Treatment

Alice was led down a gloomy corridor by Dr. Bumby, her bare feet padding against the cold stone floor. She glanced

nervously at the strange devices lining the walls, trying to

ignore the muffled cries echoing in the distance. Dr. Bumby pushed open a heavy iron door, gesturing for Alice to enter. "This is where the real work begins, my dear," he said with an oily smile.

Alice stepped inside the stark treatment room, shivering at the sight before her. Tables were arranged with leather restraints, while sinister machines loomed in the corners. In the center of the room sat a large metal contraption, with wires and dials she dared not guess the purpose of.

"Take a seat my dear," Dr. Bumby said, patting one of the tables. Alice reluctantly obeyed, her heart pounding as the doctor began fastening the restraints around her wrists and ankles. She tugged against the bonds, to no avail. Dr. Bumby wheeled over the metal device, its whirring and clicking sending a chill down Alice's spine.

"Now let's see if we can purge that Wonderland from your mind, shall we?" he said, flipping a switch. A buzzing filled Alice's ears, growing louder and louder until— agony. Every nerve in her body screamed as the electricity coursed through her. She opened her mouth in a soundless scream, back arching against the table as colors exploded behind her eyes. Then, darkness. Alice awoke with a start, her body aching all over. Dr. Bumby loomed over her, holding a pocket watch that glinted under the lamplight.

"Now, my dear, tell me about Wonderland, he said in a low,"

hypnotic voice. "Describe it for me in perfect detail."

Alice tried to resist, but found herself drawn into a trance by

the watch's rhythmic swinging. Images began flashing through her mind as words tumbled unbidden from her lips.

She told of following the White Rabbit down the twisting rabbit hole, emerging in a bizarre landscape filled with impossible colors and shapes. Trees grew in spirals, the grass a vivid purple hue. Flowers as large as carriages bloomed, their petals shifting like kaleidoscopes before her eyes.Alice recounted meeting the grinning Cheshire Cat, whose disembodied smile sent shivers down her spine. She told too of attending the Queen of Heart's mad tea parties, where the guests changed shape and size without warning. And of nearly losing her head to the Queen's razor-sharp blade, over a simple mistake. With each vivid detail Alice supplied, Dr. Bumby's smile grew wider, his eyes gleaming with an unsettling light. By the time she finished her tale, Alice felt drained, yet strangely compelled to continue speaking of Wonderland's horrors and wonders for the doctor. Her grip on reality was slipping once more into the realm of madness.

Alice told of first discovering the rabbit hole hidden behind an ancient oak tree in the forest. She had followed the White Rabbit down into the darkness, unsure of what lay below. Emerging into the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland, Alice found the landscape had changed into something sinister and disturbing. Trees twisted in on themselves, their bark as black as coal. Poisonous flowers bloomed with razor-sharp pedals, hissing as she passed. The sky was a sickly green hue, and a crimson river flowed uphill. Alice walked its banks, watching in horror as the bloody waters carried severed body parts along its shores. In the distance, deranged laughter and screams echoed through the macabre forest.

"This is madness," Dr. Bumby interrupted, his eyes cold. "Wonderland is a fabrication of your diseased mind, a fantasy

created to escape reality. You will tell me no more of these

delusions, do you understand?" But Alice knew in her heart Wonderland was real, and that its terrors still lurked somewhere in the recesses of her memories.

She shivered, as much from the chill in the room as from the darkness that continued to haunt her thoughts. Dr. Bumby departed, leaving Alice drained in the treatment room. She lay still, replaying their session in her mind.

A scratching sound roused Alice from her stupor. Blinking

slowly, she turned to see a pair of gleaming red eyes peering

through the small window in the door. The White Rabbit beckoned frantically, motioning for her to follow. Alice rose unsteadily to her feet, stumbling towards the door on numb legs. She twisted the knob, but it refused to budge - she was locked in.

The Rabbit scratched at the door in panic, urging Alice to hurry. But she had no way of escaping this prison, no way of heeding his call to flee this wretched place. As Alice sank to the floor once more, the Rabbit let out a mournful cry before disappearing down the hall. She wastrapped under Dr. Bumby's control, lost in the depths of her fractured mind. Escape from Rutledge seemed impossible - unless she regained her sanity, or surrendered her mind to the asylum entirely.

Galvanized by the Rabbit's plea, Alice struggled to her feet once more. She threw her weight against the door with a cry,

ignoring the pain that lanced through her battered body.

Her heart raced as footsteps approached, accompanied by the jingling of keys. The lock clicked open and two hulking

orderlies entered, grabbing Alice by the arms. She thrashed and kicked, desperate to escape, but their grips were like iron

shackles.

"Unhand me!" Alice screamed, to no avail. The orderlies dragged her kicking and screaming down the hall, paying no heed to her pleas. She craned her neck, catching a fleeting glimpse of the White Rabbit's eyes peering from the shadows before it vanished.

Back in her cell, Alice pounded on the thick wooden door until her fists bruised and bled. Trapped once more in this living tomb, she sank to the floor in anguish. Her only hope was fading into the darkness of Rutledge, as Alice's tenuous grip on reality began to slip away into the nightmares of Wonderland.

That evening, Dr. Bumby paid Alice another visit in her cell. "I heard you caused quite a commotion earlier," he said, peering at her through the bars.

Alice glared back defiantly. "The Rabbit came for me. He wants me to escape this place."

Dr. Bumby chuckled. "My dear girl, there is no rabbit. It's all inyour head, a figment caused by your troubled mind."

"You're wrong," Alice insisted. "Wonderland is real. The Rabbit will help me get away from your...experiments." She shuddered at the memory of the electricity coursing through her body. The doctor's eyes hardened.

"You are gravely ill, Alice. These delusions will only worsen if you indulge them. From now on, there will be no more talk of rabbits or imaginary worlds. Is that clear?" Alice dropped her gaze, too exhausted to argue further. But in her heart, she knew the Rabbit was no delusion. Wonderland

held truths that Dr. Bumby feared coming to light. Her salvation might depend on surrendering to the darkness within. As Dr. Bumby's footsteps faded down the hall, Alice crawled onto her thin cot. Her body ached, her mind reeling from the day's torments.

The room spun dizzyingly, images and memories swirling

together in a kaleidoscope of color. Wonderland's twisted trees reached for her through the bars, their gnarled branches clawing at empty air. Alice squeezed her eyes shut, but the visions only intensified in the darkness. She saw herself strapped to the table once more, electricity coursing through her veins as Dr. Bumby's maniacal aughter echoed all around. Her breath came in ragged gasps, lungs straining for air that seemed thinner by the moment. Alice clutched her head, nails digging into skin, desperate to block out the cacophony raging inside.

With a shuddering sob, she collapsed back onto the cot,

consciousness slipping away on waves of pain and delirium. As the room spun into blackness, Alice knew only one thing for certain - her tenuous grip on sanity was unraveling with each new torment. In her fevered dreams, Alice found herself deep in Wonderland's murky forests once more. She walked aimlessly beneath twisting trees that blocked out the sky, their gnarled branches forming a dense canopy above.

Mist swirled at her feet as Alice wandered the winding paths, calling out for the White Rabbit to show himself. Only her echo answered amid the trees' groans and the scurrying of unseen creatures in the undergrowth. She stumbled upon a crimson river, its waters sluggish and foul-smelling. Written along the banks in jagged letters were messages and warnings Alice couldn't decipher. A crow cawed ominously in the distance, its call sending shivers down her spine.

Alice knew she was being watched - she could feel unseen eyes tracking her every move from the shadows. Spinning wildly, she glimpsed flickers of movement just beyond the treeline before they vanished without a trace. Exhausted and afraid, she sank to her knees amid the rotting leaves. As Wonderland's forest closed in around her, Alice knew only darkness and madness lay ahead if she lost her way. Alice awoke with a bloodcurdling scream, thrashing against unseen assailants. Her nightmare clung to the edges of consciousness as unfamiliar hands grabbed her flailing limbs.

"Someone help, she's gone mad!" a voice cried out. Two orderlies burst into the cell, rushing to subdue Alice as she kicked and writhed on the cot. One pinned her legs while the other straddled her torso, wrestling her hands behind her back.

"Easy there, you're safe now," the orderly panted, straining to keep her immobilized. But Alice was lost in the throes of terror, eyes wide and unseeing as guttural screams tore from her throat.The other orderly produced a leather strap, buckling it across Alice's heaving chest and binding her legs together. Only then did she begin to still, chest heaving as choked sobs replaced screams.

As Alice faded back into an exhausted stupor, Rutledge's walls closed in once more, trapping her within the prison of her shattered mind. The orderlies left Alice bound and gagged upon the cot. She thrashed weakly against her restraints, muffled cries fading into whimpers as consciousness ebbed once more. Through the bars, she saw Dr. Bumby observing with a frown.

"Clearly more drastic measures are needed," he muttered, motioning to the orderlies. They returned wheeling a cart bearing a stiff canvas jacket. Alice's eyes widened in terror as they wrestled her flailing form into the straightjacket, buckling it tightly across her torso.

"There, that should prevent any further incidents," Dr. Bumby said with satisfaction. He left without a backward glance asAlice sank back onto the cot, immobilized. Alone in the suffocating dark, Wonderland's forest crept back into Alice's mind. She was wandering its murky depths once more, trapped within this prison of leather and her own shattered psyche. As Rutledge's walls closed in, only madness lay ahead for the lost little girl within.

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