Mad for a Hatter

The campus at the University of Washington was drenched with rain. Everyone was either asleep, studying, or partying in the dorms except for one lone wonderlander. Or at least that’s what it looked like. My name is Andy Kipper and I’m that lone person. I work a night shift at the Disney store and I’m a freshman in college. Today my boss thought it would be cool if we dressed up like a character from a Disney movie. So I chose to be a dark version of Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
I was walking back to my dorm when a white rabbit crossed my path. It was going rather fast and was muttering something about being late when it hopped into a rain puddle. I stopped to see if it would swim back up but it didn’t. I walked over to the puddle and didn’t see a trace of the rabbit. Before I could think I was walking into the puddle, but instead of going across to the other side. I fell through the puddle. It felt like hours I was falling but was probably only seconds when I fell with a thud and everything went black.
I woke up to a psycho looking brown rabbit with a tea cup in his hand. I looked around to find huge dark trees and small colorful mushrooms littering the ground.
“SHE”S AWAKE!!!” the rabbit screamed with a slight accent.
‘Did that rabbit seriously just talk!?!’ my thoughts were yelling to me. I sat up quickly gaining dizziness. The rabbit stood up and helped me to my feet. He came up to my waist. He was pretty short considering I’m about 5’5½”.
“Excuse me.” I said politely to the rabbit, “Who are you and where am I?” He stopped and turned towards me.
“I‘m the March Hare and this,” he said spinning in circles, “is Wonderland. Hurry now we are late for tea.” He scurried off towards a old broken down windmill. Not wanting to get lost I ran after the little crazy hare. I slowed down when I got closer. The March Hare was sitting at the end of a huge table, well more like 3 large dining tables put together. There were tea pots and tea kettles everywhere. About 15 to 20 chairs were surrounding the tables and only 2 were occupied. At the end of the table a person was sitting, not just anyone. A rather good looking guy sat there.
The March Hare seemed to be in a deep conversation with the man. They didn’t seem to notice me standing there so I walked down to where they were seated.
“Ah there you are my dear. Sit! Sit! You must have a spot of tea!” The March Hare stated loudly. I sat down next to the man at the end of the table.
“Now you must be the lady the March Hare found in the woods.” he said with slight lisp. “What is your name?”
“Andy Kipper. And you are. . .” I asked.
“Oh yes how silly of me. I am the Mad Hatter.” he said matter-of-factly. They went back to their earlier argument. I paid little attention to it other then the fact it was something about tea. My attention drifted from them to a small furry door mouse that was napping in a tea pot.
“Andy, my dear, where are you from?” the Mad Hatter asked while pouring a cup of tea and handing it to me.
“I‘m from a small town in America.” I said.
“America? That sounds fascinating. Do they drink much tea there?” He asked with sudden interest.
“Only the smaller children do. Most of the older people don’t have the time.”
“TIME! Who doesn’t have enough time! Well I’ll tell you-” The March Hare started but The Hatter interrupted him.
“Andy would you care to join me a few seats down.” He said getting up and going to the other side of the table. He was taller then I expected. The children’s books and Disney movie make him seem so short. But he stood at about 5’10”, his orange hair stuck out from beneath his top hat. He must have saw me staring at him because he smiled at me. I got up and walked over to the other end where he was. When I got close to him he pulled a chair out for me then sat down himself.
“Do you like hats?” he asked.
“Why yes, I do fancy a good hat every once in a while. And what about you, Mr. Hatter?” I asked.
“I used to make hats for the white queen herself.” he stated. We kept asking each other questions and our chairs kept sliding closer to each other. Something in me was falling every time he spoke. I don’t know if it was my brain going over my history homework or if it was my heart feeling something. Every time he spoke, every hand motion he made, every time he laughed, I felt my heart beat faster. Was he feeling it too? About an hour passed of us talking.
“Have you ever fallen for someone or something?” He asked while eyeing the a tea pot. I was getting rather thirsty. I moved my hand over to the tea pot between us. His hand also went for the tea pot too. Our hands touched, I looked up at him. He had a look of curiosity and something I did not know in his eyes. He leaned over to me and kissed me. We pulled apart and looked at each other.
“I think I’ve fallen mad for a hatter.” I said while giving him another kiss.