Behind Sanity

Chapter Five

                                                                    Behind Sanity

                                                                     Chapter Five

                                                                               1

                 Alice made it through the next day decently, even after so many unpleasant incidents.  She would have to agree with Wendy when she commented that Alice looked more tired than usual, but she was still able to carry on in good spirits and smile when Wendy looked at her, and laugh when she skipped home with Morgan that afternoon.

                 She did not, however, forget about the night before.

                 Her finger was sore from the cut of the broken bottle.  It smarted as she thought about what she had seen written on that bottle of juice, insisting to herself that it must have been a groggy mistake.  She must have been dreaming or something of that sort, because there was no way she had seen the words DRINK ME on that label.  Yes, it was some strange dream. Nothing, of course, that had any bearing on her sanity.

                 “Aunt Alice, are you listening?”

                 Alice gasped shortly at the invasion to her thoughts.  She realized where she was so suddenly that it surprised her nearly to the point of fear.  She was only sitting in the parlor with Morgan, but the way she’d jerk back, one would have thought she’d been summoned back from some forgotten plane.  Still, it did not take long for Alice to remember.  She calmed when she did.

                 She tilted her eyes to the small girl who looked back at her so expectantly with a book spread across her lap.  Oh yes, we were reading over her lessons.

                 “Of course,” Alice assured her with a nod of affirmation.  “Go right ahead.”

                 Morgan looked up at her aunt for a short disbelieving moment before giving her attention back to the book, pronouncing every word slowly and carefully.

                 “’In…my…y-youth,’…Father William re…re…”

                 “Replied,” Alice aided sweetly. 

                 Morgan went on and Alice shook her head slightly.  ‘Old Father William’ at age five?  What were those teachers thinking? 

                 The girl went on and Alice’s mind once again drifted to the night before and the bottle.  Drink me…  What did it mean?  She could think on it the whole night through and never find an answer.  If only she could just forget it and pay attention to Morgan.  If only…

                 From down the hall, muffled voices reached her ears, pulling her interest.  While she’d been hoping for something that would trouble her less, she did not find it.  These voices belonged to Tommy and Wendy.  They were heated, and she knew without hearing the words what they were talking about.  Alice strained her ears to hear, but she could not. 

                 “’You are…old,’ said the…youth.  ‘As I m…m…m…”

                 Alice noticed the girl struggling only by chance as she tried to stretch her ears, wishing – perhaps for not the first time – that they were made of taffy instead of flesh.