Many thanks for the relentlessly helpful editor Destodes777.
*****
~ 3 cozy cottage ~
Alice saw a broad path leading into the forest. The trees looked much taller than she remembered.
"Oh, I'm still quite small," Alice reminded herself. "I'll have to find a way to become my normal size again." With that, she walked into the relative darkness of the trees. They were massive, but Alice found them strangely normal and comforting after all the insane things she had encountered thus far.
Not too long later Alice saw a cozy house with a thatched roof along the way. There was a small garden around it, the sunlight between the trees gave it an idyllic setting. From the first moment, she first saw it till Alice reached the gate took her minutes. The cottage was looming above her by the time Alice had walked the path with uneven stones through the front yard. It would be impossible to open the front door for her, it was probably locked and in any case much too heavy for Alice. She began to look for alternative ways inside, outside were no things to eat and drink that might make her grow, but inside there should be far more possibilities.
There was a slightly opened window leading into what looked like a kitchen. Alice climbed the vines to the window sill and pushed the glass enough to fit through it. Now she was inside. The kitchen looked entirely tidy, no cookies or other food was laying around. Alice tried not to feel let down by it too much, she climbed to the floor along wine bottles in a rack, those were impossible right now for her to open. Alice walked around the house finding little of interest and eventually came to the stairs. Alice had some difficulty climbing those. Although, it was much easier to lift herself up by her arms than Alice remembered from when she was her standard size.
On the first floor where two rooms and in one of them was a wardrobe Alice could enter. All of the climbing and other activities had worn Alice out so much that she fell asleep almost instantly the moment she encountered the long silken gloves lying on the bottom of the wardrobe. Alice woke up sometime later not knowing where she was at first. It was dark around her, and her stomach was rumbling. She had to find something to eat soon. Alice walked out of the cupboard again into the bedroom. From here she could see a flask sitting on a low dresser near the bed, the sun rays from outside made it stand out brightly.
The dresser had swinging pull handles for its drawers. Alice could just grab one from the ground and pull herself up by it. The handle was now far enough from the wood that Alice could stick one leg through it and with some upwards pulling even sit on it. Now Alice was high enough to reach the plank under the next up drawer, the young lady would not be able to stand on it unless she reached for the next handle first. The plank gave Alice's hands something to hold on to while she struggled to stand on her current handle.
But now Alice noticed that the cloth around her got stuck in the hinge of the handle under her. It did not yield and made it impossible for her to continue her climb. She sighed, climbing wearing a single cloth was again nearly impossible. Alice got one hand free to unfasten it, and her handkerchief fell down till it dangled from the handle under her. She continued her climb naked, and that helped. Soon one hand could reach the next handle above her, and she could carry on. Alice could not help looking around the room if someone was again spying on her climbing.
That rabbit would have loved the look from below. Even without him around Alice felt herself getting hot again. Maybe giving a naked show before lusty eyes wasn't that bad as a pastime. She might try that someday. But now Alice had to concentrate, or she would never get up this dresser. At last, she reached the top and sat a moment to rest.
The flask beside her had a fancy written label "Drink me" That sounded familiar. However, Alice was so hungry and fed up with being small that she opened the glass flask with both hands and tilted it to drink from it. The liquid splashed outside so unevenly that is was leaving her drenched with its sticky substance. Even then, Alice managed to gulp down a significant amount from it. It tasted quite sweet, like the cough drink she was allowed to drink when she was still a child.
Alice had probably drunk too much of it because she started to grow instantly. At first, Alice thought it was neat to expand so rapidly. It felt great to feel all her limbs grow, like stretching herself but actually getting larger. Although now the ceiling was coming close at an alarming rate. She quickly walked a few steps towards the stairs to get out of this house.
Before she was down the stairs, Alice was already too big to fit through the front door. The wood around her gave way, and with a loud cracking, the stairs collapsed. She was now sitting on the lower floor. One leg stuck inside the kitchen, and the other was propelled out of the front door. Her arms had smashed the windows of the two rooms. Fortunately, Alice was not hurt, and her growth had stopped, but now she was stuck inside the house. The floor was pushed around her waist, many planks were cracked and dislodged from each other. Still, the remaining ones were holding her firmly in place. After drinking so much of the thick liquid, Alice was not hungry anymore, but she was helpless all the same.
Her handkerchief would be, after this growth, not sizable enough to even cover one of her breasts. Alice's back was bent under the roof so much that she would be stiff in no time. Her only option left was calling for help, so she did.
Not too long later there came voices from outside. "This is the cottage of the Duchess. Who is shouting?" The speech of this man was lower and rough, like a man doing lots of physical work.
"It's me, Alice, I am constrained in here." She tried to wave her arm a bit.
"Well, that is plain to see. Move your leg from the door so that we can enter." The second voice was much higher and clear. Alice tried to comply, however, her knee would not bend under the remaining floor before her, so she gave up quickly.
"Are you unwilling to comply?"
"No. I am tightly secured in here and cannot move," cried Alice helplessly.
Alice felt someone trying to climb along her leg yet now she realized what sight he would encounter inside the house. Alice was sitting with her legs spread afar, so she felt no urge at all to let this unknown man climb inside. With a shove from her leg, Alice discouraged him from entering through the front door.
"Why do you obstruct us? We won't be able to help you get out of there." asked the man with the rough voice, slightly annoyed.
"I am not clothed decently enough to let strange men climb along my legs."
"Oh, are you naked in there? It's a pity then that we don't have a better view of you than your arms and a foot." That was the higher voice again.
"That is no way to talk to a lady in distress," said Alice in a huff.
"Who is also not willing to let us help her," answered the higher voice with a sneer.
"We still have to get her out," said the rough voice. "The Duchess will be mad if she would lose her home to someone else."
The higher voiced man continued. "Then we have to gain access to her differently. I take the ladder to the second floor, and you can try the back door. As the gardener, you should have tools by hand to get it open."
Alice was unconvinced that these men were trying to help her. A bit of fresh air rose up along her back as a back door was forced open. And she could see a man climbing up a ladder in front of her. The man was quite thin and wore khaki pants and a brown blouse with braces above it. As he climbed through one of the unscathed windows, she felt someone pushing against her bottom.
"You made quite a mess down here lady." was the gardener calling from below with his rough voice. "You ruined the stairs with your fat bottom."
"I'm not fat, I just have grown a bit too large."
