I've just lost all inspiration for this story. I don't know what happened. I guess my imagination followed Alice down the rabbit hole and took a wrong turn. I'm still going to keep writing, but I just feel like the quality is terrible. I do have big plans. I just wish my muse would come back so I could really capture what I see in my head. To everyone who is still reading, thank you so much! I really appreciate all of the kind words. Thanks for letting me entertain you!

PS. I know the last chapter was kind of dull, but I promise the garden is going to be important. Please have patience. We can't always have instant gratification, can we? Also, our dear Hatter will be making an appearance very soon.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Wonderland is a strange and wondrous place. As adults, we could never see and experience the essence of such a place because our imaginations seem to have suddenly disappeared. We do not allow ourselves to really see what is in front of us, and instead, we choose to ignore truths to fulfill the more logical areas of our minds. It is a great injustice to our own souls that we cannot see what children see so freely everyday.

Alice seemed to be suffering from the same condition. All around her, the world was alive. The trees whispered to one another. The birds sang such terribly beautiful songs, and the flowers swayed to the different melodies around them. Life existed on every inch of ground. It was not just dirt and grass, but a vast world co-existing together to create something beautiful. She, however, did not notice any of this. All she could think about were her aching feet and the darkness steadily settling over her.

Alice felt as if she had been walking for an eternity. Since the fiasco in the garden, she had started on her journey and dared not look back. Now, she continued down the long dirt path hoping to find a place to rest very soon. She would not dare rest in the forest, as she feared the unknown that awaited her there. Instead, she hoped to find a clearing or something of the sort to take a short nap.

A short nap sounded like a splendid idea. Alice, however, wondered if it would just remain an idea and never become reality. Really, reality was beginning to blur for Alice. Maybe it was because she was exhausted, but something about Wonderland felt very different to her. It had lost a certain surrealism, and instead was replaced with a glaring realism. She did not feel as if she had fallen into a dream, but her mind would not let her accept that she could really be in a place such as the one in which she currently existed.

Perhaps it was due to the lateness of the evening, but Alice was beginning to wonder, as she traveled by the endless trees, if she was existing in more than one place at every moment.

The idea was so strange to her, but a tiny voice in the back of her mind urged her to accept this tiny truth. It almost felt that if she accepted this, something unique would happen. It was rather hard for Alice to explain, but she felt as though a part of her were missing, almost as if she wasn't completely whole. As silly as it sounded, the thought had been nagging at her for a terribly long time.

Alice let her mind wander as she continued past the brilliantly green trees that stretched on into the quickening darkness. As a child, she had let her mind wander quite often. Her imagination had been endless taking her on long adventures to anywhere. She had sailed with pirates on a glittering ocean, fought among toy soldiers to defend the queen, and flew to an island where no one ever becomes an adult. Now, she could not imagine thinking any of those things.

"How silly I was," Alice said.

For a time, her mother and sister had found her stories very amusing. They had encouraged young Alice to seek adventure, and the curious child had embraced it with all of her heart. No one had told her that one day she would have to grow up and leave her dream world behind. No one said that the sweet innocence of childhood would fade only to be replaced with the cold, calculating thoughts of an adult. Some nights Alice wondered if it would have been better to know the truth from the beginning. Perhaps, it would not have hurt as much when she was not allowed to pretend anymore.

Alice took a moment to stop on the endless stretch of road. She did not think her feet could carry her another step, and the tiniest feeling of despair begin to creep into her chest. She could not stay on the road for the rest of the night. It was too dangerous, whether she was dreaming or not. Still, Alice could only see two possible options. She could either keep traveling or stop and rest. Neither one looked very promising.

"This is a rather difficult situation," Alice whispered into the darkness. "I'm terribly afraid to be so alone in such a foreign place."

"A foreign place?" a strange voice said.

Alice jumped at this new sound. She spun quickly expecting to find some dangerous creature ready to devour her, but to her great surprise, she was completely alone. The now familiar trees were her only company.

"Where are you?" Alice said. She tried to keep her voice level and steady. "Why are you hiding?"

The voice was familiar to Alice in some way. It was almost a whisper, lazy and passive. A curious mischief seemed to hide underneath the voice's words, and Alice had the sudden suspicion that in this voice a great joke was being held, just out of Alice's grasp.

"Hiding?" it said. "I wouldn't call it hiding."

The voice now seemed to be coming from a different direction. Squinting into the almost pitch black forest, Alice thought she could make out the odd smile of some creature. Like the voice, this creature's smile was also oddly familiar. Alice, however, could not seem to remember to whom the smile or voice belonged. It was all so frustrating to her. She did not like to feel confused or frightened, and at the present moment, she felt both emotions rather strongly.

"Well, what would you call it then?" Alice asked.

There was a hiss-like laugh, and then two yellow eyes appeared above the smile followed by a rather feline nose.

"You two are quite different," the voice said. "Equally mad, but we're all mad here."

The voice began to giggle, and Alice squinted even more toward the sound.

"Please," Alice began. "Who is mad?"

"Why, you are, of course," the voice replied.

There was another giggle, and then a tail began swishing back and forth below a tree branch.

"I am not mad!" Alice said. This was the second time she had been accused of being mad that day, and she was rather flustered because of it. "Please. It's not my intention to be rude, but could you please tell me what's happening?"

"I suppose I could," the voice replied. "However, that would eliminate the fun."

"I don't find any of this to be fun!"

There was another fit of giggles, and then the smile disappeared. Alice momentarily panicked until she found herself staring straight into the eyes of the Cheshire Cat. He was now suspended in mid-air hovering right in front of Alice with the same maniacal smile stretched across his purple face.

"Don't you see?" he asked her lazily. "You don't find anything to be fun."

Alice felt this to be an absurd statement. How could she have any fun in her current situation? In fact, she could not understand how anyone could possibly have fun at a time like the present one. She thought to argue, but then decided, based on the events in the garden, that it might be better to just ignore the Cat's previous statement. If Alice's memory was correct, the Cheshire Cat could be terribly frustrating. Now was not the time to argue.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Alice replied. "Perhaps… you could help me."

"Of course I could help," the Cat said.

Alice felt a wave of relief wash over her at the Cat's words.

"Thank you!" she said.

"But… I'm not here to help you," he replied. Still grinning, he twisted his head a complete one hundred and eighty degrees. "You have to see."

"See what?" Alice asked.

"My dear Alice," the Cat replied, "don't you think, though I'm not convinced that you think at all, that you've lost something?"

This statement took Alice by complete surprise. For a moment, she could not speak, and the Cheshire Cat gave a gleeful laugh as though his current mission had been accomplished. Alice, who did not like to be laughed at, felt a little bubble of anger growing inside of her.

"I haven't lost anything!" Alice exclaimed.

The Cat disappeared momentarily, and then reappeared in the tree closest to where Alice stood resting his great purple body on the lowest tree branch.

"A few words of warning," he said in his lazy way. "Enjoy the colors. In the morning, they might all just fade away."

"Fade away?" Alice said. "What do you mean?"

As she spoke, the Cheshire began fading before her eyes. First, his tail disappeared followed by his body until only his smile remained.

"Remember," the smile said. "Look for the colors."

With another maniacal laugh, his smile faded into the darkness, and Alice was left staring at the spot where the Cheshire Cat had been only moments before. The small feeling of hope she had at his arrival was now fading away to be replaced with frustration and despair. She was so angry, and giant teardrops were threatening to spill from her eyes.

"How mean he is!" Alice said.

She quickly wiped at her eyes, and then continued onward into the darkness. Above her, the stars had appeared now twinkling in the velvet night sky.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! To me, it felt a little rushed and was too short, but I just couldn't squeeze anything else out, and I wanted to wait to reveal a few other things. Things may be confusing right now, but it will all be revealed in time. I know we still haven't seen the Hatter, but Alice has a few more things to discover before he finally appears. Once again, thank you so much for reading! Please review. I don't want to beg, but I really need feedback right now.