Stop right there, Addie.
Like Alice, I have this bad habit of daydreaming, but also like Alice, I'm capable of giving myself rather good advice, and the words are all it takes for me to refocus.
I consider what I know: still pitch dark, no light switch, and "Rabbit" remains worryingly silent.
I should probably call 911 by now, but if I do, it might get my older sister in trouble and Evie taken away by Social Services.
I'll see for myself first, I decide nervously, if I can help "Rabbit" on my own, but if not, then I'll call 911, and God help us after that.
I square my shoulders while reciting one last prayer.
Please don't be dead.
I hold my breath before carefully poking one foot in mid-air. A moment passes, but nothing happens, no alien or ghostly hand grabbing my ankle or anything.
So far, so good.
I lower my foot gingerly, a part of me already dreading the possibility that I'll end up stepping on blood—-
Aaaaaaaah!
It's my turn to scream as my foot lands on nothing, and I start to lose my balance—-
Oh...shit.
I'm falling—-
Down, down, down.?? Habanera ??IT STARTS PLAYING AS I fall. The song, I mean. Habanera. And it's enough to have my eyes fly open while I strain my ears—-
Yup.
I'm not imagining it.
That's Habenera, alright, but with just the first few lines playing over and over as I continue to fall. No idea why, and honestly? Classical music playing in the background is the least of my problems.
Right now, I just want to know where I'll end up.
Because I'm still falling.
Just falling and falling as seconds pass, followed by more seconds. And then some more after that. So many seconds flying past that I find myself starting to count...but then I also stop counting when I reach the three-minute mark, and I'm still falling.
Since an average person's likely to fall at a speed of 9.8 meters per second (I know a lot of useless shit, okay?)...
That means I've now fallen by a depth of...
Never mind.
I mean, I've changed my mind.
Best not to dwell on how far I've fallen by now, especially since I'm STILL falling in a tunnel of darkness.
Just falling and falling—-
Down, down, down.
That's a line straight out of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by the way. It's Mum's favorite, and it's also why the old gal named me Adalheidis. While researching names, Mum came across this baby book that explained how Alice comes from Alais, which then comes from Adelais, which in return originates from Adalheidis, and boom.
My name was born, and nine months later, so was I.
But I digress.
Down, down, down I still fall, and I start to wonder if perhaps I'm already dead.
In the book, a still-falling Alice wondered where she'll eventually end up. Will she reach the core of the earth or fall through it? Will she reach New Zealand perhaps or land in Australia?
She's a cute thinker, that Alice.
Me, though...
A sinkhole, I think practically. A sinkhole must've opened up inside the storage room. It's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense.
Or it could've if not for...
Shit.
I've forgotten about Habanera still playing in the background, and since that automatically rules out my sinkhole theory, well...
Maybe I'm dreaming?
I pinch myself even before the thought has completely formed in my mind, but all it gets me is acute pain in my arm.
Ouch.
But just to be sure, I pinch myself harder.
OUCH.
And yet nothing happens. I don't wake from anything, and I'm STILL falling.
Back to Reason # 1 then.
I'm dead.
What other way is there to explain this endless hole of darkness?
I have to be dead or...
Hmm.
Come to think of it, there is one other possibility, but it's a batty one.
And punny.
Like, "Rabbit" falls into a hole, which then makes this a rabbit hole, ergo I'm now on my way down to Wonderland.
...
I told you it's punny, not funny.
But...yeah. I hear you. That one doesn't quite hold water either, does it?
Which means I'm back to square one. I have to be dead, and—-
Oopsy-bloody-daisy!
I finally stop falling, and I land on something rather hard.
And furry.
And moving.
Wait.
Furry and moving?
That sounds bad, and then it turns out really bad when I hear the most frightening sound.
Roooooooaaaaar.
My heart nearly stops beating, and I jump down without even knowing what I'm jumping down from. All I know is that roar is not a good sound, and when I finally spin around to see what I'm up against—-
Oh my bloody God.
I've landed on a snow tiger.
A tiger, for shit's sake.
A TIGER!
The beast is standing in a circle of golden light, and when the creature languidly pads to the left, the spotlight actually glides in the same direction like a shadow stitched to its striped body.
'Weird' is all I allow myself to think, just like everything else that's happened in the past fifteen minutes.
A hole that appears out of nowhere in the storage room? Weird.