Mad World excerpts?

He sat down before her, in a worn out chair that hadn't been there before. He propped his miss matching boots up on the table, crossed at the ankles; she watched as mud dripped slowly from them onto the patchwork table cloth. He pushed his hat up so she could see his eyes – one sky blue and the other a dangerous green (for now, at least) - and then neatly folded his hands in his lap. "Alright, Cricket, I'll tell you all you want to know…if, and only if, I feel like it. I'm very well likely to just make up half of it on a whim as I go along, understand?"
She considered this as she reached out and gripped the half of the tea cup in front of her, the liquid mysteriously suspended in mid-air, "Understood. But, you should know by now that my curiosity is never satisfied."
He gave her a Cheshire Cat grin, "Oh, believe me, I know."
"So, start from the beginning and when you get to the end: stop." Alice prompted.
"Yes, you inpatient girl, I'm getting to that."  He heaved a sigh, both his eyes taking on a twinge of red. "But first, I'd like to have tea."
Her curiosity was getting the best of her. "You've had time for tea! In fact you've had nothing but time for tea for over a hundred years, now I'd like to have the answers everyone denied me all those years ago." She slammed her half-a-cup of tea on the table, breaking whatever seal had kept it all together, causing the tea to spill.
"Don't take your poor upbringing out on the china, insolent girl!" His eyes flashed completely red. He dropped his feet from the table and leaned in, propping his elbows up on the table.
"That's not very good manners, you know." Alice pointed out.
"Oh, and what you did was then?" He scoffed. His eyes were still crimson.
Alice remembered the warning the March Hare had given her regarding the mood swings of the Hatter and decided it best to not say anything at all until his eyes changed color. So she patiently sat there twirling her fingers until the Hatter's eyes had faded to an almost pleasant shade of light brown.
He poured himself a tall glass and then poured the tea inside said tall glass. After five long minutes of him putting sugar into it and stirring he took one sip and poured the rest into the tea pot containing the Door Mouse. "Now, we shall begin." He leaned almost clear across the table to her, his eyes taking a on a serious black hue. "Over the many years of this deranged little tea party I've been a lot of things. But, more importantly, I've been made into a lot of things. People, over the course of history, have tried to rationalize me, humanize me, and even in some cases romanticize me. I've been painted a hero, a martyr, and a mad man. But really, I've only ever been one thing: a mad man. That's the only thing anyone ever got right. Even you, my dear, spread factious stories of me in that world of yours. But essentially, I'm nothing more than a man who's worked with far too much mercury in his life time. Yes, there was that whole issue with time, but it's so unimportant. People complain that I'm heartless, soulless, or inhuman – and that maybe true- but I assure you I was like that before the madness."  He paused then and erupted into a fit of laughter that took up to ten minutes. Alice didn't dare interrupt him; she sat there captivated by the mad man in front of her. His eyes shone solid black.
"Now, I've hear myself portrayed as a bumbling man, a traitor, and so much more. Frankly it doesn't bother me much because I'm pretty sure it's all true. I never really did care much for anyone. Well, except Ears – as you know, he's called the March Hare for a reason and has this convenient habit of turning human every March, if you catch my drift." The Hatter winked.
Yes, Alice definitely understood what he meant.
"And – you know," He suddenly looked at her then, his eyes clearing up; "you aren't the only person to find themselves in Wonderland. Not by a long shot, any lost child who's ever wanted more or wondered about the world has been here. Every child that's ever been curious has been here. But you, Cricket, are the very first child to ever ask about me.  You're the very first to ever ask…" He trailed off then, distracted by an ant on the table. "Oh, no…no...No…that won't do at all. Clean cup! Clean cup! Move down! We must move down!" He quickly jumped to his feet and took off to the farthest end of the table. Alice jumped up and scrambled after him. "Now this…this is good." He mumbled to himself before sitting in what appeared to be the very same chair as before.
"Well, take a seat, child." He urged her.
Alice pulled up a stool this time and set herself in front of a new extravagant tea set; this one looked porcelain. She folded her hands in her lap and waited patiently for him to begin again. She watched as he picked a tea cup up with his gloved hands and slowly turned it around, inspecting it. She watched his hands closely, she watched the way his fingers moved on the porcelain. Her eyes drifted up to follow the sharp line of his jaw and then his nose which looked normal, but had been enormous in all her childhood memories. His dark, midnight hair hung in his eyes beneath the brim of his hat. The hat, at least, was the very same one from her memories. It was dark and tattered, with a red satin ribbon tied around it, and a card that read "In This Style 10/6". The Hatter looked up at her, her eyes met his. They were once again blue and green. She decided that she liked him best when his eyes were like that. His eyes moved from her face to her neck, her hair…"You're hair wants cutting." He whispered.
"You said that to me once before." She said.
"Have I?" He raised his eyebrows.
"It was the very first thing you said to me."
"So it was." He laughed.
"Do you have a name?" She asked suddenly, sipping from her cup.
"I've never been asked that." He said truthfully, looking away. "Not even by Ears."
"Well, do you?"
"I imagine that I had one once upon a time, but I've forgotten it since then." He shrugged.
"Would you like to have one?" She laughed, finding the whole idea of not having a name absurd.
"If it makes you feel better, it doesn't really matter to me." He watched as a Bread-and-Butterfly flew above them and rested on a lantern just behind Alice's head.
"How about 'Hatta'?" She asked. "You know, as kind of a play on words for Hatter."
"I'd really rather not." He said. "That's already someone's name here and I get mistaken for him enough." He rolled his eyes. "You should know since you met him."
Alice did not remember this.
"Oh, come now, he is one of the White King's messengers." The Hatter said.
"Ah, I remember now." Alice smiled. "He needed one to come and one to go. He also had Haigha."
"Yes, he's often mistaken for Ears." The hatter brushed some lint off his shoulder.
The more Alice thought, the more she remembered that they were very much the same people. They must have multiple personalities. Alice thought. Wait – of course they do!
"Okay…so how about Near?" She suggested.
"For what?" He asked, turning back towards her.
"For your name!" she said, exasperated.
"Near? What kind of name is Near?" He stuck his tongue out.
"Obviously not your name."  She sighed. "I give up."
He let out a bark of laughter and leaned back in his chair. "Then my name shall be Kaleb."
"Kaleb?" Alice asked. "Why Kaleb?"
"Because I have decided so." He downed the remainder of his tea. "Now, where were we?"
"You were telling me about yourself."
"Ah, well….another time perhaps." He set down his cup, stood, and then checked his pocket watch. "Time for a clean cup, I venture."
"Maybe for you, but I've got work to do." Alice stood and headed towards the gate.
"Wish I could help." He sighed. "But I'm just not dressed to go out and it's almost time for tea."
"Oh, well, there are plenty of others in Wonderland." She closed the gate behind her.
"You should know since you invented us!" He called after her. And just as he hoped, it stopped her in her tracks.
"I…invented you?" she turned back to him. "But you said you were alive for hundreds of year and that many children have visited Wonderland."
"Did I?" He asked nonchalantly. "I don't recall."
"Am I dreaming again?" she asked frantically, crossing the gate back into the tea party. "Is this like when I was younger? Am I only in my own mind?"
"Does that idea scare you?" He looked up from his cup, his eyes both blue.
"Well, I suppose it does." She thought aloud.
"And why is that?" He sauntered over to her, which was odd because she hadn't even seen him stand. "Why is that, do you think?"
"Well, if this was all in my head then it would make me quite mad, you see. And, I don't want to go among mad people."
He was barely an inch away from her, noticing how the warmth radiated from her skin, "Oh you can't help that, we're all mad here."
"So I've heard."
He reached out and twirled a strand of her hair around two of his gloved fingers. "But don't worry, Cricket, I was only teasing you. We're not in your head or in your dream; we're as real as the blood that flows through your veins."
"I-I can tell." She stuttered, watching him play with her hair.
"Now, where is it you were going?" He motioned towards the gate.
"I…I can't quite recall, actually." She laughed.
"Then I shall accompany you until you do." He decided. "Just let me grab some tea." He picked up a tea pot and took off his hat. She couldn't help noticing the way his black hair spiked up at all angles without it.  He poured the tea into his hat, dropped in the teapot, threw in some cups, and then added some cubes of sugar for good measure.
"Kaleb," she tried out his new name, "how are you going to wear that hat now?"
"Easy, I'm going to put it on my head." He did so, and nothing fell out of it, nothing whatever.
"You are a unique butterfly, you know that right?" She laughed.
"And they call me the mad man." He laughed, holding the gate open for her.
"I can't imagine why…." She giggled as she watched him, and his mismatching many buckled white and black boots, hop from one area of cobblestones to another.
He looked back at her and wondered for a moment what she was even talking about. He soon remembered and smiled at the pretty girl walking beside him.



******


"Well, there has to be a reason I'm here, you see. The first time I was here I found out who I was, and the second time I was here I accepted everything and grew up. So, there has to be a reason this time as well." Alice explained.
"And if there isn't?" asked the Hatter.
"Then I'm simply stark raving mad."
"I quite like that option." He smiled. "More tea dear?"

********

"I've finally found out why I'm here." Alice whispered.
"And why is that, do you think?" The Hatter asked; one eye blue and the other green.
"To find who I love." She said so faint the Mome Raths could barely hear her.
The Hatter felt the gears on his back speed up, but ignored it to ask "And did you find them?"
"Yes, yes I did." She took a step closer; she was now mere inches from him.
"Who?" The cogs worked faster.
"It's you." Her beautiful eyes shone brighter than the stars.
"I'm glad." He whispered, his back burning. "You're time in Wonderland is up."
"What?" she asked startled. She looked up into his eyes which were now expressionless and gray.
"You're lessons learned. You've found your answers. You're time is up."
"But, I've only just begun." She protested. A greater pain than the one on his back started in his chest, like something squeezing the life out of his heart.
"It's time to go back now." He whispered.
"I don't understa-" she had taken a step back and fell into a rabbit hole that the Hatter swore had not been there before. He listened until he could no longer hear her voice echo and then looked up into the looking glass. Hatta stared intently back at him. The cogs finally calmed down.
They stood like that for hours and then days; neither moving nor neither speaking.
They didn't even break for tea.
They didn't even celebrate an unbirthday.
Many seasons later the Cheshire Cat came strolling in. "Hatter," it purred, "just what are you doing there?"
The Hatter, eyes sky blue, turned to the cat. "You know," he said, "I can't remember."

*******


"I can't ever truly come with you, you know." He told her matter-of-factly.
"Why?"
"Well, because of time of course." He laughed. "I told you about that, right?"
"No." She said. Her curiosity burned, "What happened with time?"
"That's a tale for another day." He continued to sip his tea.

*****
Alice laughed, and the Hatter smiled. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "he's punished you for nearly a hundred years now. I imagine your singing wasn't that bad."
"Oh, believe me: it was." He grinned.

********

"What is Alice to you?" The White Queen thoughtfully asked him.
He shrugged, "She's just a girl."
"You're eyes turn jade when you lie." She pointed out.
"Do they?" He laughed. "I never knew."