pitch black || BatIM [Asylum!AU]

- Chapter 1 -

Daniel 'Buddy' Lewek looked up at the huge, grey building in front of him, then shifted his gaze around. The fence that looped around the courtyard was tall, spiked at the edges. It looked like it was designed to keep people out. Or- Buddy gulped, his grip tightening on the package he had to deliver- like it was designed to keep something in.

His imagination (something Ma had often chided him gently about, on those nights where he would scramble into her and Pa's bed because he swore up and down the pictures in the paintings had been moving) went wild with that idea, creating images of monsters with jagged teeth and twisted horns, claws that rattled the bars on the fence and things that howled in agony.

Buddy jumped a little as thunder cracked ominously in the distance, as if to jolt him out of his reverie; to remind him he had a job to do, preferably before it started storming and he had to ride home in the pouring rain.

He glanced back down at the package, double-checking that yeah, this was the address. And Mr. Schwartz had shouted at him the last time he was late.

So, with a heavy sigh, Buddy leaned his rusty bike against the fence and started up the pathway towards the grey building.

He gently pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking around. There was a blonde woman at the front desk in front of him who was talking to a rather wall-like man, and once the door boomed to a close behind him both of them looked up. The woman smiled warmly at him, beckoning him closer, while the man gave Buddy a look that made him very nervous. Nevertheless, he stepped closer, trembling all of a sudden (had it gotten ten degrees colder?), and the woman raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, why on earth are you here?" She asked as Buddy stumbled over, and the man moved to the side of the desk.

"I've.. I've got a package?" He said quietly and glanced down at the package in his hands to find the name for the recipient. The man snorted a little.

"Is that a question or an answer, son?" He crossed his arms. Buddy looked up at him, eyes darting to take in his oil-stained appearance and the nametag on his shirt that read, 'Thomas Connor.'

"Oh, leave the poor boy alone." The woman rolled her eyes affectionately, before turning her attention to Buddy again. "Ignore him, he's always like that. What's your name?"

"Daniel, ma'am," Buddy mumbled. The woman smiled like she thought that was just the best name in the whole world.

"Well, Daniel, if you give me the package I can get it to whoever it needs to go to?"

"Alright," he agreed hastily (anything to be out of this building) and then paused to check who the package was too. Until then he had been more focused on the 'getting there before you get caught in the rain' bit.

"It's for. . ." He squinted a little, tilting the package to read Mr. Schwartz's scratchy handwriting. "Mr. Drew?"

"Is someone talking about me?"

Buddy's heart skipped a beat as a loud voice boomed through the lobby. He spun around rather quickly to see a man striding towards them, the long white coat he wore fluttering around his ankles.

The woman looked up and her brilliant smile got just a little wider. "Mr. Drew, sir, you've got a package from this young man here."

'Mr. Drew' rubbed his hands together as he walked forward, almost snatching the package from Buddy's hands eagerly. "Well! Let me see, let me see. Oh, perfect, and just in time too."

He examined it for a moment, before he glanced at Buddy and really seemed to notice him for the first time. Buddy shifted uncomfortably, feeling a bit like all his flaws were being thrown under a massive spotlight for this Mr. Drew fellow to see; his shirt and how it hung too loosely around his frame, his patched-up trousers, how he was awkwardly tall and lanky and thin. All the things Buddy had been teased relentlessly for, all the reasons why he tried to be as un-noticeable as possible.