A 300 word challenge. If I write enough of these I'll compile them into chapters of one story. Until then, please enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the laptop I'm typing on.
She disappeared slowly. Like drips of water staining a page of ink. She was smudged, blurring and expanding; more smoke than girl by the end. Her eyes, expressive pools of golden brown remained until the last. They gleamed in defiance until, like water over burning coal, they blinked out.
Everyone was silent, none able to comprehend that she had left again. For she must have realised - memories didn't survive the return. Or had she really learned nothing from the first time?
The moment moved on, and like being woken from a dream, everyone turned to the Hatter. They waited minutes, for something, a reaction. He stood unmoving, ignorant to their expectations, one grey bandaged hand ever-so-slightly raised. Reaching out for something no longer there.
Someone.
The face that had smiled so often for his friends and frowned for ordeals long since forgotten, was empty, devoid of feeling. Eyes that had shined so hopefully moments before had dulled into despair. They stared into the space before him, as if watching her now; moving on with her life like none of it had happened. Like she hadn't lit a flame and promptly snubbed it.
When Malymkun dared to move closer, with a terrible sadness she saw his resignation clearly. Far from the green of contentment, or the anger of orange or red, his eyes were grey. The Hatter she knew was folding in, turning from his friends. Suddenly unwilling to face a world without his Alice in it.
How unusual.
Something had to be done about this, Mally decided, grim determination breaking through the sorrow for her friend. She would not stand for this new Hatter, not when it had taken years and the wrong Alice to get the old one back.
Something had to be done about this now.
Another rewrite. In the wrong order, but as long as it gets done, right? Thanks muchly for reading.
