Maniac Mansion | AOD AU

B6|| prologue

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The incessant beeping of an odd machine was the first thing the small girl heard as the world came back into focus around her.

She had no idea what it was— all she did know was that it was beeping in a steady, regular rhythm, one that felt oddly soothing to listen to. It lulled her back into the world of the living, slow and steady, gentle as a lover's kiss.

Beep... beep... beep...

It wasn't long before the child's eyes began to open, though she shut them again almost immediately. There were two bright fluorescent lights shining directly above her head, and after having her eyes closed for so long, they hurt to look at.

But that was... odd. She didn't remember having such bright lights in her room...

...Come to think of it, she definitely didn't recall having any kind of machine in her room either.

The child hastily pushed herself up into a sitting position, white blankets flying off of her body as she did so. The beeping noises sped up as she felt her heart begin to pound faster.

Fear... that definitely wasn't a feeling she'd missed.

As her eyes fluttered open, the first thing they were drawn to was a large needle embedded in the inside of her elbow. It was connected to a tube snaking down from a bag of blood suspended on a metal rack nearby. Something else was clamped around her finger, connected by a thick black cord to a monitor of some sort. The screen was blank except for green wavelengths that spiked in time with the beat of the child's heart, which was a little too fast for her liking now.

So that was where she was. A hospital.

But... why? She couldn't recall getting sick or injured badly enough to be taken to one. Even looking down at herself, she didn't seem to be hurt anywhere.

There has to be some reason, she told herself, trying to fight back panic. Maybe if I start off from what I do remember. Yeah, that'll work...

Her anxiety began to fade a little as she closed her eyes, taking a few calming breaths before she started to rummage around in her brain for any information she could grasp.

My name is Alice Bronwynn... I'm twelve years old. I live with my mom and my hamsters, and... and...

She paused, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to concentrate.

And I... I came to this hospital because...

Nothing. It was as if her mind was refusing to allow her access to the memory of why she'd ended up here, and that was starting to scare her. Was she sick? She didn't remember feeling sick. Had she fainted somewhere? Gotten lost and trampled in a crowd? Was she supposed to have some kind of surgery?

That idea really scared her. What if she'd just woken up after having an operation preformed on her brain? Had the doctors cut something out that took part of her memory away? Did she have some kind of deadly disease after all?

M-My... my name is Alice Bronwynn, the girl thought again, desperate to anchor herself in something solid, something she knew was true. M-My name... is...

Her small fists curled around the sheets that still remained on the bed. As the muscles in her wrists tensed, a bolt of white-hot pain shot up through her arms, and she immediately loosened her grip with a cry of alarm. What the hell was going on? Why would such a simple action cause her so much pain?

Alice... I live with my mother, and... and I...

Trembling, Alice raised her arms and turned them out with her palms facing her. Two dark red welts were carved into the skin where her hand ended and her wrists began, the wounds so deep that someone had apparently felt the need to stitch them closed.

...Yes, she remembered now.

My name is Alice, and I came to this hospital because I wanted to die.