A/n - I'm not Lewis Carol, and I'm definitely not rich, so no claims on Alice.
Close your eyes for a mere second. Take a deep breath, and let the world melt away. Imagine a place where you're safe, a place where your dreams come true, where the sun shines, and everything seems just a little bit better because you're there.
Now open them, and that world fades away to the reality of the now, the inherit darkness hiding behind the little things. The moon doesn't seem as bright, and the trees not quite as green. But it's the world you live in, and as far as you know, it's the best one out there.
But that doesn't mean you can't dream. When you close your eyes, and the numbness of sleep slowly overtakes your body, it's easy to fall victim to the make-belief, to a world full of sunshine and magics, of love and of adventure, and of him.
But you wake up.
And it slowly fades away, dimmed by reality.
And that scared her most of all. Waking up in that hospital bed, hearing of her injury, and how it's been a mere few hours, her adventures seemed like a dream, a concoction of her mind to help her move on, past her father and her fears. Any shrink would have a field day helping her understand it.
But something inside her kept telling her that this was real. That it wasn't just a creation of her mind while it repaired itself for a fall she took, but rather an adventure she had in a world full of wonder (it was Wonderland, after all), and of love.
Because even if she wasn't in love with Hatter, there was a definite yet in that statement.
But he was gone, and she was back home, with no way to get back, no way to get prove that it was real, no matter what she thought.
That's the unspoken truth, as far as she saw it. No one ever talks of what happens to heroes after they return from their grand adventures in a new world. Writers don't dwell on the uncertainty that sinks in when you return, of the fear you get from feeling like you've gone mental, and just imagined it in your head.
How many others, she wondered, have felt what she's feeling now? That shadow of a doubt that grows with every second, dimming out her memories until they seemed like dreams getting ready to be forgotten by the tasks of the morning, fading away.
If nothing else, she thought to herself, she can finally stop chasing her father. Putting his things away with a calm clarity, she knew that if nothing else, she can finally start living without the burden of uncertainty of his fate. He was a good man, taken by force, not a runaway driven by fear.
She will let herself believe that.
She was barely listening when her mom said something about a construction worker that found her stopping by. Alice was sure that the man wouldn't show, after all, her mother must've cornered him into coming by for dinner, unsure of how to show her gratitude.
But then she saw him. And her mind went into overdrive, barely registering the words that left her mouth, or the actions that followed.
It was him, and he was here, and he was with her.
When they pulled away, the shadow crept back into her mind. What if it isn't him? What if he was the one her mind remembered, making him the center of her dream? What if it's all in her head, a dream much like Alice of Wonderland had?
But then he's whispering into her ear, and that's all the proof she needs.
After all, everyone's mad in wonderland.
This little tidbits been floating in my head for a long while,
No beta'ing, might turn into a story, depending on a plot bunnies' attack strategy