Anna's Beginning

When Anna woke up, she was in a hospital room, monitors all around her, and her leg felt ten pounds heavier. Looking around, she realized that she was alone in the room, but people had been there. Flowers were on her bedside table, and a pile of get well cards too. But the one thing that stood out most to her was a toy bat with a guard dog collar around its neck, most likely from Jennifer.

Where’s was everyone? You’d think that someone would be in the room to let you know where you were, or maybe more importantly, how long had you been there? Anna was a little freaked out, those were a lot of get well cards, had she really been out long enough to get that many? Reaching over, Anna attempted to grab the card on top, but only managed to dump all the cards to the floor.

“Oopps,” Anna said aloud. Deciding not to worry about it, Anna laid back and stared at the ceiling, the hospital room was the same as any other hospital room. White paint covering the walls and ceiling, bright lights over the bed, and windows showing the parking lot, but the curtains were drawn so Anna couldn’t tell exactly what time it was outside. Doctors went scurrying past her door, most looked like they were getting ready for their break, others rushed to get ready for emergency surgeries. It was like no one remembered Anna was there.

After convincing herself that no one was going to come in and check on her, Anna went back to sleep, not realizing how heavy her eyelids had been. She slipped off into a dream within seconds, this one not as crazy as the others.

This time she found herself in the ballroom, the one that she had discovered with her friend, but it was dark. The figures that had been on the walls were shadowy figures dancing across the floor, still in their masque, they were dancing along to music Anna couldn’t hear. One of them must be Bruce, Anna knew it. Weaving in and out of the figures, Anna looked for her dad, he’d probably be wearing a masque in the shape of a bat, but she didn’t see any bat masque.

After searching for what seemed hours, Anna caught a glimpse of pointed ears out of the corner of her eyes. As she went to pursue it, one of the dancing figure near her grabbed her around the waist.

“Would you care for a dance there, pretty lady,” the figure say, he sounded like he was her age, blue eye shinning behind a red masque, and Anna actually found herself dancing to a song, one she hadn’t heard moments before. They danced along with the other figures, and Anna started to forget what she had been looking for. “You’re a good dancer.”

Anna blushed at the compliment, even if the person she was dancing with was one of the shadowy figures, she found something about this one attractive. When the song ended, she didn’t want to stop dancing, but her partner took his hands from her waist. As he went to walk off Anna reached for him.

“Wait, at least let me know your name,” Anna asked, realizing seconds later that she’d quoted a famous line from dramatic romances. The figure smiled at her, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.

“It’s a masquerade, no one’s to know who the other is,” he teased, “but remember me by my costume, one of these days you may just find me swooping in to save you. I'm the robin.” And with that he melted back in with the other figures, leaving Anna staring after him. Then the dream faded as she awoke to the sound of voices in her room.

“Shhh, I think she’s waking up,” someone said, it sounded like Jennifer. Opening her eyes, Anna realized that she was surrounded by students from her school, Jennifer standing right next to her, and to Anna surprise, Dillon was right behind her. “Hey sleepy head, you feeling better?”

“What,” was all Anna could manage, due to all the other things swimming in her head.
Jennifer smiled, “We were worried you wouldn’t wake up in time, we’re only allowed a certain amount of time to visit since we’re not family.”

Anna sat up in her bed, “Well, I’ve got some questions first, how long have I been here?”

Jennifer looked over at the corner, where Anna saw Alfred sitting, “How long has she been here, I don’t really know, I just found out yesterday in the newspapers.”

“You’ve been here for three days now mistress,” Alfred said answering Anna’s question. Boy, that was a long nap. “Well, I think your visitation time is up, you don’t want to be late to your classes now.” With that the people started filing out of the room, leaving Anna, Alfred, Jennifer, and Dillon in the room. Dillon walked up to Anna’s side, shame written all over her face.

“Hey, I guess you wouldn’t want to talk to me, but I just wanted to apologize for how I’ve treated you here lately, I was a jerk,” she said, not even able to bring herself to look Anna in the eyes. Anna just smiled, Dillon had been her first friend going to high school.

Anna grabbed Dillon’s hand and gave it a little squeeze, “Hey, you had a right to be mad, I lied to you.” Dillon gave Anna an encouraged smile.

“Well, I’d better get going, you know it’s never a good idea to be late to Mrs. R’s English class,” Dillon laughed, then left with Jennifer following behind her. Now it was just Alfred and Anna.

“So, I was out for three days,” Anna said.

“Yes, you took quite a hit to the head, and not to mention all the blood you lost,” Alfred explained to her.

“What did they say about Bruce not coming with us?” Anna asked.

“They didn’t ask and so far we haven’t had to explain,” Alfred smiled.

“Is he okay?” Anna asked, remembering the injury he’d received from the wooden beam.

“He’s fine,” he assured her. Anna sighed in relief, she’d been worried that Bruce wouldn’t be able to make it with the injury on his side, but she’d been wrong. The next day Anna was released from the hospital, but Alfred wouldn’t allow her to go to school that week. Bruce had found a nice penthouse in the city, but there was a big problem for Anna, she was terrified of really high heights, and the penthouse was in a huge building. At least the mansion didn’t go too high for Anna, it had just been huge. The penthouse went up 100 stories, not Anna’s ideal home.

Driving up to the building for the first time, Anna’s stomach did a summersault, “Umm, Alfred, what floor are we staying on?”

“The penthouse, that’s the one at the top,” Alfred said, helping her out of the car and handing her her crutches. Anna’s one good knee wobbled under her, Alfred thought that she was still weak from being in the hospital, but it was just the thought of riding on an elevator all the way up to the top floor. “Here mistress, let me help you.”

“No, that’s okay Alfred,” Anna said with a shaky voice. Entering the building, Anna saw Bruce getting off an elevator, he noticed Anna and came over to her.

“So, what do you think,” Bruce said motioning to the building.

“I’d prefer the mansion,” Anna sulked. Bruce gave her an understanding smile, then walked her towards the elevator. When they got there, Anna stopped at the doors, her hands were getting slippery on her crutches due to sweatiness. Taking a gulp of air, she stepped onto the elevator.

“What floor sir,” the elevator operator asked Bruce.

“Top floor,” Bruce said with a smile, then winked at Anna. The color drained from her face as the elevator started its climb. She could feel her hospital lunch wanting to resurface. Bruce finally noticed her discomfort.

“Anna, you okay, is your leg hurting you,” Bruce asked. Anna shook her head, not wanting to open her mouth, for fear that she might hurl. It felt like they’d been on the elevator for eons, when the doors finally slide opening, revealing a huge view, provided by windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Oh, Bruce you just had to pick this one didn’t you?

Bruce smiled proudly, he thought that the look on Anna’s face was awe, but he was terribly wrong.

“So, what do you think now?” Bruce asked.

“Where’s the bathroom?” Anna said, holding back the unavoidable.

Taken aback from this response, Bruce just pointed down a side corridor. Anna, going as fast as she
could with crutches, went and found the bathroom, just as her lovely lunch made a rebound. Throwing her crutches aside, Anna hopped over to the sink and slashed her face with cold water. She stood there a moment long, just in case more wanted to come up, then grabbed her crutches, and went back into the hallway, where Alfred and Bruce were waiting.

“Anna are you alright?” Bruce asked, noticing her pale demeanor.

“Maybe it was something she ate,” Alfred said feeling her forehead.

“Why?” was all that came out of her mouth. The two men looked at each other perplexed. Anna had never told Alfred about her fear of heights, and if Alfred didn’t know, then there was no way Bruce was going to know.

“What’s that mistress?” Alfred said.

“Why did you have to pick this place, off all the nice places in Gotham, you just had to pick the one highest from the ground,” Anna groaned. Bruce seemed to understand just a bit more, but Alfred still seemed confused, not with what was wrong with her, but how he’d never noticed her phobia of heights before. “Just, please tell me there’s a room without a view.”

“Umm, well, there’s the kitchen and bathrooms,” Bruce said rubbing his neck.

Noticing the look on Anna’s face, Alfred took up the torch, “But I'm sure we can fix that. For now we can just cover the windows.” And with that Alfred went scurrying off, most likely to get some materials to cover the windows.

When Anna got in her room, even her phobia of heights vanished when she saw the view of the ocean from her bedroom. It was beautiful in the sunset, turning the blue waters gold, a breath taking view.

“Wow,” was all Anna could manage, even though it didn’t do the scene justice. Bruce walked up behind her, pulling a trolley full of the clothes Alfred must have bought her while she was in the hospital, seeing as everything she’d owned had burned to a crisp in the fire.

“I’d thought that you would love a view of the ocean, but I didn’t know you were scared of heights, if you wish, I could find somewhere else for us to stay,” he offered.

“No,” Anna said, captivated from the view still, she didn’t want to leave, she loved this view. Turning, Anna gave Bruce a big hug. “I think I’ll get used to it, but don’t expect me to ever like that elevator.” Bruce laughed, at least he’d tried to find the perfect replacement for the mansion. That night Anna didn’t have any strange dreams of the mansion, just the picture of a beautiful sunset, and occasionally saw a guy with bright blue eyes walking down the beach in a masquerade costume.