The world outside the home is ever changing. Alice's house was built before she was born, on a plot that's part of an enormous government funded research project. Every evening all in her household must return to the house for a seven o'clock curfew.  At precisely ten o'clock the family is sedated and her house is lifted. By the next morning the house is moved to a new location, no less than seven hours away from where it was before. As a seven year old Alice has never fully understood where all the kids in the neighborhood go each day because what she sees out her front door is never the same.  Alice hardly knows math but has learned to read some of the magazines on her kitchen table. They are always the same ones. The only thing that ever seems to change on the inside of the house is the clock. The trash never gets full and the house is always clean.
Alice's best friend became her blue stuffed rabbit. She would often be made fun of for carrying it around by the kids she met. For this reason she gave up on trying to meet them. Routine seemed to control Alice. Every day was exactly the same but in a new place. When she asked her parents why she had to always be in the house at the same time they responded by saying "Everything will be okay just don't ask questions." Don't ask questions? That only lead her to want to know more. Every night she could only dream of the new place she'll wake up to.
On the eve of her eighth birthday Alice decided to leave the house and not return. She wanted to see what happened at night. Three blocks away from her house on this day was a bowling alley. Alice decided that she would hide in the bathroom until the next morning. Shortly after eleven o'clock that night she found herself woken up by the sound of footsteps. The room was dark except for a faint glow at floor level. She had fallen asleep on a tile floor but soon realized after waking up that the floor was no longer made of tile. The door began to open. The lights came on and Alice was overcome by fear. The room was white and standing in front of her was a man she had never seen before. He was dressed in a suit and sunglasses. The man had his arm out stretched. Alice grabbed his hand and followed him out the door. They walked together down a brightly lit white hallway.  It seemed to go on forever until they finally came to a wooden door. The man knocked three times and they stood waiting for it to open. The door opened and  Alice was blinded by the light in the room before her. She collapsed.
Upon waking up, Alice took a look at the clock on the desk in front of her. It read seven thirty. Her mother walked into the office like room with the man in the suit. Alice's head was filled with so many questions but had no idea where to start asking. Her head hurt and she passed out again. When she woke she found herself in her own bedroom. She had no recollection of what had happened over the last few hours. There was then a knock on the door. Both of her parents walked in holding a large cake with lettering that read "Happy Birthday Martha!" Martha? That wasn't her name was it? Maybe it was. She bolted out the door. A stack of gifts were on the table. She opened the front door. The grass was partly dead but it seemed familiar. Everything seemed familiar. A small child walked up to her and asked her to come play. She just stood there and looked at him. She then felt a hand on her shoulder. Martha jumped and spun around to see her father holding her stuffed rabbit. "Happy eighth birthday Martha", he said.
The next day she woke up to the smell of bacon. As she wandered out of her room she asked her mother where they were.  Her mother smiled for a long moment and said with a slight hint of question in her voice, "We're home silly." Martha walked to the front door but before opening someone knocked. The same small child from the day before was back. She invited him in for breakfast. The rest of her day was spent meeting the oh so familiar world around her.