His Flower

Chapter 1

"Draw me a picture." Rose said those words often. Whenever she went into Arkham Asylum for her personal project, she would always ask the inmates to draw her a picture. Those pictures she would then take to her psychology and sociology teacher, so she could then learn more about the brains on the inmates. 

Something about humans fascinated Rose Galavan. Especially those residing at Arkham Asylum. She wanted to know more about the inmates. What made them happy, what went on in their brains, their dreams, their fears. She hoped that with one of the inmates, she would figure out what made them snap just by their drawings. 

Art therapy is what she did with the inmates. It helped her since she was also a talented artist. She would sometimes draw with the inmates or take the quiet time to work on homework. She wouldn't watch the inmates draw. She would hate it when her uncle or her aunt would watch her draw even if they were in the doorway of her room. 

The girl's favorite thing to do when she was alone in her room: look at the drawings of the inmates. They'd all range in skills, from childish scribbles to realistic drawings of a talented artist. The pictures themselves would be all over the place, but that's what Rose loved about. Always asking "why? Why did they draw this?" whenever she analyzed the pictures.

*** 

Rose silently watched as Theo went through the files of the inmates that were on her desk. She didn't know what exactly to do or even why he was going through the files. Theo hardly told her much about his plans on how he was going to gain Gotham. 

"That's all Rose." Theo told her before walking out of her bedroom.  

Rose stared at the doorway in confusion before hopping off of her bed and walking down the hallway. She quietly descended the stairs to see dimmed lights in their living room area. 

"This is a glass jar inside of it is a hairy spider, a tarantula I guess. I'm no expert." Rose watched from the stairs as Theo kept talking, most likely helping his own chance of getting Gotham for himself. He explained what he would do with the spider and possibly kill the mayor with it, saying that would be choice A

"Choice B," The man continues after pausing briefly. "I open the hatch, you speak to your lovely secretary Maggie on the telephone and tell you've run away with some woman, you'll be sending written instructions shortly." Theo explained the more life saving choice. "So which is it? Choice A or Choice B?" 

"Choice B please." Mayor James answered quickly with a shaking voice. "Please choice B."  

"The telephone," Rose went up a couple stairs, hiding herself from Theo as he walked over to the frightened mayor. "Course. It's human nature." He opened up the front of the box, letting Mayor James see what really was in front of him and who he was talking with. 

Rose headed back up the stairs to the safety of her room as Theo continued his talk with the frightened mayor. She quietly shut the door behind her before sitting down on her black and white comforter. She stared at her off tinted white carpet wondering herself what Theo had in mind. 

***

The ginger hair girl had a small smile on her face as she walked through the doors of Arkham Asylum. 

"Afternoon Miss. Galavan." The front desk officer greeted Rose. The girl gave a smile in return before she kept walking down the hallway, towards the rec room where the inmates were waiting for her. 

"Afternoon." Rose greeted them with a smile as she walked to a small table that was guarded by more officers. Out of her bag that she was carrying, she pulled out paper and pencils before walking around the rec room, giving each inmate a paper and a pencil. "Any suggestions for today's muse?" She asked looking around the room for raised hands. 

"Something that makes us happy!" An inmate yelled while raising their hand. 

Rose thought for a moment, debating whether or not to have thee inmates to draw something that made them happy. "That's a good idea." She agreed, making the inmate feel proud about their suggestion. "You'll be tapping into happy moments of anytime in your life and reminiscing those moments." She explained what they should be doing. "You'll also be thinking about something else other than negative moments or emotions." She stood at her small guarded table and nodded at the inmates, encouraging them to start drawing. 

She had sat down at the table and pulled out her sketch pad, turning to a partially drawn flower garden. Rose took a deep breath before carefully placing her pencil on the pad and started to sketch out another flower petal. 

After some time, about a couple hours, Rose started packing things up and collecting the drawings of the inmates.

"Don't understand why you do this." An officer told Rose, helping her pick up the drawings. "Nothing makes them happy. They're here for a reason." 

"People fascinate me," Rose told the officer before taking the drawings from his hands. "And there's always something that makes someone happy." She carefully placed the drawings in a folder before placing the folder in the safety of her bag. 

"Well it would make me happy if you joined me for some coffee sometime." The officer told Rose. 

The girl was dumbfounded as she stared at the young officer. Sure she thought he was good looking, but never thought twice about a relationship with him. Or with anyone. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. 

"Your not her type." A crazed laugh broke the awkward silence, startling Rose much more than the officer. She looked over to see Jerome standing against the barred rec room, face pressed against the bars.

"Back to your cell Jerome." The officer snapped, and Rose took that as an opening to leave the asylum and head back to the Galavan penthouse. 

When she got to the safety of the home, she noticed Theo staring outside and heard no whip noises or Mayor James crying out in pain. "Rose." Theo called out, knowing it was her who came home. 

"Yes uncle?" She asked slowly walking over to the stairs, so she could lock herself away in her room. 

"We'll be having guest with us for a little while." Theo told her before turning to face her. "I'd suggest you be careful around our guests." He warned her.