Insanity is Subjective ch 4

       Alice was in bed.
       She was bathing in the early morning sunbeam that came in through her bedroom window, curled beneath an old, weathered quilt, the kind that one finds in their grandparents closets. It was white, with large, widely spaced flowers on it, blooming in reds and yellows and blues. Alice had had this forever, literally. This had been hers as a child, and it had been one of the few things she still had left from those early years.
       The other few things were sprawled out in front of her.
       There was a home-made doll. Georgina had made it for her for Christmas, without knowing that Alice had been in the process of making her one as well. It was amazing how much they thought like the other. And the dolls, they looked like the twins, so much so, in fact, that each sister had named their doll after their own double.
       Alice had Georgina, Georgina had Alice.
       Alice placed the doll to her nose, breathing deeply.
       Green tea, lily of the valley, ginger, and sunflowers.
       Her sister knew her like no other.
       She tucked the doll under her arms, turning to the next fragment of her history.
       It was a small series of books, marked on the covers five, seven, nine, and on in such a manner until they reached seventeen. Her sister had six through eighteen. Inside, pictures covered the pages. Some were photographs, taken with old Polaroid's that blurred and yellowed the scene. Others were drawn, with rectangular trees and squiggly rivers, stick people and block houses. They were there too, young and wild, screaming and laughing into the camera or out from the crayon.
       That was all she had
       A blanket, a doll, and some scrapbooks.
       Everything else had been long gone.
       Alice sighed, curling up into the blanked, the doll pressed to her face.
       "Georgina…..what am I doing?"
       ….
       "You were always braver than me…. Always. Remember Numam? Remember when he got really angry and you took care of it? Only five years old and you were already stepping in…… And remember Chris? Remember what he tried to do? I don't think I've ever seen a ten year old break a full grown man's nose like you did. And remember the house? You were six. It was a week after our birthday."
       ….
       "I'm not you, Georgina."
       'You're close enough.'
       She chuckled. How long had it been that she had talked to an inanimate object and gotten a response? Not since she was a child.
       This was nonsense.
       …..but it helped.
       "Am not."
       'Are too.'
       "Am not."
       'Are too.'
       "You don't know everything, you know!"
       'Nope, I only know half. You know the rest.'
       Alice laughed. She remembered this argument very well. It had happened at least every other day.
       "Alright, then. How would you know?"
       'Because I know you.'
       "Jervis said that to me."
       'Not a surprise. From what you told me in your letters, he seems like a smart guy.'
       "He's also insane."
       'And I'm not?'
       Alice stopped. The smile fell from her face as she looked at the tiny doll in her hands.
       "I'm so sorry, George."
       'Don't say sorry, Alice. There was nothing you could have done.'
       Alice began to shake, tears rolling down her face. She dropped the doll, letting it reside with the books. She did not want to talk to it anymore. She didn't want to talk to anyone anymore.
       Alice curled back into her ball and cried for an hour.
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       Somewhere, deep within the labyrinth of the night, an alarm went off. It was loud, screaming, and it scared Alice so much that she fell out of her warm cocoon and onto the floor. She dove back in, clutching her ears. How she hated loud noises! But the invisible fiend had friends, and soon, the dark city was filled with the sound of sirens, screeching into the sky.
       She hated nights like these, when the warning went out that-…
       Alice shot out of her covers and ran down to the small family room. In a blind panic, she looked for the television remote, forgetting completely about the lights. When she finally found it, she could have cried with joy, but there was no time. She turned on the television and stood there, wide eyed, waiting.
       The television buzzed, waking from its deep sleep, before flickering lazily to life.
       …." – and with its fierce, powerful tentacles, the cuttlefish wi-"
       MEEP
       MEEP
       MEEP
       "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BULLIETIN. GOTHAM CITY IS IN CRITICAL MODE. ARKHAM ASYLUM HAS SUFFERED A BREAKOUT. THE PUBLIC IS RECOMMENDED TO STAY IN A SAFE PLACE. DO NOT GO OUT. DO NOT LET STRANGERS IN. LOCK ALL WINDOWS AND DOORS. ALL STATIONS WILL BE TURNED TO THE GOTHAM NEWS FOR UPDATES. REPEAT; THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BULLIETIN. GOTHAM CITY IS IN CRITICAL MODE. ARKHAM ASYLUM HAS SUFFERED A BREAKOUT. THE PUBLIC IS RECOMMENDED TO STAY IN A SAFE PLACE. DO NOT GO OUT. DO NOT LET STRANGERS IN. LOCK ALL WINDOWS AND DOORS. ALL STATIONS WILL BE TURNED TO THE GOTHAM NEWS FOR UPDATES."
       MEEP
       MEEP
       MEEP
       ……..
       "Good evening, this is Gotham News, and I am-"
       VEOooop…
       Alice collapsed onto the sofa, the remote falling from her hands as she stared at the empty screen.
       A breakout?
       Now?
       ….this could not be coincidence.
       But maybe it could be. She had spoken to Jervis only three days prior. No way could he have come up a means of escape so soon. There was no way. It must be someone else breaking out, Two-Face, perhaps, or Harley, going off to find her Joker…. It just…
       Alice shook her head.
       She walked through the house, dazed, locking the windows, the doors, and anything else of importance. She showered, dressed for bed, and was about to let herself drift away on a raft of covers when she stopped. Alice turned to her bedroom window.
       Funny, the way the light reflected against the glass, it almost looked as if there was someone else in the room, as if she wasn't alone.
       Without thinking, or perhaps, knowing all too well, she did not know which, she unlocked the window.
       Alice did not sleep well that night.