“and then the white queen Mirana bent down to the jabberwocky head and collected venom in this little vile as my reward” my aunt Alice spoke in barely a whisper. I had heard this story so many times I knew it by heart but I loved hearing her talk about the funny creatures she met in underland and how she used to call it wonderland when she was little.” Everyone in my family had written her off as crazy thanks to that horrid man Lewis Carroll. My aunt had confided in him her deepest wish to return to her beloved underland. Then he wrote those lies and even coined the phrase ‘mad as a hatter’ that was later used to describe my dear aunt when she was out of earshot. “Then, hatter hugged me and wished me well before I disappeared.” My aunt’s voice spoke breaking me out of my day dream.  That was the end of the story. “Auntie Alice? I’ve heard the story hundreds of times but what was it really like? In underland I mean?” I asked sheepishly like I did almost every time I heard the story. “It was magical charlotte dear I cannot even begin to describe it” she reached beneath her collar and pulled out the small glass vile filled with the purple liquid I knew as Jabberwocky venom. She unhooked the chain from behind her neck. “You may need this one day” she said with a wink handing it to me. “But Aunt Alice what about you, you won’t be able to return to underland and all your friends without this.” I said appalled at the thought of her giving me her most prized possession. “Charlotte dear, I am nearing my fifties; I am growing too old to return to underland.” She said hugging me. “CHARLOTTE DEAR WE ARE HOME HONEY.” My mother yelled down the hallway.  It was time for Alice to leave my least favorite part of the night. It’s not like I dislike my parents, well at least my mom. Everyone in my family knew that my father had mistresses all over the county but the only one with the decency to tell her was my aunt Alice. No one except me believes anything she says because as I’ve said before everyone thinks her ‘mad as a hatter’.  “Sweet heart, we need to talk to you.” My mother said sitting down in the foyer. “You are nearly twenty now, your father and I have decided that you are to marry Lord Hamish’s boy Archie.” She said not looking at me.  Tears sprang to my eyes and I ran to my room locking the door.  I sat down on my desk to write a letter.  ‘Dear Aunt Alice, I am leaving. I don’t know if I will ever return. I will tell your friends hello. Love charlotte’ I wrote stoic in my resolve.  I was leaving for underland and never coming back. I lay down on my bed open the vial that is around my neck and took a small sip “I wish to go to underland.” I said as tears still slipped down my face.