Never Say Alice

Chapter 1

My story started when I was a twelve. The drab, not very stylish cabin we lived in burned down. They blamed me. They thought I was some sort of weird psychic kid, others thought I was mad, and needed therapy-but they were wrong. They were so wrong.

I never speak about Alice. I never tell anyone about her. It was forbidden. Hers was a name that never graced my lips.

I tried very much not to listen to the poison-The whispers that seeped through the walls. They were terrible things that would chill your bones and make grown men weep. I wasn’t a grown man. I was a boy. I wasn’t a brave boy. I was petrified, and remained so for as long as I could remember.

“John, don’t hide from me. I know you can hear me.” The faint whispers often said.

I would curl up in a ball under my bed and slap my ears shut with my quaking hands. I did not want to be haunted by whatever she was. She sounded human. She sounded calming, but I knew otherwise. I knew when there was a voice-there was usually a person behind that voice. But this was different. I had never seen the source of this voice. All there was-was blankness and dark corners.

I remember that black Friday very well. My foster mom molly rushed into the room. She had been awoken by my screams. She dug her hands under the bed and yanked me out by my feet.

“Do not touch me! Leave me alone!” I screamed loudly, as I kicked at the hands that were tangled round my ankle.

“Ouch!"
"What was that for?" Molly screamed back at me.

Her eyes almost let out a tear drop, as she shook me like a tree, glaring into my unsteady eyes. I was looking around me. I was looking everywhere else, but at her.

“You are a sweaty mess again, John. I have told you a million times-there are no monsters in this house. I am here. Focus on me,” Molly’s voice boomed in my ears.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your hand. I thought you were someone else.” I sobbed, sniffling inconsolably.

Molly drew me closer into a warm embrace. Her hands patted my back in a reassuring way. Her emotional overture calmed my nerves. I wasn’t quivering anymore. I looked at the half shut window behind Molly. I watched the curtains being sucked our of the window by the swaying winds. There was calm in the room. I was almost certain that Alice had excused herself from the room. But then she could be lurking somewhere close by, waiting in silence for me to be on my own again.

“Bunny will keep you safe. He fights off the bad guys, remember.” Molly smiled, squeezing a cuddly soft toy into my arms.

Bunny was my favourite superhero character. I totally idolized that bad guy stumping rabbit. My stuffed bunny toy had a battery inside it. The toy bleeped the words-Bad guys get kicks-whenever it got a squeeze. Boy, did I squeeze the hell out of that Bunny when she handed it to me.

Molly’s eyes fixated on the alarm clock on the side-cabinet next to my bed. Her eyes widened in amazement. It was 3 A.M. in the morning. The yawns soon came rippling through her parted lips. Then her hands were raised in the air. I knew she was about to leave the room.

“Don’t go yet! Stay a while longer!” I clutched unto Molly’s hand.

“Okay John. Just this once.” Molly poked me in the belly, playfully.

She pulled herself away from the bed. The winds from the open window tossed her hair backwards, thrashing it about in her face. Her hands jostled over her face, pulling her ginger hair out of the way.

“What is that doing open?”
“I could have sworn I closed that before you went to bed,” Molly murmured, as her hands fiddled with the latch on the window.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended as if I could not hear her. I didn’t want to say anything about my imaginary friend to her anymore. I did not want to mention the words “Alice” to her. I liked Molly. She was kind to me. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.

The lights went off and Molly squeezed into the base of my bed. She laid at my feet and fell asleep there. I could hear the snores rushing through her gaping mouth. I pressed the pillows over my head and gradually managed to fall asleep.