O u r " W o n d e r l a n d "

Ch 1: "we both went mad"

"MADDY MADDY! COME QUICK!" Ruby yells running to me.

"Ali, whats wrong?" I ask.

"Maddy t-they are trying to take me away. Please don't let them." Ruby sobs.

"Shh, Ali I would NEVER let them take you." I say hugging her. Holding her hand, we walk inside. I walk up to Ms. Red.

"Anywhere Ali goes I go." I state.

"I'm sorry dear, but this family only wants Ruby." She says in her sickly grandmother voice.

"I don't care. I am going with her." I say staring at her.

"I will talk to the family." Ms. Red replies.

"Come Ali. We don't need this. Let us go pack." I say to Ruby.

"Maddy, what if they won't let you go?" She asks as we reach our shared room.

Normally it's 4 to a room however the other kids are terrified of me after I stabbed a kid with a spoon for calling Ali names. Shes only 7, the poor thing. Abused at such a young age, from 3 to 5 her parents abused her, until someone found out the truth. At 6 she was here and met me. I've been here since I was 7. I'm 16 now. No one wants to adopt a 16 year old who insists her little sister comes with her. I have PTSD, anxiety, ADHD. I'm on a lot of medications so I don't wake Alice. I can't stand to see her hurt. I pack all of her pretty dresses in the one bag that we were given for when we leave. Alice's is a yellow drawstring bag with stickers on it. She sits on her bed, her sobs turning into snores. I cover her with a blanket. A light thin fleece blanket. One per person and if you loose it, you sleep cold. I give Alice mine too, because it keeps her warmer. I don't wish for her to get sick when she has a chance to leave this hellhole. Everyone sees this "orphanage" as a beautiful large home where every kid who's family can no longer support them live happily. Lies, those are all lies.

Most of us, if we are here for too long, Ms. Red sells us as prostitutes. Its an only girl orphanage, and when the state comes, well she fakes adoption papers, says they are happily living with a new family. If the states checks in on those families, oh shes in collage. Its always solved. No one ever knows. One time a sweet sweet girl named Kate tried to tell the state, showed them all the scars she received. Ms. Red said that she suffers from mental health issues and locked her in the basement for 3 months and she actually went insane. Poor Kate ended up committing suicide. I never had to deal with this. I pretended to be the sweet innocent girl who would do anything Ms. Red asks. Anything she asked I did, and I did it with a fake smile on my face. I made friend with every single girl who was here, they all loved me. And then I met Ruby.

She was scared, in need of a older sister who cared. Like others I became that, however this time, I clicked with her. Its like we were meant to be sisters. She fell in love with Alice in Wonderland just like I did. Alice was her favorite, but she could not pronounce my name properly, I did not correct her when she started calling me Maddy, the female version of the Mad Hatter. When Ms. Red tried to move her out of my room like she did all the others, I asked her very kindly to keep her. Ms. Red agreed if I still helped the other kids adjust. At first it worked. Everyone got along. And then the new girl came. Tabitha.

She was 7, like Ruby but she thought she was better. She had come from a very rich family, however her parents were killed and no one else wanted her. She started to tease Alice. Calling her ugly, fat, a troll. Saying she would die in this place. That no one would ever want a little freak like her. Alice never told me this was happening. One day I walked into our shared room and heard her saying this. I lost my temper, flash backs from my childhood when my brother would call me a freak. There was a spoon in our room, no one took it out from eating late night snacks. I snapped. Stabbed her five times in the arm.