In The Eye of the Beholder | Jonathan Crane

July 2004

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

-Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield)

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"Welcome to Gotham City, Miss Connery."

I stood in front of a short, portly man. My new boss, as a matter of fact. I smiled and accepted the hand he had outstretched toward me.

"Thank you, Mr. Flannigan. I can't tell you how happy I am that you chose me out of all the other applicants. Some, I have to admit, are far more qualified than I," I said to him.

"Well, from what I've seen, you have amazing skill. We were also looking to hire new journalists on the younger side. Perhaps gain a new perspective. You were what we were looking for."

"I hope I live up to your expectations, sir."

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I sat at my desk, thinking hard about the first conversation I'd had with my boss a month ago. He had high expectations for me. I felt like I wasn't living up to those expectations. I yawned and leaned back in my chair.

Even after living only a month, I realized crime in Gotham, quite literally, never rests. I remembered watching the news and always seeing Gotham on the station. But I never imagined it would be as bad as I now saw it was.

Gotham also had a very interesting style of criminal.

I glanced at the clock. There were two minutes before I could leave. I groaned. Nothing was happening? Why couldn't I go?

It appeared everyone else shared the same mindset. Some were actually leaving. Me, I wanted to preserve my worker's integrity.

One minute.

The moment the clock hit five o'clock I was out.

"Bye, Paul," I called to him. He didn't answer. I stuck my head into his office. He was asleep. I left him alone.

It wasn't dark yet as I walked home. Walking home in Gotham during the day was bad enough. I couldn't imagine walking home at night.

To the east was the notorious Arkham Asylum. It housed the worst of the worst. I'd hate to be a patient there, much less work there. I stared at the gothic looking asylum as I walked. That was how I ran into something.

"Shit, I'm sorry," I apologized, finally paying attention to what I was doing. It was an African American woman I'd run into. Everything she must have been holding was on the sidewalk. I immediately dropped to my knees to help her pick up her things.

"It's alright," she said. I glanced at the cover of the folder she had. It had the words Arkham Asylum printed on the cover.

"Arkham, huh?" I asked as I handed the folder back.

"Yeah, it's an interesting place," she said. In one of the folders I picked up, I noticed a tab with a name I recognized on it.

Jonathan Crane.

"You know Jonathan Crane?" I asked the woman.

"He's a new doctor. You know him?"

"We were friends as teenagers."

"You know, he might have mentioned you. What's your name?"

"Amber Connery," I said. The woman nodded her head.

"He has mentioned you. By the way," she stuck out her hand, "I'm Dr. Joan Leland."

"Nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand. It was just then I noticed that it was getting dark.

"I should go. I don't think either of us wanna be walking home in the dark," I said.

"You're right," Joan agreed. "You should come by some time. I'm sure Jonathan would be happy to see you."

"I'll see if I can find the time to do that. Goodbye, Dr. Leland."

She waved as I started walking to my apartment. I was surprised to hear Jonathan was still in Gotham. What were the chances of that?

When I got to my building, I took one last look at the asylum. It loomed over the city, almost like a dark stain. Threatening and unwelcoming.

Sort of like a certain person who now worked there.

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A/N: So I'm back! Sorry this chapter took so long. This chapter was a bit difficult to write, I didn't know how I wanted to start Amber's story as an adult. But this is what happened. I've started the next chapter, so hopefully it won't take as long as this one did!