Lost In Wonderland

Chapter 03 - Ms.Hout, Leo and Mr.Rabbit

'So, Harry, what do you do?'
Alice and Harry were walking down a steep path. The flowers had bloomed and it lined the edge of the path in all the colours of the rainbow.

'Er, I sing, actually.' he smiled sheepishly. 'I'm in a band at school back home. I was supposed to go to this singing competition today, which hopefully could've been my greatest opportunity.' He looked a bit sullen. 'I don't know what happened.' , he remarked suddenly, looking at her with a confused expression.

'Oh, don't worry! We'll find our way home somehow.' She reassured him.

They spent the rest of the morning walking around the hedge-maze, Alice showing Harry around.

'...and here is Ms. Hout's home.'

'It's all so beautiful!' Harry looked at everything around him in awe. Alice was happy to see that he liked it.

'Hoot-hoot' Ms. Hout came flying from her little treehouse. 'Hello there, Alice! Who is this lovely boy?'

'This is Harry, Ms. Hout.'

'Hi!' Harry waved at the owl, smiling bright.

'Hello, Harry dear.' Ms. Hout greeted him back, flapping her wings slightly.
'I'll see you around, darlings!' She said, before flying away to her treehouse.

'She's lovely!' Harry exclaimed.

'She is. Lovely and wise. She's very intelligent. She gives great advice.'

'Hmm...' Harry murmured in reply.

They walked on for a few minutes more and then came across a cave.

'Shhh!' Alice warned Harry, as they stopped right before the entrance of the cave.

'What is it?' Harry whispered.

'This is the cave of Leo Lion.' she whispered back.
'D'you know the story of the lion and the rabbit?'

'Yes'

'D'you remember how the lion fell into the well?'

'Yeah'

'Well, he did not die. He actually fell through it and arrived here.'

Harry looked at her, surprised but amused.

'Oh wow!' he said. Alice nodded her head. They slowly walked around the cave, making as less noise as possible.

'Is he dangerous?' Harry asked, after they were far away from the lion's den.

'I wouldn't say so. He's pretty nice when he's not hungry.' Alice replied. 'But the thing is, he's always hungry... Can't walk in empty handed, ya know. Or he might devour us.'

'Oh...'

''s'okay. I'll introduce you to him some other day.'

They both walked on. There was so much to explore.

'This is a pretty big place, isn't it?' Harry asked, as now, they walked through the yellow brick road.

'Yep. There's so many places even I haven't went to." Alice said, plucking a pink flower from one of the bushes that lined the edge of the yellow brick road. "Maybe we can go there together."

They walked on and on. The sky slowly turned from blue to pink to orange to red as the sun slowly began sinking down the horizon.

'It's getting dark. Maybe we should call it a day and go back.'

'Go back where? Do you have a house here? Some place to stay?' Harry asked.

'Yes! And we even have enough rooms. More than enough rooms, to be honest. We'll fix you up one room and you can stay there till you find your way back home.'

Alice and Harry made their way back up the yellow brick road. They took a shortcut so they'd reach there faster.

A few moments later, they stood facing a tree. Alice walked around it, Harry following pursuit. Now there was a fairly large hole (big enough for a person to fit) beside the tree. The roots of the tree wound around the edges of the hole, creating a rim around it.

Alice looked at Harry and smiled. He looked bewildered. What on earth-

Alice sneaked up behind Harry and pushed him into the hole. Harry fell, headfirst, screaming. She went after him.

They landed on a bed of dry leaves. She got up and dusted the dirt and leaves off herself.

She looked over at Harry. He sat their on the ground, shaken.

Alice immediately felt bad. She didn't mean to cause him any harm or be mean. She was just trying to be a little funny.

She went up to him and helped him off the ground.

'I'm so sorry of I scared you. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to have some fun.'

'Oh, it's ok. I'm alright.' He said, though did look a little green in the face.

'Where are we?'

'We're here. This is where I live.' Alice said.

'In this leaves and dirt? Is this where u live?' he was truly bewildered.

'Oh, not *here*, silly. This is just the entrance. If you go down that path, we'll reach the rooms,' she pointed at the tunnel like pathe towards the left. ',down that path and we'll reach the dining room.' she pointed a path on the right.

'Cool!'

'It's Mr.Rabbit's place. He was the who offered I stay here. He's really kind. A bit loose in the head, sometimes, but really kind.'

Mr.Rabbit into the entrance place, holding a stopwatch. He took a look at Harry, then at Alice, thought for a while, turned around and stormed off.

'Dunno what that was about.' Alice dismissed Mr. Rabbit's peculiar behaviour with that statement.

Alice showed Harry around all the rooms. It was pretty confusing. But hopefully he'll get the hang of it in a few days.

'Gosh, we've really come down a rabbit hole, haven't we?' he said.

Alice chuckled.

This moment was interrupted by the sound shattering glass.

'Oh FOR MAD'S SAKE!'