After Wonderland, Alice changed. She wandered thin and waiflike through the cavernous rooms in her house, singing hauntingly to herself. The mirrors soon had to be
removed, for every time she saw one, she threw herself at it until it shattered and buried itself deep in her skin. Alice would tell everyone about the Looking-Glass House,
the cakes the made you shrink, and how to do the Lobster Quadrille. Her parents could no longer handle her, as her behavior slowly became destructive to the point of
suicide.
Alice, now 16, sat alone in the padded room.
"Cat, I'm not mad, am I?"
"Only as mad as I am. You're more...anti-mad. After all, the doctors don't believe you, even though the truth is right in front of them, so they're the one's who are mad." the Cheshire Cat's voice came out of nowhere, only reaching her ears.
"Then why am I in this?" Alice looked down at her torso that was trapped in a straitjacket.
"Because they don't understand you," he answered. "Your kind fear what they cannot comprehend."
"Is that why Mother and Father hate me so?" she asked quietly.
"They don't hate you!" the Cat's voice took on a soothing tone.
Alice didn't respond.
Muffled voices began on the other side of the bolted door.
"Listen," the Cat husked.
'She's talking to herself again.'
'This has to stop.'
'Talk to her!'
'I've tried. All she says is, 'Cat, come'.'
'That's it?'
'Over and over.'
'Her behavior from home seems to have transfered over here--I don't think she'll ever recover.'
'I'll send the message to her parents...poor girl.'
The voices moved away down the hall.
"Alice."
Alice sat frozen.
"Alice!" the Cat's concerned voice jolted her back to reality.
"Did you hear that?!" she sobbed hysterically. "I'll end up staying here forever! I'm not mad!"
"Alice…"
"It's evil here! I'll die!" Alice voice increased in pitch.
"Alice!"
She silenced.
"You don't have to stay."
"Yes I do! I don't have anywhere else to go! My parents think I'm insane."
The next two words Alice heard were the most beautiful ever spoken.
"It's time."
The next morning, a musical voice sang outside of Alice's room. "Oh, Alice! Guess what? Your parents are here! You must come and greet them."
Keys clinked in the lock and the door swung open. The doctor were greeted by a ghostly laugh, an empty room, and a note that said, "The Cat came."
Alice had returned to Wonderland.