This takes place after Madness Returns. There are many references from the original books by Lewis Carroll so if you don't understand something, chances are you could look it up in his books. If you like, you can also ask me and I can explain it to you. It's my first Alice fiction too so don't be too surprised if it's a little crappy…..
Setting Sail in a Paper Ship
It had been less than a week since the death of Dr. Angus Bumby and the streets were littered with newspapers that had announced it with pictures of the doctor under bold print. The common assumption was that an unexpected trip or stumble had caused him to fall onto the tracks quite by accident. Others thought that he had deliberately thrown himself in front of the oncoming train as a form of suicide but a very few did suspect murder. The idea was farfetched to many though because there hadn't been any witnesses, evidence or obvious suspects for that matter. Alice was having a hard time focusing her mind on any one given thought.
"He may have set the schedule and itinerary of the infernal train but in the end he was destroyed by the physical likeness of the breed of madness he created." She whispered to herself. It was rather ironic to say the least. That last memory she would ever have of the man haunted her like the other shadows that weighed heavy on her mind. Standing in front of him full of rage and agony, his expression changed when he saw that malicious look in her eyes. It was as if he finally realized she had the power to destroy him, though the realization came far too late. The feeling of hatred burned in her chest and pit of her stomach to the point where she thought she might scream, though instead she pushed him, causing him to fall onto the tracks even though she was well aware of the approaching train. One second he was screaming in terror and the next he was crushed.
And now here she was, sitting on the side of the road gazing at people who would stare or occasionally mumble under their breath in passing. The death of the manipulative and abusive doctor had left the inhabitants of the wayward children's home in a compromising position. The small children who were parentless or abandoned were sent to orphanages or labor houses. The older ones who were deemed "mature enough to be self-sufficient" were cast out onto the streets like garbage where they had to stoop to surprisingly low levels just to survive. Some of the girls were pulled into brothels or street-side prostitution while others were kidnaped and sold into slavery along with the boys in the black market of London's seedy underbelly. A good number of them wandered the streets as well, living off of what they could beg for, steal, scavenge or what the rare generous soul would give them out of pity. Alice wasn't entirely sure of herself anymore. She reached into the pocket of her gray apron and pulled out the key she had snatched from the doctor's watch chain. She gently caressed it as she thought of her parents and sister. Her parents had died in the fire itself but Lizzie had been murdered before the house had been set ablaze. Bumby's sick voice played over several times in her head.
"Your sister was a tease. Pretended to despise me. She got what she wanted in the end…" Alice cringed at the thought. The notion that the parasite of a man had touched, tortured, fondled and then most likely asphyxiated her older sister churned her insides to the point where she thought she might vomit.
"It wasn't enough that the bastard killed her?" Alice thought. Her whole body seemed to tense until a sudden "meow" caught her attention. "Hello there…." She cooed as a cold nose and soft fur caressed her hand. "You look like an old friend of mine." That little white cat that she'd seen countless times before really did look like Dinah's kitten, Snowdrop. "Would you like to keep me company? No one else around here likes me much…They all think I'm completely mad. Most likely because I nearly am." The cat purred softly as it rubbed it's head and nose against Alice's outstretched fingertips.
"Alice….." she heard a familiar voice whisper. She gazed at the white cat for a moment until it looked up into her eyes and gave her a wide toothy smile. "Where have you been?" The Cheshire cat!
"You! Don't you play games with me cat!" Alice leapt to her feet. The cat yowled as she picked it up and held it at eye-level. "You show up at the most inconvenient times, make me feel worse when I'm already quite upset enough and you seem to go about it in the most childish, disrespectful and insulting manner you can muster!" She screamed as she stared into the cat's eyes. The cat screamed and screeched as it tried to escape Alice's grasp until it finaly gave her a good sized scratch on the hand, causing her to release the little white animal. Alice grabbed her hand in pain and scowled as she watched the cat run down the street and turn onto one of the back allies. She could hear a couple of men laughing at her from the streets.
"Bloody lunatic! Someone should 'ave ya locked back up in that asylum where ya belong!"
"Ay! What did that there poor cat do to you!" Alice turned to find a couple of overweight construction workers, one considerably shorter than the other, laughing at her as they continued to shovel dirt into the section of road where the cobblestones had been stripped off to be replaced. She shot them a malicious glare and the two quickly returned the gaze. "I think she 'as a problem wit' us, she does!" Alice had to look away for a moment to rub the dust from her eyes but when she looked back at them, they were wearing red and white striped shirts rather than their dirty overalls. Alice gasped as her hand flew to her lips and slowly took a couple of steps backward before turning and running as fast as she could, shoving pedestrians out of her way as she darted through the streets.
"What's happening!" she breathed. "I thought these hallucinations were done and over with!" Alice paused for a moment to catch her breath but when she looked down, sprouts of green grass were rising from between the cobblestones, then the cobblestones themselves began to transform into lush verdant grass. Alice looked around herself and fell to the ground. She was beginning to feel dizzy, her face was hot to the touch and the sky seemed to be spinning around her as the polluted streets of London began to change and melt away into another world entirely. Alice's head felt light and her entire body began to ache as everything went black.
"Alice?...Alice, get up!" Alice slowly, almost cautiously let her eyes open and was speechless. The land was green, decorated in mushrooms, childhood trinkets and plants, all of which seemed to come in every possible color, shape and size as well as a clear river running through the center of it all.
"Wonderland?..." she whispered.
"Alice, come along, you're late!" She turned to the source of the voice and didn't quite know how to respond. She could recognize that green skin and oversized nose anywhere.
"Hatter?...I'm late for what?" Alice asked as she stood up and looked at her dress. The frayed mess of gray and dingy white had transformed into a satin dress of cobalt blue and her old beat up shoes had turned into smooth leather boots, delicately laced and tied.
"You're late for a what…What, what? Whatever what is, it can wait a while, my dear. You're late for tea!" Hatter said as he scooped her up. He carried her over to a long table that seemed to twist and spiral off into the sky then gently placed her in one of the chairs. "This will be your spot until we all change seats for clean cups!" Alice struggled to keep her balance on the chair as it floated at it's spot at the table. The March Hair and Dormouse were already at their reserved spots at the table, laughing hysterically for no apparent reason and when Alice looked a couple of seats to the left, she noticed that Rabbit was present as well.
"Rabbit! You have more sense than this,….this Madman! Can you tell me why I'm here?" Alice asked as she watched her empty teacup drift off the table.
"I cannot say….I would if I could…but I can't. I'm not sure exactly. I don't even know what time it is since that lummox hair put butter in the gears of my pocket watch again!" he said as he gestured to the greasy, butter-smothered clock that lay on the table.
"But, I used the best butter!" The march hair professed as he threw the butter tray at Alice and the rabbit. The two lurched backward as the tray slammed into the table and the hair began his bout of laughter yet again.
"It's true, I haven't seen any need for you're being in wonderland since it was overrun by all of those disgusting creatures. Must've been enough of that vial ruin to suffocate a Jabberwock . Maybe you're here because you prefer your own world over that of the outside. Speaking of preference, do you prefer Darjeeling or Earl Grey? This Darjeeling is delicate and clean, but then again the Earl Grey that I have is quite deep and floral. If you like you can also have a glass of wine." The hatter mused.
"But I don't see any wine." Alice said as she glanced over the table.
"There isn't any!" Hatter laughed. He dropped a cube of sugar into his cup and stirred it into the tea, splashing it all over the tablecloth.
"I should know better….." Alice scolded herself. "Why do I even bother to ask you these sorts of questions?"
"Why are you asking me if you know that I don't know?" Hatter said as he picked up one of the many teapots. "If you're looking for a wise man then go find Caterpillar or that cat of yours. Want some more tea?"
"More tea? I haven't had any tea yet, and no thank you. At the moment I'd prefer answers. When it comes to seeing the importance of certain situations, you can be blind as a bat, Hatter." Alice said as she let herself slide from the floating chair, onto the grass.
"Bat? Twinkle-twinkle little bat!" Dormouse sang as he began giggling once again. Alice rolled her eyes as she walked toward the waterfall that led into the valley.
"Where is that blasted cat anyway?" Alice whispered to herself.
"Looking for something?" Alice paused as she glanced over her shoulder. She smiled pertly and crossed her arms when she saw him wearing his trademark grin.
"Someone to be precise and that someone happens to be you."
"Well then?" he purred.
"I don't know why I'm here. My Wonderland isn't in peril. The ruin's gone, Hatter's having tea with the March Hair and Dormouse, the grass is green and the water's clear." Alice said as she gazed at the world around her.
"What did Hatter say?" The Cheshire Cat asked as his ears flicked in the breeze.
"His explanation was that I was here out of preference." Alice sighed.
"And it's true. The last couple visits that you had were unpleasant, because you were falling apart. This time it's not you. When you were young you were here to escape the world around you…and that's why you're here now." He told her.
"I'm not sure I understand…."
"This time it's the rest of the world who's gone mad, not you and if I recall correctly you once said that you didn't want to go among mad people."
"So I'm here to escape the madness that the rest of the world has fallen victim to, instead of my own?" Alice asked.
"Prrrrrecicely." The cat whispered. Alice sighed as she finally realized the full extent of the problem. "In the eyes of the outside world you are a criminal…a murderer. You killed that sick excuse of a man to save yourself and the other children from the dark fate you were all destined for. You brought about death, that's all that matters to the rest of the world. That's how well the abusers of this world have pulled the wool over the rest of their eyes. They can't, and may never see the side of the doctor that you did."
"Those children were thrown out onto the streets after Bumby died….After I killed him."
"You didn't choose the fate of those children. The world chose it for them." The Cheshire Cat vanished, as did the rest of Wonderland and Alice couldn't bear to look. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could and only opened them when she heard a noise like someone hitting a street post. When she opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by bricks and steel bars.
"Alice….got ya' self in trouble again did ya'?" an officer was standing outside the cell looking in at her. "If I 'ad a shilling for every night ya' spent in gaol, I'd be a rich man."
"What do ya' 'ave there? Alice again?" another officer asked as he approached the cell. "What's she done now?"
"Out in the streets mumblin' to 'erself. Something about tea, wine, a cat and killin' that Bumby fellow."
"Ay, you think she's the one 'at's done it?"
"Wouldn't be surprised…girl was one o' his patients ya' know." Alice listened to the whole conversation in terror. "We should 'ave 'em investigate…put 'er on trial an if she's guilty…."
"Off with 'er head!" Alice's thoughts began to wander when she heard the officer.
"Off with her head….." the Queen of Hearts herself had made such a remark, though criminals never were really put to death by beheading in London. More likely she would be hung. Alice spent the next few days in gaol, her mind constantly drifting back and forth between the dark cell and Wonderland. Alice still clung to the words Caterpillar had told her on the infernal train. Was this her way of paying for witnessing the pain of others...or just a taste of madness from the outside world? Alice thought to herself, if she could read the story of her own life…would there be a happy ending? There certainly wasn't much happiness in the middle of the story. She may as well have torn those pages out, folded them into paper ships and set sail in the Vale of Tears. If the middle wasn't worth saving…what was the ending going to be like? Guilty or innocent? Life or death?
"Does it really matter?" Alice whispered to herself. Maybe dealing with this world-gone-mad was like setting sail in a paper ship. Doomed to sink. What about the trial? If she was found innocent she would have destroyed the greatest evil in London and would never have to witness another suffer from his abuse ever again. If she was found guilty and sentenced to hang…she could spend eternity in her beloved Wonderland and never see this mad world again. When the day of her judgment would finally come, she could stand without fear…waiting to see whether or not she would hear the words she'd heard so many times before. Off with her head.