Under the Red Sky

When I finally came to, there was a dull pain in the back of my head and I was tied to a chair.

I could feel the itchy texture of some kind of cloth on my face.

Blindfolded. Damnit.

I shifted in the uncomfortable metal chair, twisting my wrists in their restraints. I felt the burn of rope. I was stuck tight.

“Fuck,” I hissed, as I struggled in my bonds, causing the metal under me to squeak and whine. I turned my face this way and that, searching the darkness for something, anything.

But there was only black silence.

I crumpled, defeated, heaving a great sigh and hanging my head. I took several moments to assess situation as calmly as possible.

Since one of my senses was useless at the moment, the logical thing to do was use the other four.

From what I could tell, my blouse and my skirt were intact. The bastard hadn’t raped me.

Whoever he was. That was one thing that wasn’t going to fly.

I inhaled deeply, breathing in with my nose. The air was dank and smelled of damp cement and wet ground. The odor of garbage and dirty snow assailed my nostrils. I frowned in disgust. I must be near an alley. But there was no telling which alley, or where.

I listened hard, straining to hear anything in the quiet.

Far off there was hushed murmuring and the buzz of a television maybe and the hum of a machine. And above it all, the thunder of heavy footsteps getting louder. And louder.

Somewhere behind me a door opened and then slammed shut and I gasped, surprised by the sudden loud noise.

It was him. I could feel it on my skin. I squirmed in my seat, turning my head toward the source of the noise, which was directly behind me. But that was only a guess.

I had been wrong before.

I heard feet shuffling across the floor, in an awkward sort of gait. Awkward but confident.

I stayed perfectly still, not even daring to breathe as I listened to him move about the room.
And then suddenly, all was silent.

I waited in painful anxiety for his next move. But for all I knew he could be standing right behind me, ready to stab me in the back. Or worse.

I wanted badly to believe that was not the case.

And then…

“Well, look what I found.”

I scowled. That voice….

It was hardly threatening. Almost geeky. So unlike the voice I had heard back home. But I felt as if I had heard it before. Somewhere….

He was not as close as I expected. In fact, he sounded fairly far away. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief but kept that hard look on my face.

“You know,” he began again, that odd voice filling my head, “You should really keep your doors locked at night. Crazy people might get in.”

He exploded in laughter, that same chilling sound from back in my living room. I tightly shut my eyes, though the world was already dark to me. But out of sight out of mind…

I listened as he moved closer, dragging his feet over the dusty concrete floor. The smell of gasoline and rain clouded my nose and I was suddenly choking on his potent scent.

“What’s the matter, huh?” he asked, as he drew near, “Cat got your tongue?”

His hands found my face, and gripped my jaw so hard I thought it would break. I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain and kept my face free of emotion.

I felt the cold sting of metal on my cheek. A knife.

This was it. The end. I was going to be killed by some stranger with a painted face and a nerdy voice and a stupid, creepy laugh.

It was sad. I had always imagined something more glamorous. I let out a small pathetic chuckle.

The grip on my face weakened slightly. I felt his thumb run over the soft skin beneath my right eye before he withdrew, slapping me smartly on the cheek before that scuffling noise started up again.

I relaxed. Sort of.

“Where are my manners?” he cried, mock concern in his voice, “We haven’t had any formal introductions. Your, uh, name is….?”

My mouth was sucked dry of saliva but with a sudden burst of bravado I found my voice.
“Selina….Selina Kyle.”

He laughed at me. “Selina Kyle? How ridiculous! Doesn’t suit you at all….”

My face grew hot and the back of my neck burned. But not from embarrassment. From pure fury. How dare he make fun of me?

“Shutup, you coward, shutup!”

I instantly regretted mouthing off.

He stopped laughing, and the room grew steadily quieter as the seconds passed. I could only hear his breathing and the blood pounding in my head.

“Now that’s more like it, Selina,” he hissed, drawing out the S in my name.

I stared straight ahead, not caring if I was looking in his direction or not. My face remained blank though my insides were roaring with all kinds of emotion.

There was more silence. Until I finally found the courage to open my mouth. Again.

“What do you want with me?”

He chuckled quietly to himself. He seemed to like doing that. Laughing.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

I shook my head, fervently. I was nervous. Confused. And so all my frustration came spilling out at once. “No. No it’s not. I can’t see why you’ve taken me here, wherever ‘here’ is, and tied me up and…and…”

My confident voice faltered as I realized he was walking about the room again. He was circling me, like a bird of prey ready to dive for a morsel of wet flesh.

I took a deep breath and went on, hoping to appear calm. “There’s nothing you could want with me. I’m a nobody. Nothing special.”

The blood froze in my veins as more of that laughter erupted from directly behind me. I felt a hand on the back of my neck, and the thumb of that hand fiddling with my earlobe.

“On the contrary,” he murmured, announcing the return of that dark voice, “I find you very…curious.”

I made as if to look over my shoulder at him but was met with a slap that sent my face veering to the right. I gasped, the pain shocking me more than anything.

“You know,” he began, the obscurity in his voice vanishing instantly, “Your cat gave me the sniffles. I mean really the whole place smelled like that thing. Ever heard of air fresheners?
Huh?”

I felt two soft smacks on both of my cheeks and recognized that he was standing before me now.

I began to wonder if there was a way to shrug off this blindfold. Maybe then I could get a good look at this freak…

There was silence for a moment. And when he spoke again, something had changed in his voice. He sounded….bitter. Almost normal.

“I used to have a kitty. Or rather she did. Named it Bijou.”

My face was in his hands again, held tight in his iron grip. The leather of his gloves was soft and cool against my skin. It almost felt nice.

“Bijou, Bijou, Bijou….now that suits you.”

He held my face for a moment, and I had the sinking feeling his was studying my face, memorizing it. Maybe even admiring it.

I inhaled sharply, and as his scent clouded my senses, I winced. It was nearly overwhelming.

“That bad, huh?”

I was slightly taken aback that he noticed my reaction. He must really be watching me.

I shook my head slowly, still in his grasp. “No,” I murmured, “Just very strong.”

I wondered briefly why I had been so quick to dismiss the insult he had aimed at himself. I remained perplexed as to why I hadn’t wanted to insult him, when only moments before I wanted to rip his throat out and were it as a necklace.

I needed a new one anyway…

His hands dropped from my face, and I could tell he had lost interest in this given topic. I heard his shoes scrape across the floor as he turned away from me, muttering incoherently.

-Joker-

“Stupid woman…made me remember…damnit. Doesn’t matter…I can forget her…I’ve done it before…with the others...I can forget this catlady too. Poof. Gone. Or maybe not….not yet…”

I leaned against my desk, which was the only item of furniture in the room, save for the chair which sat behind it.

The one she sat in now.

I wasn’t sure if I was completely appeased with the idea of having her blindfolded. Where was the fear? Not in her eyes, that was certain. But if I was correct, and I usually was, she was just fine without her sight.

If I was right, her other senses were sharpened beyond that of a normal person.
Take for instance yesterday night.

I had been out on the corner, drawn to this crazy woman like a moth to the flame, and had watched as she screamed out her window at some stupid animal.

But I hadn’t heard a thing. In fact, the night air had been oddly quiet.

With the exception of her shrieking of course.

I was well aware of the fact that she could trace every move I made, that she could hear every step I took, closer, farther, right, left.

But that made this all the more interesting.

I eyed her curiously, sitting statuesque, bound to that metal chair like so many of my other victims.

But she was different.

Not a screamer. Not a crier. Didn’t beg for her life, however pathetic it was. Didn’t try and bribe me with money, power, sex.

I pushed off the desk, ambling toward her. I saw her tense as she picked up on my movement. I smiled to myself, pulling the knife from my pocket.

Alright now. Just pull off that blindfold, make her scream. Then kill her. Slit that lovely throat of hers….

The closer I got the hotter the blade grew in my hand, burning to slash through soft flesh.
I towered over her now, one hand gripping her face, my knife poised at her throat. She flinched as the cold metal stung her skin, but I only pressed harder.

I studied her face. Frozen with fear? No. It looked more like…defiance. As if she refused to be frightened by her fate, that loomed closer with each passing second.

I cocked my head, a smile tugging on the ends of my scarred lips.

She really was very pretty. Beautiful even. I remembered her eyes. The coldest, bluest eyes. And that snow white skin….it made me want to cry. But most of all it made me want to rip, slash, tear….

I wet my lips excitedly, tightening the hold on my knife. I wanted to finish this, finish her, I needed to. And yet….

I couldn’t help that curiosity burning deep inside. It wouldn’t die. Especially if she did.
What did curiosity do to the cat?

“Killed it,” I murmured under my breath as I lowered my knife from her throat.

I turned away before I could regret my decision, the thrill of murder dying away.

I heard Bijou breathe a sigh of relief and I rolled my eyes. Always that sigh. Ignorance was bliss when it came to what lay ahead.

Who was this woman?

'A nobody. Nothing special.'

Expendable. Dispensable. Amusing. A toy and nothing more. Just like the others.

But there was something else….something I couldn’t place.

I wondered briefly if witnessing her weird “resurrection” of sorts had anything to do with my interest, my attraction….But besides, things were boring around here. Shrek’s work wasn’t getting done, not that I ever planned on doing it, and I needed a distraction.

What harm could possibly come from keeping her around? Even just for a few more days…

Time would tell as always. But first...a little experiment.

I walked back to the desk, slipping my knife back into my pocket. Amid the clutter of papers and maps and pens and wires, sat a syringe filled with a honey-colored serum.

I had made it earlier, thinking of her of course. I hadn’t really thought I would use it. But things have a funny way of sneaking up on you like that.

I plucked it from the mess and taking in my hand, doubled back toward Bijou.

I did like that name. So very much.

I crouched so my face was level with hers. She was staring at me through the blindfold, though she couldn’t see a thing.

Half of me wanted to rip that stupid thing off. The other half of me wanted to rip her skin off.

I didn’t bother undoing the ropes that tethered her to the chair. I gripped the syringe and placed my thumb on the plunger, as I grabbed a hold of her arm.

Instead of writhing in my grasp as I predicted, she remained perfectly still. Fine by me. I hated the squirmy ones. Like worms.

I plunged the needle into her arm and finally there was emotion.

She let out a yelp of pain as I pumped the thick liquid into her system.

“What the hell was that?” she cried, frantically twisting and turning in her bonds. I could hear the angry tears on her voice. “What-what’ll that do to me?”

I smirked down at her and tossed the now empty syringe over my shoulder,

I stroked her messy, bird’s nest hair even as she tried her hardest to avoid my touch and even as she fell limp in the chair as the toxin finally kicked in.

“We’ll know soon enough, won’t we?” I giggled.

And we would.

After all, I was a man of my word.