AN: Well, here's another story that came to my random thoughts. Yes I know it's short, but it's a prologue. Thank you for reading and leave a review if you have some time.
"When one creates phantoms for oneself, one puts monsters into this world. One must nourish these children of a voluntary nightmare with one's blood, one's life, one's intelligence, and one's reason, without ever satisfying them. Thus the reason we witness an emotion known as fear." -Eliphias Levi
~*~
It was late, he knew that. The concrete ceiling made the cell seem darker than it really was. The lights hanging from the ceiling were all dulled down for the night, but they still left a faint glow through the cracked, stone corridors and cells.
He had to have been tossing and turning for the past few hours now. Even though the Arkham beds were far from comfortable, it was still possible to fall into a deep sleep while laying in them. That was one thing Jonathan Crane did not, could not do.
For the past several nights, it was the same dream. A nightmare is a better word for it. He could never remember it when he awoke, but he always woke up screaming and with a cold sweat. It was that indignity that he couldn't bare. He was the Scarecrow, the master of fear. There was no way he would let some dream make him look foolish, even if he did have to stay up all night, there wasn't a thing anyone could do to make him fall back into a slumbering state.
He could feel his eyelids becoming heavy as he laid there, in the white bed, as the minutes slowly ticked by.
From down the long, dark hallways Arkham provided, some of the inmates where asleep, but most where laughing or screaming, nothing out of the ordinary for this hell hole. For any sane person, this would have made falling asleep quite difficult, if not almost impossible. However, Jonathan Crane was not a sane man. These familiar sounds almost enticed sleep to come. Especially the screaming. He could listen to that all night, but no was not the time for it.
With a quick movement, he rolled over once more. It didn't take long before he was almost literally shaking himself awake.
This idea was starting to feel ridiculous. Just because someone has a few nightmares doesn't mean one should never sleep again, right? After all those horrible dreams we call nightmares do show us all our personal fears. The ones you wouldn't tell anyone. They make us realize what we're truly afraid of.
As Jonathan lay on his back thinking this to himself, he didn't notice the weight of his eyes became to much to carry, and he went into a deep sleep.