Chapter 1

Beep beep beep beep. What is this noise? I open my eyes with great difficulty and am greeted with bright light and i.v. stuck in my arms. The beeping noise comes from the heart monitor to my left. So I'm in a hospital now the question is how did I end up here? As I look around I see Mary-Margaret placing a vase of flowers beside a man who seems to be asleep. I try to ask her what am I doing here but all comes out of my mouth is some incomprehensible noise. So I guess I've been here a while. But at least the noise catches her attention for she turns around, sees me and with a mix of shock, surprise and a little happiness all but ran out the door. Okay that was weird, I thought to myself. But she comes back minutes later with a doctor with short light brown hair and a glass of water that she hands me. I mutely thank her and start to greedily drink the water.

''Hi I'm dr. whale.'' Says the doctor, while I drink. ''How are you doing? ''

I take a moment to collect my thoughts. ''Hum… well, I'm okay maybe a little tired and…hum… no I'm fine. ''

''and what is the last thing you remember?''

Mary-Margaret took the empty glass in my hands ''thank you '' I say to her she smiled to me. And then she left, leaving me alone with the doctor,… and the man asleep. ''I, don't, know, doctor.'' I say slowly trying to see if I remember anything that might've happened to me. But when nothing comes to mind, I start to panic a little ask him kind of in a rush.'' What happened to me? What am I doing here? ''

He ignores me completely and asks ''Do you at least know who you are?''

''Hum… yeah my name is Elysa Mills. What happened to me?'' I answer.

''Well miss Mills, it appears that you were working with poisonous plants, got some in your eyes which blinded you momentarily and you then fell and hit your head. Which resulted in a concussion.'' He says. He then proceeds to check my vitals and takes some notes on my chart.

Wow. Ok note to self change job.

'' So, all your vitals seems in check we'll keep you over night for observation just to be sure but if everything stays the same we should let you go in the morning. Also do not worry your memory should come back over time'' He says with a small smile.

''Thank you doctor.'' Just as soon as he left I see Regina walk in with my cousin Henry. She has a mix of shock, relief and happiness on her face while Henry just seems happy to see me. She almost runs over to me and then gives me a big hug. Okay that's a little weird…but oh well.

Then she holds me at arms length and says with worry in her eyes: ''How are you? Are you okay?''

''I'm fine aunt Regina. Don't worry everything's fine.''

''Of course I worry your like a daughter to me and when this happened… well the important thing is that you're back and well.'' She smiles and then stand from my bed. ''I'll go talk to the doctor but I'll come and get you tomorrow morning. Ok?'' Well that was fast then again it is kind of late, I think, since there is no clock in the room I can only assume since outside it's pretty dark.

I return her smile. ''Ok. Thanks aunt Regina. '' She then leaves the room.

Henry who stood in the corner of the room runs to me and give me a big hug. Almost knocking the wind out of me. ''I'm happy to see you too buddy.'' I say with a small laugh. ''So what have you been up to? ''

He looks at me and gets this big Cheshire cat smile on his face. Uh oh what did he do…? ''I found my real mom, her name is Emma and she's going to help me brake...''He doesn't finish his sentence and the look on his face it's as if I caught him doing something bad.

''brake…?'' I pry. But then I think back to what he said. Did he just tell me he found his biological mother…? Oh men Regina must not be happy about that. Oh well…

''I'm not sure I should tell you…''

''Oh come on Henry, you know you can tell me anything…'' And it's true. I would never judge him and he knows I'd support him through anything.

He seems to debate with himself for a moment then he say: ''Ok I'll tell you later when you come back home''

''Promise?'' I held up my right pinkie finger.

''Promise.'' He hooks his pinkie with mine

''Ok. Now did you say you found your birth mother? '' I say with a tone of mischief in my voice.

''Yes her name is Emma and I'm sure you two will get along great!''

''And what does Regina thinks about that?''

''She's not happy…''

''Henry. '' Regina calls him from the door. '' It's time to go. See you tomorrow, lily.''

''Bye lily.''

''Bye Henry. Bye aunt Regina.'' I give him and Regina a little smile and wave which they returned and then they're gone.

So with nothing better to do, I settled myself as comfortably as I could in a hospital bed and went to sleep.

Dong, dong, dong, dong. The sound of the tower clock is what awoke me. Hmmmm, strange wasn't that clock broken.

Anyway not long after I woke up I see Dr. Whale coming through the door. ''Good morning. How are you doing today?''

''Fine, thanks. I'm ready to go back home. '' He took all my vitals, again.

''Everything seems to be fine we just need your aunt to sign the discharge paper and you're good to go.'' Speaking of the devil, Regina just walked in looking classy in her grey dress but she looked stressed and unhappy about something.

She signed the discharge paper while I changed into the clothes she brought me which consisted of black sweatpants and my blue 'pink' Victoria's secret sweater and then we were on our way home.

''Thanks aunt Regina. You know for everything.'' I look at her as she drive, at my words a little smile graced her lips but I can see that she's still stressed about something.

''You don't have to thank me. You're family and family sticks together. '' That puts a little smile on my face. ''Welcome back home.'' She says just as she parked in the driveway.

''You know I think you should reconsider your job, I mean after what happened…''

''Yeah, I was starting to think the same thing.'' We both get out of the car and get in the house. ''I'll go get a shower I feel all yucky. ''

''Ok I'll leave you up to it. If you need me I'll be at my office.'' She picks up a basket of apples that was on the kitchen table and she leaves.

And off I go get my shower at last.

After my much needed shower I changed into my grey and pink zombie thank top and my black skinny jeans with triangular holes on the sides. I put on mascara to bring out my green eyes, a little sparkly blush and some red lip stain on my lips. Then I flattened my shoulder length golden hair and put on my black faux leather jacket. I grabbed my blue faux leather purse with my white bunny I-phone and black lips wallet in it and headed out.

After some deliberation I came to the conclusion that I should quit my job at the flower shop, I never liked it that much anyway and I could always get another job somewhere else… So that's where I went first.

I walked to Games of thorns since it wasn't far. I got there 10 minutes later, I went in and found Mr. French near the orchids. I walked up to him and explained everything to him about how my aunt thought it best that I work somewhere else and that I'm sorry for the short notice and everything. Mr. French was very understanding especially after what happened. He gave me my last paycheck and told me that if I ever changed my mind I was always welcomed back. I thanked him and left to go to Granny's since I was getting hungry.

As soon as I walked through the door I was engulfed in a bear hug by Ruby. ''Hi Ruby, hey weren't you supposed to move to Boston?'' She let's go of me. ''Not that I'm not happy to see you…''

''Yeah well granny had a heart attack so I'm staying to help her out.'' Even though se said it like there was nothing, I could still see that she was concerned about her grandmother. We made our way to a table in the back and sat down.

A look of concern/worry took hold of my face. ''Oh my god, Ruby is she ok?''

''Yeah don't worry, she's a tough woman.'' I then ordered lunch, a vegan sandwich with raspberry green tea, and spent most of the afternoon talking with Ruby. It was fun, I left around 3:30 and headed back home.

When I got back home I found Henry doing his homework on the kitchen table. I sat beside him. ''Hey need any help with that?''

''No thanks lily, I'm almost done.'' True to his words not even 5 minutes later he turns to me and says with a big smile: ''All done.''

''So… Henry you remember you told me you were going to tell me something when I got back home. Well I'm back home, so…'' I trailed off.

''Wait here.''

''Okay…'' What is he up to? I see him get out of his chair and run up the stairs, he comes back with this big brown leathery book and sits back beside me.

On the book cover I read Once Upon a Time. So he brought a story book? ''What's this Henry.'' I point to the book. ''I Thought you were suppose to tell me what Emma was supposed to help you with.'' Now I'm confused.

''And that's why I brought this book, you see every story in this book actually happened. The evil queen cursed everyone from the enchanted forest and sent them here, in Storybrooke.''

''You're playing with me right?'' My god he's got such a big imagination.

''No it's true and that's why Emma came here she's going to break the curse.''

''Why Emma?''

''Because she's the daughter of Snow White and prince charming. It's her destiny.''

''And why don't everyone just, go after the evil queen?''

''Because it's part of the curse they don't remember who they are.''

Ok let's give him the benefit of the doubt here. ''Ok, so you say everyone is a fairytale character from your book, correct?''

''They're not characters they're real.''

''Ok, but in your book, there's the story of everyone in town, correct.'' If this is real, well it can't be but let's play pretend and say this is real, I wonder who I would be.

''Yes. So you believe me?'' He asks with a big smile and so much hope in his voice.

''I'm not sure,'' At that I see him loose his smile.''But if what you say is true, then who am I supposed to be?'' I'm very curious about this and that seems to bring back the smile on his face.

''You're Snow White's sister Alice.''

''Alice, like Alice in Wonderland?'' He nods. ''Ok, so I'm not your cousin, I'm supposed to be your great aunt?''

''Exactly.''

''And who's suppose to be my sister, Snow White, Emma's mother?'' This is getting very interesting. But if Snow White is my sister than it's not he same Alice in Wonderland that I know of.

''Mary-Margaret.'' Huh makes sense, kind of with the black hair and all around kindness. Also we could probably pass for relatives, I mean we got some similar features and bone structure, and we both have green eyes. I was so lost in thoughts that when Henry talked it startled me. ''If you want we can talk more about it later. I got to go my, mom will be waiting for me.'' Right it's their 'special Thursday dinner/bonding time' and then Henry have his therapy. But I didn't miss the way he hesitated on calling Regina mom. Guess they really need that time together.

As he was about to walk out the door I tell him: ''Alright have fun. But hey Henry you're going to have to tell me what my story is supposed to be as soon as you can, ok?''

That puts such a big smile on his face it looks as if he's going to burst from happiness. ''Of course, it will be my pleasure.''

''See yah.''

''Bye. '' And just like that he left me, all alone, in that big house. What Henry told me really got me thinking and I decided to watch an Alice in Wonderland marathon. So I left the house and walked to the video club once there I got Alice in Wonderland the Disney cartoon, Alice in Wonderland from Tim Burton and Alice a 2009 miniseries in two episodes. I rented them and got back home.

I decided I was hungry so before I started my marathon I was going to make myself something to eat. I went in the fridge there was a quinoa left over, so I caramelized some onions tossed it with some lettuce, added the quinoa and some tahini dressing and voila a wonderful salad. I took my salad and a glass of water, settled myself comfortably in the living room couch and started my marathon with the cartoon one first. I always loved that cartoon. When it was over I took a little pause and did my dishes. Then I started the second movie the Tim Burton one. It was good but I preferred the cartoon, I thought when it was over. And then I put in the miniseries part one, just as it was about to start Henry walked in so I pressed pause.

''How did it go?'' I asked. He sat next to me.

''Great, operation Cobra is back in action.''

''Operation Cobra? What's operation Cobra?'' And when has it been interrupted?

''It's a code name so the evil queen doesn't know we're trying to break her curse.'' Ah…

''And who is this evil queen?''

He hesitates and then says: '' My mom.'' Ok maybe that's a little extreme calling aunt Regina an evil queen but it's his story so... ''So what are you doing?'' He asks as he looks at the pile of DVDs on the living room tables.

''Research. I'm watching an Alice in Wonderland marathon. You know since I'm Alice.''

''So you do believe.'' It was more of a statement than a question.

''Well I'm trying to.''

''Can I watch it with you?''

''Sure but when Regina gets home you go straight to bed like a ninja, ok? I don't want her to catch me letting you stay up late on a school night, alright?''

''Ok, thanks lily.''

I pressed play and we watched it silently together. When part one was done I put in part two and we continued to watch it in silence. When the movie was over Regina still was not home but it was getting very late so I sent Henry up to bed, but before he went to his room he told me from up the stairs: ''You know, you're story, that's not how it happened.'' He was referring to the movie we just saw. Just as I was about to question him, we both heard keys in the door so Henry hurried up silently to his room and I went to greet aunt Regina.

''Hi.''

''Hey, what are you doing up this late? Is Henry asleep?''

''Yeah he's in bed, don't worry and I was just watching a movie. I'm going to go bring it back and then I'm off to bed.''

''Alright, lock up the door when you come back. Good night.'' And with that she went up to her room.

I grabbed the DVDs on the table grabbed my faux leather coat and walked to the video club store. It was closed of course so I put the DVDs in the return slit in the wall. Then I went back home locked the door, went upstairs, brushed my teeth and went to bed.