Chapter 1

Dear Diary

Her heart fluttered, shuffled. Two steps ahead, as always, the man of her most recent dreams walked. Angel kept time with him, kept her black boots clicking on the linoleum, kept her highschool uniform bobbing pressed and perfect down the corridor. Together in secrecy they walked down the stark halls, passing by narrow windows set in heavy ugly doors. The white of his coat shone for her, a beacon in the dark mob of people. A doctor in a hospital; Dr. Cameron.

I think I love him

(snap)

It was a dream and a memory. Angie came back to herself in a private room inside Arkham Asylum, her young blond friend cowering beside her. The outside noise carried on; the lunatics had taken over in the night, and the chaos had yet to subside. Yet somehow, Angie had found sleep.

She glanced over to Jane; the girl shivered and clung to her like a life-raft, but she did seem to be sleeping. Poor little Jane. Jonnie sure had taken a shine to her; there'd been a time when Angie would have killed – well, figuratively – to be in that place, but seeing what it would have gotten her…she had changed her mind. Her love interests were often ill-conceived, and were in fact most of the reason she was in this 'hospital' to begin with, but even she had to admit she'd taken a near-fatal turn with Dr. Crane. Of course, he'd been alright at first…back when she'd really been messed up. She sighed, and tightened her arm around Jane's shoulders. Jane was a teenager, at least two years younger than Angie's twenty years, but she'd swear she was decades more mature. She'd known Crane for what he was right away; something it took Angie years to see.

It was love that had blinded her, and it was love that had brought her to the doctors' attention; not only Dr. Crane, but another doctor, a first doctor, a first love. Dr. Daniel Cameron; tall, dark and undeniably handsome. She tiredly remembered the affair, the unbelievable account of a seventeen-year old candy striper sleeping with a thirty-something oncologist. No one had understood, least of all her mother; she'd been ordered to move out of the house, and that doctor, once so smooth and sympathetic, had swiftly disappeared. It was nightmare Angie had witnessed echoes of here, in the Looney Bin.

Love was so unkind.

The details of that months-long fiasco could luckily be saved for a day more accommodating to melancholy; her thoughts naturally turned to the girl at her side. A frightening thing was happening to them, she could feel it. Angie had found her in Corridor F, huddled and chattering madly on the floor. She'd heard whispers as she'd approached…more than just Jane's, she'd been sure. When she'd come to her, there had been no one else present. The corridor bent at an odd angle, of course, so someone could have easily disappeared there, but they were underground. Where would a fellow escapee go from the basement?

A thump from the hallway outside Jane's room jolted Angie into the present again; the inmates had not calmed at all, after what seemed like an eternity. She would have thought there'd be more…well, escaping. From the sounds of it, the other criminal-types were more interested in robbing and pillaging rooms than in making a speedy exit. The thought froze her insides; the idea of what a crazy thug would do if he found them there, cowering alone like little girls. Some ends are hard to shake; the theme seemed to be a recurring one for both herself and Jane. It scared her, the way events grouped together; the way fate became Fate.

Fate led me here, led me to you

"Dear Diary," she murmured, in her exhaustion.

Dear Diary, today I met my psychiatrist. I think I love him.

His name is Jon. Jonathan Crane.

I think….

"I love him,' an eighteen-year old psychiatric patient said to her reflection. The amber-eyed brunette in the mirror could do nothing but agree.

This is the story of Angie Hearts Crane; the reasons she'd loved him, and the reasons he'd let her go without a fight.

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A/N :

So here it is, the first chapter of Angie's story. I think this one will be a little slower in coming than the last, as it's coming from a much different mind. Angie is a girl who loves to the max, too easily. She trusts immediately, and it's a part of her personality that somehow endears her to Dr. Crane. Expect a very different doctor at first; she will have a crush, remember, so we'll be seeing him through those rosy glasses. It's presented an a flashback-style format, and if I need to make the transitions clearer, let me know. I'll put up a few chapters this way, if no one comments on that, to let you get a feel for the way Angie thinks. In my eyes, Angie is flawed in some very apparent ways, especially in her dealings with Crane, but in the present-time parts of the story, she has come to realize her mistakes. Have patience, if her Mary Sue-like attraction annoys at first; I've tried to avoid making her into that, but if she seems that way now, she will come to her senses, believe me. I hope you enjoy it! I couldn't have come this far without the support of great writers and readers like you all.

- nH

p.s. - Bear Bum, my email is now displayed on my profile. Anyone else who wishes to contact me, too.