A/N: Okay, so if you've read my other Twilight fan-fic "Lunar Eclipse" and have sat there constantly waiting months for me to update, then you probably know that I get off task easily and start thinking about other things when I should be finishing a story. However, I started thinking more about Alice and how she was sent to a mental asylum and considered as good as dead. It's weird because with Alice you really don't see much of her past…so I thought I'd try to figure it out myself! So here it is! Enjoy! (Told from Alice's POV)
There were flames everywhere. All around me horses whinnied and bucked in desperate attempts to free themselves from the burning barn. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I choked on the smoke and the stench of burning straw that had filled the barn to the brim. I dropped to my knees and crawled, desperate for clean air--for a way out. After what felt like hours I caught sight of the barn door through the flames. I pulled myself up off of the dirt floor and began to run. I hadn't taken two strides when I heard a deafening crack above my head. I clapped my hands over my ears to drown out the noise as one of the beams from the ceiling collapsed blocking my only exit. I threw myself to the ground in despair and desperately began to scream as loud as I could. As I kept screaming I began to cough from having inhaled too much smoke. Slowly the roaring fire encircled me beginning to lick at my skirt and my long dark tresses. My voice was left as no more than a raspy croak when over the roaring fire I heard my name being called softly at first, but growing more distinct each time I heard it.
"Alice?" The obviously female voice called to me. "Alice! Mary Alice!" I felt someone shaking my shoulders as I was jolted awake.
I sat there for a moment sitting up in bed, breathing heavily and drenched in a cold sweat; my eyes wide with fear. I took a few deep breaths before looking up into my mother's pale blue eyes.
"The--the barn," I stuttered quietly on the edge of tears. "The McCormick's barn…it was on fire! I was in it, and a beam broke and I was trapped inside with the horses! No one could hear me! I was screaming and screaming but no one heard me!" My voice broke has I threw myself against my mother and sobbed into the front of her nightgown.
"Mary Alice," she said disapprovingly. "You were screaming so loudly, it's a wonder you didn't wake up the rest of Biloxi." Alice quieted her sobs into small sniffles as her mother ran long slender fingers through her long jet-black hair. "Now," her mother said before breaking away from her daughter, "You need to go get a glass of water and go back to bed. You still have school tomorrow." The woman stood up and left the room leaving young Mary Alice Brandon to cope with the nightmare that she'd just had.
Three days later, the McCormick's barn was burnt to the ground after being struck by lightning. The McCormick's young daughter, who had been sleeping in the barn to keep an eye on their heavily pregnant tabby cat, had perished in the fire after a fallen beam had blocked her only means of escape.
A/N: The next part will be a few years later and will have more mention of things like this and possibly the asylum…I haven't really decided yet. If any of this confused you (because I know for a fact that what makes sense in my brain does NOT make sense in some other people's brains) feel free to message me! And yes I will still be finishing Lunar Eclipse for those of you who've been asking.