Behind Sanity

Chapter Four

                                                                        Behind Sanity 

                                                                         Chapter Four 

                                                                                    1 

                Alice stepped into the cold base of the tub and lowered herself down into the water, putting her back to the rest of the room behind her.  The porcelain was heated slowly by the steaming liquid, but the surface was still cold as she placed her bare back to it and closed her eyes.  Her skin rose in goose bumps from the contrast, but she made no sound of complaint.  She let the warmth wash over her, hoping it would cleanse her of the day’s events. 

                 One can hope.

                What had happened to bring on such unfortunate circumstances?  A week out of the asylum and without warning a doctor was interrogating her about what she used to be?  She was no longer sick.  She no longer saw those things she used to see – whatever they had been.

               Her doctor – her real doctor, Elliot – had convinced her that Wonderland was all in her head, and so she had disposed of it, and she had not thought about it in several months.  She was sane!  No one had even brought such subjects up to her in a long time!  Suddenly, now, everything had been readdressed.  Alice could remember nothing!  What was the whole point of her being sane if she was going to be questioned again and again?  She had forgotten everything.  She remembered no events in ‘Wonderland’, and she remembered no one there.  What was so significant about the smiling cat or the rabbit in the ink blots?  What about her stuffed rabbit?  Was there something significant about it as well?  All of these questions with no answers rushed through her troubled mind, but eventually the girl had to resign herself to give up on the matter.  She had too many queries and nothing to satisfy them.  Sighing lightly, she resolved to just enjoy the water as it settled around her body – until she heard the noise.

                A sudden crash on the tile beyond the tub shook her, and she looked up just in time to see a fairly large shadow dart out the slightly open door.  Only a potted plant on the sink had been knocked over, smashing its clay pot, but what had been on the sink to do this?  What had moved so fast?

                She rose up and pulled her dressing gown down from a shelf, wrapping it around her wet skin.  She stepped out of the tub and moved forward to peer through the doorway and out into the hall.  At the risk of calling herself crazy, she could have sworn she had latched the door, which was clearly open now.  But the fact could not be helped.  She looked down both sides of the dim corridor, seeing nothing that might have just left the room.  Perhaps she hadn’t closed the door like she’d thought and Dinah had found her way inside.  When the kitten had knocked over the pot, it may have startled her so that she darted away.  Yes, that was reasonable.

                She returned to her bath without another thought to it, nearly falling asleep before she’d pulled herself back up from the cooling water.  Alice put on her robe once again and wrung out her hair.  It was time to sleep now.  Sleeping would help her forget this wretched day.

                Letting out a yawn, the young woman walked through the door to move back to her peaceful room.  She was quite tired by now, and the mattress would be a soft comfort.  Not paying attention as she should have, she bumped into something large and dark on the other side of the door and a gasp escaped her lips.  She jerked back, clutching her robe together instinctually before peering up to see what she’d so clumsily run into.