They still whisper about me. Most of them don't even bother to lower their voice when I'm nearby. You would think that after eight years they would find something else to talk about. Although, I suppose when you're locked up in a mental hospital with no real connection to the outside world, there isn't much else to talk about. Most of the other patients are so drugged up or have been through one too many electric shock therapy sessions and can scarcely remember their own name; but they remember my story.

I can't blame them, I guess; the story is quite unusual. A ten-year-old girl follows a white rabbit in a waistcoat down a hole and into a whole other world. There she meets all sorts of creatures including a hooka-smoking caterpillar, talking flowers, a tea drinking hare and, of course, the Mad Hatter. At first when I told my family, they wrote it off as just a dream. It wasn't until I told them the Queen of Hearts wanted to cut off my head that they started to question things. I had night terrors and woke up in the middle of the night screaming as the Queen's words haunted me: Off with her head! When my parents realized that I was genuinely terrified, they thought something was wrong with me. They never once considered that maybe everything was real and the Queen really did want to kill me. No, instead they wrote me off as being "sick" and sent me to the Tremaine Mental Hospital.

I'm eighteen-years-old now and I haven't seen my family since then. Not that I want to. Who wants to have any connection with people who abandon their ten-year-old daughter in a mental hospital?

The head of the facility, Lady Tremaine, says if I behave I can check myself out when I'm twenty-one. I don't believe her. Everyone here does what they're supposed to in hopes of being released, but no one ever leaves. I've accepted the fact that I may spend the rest of my life here. At least the Queen of Hearts can't get me in here. I still have nightmares about her every night and they only thing that keeps me from actually going insane is knowing she's in Wonderland and not in this world.

"All right, everyone!" Lady Tremaine called out as she came into the rec room. "It's time for light's out."

We all stopped our activities and followed Lady Tremaine down the hallway to our rooms. We stopped at each room so Lady Tremain could lock the door behind us.

I stepped into my room. "Good night, Lady Tremaine."

"Good night, dear." Lady Tremaine closed the heavy door and I heard a click as she locked it.

My room was like every other room; bare and cold. A small bed was against one wall. It had a metal frame that I often cut myself on, white sheets spotted with blood from my cuts and an itchy wool blanket. On the far wall was a small barred window. I owned nothing; not even clothes. I wore the same thing every day; a torn, black frock of a dress that was too big and had to be held up by a belt. I had no shoes or socks; just a pair of ripped tights. All of the girls Tremaine's wore the same thing; though, some of the girls opted not to wear the tights.

I lied down on my bed and watched the shadows cast from the moonlight coming from outside my window. They seemed to move and I watched as they glided across the floor to the door. I knew the shadows weren't actually moving, but they still made me uneasy. I pulled the blanket up over my shoulders and faced the wall.

I'm not sure how much time had passed when I heard my door unlock. Maybe an hour or two; though it was difficult to say exactly since there was no clock in my room. The door slowly opened and I assumed it was a ward coming to check on me and make sure I was still in my room.

A hand touched my shoulder. "Are you Alice?"

I rolled over and was startled to see a young woman, maybe only a couple years older than me, standing above me. She wasn't one of the wards- in fact she almost looked like a patient; except for her clothes. She was wearing a black, torn top much like the rest of us. But, she was also wearing skin tight black pants and black high-heeled boots. Her thick black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, so I could get a good look at her face. What startled me the most was the tattoo of a spade over her right eye.

"Are you Alice?" She asked again.

"Y-yes."

The girl smiled. "I'm so glad I finally found you."

"Who are you?"

The girl shook her head. "My name is Jasmine, but I don't have time to explain anything right now. You have to come with me...now."

I sat up. "No. I'll be punished if I leave my room after light's out."

"They won't catch us." She held out her hand. "Trust me."

"I don't even know who you are."

Jasmine crouched down beside the bed so she was eye level with me. I couldn't help staring at her tattoo. "I'm here to help you, Alice. It's not safe for you to stay here. If I can find you, so can-"

She stopped short when she heard footsteps in the hallway. She carefully closed the door, then stood in the corner. A ward walked passed, only briefly looking in the small window on the door to check on me. After few moments, Jasmine looked out the window to make sure no one else was nearby, then turned back to me.

"We have to go now. You can come willingly or I can drag you out of here; the choice is yours."