From the Other Side

Somehow.

Apparently, the whole story was that Mum had a change of heart.

So now Adeline, Dad and I stand in the control room, frozen in sheer surprise as we watch the security footage.

MRS. ASHELY'S  P.O.V

I don't care how long I've been out. That was fun. Really fun. I'm gonna get stoned again. Wait, no, I need...I need...to....uh... what was it called? Ah, mmmm, puke. Yeah, that. Uh, what about here, on this nice, comfy bed, That would be good, make it more comfy, ahaha....

BLEARGHUH!

Ahhh, I feel a Tad better now....

Maybe I should see...nah....naw.... I'll just, ah, call that nursery lady....change the sheets, getting stoned on dirty sheets is dirty, aahahaha...

The button is just there, I can't reach it, maybe I'll just yell out.... yeah, excersise my voice, mmmmmm.... how do you do that again....uh...... I'd better hurry up, I'm wearing off, not so drunk, ah,......

Alison walks into my mind. Oh no. Not Alison! I think I'm yelling, yeah, aha, there's my voice, what did that guy tell me, ah, mmmm, that I had a nice voice, then he gave me this sparkly thing,  hey it's on my finger, I don't like it, aha, no, no, I need to get stoned before I remember, uh, ....

"HEY LADY NURSEY.... COME 'N ' CHANGE THESE WHITE THINGS, UH, LIKE NOW...." I holler.

Lady Nursery comes in and helps me off my bed, you know, the comfy thing....

She changes the sheets and replaces all the drugs and alcohol on the table with a new ones, yay,.... mmmmmm...

Lady Nursery puts me in the bed and tucks me in, and puts something soft and fluffy and warm on my face, ah, that's good....

She leaves, that's good, I have to take my medicine and drink in peace, HA, medicine, good one, ha......

I down everything and fall asleep, only to be waken up by these fantastic visions from the pretty medicine, aha....

Hey.

Why is, Alison in my visions?

No, get out, it's mine.

No, no, NO the MEMORIES ARE BACK OH NO! I NEED TO TALK TO ALISON!

By some miracle I'm out of bed and running to Alison's Campus, sober as ever.

Hopefully she's still there.

I bang through the glass doors, shatter a window.

Red roses crash through the door, and flood the room. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" I scream in sheer terror. They rise to neck level, drowning me in sickly sweet stench. I'm choking, drowning, floundering, running, swimming, dying.....

Then I wake up on the marble floor, a dish of rose water swaying precariously on a table......broken halfway. Oh. Oops.

I get up and stumble on.

Room 1 bangs open and the glass door shatters, and a delicious scent wafts out. Cinnamon. Alison.

Wait, no, I can't see, I think I have rose water in my eyes....maybe I did knock that dish over. Over. Under.

A memory of a little girl. Not much older than two. She's dressed in baby blue, her feathery blonde hair trailing behind her, running in a bright pink playground. She races around. Over the bridge, circles around, under the bridge. Over. Under.

Over.

Under.

Over.

Under.

It's all over.

Alison isn't here. She never was.

I draggle around her bedroom. The mirror breaks. Various bottles of cream knock over and shatter. Oops.

Somehow the glass door breaks.

Somehow the skinny table holding tea and cakes break.

Somehow it all went wrong.

Somehow Alison went wrong.

Somehow it's not Alison.

Somehow it's me.

It's me.

It's my fault.

And an overwhelming pain that I have never felt before creeps up on me. Fire licks my head and fuzziness distorts my vision.

And the world goes away.

Hopefully forever.