Chapter 5: Every day life in wonderland

Alice woke up to and empty bedroom, and a noiseless cottage. She went to her pile of clothes to pick out something to wear which had been replaced by a large coat rack. It was filled with dresses of different colors, styles, and patterns. She had a small pile of socks stacked neatly, and another pair of shoes sitting next to it. Hatter must have gotten up early and decided to give her more of a wardrobe; she thought to herself.

When Alice finished changing into her clothes for the day she went outside to meet everyone. But when she got out there, the table was empty save for a small plate of food placed at her seat. Alice sat down and started to eat, both her food and the tea were cold. After she finished eating, Alice sat around wondering where everyone was. She quickly grew bored though and went into the cottage to look for them.

Alice started with the fabric room to look for hatter but he wasn't at his work table, she looked around a bit then called out to him, when there was no answer she went to go see March. Inside the green room there was no one, but Alice knew this room was several times larger than the rest so she explored around for March a bit while calling out to him. Again she found no one and decided that she didn't want to get lost inside there so she turned back and headed to the kitchen to see Cheshire.

Even the kitchen was empty; there were piles and piles of dirty dishes but no Cheshire. Alice was starting to become frustrated at not finding anyone in the places she thought they would be. Now Alice was searching the entire cottage for them, she went to the rooms she remembered most from her tour. Alice got lost for a few minutes or so but quickly found her bearings when she ended up back outside and took a seat, deciding to wait for whoever would come first.

It wasn't long until March came out of the cottage. "Ah there you are Alice; I was beginning to worry about you."

"There I am." Alice said, letting her frustration and anger carry through her voice. "I searched the entire cottage for any of you but no one was inside. I checked every room except the ones you told me never to go into and still no one."

"I'm sorry my dear, I was in my garden but I left to check on you in bed worried you might be feeling ill. When I found you were gone I went in search of you but we must have just missed each other. Unfortunately you also slept through breakfast so I left out your food on a plate and waited for you. Hatter and Cheshire waited too but they had to go hunting, so I returned to my garden."

Alice calmed down, realizing it wasn't March's fault; it was hers for oversleeping. "How long are Hatter and Cheshire going to be out?" Alice asked.

"They should be back in time for lunch, but that's a ways away."

"So then what should we do until they return?"

"Well I usually keep to my garden or some sorts of chore, speaking of you need some chores to do as well." March thought to himself for a long moment then said, "Well we actually have things all equaled out so there isn't anything for you to do. I mean I'm busy with my garden and cooking. Cheshire washes our clothes and dishes, which I need to remind him to do the dishes.

Then Hatter makes us our clothing, blankets, and cleans dust around the main rooms. I suppose though you can assist one of us from time to time while were doing our chores. This would at least give you something to do when all of us are busy."

Alice decided that it was a fair deal and went with March to his garden to help him out until lunch. Time passed quickly helping March out and when lunch time came along they went to the kitchen to clean up. Then March sent Alice outside to be with Hatter and Cheshire who should be returning any moment then while he prepared lunch.

Outside Hatter and Cheshire were waiting in there spots just like March had said. When they saw her they both smiled and Hatter said, "Well she wakes at last."

"Yeah sorry about that," Alice said while she took her usual seat. "If I had known everyone was such early risers I would have set my alarm."

Hatter and Cheshire just looked at her curiously. She had forgotten they did not know what an alarm clock was. "Never mind" she said.

Soon enough March came out from the cottage with a tray carrying their lunch. They went through the same routine from yesterday and after lunch Hatter invited Alice to go hunting with him and Cheshire. She said no at first but he insisted, so she joined them on the hunt.

After about an hour of walking Alice asked, "So what are we hunting for anyways?"

"Oh today were not actually hunting for anything." Hatter said. "Were going to go play in the mushroom caves today."

"But you told March we were going hunting."

"Yeah we always tell him that. Truthfully it's just an excuse me and Cheshire use so we can go out and play, or search for new places to play. And if we happen to come across something we can eat then we do hunt it. Although I'm sure after all these years March has figured out that we at least don't go hunting."

They walked in silence for a while after that until they finally reached the entrance to a cave that Alice presumed was their destination. The cave was built not to far off from some nearby mountains. Hatter and Cheshire said nothing as they walked into the cave, signaling for Alice to join.

The cave was completely dark and Alice couldn't see anything. After several steps in the dark she tripped and fell catching herself on Hatters shoulders and back. Hatter leaned her back onto her feet then grabbed her hand and guided her through the cave. Alice enjoyed holding Hatters hand, it was warm and strong.

The three of them emerged out of the darkness into an expansive area filled with massive sized brown mushrooms. Light from several holes in the ceiling leaked into the caved allowing them to see inside the cave like they were outside. The massive mushrooms grew all over the place from the floor, the walls and even the ceiling.

"These mushrooms are my favorite kinds in all of wonderland." Hatter said. "Though they may look like ordinary overgrown mushrooms these ones are actually extremely bouncy."

Then Hatter ran up to the closet mushroom and jumped right onto it with as much force as he could muster. The mushroom bent back a little at Hatters extreme force of impact when it suddenly pushed him back sending him flying straight for the wall. Hatter pivoted himself to the side and caught one of the many mushrooms on the walls and just like before was propelled through the air this time heading for the ground where even more mushrooms sat.

Hatter was being launched through the air inside the cave bouncing off of mushroom after mushroom. Soon enough Cheshire jumped in on the trampoline like mushrooms and the two of them were bouncing all around so fast that Alice couldn't keep up without hurting her eyes. Then Hatter hit a wall Mushroom and was propelled deeper into the cave; Alice thought he was going to be launched back by another mushroom but instead he fell past her line of sight screaming as he went down.

Alice shouted for him and was in panic when moments later from falling he launched back up laughing hysterically. He bounced off some more mushrooms until he landed back in front of Alice where he was bent over laughing in tears; even Cheshire was laughing hysterically. Alice got so mad she slapped him right across the face, stopping his laughter.

Hatter stopped laughing but he was still smiling mischievously enjoying his prank a little too much. "I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "Cheshire put me up to it." Alice was almost in tears of mixed emotions when Cheshire came up and slapped Hatter.

Hatter felt his cheek then looked at Cheshire. "Why you little- "Hatter didn't even finish the sentence when he tackled the cat to the ground. Cheshire suddenly grew three times his size as he hit the ground and the two wrestled around. Watching the two wrestle around playfully cheered Alice up and she started walking over to the spot Hatter fell down to see how he did what he did.

When Alice arrived at the spot where Hatter fell, she saw that there was a small fissure in the cave. It wasn't very deep but it was wide and filled with more of the large mushrooms. Alice turned around to see Hatter and March still wrestling around and then climbed up on a mushroom and jumped on it.

The first bounce only put Alice a couple feet up in the air, and she kept bouncing on it like a trampoline until she felt confident enough to try what Hatter did. When Alice landed back on the mushroom she pushed as much of her weight into it and went several feet higher. Then she did it again but this time aimed for another mushroom. She landed on her intended target but was propelled back into the air heading for more mushrooms and soon enough Alice was flying all around the cave bouncing from mushroom to mushroom.

Alice was having so much fun she didn't even notice Cheshire and Hatter had joined her in jumping around. "This is amazing." She called out to them. Hatter smiled and said, "you think that's fun try this out." Then Hatter launched himself off a mushroom and was propelled straight into Cheshire who stayed in his enhanced size. The two bumped into each other and knocked one another into opposite angles. Hatter went up diagonally and Cheshire went almost straight down.

Alice was too busy enjoying their show that she lost her footing on a mushroom and was launched towards the front of the cave, straight on track for the ground instead of another mushroom. Alice landed on her feet and used her momentum to keep rolling; in order to avoid injury. Hatter and Cheshire both turned to look if she was okay and started jumping towards her. They were so focused on her as they jumped onto the last mushrooms that neither of them noticed their new trajectory was putting them straight in each others paths.

"Look out!" Alice shouted as she started to stand up.

Hatter and Cheshire had enough time to see there immediate course of impact and let out a quick yelp, with comically startled faces. Then they smacked into each other with a loud thud sound and hit the ground simultaneously. Alice flinched for a moment then walked over to them and started uncontrollably laughing.

Hatter and Cheshire gave each other a quick glance then each grabbed one of Alice's legs and pulled her down to the ground with them. She growled at them for a moment then they all started laughing together. The cave was filled with every one's joyful laughter as they continued bouncing and goofing off.

The three of them returned empty handed and starving. March already had their meals set out for them and they ate up quickly. Then Cheshire went inside the cottage to wash all the dishes while March led Alice to the river to wash up before bed. The water was much colder as the sun began to set in the distant sky. When Alice returned to her bed she thought back on the day; it was the most fun day she ever had in her entire life.

And the next day they all went down to a calmer part of the river where the four of them swam around in the hot sun. Hatter wore some normal shorts, and Alice wore a bathing suit that Hatter had made for her. While March and Cheshire went without clothes because they didn't need any.

The days in wonderland passed into weeks and so forth and were always filled with fun and excitement for Alice. Soon enough she forgot all about her old life entirely; replaced with this newer better one. Months went by but Alice hardly noticed since wonderland didn't have seasons like earth did. The weather was almost always the same in her area, but on occasion it would rain, and sometimes even snow, but it was mostly sunny or partially cloudy.

Alice didn't even know that it had been over a year since she came to wonderland. She seems to no longer care if she can go home or not. Part of her doesn't even know if she would want to anymore. Her time in Wonderland has also seemed to change her; she used to cry easy, and had trouble making friends at home. But here she made friends with Hatter, March, and Cheshire rather easily and she's become tougher.

Alice not only settled into this new life rather easily but she also adjusted fairly well too it. Though that was mostly due to March, he become like an uncle to her. This was her new family and she loved them so very much. She even started playing pranks on everyone, learned mostly from Cheshire. This was her everyday life in wonderland and she soon wishes that she can live like this everyday.