My Name Is Alice

Chapter 1

"Alice," someone whispers in my ear. A nagging voice that I've learned to tune out on a usual basis. "Alice, get up." The voice says, louder than a hiss.

"What is it?" I pop open my eyes to be met with a dull figure of my lovely, young friend. 

The young man, who died just as a child and one of the first to befriend me. His sandy blonde hair is cut back but curls still flop around his head. "Samuel has returned from Maivis." 

I shoot up from the twigs and bushes I usually sleep on when my brother is away. How long have I been in slumber? I rub my eyes and look around at the vivid vegetation. Flowers have bloomed in a variety of colors, along with that I can hear animals in the distance. "How long?" I whisper, knowing the young boy whom I call Boo, will hear. 

"Only thirty-three days. But you look fantastic, Alice!" He beams, giving me a smile that would melt any mother's heart. He grabs my hand; though I only feel pressures, I allow myself to get up and be led through my small shelter. 

It's a twenty three minute walk to where Samuel is usually but I have not to complain for. The walk itself isn't tiring since I know that path ways quite well, and the point of view is eniticing. Monkeys, racoons, a small deer, along with many other animals scurry through our route. A blue and silver bird sings its verse with the rhythm and Boo and I's feet. 

When we arrive at the waters edge, I look out toward the trees on the other side. Waves overlap one another as if racing forward, towards the ocean miles down the stream. Boo is already across the river when I look and I immediately go after. Pushing my way through the strong current; my bare skin already fighting the numbness from the chilling cold.

Across, we are already moving through the thick stitched trees when little girls, boys, along with adolescents run through the trees. A game they have played a many are being carried out once more. They smile at me when they pass and one boy stops to kiss my cheek before sprinting off. 

The sky-high tall trees abruptly open up and a white, elder mansion sits. Its foundation sinking though the pillars are still in tact and they are beautiful as ever, the rest of the cement has lost its comely feel. 

"Samuel?" I ask, entering through a broken window. The walls are winded and rotted from being made of wood, the scent all around is stale and old. However, the atmosphere is peaceful. 

I find my older brother with his hands tying back his long hair. His eyes are focused yet distant at the same time for he is dead as well. He died at the age twenty-seven from being shot in the back of the head. Maivis has given him long hair to hide it as she usually gives the children dead from cancer, hair and healthy-looking skin. 

Maivis is the dead's mother. She's an angel and gives children and people who still have loved ones on earth a choice: to go to heaven or to stay on earth for a look out of their loved ones. We speak to her when she is needed. And Samuel is her messenger as well as I. 

"Samuel, what is the news?" I ask, timidly, as I step around a grand piano. "Is it dreadful?" 

His green eyes rest on my face, taking it in for a while before he replies. His voice is low; "Tis not. The report is that tonight it is your three-hundred, sixty-eighth birth day." 

Taken aback, I sit on olden stool staring into the abyss. Almost four-hundred years old? A meloncholy sensation seeps through my muscles and suddenly, I'm exhausted. Death is and has never been an option for me because I am psychic. My eyes drop to the floor and a tear escapes me, rolls down my cheekbone, and drops to the floor. 

Almost immediately, every spirit is in front of me. Since they're dead, they can feel the emotion of every living human. And since I am the only one for miles, they can feel what I have sensations instantly. 

"Are you alright, Alice Cecilia?" The boy who kissed me earlier asked, his tone is concerned. This is Bailey, he died at age 16 in this orphanage which he still lives in, among the seven other children who stayed here- from a disease. He's completely beautiful as a kindred or spirit. 

I nod though the feelings are overwhelming. "I am almost four centuries old. How can it be? Have I lived for so long without another live being around?" 

Samuel goes to grab my hand but the grief takes over and I pull back. "What year is it?" 

This is the question that none of them know the answer to. Maivis will not speak of it, nor will she answer my questions of the outside world. I've taken this as a sign to stay where I am. I know that if I shall leave, Samuel, along with others who have grown to care for me will come along but the others? Where will they go? Maivis will need to choose between guiding them or helping me. 

Everyone knows who she will choose. But I wouldn't let those children just be separated. Most have been here since the opening of this orphanage in 1853. 

I sigh. "I am alright." I speak slowly and thoroughly. Being in mourning for my own immortality will do nothing for me. Every other psychic who has lived longer than I, knows my position. But would it make a difference to meet any of them? Would I be over this depression? The answer is no. 

"The good news; would you like to hear it?" Samuel's voice fades into my thoughts, breaking them up, and bringing me back to reality. 

"Tell the rest;" I say. "I would like to meditate." And so I get up and leave the elder mansion.