"Where are you? I'll find you bitch!" his snarling voice echoed through the decayed domicile. "I know every crack and corner of this house. You can't hide for long."
Alice had woken in a rotten bed within a mold-encrusted bedroom, not understanding how she had arrived. Four wooden beams jutted up from the corners of the bed, each one as termite ridden as the last. A fixtures that looked like it could have once been a fireplace peered at her with gaped maw malevolence. Sheets squirmed underneath her body causing her to fall off the bed in fright.
Laying on the floor, she had first heard the voice from below. A deep gravelly man's voice, booming out influencing weak walls to shake. "Welcome to hell!" That was all, nothing more. For several minutes there was silence until footsteps pounded ominously across wood flooring.
Remember, Alice thought, remember. How the fuck did you get here? Her mind drifted back to the library, the largest in the state. Wandering through hallways of knowledge always seemed to calm her mind. The last several weeks had been extraordinarily painful for her and because of that she had decided to go to the only place that could consistently calm her mind.
Among authors old and new, famous and infamous, she found a calm surrender to nothingness. Randomly picking books, reading a few random pages before placing them back upon the shelves. Every once in a while one strange forgotten text sparked her interest. Whisking it back home to sooth her mind, she would devour the text with her face planted squarely in it.
It wasn't her looks that made her feel the pull of the house of books. Although she did have somewhat of a librarian aspect to her appearance and style of clothing. Dark brunette hair pulled back into a bun, glasses that curved ever so slightly around her face. No makeup at all, refusing to use it on grounds of feministic beliefs. Truth was she just didn't like the way it felt. Alice preferred earth toned button up blouses, sweaters, long skirts or black docker pants. Never had she felt the need to dress up and blend in with the ever-increasing wave of boring self-indulgent Paris Hilton wannabe's. Despite all her attempts at looking plain, she really was a very attractive girl and kept herself in shape. Enjoying the retreat to the apartment complexes workout room almost as much as her house of books.
Alice was toned and shapely while striving for plain and forgotten. Mostly she wanted to be left on her own.
Wait, the light! The memory struck her in painful stride. That circling white light! Alice was referring to something that had happened to her in the midst of scouting through the non-fiction section, attempting to find a titillating biography of Poe. Shortly after running into and conversing with her friend Chris, he bad departed to separate section, then a brilliant white light had surrounded her. Air sucked from her lungs and her vision receding being replaced with white. It had caused her eyes to feel as if in a centrifugal force and her whole body tearing itself apart. Alice had blacked out and awoke here.
Inside the home that time forgot or didn't wish to remember.
Feeling there was lack of time to completely figure out what had occurred she leaped to her feet, looking around the room to find escape. Two windows, both covered with what looked like aluminum panes. Two doors, one that most likely led out into the hallway the other slightly ajar showing a bathroom. Nothing inside besides rotten chunks of black goo staining the toilet. The rank stench alone was enough to make her gag and back away quickly.
The footsteps were getting louder, closer. One in front of the other mounting what sounded like creaky stairs. He's big, got to find a place to hide or run to. Despite surroundings that could confuse or disorient a normal person, Alice was finding herself very adept at dealing with her strange environment and circumstances. Deal with it now, figure it out later. The mantra continued to repeat in her mind.
Alice waited for the right moment, trying to circumvent the worst, hearing the steps get closer to the door. He knew where she was. He knew exactly where to find her. Use it, grab a hold of it and use it. The flooring in front of the door creaked, sighed and a shadow slid underneath as he stopped, reaching out a hand to open it.
At that moment Alice burst through the door, throwing it as forcefully as she could into her attackers face. Wind escaped his chest audibly giving Alice a bit of extra courage to continue her blind run down the hall in the other direction. Toppling to the floor the loud smack, he made shook the dwelling, flakes of paint detached and rained down onto the floor.
"You sneaky little bitch. I'm gonna make you suffer so much more for that!" slowly rising, no fear of his prize escaping from his grasp. Shudders sounded out as he regained his composure and slammed the door from its hinges, barely getting a peak at Alice's bare feet slipping from view around the corner.
It hadn't struck her til then that her clothing was barely fastened to her body. Somewhere along the way before she had woken her shoes had gone missing. The white blouse was torn up one side and down the other so that her bra could be easily seen beneath. Ripped straight down the side seam, and about a good foot shorter than before, her long dress had now become a skirt showing off her powerful long legs. Her hair was no longer in its normal bun but flailed around her head with each movement of her body. Finally, accepting into account these inconsistencies, Alice rode the sentiment once again for all it was worth. Deal with it now, figure it out later.