We are the water, not the hard diamond,
the one that is lost, not the one that stands still.
--"We are the time. We are the famous" by Jorge Luis Borges--
He leaned down, placing his notepad on the floor. This door, a relic from the last time the Asylum had undergone renovations, was made to be soundproof. In all appearances it was, but Jonathan had learned in his few years as director that some of them had cracks that if you listened by you could hear everything that was being said in the room. And that was fact he found by accident; one he did not like to retell.
"I can't believe, I'm actually doing this." He muttered and his reply was Scarecrow smugly chuckling. "This is utterly wrong." Yet he quieted when he made out Becky's voice.
"Well, I think you're a beautiful young lady, and between you and me, boys at your age wouldn't know pretty if it bit them in the butt. Sometimes kids are just jealous and they hit back at you just because you're better than them, and sometimes they're mean just because you're different. Want to know something about me?" Her voice asked, gently. She must have been well-versed in dealing with children.
"See this cane," the girl must have nodded, "when I was born there was something wrong with me. My body couldn't use the nutrients it had very well. Do you know what Vitamin D is? It helps the body use Calcium which makes up the bones. Where I was born, we were really poor and my parents couldn't take care of me very well. They had to give me up for adoption, but I was already very sick.
"The doctor told me it was called Rickets, it's a disease that happens when don't have enough Vitamin D…"
Jonathan nodded to himself; that explained the cane. Bowed-legs were a symptom of the disease. No wonder she had to use to cane.
"The kids I went to school with used to tease me terribly for it. They called me horrible names, 'Cripple', 'Twisted', 'Freak'…and it got worse as I went through school, the names, pranks, the shoves. I was your classic bully story. I came home to my new parents and cried, and I begged them to home school me. They wanted me to be on par with the kids, and so they tried to stop the bullying, but they could never stop it completely. There will always be people who will bully you for some reason or another. The friends that I had helped me through it, and sometimes I wanted to give up too, but they were there. Just keep your head up, it does eventually get better."
Jonathan stood up, gathering his notepad. He opened the door casually, eyes never giving away that he had heard any of it, but in his head all he could hear were voices from the past. He could also still feel the punches.
"Look at the Scarecrow with his rags! Scrawny freak! Twiggy Nerd…Scarecrow! Scarecrow! Scarecrow!"