Behind Sanity

Chapter Six

                                                                     Behind Sanity 

                                                                       Chapter Six 

                                                                                1 

                Alice rose the next morning with every intention of taking herself back to the hospital.  She had been lying awake in the early creeping hours of the morning, considering everything.  Herself, her family, her forgotten past – everything.   Though she had stubbornly promised herself she would not be going back to visit Rutledge’s, this new doctor said he had been studying her case, so if anyone had answers for her, it would be him. 

                 She was a bit shaky as she dressed herself and prepared to leave the house, but as the hours passed, she managed to calm somewhat.  There was no reason to approach the doctor without an air of self-control.  One false move and she would be referred back to the asylum.

               What was the doctor’s name again?  Something with an R… Oh yes.  Robertson.  John or James or something like that.  He was certainly a piece of work, wasn’t he?  At least, he seemed to think so.  Young doctors always did, she’d learned.

                She thought it was interesting how he’d thought he could fool her when they’d first met, but at least he had recognized her intelligence, unlike so many others who had continued along with their tricks long after she had caught them in the act.  Then they had the audacity to believe that she was still ignorant!  She would give Robertson that much.  She supposed he even deserved a second chance.  At least that’s what her mind had convinced itself.  She needed someone to help her, and he was, unfortunately, the best and only candidate. 

                Everyone stared at her as she walked into the hospital.  Her long dress of burgundy stood away from the lighter scenery of the hallways.  Her hair fell over her shoulders, pulled back only halfway, and swayed with her relaxed movement.  This room was for the families of the sick.  They would come and meet with the doctors there – where they would get the bad news that their loved one would never come home again.  Sad.  Alice imagined that Wendy herself had sat here once.  Alice vowed not to put her here again.

                 She walked to the front desk and startled the busy nurse with her abrupt appearance and speech.

                “I’d like to see Dr. Robertson,” she said.  “I’m a patient of his.”

                The nurse looked up at her and stared wide-eyed for a few moments, her fingers losing grip on some papers in her hand.

                 “Oh!” she said as she scrambled to get them back together.

                 Alice smiled laughingly at the clumsy nurse, but her amusement only lasted a short time.  Where were her manners?  There was no time for this.  She had bigger problems.    

                 “What is your name, miss?” the nurse asked after she had finally gotten situated at her desk.  “Do you have an appointment?”

                 “My name is Alice Liddell, and no, I don’t have an appointment.  It’s just important that I see the doctor.”  Then she added:  “I may be a very sick girl.”