Alice's Story
Introduction
"Are you sure Sam?"
"Come Molly, we have been through this."
"I know, but she is our daughter and…"
"Molly, she isn't right in the head. She needs to be here."
"Yes, Mrs. Brandon. She needs to be in a place where she can be taken care of in a safe and secure environment."
"What about Cynthia? What do we tell her?"
"Molly, Cynthia will miss her, but this behaviour and talk of visions of the future is not helping anyone."
Molly glanced at the padded door with the small window close to the top. It 'contained' her daughter; it looked more like a prison cell.
"Thank you doctor, but my wife doesn't share our opinion. She believes if she can just bring Father Alexander to her, these demons that possess her will be expelled at once."
The doctor shook his head. He had had enough of this woman. Most families were glad to rid themselves of such a burden.
"With all due respect, Mrs. Brandon, but your daughter's condition is not going to improve. I don't believe her to be possessed. Rather, I think her brain does not function normally, and thus she is unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality."
Molly was not convinced. Her precious daughter was not insane. She was just different, in a way that was strange.
"But the visions…"
"Are simple imaginings of a demented mind."
"But the fire. She warned us."
"And she probably started it. Mrs. Brandon, we are talking about a very unstable individual, who would be better off here."
Molly's head dropped, and tears began to stain her face. She reached for a handkerchief, but her husband offered her his, and placed his arm around her.
"Come, my dear. Leave her behind. We shall return if she ever recovers."
"When she recovers, Mr. Brandon. I am certain that with the right treatment, she will be a normal girl that will make you proud."
The doctor escorted the Brandon's out of the hospital, and stood on the top step and watched them drive away. There was one family that would never come back. Their daughter would either be drastically changed, live out her life in confinement or she would die.
He walked back past the Brandon girl's cell, and looked at her through the window. She was a pretty girl, beautiful even. Small though. The doctor sighed, and walked off to complete his paperwork.
The stark white fluorescent lights that shone brightly outside flooded through the window into the dark room. The small square of light spotlighted a small teenage girl sitting on the floor, knees bent and head hanging down, her chin against her chest. Her black hair had been cut short, and spiked out at odd angles. Her arms were held tight by the straitjacket that the wards had placed on her.
Everyone thought she was unstable, crazy, and insane. But the small seventeen year old girl sobbed quietly in her padded cell; alone and isolated from the world, with only her memories and strange, vivid visions if possible futures.