Chapter 1 - Prologue

Dorothy and Alice



Prologue



Alice



The nightmares still come to me, even after ten years of being in this white hell house.



The memory of my burning parents haunts me every night. The doctors say they here me screaming at night, screaming for help, for my parents. You would to if you kept watching your parents burn to an early grave every night of your life.



Other images track across my mind.



Wonderland.



I can barely remember that place. I went there the day before the fire…



It was all because of that God-Forsaken place that I'm here at Rutledge Asylum.



Those idiots don't understand anything, yet the call themselves “professional doctors”. I know all their psychiatric nonsense like the back of my hand.



They said that I might cheer up if I had a roommate. I think they said her name was Dorothy and that she's coming from America. My parents use to tell me many stories about that place and how wonderful it was. It almost makes me wonder why she's coming here.



Dorothy



The pelting rain against the porthole awoke me again. This is the thirteenth time tonight it's done that. I don't know how on earth Toto can keep sleeping through all this noise.



The clock on the padded wall said it was 4:40 am. I should be arriving in England soon. From there, I'll be taken to the Rutledge Asylum since the doctors in America reckon I'm insane. What did I ever do to deserve this treatment!



Images of a place keep flashing across my mind.



The Land of Oz.



That stupid twister sent me there years ago. I'll never forget what happened afterwards.



It was suppose to be a clear, sunny day. The weather man didn't pick up any signs of cloud in the sky. Or what the clouds were going to form again.



Twisters are quite common in Kansas. There were normally ten in summer so we would always stock up the shelter just in case another one came unexpectedly. And one did.



None of us ever saw it coming. We were all inside, eating lunch, chatting away to each other. I was telling grandfather about my adventure in the Land of Oz, when suddenly, it hit us.



That's all I can remember.



The ship suddenly halted as it reached the shore. A long, loud whistle sounded as one of the on-board nurses came to get me. It was the same one I had all trip. Maryanna, unlike all the other nurses on this ghost ship, was a kind and caring lady and was the only one who ever listened to me.



Maryanna told me on the way out that I would have a roommate in Rutledge Asylum. Her name was Alice and she was going through something similar to me.



I guess Rutledge wasn't going to be so bad.

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