Inside Your Eyes

I looked down at my feet, "Sand?" Ahead of me there was a woman standing by the shore, "Hello? Can you tell me where I am?"

She turned but not to me. A little girl, crying and squealing, jumped into her arms, "Mommy! That crab tried to bite me!"

This dream...I'm in a memory! I had this same dream over and over for nearly a year after my mother passed. But why now? Why am I looking at myself rather than being a little girl this time? I know how it ends. I'm always left on the beach alone as Mom gets lunch. The one time we go to the coast and it just sticks into my memory.

I watched as Mom put me down and light a cigarette. She eased my crying and pointed out different shells to take my mind off that crab. She always had a way of making me feel better while still feeling like I was the brave one.

The sun hung high in the sky and she got up to walk away. Meanwhile, the younger me was asleep on the towel. My mother crossed my path, "Could you watch my baby?" she walked up to me, "She's a strong little girl, but can't do it on her own."

"Well...I..."

"I'll only be gone five minutes."

I sighed and nodded. She turned to leave, "Wait!" I reached out my hand and grasped hers, "I miss you Mom."

My eyes began to tear and she brushed my cheek with her free hand, "I miss you too. We'll be together soon. The 'Big Guns Upstairs' has fashioned a house for us."

"What?"

"You heard me. He's proud that you haven't let darkness fully take you over."

"Why would He let me into Heaven? I've killed so many people!"

"You have, so I suggest you start asking forgiveness. On that note, I have to leave. Please watch over her, she needs help," she began to disappear.

"But this is a dream! You don't have to go anywhere."

"On the contrary. Since when are all dreams meaningless and made from your mind?" With that she disappeared.

"I always thought dreams were made from my mind," I sighed and sat down by my sleeping self, "I wonder when these dreams I have will cease to be so strange."

End

My eyes slid open, "Where am I?" My arms and legs were tied down to a table.

"Back with me," I looked up and saw The Joker's face.

"No!" I struggled violently, but the leather straps were too strong for me to break free.

"Feisty as always, but why did you leave?"

"What!? You are not that dense!"

"All I did was kiss the girl. She came on to me."

I was filled with disgust. Everything that had went on in the past years meant nothing. If he was trying to say that I wasn't anything to him he was wrong. I spat in his face, "Let me go now!"

He began to cackle, "Oh memories. Tell me, where would you go? If people knew who you really were, would they accept you?"

"I don't care! The reason I left was to go to prison! To get away from you!"

He began to laugh again. This time it was more sinister...more evil, "You belong to me! You can't leave of your own choice."

"Let me go now!"

"Or what? You'll spit at me again?"

My teeth started to grind and my eyes began to water They were all delusions. Who could expect a single caring emotion from a beast like this? No one! I went numb after that. I quit struggling and just laid on the table. A part of me was ready to die.

While The Joker was trying to figure why I had quit fighting, someone slid in the window...