-Epilogue-

“If I had a world of my own . . .

Everything would be nonsense!”

"Alice in Wonderland"

6 MO. LATER . . .

MERRYWEATHER INSTITUTION FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE

DR. Lee swiped his bald head nervously, tapping the large double-sided glass between the PLAYROOM, and the OBSERVATION room.

“I’m not sure what you expect me to do for you Investigator. As you can see if they cooperate at all . . . it will be on an extremely childish level.”

The tall, young and overly ambitious Investigator smirked blandly at the backs of the squabbling sisters.

“Oh, I could get SOMETHING out of them. We don’t need much,” he followed up with, removing his glasses with confidence, wondering why the elderly doctor seemed so tense and uneasy.

“Just fifteen minutes,” he urged the man attempting to convince him, before removing his IPad and putting in random notes about the state of the institution, and the nervous Doctor who didn’t seem to want to cooperate for some reason. “Come on Doc. You know it’s important. All we have is circumstantial evidence. Couple pair of shoes matching those two missing boys headed to Chicago last year. Geez. Why make this harder than it has to be?”

“I don’t believe I am. I’ve read the court reports. There’s nothing to prove those boys weren’t there of their own free will. Or that they couldn’t have left whenever they wanted to.”

Dr. Lee balked at the Investigator’s insistence, wishing he would crawl back into the hole he had climbed out of.

“Listen!” the younger mans’ voice rose alarmingly. “I need to know if these two ‘little girls’, (you seem to be protecting) . . .” he muttered under his breath, “are really insane, or just extremely smart and calculating. It’s been done before and you know it.” Wagging a finger in the balding man’s face the Investigator’s eyes narrowed.

“Do you have a warrant?” The Dr. finally snapped back throwing his palm out in anticipation of paperwork. “No interrogation without a warrant. My hospital . . . my rules . . .”

He didn’t much like the somewhat arrogant young man, who was pushing for information he knew his ‘girls’ would suffer from having to remember and talk about yet again. Their files were an open book, and this was not the first time they had been observed, and the records examined. They had all had enough.

“Well . . .” Biting his tongue in regret, the Investigator’s tone lowered significantly. “Didn’t think I needed one. You act like this is the first time we’ve been here,” he quipped, kicking his toe against the bottom of the door jamb impatiently.

“Maybe not. But, it will be the LAST,” Dr. Lee barked, suddenly gaining confidence, his short stubby finger pointing to the massive wooden door. “OUT. Don’t come back without the correct papers. And, I don’t appreciate you attacking my credibility as a specialist by questioning whether my reports of their state of mind are correct or not. GOOD DAY.”

As the tall man slithered out the door, muttering cuss words under his breath, Dr. Lee locked it behind him, turning again toward the large pane of glass.

His girls were harmless enough. He knew they were innocent. All they ever managed to do was argue amongst themselves about minor issues. He would protect them as long as he possibly could to keep them safe from the authorities.

* * * * *

THE large Victorian dollhouse was a massive entity perched in the middle of the small observation playroom. All three floors still furnished exactly as it had been six long months ago, the random dolls were scattered between the dining room and living area as Sumre and Sundae argued.

“Maybe he’s tired of playing the piano.” Shoving Sundae in the shoulder forcefully, Sumre snatched the dark-headed doll from the tiny piano stool, squeezing him between the wall and refrigerator in the decked-out kitchen. “Hahaha . . .” she laughed loudly, “here’s where he needs to be. You shouldn’t have punished him. Then he would have stayed.”

Pushing Sumre harder in retaliation, Sundae (one hand to ) cackled as her sister toppled backward, rolling over out of control.

“You’re one to talk. It’s your fault all of this happened in the first place. Who let them wander? Why do we have to keep talking about it? They’re asking us . . . And, YOU KEEP BRINGING IT UP. How much more can I take?” she shouted jumping to her feet, her long hair flying about her face, wagging the legs of another doll at the large blackened window. “They think I don’t know they’re watching . . . but I DO.”

Dr. Lee chuckled slightly, shaking his head in disbelief that these two young women, who he’d protected over the last few months would have the same conversations and argument, (even berating him for watching them) . . . repeatedly, until it was like listening to a broken record.

Every afternoon their playroom was opened, and they would skip in, hand in hand . . . smiling and happy at being allowed to engage in their favorite pastime yet again. Reliving their time with the ‘boys’ in the farmhouse.

The doctor’s notes started out lengthy and involved, as he searched for the reasons behind the bizarre state of events that had brought the sisters to his institution in the first place. But, over the weeks that followed, it became clearer and clearer to him that the memory of their lives as two normal young women might never return, and their focus remained on the culmination of a few days around Prom time, that had somehow damaged them significantly.

As he continued watching them tussle, Sundae dropped back down to the floor, still leering at him through the glass as if threatening him to reveal himself.

“Forget him,” Sumre sneered, curling back over on her stomach, her bare feet kicking the air . “Let’s whisper, that way he can’t hear us.”

Tilting her face to one side, she lifted one male doll to her lips, kissing the top of his red head soundly. “I miss you Hatter, even the hair,” she murmured, her eyes misting uncontrollably. “I thought maybe you would understand, I couldn’t let you leave that way. It wasn’t time.”

Sundae leaned over her sister peering curiously into her glassy eyes. “I told you not to do it,” she reprimanded her quietly. “It was too soon. You have no patience, do you?”

“Leave me alone,” Sumre hissed, suddenly angry that Sundae would blame her again for everything. “It was YOU they were all afraid of. If not for you, they would’ve stayed on their own.”

Her voice growing louder in her indignation . . . Dr. Lee overheard their garbled conversation. What were they talking about now? It didn’t sound like the normal, random babbling they did when fighting over dolls, placement in the house, or who was going to host what party first. Had she said, ‘If not for you they would’ve stayed on their own?’

Curiously concerned, he turned up the volume on the speakers leaning closer to the window, waiting for Sundae’s reply.

“You KNEW they needed discipline. Someone had to keep them in check. It was all about keeping them until Prom. I wanted it to be special for you. You, ungrateful little witch.” Sundae roared (now regretting her decision to get involved even the first time, years ago . . .).

“UNGRATEFUL? AM NOT . . . I DIDN’T NEED YOU. HE WOULD HAVE STAYED. HE MIGHT HAVE MARRIED ME. FINALLY, I WAS GOING TO BE HAPPY. BUT NO. YOU ‘MADE’ ME DO IT. YOU ALWAYS DO. I HATE YOU.”

Squealing and whining, Sumre kicked her legs against the un-cushioned grey carpet until, (in a fit of rage) she slammed into the dollhouse, sending it careening off to one side, the contents and dolls flying in all directions.

Before Dr. Lee could get the door unlocked, and buzz for an orderly, the two sisters were rolling around the floor hitting, pulling hair, and punching each other randomly about the body, their screams absorbing into the soundproof walls of the playroom. Whatever it was, had finally come to a head.

Dear God, could the Investigator have been right? Had they done more than just refuse to acknowledge the fact that their grandparents were dead, and stuffed into a large freezer room in the massive farmhouse basement? What role did ‘Alice in Wonderland’ play in their little escapade? And, what in the world had sent them over the edge of their sanity? Certainly not a high school Prom?

Now with more questions than answers, Dr. Lee tugged the two women apart, unable to believe they were capable of anything harsher than an occasional squabble.

By the time the orderly arrived, medicated needle in hand, Sundae was hysterical, snatching at Sumre’s hair from between Dr. Lee’s less than overbearing grasp.

“Calm down Sundae, please calm down,” he begged, suddenly regretting his decision to call the orderly. He didn’t want to sedate her. He had ‘never’ had to in the past. “It will be okay. I promise. Sumre is sorry. Aren’t you?” he asked, his grey eyebrows raising at Sumre, crouched in front of the toppled dollhouse, a quirky smirk on her lips.

“Of course,” she muttered, staring at her sister, arms and legs flailing as the orderly inched the needle closer to her shoulder.

Moments later, wrapped in a straightjacket her eyes blazing hatred, Sundae was guided demurely out of the room and out of sight. Sumre sighed, glad it was over. Now it was finally time for Sundae to be penalized. Her years of strict, overbearing punishments had come back to haunt her.

“Dr. Lee,” she purred, her lids dropping apologetically. “I don’t know what happened. She . . . she . . . she called me an ungrateful witch. After everything we’ve been through together. Grandmother would be so disappointed in her. Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Clucking her tongue, she returned to her position over the wrecked dollhouse, touching the rooftop almost tenderly. “This was my fault. Please can I fix it?”

As her head swung back to meet the doctors forgiving eyes, it was obvious she had him right where she wanted him.

“I promise . . . I’ll take my medication and never disobey the rules again if you just let me stay and put the house back together. Poor Sundae will be so angry if the boys don’t have a clean room. Order . . . she’s so particular about the order of things. You know.”

Pouting childishly, she twisted the bottom of her long, blonde ponytail, looking as if she were about to shed a sympathetic tear for her absentee sister.

Surveying the cluttered playroom Dr. Lee knew for a fact that the night nurse would pitch a fit if she had to come in and re-arrange the normally immaculate and precisely organized area and house.

“Oh, alright,” he sighed, “but I’ll be keeping an eye on you. And, no more funny business!” His finger rose to her pinched face, wagging like a concerned father. “Ring the bell as soon as you’re finished, and I’ll send someone for you. It’s already been too long a day.”

Swiveling on his heel, he turned to leave, sensing Sumre dart from the side of the dollhouse to his back, throwing her arms around him gratefully. As she rested one cheek on his shoulder she smiled. “Thank you, Dr. Lee. Thank you so much.”

An hour later, as the wall clock ticked away the time, Sumre grinned, swiping her hands satisfactorily and reaching for the wall buzzer.

* * * * *

REGINA the night nurse glanced at the clock in the dark observation room, flipping on the light to the PLAYROOM. Standing in the massive glass window she looked about the area carefully. Dr. Lee had warned her not to touch the dollhouse tonight. Tomorrow would be an important day for the Whyte sisters and the dollhouse needed to be exactly as they had left it.

Sniffing uncontrollably, she shook her head in disbelief, then swung open the door to the room. Of course . . . the two crazy sisters had changed it again. But, something was different this time.

Peering at it closely, she squatted down running one finger along the porch line curiously. Tonight . . . there were dolls outside. They had never placed dolls outside or around the perimeter of the large Victorian house.

Wondering what Dr. Lee thought of the strange new arrangement, she studied it, pulling her cellphone from her pocket and snapping a few pictures recording the various placements of both the female and male dolls, recording in order what she observed.

1. The ‘parlor’ held the two blonde female dolls (Sumre and Sundae), perched precariously on the end of the small sofa.
2. The dining room was decorated for a party, the tiny ‘Alice’ and ‘Rabbit’ in their respective places with ‘Alice’ at the head of the table.
3. Sumre’s precious red-headed doll stood at the back-door kitchen area, one hand on the teeny doorknob, his little head twisted behind him toward the hallway.
4. Clumped together and spilling out onto the back porch were three more male dolls in all manner of positions. The first bent over looking at his shoes . . . Second, lunging forward off the porch, and the third, Sundae’s carefully placed, ‘Chosen One’ turned in the opposite direction peculiarly headed (as if he had forgotten something or someone) back toward the kitchen doorway.
5. And, finally . . . three random dolls (she had never seen before) standing tall on the front porch. One blonde with a finger on the doorbell.

What had Dr. Lee said Sumre’s final words to him were before leaving?

“When I’m finished . . . all will be as it should . . .”

THE END