Alice - WIP

Chapter 2: A Family Mystery Uncovered

          It was Sunday evening, the sun was starting to set and Alice was arriving to her house with Shaun not too far away from her. They just completed their first date that they arranged with each other not too long ago, in the Tuesdays Bar where they met. "It was a nice day spending it with you Shaun. Thank you for the invitation," Alice replied with a smile. "You are very welcome! Would you like to do it again in another day?". "Sure, call me when you like and we can set that up!". Shaun gave her a kiss on her right cheek and said, "Don't forget your package there". Alice looks below her feet and notices a package wrapped up in what seems to be in old wallpaper cover of sorts. She continued to examine it as Shaun walked away. She thinks to herself that she has not ordered anything recently and it can not be a delivery due to the packaging of the item. She unwraps it and on the notebooks' cover it is the same wallpaper wrapping it came in. "Strange!", she murmured under her breath to herself. She looks around to see who could have left this notebook on her doorstep. She walks into her apartment and started to remove articles of clothing, leaving a trail with each item behind, while still staring at the notebook on her hands. Then she lets herself fall onto her bed and finally decided to open the said notebook. She started to read the notebook and inside it, it read like a diary format but almost like a novela or a movie of sorts due to the content it has thus far. Alice started to read the notebook from the beginning and at this point was not able to put the book down and was also intrigued with it. The day went from dimness to darkness now and a new day began.

          The following day, Alice woke up startled due to a noise outside her window and woke up with the notebook over her face. She looked at the notebook in confusion for a split second, but then remembered as to why the notebook was there. She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was past the time she had to arrive for work. "Oh shi-",  she exclaimed to herself. She rushed in collecting her old clothes she left scattered across her hallway and searching for what she was going to be wearing in the lab today. She tossed everything she has gathered thus far on the bed.  She was known to be the late person in the group and at times a little clumsy. She dashed into the bathroom for a quick shower and rushed her makeup routine as well. As she reached her bed, she placed a shocked looked on her face due to her clothes all being mixed up in a pile and not remembering which she picked out for the day and which she already wore. It seemed that she was a klutz both in her mind and in reality. She grabbed whatever looked best together from the pile and added the notebook into her briefcase. She looked at herself once more in the mirror and she ran towards her front door, as if she was in a marathon and headed towards her car to drive to work.

        Once arriving at her job, she continued where she left off in the lab. All while doing her lab work she thought about the notebook inside her briefcase. The curiosity was flooding her mind and at times distracting her during certain tasks she had to do. Her fellow coworkers noticed something was off with Alice. She was too distracted from the normal that she was on a daily basis. When lunch break arrived she immediately grabbed her briefcase and walked out of the building. She was debating as to where to go to sit, but also which restaurant to buy her lunch from. She wanted something close by and fast. She picked a restaurant that she never ordered from, but didn't mind the wait and liked that they had tables and chairs outside to have her meal and be secluded from the world like her personal island. As she sat down with her meal and her briefcase, she dug into it to get the notebook out and continued to read it from where she left off last night. It felt as if she remembered reading a lot, but looking through the notebook, she had a long way to go still. 

       As she continued to read, she is starting to realize that some things in the notebook feel familiar to her. Distant fond memories of her past growing up on a piece of paper. "How is this possible? Why does this sound and feel so familiar to me?", she thought to herself. In one of the entries it stated of two little girls playing in the dirt and getting messy, as any other child or children would do growing up. As she continued reading it, her mind starts to play that particular memory of what happened next in that written event. "How am I able to remember this? What is going on?", she mumbled to herself under her breath. She continued to read along to the passages and started to have recollections of each event.  Another memory was of her with another little girl playing with dolls and the other girl was more vocal and apathetic towards others that she took one of the dolls away on demand. On the next page, the next event was the event she was recollecting in her mind. At that point, it startled her and made her drop the notebook on the table next to her food. "What is going on? How in the hell do I know any of this?", she questioned herself. She noticed she was close to the end of the notebook, yet looked at the time and told herself that she still has enough time to complete reading it during her lunch hour. 

         Once she reached the end of the notebook, a look of shock poured into her face. Has this been a secret among her family? Does this mean that she has a sister that she did not know of? Another memory played in her mind, of the time she was a toddler and crying in her mothers arms. She had her arms stretched out to collect a hug from the other little girl while crying and the other little girl stood by an unknown adult crying as well. Was there a swap among the little girl or why was there a separation with them? Alice never grew up with a sister, she was an only child. So why does she recollect another little girl now with the help of this notebook? Why was this notebook given to her? There were many unanswered questions that came into Alice's mind and she was wanting to learn more. By this point, Alice's appetite was gone and half of her sandwich was growing stale by her and her drink. She felt unsure and uneasy of herself, not knowing what to do or if she should reach out to her family with all of these questions. She collected her belongings including the notebook and decided to take a walk, a long slow walk, back to her job in contemplation mode.