BONKERS || Edward Cullen

Friends, Fear, and Fascination

Celia and Edward stared at each other for a long moment. He wanted to know what was going on, and she wanted to know why he could see what she was seeing.
"Underland." Edward repeated. Celia nodded.
"Underland." She confirmed, "now, we must get going or we will be late to tea."
Edward followed after the beautiful girl in amazement. All the bright colors reminded him of her mind. Was this place in her mind?
"How did we get here?" He asked, falling into step with her.
"I let them out. Our bodies are probably still in the meadow." She said.
"We're not in our bodies?" He inquired.
"No, Mr. Cullen. We are in Underland." She explained again.
"What if someone stumbles across our bodies?" Edward asked. He was having a hard time imagining his body laying in the clearing. Vampires never slept, so it was an odd thought.
"Don't worry, Mr. Cullen. Seconds pass in your world as hours pass in here." She said, still walking down the path as if she had a million times, which she had.
"Is this where you were, the first few months of school?" He questioned quietly.
"Curiosity killed the cat, Mr. Cullen."
"I'm not a cat, Miss Liddel." It was quiet for a long while as they walked.
"Sort of. I used to come here much more often than I do now. I used to let my friends out of my head all of the time, but people started to notice. I would pass out in random places. Sometimes I would pull people with me, like I've done with you, but they wouldn't see what I see. They would step on the flowers and walk through my friends. I would scream and they would say I was crazy, mad, completely bonkers." She explained quietly. Edward listened carefully, trying to make sense of it all. He assumed he could see Underland because he was not human.
"My family and I, we are different." He said. Celia nodded.
"Yes, you are."
"We're not human." He muttered, looking at the ground. Celia stopped. The tea party was just over the hill, not in their line of sight yet.
"What do you mean?" She wondered.
"My family and I... We're vampires." He said, looking up from the ground and into her wide, curious, sky blue eyes.
"Curiouser and curiouser." She breathed, before turning abruptly and walking over the hill.
Posie barked as weird creatures yelled out in appreciation at the sight of Celia. Edward recognized these creatures from when Celia's mind would open up.
"Everybody, this is Mr. Cullen." Celia introduced. "Mr. Cullen, this is the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse, the March Hare, Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum, the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat." She introduced. Edward looked around at the creatures in worry and amazement. He could not read their minds. He wondered if it was because they were not real.
"Hello." Edward stuttered.
"Where is the Blue Caterpillar?" Celia questioned.
"Where he always is. We told him no smoking at the tea table, we did. We said Alice would not like him smoking at tea, we said." One of the Tweedle Twins said confdiently. Celia giggled and took a seat in a ticket chair next across from the shaking hare. The creatures talked animatedly to Celia, her just smiling and nodding at them as they did so. She seemed so... Normal around them.
"Mr. Cullen? Would you like to take a seat?" Celia asked, patting the chair next to her. The vampire sat gently in the chair, his cold arm brushing against hers.
"You were late, Alice. What took you so long getting here?" The white rabbit complained.
"If you haven't noticed, rabbit, I have brought a friend." Celia countered.
"So very odd." The hare trembled, staring at Edward.
Posie sat under the table, growling ever so lightly. She was used to this. Her human brought her here every time, but that did not mean she liked the strange people.
"Yes. The Cullen boy." The Hatter said fascinated. He stood and walked over the table, making the rabbit protest loudly. He stopped and knelt in front of Edward.
"A friend of dear Alice's." He whispered. Edward did not know why they kept calling Celia Alice.
"He knows me as Celia, Hatter." The girl warned. The Hatter let out a noise of disgust, along with the rest of the table.
"Alice is your name." The Dormouse stomped her foot. Celia threw an apologetic look to Edward, who simply stared at her in wonder. She smiled, a funny feeling in her stomach, and the Cullen couldn't help but smile back.
There was no real tea at this tea party, but that was no where near as strange as everything else. Edward tried not to pay attention to the strange creatures that stared and talked funny.
The twins taught love to Celia. The Dormouse tried to teach Celia the ways of feminism. The white rabbit taught her punctuality. The Cheshire cat taught her to be mischievous. The hare taught her to always be cautious. The mad hatter taught her how to be human. And the blue caterpillar taught her everything else.
"Hmm," hummed the cat, "fascinating." He got close to Edward's face, causing the vampire to grimace slightly at the unnatural grin on it's face.
"Shoo, cat." Celia scolded, pushing him away from her friend. She apologized to Edward, who smiled.
"Don't apologize. I'm usually pretty good with strange." He said. She smiled brightly.

Edward wasn't sure how long they had been there, but he didn't mind just sitting and watching his mate smile.
"Mr. Cullen?" Her soft voice asked. He sighed and smiled.
"Please, call me Edward, Celia." He begged again. Her mouth formed an 'o' as she seemed to remember.
"My apologies, Edward. I was only wondering if you would like to head home?" She asked, causing the creatures around the table to begin shouting in protest. They were angry, and Edward grabbed her waist, making sure none of them were going to hurt her. However, she simply rolled her eyes.
"Oh hush, you twits." She insulted, making Edward look at her in surprise. "You got your break from my head, now it's time to go back." She stated, not leaving room for argument as she stood, pulling the vampire up with her. Posie immediately fell into step with them as they began walking away, Edward's arm still on Celia's waist.
"I'm sorry about all that." She sighed. Edward swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Don't apologize. I'm very grateful to have seen this, Celia. I'm glad that you trust me." He promised. Something made Celia believe him, and she wondered if this was what it was like to trust someone who wasn't in her head.
The walk back to wear they started seemed shorter than the walk there. Edward wondered what the process to get back would be. Celia bent down and scooped up her overweight schnauzer, clearly struggling. Edward took the dog from her, who happily laid in his cool arms as she panted. He wrapped his arm around Celia again as she held onto them. She closed her eyes and Edward watched her take deep breaths.

CELIA POV

I tried to concentrate, but my stomach felt odd with Edward being so close. In order to get back, I had to force all of my friends back into my head, since they rarely went willingly. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed the scene around us to collapse. It did, and with a loud clapping sound everything was sucked in, including us, and we were back on the forest floor. My mind was jumbled for a moment as I sat on the ground, dizzy. I felt cool hands lift me from my armpits and I tiredly wrapped my legs around his waist. I had lots of questions for him and his family, so I hoped he was taking me to his home. My head rested on his shoulder.
"Get some rest." Edward's whisper seemed to carry in the wind. I could hear Posie's collar jingling as she happily followed us.
I let myself slip into the ever so comforting dreamland.