Return to Wonderland

Return to Wonderland
based on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass"

Disclaimer:
The original story belongs to Lewis Carrol (god rest his soul) and I'm only borrowing the characters.

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Return to Wonderland
AJ Angelique

Chapter 1
Warm Welcomes

"How could you! They were mine to keep!" came the shout of nearing 16 years old Alice's voice from upstairs. In one of the rooms near the stairs, Alice is alone in a room with a man she calls Uncle Lewis...he is in fact Lewis Carrol.

"But Alice, they're great stories. They were only gathering dust in your desk. It's not fair that you keep them to your self," Lewis retorted.

sharshare them with the family," Alice snapped back.
"It's not enough Alice, they need to be shared with the world," Lewis said.
"Even so, you went behind my back and stole those stories. On top of that, you put your name on the book," Alice shouted angrily.

"Alice, I can explain..."
"No! You lost my trust and you will never regain it," Alice spat and spun on heel to escape the room. She ran, her vision blurred by the tears that stung her eyes. Alice didn't know that was was being followed as she began her decent down the stairs only to slip on the skirt of her dress. Her mouth formed a silent gasp as she fell forward and the stairs that looked as if they were rushing up to collide with her.

'Wonderland, I wish I was back in Wonderland,' Alice thought as she flinched at the last moment. Yet the impact she expected never came to be. Confussed, Alice opened her eyes and was surprised to find her fal falling once more down what looked be the decorated rabbit hole...yet, the stairs were still below her and Alice watched as they blended into the wall. Alice was grateful for the lack of stairs but soon began to wonder if she was either falling up or down this time. Her question was soon answered when she landed feet first into a three foot pile of pillows of various sizes, colors and fabrics.

"Well, it looks as if the White Rabbit had the mind to cushion the fall this time," Alice thought aloud as she climbed off the pile of pillows and made her way down the long hall. It wasn't long before Alice came the end of the hall where the three foot tall door in the wall waited for her.

"Well hello," Alice said cheerfully as she kneeled down to face the talking doorknob better.
"Hello yourself," the doorknob snapped and Alice blinked her eyes several times in surpirse.
"I beg your pardon?" she asked, highly puzzeled.
"You heard me," the doorknob said.
"Sounds like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
"Uh, hello. I'm a doorknob, I can't sleep in a bed."
"Well, you know what I mean."
"That I'm being crabby. No, I'm more than that, I'm mad."
"Well, I'm sorry but..."
"Well you should be."
"Me? What did I do?"
"You know what you did."
"No, I don't."
"Well, then I'm not going to tell you."
Alice glared at the doorknob, "Okkk. Are you going to let me pass then?"
"Shan't."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one. You're to big."
Alice looked at herself and the door, realizing thats was was true. Yet there was only one way that Alice knew would be able to get through, and she regretted it the moment she thought of it. Alice stood back up and then turned around to find the glass table. She approached it with only three steps to find not only the bottle but the key as well. Alice grabbed both of these items at the same time and gripped the key tightly in her hand as she took a sip of the bottle and then grew short enough to pass through the doorway...butre wre was a new problem to contend with now.

While the potion had worked on Alice, it had not worked on the key. So while she decreased in size, the key remained the same height and began to feel very heavy to her as she propped the key against her back. As Alice was trying to keep the key from falling to the floor, Doorknob had been watching this the whole time and began to snicker as Alice was having trouble with the iron wrought skeleton key. Before long, gravity won over and the key fell to the floor with a heavy thud that shook the floor slightly. Alice tried to pick it back up but found that she was unable to slip her fingers under the metal to get a proper grip on the key. She was begining to give up when she heard the Doorknob howling with laughter.

"I don't see what's so funny about this," Alice stated as she turned back to the door with crossed arms.

"I'm sorry but it was so funny," Doorknob said as he slowly stopped laughing to catch his breath. At the same time, Alice let out a small sigh as she pulled out a hankercheif and wipped away the tears of laughter that were stinging his eyes.

"Oh thank you. I guess I can't stay mad at you since you're being so nice," he said.
"Even so, I'm sorry for whatever it is that made you mad in the first place," she said.
"I said it's okay...besides, you'll soon out why," he said and she looked back puzzled.
"Well, you going to pass through or not?"
"Uh, you're locked and I can't lift the key."
"Oh. I forgot, I'm unlocked," Doorknob said with his usual cheery laugh. Alice's jaw nearly dropped and she refrained from rolling her eyes untill she had opened the door and passed through it. But Alice was in for a new surprise as she stepped through the door and fell right into what looked to be a small lake. Cursinger her her breath, Alice began the short swim to shore where she came upon a group of animals running around in whatever manner they fancied at the moment.

"Oh, is this another caucus race?" Alice inquired of what looked to be a blue herring who was passing by her as she just stood there.

"Of a sorts, now run. You don't want to be the loser," the bird said in a frightful tone of voice. Alice was confussed about this but soon let out a yip as she was pinched by a lobster who was to in a hurry to go around her. Alice was soon running around with the group on the beach, going here and there, to and fro as they made funny sorts of tracks on the sands of the beach that one would most likely think to be the garbled message of a drunken morse code messenger. All the same, Alice kept running and was just begining to feel dry when the mouse called a halt to the race and everyone came to a panting stop.

"So, who lost?" a parrot with many vibrant colors asked as she leaned up against a tuna fish.
"Why, Alice did," the mouse said, almost proudly. Alice raised an eyebrow at this but soon noticed how everyone was looking at her now with these weird looks on their faces.

"Why are looking at me like that?" Alice asked.
"Because, you lost the race. That means we get to eat you," a lobster said.
"Eat me!? I thought this was a caucus race," Alice exclaimed fearfully.
"No silly girl, that was a crawcus race. Now get her!" the mouse exclaimed. Alice shreiked and ducked as the lobsters jumped for her throat but missed her by inches. The others chased after her as she spun on heel and made for the woods. Just as she got into the woods, she heard the yrowl of a cat and looked to see...

"Dinah!" Aice gasped as a knife flew past her and cut several of her now auburn hairs. It was indeed the spirit of her cat Dinah, running several feet in front of her and guiding her through the forest as the group of animals continued to chase after them. Alice did her best to keep her eyes on her cat spirit as she ran pass small trees that hit her in the face and through bushes that often turned out to be full of thorns that not only scraped at her skin but torn her Victoian midnight blue dress as well.

Alice thought that she was about to collapse when Dinah meowed and dashed into a tree. Alice followed the cat and found the tree to be hollowed. She slipped in through the small crack and huddled down into the tree as Dinah's spirit sat in her lap. The two stayed in there and listened as the group of animals dashed by, looking up trees and checking the bushes for her but soon passed by the hollowed tree. Even though they were gone, Alice and Dinah waited for what they thought to be a good half hour before finally venturing out again.

"Well Dinah? You think it's okay?" Alice whispered. Dinah hopped down from her lap and padded her way out of the hollow tree. After several minuets, Dinah finally returned looking serene and calm. Taking this as a sign that the coast was clear, Alice carefully made her way out of the tree and stood out in the late afternoon sunlight. After carefully scanning the area and finding herself to be alone Alice looked herself over. The skirt and long sleves of her dress looked to be near shredded and her skin was peppered with thin scratches, some of which had blood seeping from them.

"Dinah, I need to find some place to clean these cuts...but where?" Alice asked of the ghost cat who only meowed and walked away to Alice's right. She followed the cat to a small cliff and leaning against a tree she gasped to see a familar house down below.

It was the home of the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse.

Next)
Chapter 2: Of Hatters and Hares