While I was walking through those giant leaves, I couldn't help but think about that stupid Caterpillar. What the hell did he mean by "find the hatter"? Who was that? What was he? Who was he? Was he safe? What if he was a jerk like the Caterpillar? I sighed and figured I'd leave Mr. Caterpillar to his own devices and put him far from my mind. I suddenly got that feeling again; the one that someone was watching me. Someone was following me. I glanced around and as I did, I heard whistling. I heard a soft whistling from behind me and then again from my right. I walked faster while my heart raced.
I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I needed to get there, even if I didn't know where there was. Would they help me or just waste my time? Better yet, were they going to eat me? There were certainly very even odds that I could be eaten or helped. The whistling grew faint once more. I slowed and turned around, my chest heaving and my lungs desperately trying to drag air into them to bring oxygen to my muscles. Whilst searching for the culprate who successfully scared me half to death, I tripped over a branch—or something like it—and fell forward into a tree.
"Are you ok?" I heard someone ask. I looked up and found a boy, probably my age or a year older. He had purple hair, about to his ears. Only….he had cat ears. He had two big purple cat ears on top of his head. He had a frown on his face, which I could tell was not something that happened often, and his purple eyes were wide with confusion and interest. He wore a black and white stripped sweater, which made me feel even dizzier. He had a yellow scarf around his neck and it only made his attire even more confusing. He held out a slender hand to me and I stared at it. "Hellooooo?" he asked. I winced. Oh, his voice made my head hurt more. I took his hand and stood up, hoping I wouldn't fall over. He steadied me by grasping my arm. "Are you ok?" he asked with a smile. His smile seemed more natural than his frown.
"Yeah," I mumbled. "I'm fine."
"Well, that's great!" he said with a bright smile, one that I could have sworn stretched from ear to ear. "I'm Dagan Cheshire. People just call me "you cat" or "stupid vermin" but I like Dagan since Alyce gave me that name. I like Alyce a lot. She's really nice. She looks like you but she's taller and has bigger guns! You don't have guns do you?" I blushed, thinking he meant the other sort of guns but he looked around my arms and tried to lift my dress despite the obvious confusion I wore on my face. I smacked his cheek and held my dress down while my cheeks grew a hot scarlet color. The boy's eyes grew wide and filled with tears. "Alyce never hits me. She keeps her guns under her dress. She said it's better to hide them that way." He looked away and I suddenly felt like the worst person in the world.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you but I don't think you and I are thinking the same kind of guns. What—"
"She has guns! What else would they be? They are black and have her small signature rose on it. She said roses are the best sort of flower because they can be pretty but are very careful with who can have them." I nodded. That made no sense and yet, I understood what he meant. Everything was topsy turvy in that place.
"Well, I'm afraid I—"
"So what's your name?" he asked as he disappeared. I blinked and looked around. Where in the world did he go? He looked down at me and I jumped. He was on my head!
"How did you get on my head?" I shouted as I tried to get him off. He laughed and stood in front of me again.
"I floated there of course! How else do you get around?" he asked with a giggle. "Cheshire style is the only way to fly!" he exclaimed. I stared at him in disbelief. Well, I really couldn't say that surprised me since I had talked to a bunny with an eye patch and a boy who looked like a bunny, and had been chased by flowers, made friends with a flower and met a man who called himself a caterpillar. Meeting a boy with cat ears, a tail, and can float around shouldn't be on the list of things that surprise me anymore. Yet it did! It really did.
"Uh..." I was lost. Really, really lost. "I think I should go." I said as I started passed him. He laughed and before I knew it, he was bouncing on a tree branch just a little ways in front of me.
"Why? Do you not like me?" he asked as he hung upside down. "I like you. Though, I'd like you more if I knew your name." He said as he began to descend downward with the help of his tail. "So, what is it?" He dropped down and began walking on his hands. He walked this way and that, blocking my way as I tried to get around him.
"It was lovely to meet you but—"
"I can do magic if you want!"
"I think I should go. I'm in a bit of a hurry—" He lifted his arm before his hand disconnected itself from it and waved at me. I started screaming again and backing up until I fell over. He gasped and ran over to me.
"Oh no! Are you alright?" he asked. I tried to get away from him.
"G-go away!" I shouted. "Please I've had enough of magic and crazy today!"
"I-I-I..." He paused and stopped talking for a little while. I looked up and found him juggling his head and his arm and foot. I screamed again and started to run. He grabbed my arm and I spun back around. "I'm really sorry! I'm just trying to make you smile." He said softly. I looked up at him.
"News Flash: juggling your body parts doesn't make a girl smile!"
"Well you looked frightened so I thought I'd make you smile." He mumbled. I swallowed the bad feeling in my stomach and sighed. "I just want to make you happy." He said softly. I sighed and licked my lips in search for an answer.
"Maybe you can just...put your head back on?" I asked softly. He looked at me from his hand and smiled half-heartedly. He placed his head back on his neck and offered me a smile. He seemed so innocent even in such a dark place. "That's better. I like you with all your body parts in the right place," I said as I moved away from him. I looked up at the trees. The trees didn't seem to like Dagan Cheshire. They were lower now, their dark red leaves stretched towards him, as if hoping to pull him back away from me to devour him.
"Are you noticing the trees too?" His voice was low. I looked up at him and nodded a little. He offered me a darker sort of smile and held his hand out to me. "I think it's time we find Alyce."
"I'm right here." I said as I took his hand. He was much taller than I was. He acted so much younger than me and he even looked too young to be as tall as he was.
"No no," he said with a laugh. "Alyce, with a 'y' silly." He rolled his eyes while he smiled down at me. Those purple eyes didn't stay so carefree for long. They were instantly changed to suspecting ones, ones that said that he had no intention of joking around. "Your name is Alice then? Without a 'y'?" I nodded a little and he kissed the top of my hand.
"Pleasure to meet you," I stammered as I blushed.
"The pleasure is mine. You are much nicer than my Alyce." He complimented.
"Where is she?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe she's with one of her friends." He said as he started to walk. I followed after him quickly. I kept close to the eccentric boy and squeezed his hand tightly each time a red leaf almost touched my arm. I didn't know why, but Dagan Cheshire made me feel better. His held my hand just as tightly, reassuring me and maybe even himself.
"We're going to be ok, right?" I asked Dagan Cheshire. He nodded with a small smile.
"Of course. Nothing in this place could hurt you." He said. That I already knew was a lie. I was going to be fed to a species of flowers by another species of flower. That was danger. It was peril. It was something that could hurt me. I had this uncanny feeling that I was going to get mixed up in a war that I wanted no part of. That was danger. That could hurt me. With him, though, I felt better. Like I had with Leo. I felt like all that was far away. I walked with Dagan until we found a small road. He let out a small breath, but it held more than he thought it did. He was just as scared as I was. His shoulders, however, didn't release. They were still tense.
"Are you scared?" I asked him softly. He looked at me and smiled a wide, crescent moon grin that was anything but happy. He appeared older then. He appeared to be wise and intelligent and handsome. He looked like a different person. He looked like someone from a dream with white eyes and a harsher face.
"I'm always scared, Miss Alice." he said. "I am a creature that could easily be eaten by anything in this forest. That doesn't mean I can't be brave for a lady, though." I blushed again while his handsome, debonair smile made my stomach flutter. He was sweet...even if he was able to take his head off. There was a soft whistling and the sound of quacks coming from a little ways ahead. I clung to him tighter. Dagan smiled. "We should be safe. The umbrella birds are much nicer than anything in this forest." Just then, a family of large ducks with umbrellas for heads walked by us in a neat little row. Dagan Cheshire smiled at the tallest one, waving a little. "Hello," he said as he wiggled the ears on his head. I smiled and reached up to touch one of them gently. Much like real cat ears, they were soft and fun to touch. He let out a soft purr and rubbed his ear against my hand. I smiled and he hugged me tightly, a louder purr erupting from him.
"Dagan Cheshire?" I asked softly. He was bent at the waist, his head under my chin, his arms pulling to two of us together.
"You can just call me Dagan," he said as he rubbed his head under my chin. He purred louder and I pet his head hesitantly. I suppose there was nothing wrong. He was just a child inside, even if he wasn't on the outside.
"You have an earring," I said playing with the thing in his left ear. It made the petting his ears a little funnier. I played with the hoop a little, which made him purr more. He was just like a cat. His long purple tail wagged around in the air and it was really sort of cute. He nodded and rubbed his cheek against mine a little.
"Weren't we going somewhere?" He pouted and nodded a little, his ears tickling my cheek while he moved away from me.
"Right," he mumbled. "We're going to get out of the forest!" He took my hand in his. He smiled—he always seemed to be smiling—and pulled me along after long last. He and I broke out of the forest to find a solid pink path. Dagan smiled and started to skip along. I laughed and followed after him.
"Cheshire!" I heard a voice snap. I looked around but Dagan paused expectantly. The Rabbit came along, his little stubby legs pushing him forward. The White moved at a slower pace behind him, leisurely with his hands in his pockets inspecting the robbed robins. "What are you doing with this?" he shouted as he pointed to me.
"I have a name!" I called to the small stuffed animal.
"He knows," the White said. "He's just being rude."
"Oh excuse me!" The Rabbit said with a growl. I picked up the doll and stared down at him…it…
"Did you have something to say to him?" I asked, forcing him to look at Dagan.
"Yes!" he shouted. "Cheshire, you're supposed to be with the Dodo!" Dagan gasped.
"The Dodo? I love it there! It's so colorful!" The cat-boy disappeared while clapping his hands, the only thing staying around was his wide watermelon grin and the echo of his laughter. However, that soon faded as well and I sighed.
"The Cheshire will return to you soon, Alice." The White said kindly.
"Did you keep your clock handy?" The Rabbit asked. I nodded and reached to pull the dirty watch from my pocket. The White reached across me to pull it out of my pocket.
"Awe, Miss Alice, you should keep it clean. I worked so hard on it." The White said as used his sleeve to rub it clean. "You need to take care of your things, you know." He told me. I looked at him and he smiled. He moved close to me before dangling the open watch in front of me. The minute hand was on the four now. "Such a long time you've wasted here." He whispered to me. I moved away, a blush on my cheeks, and stared down at The Rabbit.
"Come, come, give it here." He demanded as he jumped a little, trying to get higher in the air. I grinned but handed him the watch. "You tall people..." He muttered as he inspected the watch. "Yes, you've been wasting your time!" I sighed.
"I don't understand, what are you talking about? It doesn't move like a normal clock, what is going on with it? Is it broken?"
"I made it," The White replied. "So it couldn't be broken." He smiled happily. "Perhaps you're asking the wrong questions."
"Which ones should I be asking?"
"I don't think that's one of them."
"What's this war all about?" I asked suddenly, making them both frown.
"Who told you about it?" The Rabbit demanded.
"People I've met."
"The war is for later times," The White said.
"Looks like I found a correct question to ask."
"But the wrong people to ask it to," The White murmured. "Do you hear that, Miss Alice?" he asked me as he brushed my hair over my shoulder. I tilted my head, mirroring his actions when something howled in the forest around us. I jumped considerably but when I looked to the White for answers, he and the Rabbit were halfway down a path.
"Wait for me!" I called. They didn't, of course. Once again, I was lost. "You know," I grumbled to myself as I put my hands on my hips. "I think I'll rip off those chubby little arms of his and then I'll pull out all the stuffing. Maybe make him loose his other eye. The little stupid ball of fluff."
"Damn, I wasn't even that angry at them when they made me lose my way the first time." I heard a feminine voice call down to me. I paused. Knowing this place, the woman would pop out of nowhere and I needed to be ready. I looked around the dark forest until I found a pair of brown eyes inches from my own. "Boo." I jumped and fell back screaming. Her laughter echoed through the darkness.