Alice shivered;her cell was cold. She greatly regretted not going through with the suicide now. She had decided against it at the last minute, but as she was covering the gashes in her wrists, her mother walked in and freaked. But none the less, here she was, and thats how it was going to be… for a while. But tomorrow was something to look foward to. She got to move from the max security ward to the regular ward, where she got to see other people, and use the bathroom when she had to, and not worry about changing clothes in front of a camera…

But until then, she would just go to sleep… if only she could, though.

The next day, Alice woke up to the normal banging on the metal door of her padded cell. “Medicine time,” the fat, old woman grunted through a crack in the door. Alice got up and walked to the side of the cell opposite to the door, as was routine. The woman walked in and set her tray of food, water, and pills on the floor in the middle of the room. As Alice walked toward her food, the woman said,”You get to move to the other ward today, huh?”

“Why, yes. Yes I do,” Alice replied almost too happily. “Ha!” was all the old woman cackled, and then turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Later that day, the doctor, accompanied by his nurse bodygaurds, came to give her her new clothes and take her to her new, more comfortable room. On her way, they stuck her with “the needle” to “calm” her. When she finally woke up, Alice was in a nice, warm bed; with blankets, and pillows. There was sunlight coming in through a window, and to her left was a door, probally to the bathroom. She looked down, and mused over the clothes she was wearing. A blue skirt; white shirt, tucked and buttoned up the front; white socks, and black fuzzy slippers. She moved towards the bathroom, and peeked inside. Then she saw what she hadn’t seen in ages; her reflection.

Her blonde hair was knotted, frizzy, and everywhere other than where it should have been. Her skin had paled, and her blue eyes had gone lifeless. She looked almost dead. Sighing, she moved closer to the mirror.

Inspecting herself, Alice could have sworn she saw a face that wasn’t her’s smiling from behind the mirror at her. She stepped back, worried that maybe she did belong in the asylum. She blinked hard, and braced herself, looking back into the mirror. Nothing but her reflection looked back at her. Sighing with relief, Alice touched the cool surface of the mirror, but instead of being smooth, it felt like a thick liquid. She gasped. Why, her hand went right through it! Looking out the bathroom door into her room, and then back at the strange, rippling mirror, Alice started to wonder. “What would happen if…”