That vision scared me more than anything I had encountered since my parents died and I had been changed into a vampire. How was I to fall in love with a human? I was very worried that I would end up killing her…though, compared to the fate she seemed to be currently suffering here, even that might be a better option. So many thoughts raced through my mind at the same time that I could barely think at all. I was just dumbfounded.

She reached her thin little arm out to touch my hand. I thought about pulling back, worried that she would notice how cold it was, but then realized that she probably wouldn't know the difference. Her fingers touched the top of my hand with their jagged fingernails and pale skin. I looked down to see that her skin was just as pale as my own. But four years without sunlight would probably do that to anyone. I turned my hand over so that I could hold her hand back in response, though I knew I shouldn't.

"Where are you from?" She asked.

"Chicago." I tried to keep my voice even. I was surprised at the honest answer I gave her. Most of me wanted to run out of the room and never return, but the look in her large grey-blue eyes kept me. There was just something about her that made it impossible for me to leave just then. The simple, conversation starting questions she asked me seemed easy enough to answer and I had so many questions burning in my mind to ask her as well. I never noticed the time going by, but we talked for several hours until I could tell that she was having a very hard time staying awake. I just couldn't bring myself to leave yet.

I would have tucked her in as she finally lay down in her small, uneven bed, but there was no blanket to cover her with. Her hand still grasped mine, more firmly than I would have thought her capable of, even in her sleep. I had moved the chair up a bit closer to her earlier to make her reach easier and sat there, watching with fascination as the girl slept. It was very difficult to bring myself to leave her…even when I knew I had to or I would not be able to walk home for the sunlight.

Finally I did, of course. I trailed home and just barely made it. Carlisle was already there and sitting up as if to wait for me when I came in. I could tell right away that I had made him worry and felt badly for it.

"What is wrong, Edward?" He asked me as soon as I came in.

I put the basket down that I had brought with me and shook my head. "Something has to be done, Carlisle, and I don't know what to do."

Carlisle motioned for me to come and sit down by him. "What is it, my son?"

"That girl I told you about- Alice. I went to see her again last night. I know that it was stupid and I shouldn't have, but I just can't seem to stay away from her."

Carlisle listened patiently and I continued to explain to him the extent of my troubles because of the girl. It took me quite some time to explain everything adequately enough.

"And you are sure no one will be coming for the girl? Perhaps some other family or friends?"

"I doubt it. She's been there for four years without a soul ever visiting."

His facial expression became furrowed a bit, and I knew he was beginning to share my frustration. "My, my...that is quite a predicament."

"What should I do, Carlisle?"

He placed a hand on my shoulder and gazed into my eyes intently. "I'm sure you'll do right thing. Whatever you feel that is."

I swallowed hard at that idea. "What if I accidentally hurt her...or drain her blood?"

He smiled a little at me then. "I don't think you will, fragile as humans are. If you love the girl, I believe you'll find the strength."

I stared at him incredulously. "Love her? I've only known her for-"

The blond man cracked a larger smile and shook his head- "That makes absolutely no difference. Do you believe the girl's visions?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Then what does it matter if you love her yet or not if you're sure you will...unless you think you were acting only out of lust in the vision?"

"No! Of course not! You know me better than that, Carlisle. I would never..."

"I know." He responded quietly.

The next couple of weeks passed by slowly. Every night I spent in the asylum with Alice and every day I spent thinking of what I should do that would be best for her. We became closer and closer, and the vision became fact after a while. Inappropriate as it may be, we both desired very much to be close to one another. When I allowed her to sit in my lap was the only time her rigid little body ever seemed to relax. There is no point, really, in recounting exactly when or how I fell in love. Anyone that ever knew Alice would understand that it was inevitable by just being near her. How anyone could ever manage not to love her was always the real question in my mind.

The weather began to turn colder and Alice started to cough. At first it was only occasional and slight, but it kept getting worse. She started eating less of the food that I brought for her every night. I thought that maybe it was only because she grew tired of eating the same thing. I began bring her meals in the basket that I bought prepared at restaurants, to give her more of a variety as my cooking skills were nil and she desperately needed to eat as much as I could get her to in order to gain weight. That helped a little, but she still was not eating as much as I wished she would. I even thought that she was beginning to look a little better...but maybe that was only wishful thinking. Her cheeks seemed rosier, anyway, even if she was still much too thin. But the weight was something that would have to be fixed over time, another few weeks of her eating my food and she might get to be a healthy looking weight.

Honestly it wasn't the weight that I was most concerned about. She never said it straight out- not even inside her mind- but the more I stayed around her the more I got the feeling that someone had done something to her...something that she didn't want.

Then, one day, all of my worst fears were confirmed.

It happened on the first day of November. I had decided, for the first time, that just the night wasn't long enough and that I would stay there all day in hiding. It was cloudy and supposed to rain, so I took a chance and stayed. The one thing that she would never talk about was whatever they did to her when they took her from her room and I just had to know for sure. I had prayed that I was wrong about my suspicions.

We had stayed up all night talking about whatever either of us could come up with. I told her about my parents and growing up and a very edited version of my life with Carlisle. She told me all about her life growing up on a farm and her beloved little sister, Cynthia. She was snuggled up on my lap with her head on my shoulder when she finally fell asleep.

I carefully laid her down on her bed- if you could call it that- it was a metal frame with a cheap roll out cotton mattress that was so old, dirty, and lumpy it is quite possible that my stone hard figure may have been more comfortable. She was dead asleep when I put her down and still managed to ball up as soon as I backed away, so if to protect herself from something. I wasn't sure if this was an unconscious effort to get warm or just a sleeping habit. Even so, she was adorable when she slept.

A tall, thin man came around nine a.m. to take her from her room. She wasn't awake when he came and, instead of tapping her shoulder polity or something of that sort, he slapped her hard across her cheek. Not even conscious for more than half a second, she was dragged roughly from her bed out to the hallway. I could see that his upper lip had a cleft palate defect and he looked more like what I imagined of a mental patient than any kind of doctor or staff. Enraged as I was at seeing Alice slapped and dragged, I hid in a dark corner and then followed them out silently. She didn't want to go with him. That much was very obvious to me.

The man led her through the long, narrow corridor past the other twenty one rooms I had passed on the way in my first time there to a room with a metal slab. Another man with a dark beard was already in there and began strapping her into leather restraints to hold her against the metal while the first man held her there forcefully. When the man with the beard went to strap her ankles, he placed a hand below her nightdress up at her knee. I could see the silent tears that were already beginning to run down Alice's disturbed face as the thin man went over to turn on the machine. The expression on her face looked totally hopeless. The bearded man began hooking wires up around Alice's head and that is when I saw it.

After he finished hooking the wires and was walking past, the bearded man dared to touch my Alice's breast over her nightgown in a way that made his intentions very clear. I could no longer stand to just hide there and watch. I was not about to let them give her another shock treatment or any other sort of "treatment" that they were obviously intending. I'm sure I must have looked very frightening as I charged into the room, but that was fine by me. I was murderously angry.