After all she had been through, Alice would never have thought she would go mad.
Having visited a world where more than six impossible things were possible, having travelled to the far corners of the world and having witnessed the most exotic cultures, she thought nothing out of the ordinary could have shocked her, no matter how bizarre.
Until things happened that were much more out of the ordinary than the appearance of a white rabbit with a waistcoat.
"Well, it is certainly nice to see that you have come back from your travels safe and sound," her mother said, her tone a little sharper than usual as they sat next to each other in the dining hall, waiting for their tea to be served.
"The sailor and traders, all of them were talking about you, you know. Told each other how surprised they were that a person so tiny and so very... female had been able to breathe some life into the company."
Alice smiled to herself. She had heard similar things being said about her before, after all.
Their maid entered the room and quietly served them, while Alice was well aware of the anxious looks her mother was throwing her way.
Just after the maid had left and closed the door behind her, Alice felt her hand being grabbed and fiercely squeezed.
"I know how this was certainly... an important experience for you," her mother said and nodded her head with earnest vigour, "But couldn't you consider taking care of more important matters now? You wouldn't want to leave your family without an heir, would you?"
"Mother..." Alice tried, "I have got work that needs to be done. For the sake of this family I am keeping the company alive my father worked so hard to build, how is that not important?"
"I understand," her mother said, her tone now desperate, the earlier sharpness gone, "Believe me, I really do, but..."
She let go of Alice's hand and reached for her teacup. Her hands never touched it.
Alice watched in amazement as her mother froze in mid-movement.
"Mother...?"
She blinked once, twice, and then a third time, but what she saw before her did not change. Her other was completely still. When Alice touched her, it felt cool and smooth, like a statue.
Alice scrambled out of her chair and hurried out of the room in search for help, but when she reached the kitchen to look for the maid, she gasped in surprise.
The young woman had been scrubbing the kitchen floor, but she too, was completely still. Even the water that had sloshed around in her work stood still as if frozen.
Alice ran upstairs to the master bedroom, where she expected their other servant to shake out her mother's pillow, but he too, was frozen in his task.
Alice now felt a slight panic creep up her spine, and tried to listen for sounds of someone, anyone, who might help, or even be responsible for this curious happening, but she heard nothing, absolutely nothing.
It was as if the entire world had stopped breathing.
That was when she heard it.
"Alice."
Her name, whispered by a female voice.
She turned around hastily, but only found herself looking back at her from the reflection of the mirror that stood next to her mother's wardrobe.
She stepped closer towards it, too afraid to answer the call, and touched the glass with her fingertips.
Nothing happened.
Alice yelped when the sudden sound of a pillow hitting the bed startled her.
The servant was looking at her quizzically.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Lady Alice?" he asked and cocked his head at the fear in her eyes, but she just shook her head no and stumbled out of the room.
"Alice?" her mother called her, "Alice! This is a very rude way of avoiding a discussion! Where are your manners?"
Alice reluctantly tiptoed back into the dinning room, wondering why she was the one who was being hassled about thing such as this and not her sister who was very much married already.
**
Even though she spent the next few days eyeing everything around her, Alice could not find any sign that what happened had not just been a one-time occurrence, although a very weird one.
Life continued to go its way. The aristocrats continued to play cricket, the ships sailed in and out, and Alice led the busy life of a trader while her mother searched high and low for a person suitable enough to marry into their family.
Eventually she seemed to succeed, when a long-abandoned property in the neighbourhood got sold to a duke who was said to be both intelligent and well-situated, and as soon as his acquaintance was made, Ms Kingsley went to organise a garden party in his honour.
Alice was kept away from her books and calculators and forced to write party invitations and try on new dresses to look her very best for the big event, so that amidst all the excitement she nearly forgot all about what had happened, until a few helpers froze while erecting tents in their garden..
Alice, who had been watching a couple of rain clouds gather in the east, felt silence descend upon the meadow and found that not only the men had frozen, pillars still in hand, but the clouds stopped moving as well, and so did the oak trees that had been swept by strong winds.
Once again not a sound could be heard, no grass crunching beneath her feet as she walked, no birds chirping, nothing.
On her way inside Alice noticed a butterfly frozen in the air in mid-flight.
She entered the house through the terrace and found her mother frozen whilst instructing one of the servants.
In passing Alice eye's caught the tall grandfather's clock in the far right hand corner of the room.
It too, did neither move nor make a sound.
She looked at the time: It was just past six o' clock.
Alice began her search once more, but in the back of her mind she was aware of how pointless it was, after all she did not know what she was looking for.
"Alice!"
The voice again, this time much more urgent and just a fraction louder, and again Alice turned, only to come face to face with the small mirror in the hallway.
She blinked – she was certain she had just seen a flash of silver hair disappear.
**
When she went to bed that night, the voice followed Alice into her dreams, and that was when she finally recognised it.
"Please help him, Alice, he is so very very tired."
It was unmistakably the voice of Queen Mirana.
"Please, Alice."
Alice tried to ask who the Queen was talking about, but as soon as she concentrated on her question, the fog seemed to lift and she woke up.
It was still night.
Confused and wide awake, Alice climbed out of bed. Since it was not proper to be awake at such an ungodly hour, she thought that maybe a glass of milk would calm her.
She went down to the kitchen, where her hands clumsily reached for the opened bottle of milk from the previous morning, then a cup, and poured herself a drink.
When she looked out of the window, the full moon seemed to grin at her. In her surprise Alice almost dropped her cup.
Some very strange things were happening, she was sure of it. As successfully as her work and family had distracted her from all things wondrous, all things unbelievable and all things mad, after hearing the Queen's voice, the part of her life that Alice had tried so hard to shake caught up with her.
No, she thought to herself, she was a responsible person now, the kind of person her father would be proud of. Dwelling on dreams, whether they really had been dreams or not, would not do her any good.
"Please, Alice, he is waiting for you."
Her heart jolted painfully in her chest, as the voice brought back another memory – a huge hat, and eyes as green as a forest in spring.
Could it be the Queen was referring to...?
When Alice went back into her room, she caught a ray of moonlight reflected in the hallway mirror.
She thought she had heard the rustling of a dress, but there was no one to be seen.
**
Finally the day of the party arrived.
Alice had been restless all day, a huge number of guests had been invited once again, and while she was worried about the money that had been spent to cater all of them, the situation was far to similar to the last garden party she had attended, her engagement party, no less.
She had promised Margaret not to run away this time, seeing how much it had hurt herd ear mother, but the urge to was stronger than she wanted to admit even to herself.
While she greeted her guests one after another, the tension in the air became almost unbearable.
All of them just waited for the special guest, the dashing young duke who was supposed to sweep Alice off her feet, and while she ignored the chatter the best she could, Alice still hoped something would ruin the party at the last possible minute before she would die from sheer embarrassment.
"That's his carriage," Margaret eventually whispered to Alice and elbowed her hard, willing her to look into the direction the sound of galloping horses could already be heard from.
Slowly the carriage pulled up onto the grassy knoll just in front of the main doors, and Alice felt murmur rise as people pushed towards it, giggling in excitement.
The moment the servant swung the carriage door open was accompanied by a collective intake of breath, and just went Alice thought she had to succumb to the urge of turning on her heel and running from this hideous display after all, it happened.