Uncaging Alice

Chapter 14: William

To my surprise, Marguerite was gone when I arrived for my shift that night. She had never left before my arrival in the years I had worked here. Instead, Gertie was there closing up. "How come Marguerite isn't here?" I asked.

"She said she had to run out, mentioned something about an emergency." Gertie shrugged into her coat.

"Oh. Anything I need to know about today?"

She thought for a moment. "No. Everything went just fine. I'm going." She smiled.

"Okay. See you..." I waited until she left to go to Alice's room. It was early but all of the other patients were already sleeping. "Alice?" I knocked. When she didn't answer, I let myself into her room.

Alice was sitting the same way as when I first met her—she was on her bed with her knees hugged to her chest. The only difference was that her hair was about 3 inches short.

"What the hell happened?!"

she didn't look at me, but muttered, "Marguerite."

It made sense that she would be responsible for this. "Why?!" Was the only thing I was able to get out.

Alice started to cry and buried her face in her knees. "I don't know. The only thing she said was that I needed my hair cut because I was going to have some kind of therapy tomorrow that required it. She said it'd be shocking how much better I'd be."

I instantly knew when she said that, that Marguerite had scheduled her for electroshock therapy. I felt sick and needed to sit down. Instead of pulling up the chair like I normally would, I sat on the bed next to her.

Alice looked at me, tears still on her face. "What? What does that mean?"

I stayed silent, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Marguerite was attacking Alice on purpose, but why? Electroshock therapy, which Alice did not need, would not require the patient to cur their hair. I started to panic, I needed to do something to stop them from giving her the therapy. I'd seen patients go through it, and besides it being painful for them, most of the time it turned them into a drooling vegetable. In that moment I realized that I had failed Alice... I had promised not to let anything happen to her, and I'd failed. Something had to be done. I would do absolutely anything before I let Alice get hurt ever again.

"William?" Alice said quietly.

I looked at her. "I was just thinking..."

"What does it mean?"

"It doesn't matter what it means because you won't be getting that therapy." We were looking at each other. She was confused but I really didn't want to explain. A few stray tears were still making their way down her face and I reached over to brush them away with my thumb.

She flinched so slightly that a normal human wouldn't have noticed, but I did. "You're very cold." She said.

I pulled my hand away. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've just never met anyone with such cold skin." She sniffled.

We were both quiet again. "...I think I know something that might cheer you up." I offered. She didn't answer but wiped the last of her tears away with her palm and followed me out of her room.

I took her to the hallway where I'd found her suit case and led her to the room at the end. The window was open again but I didn't pay any attention to it. "They used to put on little plays and things, years ago before Marguerite worked here." I explained, watching her take in the cases of old dresses, hats, makeup and other things.

Alice walked slowly through the room, looking at everything. She picked up a dress or two to inspect it. She wasn't smile but there was an obvious interest in her eyes as if a fire had been lit. "I love clothes like these," She murmured.

"I kind of thought that from the picture of you and your sister." I answered, still standing in the doorway.

Picking up a dress and a thin sweater, she walked over towards the left side of the room where there was a short wall set up that the patients had used for changing sometimes. On the way, she stopped to take something from a case that looked to contain makeup.

I waited while she took a minute to change and then a few more minutes with whatever makeup she had picked up. When she came out from behind the wall, I saw that she had actually picked up some wax for hair.

Alice was wearing a purple dress that was more grey and a thin black sweater, which remained unbuttoned in the front. Her hair that had been flat now was styled to flair out a bit at the ends. She came back towards me, spinning once and giving me a smile. "I do feel better, now that I'm out of those clothes they gave me. Thank you."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out her bracelet. She let me wrap it around her wrist and seemed happy to have it back. I smiled. "I know you're probably still upset about your hair, but I think you look beautiful."

She blushed a very deep red. "William... Ever since you first met me and didn't even know me, you've always been so protective. Why?"

"I have this way of knowing people..." I replied. "I can tell the good from the bad, the innocent from the guilty... You're innocent. You shouldn't be here, and you don't deserve to be treated the way you are."

Alice was surprised. "Oh." She stared at the floor and bit her lip, struggling with some thought in her head. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Of course."

"You're very different. Your skin is cold and I've seen you move very fast a few times. There's just something strange... you don't have to tell me, but I've been wondering."

It hurt to hear her say the word 'strange' when describing me. "I'm not like everyone else... I'm 134 years old... About a hundred years ago I was really sick and was pretty much going to die... Then this doctor came in and... he was a vampire... He knew I was dying and he changed me to save my life..."

I was expecting her to either laugh, thinking it was a joke, or run away screaming. But all she did was stand there with her eyes wide. "Wow... Do you... drink blood?"

"Only animal blood." I said quickly, confused. "Why are you not afraid?"

"I have visions." She said simply. "I thought vampires killed people."

"Most do. Again, I'm not like everyone else." It felt very weird to be having this conversation. "Most do kill people. I used to but I just couldn't anymore. I couldn't live with the guilt."

"What a martyr." A voice came from just inside the open window. James and Victoria stood there. I cursed myself for being too distracted to notice. "Is this what you've been hiding from me, William? Pretty."

Victoria scowled.

I stepped to the side, moving to be in front of Alice. "What're you doing here, James? I thought you had left."

"We were going to, but I felt like you weren't telling me something. Thought I'd find out on my own."

"Well now you know. You can go now." I added a low growl.

James grinned. "But what would be the fun in that? She looks so tasty."

"William," Alice whispered. I put my arm out to let her know I wouldn't let them touch her. "Marguerite is coming. She's in the main wing."

I turned to look at her. "What?" At that moment, James growled and lunged for us but I grabbed Alice's hand and ran as fast as I could back towards the main hall where she said Marguerite would be.

"William!" Alice was out of breath trying to keep up with me. I was pretty much just dragging her along since she couldn't run as fast as me.

"They're bad, Alice. They'll kill you!"

Once back in the main hall, I stopped when I saw Marguerite standing beside the open entrance. "I knew it." Marguerite said, an evil excitement coming over her. She took a step forward and pointed at us. "I knew something was going on ever since Roberta told me. She saw you treating this girl special, letting her out of her room at night." I could feel James and Victoria standing a few feet behind us, and Marguerite shifted to see them better. "Who are they? Are you letting your friends into the building now, too? William, you are fired!"

"I don't care," I yelled back. "I won't let you do anything else to Alice."

"That girl isn't going anywhere!" She yelled back.

"She's so annoying." Victoria complained. "Can't I just shut her up?"

I took that chance of distraction to pull Alice out the front door into the early evening. Behind us, I heard a scream, but didn't need to turn back to know that Marguerite was dead.

Picking Alice up, I ran as fast as I possibly could; I had always been faster than James and we had a head start. I carried her far into the woods by the asylum, stopping after more than a few miles. In the short time it took me to get there, my mind had been racing. Alice was in danger and James would never stop until he killed her. The only thing that might save her was if I changed her.

I didn't want to. She shouldn't have to go through the pain and confusion and thirst that I went through. I set her down and she looked up at me, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Looking at the ground, unable to meet her eyes, I said, "Alice..."

"It's okay, William." Her voice wavered as if unsure, but she gave a confident smile. "I don't know what's going to happen next, but I know you won't let them hurt me."

"I'm just afraid that the only way to keep them from hurting you... is to hurt you myself."

"Why?" She asked.

I looked in her eyes and tried to make her understand. "James thinks you belong to me. The only reason he wants to hurt you is because he thinks you're mine. I've seen him do this many times to others, and he won't give up until you're changed or dead... preferably dead." I stopped before I said anything else, because I knew that I was running out of options. I might be faster than James but with Victoria on his side, there was no way I would be able to kill him before he could kill me or Alice.

"How does it work?"

"How does what work?" I mumbled, disappointed in myself for letting her down.

"You said he'd stop if I was changed. How does it work?"

Realizing what she was asking of me, I cringed internally and answered quietly. "...I bite you... the venom goes through you, turns you into a vampire. It's very painful, Alice, and it's not quick. It lasts for about three days, during which you'll wish you had died instead. It'll feel like you're on fire, only worse."

Alice sighed. "It doesn't really sound like I have many options."

I tried to stall but I didn't have much time. "James is almost here." I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a few trees that sat close together, well enough to hide her even though her scent was easily followed. Moving her so that her back faced where we had just been standing, I looked at her sadly. "Alice, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"William," She said again. "You've done so much for me, helped me. I appreciate it all. It's okay."

Knowing James was seconds away, I took Alice's wrist and bit into it as gently as I could. This time when she flinched, she wasn't able to hide it, and shortly after that, the venom started through her. I helped her sit on the ground, watching the pain on her face as she clutched her wrist to her body and tried not to make any noise. I knelt down and put my arms around her, mourning the warmth that would soon be gone from her body. One last time, I whispered to her, "I'm sorry."

I never wanted to leave her, or let her go through this alone, but I had no choice but to get up and try and keep James away from her. Running back into the open area of the woods, I wanted to get far away from where Alice was to give her a better chance. Still running, I quickly glanced back to where I'd left her, and was suddenly hit hard in the chest, throwing me back until a tree stopped me. I fell to the ground and looked up as James walked closer to me.