Chapter 4:
I awake to find myself lying on a cold floor. Frightened I sit up. Looking around I notice this isn't my cell. This one is smaller, my cot gone, the private latrine gone, replaced by a crude open one. The walls are stained and wrought by rain in long black scars. The floor is dusty and rough, like concrete. The door is a harsh unpainted iron, flecked by grime and clots of rust. The observation window held no modern Plexiglas, there are bars. And I can hear screams. They are much louder than from my first cell.
'Am I in a new wing?'
Shaking I stand; jaw set firmly but nerves twitching as I step to the small window high upon the door. The hallway looks far more dingy and neglected than my previous location. The floors look wet, their dampness accentuated by the occasional flickering of fluorescent bulbs, loitered upon by moths and other insects. And in that cell across from me, a voice is humming…an unsettling tune followed by a cackling and ripping of fabric.
"No way," As I back away, something brushes against my ankle. I scream and jump against the door; the metal making a loud, low hollow sound. A rat skitters across the floor to find it's doorway in one of the far sides of the room.
"No fucking way."
'At this rate, perhaps I'll end up in the streets…a fair compromise'
The large door clanks and whines as it's opened. Two very large orderlies approach me. I back up in response to their advance. One is holding a large tray, littered with small plastic cups, pills, and water.
"Take your pills, Dr. Crane's orders." He holds up the cocktail of pills.
I continue to back away. "No thank you."
Cocking his head to the side he closes in on me like a grizzly, "I said, take your fucking pills!"
I bite my lip in protest.
"Mark, shut the door."
A loud hollow, resonating boom fills the cell.
'Holy mother fucking shit…'
"Last chance, the easy or hard way?"
'Neither.'
"Okay." My breath is short as I hold out my hand.
He rewards me with a hard open hand slap to the face; it reminds me of Crane's only with more bite and less venom. I fly back first into the wall, stunned I slide to the floor. The orderly crouches down beside me. "Are we gunna do this again?"
"No." I barely manage.
He shoves the pills in front of me. I'm gasping for breath but he grabs me by the neck and forces the pills down my throat. Then came the water, I try to time it but my lungs begged for air first, before I knew it I was gurgling and sputtering. He then struck me for the second time.
"Swallow the pills bitch!" He clamps his had over my mouth and yanks my head back. Heaving and sobbing I manage to down the pills without drowning. He gives me one last shove against the wall and leaves, slamming the door behind him.
Trembling I scoot myself into the vacant far corner of the room. Warm tears race wild rivulets down the curves of my cheeks as I fight violently, hacking and heaving to catch my breath.
My night is filled with screams and moans of anguish. My cell is completely dark but I can tell it is night by the fluorescent lights in the hallway, there are more insects collaborating than usual. I lie down in my now deemed 'resting corner' and close my eyes. A dull gnawing in my stomach reminds that they had neglected to serve me dinner. I hiss as I press the side of my sore face against the back of my hands. Sighing in frustration I shift onto my back and will myself to sleep.
A darkness moves across my closed eyes. Gasping I sit upright, suddenly aware that I'm not alone in my cell. I hear a small scuffle near my door, the sound of a shoe scraping ever so softly against the rough floor. Quickly I rub my eyes and huddle defensively into my corner, turning the side of my face, forcing my eyes to focus.
"Who's there?" My voice is faltering.
Nothing
"What do you want?"
'I took my pills…'
I feel a shadow move in front of me. My breathing increases as I cautiously arise from my sitting position. Slowly, quietly I step away from my corner, aiming for the nearest side of the wall. My only source of light is small slivers of diluted haze that spilt into a square from the window and onto the floor. I try to get around it as not to make my movements known, but to also get a lighted view as to what or who had made that shuffle.
"Going somewhere?" Rasps a hoarse disembodied voice as invisible hands grasp my wrists and flings me against the wall. Crying out I position my arms defensively in front of me. They were immediately shoved to my sides.
"Your screams; I want your pain, to taste your fear…" The shadow rasps into my ear, rough material scratching against my skin. Involuntarily I began to whimper.
'What the hell is this?'
A hand encircles my throat as I try to push away from him. Light from the window emanates a glow of haloed light around the figure's head; due to the close proximity all I could see was a sack, a rough burlap canvas.
"This isn't real…just a nightmare…strong pills…" I shudder from a wave of shock and disbelief, my skin crawling.
"No, Scarecrow. I am very real."
"Scarecrow?" I repeat questioningly.
Suddenly, in response he flips me over, plastering my chest against the cold wall. He forces my hands behind me then clasps them together in one hand. He then kicks my legs apart. 'Do something Kyra!' A wave of disbelief and panic surged through me with electrifying force. A hand travels down my side.
"Let's hear a scream shall we?" The voice is close, breathing into the back of my neck, making the fine hairs stand on end.
'Alright, you asked for it…'
My mind leaps into survival mode; I fling my head backward, crashing solidly with the figure's forehead. I hear him cry out in surprise. Turning around I witness the scarecrow clutching his head. I dart around him and run for the door; surely he wouldn't lock himself in here…
I hear a deep, infuriated growl as I reach for the handle. Immediately I'm shoved into the nearest corner by my hair. Screaming and flailing I lash out at him with my fingernails. He catches my wrist and twists it backward as he stabilizes me into the corner.
"That was very stupid." He tightens his grip so that I nearly drop to my knees.
'You're the one with a sack on your head!'
"Who are you?" I ask my voice pained and weak.
"I've told you, Scarecrow."
"No. Who are you?" I gasp at my near breaking wrist. "Not what."
He releases my wrist and yanks me upward by the front of my shirt into his 'face' pressing into me with his hipbone. He says nothing as the pressure from his body weight grinds into me. My mind snaps into relapse and then realization.
'Dr. Crane.'
"Oh my God…"My voice is but a waft.
'Is this part of the treatment plan?'
"God has nothing to do with it." His voice is low, raspy and expertly guised.
"So, is this part of the treatment plan?" I stretch my face closer to his in defiance, my eyes burning into the deep depths of the eyeholes. I know there's blue beyond that dark abyss. I lick my lips. "…Dr. Crane."
He laughs a terribly dark vibration of madness and superiority, I notice the white of his knuckles as he clutches onto the front of my shirt. The bones in my spine ice over, blood chills, joints lock at the evil reverberation that fills the room with heavy dread.
My thoughts meld into an alloy of fear, dread, despair…anger. Suddenly as if my hands are possessed by some other being. I reach for the mask and rip it off of the doctor's face, thrusting it hard across the floor. Mouth closed, jaw clenched, I suck at the front of my teeth in animosity.
"Coward!" I spit out the words as if the thought of them disgusted me.
My insolence rewards me a hefty slap to the face, so hard it rocks the side of my head into the wall. I bite my bottom lip to stifle an oncoming yelp. My face was going to be an onslaught of bruises. Crane jerks me sharply towards him, his icy gaze piercing into me. A small prick in my arm goes unnoticed as he leans into me. His breath warm against the side of my neck, sending my skin crawling from the cold of the wall.
"I still want that scream…"