When Marley woke, and her eyes opened, she realized she was somewhere she didn't know. A dull light bulb above her flickered. Several insects flew around, each casting a slightly larger shadows on the grimy, dirt covered walls. She was lying on a bed that was anything but comfy. She tried to wriggle into a comfier position, but winced instead. For two reason, actually. One, moving sent a jolt of pain through her body, and the other… Well, she seemed to be strapped down tightly.
Next to her, there were a bunch of medical things. One was beeping every other second. It showed a constant scroll of spikes in green. There was a number on the top corner. Changing every second. One twenty, then one thirty. Back again. A little higher, and then down again.
Another machine had a bag of red liquid in it, connected to a tube. Fascinated by the stream of red that lurched forward, then stopped, and moved again, she followed it with her eyes. Soon as she saw where the tube ended, her eyes widened. It was sticking out of her arm. Her. Arm.
She began to pull against her bonds, to get away from the dreaded tube. The beeping machine showed an even higher number, and beeped louder. More frequently. The sound of a door opening reached her ears, and a man in a blue doctors uniform appeared. He had a needle in his hand. The last thing she could remember after that was being pricked in the arm.
Next time she woke up, there were people in the room with her. One had a clip board, and was staring at her.
"Patient has awoken." He warned, not taking his eyes off her.
"Marley?" A female doctor asked. She swiveled her head to look at her other side. The one with the machines. Marley stared at her silently. "Your name is Marley, right?"
For a moment, she didn't move, then slowly, she nodded her head.
The doctor nodded back. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel…" She started, but stopped herself. How DID she feel? From what she could tell, there was nothing going on in her mind.
"Yes…?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" She scribbled something down on her own clip board.
"Why were you struggling earlier?"
Marley gave her a confused look.
"When you first woke up. You were trying to get out of bed, and knocked over several machines."
That? Oh yes, that. The tube that was pumping some sort of red liquid into her arm.
"Your… Red thing… It scared me." She mumbled.
The doctor asked her to repeat. "What scared you?"
"That thing…" She turned her gaze onto the machine. It wasn't stuck in her arm anymore.
"That's an IV. You were dangerously close to bleeding out. We had to give you a blood transfusion."
"Oh…" The doctor asked her another question, then another… But suddenly, in mid-answer, she realized something. Her clothes. She wasn't wearing her clothes. She was instead in a white (Oh the horror) hospital gown. With no pockets.
"Marley?"
"My… My clothes. Where are my clothes?"
"They've been thrown out."
Marley grew pale. "No! No you can't!" She yelled, causing the doctor to jump back.
"I need my book! You can't throw it away!" Again, she tried to escape from her bonds. He shoulder burned all of a sudden from her moving so much.
"Quick! Someone sedate her!" The doctor yelled.
For the second time that day (or night, depending on the time) Marley felt a sting in her arm, and everything went blurry again.
"She was doing just fine, until I asked her about her actions the night before." The doctor, who's name I believe is Penelope Young, told her superior. "She suddenly started questioning the whereabouts of her clothing."
The man nodded, listening to the rest of her story. When she was finished, he asked about the book.
"I don't know about a book, sir. I was filling in for her doctor, since she isn't available at the moment."
"Who has been assigned to her case?"
Dr. Young twitched her left eye, thinking 'He's the medical facility supervisor, how can he not know?' Suppressing a sigh, she said "Dr. Cassidy."
"Oh, yes. Dr. Cassidy." The man (Dr. Alexander Lyons) shook his head. His glasses slid down his nose, and he took a moment to push them up again before speaking. "Why was she not available?"
"She called in sick, remember?"
"Sick… yes… She was sneezing the other day. I guess the rest of it finally caught up with her."
"If you say so, Dr. Lyons."
Several days later, possibly a week, the medical facility was… Quiet. They had only one patient currently in need of medical treatment, but usually… One was enough to start an uproar. However, since her arrival, she'd been silent. Well, to be more exact… Since her outburst the other day, she'd been silent.
She'd refused to cooperate with the doctors, and the last thing she told them was she didn't eat meat.
They took note of that for future reference.
Though they'd come back with vegetables, she'd still not touched it until someone else proved it wasn't poisoned first.
"I hate those schizophrenic cases," a Doctor said as he and a friend walked past her room. "Always mumbling to themselves about poison or something."
"Well at least this one doesn't speak much. It's been so silent here lately."
"I pity the security staff who're based in the penitentiary."
"Let me tell you two, it's not a fun place to be stationed." A guard at the door said as they passed.
"I can only imagine." The first doctor said.
"I would rather be stationed in intensive treatment than guard those screaming lunatics." the second added.
"So far I've been lucky to just guard the visitors' center. You can still hear the screaming from there, but at least it's not as bad."
While the guard and the doctors conversed, just a few feet away, a certain inma-patient was walking in circles. After a few days, they'd allowed her to walk around her room.
There was nothing in there but her, a bed, and that infernal light bulb. The doctors were still talking with the guard outside, but she noticed now all three were watching her carefully as she roamed about her room. She stopped walking and stared at them.
"Creepy…" Said the second doctor, who had a beard, if you looked closely.
'Maybe I should say something.' She thought. She hadn't spoken since they'd tried to make her eat meat. MEAT. Can you believe it?
Marley walked calmly up to the window and asked "Can I have my book?"
"What's this about a book, anyways?" Dr. Young asked over the phone.
"When Batman brought her in, she had a picture book in her pocket. I was planning on using it during our first session, but it slipped my mind when I got the flu." Replied Dr. Cassidy.
"Well she's asking for it now, and last time she didn't get it, she had to be sedated."
There was a sigh, and the tired voice of Dr. Cassidy replied by telling where to find the book.
"I'll be in to hold a session tomorrow. DON'T let her have the book, just show her it's unharmed."
"Again, I'm very sorry to have bothered you. Have a good night."
"You too." they both hung up, and Dr, Young set off to her colleague's office to find the book.
"Dr. Young." the bearded doctor greeted.
"Good evening."
"What's that you have there?" He glanced at the bright pink book in her hand.
"It's the book she's been asking us for. Dr. Cassidy recommended I showed it to her.
"I see…" He looked through the bullet proof glass.
The next day, Marley found herself in another room. There was a woman in white clothing sitting at a metal table, and two guards outside the door. She'd been handcuffed on the way to this room, but the woman asked that they take them off for the time being.
Marley decided that she liked her for now.
What she didn't like so much was the plain décor of the small room. White walls, white ceiling, white CARPET. The only thing NOT white in here was Marley, the woman, the table, and a mirror.
"Please Marley, have a seat." She said. Marley looked at the chair, which happened to be a plastic white chair little kids used at tea parties. With a grimace, she carefully sat on the uncomfortable thing.
"My name is Dr. Cassidy." The woman, Dr. Cassidy of course, said. If she'd said it of course she was Dr. Cassidy.
Marley nodded.
"I hear that this is the first time you've been to Arkham." She asked, smiling.
Again she nodded.
Dr. Cassidy asked her question after question, all yes or no. Marley hadn't said a single word since the night before. She wondered when Dr. Cassidy would ask her something she had to speak to answer.
Actually, as she thought that, Dr. Cassidy asked one such question.
"Marley, I understand you were asking for this?" Marley's eyes brightened as her doctor produced her picture book from seemingly out of no where.
"Yes! That's my book!" in her excitement, she hopped out of her chain, knocking it down.
The doctor jumped slightly, but otherwise sat still.
"Can I have it back now?"
"I can't give it to you to take to your cell, but I can however, let you take a look at it in here." She slid the book across the table. Marley grabbed it quickly and sat right on the floor, her head bent and her back against the table leg, she quickly opened it to the last page.
"Marley, I'm afraid you can't sit on the floor."
Marley either didn't hear her, or she didn't care. Dr. Cassidy stood and walked around the edge of the table to make sure she could see her.
"Marley."
"Hmm?" She didn't look up. She was running her finger down the page, across the picture of a man.
"Marley, you can't sit on the floor…"
"But I like the floor." Marley thought absently. Or said. She wasn't sure. The Doctor didn't reply so she most likely said it in her head. She felt a smile cross her face as her finger trailed along the edge of Mr. Jackson's picture.
"I'll get you Mr. Jackson… Just you wait…" She giggled, not sure where this sudden feeling of happiness had come from. Maybe from the thoughts of revenge running through her mind? Or possibly the thought of how she'd do it.
"You'e made it worse for yourself now…" She giggled again, gripping the book so hard her knuckles turned white and began to ache. But she didn't care about that. Not one bit. She could only think of how badly she was going to ghurt hiom for shooting her and getting her caught by the bat.
"Marley!"
Her head shot up, confused. Who had dared to interrupt her thoughts?
Her smile melted instantly at the first laugh. It was twisted… She sounded truly insane. Silently, she edged around the table. When Marley laughed again, she couldn't help but tell her to stop.
"Marley!"
The look she got was… Chilling. A terrible grin was stuck on her face, complimented nicely by the mad look in her eyes. She glared at her for a few seconds and got back to her feet. Trying not to panic, Dr. Cassidy ran her hand under the table and pressed the panic button. Moments later, the guards burst through the door to restrain the patient.
"Let me go! My book!" Marley growled, trying to break free. Once again her book had been knocked from her hands, and she was unable to reach it. Unlike the first time, her captors didn't go back for it.