Alice From The Beginning

The Asylum

I looked up at the high iron fence and the even higher stone wall and I went cold all over. It was horrible and creepy and I did nothing to deserve being here. The gate keeper opened the gates and the horse walked into the bleak courtyard. I saw the big, dull, grey building and a chill ran up my spine. The horse stopped and the driver came around to the carriage to let me out, my parents weren't even coming in with me. I walked up to the padlocked metal door. I knocked three times, hurting my knuckles on the hard mental. I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and my heart skipped a beat as I heard the key turning in the lock.

The door was opened by a plump women in a black uniform two sizes too small for her. 'Hello, I'm Alice', I said. "Yes, I know who you are Mary your twenty minutes late. I'm Mrs Manly, Your room is this way, follow me". I followed her down the dim, damp hall way taking in the many metal doors with the tiny, slit windows. Mrs Manly came to a stop outside room 17. "This is your room", she said taking a key out of her pocket and opening the door. I stood there with my mouth hanging open, the room was half the size of my old room and it was covered in dirt. There was a tiny window with bars across it and they didn't even have glass in itand the tiny metal bed in the corner with the thin mattress didn't even have a blanket or a pillow on it. Mrs Manly shoved me into the room. I turned to glare at her but she had the door shut and was locking it, don't tell me she's scared of me too.

I lay on the hard bed and cried, I couldn't remember the last time I cried but now I couldn't stop. The light faded outside the window and I finally found the strength to stop crying. I heard the key turning in the lock and stood up, Manly stood at the door with a slice of bread on a paper plate and a glass of murky water, she left it on the floor and left. I was so thirsty I drank the murky water and I ate half the bread but it was half blue moulded so I couldn't eat any more , I lay on the bed trying to picture his perfect face, I lay doing this for hours happy just thinking about him. I didn't get to sleep at all and was wide awake when the bright early morning light lit up my room drawing even more attention to the thick dust lining the floor.

I examined the tiny room carefully and noticed the little things I hadn't noticed before. There was a small hole in the wall , a crack in the ceiling and a mouse hole situated directly under the window. I was so bored I couldn't even think. Manly came in around midday with another helping of mouldy bread and murky water and took away my last plate which was swarmed with mosquitos.

There was a knock on my door around an hour after lunch. Since when did Manly knock? It wasn't Manly, it was a young man, only a few years older than me with short brown hair and dull orangy eyes with the palest papery skin I ever saw(not including the amazing man in my imagination) and the most beautiful features. "Who are you," I asked shyly. "I am Liam", He replied. "What are you doing here?" I asked curiously. "I just felt like visiting the new kid on the block, whats your name?" His voice was smooth and sounded soft like silk. "I'm alice, Are you supposed to be here?"I asked, I hadn't really talked to anyone near my age before and he seemed really nice. "I work here, you don't seem mental, why are you here", He asked. I turned a deep red and he laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed again only it sounded like an embarrassed laugh. It seemed like he would blush only he was able to stop himself. "I am very sorry Alice. I know it's not something any one would like to talk about but if you do I'll listen." "I'll tell you, But I'd appreciate it if you didn't run out screaming like a baby before I've finished telling you. It started when I was six I started having daydreams or something of a beautiful pale man with honey blonde hair and blood red eyes ..." when I was finished my story he smiled. "Are you laughing at me", I asked feeling tears welling up in my eyes, I thought I could trust him but what did I know, I had just met him. "No, I am not laughing at you alice, I am happy that you told me. Have you ever thought that mabe this man isn't a charecter of your imagination, have you ever thought of them as visions," he said enthusiasticaly. What he said sort of made sense but I'd never seen this man before, he was good two foot taller than me and looked at least five years older than me but you never know, They say love has no boundries and whatever pull I felt to him felt like love. "mabe" I said.

He left a while later promising to come back tomorrow to see me. Manly came in to collect the last plate, that was so discustingly moulded I couldn't eat, and the murky water which i drank thirstily as soon as I wa given it. She promised that i would not be given food for a week, that didn't bother me, the food was discusting anyway.

I slept restlessly that night, thinking again of the man from my daydreams, or were they visions? I did not know