Chapter 1
A Seemingly Normal Life
It was a seemingly beautiful afternoon in a mansion court yard, and a young woman, by the name of Alice lies under a big oak tree reading a book to her cat, who seemed to be more interested in the bugs than Alice's story.
The cat found a butterfly that was supposedly far more interesting than the other bugs, and followed it to the base of a large, old oak tree. Alice, who had been entranced by her book now took notice to what her cat was doing, and followed her to the tree.
Both Alice and her cat found a hole at the base of the tree, and stuck their heads into the tree, and looked down a seemingly endless hole. Just then, Alice's mother came by to find her daughter head-stuck in a tree. She chose to stand by and watch Alice for a moment or so. The cat sensed that someone was there.
"Ahem," Alice's mother alerting Alice of her presence, seeming quite unimpressed with what Alice was doing. With that, Alice almost bounced out of the hole and to her feet.
"Yes?" Alice responds quickly, and nervously. "What is it? Oh, mother, it's only you." She then looked down at her gounds to find the once pale blue material, was now partially faded to an earthy brown.
Still, Alice could see her mother still had an unimpressed look upon her face. Clearly Alice had done something to annoy her mother.
"Oh Alice. What am I ever going to do with you?" Her mother asks shaking her head.
"I don't know what you mean mother." Alice replied, for, from this statement she felt quite confused, and did not know the meaning behind her mother's supposed need to put her down like that.
Tired of trying, Alice's mother gave up trying and leaves Alice to her exploring of the hole at the base of the tree. She wished in the back of her mind that Alice would give up these childish traits, and finally become an upstanding lady of poise and respect, but thought, for the time being, that a change that drastic in Alice's personality would have to wait awhile.
While walking back to the mansion, still within Alice's view, her mother passed by a very nice top hat lying in a rose garden. This seemed to puzzle her for a moment or two. Then shaking her head once again, continued on her way to the mansion. She seemed to have no interest in anything that was out of the ordinary, but when Alice saw it, instantly she picked it up.
Pulling out her phone, Alice texted the Hatter about the hat. Hatta, I seem to have found your hat in one of the rose gardens at the mansion. It's been a while since I've seen you. Mind if I come over for a visit?
Almost instantly after Alice sent the message, she got an answer from the Hatter. Yes please. It has been ever so long since I've seen your sweet face. And with that, Alice got her stuff and headed on her way.
The Hatter, not having seen Alice for quite some time, decided to clean up his house a bit as to make it look presentable enough for Alice's liking.
Chapter 2
Reuniting Old Friends
This cleaning job took quite some time, so that when the Hatter felt that his house was clean enough, he went to the liquor cabinet to find a drink to celebrate. Once he found what he wanted, he found himself a comfortable armchair and waited for Alice to arrive.
Moments later, the great oak door swung open, and Alice stood in the doorway in a pair of skinny jeans, a black tee-shirt, and a tight fitted leather jacket and Hatter could see on her seemingly perfect face, the same, small, and hardly noticeable grin she always had when she sees him.
When the Hatter saw her, he rose from his arm chair, and walked over to her and embraced her tightly in his arms. They stood there embracing one-another for a minute or so then Alice, feeling awkward, let go and pushed away from Hatter. Then, the Hatter got a tingle up his spine that he only gets when he knows something is wrong, and let go of Alice.
"Something is troubling you my dear. I can always tell, because when you look at me usually, there is a bright glittering light behind those beautiful eyes, and now I can see that it is fading." Hatter informed. Then Alice lifted her head and looked deeply into his eyes, as if looking straight through his head. He knew that she was not here only to return the hat, and there was something else on her mind.
Alice let go of the Hatter, and sat down on the sofa. A tear ran down her cheek. He sat down beside her. "I am going away for a while, and I don't know when I will be back here with you." She said as she slid her hand into his, and looked up at his kind, caring, and loving face. "I'm sure that you understand that this is something that I need to do." The two of them locked eyes and for a split moment Alice saw in Hatter's eyes the same childish young boy she knew when they first met.
Hatter removed his large hat, pulled his hair out of his face and leaned into Alice's neck, and began to kiss it. "Oh, how I'll missed this Alice." He whispered in her ear. Suddenly queuing into what she had said moments before, he raised his head. "What do you mean by that?" He was utterly confused by Alice's remark.
Sitting back, and pulling her hair back, Alice spoke. "My mother believes that I need to go away for a while." Alice took a deep breath and continued. "She says that I am going 'round the bend." As she said this, a tear ran down her face.
Hatter needed to think about this for a moment. He had never thought that they would take Alice away. Just then, a knock at the big oak front door broke the stiff silence. Alice got up, and went to the front door. She seemed unafraid, and ready to meet whoever it was waiting at the door.
When she opened the door, she was faced with a middle aged man in a white doctor's coat, and a clipboard. She looked at him, and he looked at her for a moment, and then he asked her name, and she answered politely. "Hello. My name is Alice, Alice Kingsley. You must be the doctor."
The doctor said nothing, but simply smiled, nodded his head, and showed Alice to the black car awaiting them outside. He opened the door for her, she stepped in, and they were off.
Chapter 3
New Situations
As they drove the rain started to come down, and come down hard. Alice sat quietly in the back of the car waiting, waiting to arrive at the place where she was going. On, and on the car drove, until it came to a large, Victorian styled building that was the hospital. As the car approached the gates, Alice noticed that they opened and closed without anyone doing anything.
The car passed through the gates, and continued up the pathway to the front door of the hospital. Then the car stopped and Alice was taken up the steps and to the large front doorway. Alice gasped in wonder, yet said nothing to the doctor standing next to her who was just about to knock on the door.
The doctor knocked, the doors opened, and Alice was taken inside to a registration room. She was scared, and she did not know what this place was, or the reason behind why she was there. It was most uncomforting. She was signed in and brought down a hallway and put into a room, after she was changed out of her blue dress and given a pair of striped pyjamas.
After she was changed, she was taken to her room. Immediately after she was put into the room, the door was closed and locked then the doctors left. Alice now knew quite well that this was not just any ordinary hospital like the ones she knew. It was very different to the ones that she had gone to before. It had a much more sinister feel to it and Alice did not like it very much, but she put up with it like she usually did in new and unusual places or situations.
There was not really much in the room, that looked, to her like a prison cell, and it wasn't exactly very big. She looked around and surveyed her living space. She didn't seem impressed, but did not express any anger. She simply started to pace back and forth, until her feet almost bleed. She supposed it was getting quite late so she lay down on her cot and went to bed, or at least, tried to.
It was a very uncomfortable cot, but that did not anger her. Still she put up with her situation impressively according to the doctors. There was one thing that they found unusual about Alice. By the end of her first week in the penitentiary, her once grey stone walls were now covered with many graphic images. From this style of behavior, the doctors knew that they were dealing with a far more difficult situation than they had thought.
This frightened them and they chose to act, and act quickly on this. Alice was moved from the average surveillance room that she was placed in originally, to a high surveillance room. These rooms, to Alice's perspective, were far more padded. She was also changed out of the average striped pyjamas and into an asylum jacket and pants. Also, for extra security, they chained her to the floor, and she could only sit there waiting for something to happen to her.
Days passed as Alice sat in that white padded room with absolutely no freedom whatsoever. She thought that this must be what it must feel like to be mad, though she thought that, even the Hatter hadn't felt this mad, at least, not yet. She desperately wanted to go home, have her normal life back, and see the Hatter again. The only problem was that he was freely out in the world to do as he wishes unlike her, who was trapped here. That just made her situation feel worse and worse, and still, she could do nothing about it. So, on the seventh day in the padded room she had enough and started yelling, screaming, and cursing.
The doctors heard the ruckus and they did not like it, so they masked and chained Alice to the floor. She now felt as if she was at rock bottom, and just curled up into a small ball in a corner and went to sleep. Within the surveillance room, doctors were still commenting on Alice's strange behavior, for they had not seen anything similar to it.
Chapter 4
Separation
Back in the old mansion, the hatter was even more out of sorts that usual with Alice gone. He knew that there must be something that he could do, at least, just to see her again, so he got in his car and drove to the hospital. There was not an idea in his head of what Alice must be going though, or feeling. When he got to the hospital, he was stopped at the gate. A voice from a speaker asked him his reason for visiting, so he answered. He was told to turn around and use the guest parking. He did so without questioning, returned, and was let through.
The hatter walked to the door, was let through, checked then took a seat in the waiting room. A doctor came and took him to the visiting room and the hatter took a seat at one of the booths and he picked up the phone. Moments later, Alice was wheeled to the other side of the booth in a wheelchair and one arm was released so that she could hold the phone. The hatter was glad to see Alice, but worried to see her in the asylum jacket.
"Don't worry Alice," Hatter whispered. "I'll get you out, and you'll be free." He almost could not bear to see Alice like this. He knew that Alice did not deserve to be locked up in a place like this, yet, there, trapped she was. There's always something brewing underneath that hat, and it was working at a great pace. Then, accepting that Alice really was stuck here in the asylum, he gave up on his plan to bust her out.
They finished their conversation, Hatter lowered the phone, got up and walked away. There was no use for Alice to call out for Hatter had already crossed the room and he was gone. She sat at the booth for a moment and a tear fell down her pale cheek. The doctors pinned her arms back against her body, brought her back to her room, and then attached the chains to Alice and placed the mask over her face then left Alice in her room. She was so sad, scared, and tired that she cried herself to sleep that night.
The next few days Alice stayed curled up in a ball in the corner of the padded room, living off only stale muffins and water. After speaking with Hatter, she followed protocol ever so strictly so she could get out of the penitentiary as soon as possible. Alice knew that she was there for a reason, yet she did not know fully, what it was exactly. Every day felt as long as a lifetime to her, yet, she still stayed there staring at the same padded walls for an entire month. There was nothing she could do besides wait.
Back at the Hatter's mansion, things were much more grim than usual. Jokes and comical chatter was minimal between the Hatter and his house keeper, who, appropriately, was the March Hare. The Hatter spent most of his time locking himself up in either the tower, or the library, and this started to worry the March Hare, for he had rarely seen the Hatter in this mood style before. All in all, it was very dull in the Hatter residence. Even the childish glow in the Hatter's mad eyes began to fade into shadow.
Nothing would please the Hatter more than to look into Alice's bright blue eyes again, hold her close all through the night, and to call her his own. The only way he would have of holding on to his emotions is to simply believe that Alice will get through this. He knew in his heart that he would, one day, have her in the sweet embrace of his arms. It was the one thing he wanted to have in his life currently.
The Cheshire Cat appeared on top of Hatters hat and spoke kindly to the Hatter. "What's the matter Tarrant?
The Hatter looked up. "Ah, yes. I'm fine." He had been dazing out the window, looking off towards the hospital. His face became so pale that it was basically white, and a tear ran down one of his perfectly chiselled cheeks.
Chapter 5
The Road to Recovery
There was a loud air pressure burst and Alice turned towards the door to see it open and a doctor enter. This was the first time that she had seen this doctor, so she inched her way into a sitting position and stared at him, breathing slowly and deeply with an angry tension behind it.
"Hello," the doctor said "my name is Banes, Arthur Banes, and I am here simply to do a few tests and then leave you as you were, so if you would just cooperate, it would make this much easier for both of us." As he quietly and calmly spoke to Alice, he slowly stepped into the room and towards Alice.
Not being able to speak to the doctor in a way that he would understand, Alice nodded her head agreeing with Mr. Banes. In her mind, Alice thought of doing several things to Mr. Banes to get revenge against the hospital, and then remembered that the easiest way to get out was to politely cooperate, she followed his instructions to the best of her sanity would allow her to.
With an understanding of one another, Mr. Banes walked over to where Alice was still crouched on the ground, and removed her mask. To Mr. Banes's surprise, Alice did not attempt to bite at him, or react in any way. She simply just sat there and waited for further instruction from him.
As this was in fact a testing session, Mr. Banes reviled a clipboard and began to take notes on Alice's behavior and reactions. Alice knew well enough now not to lash out at Mr. Banes and question his methods. The tests were designed and used to understand, most of the way that Alice interpreted the world, life around her, and her interaction with other people around her.
Once the tests were completed, the face mask was put back on Alice, she was also tied back up and chained down despite the results of the tests. Then, Mr. Banes gathered his papers, and left to discuss his findings with the other doctors. He showed them that Alice actually, he believed, that Alice had no reason to be at the mental hospital, and should be allowed to be set free.
‟Are you sure that we have the ability to let her leave?ˮ Asked Dr. Reed with caution. He was not quite as convinced as Banes was about Alice's current mental stability.
‟Absolutely. She`s passed all the tests that we could throw at any patient in her situation. There are no other tests that I could give her that would give us any productive information on someone like her.ˮ Replied Mr. Banes.
Still unconvinced by Mr. Banes`s notion on releasing Alice at the moment, and noticing that it was getting fairly late, they decided to sleep on the matter, and then discuss it in more detail in the morning.
Chapter 6
Homeward Bound
The next day came in no time. Alice, surprisingly, for once, actually got a decent sleep that night, and woke up waiting for Mr. Banes and the other doctor's decision regarding her release. Shortly after, Alice heard the door open, but this time she was not afraid. She somehow knew what was going on, and waited patiently for the news that she had been waiting to hear ever since she had been brought to the hospital.
The door to the padded room opened, and there in the doorway, was the kind and reassuring face of Mr. Banes coming to set her free. He entered the room, walked across it to where Alice was sitting, and removed the mask one last time, and unattached her from the chain that fastened her to the floor. Alice, who was still sitting, curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, looked up at Mr. Banes, who gestured to her that it was alright to get up and come with him.
She then struggled, but eventually got to her feet, and followed Mr. Banes to the door leading out of the high-security room. It was difficult to walk properly in the asylum pants and jacket, but she was able to waddle her way out of the room and down the hallway. They then turned into a locker-room where Alice was given her clothes back to change into. When Alice had finished getting changed, they continued still walked slowly, but at a more regular pace than before until they got top the main waiting room.
The doors to the waiting room were opened and the first thing that caught Alice's pale blue eyes, was the kind, playful smile of the Mad Hatter, who was waiting there to take her home, and away from the horrors and torment of the mental hospital. The Hatter stood up and looked at Alice and saw a tear of relief running down her cheek. The Hatter and Alice walked slowly to each other, and then gave one another a big hug.
Alice was very tired. Her eyes were red, her hair was frizzed, and her body was weak. They then walked across the main hallway, out the front door of the hospital, down the stone steps, and to the guest parking lot to where the Hatter's car was parked. The Hatter unlocked the door and Alice got into the front seat. Alice, who was very tired, said nothing to the Hatter, and almost immediately after she had gotten into the car, fell asleep. The Hatter looked over at Alice, and saw the same, sweet smile that he had always known light up her bright face. He reached out his hand, and brushed the hair out of Alice's face, and kissed her. She wanted to let him kiss her, but she would prefer him to concentrate on the road at the moment.
Hatter, who was feeling the dismal mood, and atmosphere of the car decided to turn on the radio to attempt to liven things up a bit for Alice. He searched the stations, until he found his favourite and turned up the volume a bit. It was a long drive home, but that didn't bother Alice, for she knew her time in the mental hospital, and she, hopefully, would never have to see the inside of that building again.
Onward the Mad Hatter drove home. The wide grin that he had when he first saw Alice come out of the hospital was now gone, yet there still was a small grin on his face. He had Alice there with him and they were on their way back home. He had been waiting for this ever since she was taken from him two months ago. Several thoughts flowed into his head during the drive home about; how Alice really ended up in the asylum in the first place, if her being there had anything to do with his dealing, and if it did why they did not take him instead. Alice was innocent, and truly, had no reason, nor right to have ever ended up in that mental hospital.
Chapter 7
A Truth Is Told
As The Hatter turned the car into the driveway, he noticed the once grey and clouded sky had now broken into a bright pale blue light. He parked the car, got out, and went around to open the door for Alice. The light of the day was quite a shock to Alice's eyes, for she had not seen it for four whole months, and it was quite brighter than those mental institution's florescent lights. The Hatter took the Alice's hand, lead her inside, upstairs, and into his bedroom.
Alice sat down on the bed and looked intriguingly at the Hatter. She thought she knew what was going on, but was convinced, so she waited patiently for the Hatter to begin. "Alice. This may alarm you, but I think you truly deserve to know how you ended up in that hospital. I am deeply sorry to tell you this, but I believe that you ended up there on my bidding."
Alice stared at the Hatter, and as she did so, her once pale blue eyes, fell to an intense black with a fiery red tint to them. She could not believe that the reason that she ended up in the asylum had anything to do with the Hatter at all. It had not even entered her deepest or darkest nightmares that he was the reason for her suffering. "Impossible." She breathed in astonishment to this information. "How could you have done this to me? I trusted you! I thought you trusted me! I thought you loved me!" Alice protested to the Hatter. This was exactly what she didn't want to hear coming from the Hatter the very day she got out of the mental hospital. She turned away, curled up into a ball, and asked sorrowfully; "Why and how could you have done this to me?"
The Hatter inched his way up the bed, and lay down, reaching up to run his fingers through Alice's golden hair. He lay down next to Alice and whispered in her ear. "Things aren't always as bad as they may seem Alice. I am not the one to blame in this situation. The only reason I was the one who was blamed, is because of someone you know quite well. The Caterpillar is the one whose hands are dirty in this situation." Hatter ran his hand down her arm and into hers, and began kissing her neck. Surprisingly, she didn't squirm, or push away from him this time. She actually turned towards him and pressed her lips to his.
She backed away from him, only for a moment to reply, "I know." She then continued kissing him. There was something about his embrace that made Alice feel so free. Everything about the Hatter made her feel completely alive and full of joy. It was a feeling that she not had for a long time.