Madness Within

06 Remedies

And he was gone.

Alice blinked in confusion. What did he mean by everyone was getting crazier? And to watch her back? Why was she in danger?

She shook her head, trying to push away those thoughts before walking towards the table. She could already see Mally arguing with a hare while some man poured a glass of tea. She really hoped Absoleum knew what he was doing when he sent her this way. Before she knew it, she was already standing in front of the table. Mally announced, "Ah, Alice is here. This is the girl I was telling you about. The one who killed the Bandersnatch.

Mally turned to face Alice, her mouth already open to speak. Her lips pressed back together as she looked the girl up and down. The blonde felt her cheeks getting red as she guessed what the mouse was thinking. Mally said in a hushed tone, "Did you, ah, have-"

"No no no no. A thousand times no. He gave me a shirt since my slip was about to fall apart," Alice interrupted with her cheeks practically catching fire. Mally eyed her suspiciously before turning back to the man. She continued, "Well, she needs a remedy cause the beast managed to get her pretty good."

"Let's have a look at this injury," said the man while readjusting his top hat that was placed on top of his golden locks. She cautiously walked over to the man and he got out of his chair. He took off his hat and bowed, "Vincent Remington. I'm apparently more well known as the Mad Hatter."

"Alice Kingsley," she replied, doing a small curtsey. Vincent looked like he was a couple years older than her. He was fairly taller than her especially with his top hat. The hat had cards sticking out around the band and seemed to be a bit old. His golden hair was somewhat messy and was an average length. His brown eyes were slightly red and puffy as if he hasn't slept in a while. He wore a nice dress shirt with a black blazer and a black and red checkered bow tie. His pants were a basic black along with his shoes. The Mad Hatter said with a smile, "Nice to meet you. Mally said the injury was on your chest so you may have to remove Felix's shirt in order for me to see it."

Alice nodded and ignored how he knew it was the Cheshire Cat's clothing. She took off the large shirt and dropped it on the ground. She unwrapped the bandage, inaudibly winced as her fingers skimmed the wound, and dropped the wrapping down on the shirt. Vincent knelt down and examined the bloody gash. After gazing at the area for what seemed like a century to Alice, the Hatter turned to the hare who was still bickering with Mally. He announced, "Marshall, care to help clear off part of the table?"

"If you insist," the hare said. He got up from his seat and the Hatter walked over to help him. After a few minutes, a corner of the table was clean. Vincent gestured to the table, "Care to lay down on the table? You don't have to take off your slip if you don't want to."

Alice contemplated for a moment before going ahead and taking off the ruined garment. She was left in her brassiere and underwear. Surprisingly, she wasn't very embarrassed. It wasn't like her battered slip covered much more than that. She laid down on the table. The blonde was curious how a hatter could doctor someone up but decided not to ask since he was healing her wound.

Vincent poured a large cup of tea and began to add various things scattered around the table. After a purple puff of smoke came up from the glass, he stirred the liquid up. He took off his hat and handed it to the hare. He told her it was going to sting and to hold onto something. She clutched onto the table cloth and waited for the mixture to be poured on her injury.

Vincent opened her wound up a bit more causing the girl to wince. She tried to focus on something other than the pain in her side. She looked at the Mad Hatter's hair. She noticed that concealed within his golden locks there was various colors. Streaks of red, purple, blue, and other vibrant colors were hidden in his hair. Her train of thought wrecked as excruciating pain spread from her side to her whole body.