In the Mind of Madness

Kenna came around with a splitting headache. She felt like she was twenty-one again, going out for her first night of drinking and having way too much tequila. When she tried to sit up Kenna gasped, realizing that her hands were held behind her by something metal and cold. Handcuffs?

Opening her eyes, Kenna blinked to get rid of the hazy film that distorted her vision. She wasn’t in her bedroom. She wasn’t anywhere she had ever been before. Kenna struggled fruitlessly against her restraints, growing more panicked by the second. Why couldn’t she remember a thing that had led to her being chained up in a musty basement?

Trying to keep her breathing even, Kenna thought back as far as she could. Lunch with Darla, then everything sort of…deteriorated. It was like looking at a really old videotape from underneath a layer of warm thick fluid. Kenna could get little blips of memory, and it seemed like she had went to…Arkham? Why?

“Hello?” called Kenna, finding her throat very scratchy and dry.

There wasn’t any reply, and Kenna kept fighting to free herself. She swiveled around as much as she could, finding that she was handcuffed to a rusty pipe, and that her back was soaked with the water dripping out of it. She made a noise of disgust and scooted forward a little more, trying to get away from the sulfur-smelling water.

Kenna was just about to start thrashing and screaming madly for help, when there was the noise of footsteps coming down a set of rickety stairs. Kenna watched the door of the small, cement-floored room she was in intently, wondering who it was. The door opened to reveal a women with spiky red hair and dark blue eyes.

“Darla?” Kenna gasped, confused and suspicious.

Her friend nodded, then came to crouch down in front of her. “I really am sorry about this. He was pretty specific about where I was supposed to chain you up.”

“What…I…” Kenna sucked in a breath, realizing what was going on. A strange pain shot through her chest as she glared at Darla. “You drugged me at that restaurant.”

“Yeah. I’m really sorry, Kenna. I was just doing my job.” Darla tried to defend herself, smiling weakly.

Kenna turned her face away from her. She thought of being in junior high, when her best friend spread a rumor that Kenna tried to steal peoples‘ boyfriends. Betrayal hurt at any age.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“The boss’s orders.”

“Who is the boss?” snapped Kenna.

“You know who the boss is. The Joker.”

Kenna couldn’t hold it in anymore. She screamed at the top of her lungs in fury, clenching her eyes shut. What kind of moronic insanity would cause The Joker to kidnap her? And go through the trouble of having one of his goons get to know her for months before her capture! Kenna kicked at the floor, still screaming.

Darla put a hand over her mouth, causing Kenna to stop shouting and open her eyes. Darla looked a little fearful. “Don’t spaz out on me now. The boss will be back soon.”

“I don’t care! Let me go RIGHT NOW!” Kenna’s voice was muffled by Darla’s hand, but her glare conveyed how angry she was.

“Sorry, but I can’t. He would kill me.”

“Good!” snarled Kenna. “You deserve it for what you’ve done to me. He’s going to kill me now and it’s all your fault you conniving bitch!”

Darla’s eyes looked slightly damp, and she took her palm away from Kenna’s mouth. She walked back over to the door and left, leaving Kenna livid, wet, and terrified on the floor. She almost regretted the harshness of her words, but she stopped herself before she could feel too much guilt. Darla had handed her over to The Joker, and now Kenna was surely going to die.