Bend & Break

Solitary

~~~~~~

Deep below in the bowels of Elizabeth Arkham Asylum the atmosphere is unlike the previous floors above it. The basement is home to the most volatile of patients and here they are kept under constant supervision where they can be comforted by the padding of walls. With only one heavily barricaded exit it is impossible to escape and unless you're the Joker, you don't stand a chance of leaving the black pit behind.

There's a lack of natural light that makes seeing anything in front of your face extremely difficult and the artificial bulbs scattered across the ceiling in pairs aren't much help.
Flickering eerily they make you feel like you've walked straight into a scene of a horror movie when your walk beneath them, half expecting some crazed axe murderer to jump out and decapitate your head right of your shoulders.
(Which could be a possibility considering you are in a mental institution.)
Most of Arkham's trouble makers are made to sit in complete darkness but there are others with more delicate sensibilities who are too afraid of the shadows and their vicious whispers,
This type are allowed to stay bathed in the protection of artificially blinking lights.
Moans and whimpers are clear and distinct through the concrete walls. You can't ignore the screams and anguish as you follow Cash and Leland down the dimly lit corridor. Tiny pin pricks of electricity creep their way up your body and you switch your focus on each door that you pass.
You discover that every entryway has a small window for the staff to peek through and above this little square of glass is a number that corresponds to the occupant in the room.
There is also a metal slot in the middle of the steel door which is used to transfer food and safely remove the constriction of handcuffs, very like the Black Gate Prison System.

But his is not like the rest.
Made from bullet proof glass instead of solid metal which allows security and medical personnel to watch him 24-7.
There are also six breathing holes spaced evenly on each side that are the size of a small penny.
You suppose they are there not just for his oxygen intake but so that he can still communicate with the guards through the thick glass as well.
Familiar with all the stories involving his violent behaviour you know this type of security though invasive is necessary.
But the sight of the solid plated glass does nothing for your strangled nerves and the organ beneath your breast splutters frantically until you feel like it's lodged itself with panic into your throat.

Being rostered onto basement duty is the ultimate test for your career and although you are only assisting another Psychiatrist for the week, Dr. Arkham is counting on you to make significant changes to the system.
The man believes you are capable of achieving great things for the Asylum.

What if I can't pull this off, what will he think of me then!?

Seconds thoughts rear their ugly head once again. Loud voices of the people in your past who believed otherwise in your ability are screaming at you to reconsider.

You're making a big mistake!

There's no way in hell you can pull this off, nobody has ever fixed the Joker!

You will fail just like everybody else who's tried and then you will be a fraud.

The blind sighted opinions of fellow students, professors and your own father are the ones that underestimate your worth. They would probably drop dead from shock if they saw where you are now.
Because during those academic years at University, everybody assumed you were just a spoilt entitled brat with nothing but cobwebs for brains.
(Nothing could be farther from the truth.)
You weren't lucky enough to inherit a platinum spoon or a butler to cater to your every whim like that handsome billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.
Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in any city is rough but to grow up in the underbelly of Gotham with a deadbeat dad who'd rather get piss drunk and gamble away your college fund then actually parent, meant you had to do all you could to escape.
Make something yourself.