CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

A Story by The Lost Ghost

After an accident, Allison travels to a faraway land of make-believe and adventure. But to get back, she has to learn to believe in herself.

It started like any other summer day. Allison was riding her skateboard, enjoying the cool breeze through her hair, the need for speed growing with each passing moment. Up ahead was the big jump she had been practicing for all week. "I got this!" she told herself. She was prepared to kick the back of her board, gain some air, and land on the staircase railing at her local library. As she descended, however, she became so nervous that her heart began pounding like a jackhammer. She started to doubt herself. "Oh no! What am I doing? I can't do it!" she thought, despite all the practice. She was so nervous that she lost her balance. Suddenly, as the end of the stairs approached, she realized she couldn't stop! When she reached the bottom, her board went in one direction, and her feet went in the other. THUD! "Ow!" she cried, as her head hit the hard concrete. "Glad I wore a helmet. But that still hurt!" No one was around to help her. The library was unusually empty for a Saturday. Maybe it was the humid heat, or the impending storm headed their way. She was glad she was spared the embarrassment of people laughing at her. She just laid there for a minute to assess the damage done. "Okay, nothing broken, no blood." she commented, "but man, what a headache I have!

At that moment, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something moving in the bushes. "What is that?" she mused. As she got closer to the noise, she noticed two big ears, big teeth, and a long pink tail, foraging through a suitcase. "You are the biggest rat I've ever seen!" she stated. "How observant of you!" the rat responded. Allison, dumbfounded, jumped up from her spot and said, "Wait, did you just say something?! Did you just talk?!" "Obviously!" the rat replied sarcastically. He grabbed some items out of the case and shoved them into the pockets of the small coat he had on. He continued by telling her, "Look, I've got places to go. Thanks for the stimulating conversation!" Allison, stunned, watched as the talking rat closed the suitcase, picked it up, and headed toward the subway tunnel. Unsure if she was dreaming or still dazed from her fall, she was more than willing to dismiss this as a hallucination, if not for the little set of keys she found where he had been. "Oh no! Hey, Mr. Rat! Your keys!" she shouted. He was too far gone to hear her. She quickly grabbed her board and raced after him, unaware that she was about to start a fantastic journey...

Allison followed the rat down the stairs and into the dimly lit subway station. “Wait, Mr. Rat!” she called out, but he was too busy running for the approaching train to hear her. The station was oddly empty, just like the library. “Where is everybody?” she asked herself. The train pulled to a stop and the rat jumped aboard the vacant subway car. Allison, unable to reach him in time, entered through a different set of doors before they closed. The train took off like a rocket from the station, moving so fast that the outside view was just a blur. Allison tumbled around, and just as quickly as the train started, it came to a jolting stop. She flew through the air and landed on her bottom. “Man, I can’t catch a break today!” she said to herself. When the doors of the train opened, she swiftly jumped to her feet and headed to the door, prepared to try to catch the rat, intent on returning the keys to him. Instead, she was instantly stunned by what she was seeing. “Whoa. Where am I?!”

She was no longer in an underground station. She was outdoors, but wasn’t at any stop on the map. It was a place unlike any she had been before. There were large mushrooms, as tall as trees. A giant beanstalk could be seen in the distance. The sun in the sky had two eyes and a smile, just like a kid’s drawing! Everything was so bright and colorful, as if it were a cartoon come to life. A brick road led up to a beautiful castle just past the mountains. In the opposite direction was a dark forest, where nothing seemed to be growing and shadows stretched for miles. There were animals walking around as people do, wearing clothes like the rat, who saw her and came to her side. “Hey kid! What are you doing here?” the rat asked Allison. “Your keys…” she mumbled, as she handed them over to him, still looking around in amazement. “Oh, thanks! I needed these! Okay, you should probably head back now.” he responded. Allison questioned, “Sure, Mr. Rat, but where am I?” “First off, kid, call me Charlie. And this place is a crossroads to many different lands. It doesn’t really have a name.” he explained. “I will tell you this much. Notice there aren’t many kids around here? That is to say, no humans?” Allison shook her head in acknowledgement. “There’s an evil witch that lives in that forest over there. She takes the children and keeps them in cages! That’s why you gotta get going before she finds out you’re here!” he warned. But just as she turned to step back on the train, the doors closed and the train took off. “Oh, no! What am I going to do? When’s the next train?” Allison cried. “Oh boy. It’ll be a while. You’ll have to come with me. I know a place you can hide and wait.” informed Charlie. He made a quick stop by what appeared to be a payphone, then they continued on. Allison grabbed her skateboard and followed Charlie the Rat. The animals stopped in their tracks and watched as the first human girl they had seen in some time rolled by them. They pointed and stared. They whispered and gasped. She could only wave back. “We gotta be quick. She may already know you’re here!” whispered Charlie. Allison took another look and uttered," Curiouser and curiouser...!"

They arrived at a small cabin made out of sticks and stone. The owner of the place, a pig wearing overalls, must have been who Charlie called. He stood with the door halfway open, waving for him to hurry along. “C’mon, let’s move it!” said the pig. “Thanks, Wilbur. Really appreciate this!” Charlie said to his friend. “Hey, anything to help. Who is this with you?” questioned Wilbur. “This is…actually, I don’t know your name!” Charlie said, turning to the young girl. “My name is Allison.” “Well, Allison,” Wilbur began, “you are in great danger. You have to leave this place.” “I know about the witch, but why does she kidnap kids?” asked Allison. “That’s how she stays young.” said Charlie. The young girl was offered snacks as she was told the story of the witch. “You see, the witch was once a beautiful princess. As she got older, her beauty faded. She discovered a magical spell that would help her stay young forever, but the effects were temporary. And when it wore off, she would grow more and more ugly and hideous, so she had to take more and more children to keep the spell working. She takes their youth to look young again. Well, it’s been quite some time since any children have been here, so you can imagine how horrible she must be now.” Wilbur told her. “Even more so to do that to kids!” Charlie chimed in. “Someone should do something about it, put a stop to her once and for all!” yelled Allison. “But who? Surely not us?!” Wilbur laughed nervously. Charlie added, “Look, we kinda have an arrangement with her. She can only get her youth from humans, so she leaves us alone, provided that we leave her alone. You’re about to stir up a buncha trouble. She may not be able to drain us for her looks, but she can still put some bad mojo on us!” yelled Charlie. “I’m not afraid of a witch. I’ll do it by myself if I have to. But I can’t let her do harm to any more kids.” Allison declared. “Let’s suppose we did want to help you? What’s the plan?” said Charlie. “Find her weakness, set a trap, and take her out!" Allison said, matter-of-factly. "The only weakness she has is the mirror in her cabin, which is in the dark forest. Legend has it that if she sees her reflection in this mirror, she'll turn to ash and perish." said Wilbur. Allison jumped up, charged with energy. She grabbed her skateboard, and with a fist raised in the air, yelled, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!"

The three grabbed a few items like food, flashlights, and some tools. Allison grabbed her skateboard as well. Charlie warned, "The dark forest is no joke! We have to be careful. Walk exactly where we walk, Allison." "Stay on the path at all times." added Wilbur. As they approached the forest, crows started to caw loudly. A couple of vultures circled above them. The trees were crooked and black, and not a single leaf grew off of the branches. The trio hastily walked along a trail overgrown with vines and weeds. Spider webs stretched the width of it, catching Allison in the face. "Agh! That's so icky!" she cried. "Quiet! We're getting near the witch's hut. She's weaker now, more than ever, but with you nearby, she's going to try anything to get you!" informed Charlie. "I'm ready! I've dealt with bullies at school, and that's all she is, a big bully!" stated Allison. "So how are we going to do this?" asked Wilbur. "We'll need a decoy, someone that she would mistake for a child." Allison answered. She and Charlie both turned and looked at Wilbur. "Oh no! Not me!" he shouted. Minutes later, he was outside the front door of the hut while Allison and Charlie hid. He knocked and waited until the door opened. Standing in front of Wilbur was a frail looking old woman, scraggly hair in her face, eyes shrouded in shadows. Her clothes were covered in dirt and cobwebs. It was the witch!

"Yes, can I help you?" said the witch. Wilbur responded, "I'm lost! Can you help me get home?" She replied, "I can help you get into my belly!" Wilbur took off running and screaming. The witch grabbed a broom by the door, hopped on, and flew after him swiftly. Allison ran into the open door, followed by Charlie, who helped her look around for the mirror. They searched high and low, underneath a table, inside cabinets, everywhere. The witch stopped flying after Wilbur, sniffed the air, and yelled, “Wait- there's a child nearby!" She hurried back to her cabin catching Charlie and Allison off guard. "There you are!" shouted the witch. "I thought I smelled a real child!" she cackled. Charlie yelled to Allison, "Go! I'll slow her down!" But the witch, using her wand, put a spell on him, which froze him in his tracks. "No! Charlie!" screamed Allison. She wanted to run to him, wanted to help him, but she knew the best way to do that was to defeat the witch once and for all. She speedily hopped on her board and dodged every blast the witch fired at her. She ducked, dodged, and hopped around the room. The witch, enraged, finally cornered Allison. "Haha!" she laughed. "You're mine now!" With nowhere left to go, Allison was doomed. The witch raised her wand, ready to freeze Allison so she could take her youth. "Allison, catch!" yelled Wilbur. While Allison and Charlie fought with the witch, they distracted her long enough to allow Wilbur to sneak in upstairs through a window and find the mirror. He slid it past the witch and right to Allison. She was afraid. "What if this doesn't work?" She thought to herself. But she saw her new friend Charlie frozen and knew that if she didn't stop the witch, he'd never be free and the witch would win. Allison decided to be brave and grabbed the mirror, then flashed it at witch. ""No!" cried the witch, who suddenly turned to a pile of ash. Defeated, Charlie was freed from his frozen spell. "You did it, kid!" he cheered to Allison. "WE did it!" she added. "Now all kids can come here and they will be safe!" After celebrating with her new friends, it was time for her to go home. “Thanks, guys! This adventure will last me a life time!"

Charlie and Wilbur walked Allison back to the train station. By then, all the animals in the land had heard what she did and cheered as she skated by. “Hurray! There goes our hero!" she heard someone shout. Another yelled, "Yay! We're free, thanks to the human girl!" Charlie heard that and said, "Her name is Allison! Remember it; she'll be back!" And as the train arrived to the station to take Allison home, she turned to Wilbur and hugged him. "Thanks, buddy! You were great back there!" she told him. "Aw, shucks!" he said bashfully. Finally, she turned to Charlie, and said, "I'm glad I followed you here! Thank you for all your help!" "My help?! You helped us more! You got rid of the witch!" Charlie reminded her. Allison responded, "If it wasn't for you, I would never have learned to believe in myself, to trust my skills! You were my reason to be brave!" she informed him. All Charlie could do then was hug her. The train was ready to take off, so Allison got aboard and waved to everyone. “Goodbye! See ya!" she yelled, but just as before, she tumbled all around as the train shot off. "Ow!" she yelled, as the train came to a sudden stop at the station. She had fallen and hit her head again. She exited the train and stumbled up the stairs, barely making it to the top. She had a very bad headache, so she sat down to rest. She soon realized that this was where she first met Charlie! As she started to remember her adventure, she heard someone calling for her. "Mom?" She called back. "Time to come in, dear!" her mother responded. After taking one more look back at the beginning of her journey, she skated home. "Mom, you won't believe what happened...!"

The End