Lewis Lewin had just returned home after buying some materials to write with. He could simply write on his computer and save all that time. Perhaps then he might be a little less of a failure.
But no. He preferred to spend hours writing by hand and wasting his hard earned money on expensive and terrible ink. One mistake and an entire page had to be discarded. And it was not as if his work would be valued by anyone.
As he passed through the door, his thin and worn silhouette carried the smell of old dust into the house.
Black greasy hair, brown eyes with enormous dark circles that would frighten anyone. A cheap and poor imitation of a gentleman, complete even with gloves.
But who was he trying to fool?
Anyone other than himself?
Lewis returned at 22:00 from a job that started at 09:00. How desperate would someone have to be to accept that kind of work?
If he at least had someone waiting for him it might have been a little less miserable, but he did not even have a cat.
The poor creature would probably starve.
He dropped the shopping bag onto his brown sofa and slumped over it.
— Tomorrow is another day...
His phone rang in his pocket, but if he did not even care to wash his clothes who would expect him to answer a simple phone call.
It was probably some bank demanding payment for an unpaid loan. Or in the best case scenario a prank from one of his cousins.
Lewis Lewin fell asleep right there, but the ringing sound kept getting louder.Though that might have just been his imagination.
However suddenly the sound burst out like the song of an out of tune flute at an absurdly high pitch. His ears seemed to vibrate with the deafening noise.
— What the hell!!
The person calling had no name and no picture indicating who it was.
But it was curious that the volume buttons would not obey the commands. It was as if the thing had gained a life of its own.
— Fine fine!
At last he gave in and answered the damn phone.
— Who is this?
Silence. No one answered on the other side.
— Hello?
A little longer...
— Mr Lewis Lewin?
— Depends. Who wants to know?
— Do not worry. We are not from any banking agency nor are we collecting debts.
— Then why did you call me?
The voice laughed. It sounded feminine but at times deepened like the voice of a man.
— We want to make you an offer if you are interested in—
Lewis hung up.
— I knew it. Now they invented this flute nonsense just to get attention.
It would not be a very intelligent strategy to offer more debt to someone already indebted. There was no point continuing the call.
Lewis turned off the phone and threw it onto the table. Soon after he returned to the sofa more determined than ever to get his well deserved sleep.
But not everything is flowers.
— It is a little rude to hang up on someone who can change your life Mr Lewis.
He woke up in shock.
— What is this? I am sure I turned the phone off.
— Yes I know. That is why I had to take more drastic measures.
— Who the hell are you people? Are you trying to take my soul now too? I already said I have no money.
The thing laughed. — No sir. I already said we are not that kind of people.
Step by step Lewis approached the phone. The camera was on but only a mouth appeared on the other side.
— Look at that. I got your attention?
With every word the thing spoke its sharp teeth were revealed. The lips were thick and the tongue a little too large for a human being.
— So as I was saying. I have an irresistible offer for you.
— Who are you?
— It would be easier to ask who I am not.
The smile stretched from ear to ear in an extremely bizarre way.
— No. I have seen this before... It is AI. You are doing this with AI right? This thing with my phone. I must have downloaded something infected.
— You are exactly like they told me—
— It was that damn edition I am sure! — He raised a hand while thinking. — "The Little Match Girl" Edition 1. That trash ruined my phone.
He held his head in his hands. If that phone was lost it would take months to buy another.
— Damn what a disaster!!
He kicked the leg of the table but immediately regretted it when the pain followed.
— Hahahaha...
— What is so funny!?
— You are exactly what they described. Not a single detail is wrong.
— Who told you about me? What do you know about me? My bank account is empty if that is what you want. Search everything in this phone. You will find nothing!
The thing kept laughing endlessly.
Lewis Lewin grabbed the phone in fury. His attempts to turn it off were useless. Even if he broke the button from pressing it so much nothing would happen.
— It is useless. This phone will not turn off.
He threatened to smash it on the floor.
— Oh. I would not do that if I were you.
— It does not matter. This phone is finished anyway!
— What a shame then. I thought you might like to find @!@**`#.
That name sounded like the static of an old television echoing in his mind. His heart seemed to tighten.
— What is wrong? You seem confused.
A distant echo appeared in his mind. Something so familiar. It felt both distant and close at the same time.
— Do not tell me you forgot?
— No I did not... Forget what?
— Heavens what a tragedy!
Lewis never forgot anything. He remembered every story he had ever read down to the smallest detail. He was a failure, but a failure with a good memory.
— Were you not the one who asked for Wonderland? For your "Happily Ever After"?
Lewis raised an eyebrow.
— What kind of crazy talk is that?
— You were the one who asked for a place full of lunatics. Do not blame me for the conversation.
— Okay... But I do not understand anything.
— Did you not call to God for another world? A world where your beloved @!@**`# would be there?
Lewis let out a sarcastic smile. Sweat ran down his face. A little shame that someone had heard his screams that night and a little comfort that someone had noticed his suffering.
— And you would be God?
The thing smiled. The same bizarre smile.
— Depends on who is asking.
A crack was heard in the room.
A hole opened in the center of the room. It was so large that it was impossible to see its bottom. It looked connected to the other side of the world it was so deep.
— It is very simple. Do not forget that you were the one who asked for this. So do not complain about where this rabbit hole leads.
There was no logical explanation for something like that. There was no technology in the world capable of doing anything remotely similar.
Lewis could not believe what he was seeing. He wanted to smile with happiness but he feared it might be some trick even with the absurdity right before him.
— Go ahead. If this is just a big hole it is not as if life is very worth living for you anyway.
What kind of God would say that? Technically he should not discourage people from doing that.
— What will there be down—
The phone turned off. Lewis returned to his sad solitude.
— They always disappear when we need them...
There were many reasons not to jump. After all it was an enormous bottomless hole that could kill anyone who jumped. But he had even more reasons to jump since it was not as if he had anything to lose.
Instead of continuing to think about what could go wrong why not think a little about...
What if it works?
Lewis Lewin swallowed hard, took a deep breath and made the sign of the cross.
— This is already absurd... If there is anything that can take me away from here I will accept it gladly.
His feet stood at the edge of the hole. His hands trembled in hesitation.
— Whatever it is...
He jumped.
The fall was long. His heart raced with the fear of dying. But the fall was so absurdly long that even his fear faded.
Soon everything turned into boredom. He had been falling freely for entire minutes.
The curiosity of knowing what would happen if he touched the wall with his little hand was becoming dangerous.
It is incredible how boredom can be more dangerous than danger itself.
Luckily another curiosity took over his mind. The simple delicate fact that his body was still intact even after falling freely for quite some time.
Surely the height had already surpassed a ship falling from Earth's orbit. But he did not feel that he was moving that fast. It was as if something limited his speed.
And if that is true it would be good if it worked even better during landing.
Which was approaching.
— Damn...
Lewis, being the coward that he was, closed his eyes.
A gust of wind surged against his falling body and blew strongly upward drastically reducing his speed.
Little by little his feet touched the ground lightly like a goose feather.
Lewis only opened his eyes when he felt solid ground under his feet, which was not exactly ground in the strict sense of the word.
— I think I fell for twenty minutes...
He was inside a closed room somewhat claustrophobic. A small table stood beside him and on top of it were two items.
A small bottle with a note that said "Drink me".
And on a porcelain plate a piece of cake that said "Eat me".
— This cannot be real...
A small smile opened on Lewis's face. A sincere shy smile he had forgotten long ago.
His heart pounded. He wanted to jump and scream with joy but there was still a very high chance that all of it was a dream.
He pinched his cheek.
Tisk
Nothing. Then he pinched his stomach but nothing happened either. Only one final test remained.
He picked up the porcelain plate with the cake and placed it on the floor. Then he pulled the cork from the bottle and drank.
His stomach bubbled. It felt as if a bell rose to his head and traveled through his entire body. And with the bell his body shrank until it almost disappeared.
Perhaps he should not have drunk so much.
Lewis looked around. Everything was gigantic. He was the size of the piece of cake.
— I cannot believe it...
For the first time in a long time he opened a genuine smile.
— I cannot believe it!!!
He jumped with joy. He cried with joy.
It did not matter what he was doing as long as it was with happiness.
He collapsed onto the floor and ran his hands across the tiled surface feeling the cold against his skin. It was like an ecstasy of emotion. Genuine happiness spread across his face.
Like a child who does not know the cruelty of the world he laughed without worry.
The world he had always wished for was before him. He could feel it in his hands and on his skin.
— It is here... Finally.
Finally he could be happy.
— Wait... Is that the key?
Unfortunately he had forgotten the key on top of the table. He remembered the cake but forgot the most important item.
But that was fine. There was still plenty of drink in the bottle and the cake was intact, which was almost larger than him now. And his clothes no longer fit. His vest looked like a blanket over his tiny body.
However a small detail bothered him.
— I do not remember there being a crack there.
There was a small door his size which required a key to open. But there was also a crack his size whose destination was unknown.
Lewis walked toward it to examine it.
It also seemed like a path though it was hard to see. But either way it led outside the room.
He returned and grabbed a piece of cake just in case.
He looked at the key. Then at the crack.
— Well... — He smiled. — This is Wonderland after all. I must have missed that detail in the book.
His clothes would not pass through the crack so he had to push them through one by one from the other side. They tore a little in the process but that was better than nothing.
The crack was dark but a faint glow reflected something reddish.
It was strange because a strong metallic smell grew stronger as he approached the exit.
At that point Lewis Lewin had already decided he would go back and pass through the door. The crack was too long to drag the clothes through.
But he wanted to take a look at what was on the other side first. It might be a unique opportunity.
The darkness made his small walk difficult. His feet stepped on something wet but he could not see it.
The sound of a waterfall grew louder. It was probably water coming from there.
But there was no way another small person could wet so much ground unless they had passed through here...
Or it could have been a rat. But a rat could not return after falling into a waterfall... But thinking about it now she probably could not either... So what is this water?
— This is...
Lewis looked down and the light revealed a severed rat head.
— Ah!!
The shock made him slip in the "water". But the darkness had hidden a current. The waterfall was much closer than it seemed.
Lewis found the end of the crack. Unfortunately in a bad way.
His naked body sank into the "water". But it was thick and viscous and the taste was horrible. It felt like licking a rusty iron bar.
The current dragged him out of the place. The daylight revealed the world around him but the passage could not be enjoyed.
He fell down the waterfall until landing in a lake.
The cake he was holding was lost.
Lewis swam to dry land but...
— This...
His hands trembled. He looked up to make sure of what he was seeing but still refused to believe it.
— But this amount... All of this...
An eye emerged from the lake staring at Lewis.
— This is blood!
He fell. His tiny feet kicked the ground in desperation. The viscous blood covered his body.
He ran as far away from that place as he could.
— But this is Wonderland!! — He stumbled. — Then why!?
Everything he saw was reddish except the sky.
In the lake some creatures drank blood from the waterfall. All enormous from Lewis's tiny perspective. Perhaps he was lucky to be so small otherwise he would certainly be noticed.
Some creatures had human bodies but wore no clothes. Huge bat wings spread from their backs.
— This is not Wonderland!!! — He fell to his knees and looked at the sky. — Take me back!!
Nothing happened. It was useless.
— This is not what I asked for!! This is not the place I wanted to live!!!
His crying was interrupted by a massive shadow. It looked like a humanoid figure.
That thing grabbed him.
— A little one? You are very far from the land of the dwarves.
A female figure with pale skin and goat horns on her head. Small bat wings and seductive green eyes.
— Where do you come from little one?
She shook him like a doll.
Lewis lowered his gaze. He was completely naked. A pink heart tattoo lay over the region of her womb.
Slowly he raised his eyes again. He met lips painted red with crimson dripping from her mouth.
— Oh how cute. I have never seen a little one cry.
His body froze completely.
A succubus... A succubus in Wonderland.
She opened her mouth and a metallic breath delivered the sentence of little Lewis Lewin the dear lover of fairy tales.
Her sharp teeth made his heart race. She slid her tongue out and brought Lewis to his fateful end.
He fit entirely inside her mouth and like prey he was devoured alive. The succubus's sharp teeth broke his bones and pierced his organs. He felt the pain slowly.
Death had come and in the most painful way possible.
Glup! — His body was chewed and swallowed.