The Space Between
Chapter Six: The Sound of Madness
He was driving somewhere but couldn't remember where. His sister was sitting stone faced in the passenger seat but just like their destination, the cause eluded him. Despite not knowing where they were going, Jonathan kept driving, a gnawing fear eating at his stomach.
"Amy?"
She said nothing, did nothing, but merely stared straight ahead out into the dark night.
"Amy, what's wrong?"
She didn't even have time to respond as the ceiling of the car imploded down on them. Jonathan instinctively slammed on the brakes and felt the car, or what was left of it, skid to a halt. Whatever had landed on the roof had effectively separated him from his sister. Kicking at the driver's side door, he finally managed to get it open. That little bit of fear had grown massively into complete panic, which was something he wasn't necessarily accustomed to feeling. Using the car to keep him upright, he managed to get to the passenger side. The panic increased to the point of making him feeling numb. Amy had fallen forward, her head resting on the blood covered dashboard, her eyes wide open and empty.
Fear enveloped him again and he laid both palms flat against the glass window of the car. He let his head fall forward and hit the window with a dull thud. What was he going to do without his genetic carbon copy, the only person in the world who understood him better than he understood himself? He was alone, truly and utterly alone. Something moved behind him and sheer curiosity caused him to turn. No sooner did he do that then a vice like grip wrapped around his throat and held him against the car.
Clawing ineffectually at the arm, he found himself eye to eye with the Batman once more. Somewhere in the back of his mind he put two and two together and realized it was the Batman that had landed on the top of the car.
"What did you do, Crane?"
What did he do? It was the vigilante that dropped on the car. It was his fault Amy was dead. Anger coursed with the fear and he continued to fight back but the Batman only tightened his grip on Jonathan's throat. The more he struggled, the more air he lost. He tried one last desperate attempt to draw a little air back into his lungs and tried to scream.
Amy woke up a few hours ago and found herself sprawled out across her brother's lap. Her eyes felt grainy and itchy, the way they always felt after she had cried herself to sleep. Exhaustion still pulled at her mind and body but she wouldn't get rest on the floor, using her bony brother as a pillow. God love him, they were pushing thirty and he was still the same weight he had been in high school. Despite his lack of bulk she knew she couldn't carry him even as far as the couch. She wandered to the master bedroom and pulled a pillow off the bed and grabbed the comforter as well before going back to the entrance of the apartment. Putting the pillow down on the hardwood floor, she gently nudged Jon down the wall until his head landed squarely on the pillow. He didn't even flinch even when she removed his glasses and draped the comforter over him.
The gravity of the situation hit her full force again and Amy knew she wouldn't be able to sleep now. With Jon sound asleep, this was probably going to be her only chance to try to piece together what had happened to him. Grabbing the duffle bag he had set down in the living room, she headed back to the master bedroom and shut the door. She went to open the bag when the sense of doing something wrong came over her. In her entire life there had never been any secrets between them. The right of privacy was non-existent, until now.
Pushing that thought out of her mind, Amy unzipped the top and flipped it back. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at her, just clothing and books from the looks of it. Digging further into the bag, her fingers brushed against something metallic. Pushing aside the clothes, she found four silver canisters packed between the clothes. Pulling one out and looking at it only peaked her curiosity more. There was no writing on them, no warnings about keeping them away from open flame or what they could contain. Something in the back of her mind told her she should know what this was but she couldn't quite remember what it was.
Setting the canisters aside, she continued rummaging through the bag and found something else. She grabbed a hold of the rough burlap material and pulled it out. So she had seen right last night, he had put a burlap sack in the bag. It took her a few minutes of holding it up before it kind of resembled a mask, with two holes for eyes and a crudely stitched, off kilter mouth. To add to the creepiness of the mask, a rope hung around the neck like a noose. When she looked inside the mask, there was what looked like gas mask and suddenly everything slammed into focus.
The metal canisters…the mask…everything the news and papers had reported was correct. Jon really was the Scarecrow, he tried to gas the entire city of Gotham with some sort of fear toxin. She was holding the evidence in her shaking hands. Not sure what to do or where to hide the items, she shoved them back into the bag and dropped the bag into the closet, slamming the door shut. The revelation didn't leave her disturbed that much…she had seen the news reports and somewhere in her subconscious she knew they were true. What troubled her to no end was what had set him off? What circumstances had he faced in Gotham that pushed him over the edge like this? A scream pierced the air, effectively cutting off her train of chaotic thoughts.
When she opened the door to the bedroom, she could see Jon clawing at the walls in the foyer of the apartment, screaming unintelligible words. It was late morning which meant people might be around and hear the commotion. Not knowing what else to do, she sprinted down the hall and grabbed a hold of his shirt, giving him a hard shake.
"Jon!" She shouted in his face. "Wake up! Jon!"
His eyes were wide open but glazed over in terror at things only he could see. Amy kept shaking him and within a few seconds, his eyes focused and the fear slowly diminished from them, being replaced with a weary relief. "You're alright?"
Amy nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Are you?"
He sat cross legged on the floor and slumped against the wall, covering his face with his hands. "Nightmare…it was just a nightmare."
Amy laid a hand on his arm but before she could say anything to comfort him, a sound knock on the door startled both of them.
By the time Lynnlee had decided to knock on the door across the hall from her, the screaming she had heard stopped. She wondered if she should just turn around and mind her own business but concern for her fellow man won out and she knocked on the wooden door with enough force it left her knuckles stinging. She could hear movement on the other side of the door but a woman's voice called out "Be there in a minute." A few more seconds passed and Lynnlee heard the deadbolt being slid back and the door being unlocked.
A blue eye peered out over the chain that was still on the door. "Yes?"
Lynnlee smiled as widely as she could. "I thought I heard some noise and just wanted to the make sure everything was alright."
"Everything's fine, thank you."
Lynnlee was struck with the tone of voice that suggested everything was far from fine. The eye that was staring at her had dark circles under it and the woman's skin looked completely white. "Well, I just thought I would check. Be a good neighbor and all that."
The woman made a "hm" sound before starting to shut the door.
"I'm Lynnlee, by the way."
The woman turned away from the door, looking over her shoulder most likely. The door snapped shut and Lynnlee heard the chain being moved before the door opened again, wider this time. The woman on the other side was shorter than Lynnlee herself, but not by much. Her long dark hair was a mess of wavy curls and both blue eyes sported dark circles on her washed out face. Tiredly, she extended a slim hand. "Amy."
Lynnlee gave the hand a decent shake. "You look like you could use a good cup of tea."
Amy rolled her eyes and the corners of her mouth turned up but she remained silent.
"Why don't you come over and have one with me?"
Amy opened her mouth to say something and glanced back over her shoulder. "I don't know-"
"Go ahead," a man's tired voice came from near the back of the apartment. "It's fine."
Amy worried her lip for a moment before shrugging slightly and closing the door behind her. "Tea sounds good."
Lynnlee crossed back to her apartment and left the door open for Amy to follow. She had brought tea with her from England, something she always did for her uncle whenever she was able to. He constantly complained about what passed for tea in the States. She turned the stove on and set the kettle on the burner before heading back to the living room. Amy was standing there, staring at the violin case.
"Do you play?"
Amy's tired eyes shifted their gaze from the case to Lynnlee with great effort. "The violin? No, I can play the piano but not very well. My brother is the pianist who can play like Mozart."
Lynnlee grabbed her suitcase and opened the front compartment and pulled out the tin of tea. "Did you just move in?"
"Yes. You?"
"Just this morning," Lynnlee went back into the kitchen and started opening cabinets to find mugs. "I like getting to know the neighbors not matter how long I'll be staying in a place. I don't know about you but I'm firm believer that people are placed in your path for a reason."
Amy nodded her head but said nothing.
"So, the guy who told you to come on over here, is that your brother?"
Amy stared at her for a few seconds, her bright blue eyes scanning Lynnlee's face for something, she didn't know. Apparently she found what she was looking for, or not depending on what it was, before she sank down at the small table with her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. Yes, it was my brother. You'll have to excuse us though-"
"Oh, no worries. Mark told me that you two like your privacy and I respect that. I only came knocking because I thought I heard screaming."
"You did."
Lynnlee set the steaming mug of tea down in front of Amy as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her. "Your brother?"
Amy sighed wearily, propping up her head with one hand and wrapping the other around the mug. "He had a nightmare. He's, uh, not well at the moment."
Lynnlee sat down next to her at the table, a feeling of sympathy coming over her. The break up of her five year relationship with Brian, the lead violinist of the band had left a gaping hole in her heart and emotions. Her mother always told her the best way to forget your pain is to help another person overcome theirs. "Tell you what, whenever you need a break from taking care of your brother, you just come right over here. We'll have tea, do some girl talk and you can recharge your batteries so to speak. If you need, I'll even sit with him to give you a reprieve."
Amy smiled ruefully. "That's very kind of you but just wait till you watch the news or read the newspaper. You'll change that tune very quickly. We're not people you want to get involved with."
"Lucky for you I don't watch news or read newspapers. I've traveled the world three times over and nothing works better than instinct. And my instinct tells me you need a rest."
Amy didn't say anything but merely stared transfixed into her mug. When a knock on the door came, the poor woman jumped halfway out of her chair at the sound. Lynnlee put a hand on Amy's shoulder, pushing her back down into the chair.
"That'll be my Uncle Al and his boss. They said they would stop by for lunch," Lynnlee looked at the clock it was one o'clock on the dot.
"I don't want to intrude." The panicked look came back into Amy's face.
"Nonsense," Lynnlee motioned for her to sit back down at the table as she opened the door. Hugging her uncle and Bruce in greeting, she shut the door behind them and turned towards her first guest. "Uncle Al, Bruce, this is Amy. She lives across the hall with her brother."
Lynnlee watched as Amy briefly shook their hands, keeping her head down and pointedly looking away from them. She quickly stepped away, whispered her thanks to Lynnlee for the tea and practically bolted out the door. She could hear the door across the hall snap shut and even the locks fall into place. "Well that was odd."
"Did she happen to say what her last name was?" her uncle asked.
"No, she didn't. She just said she's taking care of her brother though. Said he's not well."
Bruce turned but not before she caught him giving her uncle a hard look. Her Uncle Al's face took on a serious tone. "You be careful. There are a lot of unstable people still in the city."
She gave him a mock salute. "Yes, sir. Now, what's for lunch?"