Author’s Note

New chapter! Thanks to everyone who is reading this far into the story. This chapter starts to answer some of the questions you may have… but at the same time it opens up some new questions! Haha, tell me what you think when you’re done reading. :) Dedication for this chapter is for PianoPrincess for all of her encouraging comments, they really mean a lot so thank you so much!

Chapter V

Suddenly something out the window catches my eye; I set down my dream journal to walk towards the glass and notice a figure standing on the other side of the street. It’s a man with short brown hair, and he’s wearing a black trench coat. Jefferson? I keep myself out of view as I watch him stare up at my window. He stands there for a good five minutes before I decide to walk outside and figure out what he wants. He’s gone by the time I get downstairs. I shrug and start turning to go back upstairs when I hear his voice.

“Elle?”

My heart skips a beat as I turn around to see him standing inches away from me. I take a small step back, but he moves with me.

“Yes?” I ask, drowning in his sea blue eyes.

“I need you to come with me,” he orders.

“What for?” I question.

“It’s an emergency,” he pauses, “with Simon.” My eyes widen.

“What?!” I panic, “Where?” Is he hurt? Did he get in trouble? What trouble could Simon POSSIBLY get into in a town as small as Storybrooke?

Something in his eyes flicker, “Come with me,” he simply says, turning towards the door. I follow him into his car and my mind is racing, trying to figure out what happened to Simon as the town’s buildings pass us and are soon replaced with the towering trees of the forest. Jefferson stops the car.

“He’s in the woods?” I question, looking up at his face, which is still gazing ahead of him onto the road. Then he shuts his eyes, taking in the warmth that the sun is shining in through the window.

“Do you really not know who I am?” he asks, looking back at me pleadingly.

“What do you mean?” I ask, “You’re Jefferson.” I’m looking at him, extremely confused. He looks up at the ceiling.

“Yes, I am, but what other than that?” he asks.

“Umm,” I think of his house, “You’re a teapot collector?” I reply jokingly. His face shoots back to me. I have no idea what he’s being so serious for, but it’s starting to worry me.

“What?” he asks.

“I don’t know, your house is full of them,” I explain. “Where’s Simon?” I ask again. He laughs in an un-amused way.

“Simon is safe, he’s spending the day with a boy named Henry, he’s the Mayor’s son,” Jefferson explains. Henry? That name sounds familiar.

“Henry? The kid? That woman is the mayor?” I ask in disbelief, remembering them from my trip to the store this morning.

“You’ve met him?” he asks, his eyes bare into mine.

“I ran into him at the store,” I explain, no pun intended. He laughs again.

“Of course you met him!” he yells, laughing hard at himself. Then a shadow crosses his face and he looks extremely serious again. “Wait,” he says, looking at me again. “You’ve met Regina also?” Okay, this guy is starting to freak me out. I lift my hand discreetly to try and unlock the door, but it won’t budge.

“If by Regina you mean Henry’s mom, then yes,” I tell him. His mouth is gaping open and he looks like he’s about to have a heart attack.

“I need you to tell me what she said to you,” he demands, grabbing my wrist. I look at him in disbelief; my fear is starting to penetrate through the poker face I’m trying to sport.

“Um,” I start, trying to yank my arm back, he lets go, “I don’t need to tell you anything! Not until you tell me what’s really going on!” I demand. My outburst shocks him, but his face soon changes to annoyance.

“Fine,” he says, sticking his keys into the ignition, “If that’s how you want to play it.” He locks the already locked doors and twists back, making sure no cars were coming before he makes a wicked U-turn. I’m just frozen in my seat at the sudden action. I can’t believe this is happening to me! I try to play with the lock a little more, but it won’t budge. Jefferson isn’t even paying attention to what I’m doing he’s so focused in on his own madness. I still can’t help but notice the shadows jumping around the details of his face, making his features look almost angelic. I slam my head back in my seat when I realize what I’m doing. I can’t like him! He’s kidnapping me for crying out loud! After getting over the shock of the situation, I find myself, strangely enough, not even worried about what he’s planning on doing. Over the past few days I just felt so comfortable around him, safe even. I have this strange feeling that he wouldn’t hurt me, I don’t think. Ugh, if this were one of Simon’s horror movies he would be screaming at the TV for me to do something more to try and escape. Well, if I die today... nope not thinking about that.

Then he stops the car. Before I can even see where we are, Jefferson drags me out of the car by taking my arm and pulling me across the seats and out the driver’s door. I glance around at my surroundings and I have no clue where we are, other than being somewhere deep in the forest. This time my heart is starting to speed up, whether it was out of fear or being alone here with Jefferson I do not know. The only emotion that I can pinpoint in myself is anxiety.

He walks us deeper into the forest, his hand had found its way back to my wrist and by his grip I can tell that he isn’t going to let me go so easily this time. I try coming to a dead stop a couple times, but it doesn’t slow him down for a second. I accomplish almost tripping though in the process. I’m not a violent person whatsoever though, so my only other option is to keep going with him. I groan loudly in my head.

Finally he stops, halting so suddenly that pain shoots through my wrist when my attempt to stop delays. I look at him and he is staring at me with worry painted across his face.

“Can you let go now?” I try to ask sternly, although my voice is wavering a little. He looks down at our hands and drops mine. I wrap my other hand around the throbbing of my now red wrist. He parts his lips and stares down at my wrist.

“I’m sorry,” he says, looking back up into my eyes. I keep my gaze down at my wrist, ignoring his apology. I have half a mind to make a run for it right now, but there are two problems. One, I’m not a fast runner. Two, I would have no idea where to run.

After a minute, Jefferson looks behind me and starts walking past me. I turn around to see where he is going. I notice something sitting in the forest that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a well. Not knowing what else to do, I catch up to him as he is peers down the well. I feel a wave of worry come and go when I see that it is definitely a big enough well to drop a body down. Ugh! Why do I think like that! He wouldn’t do that, not after he looked genuinely sorry about my wrist! Even so, the curiosity gets to me.

“What did you bring me here for?” I ask, my voice cracking a little. He holds his stare down the well as he answers me.

“You have to stay hidden,” he simply states. What? Stay hidden?

“What are you talking about?” I ask. He flies back up from his leaning position and angrily explains to me.

“Since Regina knows you’re here, she will find a way to get rid of you unless you stay hidden,” he buries his face in his hands. “I should have known she was going to find out eventually, with how close Simon and Henry have gotten,” he says, mostly to himself as he paces back and forth.

“What does that Henry kid have to do with anything?” I ask. He stops pacing.

“He knows things that most people don’t know about this town and why it’s here,” he explains, as if it’s supposed to make any sense.

“And do you know these things also?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says.

“So what do I have to do with any of it?” I demand.

“Because you have the same problem as every other person who lives in Storybrooke,” he sneers.

“Which is?” I push.

“You have no idea who you really are and it’s killing me because… I love you!” he blurts out. I stare at him, completely astonished. He loves me? I can feel myself starting to heat up, my heart rate speeds up. I don’t have a clue where this is all coming from, and what does he mean I have no idea who I really am? I don’t even know how to react to this!

“So who else do you think I am apart from myself?” I ask, crossing my arms to keep my hands from shaking. I can’t believe he just told me he loves me.

“I don’t think you are her, I know you are her,” he clarifies. He starts pulling at the ropes of the well until I can see the top of a bucket peeking out. He pulls out two teacups and fills them with water from the well. “I have been drinking water from this well every day since I arrived here,” he says, staring at the cups. I get the feeling that he isn’t really talking to me anymore. He just looks like he’s starting to lose it. “Its magic is supposed to return something that has been lost, I just always figured that it would bring my daughter back to me,” he chuckles.

“Wait, you have a daughter?” I ask, why wouldn’t he tell me this? He hands me a cup of the water as he takes a sip from his own cup. I study the water which looks clean, pure even. I can see the bright sun reflecting in the ripples, the sight of it dries my throat, so I take a drink.

The cool crystal liquid quenches my thirst instantly. I exhale, the natural flavor is calming me down to relaxation. I almost forget what I’m doing here in the first place. I look back up at Jefferson remembering that I was still waiting for an answer to my question, but there are two of him standing in front of me, blurring in and out of each other. The trees around him are spinning, entrancing my mind. It looks funny for some reason, the sight of it makes me laugh. My legs start to buckle which causes me to fall to my hands and knees, right in front of him.

“WE have a daughter,” I hear him say, before everything goes dark.

*

“Well now, what do we have here?” a voice asks from above. I open my eyes and realize that I’m still lying next to that same gate. I jump up immediately, straightening my damp blue and white dress, looking around. I’m shocked to see a gigantic brick castle sitting behind the gates. I turn back to face the man standing in front of me.

“I am truly sorry sir, I found myself lost here and in the rain and I wasn’t sure what to do. Then I saw this gate and I hoped somebody lived here,” I try explaining. He holds up his hand to silence me.

“What is your name Miss?” the man asks, I can’t read his expression very well. He is an older man with curly white hair, his skin is pale and wrinkled. I don’t want to give my real name to this man, something about him seems different.

“Uh-uhmm,” I stutter, “My name is Elizabeth,” I lie, looking down at my muddy shoes. Elizabeth is actually my sister’s name, she shouldn’t mind though, right? He looks at me for a few seconds.

“Where’s your family Elizabeth?” he asks with concern. Ha. That’s quite a long story.

“I don’t have one,” I simply tell him, in order to drop the subject. He frowns a little, but it immediately disappears into a cheerful smile.

“Well, come on in Elizabeth, my family will be delighted to meet you!” he says, taking my arm and bringing me inside the gate and up to the castle.

“What is your name?” I ask him, trying to keep up with his strides which were surprisingly quick for his age.

“My name is Alphonse Frankenstein,” he says, keeping his smiling gaze ahead.

*

Blackness is all around me. I can feel a pressure on my back and I can tell that I’m lying on something soft. I try to move my arms, but I can’t find the strength. I lie there for a few minutes as each of my senses start coming back to me, one by one. I can’t hear anything, but the air waivers the indistinguishable smell of warm vanilla and lemons. I find the ability to open my eyes and see that I’m in a house, lying on a bed with a pot of delicious smelling tea sitting on the bedside. There’s only one person who makes tea like that. Jefferson. I must be in his room. Sitting up, my head throbbing, I manage to bring the pot of tea into the master bathroom and dump it down the drain. It kills me to do so, but there’s no way I trust that this too isn’t drugged. Then I hear somebody walking up stairs. Crap! I run the teapot back to its place and hop back onto the bed, pretending to be asleep.

I close my eyes and hear the door creak slowly open. I can hear the clacking of Jefferson’s dress shoes hitting the wooden floorboards as he creeps closer to the bed I’m lying on.

“Good morning, Elle,” he says from above me. I can hear the smile in his voice. I shoot my eyes open and stomp off the bed.

“How did you know I was awake?” I ask sternly, placing my hands on my hips and trying to go for a tone that’s confident yet angry. He just keeps smirking.

“You started blushing the second I walked into the room,” he smirks arrogantly, crossing his arms across his chest. Well that’s embarrassing, even more so that I didn’t even realize I was doing it.

“You drugged me?” I ask angrily, “What the hell did you need to do that for exactly?” He looks at me like he’s surprised at my anger, which only makes me angrier. I glare up at him waiting for an answer.

“Well, you see, I have quite the knowledge in mycology,” he smirks. I shouldn’t know what that means, I don’t remember an instance when I would’ve heard that word before, but something stirs in me and the meaning just pops into my mind.

“The study of mushrooms?” I ask softly. He smiles, his nod confirming my guess.

“Anyways,” he continues, taking a seat on the bed, “This species of mushroom I found deep in the forest, it was a kind that I had never seen before so I studied it intensively. I discovered that it had strong hallucinatory properties. Consuming too much even causes unconsciousness, but it isn’t fatal,” he assures me, adding that last part probably after seeing the utterly shocked look on my face. I turn towards the door to walk out, I’m done with this. I make it past the frame of his bedroom door when he tightly grabs my arm. “Where are you going?” he asks.

“Let go of me,” I firmly tell him, yanking my arm away. He drops his hand and I keep walking.

“Can you at least listen to me for a minute?” he pleas, running in front of my path. I shove him away and continue trying to find the exit. It isn’t very easy though, considering it’s a huge house and I have only been in a couple rooms before. I really have no idea how to get to the front door. Jefferson follows close behind me. This is really getting frustrating. Finally I stop in the middle of a hallway, causing Jefferson to run into me. I regain my balance and turn to face him.

“Where is the exit?” I ask calmly, clenching my jaw. He looks desperately at me, really not wanting me to leave. My heart drops for a second, but I know I need to stand firm. He looks down.

“The stairs are through that door,” he says sadly, pointing to a white wooden door with a beautiful tree carving on it. I loudly exhale and walk towards it. I open the door to see a large room with lighted shelves displaying row after row of top hat after top hat. Each one looks identical. There is a gigantic table in the middle of the room with tons of sewing supplies topping it. I turn around just as Jefferson shuts and locks the door.

“I swear Jefferson if you don’t let me out of here…” I start, but my voice gets shaky and tears start to well up in my eyes against my will. I stomp off toward the window before he notices and rest my forehead on the cold glass. I look up at the night; the bright stars are shining brightly in their thrones in the black sky. A tear runs down my cheek and I discreetly wipe it off using my sleeve. I cannot cry here. I can’t allow myself too. I keep myself planted in that spot until I’m sure that every trace of my tears is gone. Turning around, I jump when I see that Jefferson is already directly behind me. I can feel my face heat up, but this time it was out of anger.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I ask him calmly, unable to meet his gaze.

“I told you, I love you,” he says, putting his hands on my arms “But the curse is trying to keep us apart.” Okay, he is absolutely insane. Now there’s a curse that’s causing all of whatever he’s talking about? I try to keep calm and play along; hoping that this night doesn’t end with me in a body bag, or worse.

“What curse?” I ask him, looking at the thin silver pinstripe pattern on the thin material making up his black scarf.

“Regina, or the evil queen, put a curse on everybody who lives in Storybrooke so nobody remembers that they actually are from the Enchanted Forest. She created this town and everyone in it is actually a character from the fairytales you falsely know and love, brought here to this world to live the fake lives that the queen made for them. All of our happy endings were taken from us,” he explains. It takes all that I have not to laugh at the whole Enchanted Forest thing.

“If the mayor put a curse on everyone so that they forget ‘who they are,’” I say in air quotes, “then how come you seem to remember perfectly fine?” I ask.

“Because remembering is my curse,” he says. I stare at him, waiting for an explanation. “Do you think it’s fun having this knowledge and not being able to do anything about it?”

“You don’t think I’m one of these fairytale characters do you?” I ask skeptically. He looks at me longingly.

“Yes,” he answers simply, “you’re my Alice.” My eyes widen.

“You mean like Alice in Wonderland Alice?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“You do realize that I don’t even live here right? I just arrived here a few days ago, how could I be a part of this curse too?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he admits, “Regina obviously didn’t want you anywhere near me. She wanted me to keep thinking you’re dead. But you are still affected by the curse, and now that you’ve entered Storybrooke you can’t leave, just like the rest of us.”

“What do you mean I can’t leave Storybrooke?” I ask, my voice quieting down, but still demanding.

“Well the last time you and Simon tried to leave your car broke down, didn’t it?” he reminds me. Simon.

“I suppose Simon is included in all of this too right?” I ask sarcastically.

“Yes,” he answers. I sigh.

“Great, who is Simon supposed to be?” I quiz.

“It’s not that hard to figure out,” he smirks, “After all, the three of us are technically from the same story according to this world’s standards.”

“Alice in Wonderland?” I ask confused.

“Yes.”

I look around the room at all the hats spaced out perfectly on the shelves in his wall. “You’re supposed to be the Mad Hatter?” I ask, smirking. He smiles in approval. My mood lightens and I roll my eyes shaking my head, still smiling. “Well, it definitely fits,” I mumble to myself. I try and think about Simon, what was so obvious about him? I think of all the Alice in Wonderland characters, who would suit him. Realization hits me hard. “Oh my God, Simon is the Cheshire Cat isn’t he?” I laugh, amazed at how it actually makes sense. He is obsessed with cats and he wears stripes. Every. Single. Day. Man, he’s going to love this theory.

“Do you really believe me?” He asks skeptically. I think about it.

“Well, the thing with Simon and cats is a huge coincidence, but I really can’t bring myself to actually believe that it’s all real,” I tell him. He purses his lips together and squints his eyes slightly, thinking about something.

“What if I can prove it to you?” he asks, looking back at me.

“And how would you do that?” I laugh, finding myself able to look him in the eyes again.

“By jogging your memory,” he says, grinning devilishly at me. I’m just about to question him before he grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. As he’s fumbling with the key I gaze upon his face, his perfect features aligned in a look of determination. A half-smile involuntarily makes its way onto my face. This man might be crazy, but I can’t help thinking about how adorable he looks right now, how extremely perfect he is. He gets the door unlocked and slips the old-fashioned looking key back into his pocket. He leads me to the opposite end of the floor and I can see a huge gate outlining a squared hole in the floor. That’s where the stairs are! I think, shaking my head at myself but still following behind him.

“How exactly do you plan on jogging my memory?” I ask curiously.

“Well, considering you haven’t been living in Storybrooke all these years, I predict that the curse didn’t affect you as strongly as it did everyone else,” he pauses in front of another door, “which brings me to my first point what was your childhood like living in Camden?” he asks. I think about my childhood, but it’s all a haze. Are people even supposed to remember things so far back? Thinking about it makes my head start to hurt.

“It was good,” I answer. He smiles.

“How did you acquire that slight accent of yours?” he asks.

“Uhh,” my uncertainty seems to answer his question.

“When did you first meet Simon?”

Man, he is really enjoying this isn’t he. I try and think back, when did I first meet Simon? It was a while ago, but I really can’t find the memory no matter how hard I try and dig for it. I wonder if he remembers how we met.

“We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember,” I say, embarrassed that I don’t remember the moment I met my best friend.

“Want me to tell you how you met?” he asks, amused at my apparent lack of memory. I roll my eyes.

“Let me guess, we met when I was lost in Wonderland trying to find the Queen of Hearts, who probably lives in Storybrooke too, right?” I muse. He laughs at me.

“Yes, according to Disney that’s how Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, but in real life you met him when he jumped out of a tree and landed on you while you were sleeping. He wasn’t a cat all the time though. It was just his favorite form to take, with his love of cats and all. On the subject of the Queen of Hearts, I haven’t ever seen her face before, so I don’t know where she’s been these past twenty-eight years,” he explains.

“Wait, did you say twenty-eight years?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yes Al…” he catches himself, smiling, “Elle, you have been living in this world as a nineteen-year-old for twenty-eight years. Now I’m just curious about where you were before we came to this world. The day I lost you, I thought you were…” he shuddered before he finished his sentence, but I got the picture. “I tried looking everywhere for you, I went into every world I had access to, I just couldn’t find you. He made sure I wouldn’t be able to find you,” he tells me.

“Well, when I get my memory back, I’ll tell you about all of my adventures,” I tell him, trying to cheer him up again, for some reason it made me sad to see him upset. It seems to have worked, he looks up and grins.

“I’m holding you to that,” he tells me, “I want to know every detail.”

“When I know, I’ll tell you,” I promise him. He laughs and turns towards the door we are standing in front of. He twists the golden colored doorknob and pauses before he pushes the door open.

“This might be a shock to you,” he warns, looking a little uneasily at me.

“Bring it on,” I tell him, pushing the door open myself and walking into the room. I look around and gasp, instantly feeling myself get lightheaded. Shocked doesn’t even begin to describe the now jumbled emotions swirling around my head right now…