"Two cubes." -said Alice to the hatter in a calm and steady voice. The hatter dropped two cubes of sugar in a white cup and poured tea over them from a hight. The steady stream of hot liquid slowly melted the white cubes. In the cup, the tea went from crystal clear to foggy because of the melted sugar. The hatter passed the cup to Alice onto a tiny plate. She grabbed a spoon and stirred the tea to mix it fully with the melted sugar.
"Be careful, it's still hot."- the hatter said to her in a calm voice. There was smoke coming out of the cup. It had a scent of unique and exotic herbs, unknown to Alice. The bouquet of different aromas coming from the tea was like a whole new world to her.
Suddenly the hatter's voice became shaky and his eyes widened. "Since you are here I'm guessing that Kate is...is dead, isn't she?"
"She is."-Alice replied while placing the white cup onto the table. All of the sorrow, that had disappeared, plagued her body once more."How did she...?"-the hatter tried to say, but couldn't bring himself to speak the words. Alice was taken by surprise, because of the question. After everything, Alice still didn't know the cause of Kate's death. She couldn't ask this simple, yet brutal question to Kate's mother.
"I don't know."-she mumbled, and one single tear started rolling down her cheek. It fell into the tea that she was drinking, but when it touched the surface, the liquid turned black and bitter. The scent of freshly picked flowers and ripe summer fruits was replaced with the smell of burned charcoal. The hatter simply went to Alice and hugged her. She didn't respond, she looked lifeless. Just like a stone statue placed in a museum, Alice just stood there. She didn't even feel Cheshire circling her feet, just trying to make her feel better.
The hatter pulled himself away from Alice. His gray eyes became even more discolored, there was an emptiness inside them. "Alice...I need you to do me only one favor..."- he tried to speak steadily but the pain in his voice was getting to Alice. She didn't know why he felt pain in Kate's death, but she understood it.
"I...I need you to find the cause of her death..."
