Mad Boy (Original)

(Chapter 3) - Porcelain Fears

Jonathan had no idea how long they had been crawling in utter silence, he had been counting the corpses of spiders in his mind as they made their way through the vents of the asylum. Jervis had begun to hum to himself as he seemed occupied on something. Jonathan had tried talking to him a few times but each time he seemed to rather crawl in silence, even once sighing loudly and almost exclaiming that Jonathan had caused him to miss "it". He, of course, had no idea to whom or what "it" referred to and could only assume he too was counting the dead spiders.

"Where were you?" Jervis had suddenly perked causing Jonathan to swear under his breath as he bumped his head in slight surprise,
"I-What?" Jonathan whispered back hoping nobody had heard the rather loud clank he had made
"My dear boy, I saw them taking you away through the bars in my wall. I must say you didn't look okay" Jervis sang quietly,
"Oh.. that. I- er- I don't want to tal" The boy cut himself off as he turned once more, pointing downwards into a room that looked empty he began "Here. Let's hide in here before they come in the vents too" Jervis simply hummed in approval and backed up allowing Jonathan to adjust himself so that he was able to push the vent aside again. Jonathan lowered his legs first and shuffled himself forward, making sure to grab at the vent to swing him forward. As he let go and landed on the tiles beneath he hobbled forwards into the wall moving just in time to doge Jervis tumbling after him.

"My my, that was close" Jervis sang once more, trying to adjust himself before Jonathan faced him. The room they had entered wasn't too large. The walls fitted in a dusty white brick which wore a silver paint nicely ontop whilst the floor had plain grey tiles. In the corner sat a desk which neatly sat a computer on top of it with a few items laying around it. A few chairs were stacked next to the desk whilst a large board covered half the wall on the other side. It was quite obvious to them that this must have been the guard's brief room of sort. Very luckily the door had a sturdy looking padlock hanging around rims.

"My dear Crane, whilst I love being out of my cell, I must ask about your plan to cut us loose?" Jervis spoke, walking merrily about the room as he did so
"I don't have one" Jonathan stated forcing his head down to avoid Jervis's gaze as he blushed slightly
"Well then, why might I ask, did you invite me along?"
"You can hypnotise guards" Jonathan spat, almost harshly. It was obvious to him so he couldn't understand why Jervis struggled to understand too. Seeing Jervis nod and continue to look at him curiously, Jonathan added, "I overheard Strange talking about Penguin coming tonight to take inmates for his gang, we could sneak out whilst the guards are dealing with h-" Jervis cut Jonathan off with a loud gasp of realization causing Jonathan to stare at Jervis, his thick eyebrows straightening in annoyance,
"What?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I saw him and a companion meeting with the Doctor in the courtyard the night you were... busy," Jervis said, thinking of an alternative word seeing Jonathan flinch almost as if the doctor had come back to torture him some more just for the fun of it.

Nothing hurt Jonathan more now than the thought of the rusty blade icing over his fresh scars, the nonchalant doctor chuckling to himself as Jonathan screamed out for help- he knew help was a dire thing to call for, but at that moment he didn't know what to do. His whole body strapped to the doctors cold metal table, bodies swinging in the foreground almost like a swinging pocket watch. The fear of being caught again forced Jonathan to do anything, anything to get him free. He had no idea what he would die when free, but what he did know is that Arkham would never become his grave. He knew no one would come and get him in the daybreak, he was past that delusion. After his father had died he realised he was truly alone in the world even when he was alive. He always had been alone and always will. Nothing could ever change that he thought.

Jonathan was quickly brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Jervis coughing into his hand politely. As Jonathan lifted his head to face the curly-haired man, Jervis began to speak, "I hate to be a pest, but we should haste in our great escape! We don't want to be caught in here" Jervis muttered the last part not wanting to upset Jonathan with the thought of this being a lost cause. Jonathan simply nodded in approval and started to walk over to the padlock currently being the only thing keeping them hidden.
"Stay close" Jonathan whispered and before Jervis could question anything more, he twisted the key in the lock until the ever so satisfying click sounded and slowly pulled the door ajar and with a loud creak, they both took a step into the corridor.