Off With Her Head

I wake up and its still night time, or maybe it is daytime. I can't tell because there are no windows. The dream I just had was really detailed. Usually some events taken place in a dream don't fit together, but this was different. Everything fit together like a story. Everything made sense, except the part where I fell in a rabbit hole.

But I like the dreams, if you can believe it. I wanted to go back to sleep so can have another one. I want to see what happens to Alice and Jefferson. Then, it occurred to me, I'm Alice in my dream and that Jefferson would be my love interest. I started to feel butterflies all of a sudden. I wanted to see what would happen with him and me. I feel really uneasy.

I sit up and laid my head on the back board of the bed. I twiddle my thumbs and just just kept thinking about that weird concept. Jefferson is a good looking man, but he's a bit off his rocker.

I get out of the bed and walked into the hallway. Its indeed daytime. It looks like early morning though, the sunlight on the wall is orange. I hear a tea kettle being set on the stove, so I guess Jefferson is awake. I sit on the top of the steps and I watch as he walks to the bottom of the steps.

"Look who's awake. Would you care for some tea, my dear?" I nod my head and walk down the stairs. I go into the kitchen and Jefferson pulled out my seat and pushes it back in when I sat down.

"I had another weird dream last night."

"Would you like to talk about this one?"

"I don't know if I should."

"Well, you already mentioned it. You can't just mention that you had a weird dream and then not talk about it."

"But you asked if I wanted to talk about it."

"True, but do you want to?"

"I suppose I do. I hear this woman screaming 'ALICE! ALICE!' Then, I notice that the woman looks a lot like my mother. She tells me that I'm late for my own wedding. I'm then getting ready and right when I was about to walk down the isle, I ran. I didn't want to get married. I was scared and I didn't love who I was about to marry. I cry in a lush patch of grass and a white rabbit nudged my hand. I follow it to it's rabbit hole and I was pushed in and fell for what seemed like forever. I see old chairs and broken clocks and a floating piano on the way down.

"When I reached the bottom, there was a room with mirrors as doorways and the white rabbit spoke to me, he told me which one to go through. I stepped in the mirror and I was in Wonderland. Everything was beautiful and the colors were so vibrant. I continued to follow the rabbit and he lead me to you and the March Hare sitting at a large table, drinking tea. I then proceeded to join you and drink some tea, but the tea I was drinking turned my hair blue...." I paused.

Jefferson was staring at me. Not in a way that a person would look at another person to show that they're listening, but a stare like he was being way too invested into the story.

"Anyway, the dream didn't seem like a dream. Not that it seemed real, but there was a sequence of events that all came together. There was cause and effect and the outcomes seemed to make sense."

"Its like I told you before, its because they're not dreams, they're memories."

"As crazy as this sounds, I'm starting to believe that."

"Well, does it feel like you've lived it all already?"

"Sort of, yes."

"Was there anything else?"

"No, but I like having these dreams. I can't wait to see what happens next." Jefferson just smiles. I thought he was going to correct me by saying that these dreams are actually memories, but he just smiles.

"Do you know what happens next, Jefferson?"

"I do."

"Can you tell me?"

"I wish I could, but you have to gather the bits a pieces yourself." I cross my arms and just stare at him.

"What? You won't believe me anyway if I tell you." The kettle starts to whistle and Jefferson gets out of his seat to pour him and me a cup of tea.

"What was it you used to knock me out?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The first night I stayed here, you put something in my tea to make me sleep. What was it? I want to go to sleep. I have to see what happens next."

"For one thing, too much sleep isn't good for you. Second thing is, I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't use anything to make you sleep."

"Then, what kind of tea did you use?"

"It wasn't the tea! You were just really tired."

"You just don't want to tell me so that I wouldn't try to make myself sleep! What is so bad with knowing?"

"You're curious about what happens next. Your curiosity will get you into trouble. I'm not telling you because it has to come naturally. You can't just force the memories to come back."

"So you did use something after all!"

"Yes!"

"That was forcing a memory, wasn't it? By forcing me to sleep!"

"Goodness, you were such a pain sometimes!"

"Answer the question, Jefferson."

"Yes it was, but it only gave you half a memory back and it was out of order."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"The sequence of events you spoke of, they need to be in order. When I put you to sleep, you remembered when we stole the tarts from the queen. That was too far ahead. The memories need to come back in order. It didn't even show you the whole memory either. Besides, forcing you to sleep doesn't do much. You won't have the memory come back like that. It took at least a day for you to have the 'dream.' If I put you to sleep, it wouldn't do any good. Like I explained, they have to come on their own."

"Will I have these dreams every time I go to bed?"

"Maybe. I'm not entirely sure."