NightSpeaker has a minion!

Minion the Misfortune

Midnight Tea Party


If one had seen the lower part of the planet before the blood lust they wouldn't have believed it could ever fold into the shameful state it was in now. The sky had turned black and gray, the sun was never seen from behind the veil of fog, and everything was dead. The bundles of dead trees and flowers had once been beautiful attractions to visitors before the Ice Queen had risen to power. She had had followers all over the world including her right hand man, her lover as well, who had come into power at the same time. While she had been closed and guarded his had been open and suave. They called him the “Mad Hatter” because all he touched died instantly or they became his shadow minions. He favored those who slunk along in secret and he gave them the responsibilities of carrying out his more covert operations. While they did the unmentionable crimes the Mad Hatter could relax at night sipping tea with his favorites.

His reign was more tolerable than his lover but the residents of his region missed the sun and the spring time. The Mad Hatter was cut down mysteriously one night and the rumor that skirted nervously in the unguided region that it had been his butler-- a spy for his lover who had been suspicious of him cheating on his. This was the closest thing to the truth that we allowed to feed into the grapevine-- I had personally controlled all of this as a way to build support for my cause-- I wanted the Ice Queen overthrown in the north so that I could see the world the way it had been.

Obviously my plan had not worked because if you look around, this place still looks the same but the residents have succumbed to accepting the pernicious aura. Braving the current warnings from Action Five Channel News about zombies on the rise I would submerge back into the shadows from which I had begun my deeds centuries ago.

- - -

I shivered unintentionally for this was no chilling gale to bring such a feeling of dread through my bones. The hairs on the back of my neck rose up as I ducked into an alley way, in the open I felt naked dressed the way I was. Powdering my nose quickly I backed into the end of the alley, my long dress skirt brushing the ground loudly as I reached for the hidden door knob. Locals wouldn't know that every third alley that lined the main street across from the barber shop side would contain a door way. This doorway would lead into a tunnel system which if you followed it just right you could find yourself in the underground garden.

That was where I found myself tonight, in the dank tunnels I didn't have to look to know where I was going. The path was engraved in my memory from the countless times I had traveled to meet my friends in the Mad Hatter's court. I was surprised they had not been shut down, flooded or destroyed after the Mad Hatter was assassinated. My feet slowed and I reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair into my hat, then straightened my skirt and blouse. I wanted to look presentable at the tea party.

“You are early for once milady,” a smooth voice purred as I entered the chamber, with a pleasant surprise of find the air to be less thick than on the surface.

The table in which so much had been planned over was still sitting in the middle on the blood stained rug. The chairs sat ready for a guest or two and the large on at the head of the table was empty. So where was my friend? My friend sat in the seat to the left of the Mad Hatter's chair sipping a steamy cup of tea. The same place he always sat when he allowed his to be in his company on the night of his death.

I sauntered over as I removed my hat, “Speak again sweet prince,” I snickered, pulling out a chair across from his.

A clank, he set the tea cup down on it's saucer next to his plate and poured me some of my own tea without even opening his eyes. He had no use for them, he always told us that. I always wondered what colored they had changed to since the revolution. Before working for the higher powers my friend was not allowed to open his eyes, they could kill on sight, I wondered if he had wished for that curse to be disbanded.

“You are still cheeky,” he mused tartly as he played with a strand of black that fell from his crown.

I grinned as I sipped some tea and broke a scone in half, “What would life be if I wasn't?”

The older man who sat across from me was not actually alive so the whole idea of life had been forgotten. He was one of the few the Mad Hatter had turned into a nightmare and he was his young butler from then on. His outfit was an old maid uniform, dyed black, with silver lace and a ribbon, also black. His make up made his look almost gray like he was dusted in ashes.

“Certainly less difficult I must confess,” the tone may have been monotonous but I could see a smile tugging at the edge of his black lips. “How is the tea this time, master?”

“For one I'm no longer your master,” I remarked as I set down the tea cup. “Second it is fabulous but it is missing something....” his brow furrowed at what I said. “...maybe you have lost your touch?”

He frowned unhappily and munched on a scone he had dipped in clotted cream, underneath his eye lids I could see the eyes flitting back and forth as if he were dreaming. I reached below the table to the compartment underneath the old wooden table top. Slowly I opened it and felt a velvet covered object plunge into my outstretched palm. Smiling I got up quickly and rounded the table to my friend's side, undoing the velvet around the tissue packed item.

“What's that you got there?” he turned his head in my direction, underneath his hat I could see his ears twitching.

“I know how your house was burned down during the trial of the Hatter,” I began. “A lot of your favorite things were destroyed and I am aware that you lost a lot because of me...so....” I couldn't figure out the last part as I stared at the present in my hand.

“So what? Did you come here to console me?” he started laughing, it was a dry and creaking sound like dry tree branches whipping against a bare window in a storm.

I removed the precious doll made of cloth, he had a porcelain face with no eye marks or a nose, just a mouth that looked like it had been cut from red felt. Her hair was soft and the color of spun copper pulled into two girly pigtails tied off with green ribbons. I straightened her brown dress with green lace and stockings. Carefully I set her up in front of my friend's plate with her two brown shoes toeing the table edge slightly.

“Surprise!” I whispered.

Something clicked underneath his eye lids because slowly he opened them up and from the side of his profile I could see their coloring. Completely black and hollow holes where his eyes should have been, and there were two small circles of light which I guessed could have been his pupils. He smiled shyly and moved the dolls arm up and down.

“Missy!” he called and I could hear the scuffling of paws against the rock then a pink tail waving obediently in the air caught my attention, “Show our friend to his room for the night, the curfew act hasn't been over thrown yet and we don't want his being caught out at midnight....” he too stood up sheepishly as he tucked the doll in the crook of his arm. “Thank you,” fog poured in from the vents in the ceiling just like they had centuries ago when the Mad Hatter still called this his tea room.

The strange colored cat, no doubt from an experiment done my his master, showed me down a tunnel I hadn't noticed before. After a few minutes I knew where the cat was taking me, to my old room I had used as a guest at one point. I smiled as I felt the familiar wood of my door and the strange door knob. Pushing the door open I could see it had been preserved perfectly... even the knife we had used to end the tyrant was still in my waist bin under my wooden desk.

I shut the door slowly, “Good night Missy.”