It is a fortnight into the summer and a threat of rain is lingering above the Terre verte manor that stood upon the hill overlooking Pleasance Village. Today is supposed to be looked forward to; the daughter of the family who dwells in the manor, Samara Rutledge is celebrating her nineteenth birthday. It is not though, because the decorations (of tapestries and wreaths) are not in place for a party celebrating this occasion, but they were set up for a feast to welcome guests of the family coming from the far north tonight; and it is also known that they are carrying a wedding proposal. Further infuriating the birthday girl is the obvious fact that she is the only girl in the family to propose to.
The second child and only daughter of the prestigious Rutledge family, Samara could be expected to be brought up and spoiled rotten by her family. But this is not the case; for as long as she could remember, Samara has been made to live up to the uncommonly high expectations which her family stored for her. Compared to the rest of her peers, Samara is the most educated and athletic. Even so, she remained the lesser of her siblings in both aspects. In addition, Samara is the least gorgeous of the three siblings. While both her brothers inherited the shiny golden locks and light blue eyes of their parents, Samara is a thin, pale-skinned girl with eyes the same black colour as her hair, and the most peculiar expression of passiveness upon her small face.
Hearing the appalling news as early as waking up (well into the afternoon) has no doubt plunged Samara into a most foul mood, because she didn't even bother to have breakfast (or brunch, if one may) and has gone into the verdant lawn between the manor and the fencing behind it. Beyond is a forest into which none ever dared enter. No sooner than this thought crosses her mind though, Samara has stepped over the fencing and into the forbidden forest. Mind, Samara is not being stupid, doing this; as soon as she walked out the back door, she tripped on the steps and fell flat onto the moist grass. She then looked up ahead to catch a smudgy shape of reddish-black just behind the fencing, and so tore after it upon realising that there is no such thing as a Red Rabbit.
It has started to rain, and Samara is already aware of her being lost in the middle of the forest. However, she is not yet ready to turn back and start finding her way home to get married, not now when she is sure that the Red Rabbit has been beckoning her to follow at each turn. The rabbit runs very fast, and only stopping to turn around back towards its pursuer, standing on its hind legs like so for a couple of seconds before turning around and disappears behind one after another tree. It is now at its twenty-second left turn, looking somewhat impatient with the low speed at which Samara chases after it. Of course, Samara is trying her best to catch up.
A little relieved to see that the rabbit has come to a definite stop, she starts running faster towards it. To her surprise, she now finds that she has been trailing behind it from a farther distance than she thought. She could presently see that it stands almost four feet tall on its hind legs. Just as she decides to slow down, she suddenly stepped onto something very brittle, which almost immediately crumbles away and opens into a seemingly endless hole. Samara takes a moment to realise that she is falling down into it; the Red Rabbit has jumped after her and apparently falls down faster than her too.
The fall is a long one, and considerably slow; even the clueless Samara has time to ponder and daydream before it ends. "I know this story! I'm Alice in Wonderland! And I'm falling down the rabbit hole!" said she aloud, just as Alice did when Samara was reading her story and apparently forgetting the fact that there was no Red Rabbit in the story and her name is not Alice. She looks around and tries to remember the story. Alas, this hole is not lined with shelves of glass jars and books. Instead, this hole looks everything an underground tunnel should; walls of dirt and tree roots. However, a quarter of an hour later, it is wondrous that there is even any light in it.
Samara tries to look down at the bottom but forgets to as soon as she sees the Red Rabbit swimming back up to her. It stopped as it has levelled with her. "Hullo," she greeted the rabbit good-naturedly, but the blank look on her face is one she can never be rid of. "Odd. The White Rabbit spoke, this one should too," thought her, as the rabbit seem to furrow its eyebrows in confusion. As suddenly as the rabbit's opal eyes blinked, Samara feels something grabbing her ankles – thick, strong vines with wicked sharp thorns all over it – and immediately, painfully, she is pulled down swiftly down the hole. It is getting darker and darker, and finally pitch-black, yet she is pulled down even faster still.
The vines seem to clutch at her ankles even tighter, digging their thorns into what little flesh there is. Samara feels that they are trying to eat her; the thorns serve as teeth. "Like those carnivorous plants. Maybe these vines belong to one really big pitcher plant that could swallow me whole," thought her, still looking somewhat indifferent. Now she sees that the Red Rabbit falls at the same speed as she is being dragged down. "This is your doing, is it?" accused her, "let go! Rabbit, tell them off!" and Samara struggles to free herself despite the agony as the vines tightened their grips. "ACK! Oh, bother," and she gives up when they had ripped off her shoes.
Five minutes later, she slows down; the Red Rabbit doing the opposite. As the vines released her ankles, she abruptly stops falling and stands a foot or so above ground. She winced as her feet touches the ground, owing more to the pain than the cold. It was still dark but when she squints her eyes, they adjusted to the darkness so remarkably that she now sees as clearly as she would under clear skies. She looks up and notices her shoes falling down after her at a snail's pace. She was going to wait when a curiously familiar voice startled her.
"Alice," calls the voice.
Author's Note
My first fic; please read and review! And please be nice. Though, I have decided to write the rest of the story in past tense. I see how I suck at this.