Chapter 5: Six Impossibles
Jesse awoke from a peaceful slumber on her first night in Salazen Grum.
She got dressed in her own clothes (avoiding the awful bloody red coloured robes in her wardrobe) which were a pale blue dress which ended halfway down from her knees to her ankles so you could still see them.
A bit of a risky choice but she had to start somewhere.
She decided to have her breakfast in the dining room so without furfur ado she walked out of her room in gold strapped sandals and spoke aloud to herself.
"Hmm, what are my six impossibles before breakfast today?" she whispered to herself. Well…
One, I am now living in Salazen Grum!
Two, my plan will start work today and I will attempt to get the BloodyBigHead to like me.
Three, I will go visit Hatter and see if I can come on a quest with him.
Four, I am wearing very risky clothes!
She thought that number five and six could wait until she got there.
She walked inside and at once spotted the queen. Iracebeth's eyes widened when she saw her newest addition to her staff but she waved it off.
Everyone had weird in them.
"Hello Jesse!" she called and motioned her to sit next to her.
Jesse obediently sat down and poured Iracebeth out some tea.
"Would you like some tea, Jesse?" Iracebeth asked. Then she noticed that she was doing her tea.
"Oh…thank you Jesse, but no need. I usually dine in my quarters than in here in the mornings."
"You're welcome, Your Majesty" Jesse replied and handed the queen her tea.
Iracebeth took it and smiled as she drank it, it was perfect.
Just then Lord Hightopp came in.
He spotted the queen and smiled but he stopped when he saw Jesse in his seat.
He shrugged it off and went to sit next to her instead.
"Good morning, Iracebeth" he said.
"Good morning, Tarrant" She beamed at him, which made Jesse boil with jealously.
How dare she even look at him! He was her hatter! Not that stupid big head's…
She controlled herself and handed Lord Hightopp his tea.
He looked amazed at her gift but took it anyway.
He too was surprised that she knew how he had it.
If only you knew Hatter…
Jesse then went to get some toast. "Toast, Your Majesty?" she asked.
Iracebeth nodded "Butter and Squimberry please."
Oh my god, did she just say PLEASE? Five, the Red Queen said PLEASE to me!
Jesse did as she was told and handed the toast over.
She turned to Lord Hightopp, but he'd already grabbed his.
Jesse shrugged and got herself some with some marmalade on.
The smell filled her with hope and she tucked in, savouring the taste. Only she didn't see that Tarrant was looking at her.
Why was she so familiar?
Jesse finished her toast and wiped the marmalade and butter off with her napkin.
She stood up and smiled at the two sitting next to her.
"Good day, Your Majesty, Mr Hightopp." Then she walked out of the hall, her high heeled sandals clinking along the marble floor.
Tarrant didn't realise he was staring until Iracebeth patted the chair beside her which Jesse had just got out of.
He felt a sense of…(guilty?) pain and wrong-ness as he sat in his normal chair.
Iracebeth got some toast and fed it to him as if he were her lover – which she thought he was.
He ate the toast she offered and got up too and left the hall in a slight daze.
Why is that Jesse person so familiar?
I don't know, Tarrant – ask yourself!
I am asking myself! The madness controls me!
Yeah that's called guilt, anger and pity mixed altogether.
What was I before this?
But his thought paten was broken off as he heard a beautiful voice singing a rhyme. He walked along the corridors until he saw Jesse leaning against one of the balconies. He walked quietly behind her, the song she was singing was like in the back of his head but couldn't remember where from…
"#Twinkle, Twinkle little bat,
How I wonder where you're at,
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky…#"
"Where did you learn that song?" he asked her, making her jump and whirl around.
She calmed once she saw it was Tarrant.
"Dear lord, Mr Hightopp, you scared me to death! The song, you used to sing it. At your many tea parties with the march hare and Mally, the dormouse." She said quickly.
Then she faked remembering something important.
"Oh goodness! I really must be going!" she said and rushed past him.
He had frozen. Tea parties? Thackeray? Mally? The song? Him?
It had been before his madness swallowed him up, before he came to the red queen, begging for forgiveness as it had told him to do.
Then he'd fallen into the trap. But why had he gone mad in the first place?
That if for me to hide, and you to get off me, his madness taunted him.
He growled and stormed back along corridors until he got to Jesse's room.
He banged on the door. There was a shuffling inside and Jesse opened the door, her hair ruffled and her room behind her was a mess.
"What is it?" she demanded. Tarrant was surprised; she had been a completely different person before.
"Did you know me before I went mad?" he asked.
Jesse paused; this was dangerous waters. What would she say?
"Yes I did" she answered. "Want me to tell you how you were before this…chaos started?"
He nodded and she motioned him to come in.
Six, Hatter may come to his senses a bit.
Sorry it was short but I'm in a hurry.