Lost In Wonderland

Chapter 12

The cake tasted like strawberries and something I couldn't place. It was good, and fruity but sour and sweet. So many different tastes.

Then the table was getting taller, until I could no longer see over the top. I looked around, frantic. Everything stayed the same height and that's when I figured it out. I'm shrinking.

Then, I stopped.

I looked around again, turning back to the door. I was just the right height to go through it. I saw now that there was a mat in front of it. On it were the words, Welcome, Aero.

Freaky.

Absolutely spine chilling.

I should turn back. But how would I get tall again? And where'd the hole disappear to? There's no way I could stop now. I have to keep going.

I lifted up the corner of the mat and saw a tiny key. I picked it up and slid it into the lock and turned. I tried the door knob, and opened the door.

What. The. Hell?

. . .
I stepped through the door and glanced over my shoulder. Impossible. The door stood on its own, no wall, no room. Just the door. I poked my head back inside the room, everything just like it was. I took a few steps back, not believing my eyes.

"Are you alright, dear?"

I turned around to see a young man, maybe in his early twenties. He smiled at me, his teeth the same whiteness as his hair.

"Is this a dream?" I asked.

"A dream? You think you're in a dream?"

I nodded. "I fell down a hole and then I was in this room with this small door, and I had some cake and I shrunk! I shrunk! There's no way I'm not dreaming."

"Whatever you say. What's your name?"

"Aero. Yours?"

"Corinth."

"May I call you Cory?"

"Cory works. So do you need help?" Cory shifted his weight, resting his hands on his hips. I noticed a sword on his right hip. A leftie.

"I need to get back home. Or wake up."

"Back home, then. I hate to break it to you, Aero, but this isn't a dream. It's very much a reality."

I nodded. "Okay. Then will you help me get home?"

"Where is your home?"

"Lake Elbow? Do you know where that is?" Cory tilted his head, squinting his eyes in confusion. "No, okay... California. Get me to California."

"Oh. You're from there. I'll have to bring you to the Prince. He'll help you out."

"The Prince? What is this place?"

"Wonderland."

"No, impossible. That's fiction. Lewis Carroll. It's not real." But how come I didn't believe that?

"Whatever you say, Aero. Shall we get moving?"

I shrugged. "I guess."

We walked for what felt like hours, passing all shorts of strange plants and flowers. Big, tropic flowers like what you'd see in the Amazon. I kept seeing a flash of white, but could never see it long enough to know what it was.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

I nodded. "A little."

"Good. We'll stop by my friend's home."

"A friend?" I paused thinking. "Oh don't tell me, the Mad—"

"Hatter." Cory said. "Although, I don't think he's mad."

We both went back to silence. I watched Cory as he walked with confidence, his bleach blonde hair bobbing with his steps. After too long of a silence, I needed a conversation. "So, how old are you?" I asked.

"How old do you think I am?" He glanced back at me, grinning.

"Twenty-something."

He laughed, deep and hearty. "No, my dear, I haven't been twenty for many, many years. I'm one hundred and thirty four."

I gawked. "No way. That's impossible."

"Not impossible, nothing's impossible. To you it's just improbable."

I huffed. "So, what? You're not human?"

Cory shook his head. "What was your first clue?"

I sighed. I'm following a smart-ass.

I love Cory.

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