Compassion for a Crane (A Jonathan Crane/ Scarecrow story)

Chapter 1 - The Last Shift

Carmen Hayes' last night shift at Gotham Central Hospital as one of the emergency nurses was busier than usual. Whilst it was usually weekends that brought a variety of injuries through the doors, most caused either by boredom, drunkenness or a disastrous combination of both, this particular Wednesday brought a steady flow of patients through the accident and emergency doors. Carmen had been warned that her new job as a nurse in Arkham Asylum would not follow such a regular pattern and she would have to prepare for a more chaotic day to day experience. But as an emergency nurse, Carmen worked well in the environment of controlled chaos. She guessed it was why the Hospital manager had put the job forward to her. That and if anything happened to her in the Asylum she wouldn't have anybody missing her, like some of the other nurses with families on the ward. The asylum was for some 'mysterious reason' (perhaps it had been the daily death threats and numerous break outs) running rather low on medical staff and had reached out the Gotham Central hospital to enquire if there were any nurses looking for 'exciting new job opportunities'. Carmen had apparently been first on the rather short list.

Dressed in the regulation blue scrubs Carmen read over the clipboard containing information about the next patient on her seemingly endless list. A nine-year-old girl who'd come in with complaints of shoulder pain after falling off of a swing set the day before. Carmen loved children, how resilient and brave they tried to be, especially in the presence of their favourite parent. Every child had a favourite, she was certain of that.

"Hi there" Carmen smiled as she pulled the curtain back and stepped into a space where a young, freckly blonde girl was sat on a hospital bed. She guessed the woman sitting in the seat by the bed was the young girl's mother, or another relative.

"we're waiting for the doctor" The women in the chair spoke before Carmen had a chance to say anymore.

"I'm the on duty nurse, I'll be looking after Amanda today" Carmen replied calmly, having to glance down at her clipboard to recall the name of the girl but hey, she'd seen at least twenty other young girls this week. She was used to people having this reaction by now, as regardless of her four years experience as an emergency nurse, her baby face made her look more like a university student than a 25 year old. She just hoped she wouldn't meet the same problem in Arkham "Let's take a look at what we've got here" Carmen hooked the clipboard to the end of Amanda's bed and addressed the young girl. "you said you've got a sore shoulder, is that right?" she asked and Amanda nodded in response

"Yeah, I fell off the swings yesterday at the park" she admitted.

"goodness! Well we're lucky it's still attached aren't we!" Carmen smiled, causing Amanda to giggle. She hated using the phrase 'laughter is the best medicine' with the phrase being adopted by the Joker during his many attacks on Gotham but in the medical world, it really was the truth.

As suspected, after a brief poke and prod (along with an x-ray of course) Carmen diagnosed the shoulder as fractured and bandaged Amanda up, making her promise that she would try and keep away from the swings in the near future. With only two hours left, carmen's last shift passed without any real hurdles. She treated a man who had been in a bar fight and a student that had tried skateboarding down a flight of stairs after downing half a bottle of vodka.

Carmen felt a sense of sadness but fulfilment as she entered the staff room at the end of her shift, with the sun just beginning to break through the darkness of night. Whilst Gotham was waking up, she would be going to sleep.

"So you're really crazy enough to take that job at Arkham?" one of her co-workers, Maureen, asked as she signed out for the very last time.

"That's right. Exciting new job opportunities and all" she reminded with a good hearted smile.

"Girl those wackos will eat you up and spit you out on the first time"

"I've had my fair share of handling difficult patients Maureen" Carmen reminded, looking round to make sure she had not left any possession behind, not that she owned many.

"Yeah, yeah! Well good luck anyway Carm" Maureen gave the small girl a crushing hug before releasing her.

With her keys grasped in one hand and her bag slung over the opposite shoulder she marched briskly across the to the staff car park towards her car. "Arkham Asylum, here I come"