Author's note:

So I know Alice's story has been done before, but I just haven't been satisfied with any that I've read so far, so decided to do my own! I'm going to alternate between documents from the asylum that Mary Alice Brandon was committed to, and Alice's POV starting with when she wakes up. Hopefully there will be some answers in there as to why she can't remember anything… So each chapter will be two different dates, hope it isn't too confusing.

I'm messing with SM's timeline by 20 years to better fit medical technology, and leave a little less time for her to be wandering around aimlessly looking for Jasper. Apologies! See below the adjusted timeline, with SM's original dates (courtesy of the Lexicon) in bold.

1921 (1901) Mary Alice Brandon born in Biloxi, Mississippi

1940 (1920) Alice changed into a vampire by a worker at the mental asylum.

1948 Alice finds Jasper and they become companions.

1950 Alice and Jasper find Carlisle and join his family.

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all the characters and is wonderful for letting us play with them!

Record of Committal to Mississippi State Asylum

Date: August 4, 1935

Case #: 534 X-237

Subject: Mary Alice Brandon

Date of Birth: March 20, 1921

Consulting Doctor: Dr. Stephen Patton

Referred by: Dr. Robert Goers, Biloxi General Hospital

Notes:

Mary Alice Brandon is outwardly a sweet, vivacious young girl; however she suffers from delusions, episodes of a catatonic state, and violent outbursts.

The family physician, Dr. Goers, states that he began treating Miss Brandon for her "spells" when she was as young as 5 years old, though the girl claims her "visions" began much earlier. In the early years Dr. Goers observed several instances of the patient becoming completely unresponsive to outward stimuli, including noises, touch, bright lights and even pain. These episodes lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. Each one ended with a different reaction, from laughter to terrified screams. Dr. Goers used a mixture of sedatives of various strengths to attempt to control the outbursts, however reports that keeping her in a drugged state did not diminish the number or intensity of the episodes.

Miss Brandon claims that her episodes are "visions" and recounts humorous, damning, and occasionally terrifying stories relating to her family and acquaintances. Though when pressed she admits they are incomplete and "hazy."

Dr. Goers describes Miss Brandon's "visions" as "uncannily accurate"; however this can easily be explained by the girl's observant nature and clearly highly strung imagination. Recently her "visions" have centered on a figure that terrifies her and has resulted in increased paranoia and emotional outbursts. She begs her parents to save her from this imaginary villain, whom she describes as having bright red eyes, "like the devil". Her delusions have recently escalated to occurring outside of her episodes, as she claims to have seen this figure in the Brandon home in the middle of the afternoon.

In another century she would have been burned as a witch. Indeed, Mrs. Brandon believes her daughter to be possessed, and has arranged for numerous (unsuccessful) exorcisms. Mr. Brandon is not so inclined, though fears for Miss Brandon's influence on her younger sister, especially as the episodes has increased dramatically in the last two years. Luckily in this age of advanced scientific reasoning, we recognize her "visions" for what they are: manifestations of a mind severely troubled by Paranoid Schizophrenia. There are also many advanced treatments available to us now, including electroshock therapy, a specialty of this hospital.

It is the opinion of this doctor and the committee, that Mary Alice Brandon be committed full term to the Mississippi State Asylum to undergo treatment. With concentrated efforts using the best science available to us, it is the opinion of this Doctor that she may be returned to her family in a reasonable amount of time, completely cured of her affliction.

Signed:

Dr. Stephan Patton

Approved by the committee: August 7, 1935

Date of Commitment: August 9, 1935

_______________________________________________________________________________

1940

Gold eyes, halo of yellow hair, pale skin, sweet smile.

That was the first thing I saw. Not the first thing after waking up or the first thing on arriving to a new place. The first thing period. I have no memories before that face. I didn't even see the rest of him, just his face. When I opened my eyes I could still see him in my mind's eye. Every detail perfectly etched in my memory. Although, since it was the ONLY thing in my memory, I suppose that isn't too farfetched.

I looked around. I was in a dark, musty place, though I could see clearly enough. It wasn't precisely a cave, two of the walls appeared to be hewn out of solid rock but the other two were cement. A door stood partially open in one of them. I was lying on a large crate in the center of the room, the only furniture there. I sat up to get a better look and the thin smock I was wearing fell off my shoulders. It was torn and covered in blood, though I couldn't see a scratch on my own skin. The smock was sticky and uncomfortable, so I pulled it off. As I balled it up to throw away, something caught my eye. Block letters on a square that was miraculously whole and blood free. "Y ALICE BR"

Alice

It felt right. My name? For the first time I realized it seemed, well, odd, that I didn't have any memories. Except the face, of course… I couldn't forget the face.

I opened my mouth to try out the word, but nothing came out… my lungs were empty. I wasn't breathing. I cautiously sucked in a lungful of air, testing my body. I was completely unprepared for the feeling that came over me. Burning fire raced down my throat. I clutched the bloody smock to my face and breathed in, my eyes rolling back into my head. THAT was what I needed. I leapt to my feet, and in a few strides was out the door.

The door opened into a hallway lined with identical nondescript doors. I closed my eyes and sniffed the air. There! It was very faint, but the delicious scent called me from the right hand side of the corridor. I rushed down it, dropping the ragged smock. The scent grew stronger as I got closer to one of the nondescript doors. I tried the handle, but it was locked. Frustrated, I yanked on it, and to my surprise the entire door came off its hinges. I stared at my hand. The handle was mangled in my fist. I lifted the huge metal door as if it were nothing more than paper and tossed down the hallway. I watched it skitter and spark until it came to rest against the end wall of the corridor.

A noise brought my attention back to the room in front of me. A woman, her face lined and hair white as snow lay in a cot.

"Who's there!?" She asked in a quavery voice. "I can't see you, please turn on a light!" I realized that there was a bulb overhead that was not on, though I could see clearly enough. I could see a switch in the hallway and I flipped it. The bulb came to life, buzzing loudly in my ears, throwing the whole spectrum of light on the walls. I was dazzled by the colors.

"Are you my angel?" The woman asked, and I turned my attention back to her. "Don told me my angel would come and take my pain away, take me to heaven. " She blinked at me. "You are smaller than I expected, and, oh my, you aren't clothed!" She clutched a thin blanket to her chest momentarily then lowered it. "Well, I guess I can't be choosy, now can I? You certainly are pretty enough to be an angel. Please take my pain away…" she gave a little gasp. "I've been hurting for so long."

I opened my mouth to say something, though I didn't really know what to say… Was I an angel? What was I? I inhaled to speak but any thought of what I was going to say left my head. THAT was what I was looking for. I sprang forward, ignoring her startled scream and sunk my teeth into her neck. She struggled briefly and then was still. Once she was drained dry, and the burn in my throat was tempered for the moment, I sat back. No, I was not an angel. That was for sure. I padded out of the room and down the hall, investigating more of the doors. I didn't find any more people, though I did enjoy the sound the metal made when I wrenched each door off its hinges. One of the doors led to a large bathroom. I turned the tap on the sink and splashed water on my face, washing away the remains of the blood. When I looked up I found myself staring into a pair of red eyes. I froze and experienced fear for the first time. It took a second before I realized it was a mirror. I couldn't see much of myself in it because it was too high, and it was dirty and smudged, but I gazed intently at my features, trying to see if I recognized anything.

I had flawless pale skin, delicate features and short black hair. I ran my hand over the hair, it was silky and soft, though it stuck up a bit in an odd way. I finished my inspection and made my way back out to the hallway. My throat was beginning to burn again, and I cautiously inhaled. I caught a whiff of that wonderful scent from under the last door on the hall and I eagerly opened it. Instead of another room, this led to a stairway. I climbed quickly. Another door led to a hallway, this one brightly lit, though still empty. I followed the scent down the hallway and through another set of doors. This time the scent hit me ten times as hard. My mouth watered in anticipation.

I was suddenly hit with an unexpected vision of myself leaping out at a large group of startled people and only being able to grab one before the rest attacked me. The vision did not end well. It was so vivid I was sure it was actually happening and was surprised when I realized I was still standing alone in the hallway, though I could now hear a large group of people moving towards me. I slipped into one of the empty rooms. Unlike the one I woke up in this one had a small bed and nightstand, a chair, dresser, and a tiny closet. Someone began to open the door and I leapt into the closet. Luckily I was quite small. The closet had several dresses and an overcoat hanging in it. The material of the dresses was lovely, soft and shimmery. Nothing like the scratchy smock that I and the old women were wearing before. I heard a man talking to a woman and I half listened to them as I silently eased a dress off its hanger and began to put it on.

"There you go Mrs. Getz. Safe and sound in your room again."

"Thank you Reginald." Mrs. Getz said, imperiously. " Tell Francis I will have poached Swan eggs for breakfast tomorrow, but not to cook them too much, last time they were quite rubbery!"

"It's Mark, Mrs. Getz, and you'll have oatmeal tomorrow, same as always." Mark sounded like he said this every night.

"But I don't LIKE oatmeal! I want Swan's eggs! I didn't become the queen of Biloxi for nothing, you know!"

"Yes, Mrs. Getz. I'll let… Francis… know. Your son Rodger will be here to see you tomorrow… would you like for me to put out one of your nice dresses?" I was still not breathing, but I could hear the wet sloshing of his blood moving through his veins. A red mist crowded around the edge of my vision and I crouched, ready to spring.

"Rodger, I don't know any one called Rodger! Why would you let a stranger in?"

Mark sighed and took his hand away from the closet door.

I sprung. He didn't know what hit him. I'd broken his neck and latched on to his throat in a split second, aching for the sweet relief of my parched throat. The screams of the woman barely intruded on my consciousness. It was over far too quickly and my throat still burned in response to the scent of blood that still lay heavy on the air. I focused in on the source of the smell, the woman cowered in the corner, her screams reduced to sobs. In an instant I was standing over her. Before she could scream again I picked her up and drained her dry.

I was much neater this time, and didn't spill even a single drop on my dress. I dropped the body of the woman. I couldn't leave through the door, there was still light and movement in the hallway, and a vision showed more people coming to check on the screams. I looked around for an alternate exit and my eyes fell on something sparkly on the dresser. It was a small collection of jewelry, diamonds set in a gold necklace a bracelet, and a large engagement ring. Just as the texture of the dress called to me in the closet, I was irresistibly drawn to the beautiful sparkle of the diamonds. I slid the set into a small handbag that was also on the dresser, and tucked it under one arm.

The only escape seemed to be the small barred window. It was above my head, but it was effortless to leap up and grab the bars, leverage my feet against the wall and pry them off the window. Without a single glance behind me, I slid out into the night, the beautiful face still at the forefront of my mind.

____

A/N what do you think? Sorry there is so little dialog, Alice is on her own and doesn't really have anyone to talk to yet! I have this whole story mapped out, it's only going to be 7 chapters, and actually much of it is written, so I hope to update often.

Also, I realize that some people may think that Alice is uncharacteristically controlled for a newborn. The main reason for this is that she isn't breathing, so she isn't being driven crazy by the scent and can think and follow her visions. Other vampires remember breathing from being human and it feels weird to them not to so they do it reflexively. Alice, on the other hand, is a completely blank slate and since her body doesn't require it, she doesn't do it, and doesn't know any different. So unless she is actively sniffing the air, she won't be so affected by the scent of humans.

Any more questions? PM me!