BATMAN || Automatonophobia || a fanfiction story

||CHAPTER FIVE||

Solane had been in the hospital for almost two-weeks, her brother had been in a panic when the university had called him about what happened, he had gotten a bit more aggressive than usual when the doctors had told him he couldn't stay in the room longer than he needed to.

When she woke up, Sol had already had his arms wrapped around her, shaking like a leaf and on the border of sobbing. It didn't take long for Solane to calm him down, the next day the doctors had said she had been recovering quickly and was able to go free tomorrow if she wished, Sol nodded to the nurse as she walked out the door.

Damian, Sally and Caleb had decided to visit her that day with Sol, he had told her she had finally woken up from her coma and was eager to talk to her to see if she was okay.

She rubbed her head with her palms in a tired manner "what the hell happened, did someone hit me over the head with a brick?" Sol and the others laughed, but her entire situation hadn't been funny, to Solane everything was a joke "well, according to Laura you guys were doing a psychology session and you just, got triggered into a panic attack again" Sol shrugged, Solane's memory recalled the event as soon as he started speaking "that shits getting old" she hissed in an annoyed manner, laying back in the bed.

Sol raised a brow "you haven't shut down like that attack in years, what do you mean?" Sol added. Solane rolled her eyes "you know what I meant you dork" Sol chuckled, but he couldn't help but frown at the thought of these attacks actively getting worse.

Damian chuckled "at least you don't let things like this keep you down, I heard patients like you end up being out for months" he scratched behind his neck in slight discomfort, Sol was giving him a pointed look. Really dude?, he seemed to say through the glare in his eyes.

Solane crossed her arms in frustration, furrowing her brows "I hope the university can still let me take the courses, I'd hate the thought of wasting the time and money" Solane said sharply.

Sally lifted a finger "can you call them to make sure?" she suggested timidly.

Solane shrugged, reaching for her phone that was set on a table beside the bed, she opened her phone and clicked on the number. Tapping her finger on her thigh as the phone rang quietly in her ear, it rang once before someone picked it up. "Gotham University, how may I help you?" the woman on the phone greeted in a bright voice, Solane leaned back a little twirling her finger on one of her hair strands "yes, I am a student that had an incident recently and I was wondering if the professors can still let me take classes" the woman on the other hand hummed in thought for a second.

"Oh yes, you're miss Solane right?".

"That's me".

"As long as we know you're doing okay or the doctors clear you, the professors would be more than happy to let you continue your courses" the woman replied reassuringly, Solane let out a bit of breath in relief.

"Okay, thank you" she nodded while hanging up the phone, the others all silently shared her excitement "sweet, it's no worries then" Caleb added, Solane nodded in agreement "hey Sol could you go get the nurse so we can talk about when I can get out of here?" Sol nodded, Caleb moved out of his way as he walked out the door.

She was permitted by her doctors that she had recovered enough to leave, they had given her some medications for her attacks if she had ever decided to feel anxious again, it wasn't too hard to pick the pace back up for the work she had missed. Poor Aiden had given her a batch of flowers and at least a hundred 'i'm sorrys' when she came back, he had felt like he did something wrong and the memory of her screams wasn't much help.

"I told you Aiden I'm fine. It wasn't your fault, this isn't the first time it triggered out of nowhere" she shrugged up at him, holding her books to her chest. Aiden winced "I know, I know. I just can't help but feel awful about it, it isn't something you can just. Get over" Solane knew he was right, that incident probably was now permanently etched in his head, known as the woman who had a seizure in his arms.

She sighed inwardly "I understand" is all she could really say, as she didn't exactly know what to say that was helpful. She continued with her schooling, further looking into Arkham from time-to-time, once she had driven by the asylum.

She wondered what it looked like if it had been just freshly built, she could faintly see the place once having greenery and the old paint being less withered and a bit brighter in color, yet she couldn't imagine an asylum that holds the worst to have any sort of brightness. Perhaps it had always been dead, Solane thought glumly, staring at the asylum.

On her drive there past the thick wall of trees on both sides, the trees most likely would trap or aid whoever was lucky-or unlucky-enough to get past the prison walls, on the trees or beside them was aging signs warned against picking up any hitchhikers.

Arkham loomed at the top of a hill. The prison's gates looked as if it was from a bygone era, tall and intimidating, gothic. With the name; ARKHAM ASYLUM, spelled out in rusted iron across the bars that had spikes on the ends of them.

On each side of the gate stood brick pillars connecting to the wall itself, on the pillars hung small orange lanterns, Solane had a feeling they represented something but couldn't quite tell what it was. Either way, it gave her a feeling that it was fortelling all the bad omen that lay within the walls of this hellish place.

The main roof was flat but in the back had a tower that made the complex have a point, some of the floors had barred windows, others had no windows at all, she could see guards on the watchtowers inside keeping sharp guard. And to think she was going to end up working there, she gulped, driving away from the ominous building, she wouldn't worry about it intimidating her right now.

She had other things to worry about.