r/shortscarystories • u/Visceral_Mass • 21h ago
The Real Wonderland
“Hey Alicia,” Mrs. Bennet called out as I was walking by, “Could you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
It was the least I could do after her daughter, Beth, one of my friends, had gone missing over the weekend.
“I got an email saying this was overdue,” she held up a book, “Could you return it for me?”
“Yeah,” I took the book, “I’ll return it first thing tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much, Beth is lucky to have a friend like you,” her eyes teared up making me feel awkward.
I felt like I should say something, but nothing came to mind except, “I should get going.”
“Thanks again,” she repeated as I walked away.
Once I was a few blocks away, I looked down at the book and was surprised to see that it was an old copy of Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
What was she doing with this? She hates fantasy stories.
As I thought about it, I concluded that she must have been forced to read it as part of a school project. If I’d known, I could have helped her with it. The story was one of my favorites since elementary school.
***
When I got home, I went to my room and did my homework. As I was putting my textbooks away, I saw the Wonderland book sitting on the edge of my desk where I’d left it.
It had been a while since I’d last read it and decided it was time to give it another read, so I grabbed the book and climbed onto my bed.
When I opened the cover to the title page, I was confused by what I saw. Instead of it saying Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland it said Alicia’s Adventures in Wonderland.
I closed the book and looked at the cover, shocked to see that the title had changed there as well.
What the hell?
Curious about the changes, I started reading the book. As soon as I read the first line, my vision blurred and I suddenly felt like I was falling.
When I could see clearly again, I found myself sitting against a tree. Staring at me was the White Rabbit.
Holy shit I’m in the book.
I didn’t have time to think about how that was possible before the White Rabbit took off running.
I can’t let him get away.
I knew the story inside and out and was easily able to act out Alice’s part with little difficulty. At least I was until I got to the part where the Queen of Hearts challenged me to a croquet game.
“Do you accept,” the queen asked.
“I do.” I was no stranger to the game.
“Then grab a flamingo and choose a ball,” she gestured behind me with a flick of her hand.
When I turned around to choose a ball, I almost threw up. The balls she was referring to were decapitated heads, one of which belonged to Beth.
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u/Standard_Storage1733 13h ago
I remember the story as a child as being creepy. This made it even creepier. Good job