The Madness of Alice

Chapter 2: Going to a Tea Party

“Why, yes it is!” He said, and though he always had a smile on his face, there was a bit more joy to his tone, as if he was seeing an old friend at a 10 year reunion.  Perhaps it was.  He must have known her back in that other lifetime.  But how long had it been since he last saw her?  Months? Years? Decades?  “How wonderful it is that you remember!  But, unfortunately, there is something you must do, Alice, something very dangerous.  It could cost you your life.”  The words that he left unsaid hung in the air as if he had shouted them.

It cost her her’s.  

Alice’s stomach dropped like she had swallowed all the stones in her backyard back home.  Could she do it?  Did she have the strength, the courage, the kindness? Or perhap the question was if she had too much kindness.  For, even if they had only just met - well, for her, anyway - she couldn’t turn him down.  There was just no way she could walk away without helping.  “ Okay.” She said, nodding, “But please, don’t sugar coat it.  If I need to do something that may cost me my life, then I want to know the full story, not some happy fairy-tale story that will only get me killed.”  Alice had one pet peeve that rose above all of the other things that annoyed her, which was quite a lot of things, actually. She absolutely HATED it when adults (or in this case, a cat) patronized her.  She was grown up enough to know the truth.  Cheshire seemed to understand, for he nodded and said, “Alright.  But this is not an easy challenge.  You understand that, don’t you?” When she nodded, he continued.  “There is an evil in Wonderland.  She is a tyrant to our people and she must be stopped.”  Alice’s eyes opened wide, for she knew who this evil was, and how powerful she was.  She had even played croquet with her once.  “You don’t mean. . .”  She couldn’t even finish the sentence in fear that she would hear her.  “Yes.  You must kill the Queen of Hearts.”

“Now, you understand that this will be a very difficult task,”: The Cheshire cat said, “You will have to train very hard in order to defeat her.”  Oh, how simply he made it sound!  If only it were that simple, then maybe Alice wouldn’t be so terribly frightened.  “How am I supposed to defeat -” She paused here, for she was hesitant to even say the Red Queen’s name, so instead she settled for “her if I couldn’t do it the first time, when I was probably much stronger and quick minded than I am now?”  These inquiries amused the cat, who had listened very patiently through the bulk of this rant, but near the end got a bit agitated at the negativity of it all.  “All people have their own strengths and weaknesses.  You will find yours soon enough.”  There was a peculiar sadness in his eyes as he said this, but immediately shook it off as he remembered what they must do next.  “Go see the Hatter.  He will train you until you have mastered your skills.”  This excited Alice, for she had almost forgotten what the Hatter had looked like, and it would be joyous to see him again.  None the less, it would be a VERY long journey, and that made Alice very grumbly.  “This is mad!,” She grumbled as she walked away.  “We’re ALL mad here!” The cat called after her, and this won a chuckle out of her, as she remembered those were the exact word he called out to her as she walked away to battle.  Then she remembered the sadness in his voice as he talked of her finding her strengths and weaknesses.  What had the other Alice’s weaknesses been?  Had that been how she had been killed?  And why couldn’t she remember any weaknesses that had been dangerous?  Had something happened to make her forget?

        After many hours of walking, resting, jogging, running, eating, and many other verbs ending in -ing, Alice finally reached the Hatter’s place.  She was nervous to walk in, though, and she had absolutely no idea why.  It was as if she was ashamed to go in, as if she wasn’t welcome anymore.  This feeling became even stranger when she walked up to the door and knocked.  She couldn’t do this.  It was too much.  But before she could turn away to leave, the door swung open and the Hatter appeared in the doorway, a teacup in his hand.  When he saw her, the teacup slipped from his hand and smashed on the floor.  Not one of them moved to clean it up.  “H-H-How_”  He stammered.  He had absolutely no idea what to say.  Alice was the same, and the only things she could do was stand there, doing nothing.  She knew she should do something, but she didn’t really know what to do.  So she followed her instincts.  She stepped forward slightly and gave him a hug.  She had no idea why she felt like hugging him, but she did, and though he seemed surprised at first, he, after a moment, hugged her back tightly, and neither one let go until the March Hare came into the room to check who was at the door.  “Oh, my, Alice!” He exclaimed, throwing himself into her arms in a huge hug.  “How we missed you so!”  This surprised Alice, for she remembered distinctly a sense that no one would miss her at all.  But still, she was in very good spirits, and she hugged the March Hare back for a few moments, then untangled herself from his arms and walked into the kitchen, where the Dormouse was (obviously) sleeping.  At the sound of footsteps, he looked up through a slit in his eye, did a doubletake, then ran up to Alice to give her a hug.  Alice, not minding the excess amount of hugs she was getting today, gladly returned it, then smiled at everyone happily, exclaiming, “Oh, how happy I am to see you all again!”  But then, remembering why she was here in the first place, her face fell, leaving only the faint hint of a smile in its wake, “If only it were on happier terms.”  This confused everyone, for they had no idea what she was talking about.  Hatter was the first to get it, though couldn’t stop the beginning of the question to come out of the Dormouse’s mouth.  “What do you me-”  But then he got it, and looked at the ground grimly, not ready to speak the truth.  “Why?  Why must you do this again?”  The Hatter was outraged, though he seemed a bit more upset than if this were a close friend going into battle.  He seemed to think that this were some sort of punishment.  This puzzled Alice for quite some time, for she didn’t know how this could be a punishment for him.  This, after all, was her responsibility.  But then, all at once, the memories rushed back to her and she understood.

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