Just One Look

Arkham Asylum

"Hi sweetie." She mummbled, not looking up from her papers.

"Hi Mom,"

"How was it, I'm sorry I couldn't come. I just have so much to do, and-"

"Yeah, I understand. He looks okay enough. He's really pale, and his brain is just a bunch of porridge." I explained as she looked at me, her blue eyes filled with regret and guilt. "He didn't respond to anything that I said." I stated sadly, "I never even saw him blink, he just stared at the wall." Mom sighed and put her head in her hands.

"But I mean, what other choice do we have?" She asked, helplessly. I shrugged,

"None really, it would be too much money to send him elsewhere, and it would be too far away to visit him like we do." Well, like I do. Neither of my parents had made an obvious effort to see their son. I was angry at them for not trying like I was. I at least attempted to coax my brother out of the void of madness. At least I tried.

"Anyways, other than Dean, how was your day?" She asked, I half laughed, remembering the conversation that Hal and I had at lunch. I shook my head and looked at the floor, leaning on the doorframe and scuffing my feet. "What happened? You're turning red." She asked, I put my hand up to my cheek. Yes, I was blushing. Why?

"Nothing, just something funny." She looked at me, wanting me to continue. "You had to be there. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise." She nodded.

"Well, I'm going to finish this up and then I'll make dinner for all of-" She caught herself and sighed. "You and I." She finished, her eyes went down and she started focusing on her work again.

"I'm going to do some homework."

As a afterthought, Mom cleared her throat. "Bruce called for you today, he was leaving a message just as I was walking in the door, half of it's on the machine if you want to hear it." She called after me, my heart skipped a beat. Why hadn't I called him at all this week? It's gone by so fast. I walked over to the machine and pressed the play button. I heard crackling in the background before his voice broke through.

"Hi, Catrina. It's Bruce calling. I just wanted to see how things were, I have some bad news. It looks like I'm going to be in Switzerland for longer than I anticipated. I'm not sure how much longer... I just wanted to hear how you were-" The machine cut off, it must have been when my Mom answered the phone. I picked it up, the wire stretching as I walked to the stool in the kitchen. Mom saw me, and closed the study door. I called Bruce, hoping that he wasn't too busy at the time. What time was it in Switzerland? I looked at our clock, and listened to the tone change as I was sent through to his cellular device. It was six o'clock our time.

"Uh, hello?" Asked a groggy voice on the other end.

"Hi, is this Bruce Wayne?" Maybe I dialed the wrong number?

"Speaking." he said befuddled

"Hey, it's Catrina." My chest deflated with relief.

"Catrina!" He exclaimed, my chest swelled with joy at the sound of him saying my name. "I was wondering if you were going to call back." He said, more awake than he was before.

"Yeah, I just got home." I said, he didn't say anything on the other side.

"It's like, midnight- oh wait. You're six hours behind."

"Oh my, did I wake you? I'm sorry Bruce. I can call you in the morning." I pulled the phone away from my face.

"No, no. I want to hear your voice. I miss you, Catrina." He called me back, his voice panicked.