Chapter 4

Red.

I could taste red velvet in my mouth; Rich and devilishly dark. I swallowed over and over again, never tasting anything so perfect in my life. The taste faded after just a moment. The shades of red became endless, and I felt myself entangled in silk sheets the color of blood. Strange that I couldn't see very well, but god I was feeling everything. Everything I felt was…deliciously red.

I realized my body was stripped of all clothes, but the sheets kept me warm like a soft fire licking my body. I shamelessly rubbed my legs together and felt a heat rise in my chest. The scent of rose filled the air. My head fell back, and I rolled my shoulders against the warm bedding. I parted my lips and mixed the sounds of my uncontrollable moans with the roses, and the striking new scent of cotton.

Cotton?

Why am I seeing blue?

My eyes flew wide open, darting all around my bedroom. I needed to see, and I needed to feel what was real. I squeezed my blankets with my hands quite dramatically before noticing I was completely nude, and that I had thrown my clothes on the floor. What was worse, Crane was reading a book next to me. I felt intoxicated, but light as a feather and strangely confident.

"That was fun." He sighed. Little lights were scattered across the room, and I realized he had lit candles and closed the curtains while I slept. Crane put his book away and I held the blanket up to my chest, desperately trying to feel that warmth again.

"What just happened to me?" I rested my hand on Crane's shoulder, coming off a little friendlier than I wanted to. Crane looked at me with surprised eyes, but didn't pull himself away. His jaw seemed to tighten a little, and I wondered if he was angry with me. I couldn't help myself.

"Please tell me." I begged, but that came out wrong too, almost like a moan. I wasn't myself. Everything was wrong…and still red.

Crane removed his glasses. "We'll have to do something about the…Well this is lasting longer than I wanted it to."

The feeling was so bizarre. My limbs were loose, and I found myself throwing my head back and smiling just to feel my hair swing against my back. The blanket fell, exposing my chest as I stretched my arms into the air. I rested with a smile, and leaned on Crane.

"Ummm…" I trailed off, feeling him stiffen beside me. "Will you kiss me?"

His body eased up against me and I felt his arm snake around my hip, getting me even higher that I already was. I giggled, looking up at him like a fool. Crane hesitated slightly before leaning into me.

"Ow!" I screamed. His lips were only an inch away before I felt the sharp pressure in my shoulder. Crane didn't take his eyes off me, not even when he pulled out the needle from my body.

"Relax." He commanded softly before pulling away from me.

"Why do you keep poking me?" I whined.

"I'll bend you over and poke you with something harder if you don't finish coming down from this fucking drug already."

My eyes widened, and I pulled the blanket close to my body. When I looked at Crane, I noticed he was just as shocked as I was. He didn't say anything after that, but he started to look around a little hopelessly before quietly leaving for the bathroom. My mouth hung open, still unsure of what just happened or who that even was.

I felt terrible, like a sensitive child who had just been yelled at for the first time. A noise came from the bathroom and I started to worry, so I wrapped the blanket around myself like a towel and shuffled to the bathroom door. Thankfully I felt the effects of the drug wear away from that shot, and I started to feel a little more like myself.

"…begging for it, you should have just given it to her!"

"That's not what she's for."

I covered my face in horror. How many people were in that room? Is there someone else in my house?

"Crane?" I asked innocently before knocking lightly on the door. I waited for at least one agonizing minute.

There was no answer.

I knocked again, but still there was no answer. Slowly, I propped open the door and peaked through cautiously.

"Hello?"

When I opened the door all the way, I felt a cold breeze dance around my shoulders. Snow had fallen from the open window down to my bathtub. Dr. Crane had escaped.

"Oh fuck!"

I looked back and forth nervously before slapping myself in the face and screaming. How stupid could I be? No, I just should have fought, why didn't I fight him? Jesus, I never should have encouraged or talked to that man. How could I have been so stupid?

"Okay, it's going to be okay." I said nervously to myself, searching for my phone. I found it on my dresser and flipped through the contacts before seeing Jo's number and hitting call.

"Please answer, please." I gritted between my teeth and started pacing back and forth. Dropping the blanket, I ran to my door and frantically knocked it while still holding the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Jo!" I screamed before running back to the bathroom to lock the window. "Jo, I really need you right now."

"Are you alright? You sound a little drunk."

"Can you come over? What are you doing?"

There was a pause, but I waited patiently as I secured the lock on my bedroom window.

"I'm out and about anyways; I'll come out as soon as I can."

I breathed in deep. "Oh thank you so much," I said before hanging up the phone and tossing it on my bed. The candles were still lit, so I went around the room and blew them away one by one. While waiting for Jo, I flipped through my closet like a maniac in search for clothes. In truth, I had a lot to wear, but I had to keep my mind busy before exploding.

"Anything but fucking red," I mumbled before tossing away a crimson colored sweater and settling for grey. I clapped my hands together like a kid; a strange nervous tick. After pacing around for what seemed like forever, I ran to my kitchen and started to make coffee. Actually, I had to catch myself from making sugar water because I accidentally poured a whole cup of the stuff into the coffee filter.

"Calm down, calm down," I whispered while fixing my stupid mistake. Mira, I don't think you need any coffee right now.

I ran to my couch and turned on the TV, hoping that would make me feel better. It didn't, so I just sat there tapping my feet while watching some family sitcom. It definitely wasn't funny, and I found myself turning cynical.

Thirty minutes. Thirty agonizing minutes I felt tick away as I glanced from the TV to the clock.

"Mira?" I heard her voice followed by a knock. "Jesus did you deadbolt this shit?" I jumped from the couch and ran over to unlock the door while listening to Jo struggle.

"I'm sorry!" I said and let her in.

"Mira, you look like shit run over twice." She commented casually before tossing her handbag onto the couch. Her yellow hair was smoothed out nicely past her shoulders, and she smelled of vanilla and lavender. I hoped I didn't interrupt anything important on account of her lovely attire and pristine makeup.

"I did something stupid; very stupid." I began, taking a seat on the floor while I watched her relax on the chair. "It's about Arkham."

Jo sighed and dropped her head while closing her eyes. "I could have guessed."

"Jonathan Crane escaped from the asylum and got into my house."

Her eyes opened back up and her jaw dropped in horror. "What, when? Oh my god, was he just here?" She got up from the chair and started looking around in the kitchen for signs of him.

"I mean, it was a bit ago. Yeah?" I responded, trying to keep up with her as she started opening closets and peeking into the other rooms. She flung open the bathroom door with so much force that I thought it would break. Suddenly, she turned around and grabbed my shoulders.

"What did he do to you?"

I shivered. "He asked me some questions and gave me a shot of some drugs. Uh, it wasn't anything too bad. Actually, they felt really good."

Jo frowned, still squeezing my shoulders. She didn't seem too angry, more like an older sister who couldn't figure out if she should be pissed or caring. "Other than that?"

I shook my head. She mumbled something I couldn't hear as she started rubbing her temples. God, I was giving her a head ache. I shouldn't feel so bad about it after all the times I had to talk her out of past situations. However, I think one criminal probably equates to about ten bad break ups. Too bad she just had the three or four.

"You work tonight, don't you?"

I nodded my head.

"Let's sit down." Jo patted my back lightly before we made ourselves comfortable on the bed, turning on some television and settling down like two girls at a sleep over. Josephine Preston was my best friend in nursing school, and while our schedules aren't the best, it was still nice to see her whenever we got the chance. We were opposites, but that made the friendship even more fun.

"I've heard some things about Jonathan Crane; like some up to date rumors."

"Up to date?"

"Oh yeah." She went on, fumbling through a bag of chips. "After they put him back in Arkham, he started experiencing some extravagant symptoms."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, he's got split personality bad. We knew that already, but from what that nurse told me…it's like he's thirty percent Crane and seventy percent scarecrow." I didn't like the way she was talking about him. I wasn't sure if it was how casual she was about a man who was suffering or if I was just being weird.

"He wasn't experiencing any symptoms of that degree under my watch, at least not at night. But…I guess that's not what worries me the most."

"What's that?" Jo wrapped up the chips and focused her attention on me.

"When I told my supervisor that he escaped, she just blew it off."

She sighed. "Well it's Arkham, so I'm not surprised; renovate this and natural drug that. Like that's going to fool anyone."

"I love how no one here knows what a HIPAA law is." I rolled my eyes. It was illegal for medical staff to share information about patients with anyone besides themselves. However, Arkham Asylum was a place and not a patient. Despite that, I did sign a confidentiality agreement. I guess I just broke that, but I'm going to assume I wasn't the only one.

"Just be cool tonight, Mira. Besides, you make bank working with mental patients, so make enough money to live on for awhile before putting your two weeks."

Suddenly I felt overwhelmed. "I just want to call in sick."

Jo grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. "No, you can't. Listen; don't tell them about your involvement with Crane. Go to work like normal. Ask no questions and bullshit your way through anything they wanna know. It's getting kinda late and you need to get dressed."

She threw off the blanket and hopped off the bed. I was tired, and too lazy to walk her to the door. "I'll call you later." I said. She stopped, halfway out the bedroom door.

"Mira? If Crane comes back..." Jo sighed and tapped the edge of the door in thought. "Just be smart."

"Sure." I said flatly. Jo whispered good bye and shut the door softly.

I glanced at the clock, forever hating those red numbers. Jo was right, it was getting late and it was almost time to go back to the asylum.

"Fuck." I whispered and closed my eyes for a short second. Somehow, everything was still red.