Four years had passed since Alice had rescued her brother from the Labyrinth. Hoggle had mentioned that it was not by far the first time that a young child had been taken there. However, she was only the second teenager to have been able to rescue their sibling. He never did mention who the other girl was. But things had not gone up hill for Alice since that night. And now that she was twenty her life was anything but a fairy tale.
Alice lay on the floor of her dingy back alley apartment, clutching her stomach and shaking with fear. Her current boyfriend, Bryan, was not exactly the kindest of men. To put it bluntly he had an abusive temper. And he at this very moment he was looming over her, attempting to end this particularly brutal beating with the gun he had pointed at her. Tears streamed down her face as she waited for the end.
However, tonight would not be her last. And although she would never be able to recall exactly what happened next, she would be forever grateful.
Just as Bryan was about to pull the trigger, the small window behind him shattered from an unseen force, and glass clinked everywhere on the floor. He spun around to face the destruction behind him, and the last thing Alice remembered before she passed out from anxiety and fear, was a large, familiar owl swooping in through the window, clearly aimed at Bryan. After that, all she could recall was blackness.