In the Mind of Madness

“If I didn’t know better I would think you aren’t enjoying yourself right now.”

Kenna didn’t respond. For seven hours now she had been back with The Joker, back in the same drafty warehouse with masked thugs staring at her every move. After being away for so long Kenna could really smell the mold and rotten wood scent that permeated the entire place. The air was so thick with it at times Kenna felt like she could barely breathe. Then again, maybe that was just her nerves.

“It’s very rude not to reply to people, doll face.”

Her lips pursed tightly in annoyance. She still hadn’t said a word to The Joker, and she was doing her best to keep it that way. No matter how many times he spoke to her, poked at her, or did whatever else he could to get some sort of reaction.

The Joker hummed, his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her tightly to his side. “This is kind of disappointing for me…I expected you to put up much more of a fight.”

Still Kenna didn’t respond, but she felt a bit triumphant. Even if she was horribly depressed by her failures and The Joker’s winnings, at least she could know that by not reacting she was disappointing him.

“I know!” he shouted, loud enough in her ear to make her wince a bit. “We can watch my favorite show!”

Kenna hissed in pain as The Joker stood, switching his hold to her wrist and yanking her up. She walked heavily behind him as he dragged her towards one of the guarded rooms. Kenna felt a wave of déjà vu hit her as she realized it was the room she had marched into to yell at him, punching a masked guard in the face along the way. That seemed like so long ago…or like part of a nightmare.

The nightmare was back, and it was tugging her into the room that now had several TV monitors of different sizes stacked on The Joker’s workbench. Kenna’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as The Joker led her to them, taking her by the shoulders and standing her right in front of them.

“It takes a moment to catch on, but I think you’ll like it, too.” he said in a faux-excited voice, urging her to lean forward and look closer.

Kenna stared at the fuzzy black and white images on the screens. It looked like footage from a security tape, but she couldn’t figure out why this would matter to her, and surely The Joker was showing it to her to try and get some kind of response. From the view that appeared to be from the ceiling Kenna could distinguish here was a man sitting on a couch with his legs propped up on a coffee table, a book in his lap. Kenna watched him for a moment, not sure what she was supposed to be seeing. Then a woman entered the room and Kenna turned to The Joker questioningly.

“Oh, I know what can make it easer to understand.” he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Audio!”

He leaned around Kenna and pressed one of several buttons sitting on the bench, and suddenly the room was filled with a faint buzzing and echoing voices.

“--tomorrow. I talked to her yesterday and she said she’s doing fine.”

Kenna’s knees shook so violently when she heard her mother’s voice that she nearly collapsed. Her jaw dropped and she gaped at the two people on the screen, abruptly realizing that it was her mother and Dr. King.

“That’s good. If her court date next month goes as well as it did last week she should be in the clear, as well. I don’t think there’s much to worry about right now.”

There was a pause, and on the screen Trina Archer crossed her arms and looked at the floor. “Except for The Joker.”

The Joker pointed at himself animatedly, but Kenna ignored him.

“He can’t do anything to her now. I can’t think of a single place safer than Wayne Manor.”

“WRONG!” crowed The Joker, but Kenna couldn’t hear him over the frantic beating of her heart.

Trina sighed and nodded. “You’re right, but I worry about her. I wish I could go and see her.”

King marked his page in his book and turned around in his seat to look at her. “It’s going to be fine. Kenna’s a smart girl, she can take care of yourself.”

The Joker flipped off the audio and snorted. “He wants to sleep with you so badly he lies right to your mother’s face.”

A strange numbness had developed everywhere inside Kenna except her spine, which was growing hotter by the second and pumping that heat into her head. Kenna let out a shuddering breath and grabbed onto the nearest television, ripping it from the wall and allowing it to fall to the ground with a loud thump and the shattering of glass.

She did the same thing to the rest of the monitors until there were none left and she was sweating, bent over with her hands on her knees and panting for breath. Her whole tantrum was sort of a blur, but the muscles in her arms ached from lifting all of the televisions, and the anger was still hot in her veins.

She remembered The Joker was standing there next to her among the smashed hardware on the floor, turning her head to glare at him. He had his hands on his hips and he was smiling so wide she wondered if his scars could burst.

When she saw that grin on his face another surge of heat pushed her forward and she launched herself at him. He cackled as they tumbled to the floor, The Joker on his back and Kenna scrambling on top of him to get to his face. She hauled her arm back and made a fist, bringing it down with all the force she could muster right into The Joker’s mouth.

He never stopped laughing as she punched him three more times, ignoring how bad her fingers hurt. Kenna grabbed him by his collar and shook him, watching a dribble of blood fall from his lips with satisfaction.

“STOP SMILING!” she screamed and shook him harder.

His hands grabbed hers, holding them on the lapels of his stained purple coat. Tears of mirth were dripping through his white makeup, falling into his curly green hair. He looked up at Kenna and let out a long, shivering breath to compose himself.

“I can’t!”

The Joker burst into tumultuous laughter again, shaking so hard that Kenna bounced around on top of his heaving stomach. She kept clutching the material in her hands and breathing shallowly, unsure exactly what emotions were warring inside her head now. When she looked at his bleeding mouth and streaming eyes Kenna didn’t have time to stop herself before her mouth opened and a long peal of laughter shot out like a bullet.

The giggling clown underneath her only laughed harder when she joined him, her body falling forward a bit with the force of her laughing. A few seconds later The Joker pushed Kenna to the side, her screeching laughter only stopping for a moment when she landed harshly on her spine next to him. The combined sound of their amusement at absolutely nothing reverberated in the room so loudly for a moment Kenna thought her ears were bleeding.

Slowly the noise dissipated, Kenna’s hand holding her sore stomach muscles and The Joker letting out an occasional giggle as he wiped blood away from his lips. Kenna looked down at her sore hand and started to snort again, because her knuckles were smudged with white and red makeup and The Joker’s blood. He followed her eyes and snickered, then fell abruptly silent. Kenna glanced at his face, complete with a split lip, and found herself becoming just as quiet. They stared at each other for what seemed like a never-ending moment before The Joker stood up and straightened his clothes.

Kenna remained on the floor among the broken glass as he left the room, his boots making resounding snaps on the cement. She had seen hate in his eyes when he looked at her, and Kenna felt the cold swell of fear crawling its way back into her aching stomach.