Stitches || Scarecrow

Ch.9

Julia awoke to her clock, which was singing 'Centuries' by Fall Out Boy. For some reason since she discovered that song, it made an impact on her. A good song to start off the day kind of impact.

She mouthed the words along with the song, as she got ready for the day. Once changed into black jeans and a long sleeve, with her black combat boots laced up, she walked to her window wall.

Waking up at five was an advantage to see Gotham at it's slower moment of the day. For some reason, crime liked to sleep in for a bit.

She started when she heard loud knocking. Slowly walking to her front door, she looked through the eyehole. Seeing nobody, she opened it and saw a letter on the ground.

Julia picked it up while closing the door behind her. She went into her kitchen, grabbed a knife, and slit open the envelope. She pulled out a piece of paper with her name on one side. The other side read as written:

Hopefully you haven't changed your mind about tonight. Most people would have changed their minds last night.

But my reason to write to you, was to make sure to bring a change of clothes and something to amuse you. Aftereffects are sometimes quite dangerous from my tests. So just in case things should go south, you'll have to stay until I deem you fit to leave.

Hopefully it won't come to that.

Till tonight then,
Jonathan

She smiled as she read it. It seemed that he was uncomfortable to have her around him for so long. Just as she was nervous to be around him if things went south.

...

When she arrived at his door, she carried a duffel bag in one hand. And was greeted by Jonathan staring at her oddly.

"What?" she finally asked as she went into the living room to drop her bag. "Do I have something on my face? Besides the stitches obviously."

"You really are confident aren't you?"

"And this suprises you?"

"It actually does."

"Why?"

He glanced at his watch. "You're thirty minutes early."

"I got bored." she said in defense.

"You got bored waiting to be tested on?" Jonathan said in disbelief.

"Um, yeah."

He stared at her oddly again.

"Please stop staring at me. Its rude and really creepy."

Shaking his head he asked, "are you ready to start then?"

"Yes."

"Good. Follow me."

With that Jonathan went down a hall, opened a door and went down some stairs. Julia followed closely behind. When reaching the last step, she noticed they were in a cement basement. It was empty besides Jonathan and her.

"So... How does this work?" she asked. Turning towards him.

"I'm gonna inject you with a small dose, just to ease you into it. This serum is stronger than the one you have already experienced, so don't be fooled by the size." Jonathan warned, while taking a syringe out of his pocket.

He stepped closer to her, gently maneuvering her hair behind her neck. Julia struggled to breathe as he stood that close to her. It didn't help that he was quite intimidating since he was taller than her by a lot.

"Relax." he breathed as he inserted the needle, and after a second he slowly slid it out as she cringed.

As soon as the sting faded, everything blurred and faded to black. She breathed deeply trying to fight the panic she felt about to burst. Her fists clenched.

"Tell me what you see." a voice entered her thoughts. Echoing from every angle in the dark. She turned this way and that, trying to find the source.

"Jonathan?" she whispered.

"Yes. Tell me what you see." his voice said in annoyance.

"Darkness. It's everywhere. I'm alone." saying that aloud made her predicament suddenly sink in.

Julia chocked back a sob as she frantically searched for light. But when a light flicked on above her, she froze. She wished the light had stayed off.

...

Jonathan watched Julia as she suddenly stood still. Her face had paled greatly. She was seeing something that absolutely terrified her.

"Julia." he said calmly. "Tell me what you see."

He was startled when she started to scream, as she backed up against the basement wall.

"No! Get away from me! Please!"

"Julia, what are you seeing." he said raising his voice. "Tell me and I can help you."

"No! Oh god no..."

Julia suddenly collapsed, and Jonathan was able to catch her before she hit the floor. He quickly got out the antidote and injected her with it.

Once her breathing had turned to normal, he carried her up the stairs and layed her on the couch. He left her like that as he went to his office and got his notebook out. First he pondered about what had occurred, and then recorded everything down that happened after she was injected.

But when he wrote down the part about her screaming, he realized she was screaming at someone. Family perhaps? Or just some random person?

It didn't quite fit as Jonathan thought about their sessions at Arkham. She had said she was afraid of being alone, and she confirmed it in their current session as she spoke to him. But she never mentioned she was afraid of someone...

It hit him hard, as he remembered that she had feared him. He ran a hand through his hair subconsciously. He was the cause for her screaming. The cause for her fainting. And for the first time... he felt guilty for hurting someone.