The story continues…
A note: I own nothing but my imagination.
Chapter 2: Alice's Story
"Well, I suppose I shall begin at the beginning and end at the ending," said Alice. She cleared her throat, and continued:
"Not long after my trip through the Looking-Glass, my parents decided to move the entire family to North America. Some sort of business reason, although my father never did bother to explain it to us. Years passed uneventfully, I continued my lessons at all of the best schools America had to offer, in many different States -"
"States? Emotional or physical?" the March Hare interrupted.
Alice laughed. "No, no, not like that. Hmm… How to explain… America is one country, but it is also split up into a bunch of little countries."
"Well, no wonder they're in such a state!"
"Marchy, do let her get on with the story," the Hatter chided.
"Oh, alright..."
Alice unfolded the story of her adolescence to her three surreal friends. There were a few interruptions when the Dormouse would have to be woken or the Hare lost interest. The Hatter, however, was strangely quiet, seemingly absorbing every detail into the whirling, spinning madness of his mind. I cannot, however, recount the whole of her history, seeing as much of it was quite dull and inconsequential to the story.
I will, however, tell you this:
When Alice was twenty, she became engaged to a young man named Gregory. They were deeply in love, and Alice began to believe that she could trust him with the secret of Wonderland. She debated about telling him for many years, and on the day before they were to be wed, she decided she had to tell Gregory everything. After all, where was the sense in marrying someone who didn't know everything about you?
So she sat Gregory down in the parlor, and took his hand, and looked into his warm mahogany eyes, and she told him everything. Alice spoke for hours, telling him of the Duchess and her baby that turned to a pig, of the Mad Hatter's tea party, and the Cheshire Cat. She even fancied she saw a flicker of pride in Gregory's eyes when she told him about her becoming a Queen in Looking-Glass land.
After Alice was finished, he stood, gave her a tender hug, and said quite calmly that he was going to have her committed to the nearest insane asylum.
The Hatter chose to interrupt for the first time here:
"An asylum? Why ever would he do that? It's quite obvious that you're mad!"
Alice was taken aback. "Well, yes, that's the point, isn't it?"
"No, it's not the point at all! An asylum is for people who are sane!" Hatter said in tones that made it quite obvious that this was a well-known fact.
"He's quite right, you know," the March Hare added.
Alice sighed. "Well, where I come from, they're for people who have lost their minds."
"Why don't they go out and look for them, then?" asked the Hare.
Alice chose to ignore the Hare's remark and continue her story. "After that, of course, I never saw him again. The people from the asylum, I assume, showed up at my flat's door the next morning to find it quite empty. I had gone back to my mother's home, although I could never fully explain to her what caused Gregory and I to have a falling-out.
"Two years have passed since then, and I've never bothered with relationships again, and I do believe I'm a good deal better for it."
The Mad Hatter looked troubled. "No, no, you've left something out. You must have done."
"Well... Yes..." Alice trailed off, reluctant to go on.
"Yes?" the Dormouse asked.
"Alice, you must tell us," Hatter urged.
Alice drew a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Alright... After we moved, Father and Mother started to have frequent rows. They'd shout and scream, and, sometimes, throw things at each other. My sister and I... well, we'd stuff cotton in our ears and hide under the quilts on our beds, but we could still hear. It got worse and worse, but they'd always make an effort to treat us well, and never fight around us.
"Then... one day, Father had had a particularly difficult day at his new job, and when he got home he found I had broken a vase and..." She mumbled the last few words.
"What?" the Hare asked.
"...he hit me," Alice repeated in a small voice.
"Oh, Alice... that explains everything." The Hatter's hazel eyes clouded slightly. "Did you know, the Red King and Queen have always represented your parents? We could always have a vague idea of what was going on in your life by how they treated each other. I'm afraid that the Queen has gone quite mad."
"I thought madness was a normal thing, here?" Alice asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"Ah, but this is another type of madness. This is a... a... dark madness. She's gone to war with the King and Queen of Hearts, and had her husband beheaded."
"What about the White Queen?"
The Hatter waved a hand in dismissal. "Oh, they've always been at war."
"Oh dear."
The March Hare chuckled softly. "Oh, don't worry, the Whites and Reds never kill each other. They just capture."
"Not anymore, Marchy. I've been out in the dark parts of the woods. It seems that everything beyond our little sanctuary has become twisted," Hatter said softly.
"Everything?" Alice asked, eyes wide, a thrill of fear and curiosity suffusing her mind.
"You were nearly eaten by a tree, weren't you?"
"Well, yes, but I've also fallen down rabbit holes and walked through mirrors. Not to mention changing size more often than... than... anything!"
The Hatter and the Hare gave her a blank look. The Dormouse probably would have joined in, simply for the sake of doing something, but he had fallen asleep again.
"My dear, size is all relative," Hatter said kindly. "My second cousin, in example, is quite tall, but my great aunt is very short."
Alice sighed in exasperation. "So why am I here?"
"That, I can't guess," the Hatter said regretfully. Then he brightened up, grinning and showing off his buckteeth. "I know someone who can, though!"
"Who?"
"Why, the Cheshire Cat, of course!"
To be continued in the next chapter: The Know-It-All Grin