Chapter Five:
Blinding white lights caused Skyler to scrunch her eyes shut as soon as she opened them. She thought, for a short and blissful moment, that maybe she'd died and gone to heaven. After all, what else could explain why she was surrounded by lights so bright it felt like they were burning through her?
Then the pain set in. Her body felt as though someone had hit her repeatedly with a baseball bat and her head was pounding. She thought that she might throw up and had to roll onto her side to try and make the nausea dissipate.
A steady repitition of thoughts thrummed through her: Where was she? and What had happened last night? and Where was she?!
She dared to crack her eyes open again, squinting through the brightness only to realize that she was definitely not in heaven. It took a couple more blinks for the room around her to pixelate into view.
She was in a metal bed with starched white sheets. White sterile walls surrounded her and on the wall in front of her hung a generic pale blue sail boat painting.
Her neck tensed up as she turned to get a better look at the room. To her left was a worn-down wooden chair and, past that, a window that showed that she was a couple of floors up from the parking lot outside. To her right was a blue granite counter and cabinets.
On top of the counter were glass jars with qtips and cotton balls and tongue dispensers inside.
She pushed herself higher up on her pillow and felt a pull against her inner arm. Her heart sped up as she realized that an IV had been stuck into her vein.
She was in a hospital.
Panick set in.
Why was she in a hospital?
She tried to remember anything from the night before but it was all a blur of random moments. The last thing she could remember clearly was stepping out of the elevator and into the bar.
The bar- What had happened at the bar?
Her breath increased rapidly as a panic attack started over her. The heart rate monitor beside the bed started beeping crazily. The lines jumping rapidly up and down.
A nurse rushed into the room.
"Everything's okay." she ushered in a silky, calm voice. "I just need you to take some deep breaths for me. In through the nose and out through the mouth."
She demonstrated for Skyler who replicated what the nurse doing. It helped a little.
"What happened?" Skyler asked, her voice sounding raw to her own ears, "why am I here?"
A flash of pity quickly raced through the nurses eyes.
"Someone will be in here very soon to talk to you about that."
Skyler could't understand why she couldn't talk to her about it but her tongue felt heavy. She didn't want to waste her energy arguing.
Almost as if he could hear the nurse saying this, a middle aged man with graying brown hair and a moustache came into the room.
His glasses framed his warm brown eyes and Skyler took in his dark brown coat and tie as he positioned the chair beside the bed to face towards her before sitting himself in it. Whoever he was, he gave off an authoritative vibe that normally would have made Skyler nervous, but there was also something about him that calmed her.
"Miss Barduga, I'm Commisioner Gordon of the Gotham police department."
Skyler's heart stopped. Something serious had to have happened for the commisioner to make a special visit.
He unfolded the newspaper that he had in his hands, showing her the front page. A huge picture took up the bulk of it and for a moment she didn't understand why he was even showing it to her.
The picture was of Batman crouching in glass on a carpeted floor. Glass. Glass was everywhere. He was hovering over a girl, supporting her with his arm and his knee and looking into her face... Skyler let out a small gasp of disbelief as recognition washed over her. He was looking into her face. She couldn't quite grasp what she was seeing. The girl in the picture was her. In the photo her eyes were open and dazed, looking directly into the Batman's almost lovingly. It was a beautifully shot, Batman hovering protectively over a girl in a beautiful beaded dress, but it made her want to scream. How could she not remember?
She opened her mouth to speak but had to close it and take a breath before trying again.
"I- I don't understand."
And then Gordon revealed the top portion of the newspaper, the headline.
Batman: Out of Hiding to Save Secret Lover!?
Skyler found the headline to be comical. What a cliche! And yet, she couldn't bring herself to laugh.
"Do you remember what happened last night?" the Commisioner asked warmly, no accusation in his voice whatsoever.
She again tried to think about what had happened at the bar. Slowly, blurry visions popped into her head in quick bursts. "We've got our Rachel"..."Let her go"... "Batman. Batman. BATMAN!"
Dorian's face appeared in her mind and her heart felt as though it was about to shatter. Glass. Glass was everywhere.
How could she have been so stupid?
The commisioner took her silence as a no. "We retrieved some video footage from the building you were at last night and we were able to decipher a lot of information. The nurse said that I could tell you what we found out, but only if you felt up for it. What do you think?"
She nodded her head slowly.
He ran a hand through his hair. "It would appear that last night the men that you were with decided that they wanted to recreate a crime scene that occured at a party some time ago. I'll spare you most of the details but you should know that the Joker dropped a woman out of a window much like how you were dropped-"
The world around Skyler seemed to freeze and she was suddenly back on the roof top dangling in open air and then falling… falling into nothingness. She could remember the feeling of crashing through glass and... Glass. Glass was everywhere. She noticed that Gordon had stopped talking. Concern brimmed in his eyes.
"I think that's enough for today. You need rest-"
"No!" It came out louder than she had intended for it too and he looked a bit taken aback. She closed her eyes and took a breath.
"No, please I… I need to know."
He nodded. "We speculate that these men are Joker enthusiasts… people that either work for the Joker or that are obsessed with his motives. Batman saved that woman at the party and he saved you too… it's a miracle that you're alive."
She let his words sink in and realized the truth in them. It was a miracle. How the hell had Batman been in the right place at the right time to save her?
A hysterical and bitter laugh bubbled up out of her and she rubbed her face with her hands.
The commissioner stood up and put a steady hand on her shoulder, calming her.
"Why me?" she asked.
His brown eyes looked into hers. "I'm not sure… sometimes there's no method to this… this madness. I wish that there was something more I could offer you but… I think they chose you because you were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"How many other newspapers is that picture in?" she asked feebly.
He looked at her with concern lining his face, "You want the truth?"
She nodded and he let out a tired sigh.
"The picture's everywhere, Skyler."
She stared blankly at the wall in front of her. From this point on she would forever be marked as the Batman's mystery girl… and she couldn't even remember meeting him.
Gordon cleared his throat, "We have eyes everywhere looking to find the men that did this to you. I'm going to do my best to see that you get the justice you deserve."
Skyler's throat felt dry and she desperately wished for a glass of water.
"Thank you." she said, hoarsely.
He nodded and set the newspaper down on the seat he'd just gotten out of before pulling a business card out of his pocket and placing it on top of the newspaper.
"I'll send in the nurse and let you get some rest. But, I want you to call me if you need absolutely anything… or if you remember anything that you think might be helpful. We'll also need to get written and verbal statements from you but I want you to take a couple of days to get over the shock of all this." The look in his eyes was sincere so she couldn't help but give him a little smile to try and show him how grateful she was.
Then he was gone. The room felt considerably less safe without him in it.
A couple minutes later, the nurse came back in with some water and handed it to Skyler, who had never been so happy to see water in her life, before looking at the clip board in her hands. Skyler sucked it down through the straw relishing in how cold and delicious each sip was.
"You're looking good in regards to your vitals... actually aside from some deep bruising, your body is in good condition. It would appear that…. he … uh, that... the Batman took the brunt of the fall when you crashed through the window. We also ran a blood test on you and found high traces of Ketamine in your system-"
Skyler stared blanky at her.
"- a date rape drug." She explained, "The drug is out of your system but the memory loss associated with the drug can be a very traumatic experience which is why I'm assigning you to see a therapist once a week for the next couple of months. Other than that you're free to go whenever you feel ready. We can't legally keep you, but, I really do encourage you to stay one more night. You could use the rest."
She put the stack of papers on top of the pile on the chair. "Just let me know."
Skyler debated leaving and going back to her apartment but she couldn't help but feel that maybe the nurse was right. One more night here knowing that she was in the safety of hospital personnel watching over her comforted her in a way that she knew she wouldn't be able to be comforted alone in her apartment.
Her eyelids drooped heavily as she pulled the hospital blanket tightly around her. She drifted into a dreamless sleep.