Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" or "Through The Looking Glass." All I own is Jane Blackwood, her parents, and Miss Crawford. Enjoy. :)
Author's Quick Note: This is no longer one-shot. I wanna continue Jane's adventures! What? She's funny.
Jane Blackwood glared at her governess. "I want it now!" She stomped her foot.
Miss Crawford narrowed her eyes. "Jane, I will not tolerate -"
"Miss Jane!" The young person corrected. She hated when people called her on a first name, save for her father. Miss Crawford was another exception but at the moment, Jane demanded respect.
"I will not tolerate this childish behavior of yours!" Miss Crawford raised her voice. "Today is your fifteenth birthday, you are to grow up and act in a rational manner. Not as the spoiled child you are now."
"I am grown up!" Jane insisted.
The governess shook her head. "At age fifteen, a young lady does not scream or throw tantrums when things do not go her way. She is to accept what comes and act as a true lady."
Jane turned away, tears threatening her eyes. Why couldn't she have her way? She stormed up to her room and slammed the door.
Miss Crawford sighed. She raised the child for nearly eleven years. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood were loving and adoring parents, and they were loved by the servants of the manor for their kindness. However, Jane did not inherit that. Because Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood were born and grew up with nothing until Mr. Blackwood small business expanded, they decided to give their child all they did not have and more. Jane took advantage of it, she believed the more value and numbers of items she was given, the more it meant they loved her. Miss Crawford sunk in a chair. Poor Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood. She glanced up at a portrait of the late Mrs. Blackwood. "Suppose we took your passing as an excuse of her behavior for far too long."
.:::.
Jane glared at the party from her bedroom on the third floor. Today, she was fifteen years old. Today was suppose to be her day. But no one seemed to oblige her. In fact, everyone was avoiding her. The young girl sighed and scanned the party guests.
She found her father talking among the guests, obviously joyful. Why should he be? Jane thought. I am up here, crying, and he is downstairs having the time of his life! Scoffing, the young person turned away and fell on her bed. After a while, she lifted her head and saw herself in the mirror.
Miss Jane Blackwood was no beauty. In fact, she did not look like a lady of fifteen. She looked like a child of twelve, perhaps thirteen. Her childish and bratty behavior made her into an unattractive person with a child's face. Clearly, the young Miss Blackwood did not inherit her mother's good looks; her mother was a local beauty. And Jane did not wear the appropriate fashion for a girl her age, which included a corset, a longer skirt, and heels. She kept to her white stockings, black flats, and knee length skirt - such as today. She wore her usual white stockings and black flats with a pink skirt that flared around her knees. The bodice was not tight and there was no corset, the sleeves were short and puffy.
Yes, indeed, Jane had not inherited anything from her parents - neither their good looks or their kind nature.
She threw one of her pillows across the room and buried her head in her pillow as she sobbed. Why couldn't things be her way?
.:::.
Mr. Blackwood saw his daughter standing at her bedroom window, looking very unpleased. He suppressed a sigh. He was not blind to Jane's childish behavior. He, like Miss Crawford, did not know what to do. Suppose it was an effect from her mother's death. He tried to talk to his daughter but because she was so young, she didn't understand. And when she cried, the only person who could calm her was her mother. Mr. Blackwood did not possess the sill to calm his crying baby, so he bought a few toys. But then the toys became Jane's object of desire.
"Mr. Blackwood ?"
The gentleman turned his attention to Mr. Rambolt, the mayor.
"I am sorry, Mr. Rambolt." Mr. Blackwood said at once, "I apologize but I did not hear you."
"Oh, well!" The mayor said. "Well, uh," He seemed uncomfortable. "It's about Little Miss Jane."
Mr. Blackwood held back another sigh.
"You see, when she visited Miss Cook the other day with Miss Crawford, Miss Jane said something very... very unkind. Miss Cook was, as you know it is her pleasure, chatting with the two ladies. Miss Jane interrupted and made a remark about her chatter and how it was, well, boring."
Mr. Blackwood, like any other person who knew Miss Cook, did agree that Miss Cook's talks were boring. But she was a spinster of thirty-six and was very kind. He let out a soft sigh. Why, Jane, why?
"And well, the townspeople have been making their remarks about Miss Jane known -"
"Mr. Rambolt, I am so sorry for Jane's behavior towards Miss Cook. I will have her - " He stopped. "I'll apologize to Miss Cook as soon as she is here."
Mr. Rambolt smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Blackwood, but my wife and I were talking and we thought that perhaps if Miss Jane went to Mr. Chance's Boarding School for Girls, her behavior would be more, well, improved."
Mr. Long had been thinking of that school, but he did not like how Mr. Rambolt belittled his daughter's behavior, no matter how true it may be. "I will talk to Miss Crawford and Jane about it, sir and she might give it a chance." He tried to smile.
"Might give it a chance?" Mrs. Hart came over. "Your daughter is quite rude, Mr. Long!"
"Dear Mrs. Hart -" Mr. Rambolt said.
"No!" She nearly screamed. "I will not hold my tongue any longer. For ten or so years, I've put up with your daughter and her insolent and ignorant mind!"
Mr. Blackwood tried to speak but Mrs. Hart let all the bombs fly away. After she excused herself, Mr. Blackwood found himself so ashamed of his bad parenting on Jane and how she was being blamed.
.:::.
Jane marched downstairs after wiping her red eyes and her red cheeks faded to their original color. She did not want to go to the party, even if it was for her. She met no one on her way out of the house to her delight. Once she reached the wilderness, she broke into a run - if one could even call it a run. She slowed down after a minute and a half. She was no runner and certainly not an athlete. She leaned against the tree, evening her breathing. She felt like crying again. She looked around, trying to distract the threatening tears. But really, she did not care about the trees and how the sunlight made their leaves look red, green, and gold or how blue the sky was or even if little animals were passing by. She cared nothing for the golden afternoon.
She heard a rustling, thinking it was one of the servants; she turned around to see something moving fast and far beyond the trees. Jane slowly followed the running figure, picking her pace gradually. She ran around trees, which started to become thick and clustered. "Ooof!" She nearly tripped but still she pursued the figure that was becoming a small dot now. If it is someone trying to skip out on my party, I will be furious! She finally came out of the clustered trees into a clearing. The running figure was nowhere in sight. Jane frowned and looked all around. She groaned and stomped her foot in frustration. A white small rabbit hopped towards her. "Ugh!" She stepped away. "Get away!"
The rabbit lifted his face to her. "You're not too pleasant to look at either if you don't mind my saying miss."
Jane's brown eyes widened. "You-you-you -"
"Really, never seen a rabbit in your life?" He asked.
Jane backed up against a tree, gripping the bark in fear. "Its witchcraft, surely, witchcraft!"
"Which croft?" The rabbit questioned.
"I have to be dreaming..." Jane sank to the ground. "I must be dreaming."
The rabbit frowned. "If you were dreaming, would this hurt?" He hoped over and bit her hand.
Jane screamed. "Get away!" She crawled away.
The rabbit rolled his big brown eyes. "Come now, missus, may I ask what brings you to this part of the world?"
"I was following a man - at least, I do believe it was a man - over here and..." Jane stopped. "Why am I talking to an animal?"
"A man?" The rabbit's voice altered with alarm. "Running in this direction?"
"Yes, but you shouldn't be able to -"
"Come, miss! Come!" The rabbit hopped into the bushes. When Jane did not follow, he poked his head out. "Well, come on or we'll be late!" He paused. "Do you have the time?"
Jane sighed again in frustration. "Its almost one."
The rabbit nearly jumped in the air. "Oh my goodness! I'm late! You're late! We're late! Come, come, come!" He jumped back in the bushes, calling out to Jane. "Come, come, come!"
"Of all nonsense..." She muttered but suddenly felt so alone, and she did not want to be alone. She rushed after the rabbit. "Sir! Um, Mr. Rabbit! What are we so late for?"
"Oh, oh, oh!" The rabbit was too preoccupied with the thought of being late he didn't hear Jane.
He turned around when he reached a rabbit's hole. "Come, come, come! We are late!" He disappeared into it.
Jane knelt before the rabbit hole, raising an eyebrow. "How on earth can I fit in there?" She sat on her heels.
"Come, come!"
"Oh, drat! Just because you can fit in there that doesn't mean -"
The rabbit poked his head out of the hole and looked up at her, frowning. "Look here, miss, if you fancy being late, fine by me then. But I do not like the idea of - " He stopped mid sentence and looked just behind her.
Jane, confused, turned around to see a tall figure standing about thirty feet from them. The hat was ridiculously tall and a price tag was still in the band. The coat and the hat were a dreary dark color. The coat was buttoned up all the way and it seemed the person was concealing something, something Jane did not want to know. The man held his the tip of his hat with a black gloved hand. Slowly, he lifted his face but Jane only had time to see the bottom half of an aged face. But what scared her the most, was that he was smirking in a very devilish way.
"Come, foolish girl!" The rabbit cried out before disappearing.
Jane was too scared to think correctly. Instead of screaming like she ought to have, she dove for the rabbit hole. She must have been too heavy because the ground gave out beneath her and down a wide black hole, she fell.
Author's Note: This is revised a bit. I changed the last names and fixed up a few things. Hope you like.