Thursday, March 22, 2012

pt 2 The Small Door

Watching the door slam behind her, Alice looks to her feet where a path begins. It ends down a narrow stretch to a darkly wooded forest gate. The beastly roar of snarling and snapping wild animals sound, they beckon her to come join them.

"Alice...this way," clouded whispers twirl and dance by her side.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her quakes, rippling like a wave. She surfs above the gravel, then rolls forward before coming to a stop. Standing to her feet, she dusts off her dress. 

"Come my child, this way," a soft voice calls from within the forest.

"Me?" she points to herself, looking over her shoulder for another.

She then notices that the door she entered from has vanished and everything else with it. The backs of her feet are standing a hairline away from endless drop into nothing. Alice shrieks, losing her balance. She falls backwards.

Arms flailing, she tries to grab hold of anything, but there's nothing. The rushing wind
screams in and around her ears as she quickly descends. She watches, horrified, as her tresses get knotted and released, braided then let loose. They even play a round of double-dutch with the wind.

"Someone, please, help me! Please!" her plead soars up with equal speed from which she falls. 

Alice searches for the ground, anything. Anything to stop this frightening drop. Suddenly, her shoulders lift and she's carried upwards. A multitude of brightly coloured swallows bring her up to the surface, placing her in the exact spot before the fall. The birds sing sweetly flying back into the dim forest.

Alice catches her breath, she grips the solid ground, fingertips shaking. She looks to the drop behind her, then to the unknown in front of her. Standing to her feet she motions forward. The wooded gates part erupting the baleful echoes of the forest. Alice swallows dry and steps in.