Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland, nor anything that has to do with the movie. But this idea, I do own.

Author's Notes: Please read and review. I hope you like it.

Lost In The Storm Of Madness

Chapter 6

"I don't believe this" whispered Helen Kingsley over the phone. She stood in the kitchen, next to the dining table, with the phone against her ear, as her fingers subconsciously played with the cord.

"Yes, I know that no one has seen her for days, but surely she must be there still. After all, it is a big ship and-" She was cut off mid rant as the person on the other side of the phone began to speak.

"What do you mean you have searched the whole ship?" Helen asked in a broken whisper, swallowing her tears. Releasing the gentle grasp she had on the phone's cord, she wiped the unshed tears away.

"Oh" she breathed, sadly. She didn't bother to wipe away the new tears that fell, staining her cheeks. "…I understand. Goodbye." she whispered, even though she truly didn't understand a single thing.

She couldn't even begin bring herself to believe that her daughter was missing; believing it, would then make it true, and Helen didn't want it to be true. A smile came to Helen's face as she recalled that as a child, Alice was one for tricks and games; like hide and seek. Alice was just hiding somewhere on the ship, and the crewmen were just not looking hard enough. The mother nodded to herself, intent on believing her lie.

Mrs. Kingsley shook her head of these pointless, yet hopeful thoughts, as she slowly set the now buzzing phone down on the table. She grabbed at one of the chairs as she felt her legs become like jelly, and she doubled over. She screamed in pain; not physical pain, but pain that was much worse than any physical bruise. The way she cried and screamed, one would come to believe that someone was inside Mrs. Kingsley's house and abusing her. With the way she felt inside, it was almost as if someone was abusing her. She didn't like the feeling of hopelessness. But really, who ever did?

"Are you sure this will work here?" Alice asked Tarrant, holding an object, which appeared to be a telephone.

The Mad Hatter nodded, a smile stretched across his face. "But of course!" He exclaimed, and walked over to the contraption that Alice held in her hands. "You just have to press nine, and then enter the other numbers to get it to function properly."

"Have you tested it before?" Alice asked, looking skeptically about the object which Tarrant had said would let her call home.

The Mad Hatter started to nod, before shaking his head no. "But that doesn't mean that it doesn't work!" assured Tarrant.

Alice smiled a demure smile, nodding. "Okay, I take your word, Hatter." Tarrant returned her smile with a huge grin. "So, how does this work again?" she asked.

"You just have to press this button," he pointed to the nine, "Yes, that one" he said before adding, "and then you can dial the digits of the person you wish to talk to." Tarrant explained.

"So it's like a phone?" asked Alice.

Shrugging, Tarrant said "I guess if you want to get technical on me, then yes like a phone."

Reaching into one of her pockets, Alice pulled out a cell phone. "Do you think that my cell phone would work just as fine as this invention?" she asked him.

"I guess so." answered Tarrant, "But don't you want to do the honors and test out this…phone? " he asked her. He was quick to add, "If you don't, then that's alright I guess, but if you do that would be wonderful because then I would finally know if it works or not. Not knowing is terrible, almost more horrible than waiting. And you know how much I hate waiting."

She smiled, and gave in. "Hatter!" When he looked at her, she said "Alright, I'll do you the honors."

"Splendid!" he replied, smiling.

She nodded, and said "Now I need you to be silent while I talk on this phone…can you do that for me, Hatter?" she asked him.

He nodded, and motioning with his fingers, he pretended to zip his lips shut, and then lock his mouth shut, while throwing away the key.

Refraining from laughing, she dialed nine. She then pressed the numbers needed to make her call. She hummed softly to herself as she listened to the rings, and waited for her mother to pick up.

Her heart leaped the moment the rings stopped, and a wary, broken voice replaced the rings.

"Hello, mom?" Alice exclaimed, glad to be able to speak to her mother, "It's Alice….your daughter" she whispered.

Author's note:

Well what do you know? You DON'T have to wait for next week for chapter six, because here it is. XD

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know the thing with Hatter and Alice being calling Alice's mother seems a bit quick with the scene they ended in last chapter, but honestly I say the last chapter was a chapter which had no ends for me to continue from, so I decided to jump along some…after all, doesn't time go quick in Underland? And I really hope that the characters, Alice and Hatter specifically, weren't out of character, because I really tried to keep them true to the character. I really did!