Please Hatter, find me soon.
Hatter, I'm scared. Hatter, I'm alone. Hatter, I'm frightened!
Please find me.
Please!
Please...
I slowly open my eyes to see I was only dreaming. My dream felt so real. I dreamed about Alice being stuck in a hole and calling out to me. Each time I tried to grab for her, the hole would get deeper.
I look up into the sky, not the bright blue Underland's sky though, the prison worlds version of a sky. A fog of clouds stretching for miles. I start to sit up, but get a searing headache and fall back down onto my back.
"You alright, my boy?" Did I just hear my father? No, that's nonsense. This headache must me worse then I thought. I'm still looking at the gray sky until a person's face pops up in front of it. This isn't just any person though, Its my father.
I sit right up again, almost hitting my father's head in the process, and start quickly questioning everything, "Why are you here? When did you get here? You shouldn't be here. We left you over at the gate and we had a fight. You shouldn't be here. I should be here. We should of already been at the prison by now and-and if we're here that means we wasted a great deal of time-"
"Hatter!" Mallymkun yells to stop me.
I breath in my nose and nod her my thanks, but just because I spitted out a trolly full of madness doesn't mean my questions aren't real questions. I go to question then again, slowly this time, but my father already has an answer, "Chessur and Mallymkun came back and got us. You fell through a hole in the ground and they didn't have the ability to get you up."
I look around to see the bandersnatch is also here. I also see Mallymkun and Chessur looking extremely guilty. They know I didn't want them to come back, they were there when my father and I got into a fight about it. Still, the reason they got them here is understandable. I smile at the guilty pair and tell them, "It's alright my friends. I don't blame you for this."
They both sigh in relief. I look over to the bandersnatch next. He's currently licking his paw and breathing heavily out of his mouth. "I forgive you too, friend."
When I look back to my father, he sends me a closed smile. "My boy, I know you want to do right by Alice and get her back as soon as possible-" I look down guilty for the claim my father is making. "But that doesn't mean you have to rush around and get hurt in the process."
"I would if I have to," the words leave my mouth before I could think about them.
My father nods his understanding but continues anyway, "When you make a hat, do you always finish within five minutes?"
"Well, no. But somethings I can make-"
"Tarrant," My father interrupts so I stay on topic.
I swallow down the jabber that's just itching to come up. "No, I can't father."
"Exactly, my boy. If it's a hat you care about, you take your time with it. Care for it. Make sure that hat gets everything it needs before you send it out to be worn." I understand what my father is saying. He's comparing a hat to the journey we're taking to get back Alice, but Alice is more then just a hat. She's the finest hat that's ever been made. The finest creation that's ever been given to Underland... and she's been taken.
Taken by thee' bloody black witch.
I breath all the air I can get into my nose and blow it by rippling my lips. After a few moments, I finally reply to my father, "Okay father. I understand." We smile at each other. Thank Underland this fight didn't go on as long as our last one. The last one lasted for years. I finally got my family back, and I'm not losing them again.
The bandersnatch yaws and then places his head onto his arms. Within five seconds, he is sleeping and snoring rather loudly. I guess that means we're staying here for the night. Everyone must think the same because everyone starts to move around looking for a spot on the hay ground that's comfortable for them.
I bundle up a handful of hay for my head. Then, I take my hat off to lay it on my lap. As I lay there on the hay ground, I look into the sky. Before I can try to go to sleep, Chessur floats his way over to me. "Well Tarrant, quite a day we've had."
"Quite a day indeed, Chess." He hovers over my hat and looks afraid. Afraid to ask something perhaps? This better not be about if I don't make it back alive, then he can have my hat. He already knows my answer to that question. I get tired of waiting, almost as tired as I feel, so I decide to ask, "What's wrong Chess?"
He looks up at me again and then lays down, well floats down, on the top of my hat. "Well Tarrant, I just wanted to know how your doing with all this?"
I raise a furry eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, with the journey. You think I'm blind enough to not see how you've been acting these past two years? I can be invisible Tarrant, not blind." I close my eyes tight. I don't want to remember these past two years. They were absolutely terrible. Before I can even whisper out an answer, Chessur answers for me, "I seeee. Well, luckily will get there soon. No matter where we go, will always get somewhere. Somewhere closer to our Alice." With one last ear-to-ear smile, he whisks away to find somewhere to sleep.
I think that's the end of it, but right before I was about to close my eyes Chessur whisks his way back. "Just one more thing," he eyes my hat like it's candy.
"No, Chess. If I were to die today or tomorrow or any day after, I would like to look my best." He sighs in defeat then nods his head. He whisks away, hopefully for the last time, to go find a place to sleep.
I wiggle in my spot to try and get more comfortable. I look up into the gray sky and wonder when this journey will be over. I wonder when this will be over and I'll have my Alice back. I breath in through my nose and shut my eyes. My mind decides it's not time for sleep though. It's time to go to the place it always goes when it's quiet. It goes to Alice.
My yellow haired lass.
We're so close my dear, so incredibly close. So close to seeing your face again. So close to being around you again. To breath the same air as you. To be in the same world as you.
I'm so close, so very close.
I hope you embrace me again like you did when I first saw you. I hope you let me run my fingers through your hair. To feel the softness of your skin again will just be, well... everything to me.
Skin soft to the touch.
Beauty as beautiful as a sunrise.
My Alice. My beautiful Alice.
And what you would look like without your clothing...
I shake my head and snap my eyes open. Right now is not the time to have the bad thoughts. Luckily I have my hat in my lap so if any of my companions were to wake up, they wouldn't see my desire for her. You can't think these things anymore Tarrant. She'll be back in Underland again soon and you'll never be with her. You'll never have a chance with her. And if the bloody black witch shows her any of my thoughts... I'm afraid I won't even be able to be friends with her anymore.
I can't have that. No, not at all. I may not be able to be with Alice in the way I want, but I'm okay with being her friend. As long as I can have her next to me, I'm okay with it. As long as she still enjoys my company, I'm okay with it.
Before I can try to go back to sleep again, a bright white light appears in the middle of the path we've been taking. I put my hand up to try to cover my eyes from going blind. Everyone else starts to sire awake because of the light too.
We all stand up and look at the light curiously. I step forward to get a better look. Before I can get to close, it changed. It stretched into a flat sphere and opened up. It opens up to show us something inside.
And that something is... Emiliza.
She looks pleased with herself. She sees she has awoke us all from sleeping, but of course she doesn't care. Just seeing her face makes me bottle up with anger. I feel the madness consume me. "What do ye' want you bloody witch!"
She looks appalled by me insult. Good! That was thee' point. "I would not be making insults to me right now Hatter. I am the one that made you all frolic into the prison world after all," She giggles out the last words she said. "After all, I know you weren't getting that much sleep. Not with your beautiful Alice taken by whittle old me."
She continues to laugh at her words. She laughs and laughs like a mad women. Though I don't know if I should be calling her mad, or even bonkers. She's just darkness and hatred.
I can't stand the laughing anymore. I may love to laugh, but her laugh is like a high pitch scream. That's when she stops. "EXCUSE me? My laugh is not high pitched!"
I don't care for these mind games shes playing so I just out and ask, "What do ye' want witch?"
She scrunches her nose and her mouth like she just ate a sour lemon. She ends up gritting out, "STOP CALLING ME THAT! I just wanted to know WHATS TAKING SO LONG! It should be a day there, then a day back, and a extra day just for leisure. You think getting into someone's head is easy? It's exhausting."
Exhausting? Exhausting! That... that bloody bitch!
"What did you just call me?"Oh, no. Did she just- "Read your thoughts, yes I did." She just did it again. "Oh yes, I did Mr. Hatter. Oh yes, I did. Ohhhhh, you have no idea what you just did. What you just did."
What have I done? This... person... has Alice. I didn't think. I was to corrupted by the madness to think about what I was thinking! "Emiliza-"
"No! Don't give me that! You better get what I want by the time I've set or I'll break Alice so beyond repair she won't want to look at any of you!" She pauses a second to look at us all one, by one. Then when she gets back to me, she smiles.
She's about to open her mouth, probably to layout a threat, but then I hear it. I hear it through the looking glass she made. "Hatter! Please, help me!"
I know that voice.
I've know that voice for years.
I've heard that voice in my head for years.
My Alice.
Emiliza turns to her right and yells at Alice, "You, shut it! Will continue our game soon enough." When she turns back to me she smiles again, "Thank you for that Hatter. You just helped me make a decision. Your next."
With those final words, the light disappears. And with those finale words I think to myself, what have I done?