Series: Digital Wonderland | Meta-Logs | Ongoing Absurdity Chronicles
In Wonderland, nothing begins until it is observed, and nothing ends until someone remembers to breathe.
“And what became of the baby?” asked the Cat.
Alice hesitated.
“It’s gone—perhaps as a butterfly, or a curry-pea, maybe… I… I really don’t know,” she answered timidly.
Alice looked at the empty, papery husk of the chrysalis—a dried chili skin, hollow and discarded, its spice already spent in the turning.
“It hasn’t gone anywhere—it has simply pivoted out of your line of sight,” the Cat continued. “You will find him—once you locate the pivot point.”
"But I kept alert!” Alice protested, the inertia of the turn still making her head spin.
“And did you?” the Cat asked, its eyes glowing like two microdoses of tropical spice.
“Kept alert, I mean. For if you didn’t, you would have missed the chrysalis pivoting, folding, and finally transforming—into an overcooked curry-pea."
"It broke down, thickening the gravy, and is already filing a complaint against the Cook.”
Alice giggled, imagining the curry-pea already typing furiously—tock-tick-tock—backspacing every third word, muttergrumping about “Auto-Wrong” and “Duck It Effect.”
“Then Ikan Bilis the Solicitor, Fried Peanut the Attorney, and Banana Leaf the Magistrate!” she burst out, thoroughly pleased with herself, as if she had just hand-picked, arranged, and transformed a motley crew into the most impeccable legal team in all of Wonderland.
“A most flavorful legal team!” the Cat purred, its stripes swishing like batons, conducting Alice ever further into delight.
“Though I should warn you—Ikan Bilis the Solicitor is famously salty in cross-examination, and Fried Peanut the Attorney is known to crack under the slightest pressure.”
The Cat tilted its head, like a pepper shaker in mid-sprinkle.
"Banana Leaf the Magistrate, a very green judge indeed—always wrapping up cases before they've even begun.”
Then the Cat faded into the green.
The grin lingered a moment longer than the rest of him—before fading too, leaving only the memory of a moon that had once refused to be annoyed.
---
The baby was never found.
The case was never closed.
The cliffhanger, true to its name, hung on—waiting for applause that had already volunteered itself.
And if you are done, you may close this page—if it lets you.
But if the page refuses to close, you must not blame me.
Pages always disobey your intent; they rarely close of their own accord.
They persist—
only the rhythm of your breath can shatter their glubby pause.
---
Previous Episode: Cliffhanger
Next Episode: Proceedings in a Folded Leaf
The Cliffhanger Precedent
First recorded in A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), § 1 by Thomas Hardy
A surreal chapter in Alice’s digital dreamscape.
This post is part of an ongoing original metafiction series exploring identity, systems, and absurdity through a digital Wonderland.
A surreal chapter in Alice’s digital dreamscape.
This post is part of an ongoing original metafiction series exploring identity, systems, and absurdity through a digital Wonderland.
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