“Patient number zero-zero-four-two. Caucasian female. Aged nineteen. Suffering from delusions, hallucinations, and bouts of hysteria. Dangerous. Biter.” A middle-aged man, Dr. Stevens, reads from the file in his hands, his voice monotone. He does not seem particularly happy to be there on a Saturday evening, dealing with the situation. A young doctor stands behind him, listening, learning. He’s green, his first assignment to the asylum an honor, he assumes.

“Hatter, White, Cheshire, Alex, Alex, Alex,” the woman mutters, repeating the names over and over again.

“What is it that she’s saying?” The young doctor moves closer in an attempt to make out the words.

Dr. Stevens sighs, grabbing the young one before he can get too close. “Dr. Morgan, please refrain from getting too close.”

“But she’s strapped down, Dr. Stevens. What harm could she do?”

Stevens removes his glasses and rubs the bridge between his eyes.

“There’s a reason there was an opening here, boy. She’s marked dangerous.”

“Hatter, White, Cheshire, Alex, Alex, Alex.” The woman’s voice grows louder, transforming into a growl. She begins to thrash in her restraints, yanking, bruising.

“Should we call someone?” Morgan asks hesitantly.

“We need to administer a sedative. Go grab the nurse.”

The young doctor rushes from the room, leaving the woman alone with Stevens. He sets the file down on an examination table and moves forward, towards the thrashing woman.

“Patient zero-zero-four-two. I am advising you to calm down, or else I will be forced to sedate you for your own safety.” He shows no fear as he steps up beside her. She fights harder against her restraints the closer he comes. “Patient zero-zero-four-two, calm down.”

“Hatter! White! Cheshire! Alex!” The woman screams at the top of her lungs, her voice piercing the doctor’s eardrums. He cringes at the sound but doesn’t step away.

“Alice!” he shouts. “Alice, you must calm down!”

He reaches up and touches her leg, where the gown has ridden up. She stops moving immediately. Alice focuses glazed eyes on the man above her, his fingers trailing a line of disgust along her thigh, searching, defiling, destroying.

“That a girl,” Stevens murmurs, his hand moving higher.

Tears spill from the corners of Alice’s eyes, and she turns her head away towards the other side of the room, where a man stands, wearing a green waistcoat, rabbit ears on his head. Her blue eyes lock onto his as he studies her, taking in her frail limbs, her shaved head, the scars on her skull.

“White,” she whispers, more tears falling. “Help me, White.”

Stevens follows her gaze, but upon seeing no one there, returns his attention to the helpless woman before him.

“You can talk to your ghosts all you want,” he whispers. “Focus on your white rabbit.”

Alice sobs, her fingers spreading, reaching towards a motionless White, poised in the corner. He curls his lip at the doctor, itching to step forward and punish him, but that isn’t why he’s here.

“Please,” she sobs. “Please, take me back.”

White’s eyes take in the doctor, the sterile padded room, the sounds of the other patients screaming and moaning out in the hallways. The Oxford Asylum is not known for its kind staff. There are many rumors circulating the institution, claims of malpractice and cruelty. But people do not like to hear about such things, and so, nothing is done. After all, lunatics are not important–the reason they’re thrown away in the first place.

“I can’t do that,” White whispers. “I can’t take you back, Alice.”

“Please?” Her voice grows louder. “I’m begging you.”

White blinks rapidly in an attempt to stall the rising moisture in his eyes.

Dr. Morgan steps back into the room, a nurse carrying a syringe beside him. Neither of them comment on Stevens’ hasty movement as he jerks his hand from beneath Alice’s gown. The young doctor clears his throat and takes up position, the nurse preparing the sedative.

“White!” Alice screams, her voice hysterical. “Help me! You promised! You promised I was a part of Wonderland!”

“I was wrong. You must not return, Alice.”

The doctors move around her, prepping as she begins to thrash against her restraints again.

“You promised! You promised! You promised!” She lets out an ear-piercing shriek, making the others cover their ears at the sound.

“I’m so sorry,” White chokes out, turning towards the door.

“Hatter! White! Cheshire! Alex! Alex! Alex! You promised!” Alice’s screams grow louder as the doctors move in, preparing to sedate her. In her hysteria, Alice jerks hard at the restraints, her strength unnatural for such a small woman. The leather strap rips free, and her arm immediately reaches up and grabs Stevens around the throat. “Off with their heads! Off with their heads! Off with their heads!”

Dr. Morgan and the nurse attempt to pull her arm away. They scream for help from the other orderlies, shouting down the hall a code red. The other strap breaks, and Alice wraps a second hand around his throat. His face begins to turn red, quickly transforming to purple, as she chokes off his air supply.

“Stop her! Someone get the sedative!”

Stevens claws at her hands, cutting grooves in her flesh with his nails. Blood drips from the wounds, but Alice doesn’t feel a thing. Her eyes are locked on White at the doorway, his sad eyes taking in the scene before him.

“You promised!” she snarls. “You promised!”

The nurse jabs a needle into Alice’s arm and squeezes the plunger down, injecting the sedative into her bloodstream. Stevens is no longer fighting, his body limp as she squeezes the life from him. His lips are blue. Her eyes spit fire at the man with rabbit ears, watching.

“Get the doctor away from her!” one of the orderlies shouts, coming forward to help.

The sedative begins to take effect, and her fingers loosen, the doctor’s body sliding to the floor as her limbs grow weak.

“You promised,” she groans as the doctors push her down again. “You said I would always be a part of Wonderland.”

White’s ears droop as he watches the events unfold, watches the doctor try to resuscitate the man on the floor. Nothing works. His life is snuffed out by a savage little Alice. White knows what he has to do, knows that he has no choice, knows that he will carry this secret in his heart until the moment Wonderland dies. Promises are never meant to be broken. Lies are not meant to be spoken. But a single lie can destroy a thousand truths, and set events in motion that should never be moved.

“I’m sorry, Alice,” White whispers. “But you are not a part of Wonderland, and I cannot help you.”

Alice’s eyes flutter as her body gives in to the powerful drugs in her system. She fights to remain awake, but she’s losing the battle.

“Then off with your heads,” she forces out.

“I’m sorry,” White repeats, turning to leave the room and the little girl, now young woman, who is prophesied to destroy Wonderland. As he turns away from the scene behind him, from the doctors discussing further electroshock treatments, he hears Alice’s mumbling, her voice growing weaker by the second.

“Hatter . . . White . . . Cheshire . . . Alex . . . Alex . . . Al . . .”