In my boring and unproductive free time, I would let my imagination go wild... In a bid to fill the pages for Esther's diary, I transformed the absurd imaginations in my head into a novel. But I have to warn you before hand, I'm a terrible writer. You shall see that later in the story (All my strange sentence structure, grammar, tone...). This novel is titled Esther in Wunderland. Yep, I took it from 'Alice in Wonderland'. The story, while sharing some similar elements with the original, is in fact vastly different. Okay, enough of introductions, have a good read!
Disclaimer: The characters used in this story are only for
entertainment purposes. Any resemblances to real life people is purely
coincidental (or maybe not). Any incidents linked to these characters are entirely
fictitious. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
It was
pitch-black. It smelled of leaf litter. And her elbows were burning. The girl
thought about secret tunnel slides used by secret agents she used to see in
movies. It seemed so cool, like the most efficient transport to your secret
lab. But this one was different. It was more rustic, more unsettling. This one
was inside a tree. As the air slapped
against her cheeks and moss slid against her shin, she tried to put things into
place. This morning was just like any other normal morning…
“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in
this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my
choices. I hope she likes hers.”
Esther
Neo let out a long breath and closed the book. What an ending! She never really
liked the story, but the quotes were meaningful. Bright rays pelted her eyes as
the leaves shook and the clouds swayed. She had been sitting at her front porch
and it seems the sun is hinting at her to go back inside her house. She shut
her eyes. Who said she has to do what the sun tells her to? When she re-opened
her eyes, she found herself squinting, so she stared far ahead with her hands
cupped over her brows.
A
Mercedes drove by. A maid was hanging laundry. The neighbor’s cat was snoozing.
A rabbit was bounding….
Wait,
did she just see a rabbit?
The
little mammal stopped in its tracks and turned to face the girl, its furry
mouth moving as if to say, “What are you looking at?”
Or
rather, she actually heard the rabbit speak. Bewildered, she went towards the
animal with a well-cautioned gait. The rabbit started to hop away. “Stop!” she
exclaimed.
The
rabbit continued hopping away. Annoyed, she chased after. They went through the
playground and the exercise corner. She was about to feel mortified about
chasing a talking rabbit, so she shouted for the last time. “Hey! Stop for a
while!”
To
her surprise, the rabbit halted in its steps. It cocked its head to the side so
that its eyes looked directly into hers. “What do you want? Stop following me!”
“Wait,
you can speak?” She confirmed her ridiculous discovery.
“Yeah.
It’s not like I have some speech impediment.” Saying that, the rabbit fixed its
little paws on the bark of a tree, heaved itself up and popped right into the
hole of the tree.
The
girl was left staring confoundedly at the tree. “I’ve never seen it before,”
she muttered. The oblong hole in the tree was even stranger. With a hole like
that in the tree, NParks would have chopped it down ages ago. Without thinking
further, she jumped into the hole.
“Right,”
she thought, “Never follow a talking rabbit”
There
was still no sign of the light at the end of the tunnel, or slide, or whatever
this thing she was in.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in Wunderland...
“It’s
hopeless, Leek, I say we party till this whole thing is over.”
“Don’t
be a soggy vegetable, Tur, we’re all in this together and no one’s gonna quit.
And why do you have to be so pessimistic all the time?”
“Well,
it’s not like some hero is just going to fall from the sky.”
The
sound of wood hitting flesh resounded in the room. Plonk! A girl landed right
on a bed of lettuce. She picked herself up, brushed off the moss and lettuce
from her clothes, and blinked in the sudden arrival of light. When her vision
cleared, she found herself being gaped at by a humongous leek and turnip.
“Ahhhh!!!”
“See
Leek, you’ve shocked this little girl with your hideousness.”
“Don’t
be silly,” retorted the green, “Who’s the one with the enormously bursting
pot-belly?”
“Well,
let’s ask Clara, shall we?”
The
rabbit strode in from behind, its arms folded across its chest. “You both look
ugly.”
“Umm….”
The girl interrupted. “Let me get this straight, there are two talking
vegetables and a rabbit named Clara?”
“And
what are you?” questioned the rabbit.
“My
name is Esther,” the girl replied, still shocked.
The
rabbit flicked her whiskers, “You’re not in any way related to Easter right?
That bossy bunny… Everything has to be about him, everyone has to celebrate his
birthday with chocolate eggs...Blah, blah, blah… Wait, how did you get into
Wunderland?”
“I
followed you,” the girl said as-a-matter-of-factly. “So this is Wonderland?”
“Spelt
with a ‘u’ instead of an ‘o’. But, wait! That’s not possible! No mortal from
earth has ever entered Wunderland, unless….”
“She’s
the hero we’re waiting for!” exclaimed the turnip.
“Then
there’s someone we need you to meet,” the rabbit thrust its paws in the
direction of a tunnel formed from overhanging trees.
Esther
Neo was taken aback by how beautiful the whole place was. Her soles felt the
cool soft grass and in the distance, the sound of a trickling waterfall spun
around her in bliss. The skies were sunny but never oven hot like it was back
in her hometown. She could spot a couple of squirrels playing tag among the
trees. Everything was just so magical to her. Just then, a shadow flew past her
visage.
“Take
cover!” yelled the leek.
The
girl did not know what to do, but tucked her head into her belly with her arms
wrapped over her head like in a crash protocol. She heard the flapping of wings
and could feel a figure towering over her. There was no raining of bombs or
arrows shooting down from the sky, so she gingerly took a peek. It was a
person, a girl in fact! Excited, the girl jumped and was about to hug the new
girl when she realized the girl in front of her did not seem very person-like.
Her black hair neatly enveloped a really pale face, as if a bucket of powder had
fallen on her, her entire body hidden within a jet black robe. “I thought I saw
something! It really is a human!” the creature spoke.
The
girl immediately knew what she was looking at, for the creature’s grin sported
a pair of long canines. “You’re a vampire!”
“Sure, you
can call me that,” the creature said.
“But you look
so, erm, normal.”
“You’re
right.” replied the creature. “This is
how a vampire looks like, not like some dude with handsome features chiseled in
a well shaved face or a runway-model. What has the upper world done? Depicting
us as a bunch of useless, narcissistic species. But, no offence!”
“Go
away Fang!” the turnip hissed, brandishing his twine-like staff.
“Ignore
the turnip,” the vampire snapped, “there’s nothing wrong about feeding on a
couple of beetroots. I’m a vampire ya know, where am I going to get my
nutrients?”
The
girl was suddenly concerned and placed her hands over her neck.
The
vampire noticed the girl’s anxiety. “Relax! I only drink from beetroots. Say,
what’s a human like you doing down here?”
“This
is the hero from our prophecy,” the rabbit introduced.
The
vampire’s eyes sparkled. “That’s wonderful, Clara! How do I address our hero?”
“You
can call me Esther,” the girl said, “What about you?”
“They
call me… Le Fang. That’s French for
the fang,” the vampire announced in pride.
END
Look out for chapter 2 next week!
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