Falling falling and falling, Alex had his eyes shut bracing for an impact but it never seem to come.
Confused, his sea green eyes shot open just in time to see the tiny bit of moonlight from the ground surface become nothing more than a mere speck above.
"Just how deep is this hole?" the merman worriedly thought.
Suddenly, the air seemed to get lighter and his momentum slowed. Before he knew it, Alex was floating horizontally in the thin air, as if it were water.
"Huh?" he questioned out loud. Turning to face downward, he could make out a little bit of dim light below him. Hesitantly, he kicked his tail to move and quickly found that this anti-gravity air was a lot like swimming in the water. He propelled himself downwards to find that there were torches hanging around that illuminated this strange cavern he was in.
"Weird…" he said incredulously. Upon going further down, the earthy walls melded into bricks and he found all sorts of random objects floating around him. Broken toys, an umbrella, old maps and random furniture. Alex wasn't sure what was going on at all. "How is this possible?" he questioned outloud. As soon as he had that thought, gravity turned on again, as if to punish him for thinking such things. The merman yelped in surprise as he was falling straight down again- in his desperation, his hands reached out to an object nearby and happened to catch a pair of green draperies hanging off the brick wall. He grunted as he grabbed it and held on to it for dear life. He was thankful that his arms were very strong, as most mermen's naturally are and he was able to hold his weight as he hung off of the drapes. Just as he sighed in relief, a tearing sound was heard and he looked up in horror as the drapes tore off the wall. Again he fell with the fabric still in his hands- but this time it wasn't that long a fall and he hit the floor hard.
"Ugh." He groaned as he made impact. After taking a second to recover, he finally sat up tangled in the teared draperies that came with him. Looking to his left he came face to face with a mirror- he quickly noticed that he was caked with mud all over him- the white shirt he was wearing was filthy, as for his pants- well he knew they tore up in the rain when he transformed so they were long gone now. While he was still wet in some places, the air from falling had dried most of him, including his tail- he inhaled a sharp breath as he felt what was coming. His tail split into two legs and he had transformed back to his human form. The first time this happened it was pretty painful, but as time went on he got used to it and it's only a minor discomfort now whenever he transforms from tail to legs and vice versa.
Standing up he immediately noticed a dilemma, his pants were gone- he was now naked from the waist down. He frowned, but noticed the green drapes on the floor. He grinned with an idea to fix this problem. Taking the drapes, he tied it around his waist as a long skirt with a bit of a train in the back, then he took the longer back of the makeshift-skirt and brought it up between his legs tucking it into the waist- voila! Now he was wearing short pants made out of the green drapes. They were baggy in some places but it certainly did the trick.
Now fully clothed, he decided to take a look at his surroundings. Stepping out from what appeared to be a chimney he just fell from, his expression grew even more confused- the floor was black and white checkered tiles that led down to a striped hallway. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same white rabbit from earlier dash around the corner. "Wait!" He called out to it, not knowing if it could even understand him, he had a feeling this rabbit was apart of the reason why he fell into this place- so he needed to find out for himself.
Running down the hall, he turned another corner and stopped at a dead end. The quick slam of a door nearby was heard and he turned to find a door right next to him.
Reaching for the nob, he was surprised to see that it only led to another smaller door in the wall. Opening that one led to and even smaller one, and that one to an even smaller one, finally the door became a tiny door only a doll could fit through. When he tried to open that one, it was locked…
"Well then…" he thought bitterly, he sighed and sat backwards, putting his forehead in his palm, trying to think of a way to get through.
"Oh ho ho! Having a little trouble are we?" a high pitched female voice said near him. He quickly turned around, but didn't see anyone there. "Who's there?" he called.
"Down here!" said the voice again. Alex turned back and looked down to the source of the voice- the decorative female-face of a door knocker on that tiny door was speaking to him.
"Whoa!" he jumped back in surprise
"Oh don't be afraid darling, I'm simply the keeper of this door. Do you need to get in?" the object said.
"Oh…uhh, yes. I do, can you let me in?" Alex replied warily.
"No can do. You don't fit!" she laughed back.
"What? But I need to find that white rabbit that just went through! How do I unlock you?" Alex asked with a bit of urgency in his voice.
"Simply use the bottle."
"Bottle?"
Alex turned around and saw that the room suddenly changed into a kitchen behind him, there was a stove, a sink, and all sorts of spice bottles on a shelf above it. In the center of the room, was a small round table with a bottle labeled, "Drink me" on it. Alex took the bottle and sniffed it's contents, it didn't smell like poison. He looked at the door knocker skeptically as he held it.
"Go on" She encouraged.
Swallowing nervously, he uncapped the bottle and took a sip of it's contents.
Almost immediately, the room got bigger around him and his body and clothes shrunk down with him till he was about the size of a doll.
"Wow." he said, his voice a bit higher in pitch.
Walking over, he tried the tiny door again, but it was still locked. The door knocker laughed, sounding a lot louder and more obnoxious than she did before.
"Oh silly boy- you need the key! Did you forget it? It's right there on the table!"
Alex quickly turned and saw the key magically appear on the giant table above him, but now he's the size of a doll- he couldn't possibly get up there to get it.
"What?! There wasn't a key before! How am I gonna get to it now!" he said as he was attempting to climb the table anyways.
"You can use the box." the knocker replied. Instantly a box melted up out of the ground next to his bare feet.
Alex opened it to find cookies labeled "Eat Me" on them. He sighed, and couldn't help but feel like the knocker was getting enjoyment out of this.
Taking one, he finally bit into it. The room then got smaller and his body enlarged up until is head hit the ceiling. Upon the kitchen space getting more cramped, his giant foot knocked over one of the spice bottles on the shelf. The bottle labeled "Crying juice" broke on the floor and the smell of chopped onions quickly filled the entire room, and boy was it strong.
"Oh man!" He covered his nose as his eyes started watering. Alex chopped onions before, but never before had he smelled something so pungent in his life! The smell made his eyes cry like never before. He sniffled and tried to wipe his giant tears away but in doing so only made puddles of water on the floor. His teardrops were so big that it was starting to flood the room.
"Hey! Calm down won't you?" the door knocked scolded as she was getting splashed with the tears.
"I …can't stop crying!" Alex exclaimed as the tears kept pouring out like a waterfall. Soon enough he was sitting in a large puddle of his own tears and already he could feel his legs start to shift.
"Oh no!" he cried in alarm, tears still pouring down his face and rising the water below him. The green drapes he was wearing quickly gave way to his tail. As soon as he transformed, the room became even more cramped, with his giant green fins pressing against the wall and the water still rising.
"Use the bottle! Quickly!" he heard the knocker say just before she went under the water level.
He spotted it floating next to him since it got knocked off the table, grabbing it with two fingers, he tipped it to his mouth swallowing what was left in it. His mer-form shrunk back inwards with him still holding the bottle, he dropped it as it got bigger than he was and it splashed and filled halfway with the water below. Alex's form dropped straight into the bottle below him and his tears finally stopped. The half-filled bottle containing Alex was now in a current of sorts being carried away into the open keyhole of the tiny door. Only one thought went through the merman's mind as he was being swept away into the next area of this strange place.
"I wish that onion smell didn't make me cry so much.."