"Wake up my darling little Hatter," Alice sung merrily in Jefferson's face, waking him up and causing him to gasp in surprise. He had nearly forgotten about his day yesterday and of Alice. She had presented a lot of new information to Jefferson to process, and most of it had yet to sink in. "Are you ready to get to work?"
"How did you even get over here?" He grumbled, noticing she was on the floor next to him.
"Eh, I hobbled," she shrugged. Jefferson pushed himself upright, his back cracking in the process. The hard wooden floors of his home did not make the most comfortable place to sleep. "So, where do we start, Hatter?" She asked.
"Hatter? I'm hardly a hatter," he said scoffing.
"Well you are about to become one. Plus, it suits you," she said grabbing his hand and pulling him off the ground, relying mostly on Jefferson's strength with the impairment of her leg.
Jefferson let out a yawn, to say Alice was an early riser would be an understatement. "Oh wake up, you. I made tea," she announced.
"And apparently made yourself at home," he noted with amusement.
"Yes, well, that's what friends do. We are friends aren't we, Jefferson?"
"Indeed we are," he said blushing.
"So, I got you tea, is there anything else you require to work? A foot massage? A serenade?" Alice asked playfully.
"Not for the moment, no," he said pulling out his father's old sewing supplies. "I can't believe I'm doing this, I haven't done this since I was a young lad."
"Well, no time like the present to get back on the horse, eh?" she said fiddling with the knick knacks Jefferson kept lying around.
"So," he started, toying with the fabric, "Since this is your hat, I suppose I should ask you what kind of hat you would like it to be? A nice beret? Or a fascinator perhaps?" He mused.
"No, none of that girly poppycock, I'll take a gentlemen's hat, something fancy... Make it a top hat," she finished excitedly.
"A top hat? Well if that's what you want."
"It'll be perfect for my afternoon teas, give things a nice formal air, don't you think, Hatter?" she said wistfully.
"Well, I suppose I'll start then."
The sun was setting when the Hatter finally finished the hat.
Jefferson had spent the day listening to Alice tell exciting and exotic tales as he worked, of Wonderland, and of her life.
She told him how she had grown up in a place called London, and had mistakenly followed a world traveler through a portal, and into Wonderland. "It was no tragedy," she had explained, "I was glad to escape my life. I finally felt hope." She grew up in Wonderland, being raised mostly by the inhabitants, namely a cat and a rabbit with a few mental issues. When she became a young woman she won the magic cloak in a game of chess, and has been travelling across different worlds ever since. "But my home is in Wonderland, always. That's where my heart truly lies. And that is why ever since the Red Queen took over, I've been fighting to protect it."
She had asked for the story of Jefferson's life in return, but modestly informed her that there was nothing to tell.
"That's rubbish, everyone's lives are exciting, even if they spend the whole of it sitting on their ass."
"Not mine," he said meekly. "I grew up with my mother and father, my father was a hatter. I grew up, they died, and here I am."
"You are just looking at it from the wrong perspective my dear Hatter," she said picking up the hat to examine his work. "This is perfect, love," she said giving Jefferson a kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush profusely. "Now to see if it works."
She placed the hat on her head expectantly. She fiddled with its placement, and attempted spinning the brim, but nothing happened. She let out a sigh, refusing to let the full extent of her disappointment show. "Well I suppose if nothing else I look quite dashing don't I?" She asked sadly.
"You look beautiful," he offered half-heartedly. She sat on the ground in defeat, and tears began to well in her eyes. She sniffled and attempted to catch her tears before they fell.
"Well I suppose I'll be here a little longer than expected," she laughed. He brought himself down to her level, and brought his thumb to her cheek to wipe away a tear that had fallen past her fingers.
"We'll find a way to get you back home," he said, and Alice smiled in return.
"Thank you Jefferson... For trying," she said, holding his hand in place with her own. "If I had to be stuck somewhere, I'm glad it's with you," she said full of hope, but the sadness in her eyes betrayed her. Jefferson's heart nearly broke in too. He had come to enjoy the young woman's company, and knew that knowing someone for a day was not enough to fall in love, but he felt her pulling at his heart strings in ways that he never knew possible. She had been the first in years to break past his walls of solitude and make him feel something.
And even though it killed Jefferson to admit it to himself, he knew he had to do everything in his power to make her happy. And it was then that Jefferson's mind started racing.
"What if... What if it works differently? I mean it used to be a cloak, I would imagine you would have to treat a hat differently than a cloak," he offered.
"Perhaps. I have never really thought about it that way," she murmured. "But I've done everything I can think of with that hat on my head," she said dejectedly.
"Well perhaps take a different approach," he said.
"You try, you seem to be the one full of mad ideas," she said handing him the hat.
"My ideas aren't that bad," he said with mock offense.
"Who ever said being mad was a bad thing," she smiled.
He played with the hat, turning in in his hands which way and that. "What if..." he paused, taking the hat into one hand. With a slow and cautious flick of the wrist he spun the hat onto the floor.
The hat began to spin off its own accord, and Alice squealed with joy. "You did it Jefferson!" She said grabbing his face with both hands and giving him a large kiss on the mouth, shocking Jefferson and causing his eyes to widen.
"Well I suppose this means farewell!" She spouted out rapidly, her eyes watching the hat excitedly.
"Alice-"
"Perhaps, I'll see you again someday," she said with a smile taking a step towards the rapidly expanding hat. "Farewell Hatter," she said taking the final plunge into the abyss. And in a flash she was gone, and the hat followed, collapsing in on itself until it had disappeared with the girl.
Jefferson just stared at the ground miserably. Well that was a quick farewell, he thought miserably. He let out a sigh of despair, and stood in silence for a moment, not knowing what to do with himself.How do you go back to everyday life after meeting a creature such as Alice? Now things such as the festival he had been preparing for seemed trivial, how could he go back to such a mundane task as collecting berries and mushrooms?
Jefferson resigned himself to go to sleep, feeling downtrodden and hopeless. There was not much to look forward to now, he thought glumly. He settled into his bed, which still smelt vaguely of Alice's exotic aroma, one that could only come from another world, and forced the sadness out of his mind in hopes that sleep would quell his emotions.
You're a silly man, Jefferson. He thought to himself. How could he become so infatuated with a woman he had met so suddenly and know for such a brief period of time? Perhaps it was the result of living in solitude for so long, Jefferson couldn't even remember the last time he had spoken to a woman.
But it wasn't just that, she was special. He had never known another living soul whose eyes lit up with excitement when talking of the simplest of things; who grasped onto his every word, and treated him like an interesting person. She was so passionate, and adventurous, and wild. Everything Jefferson was not, and everything he wished he could be.
If I could only see her just once more, I'd tell her how I felt, he thought wistfully.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound, resembling violent wind. He opened his eyes in confusion, only to widen them as he observed a swirling pit in the middle of his floor grow from the size of a small coin to that of a horse. A scream grew louder and louder until he heard the sound of Alice's voice clearly, and suddenly she was there, thrown a few feet into the air from the hole, and landed with a large grunt onto the hard floor. The hole then contracted, and transformed back into the hat.
"Ow," she said grumpily.
"Well I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon," he said with his eyebrows raised, trying to hold in his excitement of her return.
"Ha, ha," she replied sarcastically. She brought herself to her feet, letting out a groan from stretching her still healing wound. She let out a tired sigh. "Well... Did you miss me?" she asked jokingly.
"I don't understand," Jefferson asked slowly. "Why did you come back?" Part of Jefferson was hopeful that she would reply because of him, but he knew there had to be some other reason.
"I was spit back out," she said staring down at the hat.
"Why?" he asked furrowing his eyebrows.
"It must be something with the hat," she said returning his puzzled expression.
Jefferson's heart dropped. "I'm sorry... I failed you," Jefferson said sadly. He was genuinely displeased to find that the hat did not work for her, but at the same time he struggled to quell the feeling of happiness that resided in his chest at the thought that she would remain stuck in this world.
"Well it definitely was working," she said thoughtfully. "I think we were on the right track Jefferson. Perhaps we just need to try again."
"I'll get started working immediately in the morning," he replied with determination.
"No, no Hatter. That won't do. You've spent all day working on this bloody hat. I say you deserve a break," she said playfully.
"Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly.
"Positive. Besides, I want you to show me this world," she said with a grin.
So... I have a plan for this story set up in my mind, but reviews, faves, and follows make my write faster. So if you like this story let me know!