Publix supermarket was especially overcrowded for the morning. The cash tills beeped by the second, and the food on the aisles depleted faster than they could restock.

Cassidy, wearing a face mask with her outfit of a long-sleeve turtleneck and jeans, glided past the fridge aisle with a rickety trolley.

She felt comfortable with a mask on in public; it was like another layer of skin. And no one could see her.

Cassidy skidded to a halt when she came across an array of milk cartons stacked on the bottom shelf.

She bent down, hoisting two of the smaller cartons in her arms, but as soon as she stood up, the strap of her face mask snapped.

Shit.

She dropped the cartons in her trolley with a slosh as her face mask dangled, half-loose. She hoped no one was looking, not even as a group of teenage boys walked past.

But one of them retched.

"What's up with her face?"

The other boys snorted, attempting to hold back laughter. Cassidy rushed to fix her face mask as the group walked past her, snickering and whispering to each other.

Always the same reactions.

Why?

Did she look so alien? Why couldn't people mind their own damn business? She hated them. She hated every-

RIIIING!

Cassidy's phone rang before she could have time to think, and she scrambled to get it out of her handbag.

'Unknown caller ID'.

She paused for a moment, but decided to answer. Could have been a scam call, but simple enough, she figured- just stay quiet and wait for them to speak.

Her finger hovered over the red button.

"Am I speaking to Cassidy Price?"

Cassidy flinched. It was a heavy, baritone voice, male. Not one she recognized, not even from her doctors.

"... Who's this?" Cassidy scanned the shopping mall with anxiety.

"There is no need for alarm. My name is Prof. Hugo Strange, I am calling with information concerning your family"

She stood motionless for a few moments before the voice continued.

"Is there somewhere we can speak?"

///

Cassidy struggled down her street with heavy bags.

She got the shopping over with. Check. So why did she feel like something else was weighing her down?

Truth was- every look, every snide remark, she carried like a camel on her back, prodding whenever another humiliating thing came to bite. It wasn't like she asked for it to be there, but neither did she ask for the skin grafts or hospital visits. It had just been a part of her life.

Not that it made it easier.

She got up the steps of her porch and dropped her shopping in exhaustion, rubbing her wrists where the indent of the bags left a sore mark around them.

"Meow!"

She looked down to see Leo, rubbing against her with his tail flicking.

"You better not steal my shopping..." Cassidy sighed, sitting on the porch.

Purring, he nuzzled her hand as she stroked behind his ears.

And then his ears pricked.

Leo looked ahead- and immediately his back hunched, every hair on his body tense, as if something was approaching them.

"What's wrong?" Cassidy said in a gentle voice.

Leo didn't even look her way. He kept his gaze in front of him, his fangs bared in a hiss that Cassidy didn't expect, not from him. It was guttural, snake-like.

Cassidy followed his glare to the side of the street, where a lone crow stood, perched on the pavement. Dead still. Like a taxidermied animal on display.

Cassidy wriggled back on the porch, uncomfortable. It was odd for a bird to pay so much attention. Was it interested in her shopping? No, it would have flown closer. It didn't seem to mind Leo; it didn't care that he was hissing, louder still.

No.

Cassidy saw only one thing reflected in the crow's hollow, dark-orbed eyes.

And it was her.

Leo pounced, chasing the crow off as it flew into the air.

"Hey!"

Cassidy tried calling him back, but by that point, he and the crow had disappeared down the street.

And in their place, the sounds of a car approached.

A silver jaguar, polished with a sleek hood ornament, pulled up outside her house, taking its time, before coming to a stop.

Cassidy gulped.

When a complete stranger said they had news about her family, she expected the worst. Hell, it could have been a prank, or some gun-happy drug dealer her dad never told her about. She didn't know.

The car door slammed shut.

Surprisingly, the man who stepped out was not as intimidating as she had expected. Early 50s. Stern, bald, with fogged spectacles and a gray beard.

Huh.

Cassidy jumped up as he approached her.

"I take it you're Hugo Strange..." Cassidy murmured, her head low.

"Indeed. It is a pleasure to meet you, Cassidy"

Cassidy took a couple of steps back. Hugo mistook her doubt for fear, and pulled out an ID badge from his briefcase. He held it out to Cassidy, and despite her hesitance, she took it, keeping a good distance from him. It was a polished white badge, shiny and plastic, in the middle was Hugo's photo, unflattering as it was, alongside the caption;

'WARDEN

Prof. Hugo Strange

Staff ID: 9804729B'

Cassidy eyed him with suspicion.

"What's this about? Is my dad-"

"Henry is fine, I assure you. He is not the reason I am here"

Cassidy didn't like that this man used her father's first name so casually. But neither was she going to press him further, so she checked the ID again, and her gaze widened at the logo on the top left-hand side.

A maze, black and circular, with two words that chilled her to the bone.

Arkham Asylum.

///

The inside of Cassidy's bungalow could have been mistaken for a log cabin, with wooden beams on the ceiling and deer parts nailed to the wall. Faux, of course. But it still made her uncomfortable to look at them from time to time.

Cassidy put her shopping away in the kitchen, never turning her back on Hugo as he strolled around the room.

"What do you know of Arkham Asylum?" Hugo asked, swiping his finger across the wall antlers.

"You... Work there, I guess?" Cassidy replied, unsure of what he was expecting her to say. "I don't know... I, uh, don't really watch the news"

"I see. Perhaps that is for the best. Arkham is one of the oldest institutions we know of- as such, it has not come without its share of... Infamy..."

Hugo scratched his beard with an uncomfortable pause.

"We have... Ourselves... suffered a tragic loss as of late. Our administrator- Dr. Jeremiah Arkham- passed away on Monday last week..."

Cassidy shut the fridge, standing with hesitation.

"I'm sorry... Really... But- what's this got to do with my family?"

Hugo sighed and removed his glasses.

"It is unfortunate that I must be the one to tell you this..."

"What?"

He paused, staring at Cassidy with cold eyes.

"Jeremiah... Was your grandfather".

A/N: Poor Cassidy- this won't end well...