So, this is the second chapter. I've re-posted it now, and it's better than the last one after being beta-ed by my good friend. Hope you like it, the next one's coming soon!
I saw the ground just a few seconds before I hit it. Shielding my face, I made impact, breaking through the floor. I made second impact just moments after, not breaking through this time. I sat up steadily, groaning. I looked around and saw a chandelier sprouting from the floor. I felt gravity creep in on me again, and fell upwards, making impact with the first surface again, but not falling fast or far enough to break through. I lay groaning on the floor, waiting to fall again, but never did. I lifted my head slightly and saw a wide beam of light falling on my feet.
Several annoying questions flitted around my head: Why had grandmother sent me here? Why hadn't I fallen straight back into the hole that I must have made when I broke through the first surface? I looked around carefully and noticed that the hole seemed to have disappeared. How strange...
I let my head relax again and my thoughts returned to the first annoying question; my grandmother. Had she known about the three painful crashes that I would have to endure to prove that this man didn't exist? But, she had asked me to do this one last thing for her, even if it was all a wild goose chase, I would see it through to the end.
I looked at where the light appeared to be coming from; a small door about one and a half feet tall, and a little narrower widthways. I sat up; waiting for pain but miraculously there didn't seem to be any. I stood slowly, looking around the room. There were about eight other doors, but none were as small as the one that was open.
I looked at the paper and envelopes in my hand which were bent and dirty, but all still there. I looked at the map, studying how far I had come. There was a long sketched tube going onto the back of the paper, so I assumed that that was the hole that I had just fallen down. At the bottom of the tube was a small circular room labelled 'room of doors'. That made sense. I walked over to the tiny door, kneeling down at the entrance. The sight outside was strange, a large garden filled with flowers, bushes and trees. All of the bushes were trimmed into marvellous complicated shapes, like a herd of unicorns, a ballerina or a dragon breathing fire. They were all blue, which was weird, and heavy with silver blossom.
I was small and slender for my age so-although it was a bit tight-I slid through the miniature doorway into the garden. I straightened, stretching, and glanced down again at the map. It showed a garden very much like the one that I was standing in now. It depicted a route through the bushes, and into a forest, where I was supposed to follow the only path all the way through it. I was then supposed to come out the other side into what looked like a field with a windmill and a table.
I set off, devotedly following the map, weaving in and out of the bushes as it showed me. I was amazed by the absence of people in the garden; the bushes looked amazingly high maintenance, so there had to be one or several gardeners. Also, there had to be an owner of the gardens, but still I saw no one. How odd. It wasn't long before I broke into 'Tulgey Wood'. The woods were made of thousands of trees which looked dead, thorny and rough, although I didn't want to touch them so I couldn't be sure about the latter. There was only one apparent way through it, and that was along a thin beaten track edged with sharp thorny bramble bushes. The path was slightly twisted and continued forwards into ominous darkness.
It was colder in the woods than it had been in the gardens. That could have been because of the dense branches intertwined high above my head, or it could have been for some other reason. I was sure that I saw something shift in the darkness on either side of me, closing in behind me. My heart rate spiked as I kicked off from the ground and sprinted into the darkness, the looming black parting just in time for me to run through it. I sprinted flat out for what felt like an hour. My muscles and lungs burned from the off, but pure unbridled terror pushed me on. I saw a grey light lurking in the distance, unwilling to come any nearer as I pushed myself to my physical limits trying to get to that dull haze to come closer.
When I finally fought through the last lingering darkness I broke out of that hell and into a field with a long single table straight ahead of me, with what looked like four people seated around it, but on closer inspection, not all of them seemed to be human. I stood panting on the edge of the forest, unsure if I should continue or not; usually an extreme entrance like that would have at least earned me a glance, but the four beings seated on and around the table didn't move. Seated was a fluffy blue cat with grey stripes lying asleep on the table, fading in and out of sight with each breath. There was a rabbit - or hare - or something sitting on the right. His fur was brown and one of his ears drooped down, as if it was sulking. He was staring at the person sitting at the head of the table. On the left was a small white mouse, standing on her hind legs on a pile of books and also staring at the head. At the head of the table was a man quite unlike any other that I had ever seen.
He was wearing tattered, worn clothes that hung off his emaciated frame. His face was thin and pale, white actually, with dark shadows under his eyes. His hair was bright orange and stuck straight out to the sides, as if it was trying to escape from his head. He also wore a hat, tall and with a wide brim. It was green with a brownish pattern swirling over the brim and growing up the main body. A length of purple fabric was wrapped around the body of it and the left over part trailed behind him. It was covered with singe marks and looked like it had seen better days.
The head of the table was staring intensely at a large bottle of red liquid as if it contained the secret to immortality. He slowly reached out to it with his right hand, which was shaky and bandaged, only for it to be bitten by the small white mouse. He jerked it away, and frowned angrily at her.
"Mally!" He exclaimed, shaking his had as a blood droplet welled to the surface.
"Don't do it, Hatter." She warned, sitting down cautiously. "She wouldn't want you to."
"How do you know what she'd want?" He yelled back "Do you have any idea how hard my life has been without her? I have to see her!"
"Mally's right." The hare thing stated, with what sounded like a Scottish accent. "How would you feel if she did this?"
"She wouldn't because I wouldn't forget about her and abandon her even though I promised to visit!" His eyes looked dangerously orange, His whole personality made him radiate ferocity. I shook with fear, even though I was a reasonable distance away. I tried to gasp as he hit the table and all the cups and teapots that were set seemed to jump.
I tried to gasp, but couldn't. I tried to breath, but only the smallest amount of air filtered into my lungs. I was having an asthma attack. I felt for my inhaler, but this dress didn't have any pockets. I started to panic; if I didn't calm down I could die. I needed a drink; perhaps that would make the muscles in my throat relax. The only liquid in sight was the one on the table, the one they had been staring at. It sounds ridiculous now, that I didn't guess that that liquid was dangerous, but an oxygen-starved brain makes you do funny things. I staggered up to the table, leaning on it for support as I lurched to the bottle of ruby liquid.
The seated people noticed me for the first time as I shook the table, approaching them gasping for air. The mouse drew what looked like a pin from her belt and brandished it like a sword. The cat woke up with a start as I shook the part of the table that he had been sleeping on. The hare looked rather scared as I careened towards them, but the man remained unfazed.
"Can I help you?" He asked, sounding bored and still staring at the bottle.
"Hi." I choked out as I reached them, grabbing the bottle and pulling out the cork. "Sorry." I croaked, the bottle obviously meant a lot to them, as they were all surrounding it. I tipped it back and took three large gulps of the liquid.
"NO!" The man shouted, pulling the bottle out of my grip.
"The pishalver!" The mouse shouted, wide eyed as I gasped for air. The liquid appeared to have worked, as my throat loosened again and I could breathe again.
"Sorry about that." I coughed, "asthma attack." I coughed again, but none of them looked away from me. Their mouths hung open in amazement, and their eyes were like saucers. "I said sorry." I stated again, uncomfortable in their unfaltering gaze.
All of a sudden, they all seemed to get much bigger. I looked around and realised that I was the same height as the table, and shrinking. My clothes hung off me, and I had to cling to the dress for it to cover certain areas that I would rather remain hidden. The hat was miles too big for me now, and completely covered my face and head.
"What's happening?" I squeaked, now only two feet high, and still going, "Stop this!" I yelled, but my voice was lower in volume than normal. At the height of about two inches, I stopped getting smaller. "Help!" I yelled my voice a tiny buzz compared to normal, and muffled by the hat and clothes that covered me.
I fought against the weight of the huge quantity of fabric swamping me and stopping me from breathing. I heard great thudding footsteps approach, and then stop beside me. I stopped talking, afraid to make a sound. Light resumed, and the hat had obviously been lifted away. I was moved, tumbling over ground cushioned by my clothes. "Let me go!" I yelled, summoning the courage necessary to utter those few tiny words. I hit a hard surface and then, just for a second, I was still. Almost at once I was moving again, been shaken around, jumping around in the terrifying tumbling darkness. After only a short while, mercifully, there was an unusually large lurch and all was still. I sat there, panting with terror as I waited for something else to happen.