Sequel: A Serious House on Serious Earth ›
Status: Sequel? Yes? No?
The Joker and the Thief
Re-Hiring
The alley was only about a hundred meter long and the only light came from a small street light at the end. I always took the narrow alley on my way to and from my house; it was much faster than walking up to the end of the block. The alley wasn’t scary. It was just a regular alleyway; narrow, dim, short. The alley itself wasn’t scary; the figures standing at the end made it scary.
About halfway into the alley I looked up at the exit, which was laminated in the glow of the flickering street light. Standing in the yellow light were two people; I assumed they were men. I couldn’t make out any defining feature; they were just black images of people. I stopped walking; never taking my eyes off the end of the alley. The air was quiet; the only sound was the distant hum of cars. Then another sound cut through the silence; footsteps. The sound wasn’t coming from the men in front of me, for they weren’t moving, but the sound was coming from the mouth of alley; from behind me. I slowly turned to positioned myself so my back faced the wall and so I could see both ends of the alley. At the mouth of alley two more figures appeared.
But instead of stopping, they walked slowly farther into the alley; as did the other pair. My entire body was frozen. I’d been in fights before but all of them had in been in high school so they were broken up before anyone got seriously hurt and it was never four against one. I assumed they were muggers; I hoped they were mugger and not something more. The only thing I had that held any value, besides the wrinkled up one dollar bills in my back pocket, was my dad’s golden wedding ring which I wore on my right hand. Nothing that would excite a mugger. I started to run through my defensive options. Screaming; there was no one around to hear me. Fighting; the odds were against me. This made me remember my knife, which was unfortunately located in the pocket of my dirty jeans which were thrown on my bedroom floor. Running; it was an option with a small chance of success.
I saw the chance of success because the newest pair weren’t inline like the others. The first one was about a foot from the left side of alley about five feet in front of his partner who walked along the right side. If I could get past the first I was home free, assuming the second was too athletic. About five seconds pasted as I thought all this through. The pair moving in from the exit was much closer to me than the others, so I turned to face them and started backing away, towards the other group. With each step they took towards me, I took two back. I could hear the footsteps behind me getting louder. When I could hear their breathing behind me, I stopped but not for long. At the same time as I turned around, I swung my right arm, with my hand balled into a fist, up behind me. My fist collided with the man’s nose. I didn’t stick around to see if I broke it. I darted around him and ran for the street. I almost made it too.
I was a foot or two away from the mouth of the alley and freedom when an arm wrapped around my waist and a gloved hand clamped down over my mouth. That was when the fear set in. I kicked and clawed at the arm that was pulling me back into the darkness of the alley. I bit the hand that covered my mouth. The taste of leather filled my mouth as I was dropped. My head bounced heavily off the ground and blackness crept into the corners of my vision. I prayed for the blackness to engulf me and that when I woke up this whole ordeal would be over with. But instead it faded away and the pain in my head intensified. Suddenly I was picked up roughly by my arm and pinned against the wall of the alley. Even through I couldn’t feel it I was sure the man’s hand would leave a bruise. The owner of the hand stared back at me with his demonic clown makeup covered face.
“Well, hello.” The Joker said in a sarcastic yet terrifying tone. His dark eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul as smiled down at me. Fear ran down my spine and settled in my hands and feet. But it was soon replaced my adrenaline. “Can I help you?” I said, blood rushing to my head. I saw the other three men standing behind the Joker not exactly paying attention. One was nursing a bleeding nose. The Joker shifted his weight onto the other and appeared to seriously consider my question. “Word on the street is you’ve been hired to kill me.” His words were even but I could sense a building anger underneath.
Jesus Christ, I’m dead. “Yea. Gambol asked but do you think I’m stupid enough to have said ‘yes’. “I figured telling the truth was my best option at this point. The Joker let go of me and smiled a comical yet sadistic smile that sent shimmers down my spine. “In that case, I’d like to hire your services.” He said in a mock professional voice. This wasn’t going to be good.
About halfway into the alley I looked up at the exit, which was laminated in the glow of the flickering street light. Standing in the yellow light were two people; I assumed they were men. I couldn’t make out any defining feature; they were just black images of people. I stopped walking; never taking my eyes off the end of the alley. The air was quiet; the only sound was the distant hum of cars. Then another sound cut through the silence; footsteps. The sound wasn’t coming from the men in front of me, for they weren’t moving, but the sound was coming from the mouth of alley; from behind me. I slowly turned to positioned myself so my back faced the wall and so I could see both ends of the alley. At the mouth of alley two more figures appeared.
But instead of stopping, they walked slowly farther into the alley; as did the other pair. My entire body was frozen. I’d been in fights before but all of them had in been in high school so they were broken up before anyone got seriously hurt and it was never four against one. I assumed they were muggers; I hoped they were mugger and not something more. The only thing I had that held any value, besides the wrinkled up one dollar bills in my back pocket, was my dad’s golden wedding ring which I wore on my right hand. Nothing that would excite a mugger. I started to run through my defensive options. Screaming; there was no one around to hear me. Fighting; the odds were against me. This made me remember my knife, which was unfortunately located in the pocket of my dirty jeans which were thrown on my bedroom floor. Running; it was an option with a small chance of success.
I saw the chance of success because the newest pair weren’t inline like the others. The first one was about a foot from the left side of alley about five feet in front of his partner who walked along the right side. If I could get past the first I was home free, assuming the second was too athletic. About five seconds pasted as I thought all this through. The pair moving in from the exit was much closer to me than the others, so I turned to face them and started backing away, towards the other group. With each step they took towards me, I took two back. I could hear the footsteps behind me getting louder. When I could hear their breathing behind me, I stopped but not for long. At the same time as I turned around, I swung my right arm, with my hand balled into a fist, up behind me. My fist collided with the man’s nose. I didn’t stick around to see if I broke it. I darted around him and ran for the street. I almost made it too.
I was a foot or two away from the mouth of the alley and freedom when an arm wrapped around my waist and a gloved hand clamped down over my mouth. That was when the fear set in. I kicked and clawed at the arm that was pulling me back into the darkness of the alley. I bit the hand that covered my mouth. The taste of leather filled my mouth as I was dropped. My head bounced heavily off the ground and blackness crept into the corners of my vision. I prayed for the blackness to engulf me and that when I woke up this whole ordeal would be over with. But instead it faded away and the pain in my head intensified. Suddenly I was picked up roughly by my arm and pinned against the wall of the alley. Even through I couldn’t feel it I was sure the man’s hand would leave a bruise. The owner of the hand stared back at me with his demonic clown makeup covered face.
“Well, hello.” The Joker said in a sarcastic yet terrifying tone. His dark eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul as smiled down at me. Fear ran down my spine and settled in my hands and feet. But it was soon replaced my adrenaline. “Can I help you?” I said, blood rushing to my head. I saw the other three men standing behind the Joker not exactly paying attention. One was nursing a bleeding nose. The Joker shifted his weight onto the other and appeared to seriously consider my question. “Word on the street is you’ve been hired to kill me.” His words were even but I could sense a building anger underneath.
Jesus Christ, I’m dead. “Yea. Gambol asked but do you think I’m stupid enough to have said ‘yes’. “I figured telling the truth was my best option at this point. The Joker let go of me and smiled a comical yet sadistic smile that sent shimmers down my spine. “In that case, I’d like to hire your services.” He said in a mock professional voice. This wasn’t going to be good.