an older alice

alice woke up in a pleasant enough way, with harmonious melodies swimmng merrily through her sea of consciousness. a tropical storm soon developed over the former tranquility however, and before the girl knew what was going on, she had fallen sideways through several strange doors, a car and found herself shivering on the cold, unforgiving tile floor of a strange building, wrought of a peculiar brick and mortar that was utterly unappealing in every way. deciding to make the best of an odd situation to which she saw no immediate relief, alice decided to explore the chilly institution.

she wandered through the building, and came upon crowds of people that were stranger than any she had ever met. with no direction or purpose, most would walk around in a daze, sometimes even completely halting for no apparent reason at all. through her exploration of the many corridors and halways of the building, alice found countless doors. she expected that there much be something very extensive and great in the building to need so many rooms to hold it, but upon opening them, she mearly found more of the directionless people and various lectures, most presented in a rather boring fashion, to no one, as not even the professors themselves gave them any heed. in one room, voices came in a sad strain:

the african prince mahuma,
had really nothing to do-a
as he went to put on his long shoes-a
he tripped, he fell, and he died, died, died...

finally, lost, tired, and extensively hungry, alice sat down and tried to think of what ought to be done next. her reverie was shattered when a piercing clank sounded from the very walls of the place. the crowd filled the halls with frightening sudden magnitude, and alice was quite powerless against the throng. she felt herself falling once again, the people, floors, and lights blurring into a senseless mush, that reminded alice of a time when her brother had burned berried oatmeal. in fact, as she thought, the oatmeal became more and more distinct in her mind.

alice opened her eyes , taking a long moment to focus on the floral pattern of her family's love seat. she yawned, smoothed her dress, and went grogily to find her sister. she failed to notice a small bookbag half open in the rocking chair.