Chapter 18
I do not own Batman Begins or any relating characters
XXX
The nurse closed and locked the ugly grey door as soon as Layla entered her room. It was a dumpy little place - there were two uncomfortable-looking beds, the same color as the door, and a tiny bathroom in the corner, which only contained a toilet shielded by a curtain for privacy. There were no windows to be seen.
"Oh, lookie here!" said a voice from across the room. A figure rose out of the covers in the other bed, only to reveal herself as a girl - she appeared to be about Layla's age - with extremely long, straggly blonde hair and a pair of piercing blue eyes. They reminded Layla of Crane's. "They finally trust me with a roommate again, hmm. Ya think they will after they see these?" said the girl - Layla assumed she was the "Rachel" the nurse had been referring to. She pointed down to her arm, where fat droplets of blood were trickling out of fresh, zig-zag cuts running from her wrist to her forearm.
Layla stayed calm, remembering what she'd learned in her short time at Stanford about dealing with patients who hurt themselves. "Why'd you do that to yourself?"
"I am an ar-tist," said Rachel giddily, leaving her bed and bowing in Layla's direction. "My body is my canvas. After all, they don't give us crayons in here." She began to laugh, a giggling, high-pitched squeal that Layla already knew was going to bother her. "So what's ya name, toots? I'm Rachel LaBelle." She said her last name as though she was singing it.
"Layla Baker," Layla replied, completely unfazed by Rachel's obvious insanity. It seemed the only person who had the ability to make her feel unsettled at this point was Crane, but he wasn't here. Right now, she just felt numb.
"Theeee Layla?" said Rachel, her eyes suddenly going really wide. "I've seen ya alllllllllll over the TV! Bruce Wayne's little prodigy, eh? Was it him who stuck you in this shithole?" she asked with a giggle. She did not wait for Layla to respond, but instead continued, "I heard ya were taken by Crane. I met him before... kept to himself at meals, mostly. Kinda a pompous jerk if ya ask me." Rachel paused to blow a lock of greasy hair out of her face. "Did he drive you psycho with his fear shit?"
"Not exactly," said Layla with a smirk. "I'd tell you what really happened, but then I'd have to kill you."
Rachel simply burst out laughing. "Is that a threat or a pro-mise?" she challenged, twirling in circles around the room. There was obviously something seriously off with this girl, but in a way, Layla kind of liked her. "I'ma good secret keeper, if ya wanna know the truth." Rachel winked.
"Maybe I'll tell you some other time," said Layla, immediately changing the subject. "You don't seem very angry to me," she commented.
"Should I be?" asked Rachel.
Layla shrugged. "That nurse told me you have anger issues."
"Oh, yeah, sure do," said Rachel with a roll of her eyes. "I'm just happy right now!" she squealed.
"Right," said Layla, taking a seat on her bed. She spotted a deck of cards nearby Rachel and pointed to them. "Do you know how to play bullshit?" she asked.
Rachel glanced in the direction Layla was pointing, and exclaimed, "Sure do! Swiped these goodies from the nurse's station, they don't pay attention to shit half the time."
XXX
When dinnertime rolled around, the same nurse from earlier came and escorted Rachel and Layla to the dining hall - which, as it turned out - was as white and as dull as every other hall in the entire building. It was over large, and there were dozens of unused and half-broken chairs scattered all over the place. Very irritable guards stood by every exit, and the food prepared for that evening looked like a mixture of overcooked kidney beans and some type of dry meat that looked similar to chicken. After the first taste, Layla decided quickly that she would be going to bed on an empty stomach.
Twenty minutes into dinner, there was a loud CRASH by the shitty salad bar, and Layla turned only to see Rachel screaming at the top of her lungs in the face some guy with far too many tattoos.
"YOU FUCKER, YOU TOUCH MY ASS AGAIN AND I SWEAR I'LL SLASH YOUR FUCKING THROAT-"
A number of staff gathered around her, yelling and grabbing her arms and legs. She had to be sedated before they could remove her from the cafeteria.
With Rachel gone, Layla was left sitting alone at the table, making her a prime target for other patients who spotted her and realized she was new. But then again, that's sort of what she wanted to happen; more acquaintance time with the other patients, especially those from Ward A.
Within minutes, just as Layla had predicted, she was joined at her empty table by a large man with a lot of muscle who had small cut marks written across his entire body. Layla assumed they were self-inflicted.
"Um, hello," she said guardedly. "What's your name...?"
"Victor Zsasz," answered the man. He had a low, growling voice that was quite intimidating. Layla thought his name sounded familiar, though.
She cleared her throat nervously. "Um, I'm Layla. Layla Baker."
"Layla Baker," said Victor slowly, as though relishing the taste of her name on his tongue. "You're something of a celebrity around here."
"My roommate told me that, um, she saw me on TV-"
"Bruce Wayne's little princess, kidnapped by the scary Doctor Crane."
"Right," said Layla flatly. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking..." she began, her eyes scanning Victor's deformed skin, "what's with all the marks...?"
"Victor," said a deep, unfamiliar voice. A white-haired man with dark brown eyes and a rather indifferent expression appeared at the end of their table, "You know that Ward A patients shouldn't be communicating with Ward B patients."
"Cut me some slack, Doc," answered Victor. "I was just giving her an introduction, she's new," he continued, with a sly smile.
"I'm aware, Mr. Zsasz, please return to your table," answered the man calmly.
Victor flipped him off before returning to his own table with the rest of the Ward A residents. The man then turned to Layla and remarked, "You sure do know how to make friends, Miss Baker."
Layla disregarded his comment. "Who are you?"
"I'm Doctor Kozol, your psychiatrist," he said, flashing a tiny smile.
"I thought psychiatrists didn't come in on weekends."
"Not usually," explained Kozol, "but Bruce Wayne gave me a call this afternoon and requested that I come in. He's very worried about you." In other words, Bruce's fucking "donations" were becoming identical to the word "bribe."
"That's nice," said Layla bitterly, "but I'd like to sign myself out now. I only came here to shut Bruce up, I'm fine."
"Well, you could sign yourself out right now if you'd like, but there's still a seventy-two hour period that you would have to stay here until you can be reevaluated," Kozol explained coolly.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Layla irritably.
Kozol shook his head. "I'm afraid not."
Layla glanced up when she heard the rumbling of feet from the other tables. The rest of the patients were being escorted back to their cells/rooms now, so she said, "I think it's time for me to go back to my room."
"It's all right, I'll escort you back myself," said Kozol. "Let's just talk for a bit. How have you been feeling, Miss Baker?"
Oh God, the typical psychiatrists' line. "I've been fine."
"I heard you've had a particularly stressful last few weeks."
"Not really," Layla disagreed. "I mean, I'm sure Bruce told you all about my terrible and traumatic kidnapping, but whatever, I'm back. And I wasn't driven into insanity obviously, so being here is completely pointless. A waste of your time and mine, Doctor."
Kozol remained very calm. "I'm only here to help you, Miss Baker."
Oh, shut the hell up. "I'd like to sign myself out now. Three days isn't that long to wait, I guess." She drummed her fingers atop the table in exasperation, while Kozol simply observed her for a moment, before finally saying,
"All right, I'll arrange the paperwork and meet with you tomorrow morning, is that all right?"
"Actually, I'd prefer toni-"
"Excellent, Miss Baker, it was nice meeting you," interrupted Kozol, reaching out and grasping Layla's hand to shake it. He then left the cafeteria in a hurry, and a young male nurse came to take his place and escort her back to her room.
Layla could already tell her and this Kozol asshole weren't going to get along very well.
XXX
Review? :)