Fools ||Edward Nygma|| [1]

Chapter Twenty-Seven || Manic-Depressive Illness

"Some days I'm Van Gogh's 'Starry Night',

other days I'm his suicide letter".

- Unknown

One afternoon Charlotte was called to Professor Hugo Strange's office. He was the Chief of Psychiatry. He was a short and bald man, who always wore a dark suit and round red glasses. His beard was a black line, which went from one side of his ear to the other.

Two guards sat on each side of Charlotte as she waited to be called into Strange's office. When the door finally opened, the two guards pulled her up to her feet.

"Ah, Miss Bateman," Strange greeted and a smile formed on his lips.

"Why am I here?" Charlotte asked, not even bothering to greet him back.

"I just wanted to speak to you for a moment," he told her, his smile never faltering. "It won't take long, I promise. Come inside, my dear".

The guards let go of the blonde and positioned themselves on each side of the door with their heads held high and their hands behind their back. Charlotte followed Strange into his office and he mentioned for her to sit in a chair in front of his desk.

Strange sat down on the other side and clasped his hands on top of the desk. "Tell me how you're feeling".

"I'm in an asylum, so not very well" she answered as honestly as possible.

"It's understandable. You just got here, so this is an odd environment for you," Strange said while nodding his head in a sympathetic way. "Now please tell how you felt when you were outside Arkham".

Charlotte raised one eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"I'm here to help you. You can tell me everything," Strange told her tilting his head to the side.

Charlotte sighed tiredly and thought about what to do. She thought to herself that perhaps she should tell him, maybe that would shut him up and then she could go back to the rec room where Ed was waiting for her.

"Okay, huh..." Charlotte mumbled as she tried to come up with the right words to describe what she felt. "Sometimes I used to feel like huh,... Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' and then suddenly I would feel like his suicide letter. There was no in-between. Drinking alcohol helped with the pain, but it couldn't take it away. Ed made it better, though. He made me happy, but I still feel the anger scratching at my skin from time to time. When someone said something I didn't like, my mood would change rapidly".

"I understand you're frightened, my child," Strange said. Charlotte hated that he called her his child, but she decided it was better not to interrupt him. It would only make her stay longer in his office. "It's normal to feel that way. But we both know the truth. You're a smart woman, but you were scared to admit it to yourself. The truth is you suffer from Manic-Depressive illness. Also known as-"