Chapter Text
The carriage rattled along the cobbles as it approached its destination, making him for the seventh time that ride almost drop his book. With a heavy sigh, he closed it and placed it back into his worn satchel, alongside his journal, quills and ink. That, along with the travel bag on the floor of the carriage containing what his maid had packed for him, were the only things he was taking to the place that would become his new home for the next few months. It was as he mused on this that the driver called to tell him that they were there. He pulled the black curtain back, looking at the tall iron gates as they passed.
Bethlem Asylum.
There were already several Doctors waiting outside to greet him as he made his way from the carriage to the large doors, thankful that he had decided on a hat to keep him from the rain.
“Doctor Madden, I presume.” The largest of the men greeted him, ushering him inside without hesitation. “Welcome to Bethlem. I trust your journey was pleasant?”
“Yes,” Doctor Madden nodded back at the man, shivering at the chill that had followed them inside. “Although, the rain I could have done without. You must be Doctor Lydgate. Correct?”
“Yes,” the two men shook hands, and while he was introduced to the rest of the men in his presence, Doctor Madden gave the space he could see a quick glance. From the outside, it had seemed like a large Asylum, and the inside made it seem even more so. The twin staircases that led to the first floor gave him the feeling that there was more to Bethlem than there seemed from the wrought iron gates that it hid behind.
“How many patients are there here?”
“Fifty-seven,” Lydgate answered, inviting him to follow him up the staircase. “We have three Wards here at Bethlem. Section A is our men's ward, with thirty-two of our patients, Section B is our female ward with sixteen, and Section C is reserved for our worse cases, which are nine.”
“Mixed ward?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Two women and seven men. They don’t interact with the rest of our patients when we allow them free time. Our Section C patients are kept inside their cells at all times, and walked to and from treatments by our Orderlies.”
“And the post I applied for, it’s with your Section C patients?”
“I’m afraid so, Doctor. However, our Section C’s aren’t violent patients. On the contrary, they’re quite placid.”
“Then why are they kept from the others?”
“Their cases of insanity are far more severe. When we reach their ward, I’ll invite you in with one of your patients.”
Doctor Madden was escorted around the building by Doctor Lydgate, and several times during the tour he wanted the man to stop and allow him to explore the building on his own. He was shown to his quarters in the Right Wing on the third floor, where he would be staying during his time with them. The first floor was split into two, one ward for the male patients and one for the females, and their recreational room was on the ground floor. The kitchen and dining rooms were the same, though for the Doctors and Orderlies, they had a separate room to eat in. The layout was easy to follow and he was sure that if he had been allowed to find his own way around Bethlem, he would have found it in no time at all.
When they came to the second floor ward, he gave a mental count to the Orderlies that were wandering the halls. There were far more here than there were on any of the others, but he realised why. This must be Section C.
“Your office is at the other end of the ward, the closest door to the window. We have treatment rooms at either end of the Ward, each depending on which treatment you wish to use.”
“I’ll have one cleared. I’ll be performing my own kind of treatment while I’m here, thank-you.”
“Your own treatment?” That sent a murmur through the group of men as Madden nodded at them.
“I believe that every Doctor has their own treatment that they find works. My treatment, I imagine, is nothing like the kind you have used here before. I’d prefer to have a room cleared and fitted to my requirements. I’ll use my office in the meantime to treat my patients.”
“That’s highly –”
“I’m well aware of what it may be, but I’m not a Doctor that treats patients as if they’re wild animals to be tamed. You fire me now, Doctor Lydgate, or you give me until my five months are up to treat these people.”
Silence followed Madden’s words as he looked at the shorter, wider man, almost as though he was daring him to challenge him again. However, Lydgate bit his tongue and gave Madden what looked to be an almost painful nod with a forced smile painted on his expression.
“Very well. We’ll have the Orderlies on this floor see to it that you get your room. Now, allow me to introduce you to your patients.”
Madden followed Lydgate along the lit hall, glancing to and from the rooms that had been given. There were twelve, though only nine filled. He listened to their names as Lydgate reeled them off, memorising which room each was in.
“The files of all these patients are already in your office, alphabetised. Some are larger than others.” Lydgate commented, before Madden could ask about what treatments his new patients had already received. At the very end of the hall, Lydgate stopped and in turn, so did the others as well as Madden himself.
“This is our newest addition to Bethlem. She spent a short period of time on the Women’s ward, but we had to move her up here because of the disturbance she caused. Her father brought her in just three weeks ago. She’s our youngest patient.”
“How old?”
“Seventeen,” Lydgate answered, retrieving the key from the Orderly standing nearby. “Her name is Alice. Alice Liddell.”
As the key turned in the lock, Madden heard the skittering of footsteps on the other side. He heard quiet hushing sounds, and as the door opened, he followed Lydgate in to see his patient.
The first thing he noticed was the wide blue eyes that were staring at him curiously, with a thousand questions swimming behind them. He could tell just from that one gaze that they were waiting on the tip of her tongue, but then those curious eyes wandered to Lydgate and dimmed. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, with her chin resting on them while she sat on the thin bed.
“Alice, this is Doctor Madden. You’re going to be having new treatments with him, starting tomorrow.”
She nodded softly, moving her arms a fraction tighter around her legs. Lydgate looked to Madden, who took a step forward with a small smile for her as she looked back to him.
“Hello, Alice. My name’s Jefferson Madden. You can call me that if you want to, instead of Doctor.”
“You can’t be a Doctor.” Alice’s voice was quiet, almost childlike as she looked at him. “You must be a Hatter.”
“I beg your pardon?” Jefferson’s eyebrows knitted together, leaning down slightly.
“You’re wearing a hat. Only Hatters wear hats in Wonderland, you know.”
“Wonderland?”
“Alice,” Lydgate cleared his throat, giving the girl so much of a stern look that she quieted, now choosing to tilt her head so that only her nose and eyes were visible on her knees. Madden stood back and turned to Lydgate, awaiting an explanation. When the man gestured to the door of Alice’s cell, Madden turned back to the girl who by now had let the dirty blonde curls of her hair come forward to keep her from his gaze.
“I’ll see you soon, Alice. You can tell me about Wonderland then.”
As the key turned in the lock to shut her inside. Madden took his full height to tower over Lydgate, demanding an answer.
“Why did you interrupt her?”
“Alice is a very delicate girl. Once she starts telling her ridiculous tales, we can’t stop her. She upset the other women in Section A when she started to tell them that the Flowers some of the Orderlies brought in were screaming because they had been cut from their bodies.”
“That’s the disturbance she caused? Telling a silly story about flowers?” Madden couldn’t understand. Surely the others on this particular ward were up here for more than telling one little tale.
“Oh, no. That’s just one of Alice’s many tales about Wonderland and its inhabitants. She was brought up here because she was continuously upsetting the women, so much so that she was going to bring harm to herself if she continued to talk about her little fantasy world. The other women were getting incredibly distressed.”
Lydgate gave a light wave at the door off the ward, and the corridor that would surely lead them to the office that Madden had been promised.
“It’s all in Alice’s file. Her father was at wit’s end with her. She was starting to tell her younger sister these stories too, and fill her head with nonsense. Alice is here because her father didn’t know what to do with her, and her step-mother wanted nothing to do with the girl.”
“Then tell your Orderlies to have the treatment room ready for me as soon as possible. I’ll be reading those files tonight and starting tomorrow.” Madden stepped away from Lydgate, making a move toward the door that would lead him to his office, but stopped halfway out of the Ward.
“Oh, and make sure there’s means of making tea in my office, and a tea set too. I’ll need them.”
Later that night, once he had changed into his nightwear and had finally taken off his hat, Jefferson had Alice’s file spread across the tiny desk in his room. The candle was flickering, casting fierce shadows over the papers. A sharp rub of his forehead brought out a groan, trying to make sense of the notes that he had been reading over and over. From what he could make out by Lydgate’s – who had been Alice’s primary Doctor before he arrived –scribbles, Alice had delusions of an imaginary world where a rabbit who wore a waistcoat was always late for important dates, and there were twins who only spoke in rhymes. Wonderland had been developing for a number of years in Alice’s mind, and her father had tried to ignore his daughter’s stories and hoped that she would grow out of it. He had often caught her in her room playing with her toys and dolls, having imaginary tea parties with them and having full conversations as though she wasn’t alone at her small table.
When Alice hadn’t grown out of her stories and playtimes, she had been sent to Bethlem. After upsetting the female Ward in her first week, she had been moved to Section C where her delusions grew and she was often reported to wake in the night, screaming about being beheaded. Lydgate had crossed out several things in his notes and Jefferson thought a few pages were missing, but he gave it no real thought. What he knew was that Alice had created a world to hide herself in, and that tomorrow, she would be his first patient.