Authors Note and Disclaimer:

Nope, the characters do not belong to me. They're from the Twilight-series, and are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

I made this short little one-shot as a background story for my Alice Cullen-profile back when I was still roleplaying on Facebook. I'm actually quite satisfied with it, so in the end I decided to upload it here.

And as you might know, reviews = love *grins and vanishes in a cloud of sparkly purple smoke*

Alice's Story

Mary Alice quickly got up from her bed and scrambled to her feet as the sound of keys unlocking her heavy door filled the tiny cell of the asylum she had been placed in.
She almost didn't dare to hope that it was her parents who had changed their minds and come to take her home. They had looked at her like she was something dirty and vile when they realized that she sometimes knew things that would happen before they actually did. They refused to believe that she didn't control the visions, that she could do nothing to stop them. Only a few hours later the doctors came and brought her to her new home at the Biloxi Asylum. No tears, begging or cries could stop them. Only her sister looked at her with something resembling kindness and compassion, and even she stood quietly by as the asylum workers crudely cut her hair and hauled her off to her new home. Shivers went down her spine when she thought of the weeks that followed, the tests and "treatments"...After a while the doctors gave her up, and left her in her cell. During the months she had been locked in, her only solace had been looking out her window, watching the people in the streets, and the lighthouse she could barely make out on clear days.. Her only visitor the entire time had come just a few days ago in the form of a rather strange, yet oddly attractive man who had introduced himself as James. He never said why he had come, and during his brief stay seemed reluctant to come closer to her than her absolutely had to. The man had thoroughly confused and terrified her, and she hoped it was the last time she saw him.

As the door creaked open, she brushed the dirt of her dress, and ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair, trying in vain to make it look presentable. She had always prided herself on keeping her clothes spotless and still could not get used to the rags that were all she now had. One of the asylum workers, an old, gray haired man who was one of the few people there who had treated her decently, walked in, carrying a tray with a bowl of stew and a glass of milk. "Here you are, Miss Alice, your dinner."
As he placed the tray on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, she looked at him, and let her curiosity getting the better of her. "Why do you keep calling me that? Miss Alice? I don't mind, but why not Mary, or even Miss Brandon, if you do not wish to call me by my full name?" The man frowned, and then glanced at her, not quite meeting her eyes." It suits you better, I think. In my mind, you've always been an Alice, ever since the first time I met you."
As she ate, the old man paced around the room, glancing out the window from time to time, never quite standing still. If she didn't know better, Mary Alice would have thought he was anxious, or even scared. The gray haired man was one of the calmest people she had ever met. Even here, surrounded by the screaming of men and women who had long since lost their minds, nothing seemed to unsettle him. Scraping the last of the stew from the bowl, she placed it back on the tray. The man turned to her, and for the first time he met her eyes. They were bright red, and to her, filled with sadness. Before she could even think of screaming, he threw himself at her, pinning her to the ground. Suddenly, her throat felt like it was on fire, and as the flames and the pain took over her body, she heard the old man whispering next to her. "I'm so sorry, miss Alice. I...I would never have done this if I had another choice. I just could not let James have you. This was the only way I could save you. "As his voice faded away, Mary Alice knew nothing other than pain and the fire that consumed her very being.

She didn't know how long the pain lasted, only that it somehow faded, taking away the sound of her heartbeat with it. Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped. Everything was so clear and bright and sharp, like everything she had seen before had been cloudy and faded. Glancing around, she realized she was alone in a forest, hidden away in the trunk of a rotten and dead tree. She tried to remember who she was and how she got there, but all she remembered other than the name Alice, was darkness and pain. Her throat began acking, and she felt a thirst unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She got up and began walking, confused and scared. Then a scent filled her entire being, sweet and warm and metallic, and she ran, drawn towards the smell. The trees flew by, and a part of her thought that she should not have been able to move so fast, but in the end she didn't care. Just as she prepared to leap onto the source of the mind-numbing smell, a young girl picking mushrooms near a path in front of her, she froze. Her mind was filled with the vision of a young man with blonde hair, wearing a the uniform of a confederate soldier. His eyes kept changing color, from a clear blue to a violent, vaguely familiar bright red, and a golden brown. He was standing in the middle of a bar, and slowly ducking his head. She whispered a name she somehow knew belonged to him: Jasper. Happiness and a feeling of safety pulsated through her, and she smiled. She belonged with this man, and he with her. Forever. Another vision flashed through her mind. Five people, all pale and golden eyed, crouching over a dead deer. She closed her eyes, smelling the air while ignoring the delicious scent of the girl. She knew what she had to do. With a smile, she ran, the smell of a young doe guiding her. It would be enough to quench her thirst. Somehow she knew that the soldier with the changing eyes and the family they would one day find did not want her to feed on humans. It no longer mattered that she had no memory of who she had been, or how she had become what she now was. Her future was bright.

The End