No Place in My Heart for a Criminal Like You

Surprisingly, The Joker obeyed my instructions to take a bath to cleanse the wounds, which made me think about how often he actually did bathe. No event came to mind, where I thought The Joker’s smell was unbearable. Most of the time the smell of gunpowder and gasoline overpowered any other. I never seemed to see him a lot in the mansion and surely in the time that he’s gone he must have a shower or a bath. His hair seemed to tell me otherwise, however. Maybe it just naturally looks greasy and messy.

Before he had actually been persuaded to go into the bath, I had had to endure a long period of awkward silence. Expecting him to retort with some smarmy, ill-humoured joke or a mere chuckle, he did neither which was equally unnerving. In fact, even more so. Instead he stared at me, showing a mixture of emotions. Embarrassment was strongly apparent, but he felt more embarrassed for me than for himself. Shock and confused were also visible. Shocked and confused at how I was able to say what I had said without a second thought. His lip twitched as he stared, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to smile or if he did it in disgust. This made me think the worst. I assumed that if it was disgust, then maybe he regretted what he did. Maybe he had lost interest in me. What if he ever does lose interest with me? What’s he going to do? I feared that he might kill me or leave me out in the middle of nowhere. Either way, I was going to die.

While I contemplated the idea, The Joker stood up from the chair finally, with a lick of his lips as he still continued to stare at me. I was frightened to lose eye contact with him as his actions were always so erratic and I didn’t want him to do something violent, although I couldn’t see any signs of anger or irritation in his expression. Before he left the room, he cleared his throat and warned me not to disturb him while he was in the bath, hinting that he wasn’t going to be wearing make-up while he was in there. I still didn’t like the fact that he found his scars so repulsive, yet I followed his orders and left him alone without another word said.

Now, it’s early morning. The room is yet again cold and bleak, from lack of sunshine. The sky held another bland, greyish white colour, looking as if had been raining or was about to, even though no rain clouds were in sight. I was being rudely awoken by my shoulders being shaken rapidly. Groggily and unwillingly, I opened my eyes to come face to face with The Joker. Not that I was expecting it to be anyone else. I groaned something which was incoherent even to me.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up,” The Joker repeated into my ear, strangely high-pitched and nasally, his breath hot on my neck. I hated being woken up so overwhelmingly. I just wasn’t able to take anything in and I always felt disorientated. In response, I continued to mumble things incomprehensible. He stood up from the bed and then held a formal, red dress in front of him as if he was contemplating whether or not he should wear it. “Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful. The colour really blends nicely with your hair,” I mumbled sarcastically as I rubbed my eyes hazily.

“You’re funny,” he said dryly with chagrin and displeasure, squinting slightly at me. He obviously didn’t find my sense of humour very amusing, although I wasn’t even trying to be funny. I just figured that after his drag, nurse outfit, he was ready to wear another dress. “No. No. This dress is for you.”

He placed the dress over my face. I’d noticed that he seems to do that a lot, which is another thing that makes me feel disorientated. He let out a raspy laugh, seeing me struggle to get the dress off my face. The material seemed to be never ending.

Eventually I pulled the dress off my face, which messed up my hair even more so than it already was, seeing as I had just woken up. The Joker continued to laugh at my bewildered face. Croakily I asked, “How can you have so much energy in you at this time in the morning? I mean, it seems like you only have one hour sleep, because whenever I look over, you’re already gone or already awake.”

“Uh, I managed to get a full four hours last night for your information.”

“My God. How many hours do you usually have?”

“Two. Three tops.”

“You only have two hours sleep, yet you have all this power and vitality in you?” I asked, shocked. He simply nodded his head in reply. “Seriously, you’re a walking contradiction. An oxymoron in yourself.” I rolled back over in the bed and was about to close my eyes until I was jerked back.

“Ah tah tah tah. You’re getting up. Uh, now. And I’m not leaving until you have that dress on,” The Joker stated as he placed himself on the loveseat near the bed. His arm lay on the arm rest, holding his head up in his palm as he stared intently at me, waiting for me to get dressed. Seeing as I now had no other option I stood up from the bed and began undoing The Joker’s shirt buttons. Not the shirt he was wearing at that moment, but the one that I was wearing. That’d be slightly inappropriate now, wouldn’t it?

As soon as all the buttons were undone I turned my back to face him and as quickly as humanly possible, I pulled the dress over me, straightening it out before turning back around to face him. The dress seemed a bit too short for my liking as it exposed the majority of my thighs. If I bent down far enough, I know you’d be able to see my underwear. Bashfully, I stared at him as his eyes travelled up and down my body, examining every aspect of me and the dress. He licked his lips as lifted his head from his palm.

“So...what do you think?” I asked my voice cracking slightly, under the pressure of his gaze.

He stood up and let a low growl emit from his throat. He licked his lips and said to me, “Mmm, girl, you look good enough to eat.” I felt myself turning the same shade of red as the dress as my cheeks burned furiously. I smiled, letting him know that I was thankful for the comment, hoping that he didn’t mean it seriously. He began to encircle me, continuing to look me up and down with an animalistic stride in his step. As if he was a predator prowling and stalking his prey, except with him it didn’t feel as if he was going to lash out irrationally for once. He stopped walking and snaked a strong arm around my waist firmly. Willingly, I tilted my head sideways when he began kissing along it softly and his hand ran through my hair soothingly.

“So, why are you making me dress up like this?” I asked through kisses. He stopped briefly to answer my question.

“Well...I have a, uh...another little, tiny task for you. It’s not too hard,” he explained. Immediately, I broke away from him. He was only trying to butter me up, by giving me compliments and acting friendly and I had now only just realised.

“No! No. I’m not doing it,” I whined as I collapsed forward onto the bed, huffily.

“Please, just one little thing,” he tried swaying me knowing that he was going to make me do it anyway, no matter how much I begged or moaned.

“No!” I whined even louder into the bed. He flipped me over so I was now looking up to him.

“Don’t...whine. I hate it when you do that,” he said harshly through clenched teeth. It almost looked as if he shivered, showing his annoyance and discomfort. “It makes me wanna...wrap my fingers around your pretty little throat,” he admitted doing hand actions demonstrating what he would do and then finished by licking his lips. I simply rolled my eyes and groaned turning my head to look away from him. However, I was abruptly brought back when The Joker gripped my face with his index finger and thumb; to turn my head back around so that I was yet again looking up at him. “You know, either way you’re gonna have to do it. As you already know, I don’t take ‘no’ as an answer.” He walked off searching for something in the bedroom. He came back holding a pair of black strappy stilettos. The heel was at least 4 inches high and I rolled my eyes again, knowing that he was going to make me wear them. I was most likely to fall over in them, but there was no point in arguing because it wasn’t going to go anywhere.

“Of course. You’re so fucking stubborn,” I snapped, moodily. He lifted my leg up and started slipping the shoe on.

“You know, you’re getting very cheeky lately. I don’t like that.”

“Well that doesn’t surprise me. You don’t like a lot of things.”

“Stop it now. A bit too, uh, confident now, hmm?” He asked rhetorically, after finishing the straps on one shoe and then started for the other.

“Oh, let me guess, you don’t like that either?”

“Harley, you’re really trying my patience. Quit while you’re ahead, okay? I don’t know why I bother with you. I really don’t,” he confessed exasperatedly. I could see him becoming more and more angry with me, yet I still continued to push his limits. After he finished the strap on my other ankle he let my leg drop to the floor.

“I don’t know why you bother either. Why did you bother, actually? What did you hope to achieve by taking everything away from me and forcing me to stay here with you? What’s the reason behind it all?” I questioned. In reply, he grabbed both my legs again and pulled closer to him, almost making me fall off the bed. I let out a yelp when he placed both of his hands firmly on the back of my thighs. I began squirming and whinging when his grip gradually started tightening, pinching the flesh painfully.

“I warned you!” He growled furiously. “And I’ve told you before why I brought you here! I thought you’d be a good help to me, but you’re obviously proving me wrong. And you should be aware that right now, the way you’re acting is an alternative to a death wish, so I’d watch your mouth if I was you.”

“You wouldn’t kill me,” I told him, unsurely and in agony still. I know I was really testing him now and he knew it too. I could literally see his temperature rising as I continued to walk on thin ice. His grip slackened on my thighs and then dropped my legs to the floor. His expression weakened also, to a softer less infuriated one. I may have hit his soft spot.

“Hmm...you’re right,” he admitted in defeat, turning away from me. “But where’s the fun in killing you, when I’d much rather torture you and torment you until you finally break and reach the point of insanity. It’s more fun to see you suffer for longer and then you’ll be just like me,” and with that said he laughed hysterically in my face. I should have known that there had to be some sort of catch. I glared at him evilly, through hooded eyes, showing my frustration. Not being affected by my glare at all, he started towards the bedroom door, continuing to laugh. “Before you leave this room, put some heavy make-up on and doll yourself up a bit. Oh and if you’re not down in half an hour, I’ll...push you down the stairs...or something cruel like that. You know me, I’m an easy guy.” He winked and clicked his mouth at me before finally leaving the room.

Seeing as I had no other option, I obeyed his instructions, not wanting to be thrown down the stairs especially in these heals. I caked on the make-up as he wanted and unwillingly made my way towards the stairs. I wonder what he had planned for me today.