Chapter 26

                                    

                                          
Why was the fall taking so long? Shouldn't I just find myself back in Wonderland by now? I didn't understand what was happening. 
                          
For a while, things were silent as I fell. Then things began falling past me. Things I recognized. I saw a chair and a table Cheshire had kept in his room. There was a mirror I had seen at Rab's place too. Puzzled, I looked up at the mouth of the portal. It never disappeared or shrunk; it just stayed a pinpoint above me as I descended into the portal's throat.
                          
As I stared at it in wonder, something light hit my head. I reached back and pulled the something in front of me. It was a calendar, my calendar to be precise. It was the one that hung on my wall in my bedroom. I flipped through the pages of X's until I came to the end of the marks. It stopped the day before I first fell through the rabbit hole: April 25. That was funny, I could've sworn I checked off the next day.
                          
Suddenly I felt the air that had been rushing past me speed up and things began flying past faster and faster. I saw things that I'd seen before. My kitchen stove back home drifted by me as I fell, my bed, my mom's vanity dresser; I began to see smaller objects too like my soccer ball and bike. My mom's perfume, the pillow from my bed. There was a loud ringing as my alarm clock nearly hit me as it flew past my ear.
                          
Afraid, I turned to see below me and my eyes widened as the ground came rushing up to meet me. At the last second, I covered my head and clenched my eyes closed.
                          
*******
                          
My eyes opened slowly and I stared up at a ceiling. The ringing in my ears didn't stop and I wondered if it was from how hard I fell. Then I rolled over and slammed my hand down on my alarm clock. "Shut up!" I snapped.
                          
Dizzy, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around my bedroom, and then at myself. I was wearing my pajamas, this was my bed. My eyes traveled across my room to look out my window at the morning sun. It was barely 7:00 in the morning, but the sun had already risen high in the sky. I stood up slowly. I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen where I found my mother was sitting with a cup of tea and toast at the breakfast table, a smile on her face as she looked through the morning paper.
                          
At first, I stood in the doorway staring at her. When she felt my presence, she looked up and her smile grew. "Good morning, Alice," she said. When I didn't reply, she frowned. "What's wrong? Why are you still in your pajamas? Don't you have school?" she asked.
                          
I blinked at her and looked out the window again. "Yeah. I do..." I said.
                          
Filled with confuse, I quickly, but not too quickly, went back up the stairs. I threw my bedroom door open and ran to my calendar. I'd been in Wonderland for weeks, but my mom acted like nothing ever happened. According to my calendar, it was the 24th of April. But how? It should be nearly mid-May by now. 
                          
That wasn't a practical train of thought. If it really was the 24th, then that meant I didn't go to Wonderland until the tomorrow. That also meant I would get the letter after school, and Rab would be waiting for me in the maze.
                          
I ran into the bathroom and raced through the shower, dressing quickly for scool. When I finished, I ran downstairs and grabbed a muffin from the pantry. My mom watched me in surprise as I hurried about. I was almost out the door when I stopped. I turned around and gave my mom a hug, holding her tightly. "I missed you," I said.
                          
She laughed. "Missed me? How long do you think you've been sleeping?" she asked.
                          
I shrugged, but she had no real idea of how much she'd missed. "Longer than you know," I said. Then hurried out the door. "Bye, mom!" I called.
                          
The school day dragged by as if a sloth was pulling time. My teachers, classmates, even people who I could almost call friends seemed to not even realize I'd been gone. It was like nothing changed. Like... time didn't even pass. But so much had and I was struggling. I was so use to the ways of Wonderland that some of the topics or things that went on in school suddenly felt foreign to me. I felt awkward in the real world.
                          
That didn't matter. I would be gone again soon. I concentrated as hard as I could on my studies in order to not think about what I was waiting for, but it was hard. Cheshire kept creeping into my thoughts, his face flashing in and out of my mind like a strobe light. I didn't even hear half of what my teachers said.
                          
When classes finally ended, I raced home as fast as I could. Just as I opened the front door my mom sat down on the couch with the weekly mail. She jumped when I slammed the door closed behind me. "Alice, please-" she started
                          
"Is there any mail for me?" I asked, following with a quick apology.
                          
She frowned and looked through the mail quickly. "Uh... yes." She pulled out an envelope, looking surprised. "Here you are," she said.
                          
I snatched it and ripped open the envelope quickly. As my eyes scanned the paper my eyebrows came together. I looked up. "This isn't it. Is there anything else?" I asked as I dropped my school report card on the coffee table.
                          
My mom glanced through the mail again. "Hm... Nope. Just that."
                          
I stared at her. "No way. But the letter..." I grabbed the mail and started picking through it piece by piece. As I dropped the last envelope back on the pile, I slumped my shoulders in denial. "Where is it...?"
                          
My mom looked worried. "Honey? Is something the matter?" she asked. "You've been acting strange all morning."
                          
I shook my head. "No... I don't know..." Then I turned and went up to my room. I dropped by bag in the corner and took a look around my room. My walls, floors, furniture; it was all there. This wasn't a dream, I was home. But... it was like the time in Wonderland never happened. Had that been a dream...?
                          
I stood in the center of my room for many minutes, trying to think of what could be happening. When I came to nothing, I decided to go to bed. I didn't know what was going on, but I only had my hope that I would figure things out in the morning. Tomorrow was the day I was supposed to go to Wonderland.
                          
*******
                          
Impossible...
                          
I had gotten up early the next day to run to the maze in hopes of seeing Rab, but there was no maze! Well, technically there was, but it was in shambles. The bushes were brown and ready to die, any flowers that still showed were wilted and almost completely bare of petals, even the white picket fence was faded and covered in years of dirt stains and broken boards; the gate was almost off its hinges.
                          
Warily, I stepped through the gate and looked around. Nothing looked like it should. But I was determined to get myself back to Wonderland. Though it appeared I was the only one here, I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders as I called, "Rab! Are you here?"
                          
No response.
                          
I started walking through the maze. Some areas were blocked off by overgrowth while others were just too muddy to walk through. I didn't know where I was going, I just ran. I looked for the portal or anything that would resemble Wonderland, but I saw nothing. Everything was gone.
                          
When I found myself by the same giant oak tree for the fourth time, I dropped down by the trunk in exhaustion. "Everybody... Cheshire... Where have you gone...?" I asked. I curled up next to the tree and closed my eyes as tears burned my cheeks. "Why aren't you here...?"
                          
I stared around myself at what used to be the garden maze. Why was I here? I suddenly glared bitterly. "I shouldn't be here!" I shouted. I couldn't keep myself calm anymore as I burst into tears, the sobs escaping my lips uncontrollable. I had made a promise. I said I would never return here, I would stay in Wonderland. But here I was... alone... and without Cheshire.
                          
I covered my face and slid down to lay on my back as I cried. "I'm so sorry, Cheshire... I'm so, so sorry..." I sobbed.

                          
*******
                          
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