No Place in My Heart for a Criminal Like You

A couple of weeks had passed since I had first been brought to The Joker’s manor. The majority of the time spent had been alone in the bedroom awaiting the arrival of The Joker. He was usually off elsewhere having fun blowing up buildings. Meanwhile, I was slowly slipping into a manic depression not having anything to do but sit on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I was pleased to see The Joker whenever he came home, whether he’d be in a good or bad mood. Most of the time he’d be in a bad mood and I’d try to stay out of his way, but when he was in a good mood it made up for all of the time he was gone.

It seems that me being kidnapped has caused quite an uproar in Gotham. The Joker had informed me that police were still desperately trying to find me and that Commissioner Gordon had gotten Batman involved and had even threatened him as a warning to let me go. He didn’t like that. And that’s one time when he came back from his ‘business’ in a bad mood. When he was in a bad mood, he never spoke. Merely frowned at the floor and that would be all. He took no notice of me, but I was kind of thankful. I didn’t want him to take his anger out on me. Obviously, the way The Joker explained the situation sounded as if it wasn’t a big deal just because he simply didn’t care to be quite frank. He didn’t care if he was doing right or wrong as long as he was doing what he wanted to do. However, the actual situation itself would have been a lot more drastic and extreme.

It wasn’t too long ago since the threat had happened and I knew that The Joker hadn’t let it go because of the continuous bad mood. I also knew that a threat like that wouldn’t go without retaliation and that he had been concocting some way of cruel vengeance towards Batman, Gordon and Gotham in general. What this evil plan is, I don’t know, but I could tell it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

One night, after The Joker had returned from business, I woke up startled when I was violently awoken by someone shaking my shoulders. I blinked a few times to adjust to the darkness. Eventually, I could see The Joker staring at me still shaking my shoulders.

“Hey, wake up,” he whispered hoarsely. “Wake up.”

“Wh-What?” I asked after the rude awakening. “What is it? What do you want?”

“Sorry, to wake you puddin’,” he said with mock sympathy. “But I’ve got a little present for you.”

“Really? What is it?”

He reached into his trench coat pocket and struggled for a moment before pulling out a silver flip video camera and sang, “Tah-dah!” Even though he had made an attempt at being nice to me, I was still confused at this gesture. I was weary of this little gift and knew there had to be some sort of catch to it. I took it off him, nevertheless.

“Um, thank you. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but why did you buy me this?” I asked.

“Buy?” he asked looking at me confused. “Anyway...you and I are going to make a home video with this camera. Just you and me.”

“What...kind of video?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“Not the kind of video you think I’m suggesting, you dirty little minx,” he said as he ruffled my hair. He took a place next to me on the bed and then wrapped an arm over my shoulders bringing me closer to him. “No, what I want is a little video with you telling Gotham that you’re happy where you are and all search for you can stop. While you’re at it, you can tell them about that incident in Arkham, hmm? Remember it? That incident that you never told anyone about. Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about that. Can you do that for me, hmm?”
The request sent a wave of discontentment through me. Obviously, I didn’t want to do it. But any form of refusal would have provoked The Joker to become hysterical and eventually I’d be forced into doing the nasty deed. It was hopeless, yet I still attempted to escape the task given.

“Please, don’t make me do it,” I pleaded. “I real – “

He viciously grabbed the back of my head and pulled me closer to him making me whimper before growling, “Are you disobeying me, Harley? Don’t challenge me, because you know I’ll win. I always win. You should know me by now and you’d know that I don’t take ‘no’ as an answer. I know you, Harley, and I know that you will do whatever I say and you will do it well. Understand?”

I nodded my head with discomfort knowing that I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I hated when he was in this kind of mood. It was neither a good or bad mood, but it was the normal ‘Joker’ mood. When he was his normal self, he’d tend to intimidate me and manipulate me into doing something I didn’t want to do. Being able to read me like a book, he knew exactly which buttons to press and was able to play me like a pawn. I was like his little puppet. So easily dominated by him. He was determined for me to do this video and he wasn’t going to stop pestering me until I said ‘yes’. I thought I’d just get it out of the way and agree to do it for him, no matter how much I didn’t want to and no matter how much regret I’d feel afterwards.

“That’s a good girl,” he sang while slapping my cheek gently with his gloved hand. “Now come this way.”

Unwillingly, he pushed me out of the bed and I hit the ground landing on my face with a thud and a yelp. I shivered the instant my body touched the floor. My legs immediately froze as I wasn’t wearing anything but my underwear and The Joker’s shirt.

He hovered over me on the floor and looked down at me. “Now what are you doing on the floor? You know we can’t make a video here, silly woman. Get up,” he ordered and then grabbed my arm; forcefully bringing me up to my feet. “This way.”

As he proceeded to pull me along corridors, I almost tripped over my own feet at the speed he was going. “Where are you taking me?” I asked panicked between stumbles. Reality hit me when I heard the banter of his henchmen coming from downstairs and I noticed how scantily clad I was. Surely they were going to see me half dressed and I didn’t want to be looked at with clothes on let alone wearing hardly any. I tried pulling back when I realised they might actually try to rape me.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he repeated as he brought me closer to him grabbing a fistful of my hair, not too hard to hurt but hard enough to keep me in place. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. You’re only making it worse for yourself. I told you, we’re going to go and make a video,” he explained again before continuing to drag me down the corridors.

As we walked down the marble staircase, I heard the laughs of the men become louder and with every step I took I felt more and more exposed. When I thought we were going to turn to the right into the living room, he turned to the left towards the dining room. I sighed heavily when I felt thankful for the room change. I still heard the sick laughter of the grotesque men in the other room though, but that wasn’t as bad as actually being in view of them.

Joker turned the dimmer switch slightly and the room lit up, but not too bright. The room was incredibly big for a dining room. The table was at least six metres long and was placed directly in the middle of the room. As I admired the décor The Joker aggressively pulled out a plush chair from underneath the table and pushed me down onto it. If a person was to sit in this chair for the first time, they’d never have thought that they’d be using it to eat a meal, but for to rule a small country. I felt strangely powerful sitting in it and I think that was the whole idea. It was The Joker after all. Dominance described him best.

After I was sat in the chair, he basically slammed the camera onto the table in front of me, but at the moment it was aiming at him, not me. He flipped it open and then switched it on. He pressed a few buttons and made a few beeps and then a little red button began to flash, indicating that it was recording.

“Is it on?” he asked unsurely as he examined the camera. “Ah yes,” he started nasally before clearing his throat. “The Joker overseeing Patient 1# for rehabilitation. The following recordings are for the expressed purpose of medical research and is the sole ownership of Gotham City’s Joker Asylum Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program staff facilities.” He giggled slightly before continuing. “Patient Interview 1. Patient’s name is Harley Quinn also known as Dr Harleen Quinzel. So, Harley, how are you settling in here in this asylum?” He asked and then turned the camera around to face me. When I didn’t answer The Joker coolly said, “Don’t be shy.”

Maybe I was a little camera shy. I didn’t know what to say as I knew that this recording was going to be on the news whenever The Joker decided to release it. Also, I’d never actually thought about the question before and I didn’t know exactly how I was feeling in The Joker manor.

When I still didn’t answer he made his way around the table, slowly losing his patience. He grabbed a chair and squeaked it against the floor and took a seat next to me. He leaned forwards so that he was closer to my face and repeated his question with a harsher tone. “Are you enjoying your stay here, Harley.” I didn’t answer again and he grabbed my face and nodded my head for me, viciously and then shoved my face away. “Yes I am enjoying my stay here. I want you to say it, Harley.” I remained silent. “Say it!” He bellowed.

“I-I’m enjoying my stay here,” I mimicked instantly after being startled by him.
He brought his chair closer to mine and then draped an arm over my shoulder, while grabbing my mouth with his free hand so that I was forming a pout. “You see Gotham, you’re making a huge fuss over nothing. She’s happy here, so you can stop all the threats and let me continue with my life here with the beautiful Harley. Although, I must say that the threats a rather entertaining.” He turned my face to look at him and then forced a sloppy kiss onto my lips. “But if you don’t stop, people will die. I’m a man of my word...oh, one more thing before we go. I have one more question for you, Harley. What actually did happen in that session with you and me? You know which one I’m talking about. And I know you do to, Gotham,” he said sadistically as he pointed a leather finger to the camera.

Once again, I didn’t answer. I was hoping that he’d forgotten about that question. But nothing gets passed The Joker. I had been dreading this day ever since that incident happened in the office. My secret’s coming out and I was finally going to lose the respect of all Gotham’s population. This may even result in the search for me to end, knowing that I must be just as crazy as The Joker if I wanted any kind of relationship with him.

“Harleyyyy, I can’t hear you,” he sang into my ear. “Tell them the truth...TELL THEM THE TRUTH!”

I whimpered when he yelled at me, jumping up from his chair knocking it backwards. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a switchblade and flipped it up.

“Harley, Harley, Harley Quinn. Maybe I need to teach you a lesson, hmm? Whenever I ask you a question, you answer it. Okay? You got that?”

I nodded my head meekly.

“Now, I’m going to ask you again and one more time only,” he informed through gritted teeth. “What happened in the session?”

I took my time in trying to find the right words to answer the question, but obviously the time taken was too long. Before I could even open my mouth to say anything, I felt a hand collide with the side of my face. I yelped in pain as I fell off my chair and probably out of view of the camera.

“I asked you a question, Harley!” The Joker roared as he glared down at me squirming on the floor. When I tried to regain consciousness, I was violently pulled up by the hair and dragged in front of the camera. Through whimpers, I pleaded for him to let me go, but he didn’t listen. “Speak loudly, so all of Gotham can hear.”

As tears ran down my face, I stared directly into the camera lens with his knifed to my throat. There was not much else I could do now, except tell the truth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I-I was confused and I wasn’t thinking straight. It wasn’t his fault. It was mine, just as much as his. He wasn’t raping me. I actually wanted him to do it. I’m sorry,” I apologised before I felt the grip tighten on my hair. This time directed at The Joker, I pleaded, “Please! Let me go!” That’s when The Joker laughed hysterically and switched the camera off.

“You did good, Harley,” he praised as he threw me to the floor. “You did good.”

I weakly propped myself up on one of my arms to look at him, he was looking at the camera, trying to figure out how to play the video. Tears were pouring down my face by now at how bestial he had just become.

When he noticed that I was staring at him angrily and hurt, he nodded his head in the direction of the stairs before saying, “Go on then. Go to bed.” When I got up to obey him, he harshly slapped my butt followed by a cry of pain from me. Then he pulled me back and brought his lips close to my ear and whispered seductively, “I’ll be there soon.” He licked my ear and pinched my butt making me squirm out of his grasp almost helplessly. I then quietly whined as I ran out of the room away from him and hurriedly made my way upstairs then into the bedroom. I almost slammed the door shut in anger when I had finally entered.

I collapsed on the bed in tears and rocked back and forwards trying to soothe myself. I climbed into the bed and tried my best to fall asleep still crying. I had nearly dozed off, until I heard the bedroom door open. I attempted to pretend I was asleep in fear of him hassling me anymore. I didn’t want him to intimidate me or manipulate me any longer. That was enough for one day and I didn’t feel as if I could cope with anymore.

I listened to the sound of clothes dropping and zips unzipping as he undressed to crawl into bed next to me. I sighed inwardly when I felt his abnormally strong arm wrap around me, pulling me towards him. I rolled my eyes, but made sure that he couldn’t see that I was awake. When I thought he was finally going to go to sleep after a lot of shuffling around, he propped himself up on his elbow and shifted my hair out of the way of my neck. He then placed his lips to my neck, laying butterfly kisses along it. I squeezed my eyes closed at his touch, clenching my teeth when he kissed that certain spot. He began nipping and biting at my neck and I tried my best to resist the urge to moan in rapture. When I felt his hand grip my stomach bringing my even closer to him, I couldn’t help but let out a little gasp, mostly in shock.

“Please...stop,” I pleaded as his hand wandered around my body, grabbing parts I didn’t want him to touch. He ignored me and continued with his business. I reached up to my chest to pull his hand away but he wouldn’t budge. “I don’t want to do this,” I cried truthfully. “Stop it.”

Placing one final kiss on my neck he brought his hand back down to my stomach and then lay down next to me. “Goodnight, puddin’.”