The next day, after getting a permit from Fisher, you and Rusty arrive at the park with some climbing equipment, a piece of paper with an incantation that you hoped would close the portal, a few scanners that looked like the ones the Ghostbusters would use, and a remote-controlled car with a small camera on top of the roof. Rusty was wearing his usual attire; a red long sleeve shirt with blue jeans and black and white tennis shoes. You on the other hand were wearing a light brown jacket, a white tank top, light brown shorts, and dark brown climbing boots. You texted Christine to let her know you two had arrived and you all meet up at the fountain.
"I'm so glad you took my case Marcia, thank you." Christine said.
"No problem Christine, it's what we do." You respond to her.
"Happy to help." Rusty replies.
"I'm grateful to you both. Though I'm a bit surprised by your choice of clothing." Christine said to you.
"Oh, you mean my tomb raider outfit? Yeah I usually wear these when I go spelunking." You say to her.
"Wait, you mean you're actually going to go down the rabbit hole?"
"That's the plan. We're sure there's a portal down there and the only way to seal it is to get close enough and toss this into it." You tell her while showing her the paper with the incantation on it.
"Hopefully nothing goes wrong. We don't want another Pittsburgh on our hands." Rusty chimes in.
"What happened in Pittsburgh?" Christine asked.
"Trust me, you don't want to know. So anyway, where is this tree you were talking about." You ask her.
"Oh it's right over there, follow me."
So you and Rusty followed Christine as she lead you down a path and through some bushes until you all reach the large dead oak tree by a small pond. At the base of the tree is a large hole, big enough for an adult person to easily crawl their way inside. You feel a strong tingle in the back of your skull so you knew you were in the right place.
"So Christine, any information you can give us on this old tree?" You ask her.
"Only that its been here since the park was founded and that it had died recently. But that's about it really." Christine tells you.
"I see. What have you got Rusty?"
"No supernatural background unfortunately, but the scanners are definitely picking up some strange readings. It's like nothing I've ever seen before." He tells you.
You were about to respond when suddenly you all hear some noises coming from the hole. You all hide behind the tree, just as The White Rabbit hops out of the hole. You notice that he's wearing a black waistcoat with a stripped vest and buttoned blue undershirt along with a pair of brown pants.
"That's him alright." Christine whispers to you and Rusty.
"Where? What behind the Rabbit?" Rusty quietly says as you roll your eyes.
"Damnit Rusty, this is no time for jokes." You whisper back at him.
"Sorry about that, but I just couldn't resist."
You then noticed The White Rabbit's ears prick up and motioned your companions to hide. Just as you all hid from sight, The White Rabbit looks in your general direction and sees nothing. After looking around a bit and spying your stuff, The White Rabbit begins to talk to himself out loud.
"Strange, I could have sworn there was someone here. I hope they return before-" Suddenly The White Rabbit's brass watch goes off and he's forced to reset it.
"Oh dear! oh dear! oh dear! I shall be too late!" And just like that, The White Rabbit runs back into the hole. After you're sure he's gone, you and the others come out of hiding and inspect the hole.
"What do you think he wanted with us, Marcia?" Christine asked you.
"I'm not sure Christine, but we're not gonna wait to find out. Rusty, get the drone ready."
"You got it boss."
Rusty places the toy car near the mouth of the hole, pulls out a game controller and attaches he's phone to it. Rusty then switches everything on and drives the car into the hole. With Rusty phone, you all see everything being transmitted from the car's camera. Unfortunately all you see is pitch blackness, making you worry a little bit. Suddenly the image changes to showing all of you outside with your backs to the camera.
"What the hell?" Rusty proclaims.
You all turn around and see the toy car sitting a yard behind you, as if teleported there by magic.
"Well nuts. Looked like we're doing this the old fashioned way." You said.
You put a head-strap flashlight on your head, place a small earpiece in your right ear, tie a long rope around your waist and hand the rest over to Rusty and Christine.
"Hold on tight to this guys, I'm going in." You said.
"Marcia, are you sure about this? You saw what happened to the drone." Rusty said.
"I don't think we have a choice, Rusty. Besides, that portal needs to be closed."
"Good luck in there, Marcia. I'm sorry I dragged you into this." Christine said.
"Don't worry Christine, I've been through worse. See you soon."
You began crawling on all fours into the hole, the headlight showing you the way.
"Marcia, can you read me. Over." Rusty said to you with he's earpiece.
"Copy Rusty, I'm still crawling along this dark tunnel. Over." You respond back.
"Okay, just be careful in there. Remember the story. Over."
"Of course I do. I've read Alice in Wonderland more times than I can- Wait a minute, I think I see a dip up aheah. I'm gonna check it out. Over."
You cautiously approach and find the tunnel leading straight down into an abyss. You were certain that the portal was down there.
"Rusty, I found an opening to an abyss. I'm going to toss the paper in and-"
Suddenly the tunnel around you starts to shake as if you were in an earthquake.
"Marcia, can you hear me. The rope we were holding just vanished into thin air. You need to get out of there, now!" Rusty yells at you.
You feel around your waist and confirm the the rope is no longer there.
"Oh crap." You exclaimed.
Suddenly the tunnel floor collapses and you start tumbling down into the abyss. You start screaming at the top of your lungs as you fall, barely hearing Rusty voice in your earpiece.
"Marcia! Can you hear me? Marciiiiaaaa!"
As you fell and had stopped screaming a while ago, you suddenly began to notice the walls around you light up with colors. You suspected that this was the portal you were traveling through. Before you can wonder why the incantation you brought along wasn't working, you suddenly land into something soft and pass out.
KAPLOOF
You wake up and find yourself surrounded by a variety of women's clothing. You pull yourself out of the pool of clothes and realize that you were now in a checkered hallway with a few mirrors on the walls and other paths leading elsewhere. You then looked at the mirror and gasped. Looking down at yourself and your reflection, you see that you're no longer wearing your tomb raider outfit and your equipment was gone. Instead, you were now wearing a cerulean blue dress with a skirt that went up to your knees, a white pinafore apron with the back tied in a big bow, a black headband and matching bow on top of your head, white stockings/tights around your legs, and black single-strapped mary jane shoes on your feet. You lift up the skirt and find that you are also wearing white bloomers and had a petticoat or two under your dress. There was no doubt about it, you were definitely wearing an Alice in Wonderland costume. You hadn't worn something like this since you were a teenager on halloween, an outfit that deep down you had strong feelings for and always respected.
"As much as I love this dress, there's no way I'm staying like this."
You turn around hoping to find your old clotes in the pool, but instead the whole thing was gone as if it was never there. You look back at the mirror and stared at your reflection.
During some of your other cases, it had always felt like you were in Alice's shoes. Now here you were, standing in this weird place literately wearing Alice's shoes.
"After everything I've been through, I've finally ended up becoming Alice in Wonderland."