"It's good to see you're in good spirits today Michelle. What's caused your good mood?"
Chance smiles at Dr Carver.
"Oh, you know...I've just been thinking a lot lately."
"What do you think about?"
Well, Eddie kept me up all night with riddles so...
"About stuff my friend told me."
"Good to hear. Focusing your violent thoughts on Positive memories is a sign of improvement."
Chance shifts uncomfortably in the strait jacket.
"So, just out of curiousity, why did I have to go to solitary on Monday if I've been patient of the year or whatever?"
"Solitary is protocol as punishment for vandalism."
Chance frowns and raises an eyebrow.
"What did I destroy?"
"One of the books. It was last in your cell."
"Which one?"
Carver flips thru her notes for a moment.
"Lord of the flies."
"But I haven't read that in years. Why would it be in my cell?"
The doctor raises her hands in a sign of surrender.
"Don't ask me. You've been punished, Lets put this behind us."
Chance pauses thoughtfully.
"So, how did they know it was from my cell?"
"Your name was on the check out sheet."
"I didn't..."
"The floor guard is in charge of releasing books to the inmates. He wrote down that it went to you last. Now if we can move on..."
...
Chance is roughly shoved into her cell before the Plexiglass door closes behind her. She rubs her sore arm in annoyance and walks over to sit down on her cot. She stops herself from sitting down when she sees a speck of paper poking out from under her blanket. Careful not to damage the paper, Chance pulls down the blanket and silently gasps. Chance carefully picks up the oragami rose and examines it closely. She quickly realizes that it isn't ordinary paper but rather several crosswords. As she holds it close to her face, she catches the faint scent of honeysuckle. Chance sniffs the inside of the rose and catches the scent of honeysuckle perfume.
"How was therapy today?"
Chance blushes slightly and turns to face the hole in the wall.
"Eddie, this has to be the single most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen...you know that we're still just friends, right?"
"How could I forget the good doctor five cells down?"
"Then what's the rose for?"
"A simple gesture of my appreciation of your fathomless beauty. Do you know what today is?"
"Um...it's February right?"
Nigma chuckles slightly.
"Yes. My apologies. It is near impossible to keep any track of time in this cage. You've been here for approximately twenty three days."
Chance pauses for a moment.
"Valentines already?"
"Yes. Didn't Jeckyl or Hyde tell you?"
Chance looks at the rose.
"No...but it doesn't matter. We don't celebrate most holidays. They are a waste of time and energy."
"Is that your opinion or his? Because I know for a fact that you happen to love most holidays. Especially this one. Even though you never got anything, you always hoped that someone would give you a simple rose."
"How do you know all that?"
Nigma smirks. "You told me last year."
"Oh...well thank you Eddie. This means a lot."
"It's no trouble."
Chance sniffs the rose and smiles warmly before a thought hits her. "Oh Eddie, did someone come in my cell last week?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"What part of your body will grow next month?"
Chance freezes. "That Harriet girl?"
"I believe the media friendly name is March Hare."
Chance silently curses.
"What did she do?"
"I had trouble seeing but based on security footage of this floor I'd say she tampered with your small library."
Chance sets down the rose and stands before walking over to the small stack of books on a chair across the cell. She skims thru the titles.
"Poe, 1984, Freak the mighty, Macbeth, Modest proposal, Alice in..."
Chance pulls out the alien book and sees a marker inside. She flips the book open to the marker and rolls her eyes at the title of A mad tea party. What interests her more is the book page used as a bookmark. After close examination she concludes the page is from sleepy hollow. A book that she had banned from her book collection three years ago for obvious reasons. Once sure that there's nothing out of the ordinary with the page, she crumpled it and tosses it under her cot. Chance sits back down on the cot and looks thru the hole in the wall.
"Why didn't you tell me that little...witch was in here?"
"You didn't ask."