Title: Her Untold Story

Chapter: Nine

Alice's eyes fluttered open. The floor beneath her cheek felt soft. She blinked a few times, and scanned the room. She moved her hands, and found that she couldn't use them to aid her in sitting up. Alice rolled to her back, and pulled herself up with her stomach muscles. She looked down to her torso and saw that she was wearing the straight-jacket.

"Why am I wearing this?" she enquired aloud.

She turned her head towards the door, but the fast movement made her realise a throbbing pain at the side of her head. Alice inhaled sharply as she attempted to rub her head, though the jacket had stopped her from doing so. She looked around the room, and a singular light shone. She noticed that the room was completely empty, except for her presence. Everything was cushioned. The floors, the walls. Apart from the steel door.

Alice shimmied towards the door, and kicked it with her bare foot. The sound of the echoing steel rang in her ears, and she shut her eyes in pain. Later, she tried to shout.

"E-excuse me!"

No answer.

"Is anyone out there?"

It sounded too quiet.

"Please?"

No one answered.

Alice rested her back against the door, and stared at the wall opposite, dazed. She couldn't understand where she was, and why she was there. After what felt like half an hour, Alice turned her head to press her ear to the cool metal of the steel door. For the first five minutes, she didn't hear anything, but then she could hear footsteps. Her heart raced and she screamed again.

"Excuse me! Please! I need your help!"

The footsteps stopped. Alice bit her lip in anticipation. The footsteps sounded again, and this time they sounded like they were getting closer. Alice shifted so that she was on her knees yet still had her face pressed to the door. The door shook, and clanged as the top made a rectangular ray of light pour into the dim room. Alice scrambled to her feet, the nurse saw two eyes staring back at her from the bottom of the rectangular peep-hole.

"Can I please get out of here?"

The nurse looked surprised with the girl's politeness, and hesitated before she shut the peep-hole. Alice's brows furrowed at the way she was just ignored, and she fell to the floor again. Although about a minute later, the jingling of keys sounded outside her door, and soon the door slid open to reveal a very handsome doctor and the nurse she had seen previously.

"Can I please get out of here? And... this thing?" Alice looked down to her torso, "I can hardly move."

The charming young-looking doctor raised his eyebrows questioningly at the girl, as she stood there completely calm, and extremely polite.

"Are you ok, Alice?" the doctor asked very obviously concerned.

The girl ignored his question, and looked up to his face, expectantly, waiting for him to free her of the jacket.

"I asked you a question, Alice," he said a bit firmer.
"Is that my name? Alice?" the girl looked at him unsure.
"What?" the doctor breathed.

Realisation hit him... That night she ran forwards, and he distinctively remembered that he heard a loud thump against the door after he had slid it shut. Dr. Richards scanned her face, and could see heavy bruising at the right side of her head. He dismissed the nurse, and flicked on a light from outside the room (the room was now very brightly lit), and he stepped into the room closing the door behind him.

Dr. Richards was ready to study the girl, the only question in his mind, is amnesia affecting her condition?

"Did you dream of anything before you woke up?" he asked.
The girl looked at him with soft eyes, "can I please get out of this?" she shrugged to indicate the jacket.
The doctor hesitated, "yes, come here."

He undid the jacket and tossed it to the side of the room. Alice took a seat on the floor, and so did the doctor. She was now looking around the room with renewed interest, now that the room was fully lit.

"Did you dream of anything before you woke up?" he tried again.
After looking at the ceiling she rested her gaze on him, "I can't remember... why?"

Of course, he mentally kicked himself, it's either because of the amnesia, or because she was knocked out before she woke up.

"Did you feel any... weird vibes from this room when you woke up?"
Alice stared at him for a while, taking in the question, "well... now that you mention it... I feel weird being in here. Erm... can we go somewhere else?"
"Yes, sure."

Later that night, Alice was taken back to her room by Dr. Richards. She was given clear instructions for the use of her journal, that if she were ever to wake up at night, that she'd record the date, the time, and a few words to describe the dreams.

April 27th 1916

Everyone in the asylum was outside in the garden enjoying the springtime weather. Dr. Richards on the other hand was inside Alice's room, studying her journal again. The recent pages had only up to three words scribbled onto them.

19 dark screaming

Dr. Richards frowned, the frown was so perfect it hadn't caused any wrinkles to appear on his face. The writing was neat, and clean, and the words were on the minimal. The doctor flicked back all the way to the first page, and he saw how similar it was. The same three words, the same neat handwriting.

Has the amnesia restarted the way she studies the dreams? he thought to himself, very interested in the discovery. Her behaviour has also calmed down... I wonder... will she go through the steady mental breakdown again? His eyebrows lifted, now very interested in this package of new information.

"Very interesting... very, very interesting..." he muttered to himself.

Author's Note:Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the delay of this chapter. I'm afraid I don't have good news for the people who actually read this. Erm... So. The reason I've delayed posting this chapter is because I've been busy packing. I'm off to university in another country so packing and getting some legal takes a lot of time. The bad news is that I won't be able to update this story for a while because I'm going on holiday for 2 months (going back to my home country) and we don't have internet at our apartment! We MIGHT get it, so I MIGHT update, but don't get your hopes up. I'm just warning you.

And thanks to the reviewers, and thanks to all the people that added this story to their Favourites! Much appreciated! :D