When Elaine turned from the door, she stared into another tunnel. At least it was better than another room with too many doors. Ahead of her, there was a jingling sound of metal on metal and the lit up face of a pocket watch. The white rabbit's little rabbit face could be seen in the light of the darkened tunnel and he waved at her. "Hurry, hurry! Come this way!"

Elaine took a drag of the cigarrette she had lit up, then sighed out the smoke. "Yeah yeah. I'm coming rabbit, just chill a moment. Obviously if we're late, being even more late is better than not showing up at all." she said calmly, walking at a good pace however, thanks in part to having long legs. Her headache was slowly starting to get worse, but at least her shoulder had stopped throbbing. Whether that was a good thing or not, Elaine didn't know.

The white rabbit shook his head, his ears twitching. "You do not understand how late we are! The Red Queen is most impatient to have me back! If I keep her waiting any longer, she'll have my head removed!"

Elaine sighed. "Right... Alice in Wonderland crap.. you go on ahead bunny, I'll find my way." she said calmly. "Besides, wouldn't want to see a headless rabbit... that would suck." she said, still walking however.

The rabbit blinked at her, then nodded and turned, heading off. "Find you the Mad Hatter! Caution with the caterpillar and be clever with the cat!" he called over his shoulder, disappearing further into the tunnel. At the distant end, there was a shimmering light, like sunlight.

Elaine nodded and sighed. "Find the Hatter... avoid the cat and caterpillar... should be easy." Elaine said, replaying what she remembered of the story in her head. Everything was pretty much the same, despite some differences. She walked to the light slowly and cautiously. "Maybe this isn't a good idea..." she said more to herself, but walked into the light anyway.



On the other side of the tunnel she emerged from, there was a single dirt path, surrounded on all sides by a dark and looming forest. The trees were almost black in the bark, the leaves shades of red and purple, the bugs ranging from as large as Elaine's head to as small as her pinky. There were small mushrooms lining the roadway, and everything dissapeared over a hill. Elaine worried what was on the other side of that hill.

Elaine also automatically noticed mushrooms that were tall as buildings beyond the trees. She could just see the tops of them from where she was. "... I must hallucinating...." she muttered to herself before walking ahead. "This must be a dream... nothing would ever be this realistic when someone gets concussions..." she concluded, nodding as she walked ahead. "Is this what it's like to have a severe concussion...?" she wondered.

She got to the top of the hill and stared out over the land. Mushrooms, defidently the size of trees. There were also the tops of some flowers in the east, out farthest to the west there was a white castle, but it seemed almost like an illusion. The landscape, only for a moment, looked like barren wasteland around that castle, then it suddenly changed to beautiful white trees. As it had reminded her of the dream she had previously, Elaine shook her head and thought she was imagining that part. To the far North, there was nothing but trees. Really large trees. She looked directly down the hill that went into a smaller forest of mushrooms, before they grew into larger ones, and decided to continue to walk the path.




She walked for what seemed to be an hour through the mushroom field. She cleared the forest of fungus and walked the road, that was just in an empty field, nothing but grass in every direction, the mushrooms slowly dissapearing behind her. Eventually there was the beginning of a fence. A brown picket fence. It was crooked and very poorly made, but there was a single red balloon tied to it, reading, "Tea Party Straight Ahead." The balloon nudged Elaine's arm as she passed, as if urging her in that direction.

Elaine looked at it. "Don't be so pushy dude!" she said, expecting it to answer her back. When it didn't, she thought herself mad, shrugged and continued on. She looked to the fence uneasily. "I'm getting an extremely bad feeling about this." she muttered, rubbing her shoulder subconciously.

Just as quickly as it started, the piece of fence ended. It crumbled towards the end, pointing at a dirt road that led off the path and a sign that pointed towards the dirt road saying, "Tea Party Thatta way! Welcome, Alisa!"

Elaine saw her late friend's name and flashbacks immediately went through her head. She hadn't cried in years, not since her father packed up and left when she was five, she wasn't about to start now. She took a sharpie pen out of her pocket and crossed Alisa's name out, then much to her own dislike, she wrote her own. She pulled back quickly when she felt a sharp pain in her finger. "Fuck... a splinter..." she at first grumbled, then it turned into an uncertain mumble.

Realising it hurt scared her, it meant that this wasn't a dream. She shook her head. "This legit can't be real... I must be in a coma..." she said and walked a little faster than before. She realised that the pain she had been feeling all along in her shoulder and head also proved this wasn't a dream. That scared her more, but she choked it back as she walked.



After a while of walking, she started hearing music. Light and fun, but also strange at the same time. It was getting louder and louder the further she walked on the path. At the end of the road was a large house painted in all sorts of colours, and in the front yard was a long table covered in tea pots, cups, biscuits and other teatime items, balloons everywhere, all of them red.

Elaine looked around herself, expecting something to jump out at her. Annoyed, she sighed and continued walking forward. She looked at the red balloons with a bit of annoyance still. Red was always her least favorite color, besides pink of course.

The instant Elaine stepped towards the first balloon, the music stopped. Everything fell quiet before there was the sound of soft and slow footsteps. "She's here!" chimed a heartful voice. "Finally she's-" The owner of the voice stopped short, blinking at Elaine. She would have recognized him instantly as the Mad Hatter, just by looking at him. He had red clothes, a card hanging on a hook from his hat and he was watching her with a surprised look on his face. "You're not her."

Elaine looked just as surprised as he did. "Wow... you're way different from what anything describes you... I take it you're the Hatter?" she said with a slight incline of voice. On the contrairy, he was way cuter than what the book or Alisa had ever described him. It was very surprising, and slightly disturbing to her. He was tall enough that she had to look up at him. He had a handsome face set with blue eyes. His hair under the hat was dark and slightly wavy.

"At your dinner plate!" the Hatter said with a dramatic twirl and bow at the waist. He smiled at her and tipped his hat. "Hold please." He then removed his hat from his head of black hair and tipped it over. The sound of a phone on hold could be heard from inside as he reached inside and dug around a little. He fit his arm all the way up to his elbow, then growled and put his head inside. "RABBIT! Where are you?! This isn't Alisa!" he called into it and his voice echoed. "I will have you for veggie stew if you don't answer me!" After a moment of nothing but hold ring, he pulled his head out and pouted, replacing his hat on his head. "Blasted creature." he grumbled. He looked at Elaine and tilted his head again. "So who are you anyways?"

Elaine sighed. "Alisa's friend. Elaine." she said calmly. "I'm sorry, but Alisa won't be showing up, you're stuck with me." she said. She really didn't want to go into detail about it, so she just lit up another cigarette. Maybe if she got sick enough from smoking them, she'd just go into a coma and get out of that world, at least, that's what she was hoping. She figured this was reality now, and that if she smoked enough it would knock her out.

The Hatter frowned at Elaine and stepped up, his hand snatching her cigarette from her lips before she could take the first puff. "This is bad for you." he said sternly. "Ask the Caterpillar. He hasn't been the same since. You know why people do this stuff?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrows, shaking the cigarette at her before dropping it to the ground and stomping it out. "It's because they need something to keep their lips busy." He then stepped forward and very close to her, smiling charmingly. "Do you have trouble keeping your lips busy..?"

Elaine would've blushed, if she wasn't fuming. "Are you kidding me?! That was a perfectly good cigarette you just wasted. The caterpillar smokes a hookah. It's a completely different thing." she growled at him. "And no I do not, I was just keeping my voice from saying any more. Obviously that failed." she said, then sighed in annoyance.

"Well aren't you a sheep!" the Hatter said with a laugh, taking a step back and holding up his hands in defense. He shrugged and pointed at the ground. "Want it? There it is." He turned on his heel and started back towards the table, picking up a tea cup and a pot, holding the tea cup on one side of his body and pouring the teapot from the other, and the tea formed a line that went over his head and into the cup in mid-air. "Afterall, it'll be your last."

Elaine looked at him. "And what is that supposed to mean...?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips in a defiant manner.

"I simply mean that Wonderland has a way of changing people." the Hatter said with a clever grin and took a sip of the tea. He then offered her the cup. "Tea?"

Elaine sighed and took it. "Well let me tell you Hatter... I have a way with changing people." she said calmly, taking a sip. "I highly doubt it will change me that much..."

"Do not doubt that which you don't know." the Hatter smirked, sipping from the teapot next. He sighed in satisfaction, then set the teapot down. With a jump he suddenly yelped, "Oh!" He reached into the pocket on his chest and pulled out the watch, looking it over with a small smile. "I suppose we should go find that rabbit and send you back to where you belong."

Elaine shook her head. "You know... I don't feel like going back. You guys wanted Alisa here for a reason, so I'm going to help." she said. "Alisa was my best friend, and it's what she would've wanted." she said calmly, taking another sip of tea.

The Hatter looked at her for a moment, then slowly smiled. "I said I'd take you back to where you belong. What makes you think I meant taking you back to your world?" he asked with a grin. "This might just be your kind of place."

Elaine shrugged. "Then what do you mean, oh so confusing one?" she asked, putting the teacup on the table, and dodging one that came flying towards her head. "WHAT THE FFFFF----?!" she yelled, stopping herself from swearing.

The March Hare sat laughing like crazy, then immediately stopped and started shaking like a leaf when she yelled. "Thought you'd like some tea?" he said, then started laughing again.

"Elaine, meet the March Hare." Hatter said calmly with a smile at the rabbit. "He has a thing for tea." He chuckled and looked at Elaine again with raised eyebrows. "He certainly keeps people on their toes, like a ballerina on hot coals."

"Yeah... just a little..." Elaine said, a little creeped out. Having her hand on the table, she didn't notice a mouse come out of one of the teapots. At least, she didn't notice until the mouse fell over onto her hand, snuggling up to it. Elaine looked down at it and twitched. She always had a thing with hating rodents, so she shook her hand to get him off, earning a squeak of terror as she scared him back into one of the teapots by making a face at him.

"Come, come. Let's go meet with the White Rabbit." Hatter said with a smile, wrapping his gloved hand around her elbow and leading her from the table. He looked back over his shoulder at the March Hare with a grin. "Keep the tea warm, Marchy. We'll be back soon." He then led Elaine back down the road from the house, heading back towards the stray dirt road that she'd neglected to go down before.

Elaine ducked from another flying tea cup. "Geez..." she muttered, then sighed as she followed after the Hatter. She had a feeling that being welcomed here wasn't going to happen, not that she expected it of course.

Hatter laughed and looked back over his shoulder at the Hare, shaking his head and then moving on. "Come, come, before he decides to follow us." he laughed. "I love the Hare, he's like my brother, but he's really a little unstable." He smirked at Elaine and adjusted his vest, then tipped his hat and walked back towards where the fence began, the red balloon shifting towards them. "Why didn't you take this road before?"

Elaine shrugged. "I'm just walking... I don't really know where I'm going." she said. "I sent the rabbit off because he was freaking out. I told him I could make it, and I did. He warned me of a cat and caterpillar though.. I don't know why." she said calmly.

The Hatter laughed, as if at some inside joke, then nodded and shrugged. "And he's right! The cat and the caterpillar are definitely beings to be wary of! Especially that cat." he chuckled. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, checking his pocket watch again. "Oh my... look at the time."

Elaine sighed. "Let me guess... we're late?" she questioned in a sarcastic tone. She walked calmly and tried to remember what she could from the book, but to no avail. Why hadn't she paid more attention to her teacher? She regretted it now.

The Hatter looked at her with a raised eyebrow and frowned in confusion. "Late? Late to what?" he asked and tucked his watch away again. "I was just saying look at the time. It's currently flozzernarf and twenty-two seconds. That's a beautiful time." he smiled.

Elaine just stared at him, then shook her head. "I'm not even going to ask..." she muttered, then sighed. "The rabbit was constantly saying that we were 'late', but to what I have no idea."

"That rabbit is always late somewhere. I don't think he really has any concept of time at all." Hatter shrugged, then stroked his chin with a quizzical expression. "Or is it that time has no concept of him? I guess we'll never know." He smiled at her, then sighed. "Unless he was speaking about a visit with the Red Queen. In which case, you're screwed whether you show up on time or late or don't show up at all. She'll behead you either way."

Elaine nodded. "That rings a bell." she said, then sighed. "I hate people who think they're mightier than others... it pisses me off."

"Good. You'll need that piss and vinegar to stand up to her." Hatter nodded and reached into his hat, pulling something out of it. It was roughly square-shaped and wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon tied around it. "This was supposed to be for Alisa. But I suppose you should have it. It'll help you during your stay here."

Elaine again nodded, this time only slightly. She hadn't told him yet what happened, and it was obviously bothering her. She took the present and opened it slowly.

Inside the brown paper was a very beautifully binded leather copy of Alice in Wonderland, with a ribbon page marker tied to the binding. He smiled proudly at it. "That was Alice's very first copy of the book. She gave it to me before she left. What people don't realize is that this is actually more of a biography than a work of fiction. But people in your world are so close-minded, so there are a lot of details in this book that aren't in the ones in your world." he chuckled. "This will help you when you get lost. And when you REALLY get in trouble and need help, just open it up to your favorite chapter." he smiled.

Elaine nodded. "It's beautiful..." she said, admiring every bit of the book. "I haven't been able to read all of the one I have, but I've been looking forward to it. The story is my favorite. " she chuckled lightly.

"I'll bet it is." Hatter smiled and tilted his head at her in admiration for a moment. He then sighed and looked ahead again. After a small moment of silence, he sighed again. "Red was her favorite color, you know. Not any shade either... lucious red. The colour of the apples in spring.. the colour of warm blood, and the colour of her lips when it was cold outside.." he said whistfully.

"Funny. That is one of our many differences. I hate the color red. Purple is my favorite. Color of irises. And lilacs." Elaine found herself chuckling. "To think... such different people were the best of friends... quite an odd thing." she breathed in, then a thought came to her. "Hey... Hatter? I got a question for you." she said, looking up at him with a comical smirk.

"And I have an answer." Hatter said with a smile back at her, having seemed broken from a trance at first. He folded his hands behind his back pleasantly and tilted his head, waiting for it.

Elaine chuckled lightly, quoting what she heard from the new movie that was scurrying around the real world like crazy. "Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?"

The Hatter blinked at her question, then tilted his head with his eyes on her, his confusion more than apparent in them. "I... No... No, I haven't the faintest idea. Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Elaine laughed lightly. "I don't know, that's why I asked you." she grinned. "The movie doesn't do you justice at all I must say. None of the movies do." she said with a smile, something that she usually only did around Alisa.

The Hatter paused at her reply, then broke out into a laugh. "Well, I must say, it seems like you'll fit in around here just fine!" he said and shook his head. "But what is a... movie?" he asked quizzically, rubbing his chin in confusion. He then looked at her and smiled. "And you are beautiful when you smile. You should smile more often."

Elaine shrugged. "It surprises me that I actually am... I usually only smiled around Alisa." she said. "And a movie is... well, pictures moving on a screen... it's like looking at a scene through your own eyes, but it's projected on a flat surface. For example, here. In my world, we can walk through Wonderland, without having to get up off our asses."

Hatter laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. "What a strange concept." he shrugged and smiled at her. "You'll have to show me this... movie one of these days."

Elaine nodded. "Sure." she smiled. "That'd be cool." she said with a chuckle. She wrote that in her memory, and they continued to walk.

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<--- Wonderland Mishaps 2
Wonderland Mishaps