Hey Twilighters! Here's another chapter. Right now, though, I'm going to be naggy author. I'm not getting very many hits, and I'm not getting very many reviews either. So please, please, please… REVIEW!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Twilight. Otherwise, I would be chillin' with Edward in a meadow right now.

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Things improved dramatically once I had cleared the air with Dr. Harrison. We were practically inseparable now, which raised some of the nurses' eyebrows.

"What are you doing with him all the time?" they would ask me.

"Just talking," I would reply with a large smile on my face. It was gratifying to know such a huge secret when everyone around me was so oblivious. I did hear some terrible rumors that we were having an affair, though. Whenever a nurse would approach me with this question, I would roll my eyes and ask if they had anything better to do than sit around gossiping like old hens.

I wasn't having as many visions as usual, either. This was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because I could enjoy my day without being interrupted with some odd vision of future events. The curse of it was that my visions were accepted in this place, so there weren't many consequences to having them. Still, I was just glad to start to get my life under control.

I fell into a daily routine in which I kept mostly to myself. I spent time with, of course, Dr. Harrison and, when she could get out, Anne-Elizabeth. With these two friends, it didn't really matter that I didn't talk to anyone else.

A surprise came for me on a sunny day Saturday, a day in which Dr. Harrison was confined to the building as to not reveal his super-sparkly skin. I was having my session with Dr. Harrison when a few sharp raps came to the door.

"Come in," said Dr. Harrison, rising from his desk.

It was a nurse that had a shape reminiscent of a stick. She had fluffy orange hair and watery brown eyes.

"I have a visitor for Miss Brandon," she said in a surprisingly low voice.

"Who is it?" I asked curiously. Which member of my estranged family had come to visit me in the nut house?

"His name is Mr. Peter Middleton," said the nurse. My breath caught in my throat. What was he doing here?

Dr. Harrison noticed that I was speechless. "Do you want to see him?" he asked me gently, as if Peter had ever done anything to harm me.

"Of course," I replied. "Peter is one of my best friends. I'm just trying to figure out what he's doing here."

"Well, one would assume that he would like to visit with you," said Dr. Harrison with a smile. I shrugged my shoulders. The nurse then took me by the arm, as if I was going to throw a fit, and gently tugged me out of the room. She led me through a door that had a dusty plate with the words 'VISITING ROOM' emblazoned on it. The room she stuck me in was as drab as the rest of the building, but with one wall made entirely of glass. Sitting behind this glass was a congregation of nurses. Great. So my visits were supervised. I plopped down into an arm chair and shot the group a dirty look. This just made them jot some notes down on clipboards that were resting in their laps. No, that glare didn't mean I'm crazy. It just means you're annoying.

The door opened yet again, this time revealing Peter's smiling face.

"Alice!" he exclaimed, closing the distance between us with a hug. "It's been so long! How are you?"

How was I supposed to answer that question? Perhaps, I could tell him that I only had two friends in the entire place. Or, I could tell him that my mentor was a vampire. Or, best of all, I could tell him that I was probably going to die in this place.

"I'm alright," I said after a long silence. "This place is terrible, but I have met some people that make it better."

"I'm so sorry you're stuck in here," said Peter, letting me out of his hug, but keeping his hands on mine.

"You're not the only one," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"You must tell me all about this place," said Peter, as if it was some high-luxury resort I had been shipped off to.

I then began a long and drawn out description of the place. Of course, I left out the Dr. Harrison-is-a-vampire thing.

"How utterly sad," he said. He had no idea.

"Why are you here, Peter?" I blurted out the question before I fully processed it in my head.

He stared at me with a look of disbelief. "I'm here to see you, Alice."

"Yes, but why?" I asked. Nobody else had come to see me. He obviously had a hidden agenda.

His eyes shifted from side to side. There was obviously something he was not telling me.

"Spill," I demanded.

To my surprise, he got down on one knee.

"Alice, in this time without you, I've decided something." My breath caught in my throat. What the hell was this?

"What?" I asked.

"I've decided that I can't live without you, and I don't care if you're crazy. I love you."

"Huh?" I asked again, well aware of how catatonic I sounded.

"Marry me," he said quickly. "Make me the happiest man in the world, and marry me."

I just stared at him. Was this his idea of a joke?

"Are you serious?" I asked. He obviously didn't appreciate the tone of my voice, because he grimaced at it.

"Of course I am. I need you." His face was full of desperation and hope.

I couldn't believe it. No, I did not want to marry him. When had I ever given him the slightest impression that I regarded him as anything more than a friend?

"You need me?" I asked, pulling him off of his knee. "Since when?"

"I've only realized it recently," he said. "Please, Alice. Say you'll marry me. I can get you out of this place."

Rage built up inside of me. "Wait, are you only doing this because you feel sorry for me?" I practically yelled it at him.

A look of confusion came over his face. "Of course not, Alice. I love you. I want you to marry me."

"No." My reply was short and curt, and by the look on his face, it sliced him like a knife. "Peter, you're great, but when have I ever even given you the illusion that I considered you as anything more than a great friend?"

"Well, I thought that perhaps if I did this, you would realize your love for me," he said with desperation.

"I'm sorry, Peter," I said, "but I simply can't do it. You deserve a girl that will love you, and that girl's not me. So if that's the only reason you came here, you can leave now." It hurt to send him away, but I really didn't want to draw out the heartbreak.

He didn't respond with words, but his actions showed what he was feeling on the inside. Instead of saying to me that it was alright, that he would be fine, he did what I would least expect of him. He slapped me.

A few thoughts occurred to me as I fell backwards onto the floor. First of all, why would Peter do that? I had known him my entire life, and he had never before raised a hand to me. Second, why couldn't I love Peter? Because I knew that someday, I would find a person that I loved, that loved me, and I could spend the rest of eternity with. And thirdly, why does time seem to slow down just as I am about to hit the ground?

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Everything was a little bit fuzzy as I tried to open my eyes. I could vaguely make out my room, my bed, and a few figures hunched over me.

"I think she's waking up," a familiar voice said.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "What happened, Dr. Harrison?"

"When Peter hit you, you fell and hit your head extremely hard on the ground," he said solemnly. "You've been out for a few hours."

I then recalled what happened. I was still shocked that he would lay a hand on me. "Where is he now?" I asked.

"He was escorted off the premises," replied Dr. Harrison. "He won't be here to harass you anymore."

"I just can't believe he would do that," I said softly. "I've known him forever, and he's never done anything like that."

Dr. Harrison took a deep breath. "There's something you don't know," he said in a voice that was far too serious to be anything good. "After you left, Peter went mad."

"Mad?" I asked. "Like, crazy or just upset?"

"Unfortunately, he went insane with grief. He escaped from a mental hospital about thirty miles away to come and see you. We didn't find out about any of this until he told us himself when we rushed in after he hit you."

Peter went insane with grief? I couldn't believe it. How could anyone care enough about me to go insane with grief?

"I'm sure you're extremely tired, Alice, so I'll leave you now," he said, noticing that I was stifling a yawn while he was talking. "Sleep well, Alice. Dream any dream you please, because in our dreams, we are truly free."

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The next two days went by fairly normal, considering that I just received news that my best friend went insane. I was shocked, though, when I received the announcement that I had another visitor.

"Bloody hell, who is it now?" I asked the nurse as she dragged me down the hall again. "I'm really not in a visiting mood."

"Well, you better cheer up, because your sister's come a long way," said the nurse.

"My sister?" I asked before I was shoved into the visiting room again. I found it entirely hard to believe that my perfect sister found time to come and visit me in my nut house.

It was indeed my sister that was perched delicately on the crappy armchair. Her perfect features and proper manner looked entirely out of place.

"Cynthia, what are you doing here?" I asked. She looked up, and smiled.

"Alice!" she exclaimed as she stood up and engulfed me in a hug.

I was shocked. In all our years together, my sister had never treated me like this. Usually, the two of us just went in our own circles and only addressed each other when it was absolutely necessary. "How is my favorite sister doing?"

"Well, I would just like to remind you that I'm your only sister, and I'm doing pretty badly. I was attacked by my recently-incarcerated best friend the other day. Isn't that just the plum pudding?" I was full of bitterness and resentment, but Cynthia didn't seem to pick up on that. Stupid blonde.

"Yes, we all heard about that. Poor Peter Middleton," she said, slowly shaking her head.

"Poor Mary Alice Brandon!" I exclaimed. "She could have been killed!"

"Yes, it's terrible, terrible," she repeated again. "But I have great news. Would you like to hear it?"

"I have a feeling I'm going to anyways," I said apathetically.

"I'm getting married!" Normally, I would have been very excited. I loved all manners of parties and weddings, but I had a sinking feeling that I would not be involved with this wedding in any way whatsoever.

"To who?" I asked.

"Joshua McCoy," she said with a huge grin on her face. I grimaced, recalling the frequent brothel-visitor's reputation. "And he's just the bee's knees, Alice! I'm so happy!"

"That's great," I said through clenched teeth. Now, I didn't exactly love my sister, but I was rather fond of her when she wasn't a total witch to me. I really didn't want her to marry him, but I knew there was nothing I could do. It was a very smart match.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to attend," Cynthia said. "This meeting is officially the last meeting between you and anyone in this family." My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that my mother would send my sister to break this kind of news to me. "I'm sorry, Alice."

The look in Cynthia's eyes told me that she truly was, and I felt a rush of love for my sister. But that didn't change anything. I think that deep down, I knew that this moment would come, but I wasn't prepared for it. Not knowing what else to do, I broke down into sobs. Cynthia tried to comfort me, but I stopped her.

"Go," I said between sobs. "Just go."

And that was the last I ever saw of any of my family.

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