Mad Hatter

• Jessica Black, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2016

She was everything I wanted and everything I couldn’t have; my insanity has finally left me in isolation. I have hallucinations. I wake every night and see in my room, intently watching me, a girl with luscious blonde hair and vibrant electric blue eyes. Sometimes I lie still a long time, looking at the girl as earnestly as the girl looks at me, I always leave the light going. When I can't endure it any longer I sit up in bed and nothing is there!
Few weeks prior I proposed to who I believed was my soul mate, my love and light, I couldn’t save her. The girl would whisper warnings in the middle of the night, causing myself to fear falling asleep next to my soon-to-be wife, certain that I saw a gun under the blankets. Wondering if as soon as I closed my eyes she would shoot me. I was trapped, completely and utterly trapped. My brain controlled my actions, thoughts and senses. Making everyday life hard to manage. What was I supposed to do? My brain was slowly going insane and I felt parts of myself dying, was this what the girl meant? Was this how my fiancé was killing me.
I wasn't quick enough to evade the blow, nor was I prepared for the sheer force which propelled myself into the mirror. My mind had only moments to realise that this was going to hurt...bad. My body and arms outstretched, came to a sudden halt as it caved into the mirror of our narrowed hallway. I felt as though a sledge hammer had been smashed into my back and I gasped for air. Looking up, my last sight in this world was that of the face of the man I once loved, he had finally succumbed to the twisted darkness of his insanity, he truly and utterly is crazy.
I didn’t just see her, I could smell the blood, and I could even taste the blood. I thought I was going to throw up. Such a rancid copper taste, blood is. Her red hair displayed around her on the floor, her neck bent at unnatural angles and her body destroyed beyond belief. My face was placid as out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow of a figure walking towards me. The crystal eyed girl sits beside me, a white dress flowing about her frame mattered with blood of my beloved. She is smiling, brushing her hands down my paled face, pulling my paralysed body beside hers. Within the darkness of the bloodied hallway, a flame is glowing, being tossed in the air as it lands on the red haired women. The hall engulfs in flames, licking the walls as I walk out of the house, standing beside the girl, she finally speaks, “Alice, my name is Alice.”
My paled complexion returns to colour, the upturn of my frown becomes a smirk, I guess I really am Mad as a Hatter.