“Alice Fell Slowly” by Kourtney Holloway

Either the hole was very deep,

Or Alice fell very slowly

She felt herself getting dragged- pulled down the well,

And landed with a thump on a cold forest floor

She tried to scream.

‘Where am I?’

A booming voice shook the trees and knocked Alice backwards

“Welcome to Wonderland, my dear. You will be happy here.”

Alice found herself wandering through Wonderland

With the comfort of her new friend watching over her

He called himself the writer.

Said that with his pen stroke he could change the storyline

built this castle just for her.

As time went by,

Alice grew to trust the writer

Believe in his miracles

In her magical utopia

There were anxious rabbits and a talkative cat

Hissing “You are too naive if you believe…”

The writer would always cut the scene, calling him foolish.

Alice felt herself running through Wonderland

Only to wind up in the place she started

How do you escape a story you didn’t write?

She heard the writer’s thundering voice

“Why do you run from greatness, Alice?

Alice watched as the rabbit hole above her shrank slowly with each tick of the clock

She began climbing the walls that held her in

Tearing away each of the writer’s pages

Ripping apart the character he made her and reclaiming the girl she once was

Alice fought her way out of Wonderland

Leaving years of girlhood behind her

She heard the last numbing tick of a clock

and turned eighteen.

Alice looked down the rabbit hole one last time,

Recognizing the madness she had endured

And survived.

She waved goodbye,

Picked herself up

And crowned herself Queen of her own Heart.