When we are children, we believe that the world is pure and safe. Or at least, we are expected to.
- A door busts open. -
We believe in stories about pirates and princesses, and the rules of sharing and saying your 'Please and Thank You's'.
- "No! ...I said NO!" -
Things are simple, and when we ask questions we get answers that ignorantly satisfy us.
- "Dick! Please, PLEASE! G-" -
When people were good, we trust them and remain loyal to them like proud soldiers, or the holders of the most important secrets in the world.
- Another boy somewhere in the back yells, but it's faint, like he's in a cave. His voice echoes. -
And if they are bad and the trust is broken, we believe that it is the saddest, most evil act of betrayal and we do not forgive, but we do forget.
- Something shoves you, makes the world spin tight. -
In childhood, everything and everyone lives forever. There is no blanket covering a 'darkness', because it doesn't exist.
- Something heavy drops. Thud! -
Our dreams are not that kind.
- "...Riiiiichaaaaaard!" –
...!
"AHH! Ah-hunhg! ...Huhn ...huh..."
x
Part Two: The Beautiful Bird
(Caw.)
"O-Oh god..." Richard breathed.
Whoever she was, she was ready to jump off the bed and murder him, he knew it. He had accidentally snuck into a patient's bedroom because he was too scared and too stupid to follow Kory's direction.
"Oh, Sweet..."
Then he heard a gasp and it momentarily broke Richard out of his horrific state. Whoever the room belonged to suddenly stopped moving toward him, and the air grew still. The kind of still you feel when you stand in a cemetery or a library filled with overly-stressed people. You don't want to make a sound because you're afraid of setting someone off, even if no one is paying attention to you. It's just the presence of something dark and pathetically awkward.
Richard dared his eyes to move up and stare at the outline of the figure in the moonlight that was pouring weakly through the only, curtain-less window. Why was there no curtain? He thought side-tracked for a bit. He focused on the figure again. He realised it was a woman. A small woman.
"Y..." she started, quickly terrified, "Y-you're not a nurse! I th-thought-!"
Her attitude changed, Richard noticed, when she realised he wasn't a worker at the hospital. She'd had been hostile, almost sounded cruel. Now she turned kitten when she noticed his hospital night clothes. Only patients wore the dull, gray pyjamas. And they were all wary and suspicious of each other being murderers. She backed away.
Richard was about to open his mouth when the sound of footsteps began to sound in the distance outside the door. All he could think was, Oh shit, no! Not the third floor!, as he scrambled from the floor. When he'd shut the door behind him, he fell against it and slid down to rest. Now he couldn't.
"Please," he whispered desperately. "Don't tell them I'm here, I asking you! I didn't mean to-!"
"But you're a patient," she whispered, interrupting him. "You ...A-aah I-!"
"Please!"
The room was dark and small like his. There wasn't anywhere to hide because the only things in it were her bed and a table with a chair and a pile of sheets in one corner. Richard wanted to see her face but the lack of light obscured his vision and all he could make out was her short hair, skinny arms and shaking frame. She didn't respond to him for a couple seconds as the steps came closer by the door. His heart was pounding loud enough that he swore she could hear it.
Then finally she froze stiff and peeped out, "Okay."
Mild relief washed over Richard and as the steps finally crossed over the path of the girl's door, he held his breath and stood still. It felt like an eternity as the two patients waited for the worker to pass. The steps were like slow beats of a metronome, drilling into Richard's heart and making girl believe every tick was a countdown to the time when they were gone and this boy would kill her in her own room.
They stood facing each other in the dark. Neither moved or made a breath in the dark. Their two bodies outlined in the shadows for one another with the same, mutual fear of what would happen next. When the footsteps sounded far off enough for them to move again, Richard exhaled softly. The girl didn't move an inch.
The seconds tick by and Richard eyed what was of her face suspiciously. He knew he shouldn't have spoken but suddenly his mouth got the best of him.
"Thank you..." he whispered cautiously and started to back towards the door. He knew like her, that anyone who wore a patient gown was not to be trusted. Not everyone was like he believed Kory to be. There were certainly people with mental illnesses who belonged here. But then she spoke again, slowly, and for the first time, he noticed the scratchy, high-pitched tone of her voice.
"I... helped you because you reached out to me ...that day," she whispered loud enough for him to hear. Richard had his hand on the door, ready to ignore her comment and leave her once and for all. But the words stuck with him. I reached out her...? Then he realised. Richard turned his head as the door fully opened and his foot was halfway through the threshold.
"R...Rachel?" he breathed softly. But she was already crossing the length of her home and putting a hand on the door, ready to close it.
"Please. Go before you're caught," and with an unintentional touch of his arm (which felt like fire to him) she pressed him over the expanse and closed the door quickly behind him.
Richard was speechless but couldn't delay his movements. He quickly tip-toed back to his room and as he fell into sleep, he replayed the day when Kory had kicked the girl in the stomach and he'd bent down to help her.
-x-
Next morning
Richard woke up drenched in sweat, laying there for some moments in the pale sunlight. It had been days since the sun penetrated through the cloud barrier. Groaning he pushed himself out of bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. It must be past mid-morning hour... he thought to himself and so he waited for his scheduled nurse to knock on his door and escort him to breakfast.
In the living room, Rachel sat still and unmoving in her seat on the hard couch with her frazzled-looking nurse beside her. The nurse was mumbling off the day's news and requests for her but Rachel was unresponsive. Like a China doll, she was glaze-eyed, pale and had her head tilted, looking into the unlit fireplace in front of her where the ashes from last night's log had burned brightly. She wouldn't know that though. She wasn't allowed out after dark.
"...and so I've got to restock all the medicine because, ha, even with my constant diligence I still appear to be scatterbrained at such an age!" her nurse laughed. Rachel perked and up nodded her head timidly, as if to pretend that she was listening. The nurse started to get up and Rachel followed.
"Ah, like I said, Miss Rachel," the nurse said calmly while raising a hand to signal Rachel not to follow. "I'll only be gone for a few moments, s-so just relax." And with that the nurse began to head around the couch to head back out into the hallway.
Rachel sighed inwardly. Finally she had time to herself. As long as she didn't make eye contact with anyone and remained silent. But fate had another way of playing with her.
Richard walked into the living room with his nurse – today it was a skinny, old-aging nurse who held his arm more for support than for guidance. She mumbled something quite loud for Rachel's ear to pick up on.
"So please, Richard," she began with a voice, creaky like the floorboards of the hospital. "I will return shortly ...and do not attempt to talk to that other patient. She does not like it." When she turned, Rachel's nurse caught up to her and together they departed, thinking the two teenagers would remain silent and afraid of each other enough not to start anything.
'Yeah right,' Richard thought and he began to walk towards the couch Rachel was sitting at. He did not go to sit on it beside it but stood in front of the dead fireplace. So many questions ran through his head. Would anyone find out he'd snuck out the night before? Was Kory in any danger? Would he see her again? Would Garfield get in trouble if they were found out? What about ...Rachel?
He couldn't recognise her in the dark before expect for the outline of her body to know who she might be. But when Richard took a glance at the tiny girl that was sitting at the couch beside him, he stopped. Now, in the sunlight of the living room he could see Rachel for who she was. She had a head of short, black hair and pale skin. The bruise on her forehead was prominent, like a faded smudge of ink left right in the middle of her forehead, where Indian 'third-eyes' were placed.
When she turned and saw him, she widened her eyes slightly before timidly fidgeting with her hospital dress and looked down. Richard regarded her with the same aura of caution but he couldn't help the tenderness inside him that suddenly peaked out. She was very beautiful, despite the unhealthy disposition and unappealing clothes.
He knew he shouldn't have spoken but suddenly his mouth got the best of him and before he knew it, Richard was breaking the one house rule. He took a step toward her.
"A- ...are you cold?" he asked quietly. His voice was hoarse and deep from not speaking to anyone since last night. She nodded. Feeling confident, Richard went to start a fire in the pit. Once it was going, Rachel bravely got up and went to stand near it, more intrigued by the increasing light and warmth than her fear of the boy. They stood side by side in silence watching the flames. Richard found it was easy to fall into comfortable silence with her. Maybe because she was about his age, and that he understood that everything that was happening to them was unfair.
"I haven't seen fire in so long," she said quietly back to Richard. Her voice was still scratchy, but desperate. Thinking she was crying, Richard turned his head to hers, getting lost in her strange purple eyes. He raised his eyebrows.
"But they light it every night after dinner," he replied softly. They couldn't risk getting caught. But she shook her head and kept watching the flames.
"I'm not allowed out after dinner," she spat with bitterness. "After what I did, I- ...I'm not allowed to be near fire." Richard said nothing but felt his heart race. And again, despite his better judgement he spoke words he hadn't meant to say out loud.
"I'm sorry," he began in a low voice. Unsure of what she might do, he kept his gaze on the flames. She spoke again.
"It's alright ...I know I deserve it it's just ...if I wanted to be honest with myself, I ...i-it just doesn't seem right." At this, Richard turned his head. "You know ...me too. I've felt ever since I arrived here that something wasn't right also." She lifted her head for the first time to stare at Richard with a fiery look.
"Are you...?"
Richard nodded his head as he made a fist. He wanted to appear strong on his opinion, but he felt more like the energy was being sucked out of him. He exhaled a long breath.
"I knew it. I knew I wasn't the only one," she whispered erratically. A rush of electricity shot down Richard's spine. He hadn't felt renewed in such a long time. With a determined nod, he looked at the girl seriously.
"I don't remember anything about the night m- ...my parents died," Richard began slow and unsure. His voice may have been returning, but the private, dark memories of his heart had never been uttered before. He was afraid, but she was too. Her eyes were still wide.
"There was a fire when mine..." she started but stopped. Was she wrong to tell this boy? She had never told anybody but something about him made her feel safe. Richard watched her through sad blue eyes. She was here because she lost her parents too. As the fire started to go out, they heard noises of people who sounded like they were coming to the living room. Richard blinked and began to move away but Rachel grabbed his wrist quickly.
"Come to my room tonight," she whispered.
Richard gave her a blank look before he nodded his head, agreeing. They had much to discuss about the suspiciousness of Arkham. When she let go of his wrist, they both moved away from each other. Rachel sat back down on the couch and fell into a daze-like state and Richard pretended to be lost in thought from looking out a window. He was, partly – his mind was ticking and anxious for the first time in what felt like years.
He thought about that night, his parents, Doctor Slade, the house, and mostly about Rachel, the girl he'd just met and who he would see again come nightfall.
(The birds are coming.)
A/N: YESSS! Part Two, it's about freaking time! :D Finally RobRae madness begins, I know I know! I suck! But I was having MAJOR meltdowns as to where this story was going.I almost didn't want to update this! But I'm glad I did ...and I have no words for how incredibly exhausted I am from configuring all this. I'll leave your thoughts to yourself until my next update this Thrusday. Thanks for reading!
Oh but I will say, Pamela was Poison Ivy. Sorry if that was terribly misguided lol. She was the last guess in the game for this fic. I don't think I'll add any more - sorry if that was the only reason for why you were reading this! I just don't feel the need to cameo Batman's arch villains anymore because this story will be heavily narrowed from here. Mkay?
