Recovering Victim
Jenna was back in the Narrows. The thick cloud of fear toxin made it difficult to see ten feet in any direction and made the Narrows more frightening than ever. Jenna turned at the sounds of screaming and saw people running around, biting and clawing at themselves and each other as though their lives depended on it. She heard a horse neigh and turned to see Scarecrow riding a fire breathing demon horse. She ran and he chased after her. She ran, and she ran, and she ran, passing people killing each other or pushing back others in their attempt to get away from the Master of fear. Jenna turned a corner and saw a lone woman, bravely standing tall, knocking out Arkham inmates and Narrows residents who had gone mad from fear. Jenna watched her in awe… until she saw some faceless assailant heading toward the woman, with a knife in hand. Jenna screamed to get the woman's attention, but her cries were lost in the screams and cries of the scared and fearful innocents who had fallen victim to the cruelty of insanity. The woman turned around and faced the masked murderer, just as the knife descended into her chest.
"NO!" Jenna screamed, walking up from her nightmare. But it wasn't a nightmare, she reminded herself, it wasn't a nightmare because it was real. It wasn't some terrible creation of her mind, she had seen these things in the Narrows months ago; all except for her mother's death that is. Jenna pulled her knees to her chest. She was very conflicted about that part of her nightmares. It tore Jenna apart to imagine what the last moments of her mother's life must've been like; being stabbed while trying to help and save the innocent, and dying young, far from her family and friends for comfort. A part of Jenna wishes she had been there for her mother, just so that she wouldn't have had to die alone. However, another part was glad that she hadn't witnessed it. God knew she was screwed up enough and Jenna doubted seeing her mother stabbed before her would've helped to solve her many problems. The only problem she could think of it solving was the mystery of her mother's killer's identity. There had been no fingerprints on the knife and no one in their right mind had seen the killer. Jenna had no idea if it was an Arkham inmate or a mentally unstable innocent acting out of fear. She didn't know if the killer was young, old, male, female, height, appearance, nothing. The killer had been a phantom, taking care of her mother and then vanishing without a trace. Jenna, now wide awake, got out of bed and wandered down the hall to Rachel and Harvey's bedroom. She hadn't woken them and they were still sleeping peacefully, dreams undisturbed by the horrors of Scarecrow's Fright Night. Jenna wanted to talk to someone but knew that it wasn't fair to wake them considering how much sleep they already lost over their jobs. She crept back into her room, trying to be quiet and not wake them, and opened her phone. There weren't many names in her contacts. Angel (Jenna's throat tightened at the thought of her friend), Alfred (Asleep), Bruce (Out on Patrol), Danny. Jenna stopped at Danny. Danny was about as nocturnal as she was, but she didn't get much sleep and if she was, Jenna wasn't going to deprive her of it. Jenna shut her phone and set if back on her nightstand and fell back on her bed, tired yet unable to go to sleep with her mind sill buzzing with the shrieks of fear and pain. Glancing around her room, her eyes stopped at her window, which led out to the fire escape. Jenna put on her slippers and robe, opened the window, and stepped outside onto the platform, feeling the cool city wind on her face. She looked down at the cars and lights below her. If NYC was the city that never sleeps, what did that make Gotham? The Nocturnal City? Jenna sighed.
"You should be asleep," rasped a familiar voice next to her. Jenna jumped and saw the Batman standing right next to her. Jenna rolled her eyes at him and groaned.
"Don't do that. And besides, I want to sleep but I can't."
"Nightmares." It was a statement, not a question, but Jenna nodded anyway.
"How did you get over yours?" Jenna asked. Bruce had told her about the nightmares of him falling into the Batcave as a kid, as well the memories of his parents' deaths.
"I faced my fears." Jenna looked back at the city and sighed.
"Well, I can't repeat the Fright Night and I don't think I want to meet Scarecrow again any time soon, so how exactly do I–" Jenna turned back to the Batman, but stopped when she realized he had vanished. She sighed again. "I hate it when he does that." Jenna pondered over how she could face the horrors of Fright Night without the Scarecrow and his fear toxin. Jenna's eyes wandered over to her pile of movies and a thought struck her. She pulled out every horror movie that she owned, got out her laptop, and inserted Halloween. Jenna didn't go back to sleep that night, but the next night was the first time she'd slept a full eight hours since her mother's death.
