Lucid Dreamer

[azina]

It's official. I LOVE Angie. At first I was like, oops, typo. She wrote "Angel" not Angie. *snicker* She's making Crane call her Angel. I love Angie was twisting the knife at Crane getting fired from Gotham U. Also I every now and then like your sly reference to zombies ala "28 Days Later."

[dior4ever]

ditto!!!

[aurora10]

I looooooooooooove this story.

[jill]

Hah, Angiee. I love her too! I hope she can help Jane..definately want to read more soon!

[seonedevinian]

here's more Angie, glad you like her! she's kinda different from Jane. this is a bit of information about her which you may find interesting.

hope you like!

~Angel underground~

In the hall, Jane turned warily to glance back at the doorway to the room she’d just blessedly vacated. She could feel a presence at her back; the way one would feel in a haunted house at a carnival, expecting a masked man to sneak up at any moment and pop a balloon in one’s ear. Cheap thrills; Crane’s thrills weren’t cheap, though, were they? No, she suspected that they came at one heck of a cost. She also doubted that she’d classify them as ‘thrills’ so much as ‘horrors’.

“Are you coming or what, Biter?” Angie called impatiently. She stood with an orderly at her back, arms crossed over her chest, tapping a foot like a cartoon character. Angie was a character, indeed.

“Where are we going?”

“Outside again, of course. Crane likes to let us have a little more oxygen time on group days.”

He liked to let them have a little more oxygen time on group days; it struck Jane that if she hadn’t been committed for the last few weeks, she’d have no idea what any of that meant.

My, how language can change along with circumstances.

Heading outside, Jane counted herself lucky that she rarely left her room without her sweater. The air was chilly, smelling of sharp autumn bonfires, Hallowe’en, real life. Probably all that oxygen blowing in from the outside world.

“What do you suppose it is we do breathe in there?” Angie mused, leading Jane to a corner. Setting herself on the ground, she seemed surprisingly comfortable. “Whatever it is, it gives me nightmares…”

Jane tentatively sat beside her. The grass felt wet, but that may just have been the cold. “Me too…” she agreed. “So, Crane’s your guy, huh?”

The girl smiled at her brightly; her teeth were nearly perfect, save for the slight turn of her incisors. They appeared more prominently, displaying themselves as fangs. With her new identity as ‘the biter’, Jane almost wished she had them.

“Yeah, well. He hasn’t accepted it yet.” Her voice dropped to a passable impression of Crane. “It would do him a world of good to confront that, Jane.”

Jane laughed; it sounded foreign to her own ears. She casually looked around. “Can we talk here?”

“Oh, sure. The guards leave me to myself in the yard; not much harm I can do to myself, or anyone, here. No escape, no guys small enough for me to overpower. And Crane never comes out here, so he’s safely hidden away from me.”

This was becoming quite a diversion from Jane’s hellish new life. “What happened there?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager. She hungered for news of Crane’s weakness, if he suffered one, and Angie appeared to have what she needed. “Did you two know each other outside?”

Angie snorted. “No, no. There is no outside”, she answered incredulously. “No, I met him here, my first week, like you. I was in for attempting to confine a handsome young classmate in my house.” She sighed. “He didn’t know what he was missing. Anyway, Jon evaluated me, and damn if I didn’t forget about that other guy right away. Those eyes…” she sighed again, blissfully this time. Apparently those eyes had distracted her from the fact that he was a monster.

“So, he evaluated you…?”

“Yeah”, she said, coming back to herself. “He evaluated me, and found me fit to be confined here. And now I get to see him all the time. Well, I used to…”

“And?

Angie paused. “It was weird. Well, not if you know him. Like I said, it’s hard not to fall into his trap once he has you pegged. I was in therapy with him for quite a while, like six months. He’d meet me early in the mornings, really early, sometimes even before the day shift started. The sun would be coming up. I’d get to see the sunrise reflected in those hottie glasses…”she giggled. “So, when he talks to me, I shiver. His voice, the way he looks at me…for months, I really thought he was getting more and more ready for me. I mean, he reciprocated, dammit! I swear it.

“The thought of someone not liking me back is seriously threatening to my well-being, y’know? So usually I go crazy – for lack of a better term – trying to figure out if a guy digs me. With Jonnie, I’d lay a hand on his leg, touch his arm when he’d talk to me in the hall, stuff like that. The first time I touched him like that he looked like I’d just put a tarantula on him or something. But after that…he’d make sure we were alone. Then he’d interview me, ask me sexy questions, like when was my first time, yadda yadda. He shifted in his seat like he was – ooh, just thinking about it!…anyway, for weeks and weeks this went on, getting stronger every day, until I couldn’t stand it anymore…”

Jane had her doubts about Crane’s interest in Angie, which Angie seemed to agree on, in a way. Hard not to fall into his trap…“What happened when you couldn’t stand it anymore?”

Angie took a breath, staring off into the hard asphalt. “He got me. The bastard.” She laughed; a short, bitter affair. “It was another early day, we were alone in one of those painful white rooms. Sometimes he’d let me walk around during a session, stretch my legs. He said I looked like I needed to relieve some tension. He said he could relate to that, wink wink. So I was wandering, looking out the window, and I remember the exact question he asked me at that precise moment.”

Another full stop; Jane waited, but Angie appeared lost in the past. “Angie”, she prodded, impatient.

“I wasn’t looking at him; I’d needed a rest from the visual stimulation. I was looking out the window, and he said ‘how do you want me to help you, Angel, what do you want me to do to you?’ Well, the ‘do to you’ part just set me on fire, y’know? So I turned around, and he was suddenly right behind me, or in front of me at that point. He pushed himself onto me, understand? I swear to God, he did. He was just, like, right there, almost all over me. I just couldn’t…I did the stupid thing.”

“Which was?”

“I kissed him.”

Jane’s mouth fell open. Crane was handsome, in a way, but she simply could not imagine pressing her lips to his. He was bad inside, she felt it; he dirtied her with every session they had. She could, however, easily see him pushing himself onto a girl; he had practically done that during their last hypnotherapy date, if she was not mistaken.

Angie nodded at Jane’s disbelief. “Oh, yes. And he kissed me back. I should have known, though; it felt wrong. Like he was phoning it in. At the time, though, I was eager to think he was into me, so I started to loosen his tie and stuff…and then an orderly walked in, and Crane pushed me away like I was trying to suck his blood.” She shrugged. “I’ve been down here ever since.”

“I see”, Jane said, at a loss for words. He had reverse-sexually-assaulted her, it seemed. “Do you think…what do you think he was doing?”

“What do you think he was doing? I honestly still don’t know. All the nurses and orderlies saw me hitting on him in public for weeks beforehand, and when I think of it now, he so obviously never gave anything back in front of them. So maybe he just set me up, or maybe he really was interested but had to back off because I’m a patient…” she shook her head. “I don’t know. He continued to see me for a while after I got down here, but I was like obsessed at that time, and I started going through his stuff. I got caught just last week. Just last week…funny, it seems like longer that I hadn’t seen him. I was getting it regularly from him every day, you know.”

Therapy, Jane understood.

“And that’s the story of how I came to be underground.” She glanced at the building next to them. “You know we’re so far down there aren’t even any windows for us?”

“I’ve never had a window here.”

“Ah”, Angie pondered. “He must have really liked you. Drove you crazy faster.”

What a sweet, thoughtful man.

Looking back at all the signs he’d sent her, Jane realized that in his world, he very well may like her. He’d broken the ice by introducing himself as a doctor, he’d shown his affection by having her placed in his hospital for the insane. He’d even betrayed her scant trust in him by throwing her in the maximum security cellar; to top it all off, here she was, talking to his ex. If causing madness was courtship to him, he had certainly been a busy little bee.

How does one break up with a boyfriend like that?

Angie nodded with growing conviction. “Just you wait”, she said. “He does like you. If he hasn’t wormed his way inside you yet-” Jane wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘inside’, but let her continue anyway – “he’ll do it soon. You’re not a raving lunatic, so he’s got to be up to something. You and me both, kid.” She put her arm around her, making Jane slightly uncomfortable. “We’re his new wives, and he’s just aching to break us in.”

The thought nearly drove Jane to tears; she hugged her knees instead, and felt the chill air seep into her skin. Life was just a memory now, she feared; she was Persephone, and her Underworld would never let her go.

so there's Jonnie Crane from a slightly different perspective.

[fosforito]

wow!!

Can´t wait what happens next....

Greetz,
Alexandra

[Murchadh]

YAH, you added more! I like the way you showed Crane through Angie's eyes, the same as he is, but in a way diffrent becasue of the whole wives courtship thing. Like it I do! Love seeing Jane's thoughts on the matter too, her slow desention into Crane's madness.

[Dr. J Crane]

Ok, Ok, I'm begging!!! Keep posting...please?? It's amazing reading this - like I have a dark corner in my mind that is also feeding off of Angie's and Jane's fears....I feel like my mind/brain has melded with the scarecrow - like our identities are now one....

Please...I'm addicted - POST!!!!!!

[jill]

Woah, I had no clue something actually HAPPENED between them!!!! You didn't tell me this, haha. Well that changes like everything, I thought she was just crazy obsessed with him...I didn't know he actually used her...woahh.

I feel bad for both of them though. I like Angie because she's such a character and she's company for Jane, but she's kind of shallow, isn't she? I like how Jane is more deep and instinctive about Crane.

Also, love the Persephone/Hades metaphor hehe. You = amazing.

[Niquinga]

This is really good, I can't wait to find out what happened please post soon.

And I gotta agree with Jill I love that metaphor.

[azina]

Wow, another fantastic chapter. That is an amazing metaphor of Persephone - taken against her will to the underworld. I hope Jane is able to escape her insane "suitor" before her mad fiance begins to "break her in."

[girl in the sharkskin tuxedo]

i love your story soo much. i just got around to reading it!!! many <3s to you!

[aurora10]

That was brilliant!!! Angie is lucky...she got to kiss Crane. Err...I mean...he's psycho? Um, yeah.

[fosforito]

It doesn´t matter - just kiss the guy, the rest isn´t important ;D LOL

aurora10 said:

That was brilliant!!! Angie is lucky...she got to kiss Crane. Err...I mean...he's psycho? Um, yeah.

[seonedevinian]

thankyou all for your continued support! i love how you all see Jane and Angie just the way i intended, thanks so much.
here's another passage, in which Angie reveals more secrets; not so much about the Crane as about his nest, Arkham.

~secret level~

This new home for Jane certainly was an Underworld. Among the quiet, the scarred, those who muttered to themselves looking for answers, Jane wandered as she had above in an attempt to avoid scrutiny. Two days passed, during which Angie would send her confusing hand-signs across the yard; for instance, occasionally she’d point to a certain window on a high floor, then relay the gesture for two hand puppets making out. That one wasn’t so obscure; Jane was pretty sure she knew what Angie was referring to. There were others that were less clear, and Jane never had the desire to question her about them during the sporadic vent-conversations. Her flappings and pokes would have to remain a mystery.

Another curious few days passed without Crane. Jane began to wonder if getting her down there had been his goal all along, and all this about ‘breaking them in’ was just the chatter of the mentally unbalanced. Instinctually, she knew better, of course. As with all men, in her experience, there was a look in his eyes that he would be hard pressed to disguise. He wanted her; he was hungry for something. She doubted she’d ever get used to seeing it.

On another chilly evening, when the girls had nothing scheduled for them but hours and hours of staring at the walls, Jane again found herself distracted by a voice from above.

“Hey, Bitey!”

Well, who could that be?

Jane climbed up on her chair, stretching her neck out to reach the conduit. “Hey”, she called.

“Oh, girl, you’ll never guess what I found today.” She didn’t sound jubilant, as she usually did when she found a scrap of information concerning Jonnie’s eating habits or the like. She sounded…awe-struck, almost disturbed.

“Angie?”

“Janie, do you know where we are?”

A beat; Angie was usually full of surprises, and she sounded positively brimming today.

“Arkham Asylum?” Jane guessed.

“Yes, but where in Arkham?”

“Oh...underground? The Max ward?”

“Underground, yes. The Max ward…apparently not.”

Jane hushed; something about the hum of important information always chastened her. “What do you mean?”

“Okay, I was wandering the halls like they don’t like to let me do anymore for this very reason, and I found myself passing by a supply room. Well…I wasn’t passing by so much as I was…”

“Inviting yourself in?” Jane offered.

“Maybe”, she admitted. “Anyway, I found myself inside…”

“Did you find some weird records from this ward or something?” Jane asked after a moment of silence.

“No, not really. It was mostly toilet paper and stuff…no records.” Her voice, clanging through the metal shafts and across the wall that divided them, trailed off there.

“Angie?”

“I heard something, something through the vents. It was…well, not much, actually. Really nothing; except that it came from above.”

Jane waited for further explanation. When none came, she said “Is that all? We are underground, you know.”`

“I know, Jane”, Angie said impatiently. “We are underground, we are the furthest under the ground you can get here. What I heard was a discussion of security in the Max ward; and it was coming fromthe Max ward.”

It took a moment, but not a long one.

“How do you know?” Jane asked finally.

“I just know! If you’d heard it, you’d know too! It was just so obvious…the guards, not orderlies, were so, like, at home. It was the maximum security ward, Jane. And it was above us. Which means that we’re not it.”

“Then what the hell are we?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think anyone knows about us. I mean, even we thought we were in maximum security.”

“That is what he told us, isn’t it?”

It occurred to Jane then that she hadn’t met with any other doctors in all the time she’d been inside Arkham. She knew Dr. Crane ran the asylum; she would have thought that he’d be very busy, far too busy to take on exclusive patients like her. She wasn’t crazy, or at least she hadn’t been when she’d arrived; what made her more of a priority than patients who had an illness to cure?

“Jane?” Angie called. “Still there?”

“Yeah”, she answered hollowly.

“Don’t go sharing this with all your friends, okay? Don’t want to get ourselves all lobotomized for nothing.” She gave an uncomfortable laugh; Jane realized she wasn’t joking.

“You know you’re my only friend, Angie.”

“Thanks, kid! I feel the same way.”

It was true; she was alone here, except for Angie. With the growing shadows gathering every night on their level, Jane had found a sense of general uneasiness grow stronger each hour; she saw demons and madness everywhere. Angie was so different from this, so regular (aside from some obsessive issues); Jane felt her to be a reminder of outside, of normalcy, where teenaged girls talked about guys liking them, not doctors drugging, hypnotizing and using them. If this level wasn’t the true maximum security ward, what was it? A testing laboratory….?

Approaching steps echoed through the hall; orderlies and the occasional nurse walked by Jane’s room every day, but somehow these sounded different. As with important information, the steps that make their way to one’s own door hum with a different tone.

“I have to go”, Jane called hurriedly to Angie. She didn’t get an answer; it was an unspoken agreement between the two. Do not communicate when conversation is suddenly cut short.

She scrambled to get off her chair, throwing herself on the bed in time to hear her heavy lock disengage. Looking up in a way she hoped was casual, she froze momentarily to see Crane there; a large, white-clad orderly stood at his side. Jane could have sworn she’d seen the burly man crack his knuckles.

“Good evening, Jane”, the doctor greeted her. “Are you ready for a private session today?”

Would it matter if I said no?

“Sure. Just let me grab my purse.”

Crane smiled at the joke; it didn’t reach his eyes. Humor was different inside these walls.

“Excellent. Mr. Burlington will accompany you from here; I will meet the two of you in a few minutes. Until then”, he nodded a farewell and left the two alone.

Jane stood uncertainly. What could she do to become more ready? Did he want her to brush her hair or something?

“This way, please”, Burlington said, waiting for her to step into the hall.

“Where is he going?”

“The doctor has some preparations to make for your session today. It won’t take long.”

Now she felt it; the unease that preceded any appointment with Crane. He did like her to be ready for him. As she walked the hall, she became aware of all the tons of steel and concrete stacked on top of her secret level; the effect was suffocating. She suddenly felt strangled, not only by the oppressive building above and around her, but by the secrecy she now found herself in. Angie was a secret from Crane, and their latest home was a secret from the real world.