In the Mind of Madness

“Hey there, sicky. Done puking yet?”

Kenna groaned from her uncomfortable position huddled against the toilet. “Go away, Darla.”

“You’re sure you don’t need anything? Maybe some oatmeal or bacon?”

Kenna pulled herself up to dry heave over the bowl, able to hear Darla giggling before she left her alone on the bathroom floor. There wasn’t anything left in her to throw up, but Kenna’s stomach still felt like it was tied in knots. She rested her forehead on the cool porcelain and wondered how long this could last.

Finally, after at least an hour choking her guts out, Kenna wobbled into the bedroom to get dressed. The Joker was seemingly absent, so she took her time as not to irritate her stomach. When she was in clean jeans and a baggy sweatshirt Kenna got back into the bed, hiding her head under the pillow to escape any light or noise.

She could barely remember a thing that had happened the night before. There was the drinking, and then she could recall being deadly tired. After that it was mostly a blur. The Joker had been there at some point, but that was no surprise. Kenna knew that no matter how much he infuriated her from now on, no more heavy drinking.

Kenna was busy worrying about her mom and wallowing in the fact that she was never going to get out of there alive when the door banged open. Her head throbbed and she rolled over to yell at who was surely The Joker to shut up and leave her alone.

“Get up.”

She frowned at his harsh tone and the way he was storming into their room. Too distracted to notice she thought of it as ‘theirs‘. “What’s going on?”

The Joker made a noise of irritation, then annunciated his words sharply. “I said to get up. Come on, NOW!”

He bellowed the last part, making her jump up despite how bad her head hurt. The Joker was grabbing her roughly by the elbow and yanking her out of the room, through a door she’d never been in before and down a flight of rusting metal stairs.

“What the hell?!” shouted Kenna, very nearly falling down the stairs because of The Joker’s pace.

“We have a small issue, princess. Time to take a little vacation.”

Kenna covered her face as they burst out into an alley, the sunlight causing her eyes to burn and her head to pound harder. She found herself being roughly lifted, then tossed. Before her shocked scream could escape she was landing on familiar smoke-scented upholstery. Then there was someone forcing her upwards, smashing her against the wall of the van to make room. Bags of supplies were put in beside her, followed by Darla and two of the henchman. She opened her mouth to question what was happening, but then Darla was practically in her lap as the van took off with an awful screeching sound.

Kenna managed to get herself into a halfway normal position, nearly flattened against her seat from the breakneck speed. She turned around to look out the back window, able to see police lights fading into the distance. With a deep breath she grabbed onto the front passenger seat, pulling herself forward to talk to The Joker.

“What did you do?”

The Joker glanced away from the road to look at her, a big grin on his face. “I don’t know why you always assume I’m the bad guy!”

“The cops are after us!” Kenna shouted back, mostly happy that rescue was finally close.

“It’s a big city, darlin’. They won’t get me.”

Kenna grimaced. “I’m counting on the fact that they will.”

The Joker just cackled and put one hand on her collar bone, pushing hard. Kenna squeaked and went careening backwards, her backside landing painfully on the seatbelt. She groaned in pain, then knocking her head on the window as the van made an impossibly sharp turn. For a moment she was positive they were going to flip, making her clench her eyes shut.

The wheels hit the ground again with a violent crash, and suddenly Kenna was thrown off her seat and to the floor, her face landing first. She gasped in pain as blood rushed out of her nose and dribbled into her mouth. She curled in on herself to protect her nose from any more distress, pinching the bridge painfully as it continued to bleed. It felt like hours later that they were finally stopping. Darla started to help Kenna up, but the woman on the floor kicked her away.

“What’s up?” asked Darla when Kenna wouldn’t allow her to move her hands from her face.

“I think I broke my nose.” she said in a garbled voice.

“Crap. Come on, we’ll go inside and I’ll fix you up.”

The door to the back of the van slid open with a bang. “No, you won’t. I have errands for you to run. I’ll take care of the damaged goods.”

“I’m ‘goods’ now?” Kenna sniggered through her pain. Then she gasped as he roughly pulled her out of the van by hooking his arms under her own like she was a toddler.

The Joker watched her wince with a grin when he set her on the ground, then gripping her wrist hard. “Don’t kid yourself, sweet cheeks. Let’s get inside. There’s a list of what we need on the dash.” The Joker directed the last part to Darla, who nodded and hopped inside the van before zipping off.

“What is she getting?” asked Kenna as he steered her inside of what looked like an old factory of some kind.

“Shut up.” he replied diplomatically.

Kenna growled but did what he said, talking was hurting her nose anyway. The inside of the large brick building was dark and smelled like mold, but The Joker seemed to know where he was going. Abruptly a light was switched on, and Kenna blinked against the buzzing florescent bulb.

“Is it really broken or are you being a wuss again?”

“I can’t exactly see my own nose,” she snapped. “but it hurts like hell. I‘ve never had a broken nose before.”

The Joker pushed her hands aside roughly, then grabbed her by the waist and lifted her to set her down on a metal worktable. “Let me see it.”

Kenna was still recovering from the sudden contact when gloved fingers touched her nose. She flinched backwards and kicked The Joker in the thigh with her sneaker. “Ouch!”

“I barely touched it.” he snarled back, ignoring the throbbing in his leg. He licked his lips and removed his customary purple gloves. “Hold still.”

She pursed her lips angrily but nodded, clenching her eyes shut as he moved in again. Kenna held in a moan as his not exactly gentle probing, hoping that he wouldn’t do anything too painful. When the pressure disappeared Kenna opened one eye gingerly. The Joker was moving in to hold her face firmly.

“This is going to pinch a little.”

There was no time for her to object before his thumbs were squeezing her nose, moving the bone back into place with a horrible crunch. Kenna screamed in pain, then cussed as the agony subsided into a pulsing heat. Her eyes watered as she glared at The Joker.

“What? I fixed it.” he grinned and gave her an unfathomable look. “You look like a cannibal. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Bully.”

“Whore.”

Kenna shook her head and tried not to touch her nose. “That’s not true and we both know it.”

The Joker seemed to brush off what she’d said. “Can you try to stay uninjured for an hour or two? I have actual work to get done.”

“Every injury I’ve had is your fault.” grumbled Kenna, her pointer finger gently brushing her nose. It made her twitch. It was better, but still sucked.

The Joker exited with his usual slightly hunched gate, purple coattails the last thing to leave the mostly empty room. Kenna hopped off the worktable and followed him, eyes still watering in pain. He led her into a small and filthy bathroom, far worse than the one in the house they’d just left. Kenna was about to ask about that when The Joker took hold of her shoulders and forced her to sit down on the toilet. The lid shifted precariously under her, making Kenna stiffen and then frown.

“I don’t enjoy being manhandled.” she snapped, leaking green eyes on The Joker as he pulled something out of his pocket.

It was a handkerchief, purple with green stripes on it. He turned on the tap, causing a gush of brownish water that slowly turned a bit clearer. Apparently The Joker didn’t plan on answering Kenna, wetting the handkerchief and squeezing out the excess water. Rather than handing it to her like she expected The Joker knelt and raised the moist rag to her face. She leaned back on instinct, The Joker giving her an exasperated look.

“Really?” was all he said.

Kenna glared for a moment, then relented and settled back in a regular position. When the warm, wet cloth touched her upper lip Kenna moaned softly. “It hurts.”

“You’re speaking to someone who has had their nose broken at least thirty times.” muttered The Joker, his free hand coming up to grasp the back of Kenna’s head to hold it in place. “Never fun, toots.”

“I’m sure you deserved it all thirty times.”

The Joker snickered at her, then moved on to cleaning the sides of her nose. It was more tender there, causing Kenna to hold in a hiss of pain. “That’s beside the point. In a cosmic way you probably deserve everything you’re getting. Ever think of that, doll?”

“If karma is real than any day you’ll be flattened by a steam roller.” Kenna replied, then her fingers were reaching out blindly for something to grasp. He was wiping the blood off her nose now. “Shit!”

The Joker whistled a short tune at her, threading his fingers into her hair and applying more pressure to her nose. Kenna gripped harder and clenched her eyes shut. But just as quickly as the pain intensified it went away. There was a long silence and Kenna opened her eyes, finding The Joker staring at her with an unreadable expression in his cold brown eyes. She looked down and saw her fingers had latched onto the lapels of The Joker’s coat, swiftly letting go and dropping her hands limply into her lap.

“I would thank you, but I think you enjoyed causing me pain more than helping me.” she said caustically to break the tense quiet.

The Joker’s taunting grin returned and he got up from his kneeling position. For a moment Kenna thought he was going to reply with an equally biting remark, but instead his hand shot out and he pinched her cheek. Hard.

“Ow!” yelled Kenna, moving to slap his hand away. But it was already gone, and so was The Joker.

She sat on the toilet and rubbed her cheek, trying to ignore the painful throbbing in her nose. Less than an hour ago she’d been laying in bed hungover, but it seemed the terrifying ride and the pain of having her nose broken had cured that. But why the sudden move? The Joker had never elaborated, and Kenna wasn’t sure if he would. He was oddly cryptic sometimes.

With a sigh she stood and went to see if Darla was back yet, still holding her sore cheek. The Joker rarely made sense to her, but he hadn’t done anything like that before.

But Kenna thought of the jagged pink scar on Darla’s arm and figured if a pinch was the worst he’d done to her himself so far, then she was getting off easy.