Oh hey thur, look, I updated. :-D 

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Wind whipped past me, making my eyes sting and tear up. I couldn’t see a damn thing, but it felt like I was falling way too fast to survive once I hit the ground. Felt like I was falling way too fast not to have hit the ground yet period.

My heart was in my throat, waiting for impact, but it didn’t come. Not after a minute, or ten, or what seemed like an hour. But somewhere in there, my falling slowed and I was able to wipe my eyes and see what was around me.

I was in a deep tunnel in the ground, the walls around me made of earth, but packed absolutely full of junk. Bookshelves, full and empty jutted out of the walls, along with bits of furniture, jars of condiments, half a chandelier. Fragments of debris studded the walls, and I realized I’d have to be careful not to bump into anything sharp, like the broken off leg of a chair.

It felt like I had been falling for hours when I finally hit the ground.

“YAH!” Damn, that hurt! What did I fall on, bricks? I looked around to where I had fallen. Well… yes, actually, I had fallen on a pile of bricks. I was in a large room shaped like a keyhole, circular where I had fallen, but leading off into a narrow hallway. Around me the walls were grey stone with vines growing unchecked up them, and the floor was made of red brick. The brick I had broken my on had either been torn up out of the ground, or had yet to be laid. A few statues stood in the corner, their clothing chipped to bits. What was creepy though was that they had no faces. I felt like they were watching me.

I stood up, brushing my pants off. This room looked like a courtyard, or a garden, and sunlight poured down the hole above me, painting the room. While it seemed like I had been falling for hours, the light was visible only about eighty feet above my head. Still, way too high to climb, so how do I get out?

I walked towards the hallway, growing more and more confused. The room I had fallen into was a vine-spangled garden, but that hallway was like something from an old French manor. Dark oaken paneling lined the walls, the floor also a dark chocolate wood, but it was mostly covered by a raspberry carpet. Candles burned steadily in wall sconces, as did half a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Only half? What the… I wonder if this is the other half of that chandelier sticking out of the hole. Six doors lined the hall, three on each side. I rattled all six brass knobs, but they were locked, just like I knew they would be.

At the end of the hallway waited a little end table, a small red envelope centered on it exactly. 이태민. Lee Taemin. That would be me. I popped the scarlet wax seal, sliding out the heavy ivory card. It looked like a wedding invitation, letter stamped in gold on the card, but the words were strange.

Come to the Garden, you’re late for your tea.

Come play with the Red Queen, the White Queen and me.

If you lose the Game, then you’re better off dead.

And the end of the board it is off with your head!

So is this an invitation? Or a threat. I go to a garden, and meet up with two Queens, and whoever sent this letter. We have tea? But I’m supposed to play a game with them. And if I lose, they’ll cut off my head? My shivers had nothing to do with the chill of being underground. Who was the rabbit guy? Did he set this up? How? And why?

I checked the envelope again to see if there was anything else, some kind of letter to explain all this nonsense, something besides that silly poem. It was empty, but still felt too heavy to be empty. I turned it upside-down and shook it into my hand, a tiny golden key falling out into my palm.

Well, that was frustrating. What was I supposed to do with it; none of the doors had key holes. I could always just claw out my eyes with it, hopefully wake myself up. However, hidden behind the table was a very small door I hadn’t noticed before. No, they couldn’t really….. But I knelt down and slipped the key into the keyhole, hearing the click of the tumblers as they slid into place. I pushed at the wood, there was no doorknob, and bless its little door heart, it swung right open.

The door blended into the wood around it, and was about the right size for a kitten to fit through. Too bad I wasn’t a kitten. I was a large, manly Taemin, and there was no way I was going to fit through that tiny little door.

“Aah!” Something small and hard hit me in the back of the head. It fell to the floor and I heard it ping, the sound like tapping a glass, but I didn’t hear it shatter. I turned around but there was still no one there, no doors, nothing to hide behind. Curiouser and curiouser. Who exactly was throwing ? Rubbing the back of my sore head, I crouched to look at the object. A small purple bottle labeled with the words “drink me”.

Why on earth would I drink something clearly thrown at my face, by somebody whom I don’t know, who may in fact be a psycho who wants my body head? False. I wouldn’t. It was probably poison or roofies. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to sniff it. I mean, they wouldn’t ask me to drink chloroform. I uncorked the small bottle, bringing it to my nose. I expected a sharp, bitter scent.

“Holy God, is that banana milk?!?!?” Never mind, I loved these people. I brought the bottle to my lips, draining it in a few seconds. It was a small bottle, and falling down holes makes one just parched. Seconds later, I felt a strange pulling sensation in my midriff. Had they drugged it after all? My body felt like it was compacting, limbs tightening, muscles squeezing. I felt dizzy and hot and I panted for air. After a few more seconds of pain, I could breathe again, and I looked up at the end table. I looked up at the end table.

I looked up at the end table. Oy vey. I was tiny.