rabbit managed to land on another root.  The scared girl just glared at it.  The rabbit seemed to mock her as it twitched that little pink nose.  Reaching a hand to the wall, Alice managed to grip a bigger tree root.  It bounced as it stopped her fall.  Sighing once more, the girl didn't seem to mind when the rabbit jumped on it.  The root was big enough to hold the both of them.  She smiled a little as it was nice not falling; however, her arm was starting to tire from holding onto the root.  Feeling her grip slip, Alice started to sweat.  She did not want to start falling again.  Her grip slipped little by little.  The rabbit twitched its nose once again before jumping from the root.  Alice tried to grab it, but she was too slow.  The movement had caused her to let go of the root at the same time.

"Wait!" she screamed while trying to grab the root.  "I don't want to fa --- oof!"

--

"Oof!" cried Alice.

She had managed to fall to the ground on her behind.  Looking at the floor, she saw it was patterned in a black and white checker board pattern.  Standing, Alice smoothed her dress from any winkles.  Walking around, she saw the rabbit on the floor.  Bending over, she picked the rabbit from the floor.  It didn't make any movement to escape.  In front of her, there was a door.  It was just her size.  Walking over, she placed a hand on the knob, turning it.  The door didn't budge.  She tried once again.  The door didn't move.  Growling in frustration, she looked at the ceiling.  She gasped at the sight.  There wasn't a hole in the ceiling.  A key was attached to it though.  Alice sighed.  She had to bet that the key was for the door.  She was too small to reach the key.  Looking around for a ladder, Alice spotted something on a table.  Looking closer, the thing had almost made Alice drool.  The treat consisted of a gold brown pie crust, and baked apples. 

"It's an apple tart, Mr. Rabbit," she commented.  "It looks really delicious.  I am quite hungry as well."

Going to take a bite, she noticed a small note beside the tart.  It read 'Eat Me'.  Shrugging, Alice took a bite of the tart.  It tasted really good.  She had to compliment whoever made the tart.  They were really good at baking one.  Going to take another bite, Alice felt pain all through her body.  Looking at the table, she noticed it was moving away at a great speed.  Gasping, she noticed that it wasn't table, but it was her.  Alice was growing at an abnormal speed.  Dropping the white rabbit, Alice tried to keep her clothes on.  She pulled them tightly against her body.  It had stopped the stretching of them only slightly; however, it kept the clothes on her when she stopped growing.  Her one hand was on the ceiling.  She felt something underneath her hand.  Grabbing it, she moved the hand very slowly.  It was the key to the door!

"I have the key!" she shouted.  "I just need to get to that door."

Alice tried to move, but she wasn't able to move very far.  Her size had caused a great deal of trouble.  She had almost started to cry when something was felt at her foot.  Looking to the floor, she noticed that the rabbit had pushed something toward her.  Reaching down, she grabbed it with her other hand.  It was a crystal bottle of some sort.  A clear liquid was inside it.  A label on the bottle read 'Drink Me'.  Alice looked at it carefully.  Should she drink it? Was it going to make her grow larger?

"Well, if the tart made me taller, then the drink should make me shrink," she reasoned.  "Well, bottoms up."

She drank the liquid quickly.  It tasted sweet.  She liked it.  Soon enough, however, her body started to ache as it started to shrink.  Alice dropped the key to the floor as it soon grew too big for her to hold on to it.  Feeling tired, she sat on the floor as she as she stopped shrinking.  The rabbit hopped to her.  Seeing the thing, Alice quickly gasped.  She was only barely taller then it.  Hugging the rabbit, Alice started to cry.  She didn't want this.

"If this is a dream, it is a nightmare," she whispered to the rabbit.  "I want to go back to my grandparent's place, Mr. Rabbit.  I want to wake in my bed and go about my day as normal.  Maybe if I lick the tart, I will grow to normal size.  I will look for it."

Alice looked around the room.  She looked under the chairs and under the table.  She looked through every nook and cranny.  The thirteen year old could not find the tart.  She hung her head in defeat.  The tart was nowhere to be found.  Sitting on the floor, she began to think about her life.  A wonderful family adopted her.  Her father used to read books to her at night.  Alice blinked.  She just remembered a book.  A book about a girl, named Alice, which stumbled down a rabbit hole.  Alice's eyes brightened in shock.  She was just like the Alice from Alice in Wonderland.  The tart, the drink, the door and the key, it was all a part of that particular book. 

"I'm in something like the book," she whispered.  "I'm living the boo --- what was that?"

--

Alice looked around as she heard a thump.  It had scared her.  That thump meant something bigger than the rabbit or she was coming.  She stood from sitting.  The thump was getting louder.  Running toward the rabbit, she motioned for it to follow her.  The rabbit started to follow.  Looking around, she spotted a mouse hole.  She knew that rabbits could fit through small things.  They were like cats in that matter.  Running toward it, she managed to slip through the hole.  The rabbit followed soon after.  Looking through the crack, Alice noticed that the black wolf had followed them through the rabbit hole.  She gulped.  She didn't think the animal would follow them.  Its nose was to the ground as it sniffed for the two of them.

"Let's go this way, Mr. Rabbit," she suggested.  "It will lead us away from that big bad wolf."

The rabbit followed Alice as she walked farther into the mouse hole.  The light had become dim before it became pitch black.  She was worried.  Her eyes were not used to adjusting in pitch darkness, so she was having trouble seeing in the dark.  The rabbit seemed fine as he continued behind her.  Alice gulped as she continued to walk.  It had to better then the wolf, right?  She would rather walk through the dark then be eaten by a hungry wolf.

I'm scared, she thought. I'm truly scared.