Not Alone

The Hat

Chapter 3

The Hat

He moved to stand behind her.

"You want me to get what to work?" She asked.

He looked at the table in front of her that had a partially sewn hat and a bunch of sewing supplies. She was even more confused now. She knew nothing about sewing. He leaned down to her ear.

"You're the only one who can do this. You're gonna get it to work. " He said resting his chin on her head.

He walked over to a table and grabbed a piece of cloth. He brought it over and tossed it down in front of her.

"Make one like that." He said pointing to the one in the table.

She glanced at it. Not sure what to do.

"You want me to make a hat? You don't have enough?" She asked.

"Well, none of them work do they? Or else you wouldn't be here. Now make a hat and get it to work." He replied with attitude.

She started picking up different things off the table. She had no idea what to do or how to make a hat.

"I don't.." She said.

"You have magic. You can do it." He said.

She began to look around the room again. She noticed the teapot and cups on the tray in the corner. She glanced around the table again and then behind her. Things were starting to make some sense in her head. Why she recognized a few things.

"The hats, the tea, your psychotic behavior. You think you're the Mad Hatter." She said

He didn't seem to like her calling him that from the look on his face. That made some of the things make sense. The craziness made sense and the familiarity. She had loved that book growing up. It was one of the things that made her an Emma become friends when they met. But it still didn't clear it all up. She still felt like there was more to it.

"My name's Jefferson." He corrected her.

"Okay. You've clearly glommed onto Emma's son Henry's thing. They're just stories. The Mad Hatter is in "Alice in Wonderland". A Book. A book i actually read." She said

"Stories. Stories? What's a story? When you were in high school did you learn about the civil war?" He said.

"Yeah, of course." She said

"How? Did you read about it perchance in a book? How is that any less real than any other book?" He asked.

"History books are based on history." She said.

"And story books are based on what, Imagination? Where does that come from? It has to come from somewhere." He said.

She was still unconvinced. He was making little sense to her. She had listened to Henry talk about the book many times. He had tried to convince Emma that it was all real many times. He would talk to her about it too. But to her it was still just a book. Just fairy tales.

"You know what the issue is with this world?" He asked

"No but i'm sure you're going to tell me so please enlighten me." She said annoyed.

He smiled at that. The attitude she gave him. That annoyed her even more.

"Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem, and everyone refuses to belive in magic. Now get it to work." He said pointing the gun toward her.

"Here's the thing Jefferson, this is it. This is the real world." She said

"A real world." He said interrupting her.