Alice In Wonderland-Return To Madness Chapter 5- The Mad Hatter and March Hare Rabbit set Alice down gently and handed her a yellow jelly bean, which was half the size of her height. "Here, eat this and get back to your normal size." he said with a slight chuckle. "How am I supposed to know how much to eat? I don't want to keep growing and shrinking over and over until I get to my original height." she said with a puzzled look. "I'd start off by taking a small nibble and see how much u grow from that amount. It'll be easier to take more bites and keep growing little by little rather than taking a big bite and you take the chance on your head going through the ceiling." She stared at the jelly bean for a second, then took a little nibble. They both waited for what seemed like minutes, then she looked at her hands which started doing a ripple-like movement. The ripples started to spread all over her body, then she started growing. She grew until she reached rabbit's height. "Well, a small nibble goes a long way doesn't it!" "It sure does. Take one more and I'm guessing you should be your original height again." said the rabbit happily. She took one more nibble and the ripples started up again, then she shot up to her normal height. "Oh thank goodness! I thought I'd never be back to my old self again. Ok rabbit, let's carry on and pray we don't run into anymore calamities on our way." Alice said while she and the rabbit faced the door. "You're right Alice....umm, after you." he said while changing his mind about opening the door and retracted his hand back down to his side. She reached for the doorknob and gave it a slow turn and opened it just a crack. Alice turned to her rabbit and said with a giggle,"Well well, this time was a lot easier going through a door than the first time I tried going through one chasing you." The rabbit just stood there not really worrying about what she was saying for fear of what might be lurking behind the door. She pushed the door slowly open the rest of the way and said in awe,"Wonderland ceases to amaze me!" Behind the door was a little pathway surrounded by forest, which was dark and eerie looking. They could hear crow calls somewhere in the distance as well as other creepy animal noises of both familiar and unfamiliarity. "Here we go then, it's not going to get any better just standing here that's for sure." Alice said glumly. She took rabbit's hand, and they crossed the threshold. As they continued to walk through the woods, rabbit was getting more and more uneasy with every passing minute. "Did you hear that!" he said trembling and clinging close to Alice. "Don't say that, remember what happened last time you said that same line in the corridor. It was just something in the woods that happened to step on a twig or something on the ground." "Exactly!" he shouted. "Oh calm down and look, the trees are thinning out now and I can see sunlight." As they came to the end of their path, they saw a long narrow table all laid out with cakes, crumpets, cookies, tea, tea pots, cups and saucers as well as silverware. It also had a beautiful white tablecloth outlined in gold on the edges with intricate gold designs on it. Expensive looking comfortable chairs surrounded the whole table, and it seemed to be laid out for a lot of guests. "This sure looks familiar, but where's the Hatter and March Hare?" she said suspiciously. "Alice maybe we shouldn't linger around here any longer and continue?" he questioned anxiously while tugging on her dress. Just then, the Hatter and March Hare came out of the woods on the other side and headed towards the table. "Well well Marchie, look who it is! It's our dear little Alice all grown up, and once again she's snooping around our table." "Such a disgrace! Touching our things with her grubby little hands. She should be taught a lesson since she never learnt the first time!" Marchie yelled evilly as he spat everywhere with every word. "I didn't touch a thing. We were only passing through is all, so we'll leave you to your tea party and be on our way." said Alice as she picked up her trembling rabbit and started walking passed the table. "Now wait, what's the rush? Stay and join us, I'm sure we can find you both somewhere to sit." said the Hatter in a friendly but mischievous way. Alice thought to herself that this probably wasn't the best of ideas, but also didn't want to anger or upset them and make the situation worse. "You seriously aren't going to sit and dine with these two kooks are you?" the rabbit whispered to Alice in a rather scolding tone. "I don't trust them, but I'll keep my eyes on them for sure. We can't take the chance and anger them for they might harm us. I won't let anything happen to you my dear rabbit, so don't worry." she whispered back soothingly while lightly stroking his head. "Come sit over here to the right of me." Hatter said smiling as he pulled a chair out for Alice to sit. She walked over towards Hatter and sat her rabbit in the chair next to hers, then she took her seat. "Would you like a crumpet?" Marchie asked Alice. "Yes please, that would be lovely." "Sorry, we're fresh out!" he replied as he popped the last one into his mouth and licked his fingers. "How rude! If I didn't have to be so cautious I'd give that nasty rabbit a piece of my mind!" she thought to herself while glaring at Marchie. "Now Marchie, let's not be rude to our guest. Come here with me to the end of the table, and we'll get you something to eat." The Hatter took her by the hand and they walked to where the cakes sat. Meanwhile, her rabbit was left alone with Marchie who was eyeballing him from across the table. The Hare poured a cup of tea for Alice, and slipped in a poisonous powder while stirring it quickly as the white rabbit watched her with the Hatter. He looked back to where Marchie had been sitting, but saw he was no longer there and started panicking with whiskers quivering full speed. He looked to the left, then turned to his right and saw Marchie right in his face with crazy looking eyes and an evil grin as he threw a burlap sack over him and tied it up. Marchie then took up a knife and poked at the sack as he whispered,"Just make one sound, and I'll be eating rabbit stew for supper." He was so petrified that he fainted and laid still in the sack. Marchie shoved him under the table and sat back down in his chair like nothing happened. Far down the table, the dormouse had seen everything from the empty teapot he was sleeping in. Alice came back carrying a dish with a big slab of cake on it, and the Hatter was close behind her as they made their way back to their seats. She picked her fork up and was about to get a bite when she noticed in the corner of her eye her friend was missing. "I'd better not question them or even let on like I've noticed anything, therefore I can buy me a bit more time to figure out what they've done with my rabbit." Alice thought to herself. Marchie nudged Hatter to let him know the tea was poisoned and ready to be served to her. The dormouse quietly slipped out of his teapot and quickly made his way towards Alice,weaving in and out between cups, dishes and pots. "You must be thirsty my dear. Here you go, drink up." Hatter said as he pushed the cup towards her. Right as she picked the cup up to drink, she spotted the dormouse who was getting her attention as covertly as he could and signaling not to drink the tea. She thought fast and said politely,"Actually, I'm not at all that thirsty just yet, but thank you for your hospitality." She put her cup down and looked at the Hatter. His face changed from friendly to a boiling red color with a look of absolute rage. The March Hare gave another one of his evil smiles, and rubbed his paws together as if he knew that some horrible plan was about to be carried out. As Alice started to get out of her chair, the Hatter shot up out of his and shoved her back into hers. "What have you done with my rabbit?!" she screamed with anger. "Oh, don't you worry about him, he'll never be late again." Marchie growled. She struggle to get up from her chair, but Marchie was behind it and holding her still. "Since you don't want to die willingly, we'll assist you ourselves! Marchie, open this swine's mouth nice and wide!" As the Hare stuck his fingers in her mouth and started to pry it open, Alice shook her head loose from his grip and bit one of his fingers clean off. "AHHHHH!" he screamed, and let go of her as he grasped his hand in agony. "You fool!" shouted Hatter while trying to grab Alice as she pushed herself from the chair and grabbed the big kitchen knife Marchie had used before. The Hare was infuriated and rushed towards Alice frothing at the mouth. She spun back around, lopped off his head with one clean stroke and sent it sailing through the air. The Hatter grew even more furious and made his way towards her. "Oh, the ideas I have for you to make you scream! You should of just drank the tea when you had the chance!" he growled through clenched teeth. The dormouse made his way to the edge of the table and hopped off. He then made his way to the Hatter's foot, stuck his head under his pant leg and made his way up. A bit startled, Hatter looked down and felt a sharp pain. "AHH!" he yelled while swatting at his leg, knocking the dormouse unconscious and he fell back to the ground. Alice grabbed a big cake plate and broke it over the top of the Hatter's head. He stood there stunned, and she pushed him back into the chair. Alice once again took up the knife and cut a long strip out of the tablecloth, and then started tying his arms to the chair's arms as well as his torso to the back. She made sure her tying job was secure and left Hatter in his daze as she ran over to the dormouse to check on him. In both hands she picked him up gently and brought him back over to the table and laid him down. "Dormouse....dormouse, please wake up." she said worriedly while lightly tapping him. Alice started to cry, not only for the dormouse, but also for not knowing what had become of her friend. The dormouse's eyes slowly opened, and his whiskers started quivering. "What happened?" he asked rather confused. "You're alive! I was so worried about you!" Alice said while wiping the tears from her eyes. "Alice, I saw what happened to your friend. Luckily, Marchie only made it as far as shoving him under the table. He's just under there in a sack." dormouse said while pointing. Alice pulled the rabbit out of the sack and saw he was still unconscious. "Rabbit! Wake up my little friend, it's ok now!" she said anxiously while tapping on his face. Rabbit awoke and latched onto her remembering what had happened. "It was horrible! He was going to turn me into stew Alice!" "It's ok it's over now. I told you I'd protect you, and I have." she said calmly and gave him a hug. "Rabbit, this is dormouse. He saved me and I'm eternally grateful to him." Rabbit and the dormouse shook hands and talked for a little bit getting to know one another better. "Alice, if it wouldn't be too much trouble I'd really like to tag along with you. I've always been badly mistreated by those two and that's why I'd always keep to myself, quiet and out of site in my teapot. So that's why I helped you, I'm not like those two and I would like to be around ones who treat me with kindness." said the dormouse rather sadly. "Why of course you can come with us." she said happily and put the dormouse into her apron pocket. Alice turned back towards Hatter an saw he was still dazed looking from the impact he just encountered. She shook him a bit and said firmly,"Hatter, wake up!", but he was still out of it. She turned, grabbed a glass of ice water and splashed it in his face as she yelled out his name again. The moment the cold water touched his face he snapped right out of it. "Untie me at once you wretched girl if you know what's good for you!" he growled through clenched teeth while trying to shake loose. "Hatter....," she said in a sarcastic way as she turned towards the table an rolled her eyes,"haven't you figured out by now you can't do anything to me, and I'm certainly not scared of you." Alice took her knife and sliced off a long thin piece of tablecloth. She then hiked her leg up on a nearby chair as she tied her knife to her thigh to keep it concealed beneath her dress. "I've overpowered you once, and I definitely will have no problem doing it again. Now, what can you tell me about what's going on here?" Hatter just stared at her with a grin on his face that seemed to say he might or might not know something, but he wasn't going to share any details willingly. "Well, if you're not going to talk now we'll just be on our way and leave you here. I'll find a way to save Wonderland and everyone here." she said bravely. Alice then turned with her head down and whispered sadly to herself,"I hope I can save Wonderland.....and myself." With dormouse sill in her pocket and rabbit following her closely holding her hand, they all headed off towards the path that the Hatter and Marchie originally came out of. "I don't know a whole lot about what's happened Alice, but I'm almost certain the root of the problem lies in the Red Queen's castle." "I'm not too sure either, but that was my first guess as well dormouse." said Alice while petting his head gently. "Call me Dormie." he said to Alice with a little smile on his face. "Ok Dormie, I will." she said happily, and thinking to herself that there was a little hope left since goodness still existed in this hellish nightmare.