Alice was lead inside the house of the hatters, a crooked little cottage with peeling wallpaper and a musty smell. Books were in piles everywhere, and the furniture was mismatched but comfy.
Sanus ran about, closing all the windows of various shapes and sizes, and then they all sat down in what was supposed to be the sitting room, with tea and words at the ready.
"So, Alice dear, how are you feeling?" The hatter started, searching with those big lime eyes.
"Better I suppose.." She replied, shivering.
"Good, good. Now, do you know why you're here?"
"No, no I don't." She answered, and she felt the tears coming back. She did her best to hold in the emotion and keep strong, "I don't even know why I was sent to that stupid school."
"What did they tell you Alice? About what's in your head?"
"They..they told me I was losing my grip on reality. They told me I had an anxiety disorder and my mother sent me away... but there was always one person who believed me."
"Who's that?"
"My Grandmother." Alice smiled, and realized she'd been crying the whole time. She wiped them away quickly and continued, "I was named after her. She always believed me when I told her what I could do and what I saw."
"What can you do Alice?"
Then more memories came back, and she began to realize that the more she talked, the more she would unlock.
"I... I don't know exactly what it is, but as a child I had friends that no one else could see, but I knew they were there. I remember coming here, and I could do it when I wanted, and as I got older everything changed."
The hatter was on the edge of his seat, like just one more word and Alice would solve the whole mystery.
"How did it change dear?"
"Nightmares. Horrible nightmares. I grew up, and then I was faced with the real world. They called me crazy, clinically unstable, no one believed me but those things were real and-"
She jumped up, and turned to Sanus, wide eyed.
"You! You were real! I always knew you were! But they never believed me! My mother sent me away because I'm...I'm.."
She collapsed onto the floor, sobbing, but managed to choke out the word,
"Different!"
And with that, she got up, threw open the door and ran into the pouring rain, the sounds of frantic callings of her name fading into the storm.
