Philophobia [Dr. Jonathan Crane]

Agateophobia

Agateophobia~Fear of Insanity

Darcy's eyes snapped open. It took a moment for them to adjust to the brightness of the room but they did. She slowly sat up and checked herself over.

The door to the room opened and in stepped her professor in his sleek suit with a briefcase.

He pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. He held a folder in his hands and flipped it open. "Ms. Darcy Santiago you have been deemed insane by the city of Gotham. Is there anything you wish to add?"

She laughed. "Usted serpiente astuta. You know that no one is here, correct? You can drop the sane doctor façade. We both know who you really are."

He stared at her and removed his glasses. "You're right." He smiled. "Do you want to see my mask?"

She leaned back on the bed and didn't answer.

Crane flipped his briefcase open and smoke filled the room making its way into Darcy's lungs. She coughed a little and when the smoke cleared Crane was standing there with his scarecrow mask on.

"Stay away from me!" she cried and screamed. Scarecrow chuckled.

"What do you see?"

She lowered her head and her shoulders started moving up and down. She came back up laughing hysterically. "I see a dork in a burlap sack mask," she said.

He pulled off his mask and stared at her curiously. He turned on his heels and ran out and to his office. He threw his briefcase and sat behind his desk, running his hands through his hair.

Well, Johnny boy, she'll be quite the experiment. Scarecrow chuckled in his head.

Crane growled in response. "Why didn't the toxin work?"

Come on, Johnny. Let me out to play with our new toy. I could make her scared. Oh the things I could do to her.

"I said shut up!" Crane jumped up causing the chair to fly back and he threw his briefcase across the room.

He noticed a file fall out of it and walked over, picking it up. He flipped it open to find Darcy's picture. There was little to nothing about her in her file.

"First," he said. "We need to find out what makes her tick. Her deepest secrets and darkest fears."
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Darcy lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling. The door opened once again and she glanced over to see Crane.

"Ms. Santiago, it is time for therapy."

She didn't say anything, just sat up and stared at the wall.

He pulled up a seat and held a pen and notepad in his hand. "What was your childhood like?" he asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she snapped. He decided to pry deeper. See how far he could go.

"Then why don't I guess....Was it abusive parents? Foster homes? Not enough attention from mommy and daddy?....Perhaps you had a perfect life but you were a spoiled, ungrateful child."

"You don't know a thing," she whispered. "I was the oldest in a family of ten. I paid for everything. I provided. And then...." She trailed off not wanting to say more.

He leaned forward and grasped her hand in his. He was playing her. He thought he had her in the palm of his hands.

"It was a cold, Tuesday night," she said. "I was coming home from my third job. I...I found them all dead. There was blood everywhere. Everywhere. I snapped. I went after the person who did that and stabbed them again and again and again."

Crane watched her facial expressions and sat back aggravated. "You're lying," he said through gritted teeth.

She grinned at him. "You're getting better at this game of ours, Johnny."

"Very well then," he said standing to his feet. "You're going to be here a while. The walls will start to close in. You will begin to see things my way. If not......I have my ways of persuading you."

He went to leave but she called out to him. "I knew a guy that had a fear of insanity. He was the most boring man I'd ever met in my existence. He tried to be this social stereotype of a perfect "normal" citizen. So I did to him what he feared the most. I deformed him. I made him a reject of society. Somebody that when people saw him on the sidewalk, they'd cross the street to not cross his path. I made him one of us. He committed suicide. It's so easy for outsiders to look on the inside and be naysayers. We're nothing but a piece of gum on the street to them. Something to be avoided. A nuisance. I love bringing people inside. Then they understand. Then they feel the pain. Of course they can't handle it and it reminds me we are much more stronger than they are." She smiled at him. "We know what the world is like."

And like that she went back to staring at the wall. She was done talking.