Today was going to be another sad day... another bad day, lonely day, exhausting day, depressing day, awful day, hurtful day, tiring day, long day, boring day, thought filled day, horrifying day... a painful day. Just another Alice-less day for the Mad Hatter.
He awoke-- well, you wouldn't say 'awoke', as he never really slept-- with a smile on his face as usual, but he didn't look the same until he had placed his magnificent hat upon his head. How he missed it while he was in bed... so he did sometimes leave it on when he went to bed.
He looked as if he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Of course, he probably did because this was true. He couldn't sleep. He could sometimes ignore the voices in his head long enough to sleep an hour or two. The whispering sometimes even lulled him to sleep. But the voices had grown louder, and angrier. They all said the same thing. They all asked him for the same thing. He knew they wouldn't give him peace until he fulfilled their wishes: Alice.
Alice, Alice, Alice... Everything seemed to be about Alice.
The Mad Hatter sighed, though he smiled at the nervous wreck across from him.
"You're late for tea!" cried the March Hare, as an object flew over the Hatter's head. He ducked, and it missed by a few centimeters. The Hare looked about anxiously, as though someone was watching him from the woods and was going to punish him for his actions.
"I do apologize, my old friend," he said cheerfully, "but I don't recall sleeping last night. I don't think I slept a wink..." He allowed a look of sadness to flash across his face, but he snapped right back into his normal self and smiled once more. Though his smile wasn't that convincing.
"I wish Alice were here. She wouldn't be late! She was never late!" The Hare cackled with laughter for reasons unknown to the Hatter.
"Actually she was very late to come here, am I correct?" The Dormouse, too, laughed maniacally, and the Hatter joined in. They all had such good fun. "But I miss Alice terribly."
"As do I," the Hatter added casually, tidal waves of sorrow washing over his friends. The mood got somehow darker as the Hare began to sob
loudly while his laughter continued. Not very unusual for him.
The rest of the tea party carried on in silence, with the exception of the occasional cries of the Hare, of course. The three of them didn't want to upset each other further. And the Hare and Dormouse didn't take much pleasure in the Hatter's sadness.
Alice couldn't believe her eyes. Could she really be back in her precious Wonderland? All she knew was that she was in a peculiar looking forest. She was afraid to pinch herself, as it could only be a dream. But she must try to find her friends while she could.
She ran through the woods, trying desperately to see something she recognized. She stopped and examined her surroundings. She had no idea where she was, but she could hear laughter and saw a light, and she ran toward it.
She burst through the trees and into a clearing. In the middle of the dim light that broke through the thick canopy of leaves sat a table. It was bare, except for a tattered and stained white table cloth spread over the surface of it. She could still hear the laughter even though there seemed to be no one in sight.
"Hatter? Dormouse? Hare? Oh, where are you?!" she cried.
"You know this is only a dream," came the familiar voice of the Chesire Cat from behind.
"Of course! I couldn't have simply returned to Wonderland just like that... No, it'd be far to easy," she sighed, turning to see his
bodiless head floating above her. His eyes sparkled and his smile was as dazzling as usual.
"Then why are you looking for everyone?" he asked. He looked her as though she were mad. He did a flip in midair, and his body appeared as he eased himself into the crease of a tree branch. "Why bother if you're only going to wake up again?"
"Because, I'd like to see my friends again. What's so wrong with that?"
"Wait, Alice..?!"
Alice awoke with a start. She looked around her poorly lit quarters and sighed. Of course it had only been dream. She was still on her way to China. And she was still NOT in Wonderland.
She could see the sun rise through the small window in the top corner of her room. It was a beautiful mixture of red and purple, but it wasn't very good news for all of the sailors out in the waters today. She had a feeling there was storm coming their way.
Alice was disappointed that she has been unable to see her friends before she woke up, but at least she had had a chance to see the Chesire Cat. She couldn't help but like him. She couldn't help but feel that the dream had been somewhat real.
Why could she remember everything so vividly? Who had been calling her name as she woke up? And why was she now wearing the dress she wore in Wonderland?
The Hatter would have begun to fear for his sanity, had he not lost it long ago. He didn't know if he had actually seen Alice, or if it had just been his imagination.
He asked the Chesire Cat who had been nearby if he had seen her too. He replied plainly, "No." And the Hatter walked away disappointed, yet unable to believe the Cat. He was sure of what he seen. He knew she had been standing there for sure now.
He went to bed still thinking about what he had seen. Some of the voices screamed at him to let it go, while others told him to get to the bottom of if. But all of them said something about eventually finding Alice. He never did anything without his voices, so he was completely unsure of what to do.
But there was one voice inside of him that gave him a pleasing message. It sounded like something a proper parent-- something he never had-- would say.
Follow your heart...
A/N: Okay, I know it be pretty random 'n all, but I just got home from the movie when I decided to write a fic about it. I was disapointed nothing really happened between Alice and the Hatter, okay? Don't be judging!