The Not So Lovable Queen

I traveled away from the fairies and the rude flowers. I was so short I couldn’t really see what was ahead of me. I walked for a while when I suddenly started feeling my fingers and toes tingle. I looked at my hands, and they started growing. My fingers were so swollen and felt too heavy for my still shrunken arms to lift. My feet were growing as well. My surroundings suddenly got smaller. Eventually, my whole body had returned to the normal size. I was finally able to see the path in front of me again. I couldn’t tell where I had gone or where I had come from because nothing looked familiar from this point of view.

"I wonder if I would ever find my way out of this place." I jolted to a stop. “This is what I’ve always wanted,” I thought, “to go out on my own and explore the world outside of my small town. I won’t worry about getting home.”

Once I had this realization, everything seemed less urgent. “Who cares if I find my way out? I could just live here forever,” As I was thinking this, I heard paper rustling that sounded like the turn of a page in a book. I stopped to listen. When I heard nothing, I took a step and heard the noise again.

“Hello?” I called out.

"Sshhhhhh!"

“Hello? Is someone there?”

“No. Now please hush,” I heard a reply. I circled a nearby tree to find a black fuzzy animal that resembled a skunk sitting on a mushroom holding a book upside down.

“Hello. Could you tell me where I am?” I asked.

“Could you please be quiet? I’m concentrating,” the creature responded making a confused face as he looked at the page.

“Yes, sorry to interrupt – “

“Then don’t,” the creature cut me off.

“Well, turning the book the right way might make it easier to read.”

“How would you know?” he retorted.

“I have read a book before,” I responded irritably.

A look of joy came over the creature’s face, and he ran over to me with the book. “Are you able to read this book?”

I flipped through the book. It looked strangely familiar. I closed the book to look at the cover. It was the book my mom used to read my sister and me before we went to sleep as children. I thought of my mom and my sister. “I guess I do miss them,” I thought. I jumped back to reality and saw the creature looking at me expectantly.

“Oh right.” I turned to my favorite story and started reading. When I had finished, the animal was looking at me with an excited look.

“May I ask why you have this book when you don’t know how to read?” I questioned.

“Well, it was once the Queen’s book. She would read us stories from this book. As she would read, her magic would make the creatures in the stories come alive.”

“What happened?” I interrupted eagerly.

“Well, you see, once a human wandered into the forest and befriended the Queen. She wasn’t the Queen then, though. They were both children at the time and easily looked past their differences in appearance. He taught her to read-nobody here can read-and she showed him her beautiful magic. Over time they grew very close. She had feelings for him that she had never felt before. In his absence, she practiced by reading aloud for us to enjoy. One day he came and said some things were complicated at home. He promised to return but never did. Apparently, he was a prince and was expected to marry a princess of his own kind. After quite some time, the Queen ventured out to find the boy. She found him with the princess. She waited for him to be alone and approached him. He told her not to interfere. He had married to gain control of another territory. She returned the following day, and the guards attacked her under his orders. Heartbroken, she returned to the forest. She never read a book again, but only created nasty monsters to roam the forest and cause distress to happy beings. The Queen hates humans to this day.”

“Wow, that’s awful,” I stated.

“Yes, well, I better be on my way,” the creature stated and walked off.

“Good bye –,“ I started to say and then realized I was still holding the book. I looked around to find the animal, but he had disappeared. I decided to just take the book with me. I continued walking, lost in thought, when a white fox appeared in my path. I stopped. It looked friendly.

“Hello, well, aren’t you cute?” I said in a baby voice to the fox.

“Did no one ever tell you it was rude to call people names?” the fox said.

“I didn’t think you could talk,” I responded surprised.

“If I couldn’t, it would still be inappropriate to address me like that.”

I quickly apologized for my inconsiderate language. “Sir, do you know where we are?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure if that sort of addressing was any better. He didn’t look upset.

“Well, where are you trying to go?” he questioned as he jumped up into a nearby tree.

“I’m not sure.”

A smile came over the fox’s face. “Why does it matter where you are if you don’t know where it is you’re going?”

“Umm.” I didn’t know how to respond. “I just wanted to explore.”

“Well, explore away then.”

“Could you point me in a direction?” I asked.

“I would suggest going that way,” he responded pointing his tail over his shoulder.

“Okay. Thank you,” I said as I started walking away.

“He was certainly no help,” I thought to myself.

I was walking in the direction the fox had pointed me in, when I was startled by his sudden appeared in front of me.

“Beware of the creatures you may encounter in this forest. Things are not always as they appear,” the fox said eerily then disappeared into thin air.

I turned around looking for where he could have gone to. Then I heard a voice that sent chills up my spine say, “Are you lost, child? Perhaps I could help you find your way.”

Image from: Deviantart

Author's Note: I added a character to help give the Queen's back story. This character is kind of like Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum or the Caterpillar in the original stories.

I decided to make a character that was similar to the Cheshire cat in the original story. I really liked that the cat did talk with her and help her, but not in the most obvious of ways. It was actually in quite a roundabout way. I thought a fox would be a nice character to make fit this role. I am hoping to incorporate him more throughout the story. I added more details about the Queen this week and gave her a backstory. Let me know if you think the story could be improved!

In the original stories I read these passed few weeks, there is a Queen of Hearts, and she is pretty awful. She is not very clever, and she does not have much of a personality other than chopping off people's heads. I hope “my" queen has more depth! In the Alice and Wonderland story, Wonderland is kind of like a mystical place and the queen is like the queen in the playing cards. For my story, I am hoping to give the queen more of a forest protector turned evil personality. Feel free to add suggestions and ideas especially for this story! It is pretty long, and I would like to shorten it, but I don’t know what to cut without removing important context! Any suggestions would be appreciated! I’m excited to finish up my last story and explain what is going on and what is actually happening!

Image from: Google