Episode 1: A Strange Introduction

My name is Ally. Ally Walker. And this is the story of how I met a peculiar cat.

A Cheshire Cat.

My day started out like any other day. With me, stuck in the middle of traffic. I was sitting in my car in the far back of the lane waiting for the light to turn green.

In my mind, I kept thinking to myself: "How do I always end up in these situations?"

I slammed my head against the wheel when the light finally turned green. All the cars moved ahead to the downtown area of Pittsburgh. I could finally get to work.

Once I got to my office building's parking garage, I immediately scrambled out of my car with my purse and folders. I needed to hurry up and get to my meeting that was starting in 10 minutes.

I worked for a publishing company that was on its way to publishing an author's non-fictional novel called Me and My Dog.

Unfortunately, I didn't know what the book was about but hopefully, this was to be discussed today during the meeting.

But suddenly, I was stopped by a homeless man sitting right beside the elevator.

Oddly enough he was wearing a top hat on his head. Not only was he wearing a top hat, but he also had on a rugged dirty brown suit with a purple bowtie and blue dress pants. A colorful yet odd choice of clothing. But who am I to judge?

"Excuse me, miss, could you spare some a moment?" the homeless man asked.

"I'm sorry, I need to get going," I responded.

"Oh, but please, it will only take but a moment." He said as he pulled out a stopwatch from his suit. "We have all the time in the world."

I was confused as to why he pulled out a stopwatch, but other than that I needed to get going, but this homeless man looked desperate for my time so, I gave him some.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You wouldn't have happened to see my cat, have you? He's grey with blue stripes and light blue eyes." The homeless man said as he put away his watch.

My first thought was that this was a very odd description for a cat.

But I didn't want to tell him that.

"No, I haven't. But if I do see it, I will make sure to bring it back to you."

"Oh no, I was going to say you can have him. He's a good-for-nothing cat that causes me too much trouble every chance he gets. He's made me quite upset ever since we've arrived here from Underland."

At that moment I was confused. He needed some help. Professional help.

"Okay…? Bye now."

"Oh, and he does tend to…vanish from time to time. And his name is Cheshire."

Nonsensical as that was to me, I nodded my head and hopped onto the elevator as it arrived.

I checked the time on my watch and saw that it was 5 minutes until the meeting.

I was on the first floor, going up to the tenth floor. And as the elevator was going up, I was thinking to myself about the homeless man and his missing cat.

His missing Cheshire Cat? Again, very odd.

But I doubt he was talking about the cat from the book Alice in Wonderland. The last time I read that book was when I was 10 years old. Back when my parents were…around.

Even if he was talking about the cat, then he must think he's the Mad Hatter or something. That would explain the top hat. But I guess his mental state is a little off the clocks if you catch my drift.

You never see a man wearing a top hat nowadays. Very odd.

Once the elevator reached the tenth floor, I quickly ran off and made my way past a couple of my co-workers and straight to the big meeting room. I was stumbling with all my folders and paperwork in my hands, but I was ready to discuss the publication of the book.

As I got to the door, my boss, Mr. Riggs was standing there with a massive chest and his arms folded across his black suit. His jet-black hair stood elegant as always.

Made me feel like I was talking to a general in the army.

"I'm sorry I'm late Mr. Riggs. It won't happen again but I'm here now and ready for the meeting." I said, trying to sound optimistic. I was still trying to get my folders and paperwork organized.

Mr. Riggs gave me the sternest stare down I've ever seen.

His height compared to me was intimidating. And as he was staring at me, I saw some of my other co-workers leaving the meeting room.

"We already had the meeting," Mr. Riggs said. "You're late. We're pushing for the publication of Me and My Dog."

I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

"But sir, I—I had some notes on the story that I think we should have discussed. And maybe something to help improve it. I was also planning if I could talk to the author later on today about-"

"Ally," Mr. Riggs said calmly. It's over, okay? We're going through with it. I would say I'm disappointed in you, but I refuse to waste my energy on another one of my workers. This is the fourth time you have been late to work. One more slip up and I'll have no choice but to fire you. Now get to work! I have other things to tend to." Mr. Riggs said as he walked away from me. "Oh, and one more thing. You're not an author. And you're not a writer. Stop trying to write stories for others and focus on publication."

"Yes, sir," I said in a quiet tone.

I couldn't believe I was late. In my mind, I wanted to punch someone in the face, but I had to control myself. So, I headed to the women's bathroom before I went to my cubicle. Once there, I put the folders down on the sink and looked myself in the mirror, I noticed my long brown hair was a mess.

So, I did my best to try and comb my hair back into place. Then I splash some water on my face.

I thought to myself how bad my day's been going so far. Even though it was just the morning, I couldn't help but feel that things were only going to get worse. I didn't understand how I could have woken up late again. This defiantly was the fourth time I did this, so I can see how Mr. Riggs was mad at me.

It was probably because I was watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

When I think about it, in almost every movie I've seen Harry somehow finds a way to solve his problems and, in the end, becomes the wizard he was meant to be.

But he didn't do it alone. He had friends by his side to help him along the way. Ron and Hermione were always with him. No matter what dangerous secrets they would find at Hogwarts.

But compared to my life, I had no friends. It was just me in my little world.

That just kind of made me feel worse about myself.

I just wished I had at least one friend to be by my side.

"You're not an author…you're not a writer…stop trying to write stories for others," I mocked Mr. Riggs.

All my life all I did was want to tell stories and write novels. But things did work out that way. I had to accept it, but I couldn't. But I had no choice.

I don't know why but I just felt so alone.

"You look as though you were caught in a mischievous trap," said a smooth voice.

I didn't know whose voice that was, but it sounded like an older gentleman. I turned around and saw that there was no one behind me. But then I realized that I was the only one in the women's bathroom. And that this was in fact the women's bathroom.

"Who said that?" I asked.

It was silent for the moment.

"You really should take a closer look at the looking-glass if you wish to find out."

I was skeptical at first, but I turned back to the mirror and saw nothing. The longer I stood staring at the mirror, the more I noticed a wide grin was appearing from the side of me. Then it turned upside down in a full circle only for two cat eyes to appear.

Soon enough, a cat's head was floating beside me.

It had bright blue eyes just as the homeless man described it.

"Hello, love, what troubles you?" the cat said with a wide grin.

My mind was streaming with questions. But I was also frightened by the creature.

"What are you?" I asked.

"Names Cheshire. Cheshire the Cat?"

"Are you real?"

"That depends on how mad you are?" Cheshire said as he giggled a little.

Then the cat vanished from the mirror.

"So, what troubles you love?" Cheshire asked.

I turned to the right and saw the cat's full figure floating in midair. It had the same description the homeless man described.

With its blue stripes covering his chubby body head to toe.

"It's nothing, just having a bad start to the day is all," I said.

"A bad day you say?" Cheshire said. "Well, that's nothing I can't fix."

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal."

"Well, you sure did seem upset. But if that's how you wish to proceed then don't mind me." Cheshire said. "But do tell me. What do you call yourself?"

"Ally…Ally Walker."

"Ally? That name almost reminds me of someone I once knew…before I came here, I mean. I do wonder if she remembers me?"

Cheshire started spinning and floating around me.

"But no matter, I at least found my new owner."

"Who?"

"You, of course."

I was shocked when he said that. Because…I am not gonna own a floating, disappearing cat. Wait what am I doing? Am I seriously talking to a floating cat?

"Oh, absolutely not!" I spoke. "I don't know where you came from, but you need to go back to your owner."

"But the Mad Hatter doesn't want to take me back. He's made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with me anymore. You've seen it for yourself. I need someone else to provide for me in this world."

"Not happening, I'm not dealing with a weird cat thing in my life."

Cheshire faced suddenly went puppy dog and he started sounding depressed.

"If you say so," Cheshire said. "Perhaps we will see each other again soon, love."

The cat evaporated away. I was left alone in the bathroom, and I splashed more water on my face to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating that moment.

Cause I know that I'm awake.

That's for sure.

So, as my workday was coming to an end, I went down the elevator trying to ignore the strange encounter I had with the Cheshire Cat in the bathroom. I still thought that it was just a hallucination and that was pretty much my excuse.

Or at least, I hoped it was a hallucination. I honestly hoped it was. For the longest time, I just considered it was my brain messing with me. I did have an attendance to daydream a lot so maybe that's what caused that moment. I was probably just standing in the bathroom talking to myself all crazy.

I don't know though; it was Friday, and I was about ready to get some extra sleep.

But once I got down to the garage level, I saw that the homeless man was gone. Maybe he went to go find something to eat? Who knows?

Once I made it to my car, I hopped into the driver's seat, put my purse on the passenger's seat, and started the car.

"So, where are we heading to?" a voice said beside me.

I turned to the passenger's seat and saw the Cheshire Cat sitting in the seat with my purse in his little paws. He was staring at me with the same wide grin from before. A suitable reaction would be for me to be shocked and tell him to go away.

But eventually, I saw no use in fighting it anymore and soon came to terms that this was happening to me. Plus, I was tired from the workday.

"You're not gonna go away, are you?" I asked.

"No, love," Cheshire said.

At first, I sighed, then I spoke.

"Fine. But answer me this. Why do you want me to be your owner! Why me? You don't know anything about me."

"Because there's something special about you. And I can tell that we are going to be the bests of friends," Cheshire said with a grin. "And besides, I have no way of getting back to Underland so I might as well enjoy my time here."

I went silent for a few seconds to recollect myself.

Because so far this has been a both bad and weirdest day of my life.

"Alright, let's go to my house then."

"Wonderful, thank you, Ally. I will be the best pet you've ever had."

I drove out of the parking garage and into the streets of downtown.

"We'll see." I thought to myself. "I have a Cheshire Cat living with me. Gee, I wonder how this is gonna turn out."

And with that on my mind, I drove off down the street between the buildings.

This is only the beginning of my troubles. But I'm gonna find out why that is.

"Why is the Cheshire Cat here in our world? And why am I the one dealing with this? I guess I needed to figure this out."

(Hope you all like Episode 1, more to come in the coming days or weeks but please review and let me know what you think.)

(As all ways remember the name, Sheriff Sebastian. Peace!)