A Curious World (standard:fantasy, 1659 words)
Author: Ms. Lemon	Added: Apr 21 2004	Views/Reads: 3346/2229	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
a spin on Alice In Wonderland.

I can think of a  few  "magical" words that must never be whispered,
even in quiet places.  Words like "curiosity" and "silence" and 
"happiness". To utter these words, one feels the meaning resonate just 
like a song that reflects in the sparkle of the eye, the lilt in a 
voice, and the blush of a cheek. 

What does it feel like to be on that other side of the looking glass
just like Alice? Alice is brave and curious. I need to leave fear 
behind and be curious too. I don't know of anyone who has been there 
and come back to tell the tale. It must be so wonderful that no one 
ever wants to come back here. A place filled with music and flowers and 
love. My world is full of problems, noise and pain. Is there a catch to 
it? Is there a difficult riddle over there yet to be solved? Am I the 
one to do it? Can I solve the mystery of a land that I can never see or 
experience? I must find that beauty for myself. 

I envy Alice. She knows beauty and peace. 

The glass feels soft.  I feel like I can almost put my hand through it.
A mist creeps up around me as I step forward into the looking glass 
world. I am beyond the looking glass into another world of illusion and 
fantasy, leaving behind my world of pain. I see only pinks, blues, 
greens and whites and  a backward image of the room I left behind. 
There is a lovely fire crackling in the fireplace where I may sit. 
There is no one here to tell me that I can't stay. Even the grandfather 
clock that ticks so happily in my real world room is different here on 
the other side of the looking glass. It has a face on it and I swear it 
winked at me. There are pictures on the wall and the eyes follow me and 
I hear a voice speaking. The eyes of the pictures are at this moment 
watching a very intense chess game going on in the middle of the room. 
Every now and again one of the pictures would shout "Hooray!" for a 
queen or knight or king that had just made a move on the chessboard. 
What a curious world! 

On the table in the middle of the room lies a chessboard with all the
pieces moving by themselves. A game is going on but there are no people 
to play it. The game pieces are playing against each other. If I listen 
very carefully, I can hear the King and Queen directing the white 
knight and black knight to move diagonally to protect them from the 
opposite "army". What fun! 

This seems an ideallic world of forgetfulness and peace.  I have stepped
inside the world of the looking glass and it is such a world that I 
have never seen before. There is music that fills the air and  the 
scent of chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa. It reminds me of a cold 
winter day when I was a child. A wonderful day that I went sledding 
with my friends.  I want to smile. 

There are many mysteries to this room but the real mystery is that one
must look in between the lines of the song book that is propped up on 
the piano. I walk over to the piano and start playing the lovely tune. 
Suddenly, the chess game stops. I hear a shout from the King piece. 

"Stop that racket!" Who are you?" 

"I am me." I respond. 

"Who are you? ", the King piece repeats his question. 

"I just told you." 

"Come here." Says the King piece. "Join our game. You must play chess
and save the Queen from being captured by the Black knight." 

"But I don't know how to play chess.", I respond. 

"Don't know how?", the whole chessboard of pieces laughed out loud. 

"Why everyone with a brain knows how to play chess and you claim you
don't know how?", replies the King piece. 

"No, and how am I supposed to capture the Black knight? I never seen a
Black knight in my life." 

"How did you get here?", asks the King piece. 


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