The moon shone brightly in the water and all throughout the land. It was a full moon that night. It was big and yellow and bright. Alice was doing the usual: reading and leaning her back on the trunk of the oak tree in her large back yard. Tonight she was reading The Great Gatsby, which was her favorite book so far; until she reads her next book. Then that will become her new favorite and so on.
For some reason, Alice felt different that night. She thought that maybe it was just because of the full moon. But she continued on reading; ignoring the bad feeling in her gut. Alice never really listened her first instinct. She always second guessed herself and ended up being right in the first place. This happened not only on tests in school, but in real life decisions that she made, such as choosing what type of face wash to use, when she should do her homework (which she did at about midnight the night before it’s due), and other simple things.
“Alice!” Alice heard her name being yelled from far away where she could see a bit of light coming from. “Come in!”
Alice sighed, continued to read the sentence she was on before dog-earing the page, slapping the book shut, and trudged out all the way through the small forest, back to her tiny, light up cabin. Her mother was standing at the door, arms crossed, with a big fake-looking smile on her wrinkled face.
“You’ve been out there quite a while, haven’t ya?” She asked and leaned forward so she was level with Alice. Alice was tall, but he mother was taller. She was six foot tall while Alice was only five foot eight inches.
“Yeah,” Alice replied before squeezing past her mom to go down to the basement where her bed sat. Alice wasn’t up for much conversing with other humans. She would rather talk to her pet tarantula (Zelda).
“Alice? Are you okay?” Her mother called from downstairs.
“Yes, mom!” Alice yelled back. This time, she wasn’t lying. She honestly was felling okay compared to how she usually felt on a daily basis; which was complete crap. Alice never felt okay. She just felt a little less bad today, but still had a bad feeling about something.
Alice tip toed over to Zelda, put her elbows on the counter top, and rested her chin on her two fists.
“How is my wonderful Zelda doing today?” She quietly whispered to her.
Zelda said nothing back, of course. Alice has been waiting for the day that Zelda answers her questions. Or even move for that matter. Zelda just sat under her miniature tree every day all day. The only thing she would move for were her treats, which consisted of meal worms and crickets. Alice captured them herself usually, but she bought the little worms since she couldn’t find them in her backyard.
Alice.
Alice looked up from Zelda and, with confusion written all over her face, peered around the room for the source of the tiny whisper of her name that she heard.
Alice.
There the voice was a name. It didn’t sound like it was coming from a direct point, it just sounded like it was coming from all corners of the room.
Alice then heard a slight tapping noise coming from her window. She hesitated and nervously look at her tarantula for guidance that would obviously not come to her. Alice had watched way too man horror stories to go over to the window and check things out. So, she did what seem the safest thing for her to do: She crouched down onto her wooden floor and army crawled towards the window. When she was at her destination, she squatted up a bit until she could barely see out of the open window. She kept them open usually to let some air into her normally warm room.
When she looked out the mirror she saw something white and fluffy sitting in the green grass. It was hard to tell because of the darkness, but it looked almost like a rabbit or a white cat. Either one would be odd since there aren’t really any cats or rabbits in the area. They usually get eaten by the coyotes.
Alice lifted up her head a bit more since she saw no immediate threat.
Alice. Come outside Alice.
The voice, or symphony of voices, made Alice jump. She was a smart girl and knew not to listen to strange voices coming from strange things.
But something deep within Alice made her feel attracted to the voices and what they were telling her to do. It was almost as if Alice had no control over herself. So, she stood up slowly, turned around, and started to walk towards her door without a second thought. She walked right out of her room, up the stairs, past her mom who was sleeping and snoring on the couch with the T.V still on, and out the back door that had been left open. When she got outside, the white fluffy animal was gone from its original spot. It was now making its way over to the oak tree Alice was previously leaning on. She walked a bit briskly as to catch up the rabbit that she could not see clearly.
But all of a sudden, the rabbit disappeared. It was gone from her sight, as it had just fell off the earth. Alice crouched down on her knees and crawled to where that rabbit had gone. In front of her lay a giant hole in the ground, right where she had been standing to read.
This hole wasn’t there before. ‘I was standing right there,’ Alice thought.
Alice leaned over a little to see what was in the hole. All she saw was complete darkness and the roots of the tree that were rimming the edge of the hole. Alice rested her hand and put all of her weight onto it as she leaned in further.
Without warning, her hand slipped forwards and Alice started to tumble face first into the hole.
