Professor Fear (Jonathan Crane x OC)

chapter 12

Ethan and April went to get their usual Friday sandwiches. This week the walk down was quite strange without Daria throwing comments at them or announcing random facts unrelated to their academic studies. Ethan retold Dr. Crane's behaviour with classmates such as Pete Wesbrook to April who scowled. 

"That Professor is an... ass with legs! I've never heard of someone choosing a line of work solely to see people fail," They turned left and entered the small sandwich store where both picked out the ploughman sandwich. "Do you want to eat outside of the art department since it's halfway between yours and my classes?"
Ethan nodded.
As they ate they could smell the fresh paint of the art department.
"I really love this smell, it reminds me of home," April explained. She sat on the top of the bench while Ethan sat on the actual seating part of it. "Mom used to paint things all the time, the walls, the pottery, just so much smells in one tiny house," She smiled to herself as a memory played through her mind.
Ethan stared at her. She was really pretty and smart. What more could he hope for. She also had a sense of morals and was not a Barbie, even though her figure would suggest so. April lit up the biology department with her bright coloured mini-dresses which Ethan swore she had a different dress for every type of day. After the three years of university, April was hoping to work out in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology. Ethan hadn't even thought that far yet. He'd taken psychology because it was a good subject to get into a job that involves human interaction. That was as much as he knew.

"Are you doing anything this weekend?" Ethan finally asked April instead of Daria. After a moment of surprise and hesitation she turned to look at him.
"I was waiting for you to ask that,"

Ethan smoothly arrived just before the doors to class were closed. He earned a terrifying glare from the psychology professor as he sat down. On the board in thick letters was 'BEHAVIOURISM INDEPENDENT COURSEWORK'. Today was the start of yet another long essay.
"Before we start this topic that you should all remember from covering a little off earlier this year and every day in your lives, let's have a definition given to us," The professor seemed slightly energetic this morning. It was quite terrifying for some students. As if he' gone slightly mad.
Out of the many people in the class room only three raised their hands.
"Daria would you like to make a contribution seeing as it's been... a while, by your standards that is, since you've made a class contribution,"
Ethan looked over his shoulder. Daria sat in her usual place. Her green hoodie had the hood up so that her face was slightly hard to see from his side. She wasn't in her usual cocky mood today. She'd been quiet all week; sitting in the back of class with her hood up, unmoving. Ethan finally let himself look at how drained of colour Daria's face was. The underneath of her eyes were dark blue and her cheekbones were slightly more prominent. She'd been losing weight fast. It would have made sense to say she'd possibly gone the majority of the week without eating much at all.

"Show me the Scarecrow," she whispered softly. It seemed that Ethan was the only person who heard it. The professor began to walk between the students, getting closer to her table.
"Well Daria? Is today the day where you don't know anything?" After that comment every one watched as the sickly looking girl's lips curled into a smirk.
"Behaviour analysis is the... guess what?science of behaviour. The focus is on observable, measurable behaviour and the role of the environment in establishing and maintaining behaviours." She recited. The students sitting closest to Daria began to smirk and chuckle amongst themselves at Daria's typical response. Dr. Crane smirked for a moment and then returned to the front of her room.
"I hope you all wrote down that explanation down, No? Shall I repeat it for you?" He slams his hands on the desk and leans in, causing a jump from a couple people.
"Behaviour analysis is the science of behaviour. The focus is on observable, measurable behaviour and the role of the environment in establishing and maintaining behaviours."

The classed drained out quickly as per usual. Daria had blanked Ethan and without further quarrel he had left her as a lost cause. She finished packing her untouched folder in her bag and walked to the door.
"Where do you think you're going on a Friday evening?" His voice sent an unsatisfying shiver down her spine. She'd been trying to forget about Monday's events.
"To my dorm, sir," She opened the classroom door to leave only to have her left wrist grasped by the professor's long thin fingers. "I'm not in the mood to play a game," She snapped weakly. Jonathan pulled her against him and pulled down her hood, brushing aside her hair to reveal her face to the classroom light.
"You can't starve yourself Daria, your body and cells need nutrients, you need to eat," Jonathan's concern caught her completely off-guard. "Come back with me so that I can look after you," He pleaded. His genuine emotion made her want to cry. She'd be manipulated and confused over the past month. She'd been dealing with the disability of her mental illness and the fear-inducing drugs, playing around with her from the inside-out. She needed a break.

But she wouldn't be getting that break now. It was that very moment when Daria got to see Jonathan let his guard down for Scarecrow to take over. A long needled syringe was flashed in front of her.
"You know what this is?" He said more as a statement. Her 'yes' was more like a whimper of fear. "I'm sure the last thing you want, or need, is another dose of this coursing through your blood. So do exactly as I say," Even the eyes had lost their sincerity and had been replaced with hunger and excitement.