No Place in My Heart for a Criminal Like You

The next session approached and I eagerly awaited the arrival of The Joker as I sat on the office chair, tapping my pen against the table. I must admit I was nervous. But at the same time I felt a strong desire to see him. If anything I should be scared to ever see him again, after the way he treated me.

Eventually, the nurses brought The Joker into my office in his strait jacket. The jacket was taken off of him and he was then handcuffed, without a word or any movement from him. At least I thought he was handcuffed. This time, instead of his usual attire, he wore the crisp, white clothes that all patients wore. His clown make-up had now faded slightly and you were able to see small patches of skin where the paint had completely come off. The scars were now more visible as the paint that once attempted to cover them had also began to fade. As my thoughts began to wonder, I hadn’t noticed how my eyes drifted over his body, scanning his outfit and appearance up and down.

I broke away from my trance when The Joker cleared his throat. I jumped slightly, but attempted to cover up the shock by quickly grabbing my note pad, pen at the ready.

“So, welcome to the second session,” I began. The Joker simply smiled and winked casually. Me being the hopeless romantic couldn’t help but blush furiously. “We’ll pick up where we left off. You told me you were going to tell me about the other scar.”

“When?” He asked confused.

“Last session. Before you left the room,” I replied.

“Tell you what?” He continued to question.

“About the other scar.”

“What other scar?”

“The one on your face,” I answered beginning to get irritated. I knew now that he was just trying to mess with my mind by acting stupid.

“What about it?”

“How did you get it?!”

“Get what?”

“Your sca-” I cut my sentence short, before sighing heavily and pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. “Please, stop trying my patience and just tell me about your scar,” I pleaded in a calm tone, venting my annoyance. This childish nonsense really got to me. I’d much rather him the way he was last session. Him grabbing my face and intimidating me seems a lot easier than this.

“What scar?”

“Right, Joker! Stop this stupid act and just tell me!” I yelled in irritation as I jumped up from my chair and placed my hands firmly on the desk in front of me. The Joker didn’t seem fazed by my outburst at all, but instead licked his lips like he always did with a smug smirk on his face.

He stood up and slowly walked towards my desk saying casually, “Don’t try and act intimidating, because you’re not. It doesn’t suit you, beautiful.” When he started to make his way around the desk I began to edge away from him. As he took a step closer, I took a step back. He began to circle the desk as I did the same to escape his grasp. He obviously saw this as some sort of game seeing as he began to chuckle when I changed directions whenever he did. He sneakily and quickly changed directions and before I could react he grabbed my arm tightly. I opened my mouth to let out a silent scream.

“Gotcha,” he breathed down my neck. I responded by pushing him away from me aggressively. He stumbled back, but only slightly. He looked up at me, mild shock showing in his eyes. That mild shock quickly turned to mock shock. “Feisty one aren’t you, dear?” He reached out to grab my arm again, but I pulled away abruptly.

“Don’t touch me.” I whispered coldly. I backed away from him when he started to encroach into my personal space. I backed up as far as I could go, but unfortunately I bumped into a wall, while The Joker continued to come closer. Instead of grabbing any part of my body he placed both of his hands on the wall each side of me, so that I couldn’t escape. I tried wriggling out, but couldn’t prevail as he kept moving his arms to trap me. It was then I noticed that he wasn’t handcuffed. “Where are your handcuffs?!” I exclaimed, shocked.

“Oooh. Didn’t see you as the kinky type,” he joked, obviously sick minded. Without thinking I slapped him hard across the face, making his head turn to the side. I immediately regretted it.

He fake chuckled and then brought his head back around to stare at me. He sighed before grabbing my face and saying “You know I should really kill you right now…But I’m not. You amuse me. Besides, how would I explain a dead psychiatrist on her office floor?”

“Look Joker, you’re starting to harass me. You’re obviously insane and this is totally inappropriate.”

“I’m not. No, I’m not. You try to tell me I’m insane, but you made me that way. I never wanted to hurt you, but you made me this way. Not just you. Everyone. I do what I do because there are people in Gotham who provoke me to do it. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just doing what’s right by teaching people a lesson. It’s the only way to get through to people. People need a guy like me to keep the bad guys in line.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to slaughter innocent people.”

“Well maybe that part’s just for fun,” he laughed sadistically.

I shook my head in disgust at him. “I think it’s time you should leave.” I managed to push past his arm which was once trapping me and made my way over to the door to call for the nurses.

Once they entered they strapped him back into his straitjacket all the while he was smirking at me, almost seductively. I must admit, I couldn’t help but feel weak whenever he did his famous smirk, soon followed by the wink of his eye.

“Next time, please make sure he’s handcuffed…Tightly.” I added to make sure he didn’t try and harass me again. The nurses simply nodded and directed The Joker back to his cell, with me watching closely. He continued to amaze me. Everything about him was astounding. The way he walked. His voice. The way he licked his lips. As unprofessional as it sounds, I’m obsessing over a patient. I couldn’t help it.

Later that night, after clearing up my office and typing up my progress with The Joker (though I must add I had made very little), I walked along the corridor of Arkham Asylum. There was an eerie aura around at night in the asylum. No nurses wandered round and neither did any other doctors. Every now and again a guard will walk by with a torch, making sure everything is safe. My heels clicked against the floor of the corridor, echoing throughout and the only light to be seen was the light coming from the moon, shining through the windows.

I happened to stop outside of the cell I saw The Joker be pushed into. Call it coincidence? It’s more like a mild fascination. I felt drawn towards his door. I checked the corridors up and down before opening the tiny slot of a window on the door to peek inside. It was hard to see exactly what he was doing, but I could make out that he was sitting on the edge of his bed, with his leg shaking rapidly. This, I noticed, was another one of his habits I found astounding. I watched in awe as he glared at the wall in front of him while shaking his leg as if he was cunningly concocting some kind of escape. Unexpectedly, his head turned quickly to look in the direction of the door. Instantly, I ducked out of view of the window thinking he might have seen me. I cursed myself silently, but then thought my mind was just getting the best of me and he was most likely not to have seen me. I steadily made my way back up to the window. I jumped back and let out a high-pitched yelp when I basically came face to face to The Joker in the window. His face was grinning evilly as he stared at me in the window.

“You just couldn’t get enough of me, could ya?” He taunted through the door.

I quickly conjured up a lie, “I was only checking up on you. It’s my job you see. Don’t think that I came to see you on my free will.” Obviously, this wasn’t the truth. It wasn’t my job to see him out of the session hours.

“Oh, I didn’t think that,” he said, sarcasm in his voice. “I didn’t think that all. Besides, how unprofessional would that be? A beautiful, young psychiatrist, like you, forming an obsession with her patient, slowly but surely falling in love with him as she tries to deny to herself her feelings for him.” Was I that open? I never knew I was so predictable. No. No, it was The Joker. I wasn’t open; he could just read people so well. That’s all…Hopefully.

“Are you tr-”

“Miss Quinzel?” I stopped talking when I heard a voice coming from my right. I quickly closed the window in The Joker’s face and turned to look to my right.

“Hello?” I called out. I heard footsteps coming closer to me and as this person approached nearer, I could tell that it was Commissioner Gordon. “Oh, hello commissioner.”

“Good evening. Were you talking to someone?” He asked as he searched the corridor.

I pretended to be oblivious to any speaking and shook my head as I replied, “Um…no. I didn’t hear any speaking.”

“I swear I heard talking,” he breathed, sounding exhausted. “So, why are you here so late?”

“Oh, I was just finishing off some paperwork. That’s all,” I replied, truthfully.

He nodded and asked, “Which patient are you working on now?”

Before I got a chance to reply, someone else spoke for me. “Evening…Commissioner.” Already knowing who it was, Gordon ignored him and nodded at me, smiling slightly.

“I see. That’s a tough one. Are you sure you’re capable of this one? I know you’ve had your fair share of patients in this asylum, but I know what he’s like and he can be quite difficult. Another psychiatrist can always take your place for you if you’re not comfortable?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sure I’ll be able to cope. No need to worry.” I assured him.

“If you have any problems, I’m always here for you,” he cleared up. I only nodded awkwardly, not knowing what to say next. There were a few seconds of an awkward silence before he broke it. “So, do you want a ride home?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered. “That’d be great, thanks.”

He smiled before turning around and walking along the corridor, me following behind him. I took one last glance at his cell before turning the corner of the corridor.