Prince of Darkness ~ Gotham

~ Chapter Forty Two: Set in Stone ~

"I'm afraid every day. I'm afraid I'm going to die in an alley. Bleeding out while some scumbag goes through my pockets and laughs at me," Harvey admitted as he sat in the circles of phobics. Up until that point, Harvey never thought he'd open up to anyone about his inner conflicts and deepest fears. He portrayed such a rough and jagged man on the outside, but on the inside, there was a lot of trauma buried beneath the surface. Some of it he was willing to talk about, while others he might take his grave. "And I try to speak, but nothing comes out. And I just lie there, staring at a small space of sky between the buildings. And then I die alone. I don't want to die alone in some gutter. I want to die in a warm cozy bed in the arms of a beautiful woman,"

"Thank you for sharing, Harvey," Ms. Mullens smiled sympathetically. "Would anyone else like to share?" She turned to the rest of the group. Across the circle, the man Harvey briefly spoke to raised his hand, and when Ms. Mullens ushered him to go on, he took a deep breath as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "My name is Tod, and I've never spoken here before, but I have a horrible terror of failure," He trembled. "I torment myself and those around me. I'd crawl on broken glass to avoid failing. About anything. I inherited this illness from my father, but I'm afraid I'm passing it on to my son,"

The circle remained silent while Tod tried to compose himself. But sometimes, opening up about your inner struggles is just too powerful of a wave to handle. "We're here for you, Tod," Ms. Mullens broke the silence. Tod nodded appreciatively before continuing. "When I came home from work yesterday, my precious son was crying, and he said to me that he... I'm sorry. I can't speak," Tod sobbed as he ran out of the room, and Ms. Mullens went after him, her voice echoing through the room as the rest of the circle looked at each other concerned. Minutes went by, and there was still no sign of either Tod or Ms. Mullens. Harvey glanced over to the staircase, he could feel his stomach twist itself into a knot. Something was wrong.

"Is it just me, or have those two been gone a while?" Harvey asked the group, but no one said anything. "This has been real and fun, but I got to go," Harvey excused himself as he grabbed his coat and ran out the door. But just as Harvey ran into the parking lot, the doors of the black metal van slammed shut and drove off. Ms. Mullens was trapped inside, and if Harvey didn't find them in time, Tod was going to kill her.

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There are security cameras all over the school. There's bound to be some in the cafeteria as well. Holly glanced around her as she walked through the halls to her classes on Thursday. And sure enough, when she went to the cafeteria for lunch, there were cameras on every wall in every corner of the room. Cara, as a result of her outburst, had to serve two days of lunch detention, so Holly sat by herself at their usual table, scanning the room intently. Remembering the paperwork she had been given when she started attending the school, she reached into her backpack for a folder, fishing out the crumpled-up school map.

Anders Prep was like a maze, and you could get lost for hours if you didn't know which direction your class was. Smoothing it out on the table, Holly started marking the exact number of security cameras in each hallway, the auditorium, and of course, the cafeteria. One here, one there, one over there. And... "Excuse me?" A soft voice asked. Holly looked up from her work, and she saw Natasha. "Am I interrupting something?" Natasha asked. "Ah no, it's fine. Come sit," Holly patted. Natasha complied, setting down her tray and taking a drink from her iced coffee. "What's all this?" She asked. "It's the map of the school. I need to gather proof," Holly briefly explained.