Fairytale Fancy: The Adventures of Calirose

It was a warm spring evening when Calirose decided to take a stroll down the everglades. The fields were large and the flowers bloomed all around. It was such a beautiful site, so he took the chance to set up a small spot near a large tree for a picnic. Although the silence was soothing and the beauty of the nature around him was entrancing, as he sat down and leaned against the shaded tree, he grew rather sleepy. Eyelids closing in comfort.

Yet almost immediately he would open his eyes once more, but his surroundings seemed to be different from what he’d seen moments prior. Confused, he tilts his head and stands. Basket in hand, he started to walk down the path he once used before getting here. Although, the further down the path he walked, the more his surroundings became unfamiliar. Turning around, he walked back to the tree he had dozed off under.

However, as he returned, not only did the tree look strange, the treats he had brought were now completely different. His small bottled drink was now in a jar with the tag ‘drink me’ on it and each of the mini cookies and cakes had the words ‘eat me’ on them. Everything just seemed way too suspicious! He waltzed over to the treats, poking at them with a gloved hand. 

On the outside, they seemed pretty normal. Oozing out jam or crumbling under the pressure of his finger. He’d scrunch up his nose, picking up one of the cookies and inhaling the small scent of them. They smelled like cookies, crumbled like cookies, so maybe they’ll taste like cookies? Breaking the cookie in half, he nibbled on it. Sure enough it tasted like a cookie. This alone still doesn’t change the fact that all of this seemed just way too suspicious!

He picked up the little drink, shaking the bottle and watching as it fizzed. However, before he could further inspect it, the world around him seemed as if it was getting smaller. Everything around him shrunk! Or, could it be that he grew? He looked at the cookie and bottle he was holding and they were in fact small, but none of this was helping. Sighing, he looked up at the sky. Why today of all days would something so weird happen?

From a distance, or well, nearby, he could hear the faint laughter of someone or something. This was no laughing matter! Annoyed, he spoke, but his tone was still a bit hushed. “Yes. Laugh at the being who’s having a hard time understanding.”

“Oh dear me, you can hear me from up above? Or is it down below?”

“Please..” A sigh would leave him as he dragged his palm across his face. Though in seconds, a weight was felt upon his shoulders.

“It seems like someone could use a little wakeup call.” Grinning, the cat disappeared from his shoulder and appeared on the ground. Its tail swayed from side to side. “Why don’t we take a drink from the juice, shall we?”

It was all too strange for him. Sighing for the third or maybe fourth time in the last hour, he decided to drink the juice from the jar and wait. Everything started growing around him! Happ that the abnormality slowly was becoming normal again, he took a seat underneath the tree again. Yawning while the cat stared at him.

“Don’t forget to visit again! Maybe you won’t lose your way. As for me, I’ll be going this way. Or maybe that way. Or or, I could simply–” The cat was fading away and Cali’s eyes had closed.

Awaking again, he found himself under the large shaded tree in the everglades. Was his little experience from before not real? It felt real.