4
Things Aren't What They Seem
Nathan was free falling down a long hole in the ground. He shouted and screamed, trying to find something to stop his fall. There was nothing but dirt. Soon, objects such as nightstands, knickknacks, lamps and other home objects starts floating upwards. Due to the force of the falling, they almost hit Nathan like some speeding bullet or a fastball! Nathan did what he could to dodge them as he continued falling.
It was all weird to him.
"What the duck is this?" he shouted, not knowing what was happening.
Nathan dodged more objects as he plummeted down the long hole which seemed like it would never end. Objects such as pianos, couches and other furniture were stuck in the dirt on the sides. One piano came close enough that Nathan barely moved out of the way while falling still!
The free falling continued for what seemed like forever to the boy. Suddenly, something landed on his shoulder from a nightstand that went by.
"It's a rather nice day to fall isn't it?" said the thing.
Nathan looked over and it was a mouse.
"Ah! You can talk!" he shouted, surprised.
"Of course silly, have a nice fall, I'm falling rather very fast myself." the mouse said, "Actually, I think I'm falling up!"
The mouse jumped off of his shoulder, laughing. The boy continued to go further and further down the hole until he hit the bottom!
A thud occurred as Nathan seemed to have hit the ground. Objects were no longer floating or being seen. Nathan just lied there on his stomach as silence overtook the area.
"What the heck was that…" he said, breathing a bit heavily with wide eyes.
The fall was terrifying, but a bit fun.
"Don't hurt the floor!" a muffled voice suddenly said.
Nathan had a confused look on his face, not knowing what to make of it.
He had to be cautious yet again of the situation. He wasn't alone.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Excuse who?" the voice asked.
"Me…" Nathan said.
"Who's 'Me'?" it asked
"Me, that's who, who are you?" Nathan asked
He wanted to know who he was talking to.
The voice replied to him of course.
"Why should I tell you who I am if I don't know who you are? If I knew who you were, I would tell you who I am, that way we'd know who we both were rather than asking each other who we are!" the voice said.
Nathan was confused, "Wait, what?"
Suddenly, the ground beneath him started to crumble and Nathan fell right through!
Nathan yelped and fell for a few seconds before hitting what seemed like ground again! Nathan tried getting his mind together and looked around. He was no longer in the hole, let alone New York. Instead, he was inside a simple looking room. A chandelier was hanging right by him, giving off some light. Some chairs and a table were above with a hole nearby. The possible floor beneath him was tiled, black and white colored. Same went for the part above him. Walls around were white colored. Nathan wasn't sure what was going on.
When he looked at the chandelier and then the other objects, he realized he was lying on the ceiling with the floor above him.
"Great!" the voice said, "Look what you did, you broke the floor!"
"I didn't mean to, I don't even know where I am!" Nathan replied.
"Well, get off the ceiling, you're ruining it!" said the voice.
"I'm on the floor…" Nathan replied, looking around strangely.
"No, you're on my ceiling." the voice assured.
Nathan stood up and looked around, realizing he was in fact, standing on the ceiling!
The laws of gravity seemed to not work here.
"Why am I standing on the ceiling?" Nathan asked.
"What's up is down and what's down is left, sometimes even right, but most cases up. I love when it goes diagonally!" the voice replied, laughing.
Nathan raised a brow at everything as he breathed heavily.
"I'd appreciate it if I was on the actual ground!" Nathan said.
"Fine, but you'll have to wait. The floor doesn't become a floor yet." the voice replied.
"Well, when is-"
Without warning, Nathan felt himself falling for a split second before hitting ground!
When he looked around, the floor was where the floor should be and the ceiling where that should be. Nathan wasn't sure how it changed. Everything was in tact like nothing happened. As for the hole, it was fixed!
"How did that happen?" he asked.
His eyes were wide and he was still breathing heavily, shocked.
"Very carefully my dear boy!" the voice said.
"But rooms can't change just like that!" Nathan said.
He knew it couldn't be possible.
The knob disagreed.
"In this world, they can!"
"Well, what world is this?" Nathan asked.
"Why don't you find out." the voice replied.
"Well, then tell me!" Nathan demanded, wanting to know
The voice laughed and told him it did not like being demanded.
Nathan was getting annoyed by the voice and its antics. He just wanted to know where he was.
"Am I under Central Park?" Nathan asked.
"Under Central what?" the voice asked.
It knew nothing of a 'Central Park.'
"Ugh, where are you?" Nathan asked.
"I'm in the same place you are!" the voice wittingly responded.
Nathan wasn't getting anywhere with whatever he was talking to.
Nathan decided to look around the room to find the source of the voice. He looked by the furniture, but nothing. He then looked up at the ceiling, but nothing. Finally, he decided to look around the walls and this time, he found something. Nearby was a small, wooden door.
"About time you found me!" the voice said.
Nathan looked down at the door and it was none other than the doorknob talking.
Nathan wasn't sure how a doorknob could be talking. He thought it was weird. Nathan decided to bend down and peer through the key hole. On the other end, all he could see was some dead grass and part of what looked like a path. Just then, it came to him. It all looked familiar. The room reminded him of the movie he saw earlier. The dead foliage seemed wrong though.
"I can't be in Wonderland…" Nathan said in disbelief.
"Way to spoil it, idiot!" the knob rudely said.
Nathan looked around, amazed.
He couldn't believe he ended up in Wonderland of all places just like that!
"Tell me I'm dreaming…" Nathan said.
The knob laughed.
"You're not, sorry. It is perfectly real!" the knob replied.
Nathan sighed.
"Well, can I at least go back home? I don't want to be here!" Nathan said.
The doorknob was in shock.
Nathan liked the place, but being there made him not want to be there.
"What, I don't want to be here." Nathan said.
"Well you can't go back!" the knob replied.
Nathan stopped making weird shapes with his fingers from boredom.
"I can't go…back?" Nathan asked, looking oddly at the door.
"That's right, one way in, no way back." the knob replied.
Nathan started to panic.
Nathan wanted to be back home. Not in Wonderland. It was too random.
"There has to be a way to get back!" Nathan said, hyperventilating.
"I'm sorry, there isn't…" the knob replied.
Nathan started to hit the walls and go a bit hysterical before falling to the floor.
"You have got to be kidding me!" he said.
"I am!" the knob said, "There is one way."
Nathan nipped up and looked at the knob eagerly.
The knob didn't like the creepy glare Nathan gave it.
"Well, um…there is one way like I said." It said.
"Tell me what it is, NOW!" Nathan replied slowly, begging.
Nathan glared at it maniacally.
"In order to get back, the Queen of Hearts must be slain." the knob said.
"Is she slain?" Nathan immediately asked.
"No."
"Dang it!" Nathan shouted.
He started to get all frantic again.
The doorknob tried calming Nathan down.
"It is not all bad!" the knob said.
"Yes it is! I thought she was slain already, Hollywood lied!" Nathan shouted.
He started to pretend to cry, over-exaggerating this.
"Movies are very different from this society. Until she is slain, you must spend time in this world!" the knob said, "It's the rule. Any humans who come here cannot go back until she is!"
"Well, can we skip to that day?" Nathan asked.
"No, but word is that the Frabjous Day will be the fall. It is in a week!" the knob replied.
Nathan just took it in.
He would have to wait until the Queen of Hearts was slain to go home. Nathan didn't like it. He thought about desperately wanting to go home, but sadly, he couldn't. He had no choice but to stay here.
"Well fine…" Nathan said, "Then I better make myself at home!
He tried opening the door but it wouldn't open.
Nathan jiggled the handle a bit, but it still wouldn't budge.
"How do I open this door? It's locked." he asked.
"You need a key, which is on that table!" the doorknob said.
Nathan rolled his eyes, only to notice a key on the table!
"Oh…pretty!" Nathan said, glaring at it.
It was golden and shiny!
He went over and picked up the key. It was rather small, much like a toothpick perhaps. Nathan went back over to the door, put the key in the key hole, turned it and opened the door!
"Ha, success!" he shouted with glee.
Nathan bent down to look at the other side and saw nothing but dead foliage, mushrooms, trees, flowers etc. All was dead. It looked familiar to him though.
Nathan tried going through it. Obviously though, he was too big.
"I'm too flipping big!" Nathan said.
"Well that's too bad…" the doorknob said.
Nathan didn't like his attitude. The boy looked around the room to see a small bottle on the table now! He went over and picked it up.
On the bottle, there was a little tag on it that said "Drink Me!"
"This looks familiar too. I wonder how it got here though." Nathan said.
He opened the bottle to drink the liquid when suddenly the doorknob shouted to stop!
"Why?" he asked.
"That stuff is poisonous! You mustn't drink that!" the doorknob exclaimed. "The Queen of Hearts uses it to control the populous. The bottle in here is to stop outsiders from getting in. It is a drug."
"Wow…you people are really mad or just high…" Nathan said.
He thought it was all just…weird.
The knob explained why more.
"It will not shrink you anymore! The Queen made sure of it five years ago after the last person came through here."
"Who was that?" Nathan asked.
"I'm not sure; she never told me her name. She was some young girl who said she was chasing some white rabbit." the doorknob replied.
"Alice! That is her name!" Nathan said
He knew of her too.
The doorknob seemed impressed by his knowledge.
"I guess that is her name." the doorknob said.
"It is," Nathan said, "I bet she's at a tea party or something."
"I guess she is, who knows." the knob replied.
"Well duh, where else would a twelve year-old, or whatever, be?" Nathan said.
The knob didn't know.
The boy wasn't sure how he could get to the other side though, and after what the doorknob said, he couldn't drink the liquid. Nathan was thinking of a way to get to the other side. The doorknob wasn't helping and the "Drink Me!" bottle was too poisonous to use. He had to get to the other side somehow. A few minutes went by and Nathan thought of an idea.
"I have an idea, but it isn't nice…" Nathan said.
He glared at the furniture in the room.
While Nathan went over to the objects, the knob wanted to know what he had in mind.
"What is that?" the doorknob asked.
"I'm going to bash through the wall with the furniture. If I can break through the floor, it should be easy to break open the wall!" Nathan said.
"Don't you dare do that!" the doorknob shouted.
Nathan didn't care as he just picked up a chair and prepared to toss it against the wall above the door. However, something caught his eye by the door!
Nathan put the chair down and went over to the door to see what it was. He picked it up and it was a small, white vial with a tag that said "Drink This!"
"It says "Drink This!" not "Drink Me!"!" Nathan said.
The knob was shocked to hear that
"Oh my, the White Queen only made a few of those before she was banished! Drink it boy, it will shrink you down to size!" it said, very excited about it.
Nathan knew how the White Queen was nice, but still wasn't sure.
This Wonderland seemed different after all.
"It could be poisonous! And why should I listen to you, you're a knob!" Nathan said.
"Just drink that one! I am certain it isn't. It is from the White Queen!"
"Ugh, fine…" Nathan just said.
He opened it up, took a big gulp of it and swallowed it.
"Not that much!" the doorknob said.
Suddenly, Nathan went from his normal size to many sizes smaller!
Nathan originally stood around 5'8'', but now was probably half that! He didn't feel any different though, nor did he look different. His clothes remained the same size and his hair was still all nice looking, which Nathan was happy about.
"Woot, I'm small, yo!" Nathan said.
"Hurrah!" the knob replied in celebration.
Nathan looked at himself, all happy.
Nathan thanked the doorknob for telling him to drink that one instead of the other one. He then walked through the door and on the other side was a vast forest, full of death and sadness to his surprise. There were dead flowers and mushrooms all around, smaller than him as if he didn't shrink at all. There were also thorns that had a look of "I'm going to harm you, fool!" Trees and shrubs were also all around as a small, dirt path extended straight forward. The only good thing was the sun. The sun was shining in the sky while back at home it wasn't.
Here it was day, in New York it was night. Nathan wanted to be home, but had to stay. He kept the thought of home in the back of his mind for safe keeping. The movie he watched reminded him of this place, but the dead scenery and poisonous looking plants were not like he remembered. The doorknob decided to make it grand.
"Welcome to-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Wonderland!" Nathan said, interrupting the doorknob.
Nathan was no longer in New York City, but the world of Wonderland!
Nathan looked around at the land at all the weird things. Horseflies flew around as Nathan started walking down the path. Everywhere he looked, it was colorless and weird. Everything looked dead and dark; from the mushrooms to the trees. The only happy part was the blue sky and sun shining brightly. He didn't even know where he was going as he just walked down the path. Meanwhile, far in the distance away from Nathan, a person looked through a pair of binoculars at the boy and how he entered the world. He soon put them away and had a look of interest on his face.
"The Queen is not going to like this…" he said.
He then walked away from the area back to wherever he came from.