Jack
Today it was as if I had seen Hatter for the first time. I couldn't explain it. There was something in her that I had never noticed before. No, I must have seen it at least once.
I only say that because of the emotions that I had felt when I saw her at gun point. I had felt so scared for her. Enough for me to shoot that man.
I had never imagined myself killing another person. I felt a wave of both guilt and pride. Guilt because I had ended a life. What I had done could not be undone. Pride because I had protected Hatter. I had saved her.
Hatter
I sat near the bed, where Alice was sleeping. I expected her to wake up at any moment. I was surprise that my shouting at Jack hadn't woken her.
The room was dark and peaceful, the opposite of how I was feeling inside. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Jack had really shot that man to protect me.
I had never thought him capable of killing. He was too good to spill someone else's blood. Then what had just happened?
What was happening? He had seemed like a different person. Everything that I thought that I knew about him changed in an instant.
Well, almost everything. There was still one thing that I knew for sure. This had proved it even more. I was in love with him.
Alice awoke with a start, jolting strait up, breathing heavily. "Alice", I said in a calm tone. "Are you ok?" She looked at me and nodded.
"I'm not frozen anymore."
"I guess you're not." She let out a long sigh.
"You don't know how free I feel right now." I gave her a weak smile.
"Do you feel better?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you did faint."
"Oh", she paused for a moment. "I'm ok. Are you?"
"Yes."
"I am so sorry. I can't bare to imagine what would have happened if Jack hadn't-"
"You don't have to think about that." I said quickly. "Let's just focus on the good things that happened today, alright?" She nodded and I smiled.
Jack
I was sitting alone in the new diner. I had cleaned up the mess in the other room, not wanting it to alarm anyone. I had closed the curtains over the windows, so that passers by couldn't look in and see me.
I had never felt more lost and alone in my life. Nothing made sense any more. The few things that I depended on to be fact had turned out to be fiction.
I felt as if I didn't know myself anymore. I had been lying to myself my whole life. This wasn't true, I had always been truthful to myself, at least I used to be. Now I didn't know anymore.
"Jack are you in here?" It was Hatter's voice. I was tempted to not say anything. I couldn't talk to her. She was the reason that I was feeling so conflicted. But I knew that it wasn't her fault.
"Yes", I called back. A moment latter, she was at the doorway.
"What are you doing in here?"
"Thinking", I said simply. She sat down across from me.
"About what happened?"
"About everything."
"Alice is free now. That's one good thing to think about." I tried to smile, but I couldn't.
"Are you ok? I want an honest answer, Jack." I didn't want to have to vent to her, but I knew that she might be able to understand what I was going through.
"I'll survive." She smirked.
"I thought you'd say something like that. Don't beat your self up about anything that happened today. Everything happens for a reason, and the important part is that none of us got hurt." I was surprised that she could speak such wise words, I told her this.
"Jack, you of all people should know that I'm anything but wise. That was just common sense." She laughed, not a hurtful laugh or a snarky, but a real, genuine laugh.
"You know, I think you have a pretty laugh, when you're not using it to insult me."
"Sometimes you just make it to easy."
"Oh do I now, Hattie?"
"Really, you're still using that one?"
"Yes, Hattie, I most certainly am." I said, grinning.
"Jack, it's getting annoying."
"That's the point." She gave me a look, but ended up laughing through it.
I never would have expected that she would be able to make me feel better, but she had.