Wow its been a while. please don't hate me...I've been inspired recently to continue this fic. So enjoy.
I'd thought he'd be taller. I couldn't help but see the hilarity of that being the first thing to come to mind upon having a superhero enter my room. A more normal response probably would have been: what is he doing here in the first place?
"...Hi." I said thinking of nothing better to say. "uh it seems you've caught me on a bad day."
"Alice Montello. 17 years old. Daughter of a single mother and youngest of two. Lived in six different cities before returning to Gotham, and you've been in 4 different schools in the past two years...You're an interesting read, Alice." Batman said not even moving from his position near the door. I tried to keep the shock off my face, but I don't think I was doing a very good job. how does he know all that?
"Why do you know so much about me?" I asked him. I felt like I was being examined like a lab rat before dissection and I didn't like it. I wished my arms weren't restrained so I could at least cross my arms over my chest. I felt completely vulnerable.
"I make it my job to know everything about people who can kill an entire diner and walk away unscathed." He replied calmly.
I furrowed my brow. "I didn't kill anyone. Why would you think that?" I protested.
"How do you know you didn't? Can you remember what happened?" He asked, and for a second his impassive face seemed almost curious.
"No I don't remember what happened." I explained yet again.
"Then you could've killed them, you just don't remember." Batman said as if he was already concluding my court case to send me to jail.
"No! That's not possible; I would never want to kill anyone!" I exclaimed, but then my mind flashed to last night, of the two men who had attacked me and after blacking out finding them dead.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "Although….most people with Divided Mind when conscious in their dominant mind won't remember."
"Divided Mind? What is that?" I asked.
The room was quiet besides the shifting of his cape as he sat down. "Tell me Alice how often have you had blackouts?"
"I don't know, awhile I guess." I said shrugging. I was around six when I had my first blackout. When I had woken up I couldn't remember a thing and could barely move. My mom had rushed my brother and I to the hospital and where there was a lot of urgent whispers and scared looks.
Batman stared at me a moment, thinking I suppose, before he spoke again. "Divided Mind, or you might prefer calling it Dissociative Identity Disorder, is exactly what it sounds like. People with divided mind contain multiple sentient personalities within their mind. Normally there is a dominant personality which is who is usually in control of the body. However sometimes, like in times of extreme stress, the body is taken over by one of the more submissive personalities to protect the dominant one." He explained it all in one go and suddenly I felt like I was being thrown a bunch of important information, but I didn't know why.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked him. It wasn't like it wasn't interesting, but it wasn't like I…oh god "You think I have Divided Mind?!" I accused him, knowing for a fact that he did. He had no other reason to bring it up.
"I had my suspicions when I first heard about the case, but after checking into your history I'm sure." He nodded.
"No, No you're wrong. I'm perfectly fine, there's no way I could do something like that." I shook my head. This was ridiculous first they accused me of being a killer and now they were trying to accuse me of being several different people at once.
"You're going into protective custody for the time being. I want to see if we're capable of helping you. See if there's a way to control it." Batman said standing up, signaling that he was wrapping up our conversation.
"Protective custody? This is ridiculous!" I exclaimed.
He turned to look at me, halfway between the door and the bed. "Trust me, this will be safer for you and everyone else. You don't want to end up with the inmates in prison, I would know considering I've put most of them there." He paused then turned back around, right before he exited he spoke up once again. "Don't worry too much Alice. I'll be seeing you soon." Then he was gone.
I didn't know whether I wanted to scream or cry. Apparently I was now not only the reason behind the murder of innocent people, including my best friend, but I was also crazy and was hosting a bunch of personalities in my body like I was the freaking Trojan horse. I wondered if it was possible to talk to these "other personalities"…..if Batman was right of course.
Hello?
….nothing. Not even a peep in my head. I felt foolish for even trying, but I couldn't blame myself for it. It's not like I knew how any of this worked.
No one bothered me for the next hour and I was left staring at the stained ceiling. I was just at the point between whether the stain resembled a unicorn or my physics teacher when the door opened and I lifted my head up to see three scared looking nurses and two police officers.
"We're here to move you to a different location, where you will be staying until a decision has been made." The first police officer said before he and the other officer moved to either side of me to undone the restraints. My arms hadn't moved for a while now so when they removed the restraints a tingling sensation ran through my arm as the blood flow was restored, but it didn't last long until I was again handcuffed, but at least I could move around now. A nurse came forward with some clothes for me to change into and that's when I realized we had a problem
"Um excuse me, but I don't think I can change with my hands still in theses handcuffs." I told the police officers showing them my wrists.
They seemed to look between me and each other as if trying to make a decision on whether I was a flight risk, which I wasn't. Apparently they both came to the same conclusion and allowed the nurse to lead me over to the corner after taking of the cuffs to change into the clothes while the officers turned their backs so I could have some privacy.
Once finished I was again handcuffed and led out of the hospital room. We got a lot of stares as we headed to the transport vehicle and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed and shameful. I wanted to tell all of these people that I wasn't the horrible criminal that they thought I was. Unfortunately I wasn't so sure that was the truth anymore.
I was led to an old police car and was helped into the back seat before the two men got into the front seats. Locking the doors, the police officer in the driver's seat started the car and we pulled away from the hospital.
We were thirty minutes into the drive before I decided to ask where we were going. I got no reply which I expected, but I was starting to get a bad vibe from the police officers. It had started the moment when we had left the city limits of Gotham and they still had made no sign as to when we were going to get to the new location.
The police officer in the passenger seat dropped something and he bent to pick it up. That's when I saw it, the tattoo on the back of his neck, an umbrella. It quickly disappeared as he straightened back up, but I had known I had seen it. I watched the driver to see if he also had the tattoo and sure enough when he turned his head I could see it on his neck.
I wasn't stupid…for the most part. I was well aware of the gang violence and activity in Gotham and who ran what gang. I knew for a fact that a tattoo of an umbrella meant that they worked for Penguin. A really bad feeling knotted in the pit of my stomach.
"Um, excuse me….where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from betraying my fear.
"Somewhere no one will be able to find you." The driver said smiling as if that was supposed to be some relief and I felt a shiver go down my spine. I was completely defenseless. My hands were cuffed, and I was well beyond the city limits, no one would be able to find me out here.
"Sir…I have to use the bathroom." I told the driver, I didn't actually have to go, but I had to tell him something, anything to get him to pull over. I needed to get away from these men immediately.
The driver sighed frustrated, but complied and pulled over on the side of the rode. He unlocked the doors and opened mine, as if expecting me to get out and do my business here.
"Here?!" I asked incredulous.
"It's either here or you hold it." The police officer in the passenger seat snarled. I jumped back and nodded before getting out of the car.
"I'm going to go behind that tree for some privacy." I told them as I made my way to the tree line.
The two officers seemed uninterested as I walked to the trees. I snuck a few quick glances back to check if they were still watching and they weren't. I immediately made a dash for it, running back the way we had come. I heard shouts from behind me, but I tried to tune them out and focused on my ragged breathing and trying to stay alive instead.