Authors Note: I know how you left the last chapter. (oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!) That's how I felt writing it! Haha so…rate…comment…enjoy! PS how do you even rate a story? I have no idea…I guess just tell me what you like and don't!
Alice did not feel herself hit the Looking Glass, but instead felt herself fall down, down, down, air whizzing by her. Alice opened her eyes to see a flurry of color swirling around her, and she shut them again, letting her voice ring out in a long, scared scream.
Alice hit the ground hard, not wanted to move, for she feared that she was dead.
Only did she hear the voice of someone above her did she look up. "My, my. What have we here?" Alice lifted her head to the keeper of the voice, but the only thing that stood above her was a Cheshire cat, with an unnaturally large smile spread across his face.
"Hello?" Alice called out, her voice filled with worry. "Is this what heaven is like?" She thought.
"Welcome, Alice." The Cheshire cat purred his already enormous grin widening. Alice jumped from the floor.
"You…talk?" Alice looked at the cat in amazement.
"Are you surprised by that? You talk too. Was that amazement to your lips when you uttered your first words when you were a child?" The cat said plainly, his enormous smile never wavering.
Alice laughed, slapping her head. "My goodness I must be going insane! A talking cat! And where am I?"
"A place where insanity is what we live on." Alice stared blankly at the cat. "I should be going." The cat turned and began to walk away from Alice, its fluffy tail swinging back and forth behind it.
"Wait! No!" Alice chased after the cat, not wanting to lose it. "I don't know where I am and I need directions on how to get out of here!"
"Just follow the sign, Alice. It will take you where you need to go." And with that the cat vanished into thin air, leaving Alice very much alone.
Being by herself Alice took a look around at her surroundings. There were trees all around her, much like the woods, so that is what Alice assumed where she was. As for the sign that the cat had referred to, it was a large wooden post with arrows pointing every which way, each saying, "This way" and "That way", and even, "This is where you want to go." The last one is the path direction that Alice, followed, assuming that if the sign said that this is the way to go, then this way she would.
After following the dirt path through the forest which seemed like forever, Alice found herself in a lush garden of enormous flowers, each with exuberant colors and shapes.
"Wow. These flowers are so beautiful." Alice heard herself explain aloud as she admired how they all branched out and reached for the path as Alice walked by.
"Why thank you, my dear. I do agree that we are beautiful, if I say so myself." Alice gasped as one of the flowers (a rose to be precise, Alice noted) lifted its petals to reveal the resemblance of the face of a young woman.
"Oh my god! Do you all talk?" Alice gasped, watching as each one of the flowers after the rose revealed their female faces behind their many petals.
"We can talk," said the Tiger Lily. "When there's anybody worth talking to." Alice stared, dumbfounded, as the flowers all nodded their heads in agreement.
"What a strange looking flower," Alice felt a tickle up her spine as a Daisy reached out and touched her back. "And what an odd color she is." Alice blushed, embarrassed as she looked down at her jeans, ratty tennis shoes, and blue top; she had lost her jacket when she was attacked in the alley. "I've never seen a flower that could move around like this one does."
"I'm not a flower." Alice retorted, crossing her arms.
"Then she must be a weed!" The Rose cried, followed by a chorus of disgusted comments towards Alice.
"I'm not a weed either! I'm an 18 year old human girl named Alice!" Alice stomped her foot in frustration, her face still scarlet.
"The Alice?" The flowers leaned in, curious about the human amongst them.
"No. Just…Alice." Alice said plainly, confused by what they meant as the Alice.
"Well, that's a shame," Tiger Lily waved Alice off, "to have an ordinary girl with us. Why, she might as well be a weed!" The flowers nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry if I'm not what you cut me out to be," Alice said, frustrated by the plants around her as they looked at her like she was the most ugliest thing that they had ever seen, "but I'll be out of your way as soon as you tell me how I can get out of this place."
"Finally." The Rose said sarcastically. "The weed wants to leave!"
"Yes! Leave!" A chorus of flowers chimed in, pushing Alice farther down the path with their petals. Surprisingly, they were quite strong, and as much as Alice struggled, she had a hard time trying to release herself from the flowers clutches, until she felt herself falling again, hearing the flowers laugh as she splashed into water below her.
"No! I can't swim!" Alice cried out underwater, waving her arms frantically around her, fear engulfing her chest as she sunk lower, deeper into the waters around her, looking around for some source of help. Her lungs burned as no air seemed to fill them, and Alice shut her eyes, believing that this was how she was going to die.
Alice felt herself sink lower, lower, lower, until she hit the bottom of whatever she was in, and there she lay, knowing that this was her death bed. Water filled her mouth, choking her, but Alice's pain was more in her mind.
"Will loved me," Alice thought, "and I never returned it. He must be looking for me, wondering where I went. Mr. Carpenter and Walrus must be worried too. I'm sorry that I never made it home to you, I'm sorry."
Alice felt strong arms wrap around her she felt herself being pulled up, up, up. "Here I go to heaven." Alice thought, feeling herself emerge from the water, onto what seemed like shore. The sand was unnaturally soft and it felt nice on Alice's back.
Alice felt someone applying pressure to her stomach, pumping it with their hands, hearing the person with an English accent saying, "C'mon there, don't die on me. Don't die." Then a mouth on hers, and Alice could breathe again. Alice coughed up water, gasping for breath, her throat feeling dry and sore. The pressure on Alice's stomach came back, following once again another mouth on hers, breathing into her, giving her life.
Alice opened her eyes to see the face of an unfamiliar man slightly older then her, as soaked as she was, his brown hair flat against his face and a hat perched atop his head, bringing out his handsome features.
"You're an angel." Alice heard herself say aloud as she reached out and touched his face, his hand against her.
"That's good, you're talking." The angel, as Alice called him, ran his hand trough his hair. "I saw you fall into the lake, and didn't come back up. I was worried. "
"Thank you." Alice coughed as she turned a shade of pink and shivered. The angel felt her head and grimaced.
"This isn't good. You're catching a cold." The angel helped Alice to her feet. "Let's go back to my place where we can get you into something warm." The angel picked up his jacket that he had taken off before saving Alice and put it around her.
"Why are you helping me?" Alice asked through chattering teeth. The angel smiled.
"Does one need an excuse to help a lovely lady like yourself?" Alice blushed and extended her hand.
"I'm Alice."
The angel smiled and accepted her hand in a warm shake, tipping his hat. "They call me Hatter." And with that, Alice followed Hatter, smiling to herself, feeling so fortunate that he had found her.