Who Killed Poor Alice?

"Well Miss Alice? Are you coming?" The voice was inviting, smooth and coy at the same time. I looked back to the place where I had previously been laying on the ground, it seemed inviting as well, a soft patch of green grass with flowers surrounding it. I was tempted, but I remembered the voice of the rabbit telling me that I would be late. Late for what? I asked myself before shaking it off before getting to my knees and crawling through the space under the tree.

I crawled for about an eternity before I was assaulted with a dim light, a dim light that seemed so bright against the blackness of the hole. When out of the hole, in the light, I saw a table, a small tea table, decorated with ornate dishes, silverware and tea cups. I was looking around it when a bell chimed, and a voice called: "It's tea time!!"

An extravagant door that was somehow behind me that I didn't notice opened after the voice chimed out, just as I was stepping away from the ornate table. Through the door that I hadn't noticed until now, a man walked into the room. He was strangely familiar though I could not quite place where I had seen him before, for his eyes were covered in the shadow of a large black top hat that took over most of his head. The man's dress was far from normal.

He wore a suit, far too elegant for a simple afternoon tea, but equivalent to what one would wear to a dinner party or if you were going to a masquerade ball. I stared at the man as he sat at the table and flipped his coat tail out so that he was not sitting on it. "Well Miss Alice?" He asked, a smirk in his voice though I could not clearly see his lips. "Are you going to be joining me today?"

I stared at the man for a moment longer, who was he? Again, I heard the rabbits voice in my head: "You're going to be late." I stared at the man. "I can't," I said, watching as he poured his tea and shifted his gaze over to me. "The rabbit said that I was going to be late."

"Come now Miss Alice," The Hatter said, taking a sip of tea that he had already put four or five sugar cubes into, along with an obscene amount of cream. "Wake up and smell the roses, come and have some fun." He laughed once and beckoned me over.

There's nothing wrong with having a little bit of tea. I reminded myself, stepping up to the table once more and sitting down across from the man. No matter how close I was, his face was still shielded from me, I couldn't get a good look at him. "I guess it won't hurt..." I said, watching still as the man poured me a cup of tea.

"Two lumps or three?" He asked, taking the sugar and placing a cube in the cup without my consent.

"Three lumps, please." I replied and he put in another three.