Author's Note

Hi :) Thanks a lot for continuing this far :3

So how do you like Annie? She's a lot like Alice don't you agree? Don't worry, she has her own brand of curiosity, but as the saying goes 'like mother like daughter'

Mad as a Hatter

Peculiar Doors

Annie, not unlike her mother Alice, took care to read and examine every inch of the bottle. She would not like to find herself dead on the floor because she carelessly drank a bottle of poison.

The bottle was quite small. It had a very pretty design and shimmered with golden liquids inside. "There seems to be no warning labels, hmm. I wonder what this is." The cork bottle cap came off with a pop and Annie took a whiff. "Cherry?" She sniffed again. "Vanilla? Or…" she smelled once again. "Freshly laundered clothes."

The liquids seemed to change with every breath. It was as if the bottle were playing a trick on her. Her head felt light and she said to herself; "Well if there aren't any labels with a skull and crossbones, then I suppose it's alright." And took a sip, she decided she liked the taste very much.

It reminded her of a warm summer day when she would drink orange juice with her mother. A cold winter night when she would snuggle with Charlie and drink Hot Chocolate near the fire. Images of happy moments seem to flash through her mind and she soon finished the little contents of the strange drink.

"What a peculiar feeling." She exclaimed. Her body was shrinking very fast. Annie looked up, the ceiling disappeared out of sight. She's shrunk to the size of a doll. All she could see is the top of the glass table, "With this I'll be able to enter the garden!" Excited to finally exit the strange hall, she hurried to the door and found she was the perfect size. (The golden key lay forgotten in the excitement)

Straitening herself, she pulled her hair back and dusted her small doll-sized dress. Not at all surprising, Annie's dress seemed to shrink with her body. Annie took a deep breath and knocked politely on the door. She almost jumped out of her skin in surprise.

"Who's there?" The golden door opened its eyes and gave a wide yawn through its keyhole mouth. Wait- doors don't have eyes. And they definitely don't have mouths.

Annie stood there staring.

"Who's there?" The door repeated, even though Annie was just a few steps away.

Annie blinked a few seconds and thought this was as natural as greeting her mother good morning. "Oh, hello. I'm Annie." "Well Annie, please go away." The doorknob said with a huff of annoyance. With that he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Annie blinked again, crossed her brows and put her hands to her hips. "I have never met such a rude doorknob in my life. The doorknobs at home were much more pleasant." And it was true. (She's never met any doorknobs that had eyes and a mouth before.) Annie knocked loudly and yelled at the door, "Please open Mr. Doorknob! I need to pass!"

She knocked with her knuckles and the doorknob winced with every hit. "Ow- Please- Ow- Stop- Ow! Knocking- Ow- on my- Ow- head- Ow!" Annie didn't seem to hear the brass doorknob, "Oh! Pardon me Mr. Doorknob. Please open up. I need to get to Mary before she runs off again!"

Mr. Doorknob seemed to think for a while.

"Hmmm and who is this Mary?"

"Mary is my rabbit! Mary, my best friend, gave her to me." Annie said impatiently.

"Oh! How strange, Mary the human and Mary the rabbit. How strange, strange…." The doorknob trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

Annie gave a small cough. "Please Mr. Doorknob! It's my birthday today! Please open." She was on her knees, face to face (or should I say face to handle) with the doorknob.

"Oh! It's your birthday is it?! Now that I think about it, today is my unbirthday too." The doorknob started doing a little dance with a song. "A very merry unbirthday to me, to me! A very merry unbirthday to me!" It did look very odd as doorknobs can't dance. But this one did, nonetheless.

Annie just gaped with her mouth opened wide. The brass doorknob stopped and peered at her as if he's never met such a strange child. "Well how rude." He muttered. Annie found herself and said, "Pardon me? But how I am rude, exactly?" She asked, her face a light shade of pink.

"Well it's only common courtesy to greet someone on their unbirthday!"

Annie suddenly thought, "Oh yes! That's right. That is rude." She realized as if this were so natural as forgetting to greet someone good morning. "Now you have brought cake haven't you?" The doorknob asked. "Pardon?" Annie looked at the doorknob.

"Cake, my dear! Cake! You have brought cake haven't you? No unbirthday is complete without cake!" He told her as if it were plain as day. "Oh right!" Annie got up and scanned the room. With luck, she found a small box that had 'Eat Me' painted beautifully in gold across the top.

Annie looked as she did with the Drink me potion. Here she found a very delicious looking cake inside. "Mr. Doorknob! I've found a box of cake! Would you like to have some." She sat down beside it and was just about to eat a slice when she heard a very rude cough from the door. "Pardon?" She asked politely.

"Well not to bother you but I cannot eat if I cannot open my mouth." The doorknob said this in a cross manner. Annie asked, "But how can you talk if your mouth is not open." Annie knew she had said the wrong thing immediately.

Mr. Doorknob's nose grew bright red as if they've been shinned to the very crust.

"Naïve little girl!" said he. "Of course I'd need a key to open my mouth! How else will I eat my cake!" Annie looked startled at the sudden outburst. "Now go fetch the key! I am starving!" He bellowed, a gust of wind came out of his keyhole and Annie was sent to go look where she had left the golden key.

Muttering as she left, "What a very rude doorknob. A very rude doorknob indeed." Annie looked up at the glass table and groaned. "How ever am I going to reach it," Annie had forgotten that she was still holding a very big piece of cake in her hand. "Oh dear I am so hungry."

She took a big bite and chewed. It was quite delicious.

"How peculiar." She soon found herself growing bigger and bigger and bigger. Higher and bigger little Annie grew, till she could see no more of the small black curtain, which concealed the rather rude doorknob.

Annie couldn't stand at all, it was very cramped in the circular room. She had to hold her arms up to stop her from hitting her head. "Well." She sighed. "At least I can reach for the key now. But however am I going to shrink back down." The gold key glittered in the palm of her hand.

"Oh how horrible. How ever am I going to get out!" Annie put her hand on her chin and thought that just a moment ago she was playing with her very best friend Mary in the sunshine.

She hadn't meant it, but huge drops of tears suddenly splashed down and poured down her dress. "Oh how I wish mummy was here! I want to go home! I don't like this strange place!"

You really can't blame her. She's just a seven year old all alone in a strange room far from her mother. You would too if you were all alone, over grown, with a very rude door knob who yells at you. And all on your birthday too.

"Mummy! Daddy! Philip!" And she cried harder. The more she wept the angrier she became with herself. "Oh stop this at once Annie! You musn't cry! Mummy wouldn't want you to cry!" This did not help much, Annie cried all the more.

"Oh! How Philip would make fun of me if he saw me now! 'You look so ugly Annie! Stop crying at once, Annie!' he would say!" this did little to cheer Annie up, though she smiled at the memory of Philip. "Oh mummy!"

Annie was so wrapped up in her own world that she failed to hear Mr. Doorknob down below. "Oh Mizz Annie! Stop crying! These tears are no good for my nose!" He yelled desperately. "Ohhh Pleasse sto-oo-ppp!" He tried again but the water was up to his keyhole, and he choked in dear Annie's tears.

"Boooo hoo hooo hoo." Annie cried and cried but failed to feel herself growing smaller and smaller till she was the same size as she was when she stood face to face with Mr. Doorknob.

"An-nie-eee!" The doorknob screamed which was very hard if a flood of water kept gushing into your mouth.

The room was an ocean. The tears seem to multiply and grew steadily every minute. Mr. Doorknob gave up trying to call out to her, it seemed like his mouth was the only drain where the water came out. He cried out but his words were washed away with the water.

It would've been very ironic if little Annie managed to drown in her own tears; luckily though, she didn't. Instead, she fell into the same Drink Me bottle and found that she couldn't get out. Annie tried to stick her small blonde head out of the bottle but every time she tired she would always get swallowed up by a wave of water and get sucked back in.

"Lucky this bottle smells nice," She said with a sigh. Mr. Doorknob's eyes widened all the more at the sight of Annie approaching his keyhole. He tried very hard to signal her, but all she did was stare curiously. "Now we see where this door leads to." Annie watched through the bottle and saw the disappearing scene of the peculiar circle room with the many peculiar doors.