Emilie Autumn - The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls

BEFORE YOU ENTER, A NOTE FROM A WATCHFUL FRIEND:

Dearest Children,

This is no ordinary eBook, nor book for that matter... no indeed.

This is an experiencean adventurea world filled with friends to make, puzzles to solve, clues to spot, and secrets that will become more apparent with each read, secrets which may take you months to find, or even longer. But, should you persevere, you will find that you have not only discovered some of our greatest mysteries, you may unearth the physical location of the Asylum Treasure itself:

You see, if you are reading this book, then you are already one of us...and you may not even know it yet.

But I know. This is your fate.

You may be a Plague Rat.

You may be an Inmate.

And when you accept your destiny, you will become one of the Royals of The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.

For we are the kings and the queens.

And this is our territory.

Somewhere in the world, the Spoon of the Royals lies waiting for you to find her. She is very old. And, like me, like you, she is still here.

Click here to learn about the Spoon of the Royals, how she was made, and what her jewels represent.

The Spoon is earth magic at its deepest, and she is waiting to be found. She wants to be found. And, perhaps, you are the one.

Within these pages, you already have your instructions. We encourage you to seek out online and offline groups of fellow readers as some mysteries may be better solved by the aid of multiple pairs of eyes and ears positioned around the world (the official Striped Stocking Society on Facebook is a very good place to start admission requirements here ). But, I promise you, everything you need to know to find the Spoon is already in your possession. And, if you should find her location, Emilie herself, the creator of this treasure, will be there to place the Spoon into your hands.

Welcome to the game.

Welcome to the Asylum.

Ah! A terribly practical note: While this eBook will read beautifully on all devices from e-readers to smartphones to laptops, tablets, and more, there are elements hidden within this book that will appear more readily on devices that allow for full-colour graphics, as well as the playback of audio and video. In addition, your device must be connected to the internet in order to experience all of the secrets that this eBook has to offer.

With a most sincere welcome from us all, and wishing you the very best of luck on your journey,

~ Sir Edward, Ambassador of the League of Asylum Plague Rats

The Asylum

for

Wayward Victorian Girls

A Novel

Emilie Autumn

Copyright 2008, 2011, 2012, 2017 by Emilie Autumn.

All words, graphics, and sounds created and solely owned by Emilie Autumn. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Eighteen tails of goodly length take the second and his mate skip two more and keep what's there jump another embrace the five that follow leap to the last. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Asylum Permissions Coordinator, at the email address below.

The Asylum Emporium

www.asylumemporium.com

Publishers Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the authors imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls / Emilie Autumn. 4th ed.

ISBN 9780998990903

hospital entry 1: suicide watch

It was the dog who found me.

I heard him crying outside the bathroom door, but the sound seemed very far away.

I wasnt there anymore.

I was lying in a field of tall, soft grasstall enough to hide me from anyone who came looking.

The grass moved around me, but there was no sound; I felt a soft blanket of tree-filtered sunlight wash over me , and I wanted to sleep forever.

I felt no fear, no panic; I felt relieved... relieved that I had made my decision and gone through with it, and now there was nothing left to do but wait and lay, wait and lay, wait and lay...

All my highs and lows, ups and downs, TO BEs or NOT TO BEs, were over at last.

I had no regrets.

I was at peace, and this was a sensation I hadnt known until that moment.

I was at peace...

I was at peace...

I was at peace...

Then, there were arms lifting me up, voices screaming in my ears, and I was being shaken violently while hydrogen peroxide was poured down my throat. There was no sunlight, no grassjust a dirty bathroom floor, and all I wanted was to go back to sleep.

I am standing in the back of the line at the Emergency Room, and I feel like a fraud.

Im not bleeding.

I can walk.

Ive been bribed.

I would never have come willingly had I not been threatened with the immediate cutoff of my psychiatric medication. And, just as a breakup is something that should never be done by phone, neither is being informed that you need to go to the insane asylum.

But it was.

Shrink: I cant see you anymore until you check yourself into a mental hospital.

Me: What? Why?

Shrink: Because the moment you tell me that you attempted suicide, I have no choice but to insist that you be kept under watch a minimum of seventy-two hours.

Me: Under watch? By whom? I dont need to be watched. I need my drugs.

Shrink: Then youd better get yourself to the hospital today. I cant refill your prescriptions after what youve done. I legally cant.

Me: Wait... just wait... you asked me how I was doing, and I told you. I told you because I thought I was supposed to be honest with you. I thought you were the one person that it was safe to be honest with. But its beginning to sound like youre the only one I really needed to lie to.

Shrink: Emilie, youre an extremely intelligent and talented young woman, but you are also very, very sick, and you need to be in a place where you can get better.

Me: Please... cant I just come in and talk to you? Show you that Im all right? I mean, Im not crazy ... at least, not in the way this looks like. There are real reasons, valid reasons why I did this to myself, and, you know what, Doctor? I stand by them. I believe anyone could have done the same in my place.

Shrink: No, you cant come in to see me. Or, rat her, you can, but if you do, you wont need a ride home because there will be an ambulance waiting to take you directly from my office to the hospital.