The Mad Alice

The Caterpillar

Chapter 10-The Caterpillar

Later that same afternoon, they finished up their artwork and headed outside. That way, the patients won't be cooped up inside all day, and they can get some fresh air and relax.

As everyone filed out the door into the rolling hills behind the facility, Elizabeth handed them a sweet little pastry to enjoy. Alice politely took the pastry in her hands and smiled up at the lady, "Thank you!"

"Why, you're quite welcome, Miss Alice."

Then, The Mad Hatter came up behind Alice and obnoxiously picked a pastry off and plopped it in his mouth. Even though his manners needed some work, he thanked her and followed the little girl in the blue dress.

Alice nibbled on her pastry as she wandered around, look at the flowers and the trees. She admired the beauty of nature; maybe that's why wacky nature was a big part of Wonderland. Suddenly, Alice stopped and stared at some white roses. "We should paint the roses red!" She yelled, but everyone ignored her except for The Mad Hatter. All he did was look at Alice with a blank look.

"Guys, we should paint the roses red!" Alice yelled louder, but gained no attention. "Hey! WE NEED TO PAINT THE ROSES RED!" The little girl screamed, and this time, she got everyone's attention.

Elizabeth quickly walked over, "Miss Alice, let's be a bit more quiet, okay?"

"BUT WE NEED TO PAINT--"

"Shhhhh... Alice, we aren't going to paint them. Now, calm down, please."

"NO!"

Elizabeth carefully took Alice aside and did a calming breathing exercise with her in order for the troubled girl to relax. Even though Alice greatly felt like she should paint the roses, she decided to keep it to herself. In Alice's mind, when the Queen of Hearts came and was upset that her roses weren't red, Alice would tell her that it was Elizabeth's fault.

Then, once Alice was relaxed and her spell was over, she found The Mad Hatter laying on his back in the grass, looking at the sky that was dotted with clouds.

"What are you doing, Mad Hatter?"

"Well, I'm looking at the shapes."

"Where?"

"In the sky. Look at the fluffy marshmallows and you can see different shapes."

Wanting to discover these shapes, Alice laid down beside the hatter and looked up. The first thing she saw was a cloud in the shape of a caterpillar, but the caterpillar was blowing smoke that came out in the form of letters. Marveled by the fact it was shaped exactly like the caterpillar in Wonderland, she reached out to the sky in front of her, trying to touch him.

"What are you doing?" The Mad Hatter asked.

"I want to touch the caterpillar!"

The Mad Hatter examined the cloud, "That cloud does look like a caterpillar! Ya know, it looks like he's blowing smoke."

Wide-eyed Alice looked over at The Mad Hatter since he imagined the same as her, "That's exactly what I thought, too!"

With a crazy laugh, he said, "Mad minds think alike."

Alice giggled and looked back up at the floating caterpillar and began to flash back through all of the wondrously wonderful things in Wonderland. A small, cool gust of wind blew through and when it did, she thought she could hear the caterpillar's voice whispering, "Alice..."