Weapon of Choice

The kiss. It felt right. Nothing else around me existed. The Joker was gone, Lisa was gone, my past was gone...

My phone started to ring, "Sorry," I looked at the phone and saw it was 'John'. My high feeling suddenly came crashing back to earth, "I have to take this, excuse me." I stood up and walked a few feet away, "Hello?"

"What are you doing?!"

I looked around to see where he was, "I'm afraid to answer that..."

"Damn right you are! Turn around and tell him you have to leave!"

"What? Why? It's just a..."

"I saw you kissing him!"

"So? That doesn't mean it meant anything!" Lie.

"Really? I didn't exactly see you pulling away from him!"

My hold on the phone tightened.

"Tell him you have to leave, or I will kill you!"

"Fine," I growled through my teeth. I closed the phone but couldn't turn around, "Something's come up. I have to leave."

"Why? Was it something I did?" Bruce questioned.

"No, I just have to go," my vision began to turn red.

"Is that friend of yours making you leave?"

I bit my lip so that I wouldn't reply.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "You shouldn't let anyone control you like this. If he is an ex-boyfriend of yours? I can help you."

"I told you I have to leave."

He stood in front of me, "Then why are you frozen in one spot?" He lifted up my chin, "You don't have to leave if you don't want to."

"I have to."

He kissed me again, but this time I felt nothing. Only anger because he had done the worst thing possible. I pushed him back, "Get away from me! Don't ever do that again!" I raised my hand to slap him but the phone was still in it, "You know what," I threw the phone at the tree, "Fuck both of you. I'm not going to be treated like this." It crashed into the tree, bursting into pieces.

I walked away, hands jammed into my pockets, not caring what happened to me or where I ended up. I faded into the darkness of the trees, without a word or action from Bruce or the Joker.

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Two hours had passed before I looked up and tried to recognize where I was at. Nothing really looked familiar except the road sign that said 'Downtown Gotham High School' was in a few miles. I took in a deep breath It's the only way to get to the hospital by nightfall.

I closed my eyes.

Another two hours passed.

I opened my eyes.

I saw my high school. The student parking lot was still full. I calculated that it'd been around a month since school started. I walked along the familiar sidewalk leading into the collection of houses where I used to spend my days.

I passed my old house. The light was on, a young couple had bought the house knowing what had happened in it. They had changed everything. The house had been repainted white instead of the shade of gray it had always been when I lived there. The door had been stained a cherry wood color.

It opened revealing a young woman, "Do you want something?" she stared straight at me.

"No, I just stopped to look."

"Oh, well don't stay too long or I'll call the cops," she closed the door.

What would've happened if I said 'I used to live here?' I shook my head and kept walking.

I was almost out of this place when I was stopped in my tracks. I just couldn't move. The place I had dreaded was dead in front of me and I couldn't move past it. The place where my mother laid to rest. The graveyard.

My feet seemed to move themselves. I opened the gate and went to a familiar plot of land at the rear of the cemetery. I looked on the stone:

Here lies Charlotte Marie Conway
Loving wife, sister, and mother
1974-2003

"Oh Mom, if only you could see what has happened over the years," I sighed, "I wish you had stayed. Then I wouldn't be caught up in this mess."

"Conway? Maya Conway?" I looked behind me to see a man my age.

"Daniel Mann?"

"Yes. It's been a while since I saw you last. High school maybe?"

"Something like that, I guess. Do you..." I pointed around the graveyard.

"Oh no, I don't work here," he laughed, "My grandmother died a few months ago, and I'm just compelled to come here," he held up a small bouquet of lilies.

"Oh, I'm sorry. She was how old?"

"86, it was her time to go," we were both quiet for a minute, "So, you still come to see your mother? I remember you practically lived here in middle school and freshman year."

"Yeah, I've been away for a long time. Actually started to forget some of what happened."

"How'd she die?"

"Lung cancer. She was always a smoker, till the day she died," I smirked, "The doctors even let her smoke the last day she was alive."

"Really? She didn't quit when the doctors diagnosed her?"

"Nah, her motto was always 'Live until you die'. She never quit smoking or stopped spending time with us. Even when she was on chemo."

"Wow."

"How'd your grandmother die? She was your main caretaker in high school wasn't she?"

"Yeah, just old age took her. I think I got it good though. She lasted until I could survive on my own. She also left me a chunk of change."

"Really?"

"Yeah, two million. Enough to keep me and then some."

"That's good."

"Um, can I ask something?"

"Shoot."

"What happened to your father years back? I heard your names on the news way back when."

"Oh, um..." my mind flashed to that night and the ones that followed, "He committed suicide."

"He doesn't have a memorial site here?"

"No, he demanded to be cremated in the suicide note."

"That's odd. Did he just lose it?"

"Yes, he went crazy and turned into someone else when Mom passed."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm happy you didn't see him that way."

"But we were friends through most of high school."

"He hid it. Everyone but me thought everything was ok."

He hugged me, "Even when we went through that falling out I still worried, I still cared!"

My hands stayed at my sides.

"Why won't you hug me like you used to?"

"That was years ago."

"Yes, but don't you still acknowledge our friendship?"

"Yes, you cheated on my best friend with Taylor. Why is that?"

"I was foolish and young. I wanted us to have something special! It just drove me crazy that she didn't want it too."

"So you cheated on her with the school whore? Nice one," I began walking backwards.

"Yeah, well smile!" he took out a camera and flashed.

"Well, that blinded me," I rubbed my eyes, "What was that for?"

"My next paycheck."

"Now I get how you guys always catch people when they are angry."

"Actually this one looks like you're crying. I'm sorry I got you riled up, I just couldn't resist," he put the camera away, "I really do regret doing that though. He used me."

"I figured. It's something Taylor would have done. Besides, I always had my suspicions about you being gay."

"Yeah," he gave me a side hug, "I have a new boyfriend. He's better for me. Kinda you in gay form."

"That's good...I think?"

"It's a compliment."

"Ok, I'll say thank you then," we headed to the gate, "You aren't going to say anything bad are you?"

"Nah, just that you visited your mother."

"That's a relief. Any chance you could give me a ride?"

"You don't have one?"

"Car got stolen. I've been stranded for hours, walking to the hospital where Lisa gave birth."

"Ok, hop in."