Sweet Dreams

I slammed the phone down and walked as fast as I could to the infirmary. I saw one of the cell guards shaken up and talking to Jeremiah Arkham.

“Slow down Billy, tell me what happened.” The large guard was nearly in tears.

“I was making rounds when I heard screaming, but I mean, that’s not totally uncommon here. This was different though, blood curdling, he was crying for help. When I went over to check, he had clawed his own eyes out, blood everywhere. We took him the infirmary but, but” I patted him on the back.

“It’s okay Billy, these things happen from time to time. There’s nothing you could have done to help him.” I slowly walked over to the table

“Emma, it’s not pretty”

“I’m sure I’ve seen worse Jeremiah.” I took a deep breath and looked over at Kevin, or what was left of him. His face was almost entirely gone, except for the remnants of his mouth which seemed to be twisted into a horrified expression. I closed my eyes and turned around.

“I don’t understand. He was doing so well with the new medication…May I see the security tapes?” I rubbed my temples and followed one of the other guards to the observing room. As I briskly walked through the hallway I saw the last person in the world I wanted to see standing at the end of it.

“Is everything all right Doctor Avery?” Crane asked emotionlessly. He remained standing right in the middle of my path.

“What do you think Crane? Get out of my way” I brushed past him and heard him follow behind me. I walked into the dark room with the guard and looked at the screen covering Kevin’s room.

“Rewind please” the video flashed back with scores of people moving backwards in and out of the room, the cot, the med staff, Kevin scratching and scratching. I turned my face away and took a deep breath again. I turned back and he was sitting.

“Stop. There…” Kevin was sitting in the corner on his bunk, it looked like he was staring at something. There appeared to be a shadow in the corner of the screen, just out of the camera’s view.

“Volume please”

“Uh, hello?” Kevin asked in the video. The screen suddenly went snowy and the sound cut out.

“What the hell is this? Can it be fixed?”

“Sorry Doctor. It happens sometimes, electrical interference.”

“Well it’s a damn convenient time for it to happen” I muttered under my breath.

The video and sound came back up and it was Kevin, screaming. He was running into the wall and scratching at himself.

“SCARECROW! SCARECROW! NOOOOOOOO!”

“What the hell is scarecrow?” I mused

"Turn it off please.” I turned around and massaged the bridge of my nose.

“Why did this HAPPEN” I slammed my fist against the table. I picked up the nearby phone and called to the infirmary.

“I want a toxicology report right now.”

“Of course Doctor but the results won’t be ready until the morning”

“That’s fine, thank you for your help” I hung up the phone.

“Is that really necessary, it’s clear he succumbed to illness. Death happens in patients here” Crane chimed in from behind

“Never with my patients”

“There’s a first time for everyone”

“NOT for ME”

I walked to the lab like a zombie. It was 10 o’clock but I had to thank the lab techs for staying up so late to help. I doubted I would be able to sleep tonight anyway. Sabrina, the lab tech on duty was nowhere to be found. She was either still working, or had handed it over to the next person on duty. It was already 3 o’clock and I came to the conclusion I might as well head home and get some rest since there was no way it was going to be done anytime soon. Letting out a defeated sigh I turned around to head out.

“Hello Doctor.” Crane was right in front of me. God did he love to do that. I was tired and ragged.

“Crane listen, I’m very tired, I’m really not in the mood to talk right now.”

“Your situation perplexed me and I remembered something I have in one of my books”

“Maybe tomorrow, right now I really just…” I noticed his face was cut and bleeding.

“Oh! What happened to your face? Are you okay?” I brought my hands up to inspect him but he turned his face away.

“It’s nothing. Just come to my office, it will only take a second.” This situation was driving me nuts, and I figured it was worth it to at least look at what he thought might help. I hesitated for a second.

“Sure” I had a tired half-smile on my face but I followed him. After navigating the labyrinth of towering hallways, we finally made it back to the main offices and I followed him into his own. It was a bit smaller than mine, but designed in the same fashion. There were built-in bookcases on either side of the desk and a long window looking onto the main courtyard.

“So where’s this book Crane?” He turned to me with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“There is no book.”

“What do you mean there is no book? I don’t have time for this, I need to figure out what happened to my patient, I need to sleep”

“Yes, doctor. You do need to sleep” He pulled a saringe out of his suit jacket and I immediately ran for the door. I shook the handles in frustration, as I realized they were locked.

Things began to click into place.

“Where are my lab results?”

“Sadly, they were inconclusive. And did you hear about Sabrina? What a horrible accident she’s had,” by that time he was behind me, pinning me against the wall.

“You murdering bastard! You’re the one who should be locked up!”

“They do say there is a fine line between genius and insanity. Now hold still doctor Avery, it will only sting for a second.” I pushed hard enough to get off of the door, but he immediately slammed my face back into it. He was stronger than he looked. He held my wrists together behind me with one hand and I felt a sharp pinch in my neck as the needle entered my skin.

“Now doctor, you will begin to feel paralysis in about…2 ½ minutes, once the Mivacurium has time to enter your system”

“Mivacurium!? You gave me Mivacurium!” with everything I had left I pushed him off of me and punched him in the face. He reeled backwards, rubbing his sore jaw and I scrambled to unlock the door. I tried to run but I only made it a few steps before my legs gave out underneath me. I used my arms to crawl but they soon followed suit. I heard slow steps approach me as I screamed inside of my head.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen.” He bent down and picked me up with his arm around my waist. His strength surprised me again, as he was able to support me to stand up.

“I know you can hear me so listen closely. You are going to follow me out of the building and follow my instructions, and if you try anything I’ll put a bullet in you.”

His arm was cleverly covered by my jacket, and it looked as if we were walking intimately with one another. We exited the wing devoted to our offices and walked down the corridor towards the main entrance. We were about to approach a security camera when he turned to whisper in my ear

“Be convincing.” He laughed. “Well, as convincing as you can be right now”

Before I knew it he had led me up against the wall of the corridor and started to kiss me. The kiss deepened and I started to feel him against my leg. His smooth tongue was expertly exploring my mouth. His hand in my hair…along my face…along my breasts…it all felt so familiar. He pulled away and I suddenly came back to reality.

“Hmm, not bad. Granted you can’t exactly reciprocate right now” he said, straightening his jacket and continuing to walk propping me up.

Subtly, he reached into my pocket and pulled out my card. He swiped both of us out together, and then moved us out the main door. We approached my car.

“Oh my Emma, it appears you’ve gotten two flat tires. Have no fear, I’ll take you home”

We walked over to his black jag, and he opened the passenger side door and slid me into the seat. He closed the door, and got in the driver’s side. Cautiously he went down and secured my ankles and wrists with zip ties.

He was setting up the perfect alibi. The camera trick had been good for the short term but not the long term, he wanted something from me, so he couldn’t kill me right away. I wondered how long he had been setting it all up, planning. I wasn’t going to just let this happen, I couldn’t. It had been about twenty minutes, and right on cue I started feeling some pinpricking tingles back in my muscles. He fastened himself in and I had to improvise. My fast metabolism was working and I slowly wiggled a finger behind my back and away from sight.

I had to use this in my favor. I remained expressionless and still.

“You know, you could have made this a lot easier on yourself. If you’d just left your office unlocked or told me what I wanted to know. And then to top it off, you have to go snooping around. I really had no other choice” He was completely calm, keeping his gaze straight ahead on the road, one had on the steering wheel, the other on the stick shift. I tried to keep a mental image of where we were going. It was on the outskirts of Gotham, there were a lot of other high-middle class homes around with sizeable yards. Was he taking me to his house?

“Welcome home…at least until I decide you aren’t worth keeping alive.”