Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 11 Alice

I smell coffee and bacon as I slowly start to wake up. Brushing the sleep from my eyes I leave my room and head to the kitchen.
I'm surprised to see my Dad at the stove making pancakes. He's too busy watching the pancakes cook to realize I walked in.
"Any coffee ready? Are there any pancakes ready?" He jumps slightly when he hears my voice, but chuckles after a moment. He turns from the griddle and hugs me.
"Good morning Sweet Pea. And yes, of course there's coffee. It's on the end of the counter as always. There's also bacon and some blackberry muffins, Tilly finally got that old bush by that cedar tree to grow and bear some fruit this year. I looked at him in shock, not even grass grew close to that tree. How did she get a blackberry bush to grow until it had fruit?
"How the hell did she do that? Not even the grass grows around that old tree." He shrugs before he flips the row of pancakes.
"She built a garden bed around it. You can't see it in the dark, but she made a wrap-around bench and a small garden around the tree. Her reasoning is, she doesn't want any more accidents around that tree so she built something around it in case any future little ones want something to climb around on." He looks at me almost sad. "She almost lost you that day and after she lost Damion, she's gone through enough. She wants to take away any chance of any more accidents here. I don't think she could bear any more tragedies on the farm." I only nod as I pour my coffee and load up my plate with bacon. I hold my plate out for Dad to put some fresh pancakes on. He's still lost in thought as he cooks, but he puts four on my plate. I gently kiss his cheek and go to sit at the kitchen table. Unlike my mother and brother, we enjoy a comfortable silence. We work in silence for another 20 minutes before Jack comes stumbling into the kitchen looking like hell.
"Good morning Sleeping Beauty. Sleep ok?" He flips me off before he pats Dad on the shoulder and moves to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"I slept fine once I finally got comfortable. Do you think someone could talk Aunt Tilly into replacing those old mattresses?" He takes his first few sips and just sighs. "I swear it feels like it's the same mattress from when I was a kid. It's definitely in need of an upgrade. Speaking of, where is mom and Aunt Tilly? I didn't see them in the rooms."
Dad barks out a laugh.
"Have you forgotten that this is still a working farm? They've been up for almost two hours getting the morning chores done. Your lucky you came in when you did last night. Tilly was talking about waking you up to help do some of the heavy lifting. Your mom took pity on you  though, so enjoy sleeping in today cause tomorrow you're getting put to work." Jack groans and sits across from me with a full plate of food. He looks like he's about to complain, but he shuts up when mom and Aunt Tilly walk into the kitchen. Mom gives dad a kiss then whispers something into his ear and they laugh together. I have always been grateful that my parents have always worked so well together. I heard a lot of horror stories from my friends growing up and also the drama from Marcus's family. It made me more cautious when I started liking someone, but even if they were the nicest guy on earth, they'd be the Hatter. 
"Well, my little sleepy heads, you got lucky this morning, but I still expect at least a hand on some of the chores around here. Vacation or not, it will go a lot faster with two extra pairs of hands. Thankfully all the big jobs are only every few days." Tilly sips at her coffee before she starts to eat one of the muffins. She looks more peaceful than she did last night, but I'm guessing having the family all under one roof again was going to help her mental health.
"I do want a chance to look up in the attic, for family records and stuff like that." The parents all exchanged a look, they almost looked scared. That was odd.
"What family records are you looking for? And you never mentioned a school project before." Tilly just looks at Jack, her face completely unreadable in the moment, but I swear I could see nervousness.
"We're supposed  to be showing our lineage and where we come from. And they announced the project before we left for spring break. And I figured since the farm has been family land since forever that there'd be more papers left here instead of our house." He shoves  the rest of his muffin in his mouth as the room goes deadly quiet. Thankfully Lorraine walks in and breaks the tension.
"Sweet! Pancakes. Thanks Uncle Marty."  She doesn't even stop to see the tension in the room before she's pouring herself a cup of coffee. When she finally looks at the adults faces she sobers before asking
"Did someone die or get disowned?" Tilly shakes her head and moves to refill her mug as she answers her daughter.
"No one is dead or disowned. This is going to be a story for another time. For now lets eat something before we have to get the afternoon chores done so we can have dinner together at a decent time." We all just look at the adults suspiciously before we all finish our meals in silence.
Once I finish my food and put my plates in the dishwasher I finally break the awkward silence that has taken over the kitchen.
"I'm going to go for a walk. My phone is still on the charger in my room so if you need me just shout for me." They all smile and nod as I walk out of the kitchen. I'm used to my parents being a bit odd about our family, but what just happened with Aunt Tilly as well seemed beyond their normal oddness. I shake my head as I walk down the front lawn. I think we're all on edge this year. I don't let my mind wonder to far before I'm standing in front of the cedar tree. I just stay still for a few minutes, just looking at the branches. I can still see the one that broke from under me. I run my hands down my face before I take a good look at the garden bed and bench that Tilly had designed. Dad was right, it was a gorgeous piece. It fully circles around the tree and has a simple charm to it. Tilly was always amazing at building things without a design, she always says the ideas just come to her mind. I sit down on the bench a moment before I decide to lay down. Staring up into the leaves I start to wonder if I could actually leave my thoughts of Hatter here when we leave. I have a million thoughts running through my mind and I don't even realize that I drifted off again, caught up thinking of Hatter and the smell of blackberries.


I'm back at Hatter's front gate, I can smell the lemon scones baking in the air. Looking at the table though, it's empty. That's odd, it's never empty, there's always at least someone at the table. I walk through the gate and instead of going to the table I decide to walk to look at his lemon trees. I remember from a previous dream that he planted these trees with his parents. They're all taller than me and a few still have some blossoms left and the others have lemons ready to pick. I'm lost in my thoughts of previous dreams when Hatter talked about his home. I don't recall remembering all these conversations from previous dreams, but for some reason their becoming more clear and not just the dreams of us joking together or having sex. It feels like a fog is lifting off those memories.
"Back again my Sweet? It wasn't very long ago since we had tea and you scared poor Hare half to death. He refused to come back for tea for nearly a week! Though I wish you could visit more frequently. I suppose since I'm finally awake, I'm much more impatient to see you again." I can feel him behind me and I can't help but smile when I hear his voice. I can feel my blood heat knowing he's so close to me.
"If I could my Hatter, I don't think I'd ever leave this place or you. You feel like home. As silly as that sounds, dreams feeling like home." I chuckle, but I feel tears burning in my eyes. How could I let him go when I was finally remembering everything? This was going to be harder than I thought.
"Don't tease me like that, my sweet little tart. Or I may just tie you to your favorite chair and never let this dream walk end." I feel his hand trail down my arm then he wraps his hand around my wrist. "How gorgeous would you look though? Bound at our tea table. Hmm Such a lovely thought, but we'll save that for another day. I can feel how warm your skin is this time and I can almost feel your heart beating. You must be closer to your portal tree. You're so close, yet we're still worlds apart my little tart." His voice is gruff almost like he's trying to hold himself back. I let my head roll back and rest on his chest and he presses himself against me more.
"Who knew my Hatter was a bit of a Dom?" I giggle. He nuzzles his nose in my hair and inhales before he groans.
"I don't know what a Dom is, but I like the way it sounds on your pretty lips. I'll have to ask Cheshire, he may know." As he talks he moves to nuzzle against my neck and I can feel him get hard against me. I press more firmly against him and grind slightly before I say.
"I may have to tell you myself. I don't believe that Cheshire would want to know what a Dom is my love." He growls before he wraps his free arm around my hips.
"Don't be cruel Alice. I can feel you starting to fade from here. And feeling your needy body pressing into me is driving me mad! The next time I fuck you, I want you here at our table, not dream walking. I want to feel your actual skin against mine. Fuck. Come to me Alice. Find your way back to our home." I feel his teeth scrape against my neck before I wake with a start.


I gasp and sit straight up. I swear I can still feel Hatter's arms around me and his teeth on my neck as I wake up more. I have a feeling that everything is going to get a lot more complicated.