Ch. 1 Why Do I Feel Something's Not Right?

First chapter of my modern day twist of Alice In Wonderland.

Ch. 1

Why Do I Feel Something’s Not Right?

                My family and I walked up the tree lined path that led to the mental institution. My mother was clinging to my father’s arm, a tense smile stretched across her pale face as other equally tense and uncomfortable families walked past. I walked slightly ahead of them, shoulders hunched, black checkered shoes scuffing the gravel. I glance up to look at the big newly built hospital and shuddered at the bleak cold feeling it gave off.

                Reaching the big sliding glass doors, I rushed through them and into the giant atrium without waiting for my parents. The lady at the front desk glanced up and then back down, then did a double take. She must have known my sister, because she looked alarmed.

                “I’m Alice Stone’s sister.” I said as I rested my elbows against the fake marble reception desk. Understanding lit up in her muddy brown eyes.

                “That’s really interesting. Are you her identical twin?” she asked, leaving her work and sticking her pen in her mouth. I nodded and she smiled. Mom and dad walked in then and I stepped to the side so they could check in. I looked around while I waited. Eight floors of modern technology built for the mentally ill. The first four floors were for the temporary residents, ones who had dealt with serious trauma and had yet to get over it. The last four floors were for permanent residence. Patients who would never get over whatever mental disease they had, and whose family couldn’t take care of them properly at home. These halls were surrounded by glass that reflected everything outside of its walls, but nothing inside. These walls housed my sister.

                I waited until my parents turned with their visitor passes before I sprinted up the main staircase that branched off to each floor. I heard my mother’s protests, but I bounded up the stairs anyway. I ran up, two at a time, until I reached the sixth floor, then hung a right and sprinted down a long carpeted hallway. I came to a halt in front of a door marked 210 and took a deep breath before bursting through.     

                Alice was sitting in a big leather armchair watching TV. until she looked up in alarm. When her blue eyes met my own, she jumped out of her chair and slammed into me, giving me a huge hug.

                “Oh Allison, I’ve missed you.” She whispered into my neck, a warm tear sliding down my neck and into my sweatshirt.

                “Impossible.” I replied, and we broke apart. I looked her up and down. Looking at Alice was like looking into a mirror. We were exact. We both had long, light brown hair, blue eyes and pale skin. While we were both petite, Alice had grown gaunt and skinny in the past year she had lived alone in the hospital. She didn’t have a healthy glow, but instead had purple bruises under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her wrists were much thinner than I remembered. If she noticed me and my concerned look, she ignored it. Instead, she pulled me over to the armchair and we both sat down together, facing one another.

                “Oh, before I forget!” I said quickly, digging into my sweatshirt. “Happy Sixteenth!” I held out a small blue box and Alice gasped. Taking it from my hands, she held it in front of her for a few seconds. “Well open it, idiot!” I laughed, smacking her leg. She smiled, and tore open the box top, sifting through the tissue paper.

                “Holy Crap! Allison, you shouldn’t have!” Alice shrieked as she pulled out the blue ring. It was a simple baby blue gem in the middle of a band made of white silver swirls. She slid it onto her right hand and admired it in the half light floating through her closed shades. “It’s gorgeous.” She whispered.

                “I’d thought you’d like it, since your favorite color is blue.”

                “You’re absolutely right. I love it.” Alice said, giving me a hug that nearly popped my head off. She closed the box and put it on the side table next to the chair. “I’m giving you your present tonight, after mom and dad have left, is that alright?” she asked, worried.

                “I don’t care, it’s up to you.” I assured her, right as our parents walked in. Alice stood and ran over to mom and dad, giving them kisses and hugs, smiling and laughing. Mom was already crying and dad was smiling awkwardly. “Mom, dad, come and sit down.” I said loudly, motioning to the small couch in the corner. They slipped, side by side onto the love seat, where they proceeded to bombard Alice with questions.

                “How’s your medication going?” Mom asked quickly, dabbing her overly mascara eyes. Alice handed her a cup of tea, a smiled stretched over her gaunt face.

                “Great, it’s helped a lot. It makes me lose weight so I have to eat a lot, but other than that, it’s fantastic.” Alice replied, sitting down next to me again. It was only the special bond that twins have that could notice it, but I could tell Alice was lying. I wasn’t about to announce it, but I made a mental note to talk to her about it later on that night. Mom glanced up after taking a sip of her drink.

“I didn’t know you drank tea Alice, this is delicious!” Alice smiled slowly, a wide grin that only seemed to unnerve myself.

                “How is the food here? Are they feeding you properly?” came dad’s question, his rough voice strained. Alice nodded, sipping her own cup of tea.

                “It’s great. Two meals a day which are breakfast and dinner. They let me make my own lunch since I’m capable of doing it myself, but the nurses check every meal to make sure I’m getting the right amount of calories.” Mom and dad liked seemed to like this answer, and they continued to ask her questions on how she was feeling and how she liked the medical system.

I stayed quiet through most of this, my mind wandering as it often did. I glanced at Alice. How much everything had changed since that night a year and a half ago. When we had found Alice out of bed and near the creek that ran through the park behind our house, I thought she was dead. A few occasions after the incident, I thought it better that she should have died. When Alice woke up screaming that night, our world began to spiral downwards, and fast. After, she began claiming she was seeing things and when no one believed her, started cutting herself. Finally, after one very traumatic breakdown, we took her to a specialist who told us, with great apprehension, that she had schizophrenia and extreme paranoia. After that, my parents had no choice but to take her away and put her in a mental institution.

“Well, I think it’s time for us to leave.” Dad said, standing. This brought me out of my stupor. I glanced at the digital clock above the TV. How long had I been out of it? An hour and a half had passed and the light outside the window was beginning to fade. I stood up quickly and hugged mom and dad goodbye, grabbing my overnight bag as well. “We’ll be back to take you into town tomorrow.” He said, kissing Alice on the forehead.

                “Alright, just call a few hours before hand so we know when to get up.” Alice replied, smiling wide as she led them both out of her living room.

                “Great, bye girls. Love you.” Mom almost hollered as Alice slammed the door. Her face changed from smiling and happy to annoyed and angry

                “I was wondering if they’d ever leave!” she hissed, showing me into her bedroom where I put my bag.

                “You haven’t seen them in forever, Alice.” I retorted, shocked at her annoyance. She rolled her eyes and changed from her blue church dress into skinny jeans and an Attack Attack t-shirt.

                “Yeah, well, I was kind of pissed off that they wouldn’t stop talking about all the medical crap. It got annoying.” She replied, tying her hair in a bun.

                “That’s true.” I confessed. She smiled for real this time.

                “But, I really am glad you’re here.” She said softly. I smiled before she took my hand and led me out of her room and into the hospital hallway. “It’s time for dinner.” She explained, answering my unanswered question.

                “Oh, gotcha. I still don’t understand how you persuaded the nurses and mom and dad to let me stay the night. Even if it is our sixteenth birthday.” I said as we joined the line in the cafeteria the floor below. Alice smirked.

                “Yeah, well, it took a lot, let me tell you. I actually had to take my medicine and behave.” This shocked me into silence. Shouldn’t she have been taking her medicine as soon as she came here? And behave? Alice piled bread and macaroni and cheese onto my plate, whispering “that’s the only good stuff here.” Before pulling me to a table secluded from the rest near a huge bay window.

~~~~~

                “Alice?” I asked slowly after I had finished eating. We had spent an hour catching up, laughing at my adventures in high school and her experiences in the ward.

                “Yeah?” she said, looking up from her tea. I didn’t want to offend her, but it had been bugging me all day. “Why did you lie to mom and dad about the medicine?” there was a tense silence before Alice pushed her tea away and stared at me.

                “Because, Allison, if I told them what the medicine actually does to me, and what happens when I don’t take it, they’d flip. And then after they flipped, they’d sue or worse, send me to some other hospital worse than this one. I don’t want that. So the less they know the better.” I sat there in shocked silence for a long time and Alice continued to stare at me.

                “I’m sorry, if I had known, I wouldn’t have brought it up. Is it really that bad?” I asked. She shook her head.

                “You’ve no idea. When I take it, I have to take this other crap to make sure I don’t throw up all over the place. I also have to take these pills to make sure my brain doesn’t go haywire while I’m taking the medicine that stops me from seeing things. Oh, and sleeping pills, which don’t help at all.” She said, sneering. This was not the Alice I remembered. And it scared me.

                “A-are you still seeing things?” I whispered, now looking down at my fingers in my lap.

                “I never saw things in the first place.” My head snapped up in surprise. Alice’s eyes were blazing. “You all just never believed me.” And with that, Alice stood up and held out her hand for me to follow.

Author's Note

ignore grammar, constructive critisism please?! I love comments and reviews!

Reviews

[M. Mae Ringquist]

I LOVED IT it was well developed and well written, I couldn't find a half-baked character or significant plot hole anywhere. I am so exited for you to finish the book. Thank you for writing it in the first place, I think that good writers like you need to be recognized for your writing, some of the most boring books ever created get to be bestsellers when the people who actually create an original story line with believable characters get pushed to the sidelines. This is great writing and should be recognized as such

[Bee135]

wow that is really good. It's got me hooked 'cos I really want to know what has happened to Alice and what is going to happen next :)