Smile and put on a happy face

Smile

Arkham State Hospital is a dark building in the city center. It's funny how people act against their own instincts. Something tells you to stop but you can't. The need to know the truth seems to be stronger than the instinct of self-preservation.

I head to the window of the registry section and ask to see the file of Penny Fleck. A young fellow kindly helps me out and starts to search for the file amongst the huge shelves filled with dusty folders, all full of stories that ended in one and the same place. I feel uneasy being here.

- Can I ask you something? How does someone wind up in here?- I ask -Have they all…all the people commited crimes?-

- Yeah, some have. Some are just crazy, pose dangers to themselves and others. Some just got nowhere else to go, don't know what to do. 

- Yeah, I hear you. Sometimes I don't know what to do. Last time I ended taking it out on some people...I thought it was going to bother me but it really hasn't... 

- What's that?

- I've fucked up. I've done some bad shit. You know what I'm talking about, it's so hard to just try to be happy all the time...

- Hey, listen, man...I'm just a clerk. All I do is file paperwork. I don't know what to tell you. But you should see somebody. You know...programs, city services, stuff like that.

- Yeah...they cut all those!!

The man seems uncomfortable.

- Alright, here it is. Fleck, Penny Fleck. Let's see…

He opens the folder and reads through the first page.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Benjamin Stoner…the patient suffers from delusional psicosis and narcisistic personality disorder. She was found guilty of endangering the welfare of her...own child...

- …

- You said she was your mother? Uhm, I'm sorry, I can't release these records without a signed authorization. If you can bring your mom here to sign, it will be much easier. I can't let this go without a signature, ok? I'm sorry...

I must have that file. I won't leave without it. I seize his brief moment of carelessness and slide my hands through the gap, pull at the folder and manage to snap it from his hands.

- HEY!!! Come back!!

I sprint through the hospital corridor, I find an emergency exit and escape through the stairway. I run as fast as I can and stop only when I can't hear any more footsteps behind my back. I catch my breath and then I open it. It's so many pages. My eyes run across the words.

Patient: Penny Fleck…

Extremely bizarre behavior… physical abuse... 

What's all this? There's so many words that I don't know, that I don't understand. I turn a few pages.

“ADOPTION APPLICATION”

My heartbeat stops. I feel like the air has been stolen from my lungs.

Parents unknown… child was abandoned…

Adopted?? Then…Wayne was telling the truth. An awful sensation builds up in my stomach. My legs feel weak and I have to lean against the wall to keep myself from falling. I can already feel the laughter coming. My real parents abandoned me when I was only a baby? Who were they? It doesn't say. Why did they leave me? It doesn't say either. They didn't want me. Penny…why did you never tell me?? You lied to me, Penny!! Everything you told me was a lie!!