Hey Batman!
1/1
Bruce was a nice man, but he didn't know how to deal with kids...Or teenagers. He wasn't cool, all of his smiles were fake and well basically he was a piece of shit father. I can't begin to understand why mom married him!
Addy loves him of course, but that's only because she's seven and she loves everything. She even named the mice in our house after the Rodent infested Gotham city with his namesakes. And Bruce's 'no idea how to properly care for children' self, let her keep two of them!
I can't have one dog, but my seven year old sister can keep rats for pets!
...
Okay, you might think that the reason why I hate Bruce is because he won't let me have a dog but it's not that.
Well at least that's not the only reason.
The reason is that he's lying to all of us. He lies about where he goes late at night, he lies about who he talks to on the phone, he lies about everything!
And I wish that the reason why he was lying was because he had a woman on the side, but it's not. It just isn't fair how he's cruising through like like everything going to be okay, when it's not! He acts like he isn't in danger every second of his life when he is! Everyone always has their eye on him. Every prisoner, every madman, hell every figure of authority!
Because the truth is...
My father, Bruce, is Batman.
I still remember the day that I found that out. I had been on a field trip with my class and it had been boring the heck out of me so I wandered off.
"Now if you would just turn to the left you will see the statue of David. Of course this is only a replica of the statue as the real one is made out of marble and not paper clips, but..." as the stiff necked tour guide droned on an on about paperclips and the statue of David I turned my sights to another section of the museum.
The exit.
I had no intention of listening to some lame guy, talk about dumb old statues made out of pieces of office supplies. I mean who came to museums anyway!
I waited until the rest of the class had been herded to stare at another statue before dashing out the door. There were only a few people wandering about but no nosy museum people to tell me to go back inside.
I spotted an ice cream stand across the street and dug into my pocket for my field trip lunch money. I remembered my mom's words to buy something healthy, and faltered. I never disobeyed my mom, because she always knew best. But then i remember my dad's grunt. That could have meant anything! Like "Spend all your money on ice cream sweetie!" Not that my dad had ever called me sweetie but who cares? I was gonna get some ice cream!
After buying my ice cream I was about to return to the museum when I heard screams and shouts. I couldn't tell if they were cries of fear or happiness so I ventured further away from the Museum of Statue Replicas.
When I finally reached the source of the noise, I realized what a grave mistake I had made. There were people stampeding in every direction including mine! And there were other people! Weird shuffling gray people with open mouths and dull glassy eyes.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ZOMBIES ARE TAKING OVER THE CITY!" A man screamed as he shoved past me. I lost my balanced and fell to the ground, dropping my ice cream in the process.
A large heavy set man zombie thing, shuffled towards me, drool dripping from his mouth and moaning like he had a bad case of the runs.
I let out a scream and scrambled to my feet, but another zombie person was standing behind me. I turned left and right but the zombies were everywhere!
Suddenly a large shadow swooped over me and there he was, Batman. I stared at his back- Well his legs actually, because I was really short back then. He then began to beat the large zombie and through something yellow and flashing at another. The zombies fell, but continued to moan on the ground as they struggled to get to their feet.
Batman took that chance to grab me and he carried me to the safety of the museum steps. "Get back inside, Reece." he said gruffly and I blinked in surprise.
I knew that voice! Even if he sounded like the demon spawn of Darth Vader and Samuel Jackson, I would recognize that voice anywhere! Plus he knew my name!
"Dad?" I squeaked and he froze. "Daddy?" I repeated, and he knelt down to look me in the eyes.
"Don't tell your mother okay? This is our secret,” whispered Daddy. And then he was gone.
I still remember that day as if it were yesterday and I had wished I had told him 'no'. No I wouldn't keep it a secret. Or 'No, mom has the right to know'. Or even 'I'll only zip my lips if you give me a puppy!'
But secretly, I liked the fact that we had something to share between us, because we had nothing else. After that, he had held me at arms length and I had begun to call him Bruce. It just felt better to call him something other than dad, because truthfully, I didn't know him that well.
"Reece?"
I turned to see Bruce standing in the doorway, holding a cardboard box. A moving cardboard box.
"What the hell is that?" I said slowly, giving him a wide berth. This was way weird. First of all, he never came into my room, and second of all...Well he was just being weird! A regular guy holding a cardboard box is fine, but Batman holding a cardboard box was just odd. I mean he's batman! He let's his kids have the minions of his enemies!
He ignored my language and held the box out to me. "You're sixteen now and uh...I mean well it's more of a thank you for you know- But uh...I figured you're old enough to have a-" He shoved the box in my directions and I leaned forward to look inside.
I let out a shriek of delight. "Holy shit, Batman you got me a puppy!" I stared down at the small doberman sleeping in the box. He was so adorable! Not my idea of a family dog, I'm more of a German Shepperd kind of girl, but I guess it's fitting considering who I got it from.
Bruce winced and I covered my mouth, "Sorry! I doubt they heard, they're in the backyard at the moment."
He nodded and turned to leave then turned back. "Um..Reece? You know I love you right?"
I froze, "Uh-Uh-Yeah, I know- I mean you do a crap- I mean you don't portray it very well but I know."
Bruce shuffled his feet and turned to leave again. I bit my lip and held out my hand to stop him. I felt like I needed to say something. Something better than a jumble of stuttered sentences. But I just couldn't get the words out, so instead I said.
"So..he-he's a normal dog right?" I spluttered and Bruce turned to roll his eyes at me.
"Of course not Reece, he's half bat, half dog and one day he's going to sprout a cape and save the world. Of course he's a normal dog." he said sarcastically and I smiled.
"Just wondering." I set the box down on my bed and took the puppy out so he could sleep a bit more comfortably on my pillows. "Thanks dad."
"You're welcome."
Addy loves him of course, but that's only because she's seven and she loves everything. She even named the mice in our house after the Rodent infested Gotham city with his namesakes. And Bruce's 'no idea how to properly care for children' self, let her keep two of them!
I can't have one dog, but my seven year old sister can keep rats for pets!
...
Okay, you might think that the reason why I hate Bruce is because he won't let me have a dog but it's not that.
Well at least that's not the only reason.
The reason is that he's lying to all of us. He lies about where he goes late at night, he lies about who he talks to on the phone, he lies about everything!
And I wish that the reason why he was lying was because he had a woman on the side, but it's not. It just isn't fair how he's cruising through like like everything going to be okay, when it's not! He acts like he isn't in danger every second of his life when he is! Everyone always has their eye on him. Every prisoner, every madman, hell every figure of authority!
Because the truth is...
My father, Bruce, is Batman.
I still remember the day that I found that out. I had been on a field trip with my class and it had been boring the heck out of me so I wandered off.
"Now if you would just turn to the left you will see the statue of David. Of course this is only a replica of the statue as the real one is made out of marble and not paper clips, but..." as the stiff necked tour guide droned on an on about paperclips and the statue of David I turned my sights to another section of the museum.
The exit.
I had no intention of listening to some lame guy, talk about dumb old statues made out of pieces of office supplies. I mean who came to museums anyway!
I waited until the rest of the class had been herded to stare at another statue before dashing out the door. There were only a few people wandering about but no nosy museum people to tell me to go back inside.
I spotted an ice cream stand across the street and dug into my pocket for my field trip lunch money. I remembered my mom's words to buy something healthy, and faltered. I never disobeyed my mom, because she always knew best. But then i remember my dad's grunt. That could have meant anything! Like "Spend all your money on ice cream sweetie!" Not that my dad had ever called me sweetie but who cares? I was gonna get some ice cream!
After buying my ice cream I was about to return to the museum when I heard screams and shouts. I couldn't tell if they were cries of fear or happiness so I ventured further away from the Museum of Statue Replicas.
When I finally reached the source of the noise, I realized what a grave mistake I had made. There were people stampeding in every direction including mine! And there were other people! Weird shuffling gray people with open mouths and dull glassy eyes.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ZOMBIES ARE TAKING OVER THE CITY!" A man screamed as he shoved past me. I lost my balanced and fell to the ground, dropping my ice cream in the process.
A large heavy set man zombie thing, shuffled towards me, drool dripping from his mouth and moaning like he had a bad case of the runs.
I let out a scream and scrambled to my feet, but another zombie person was standing behind me. I turned left and right but the zombies were everywhere!
Suddenly a large shadow swooped over me and there he was, Batman. I stared at his back- Well his legs actually, because I was really short back then. He then began to beat the large zombie and through something yellow and flashing at another. The zombies fell, but continued to moan on the ground as they struggled to get to their feet.
Batman took that chance to grab me and he carried me to the safety of the museum steps. "Get back inside, Reece." he said gruffly and I blinked in surprise.
I knew that voice! Even if he sounded like the demon spawn of Darth Vader and Samuel Jackson, I would recognize that voice anywhere! Plus he knew my name!
"Dad?" I squeaked and he froze. "Daddy?" I repeated, and he knelt down to look me in the eyes.
"Don't tell your mother okay? This is our secret,” whispered Daddy. And then he was gone.
I still remember that day as if it were yesterday and I had wished I had told him 'no'. No I wouldn't keep it a secret. Or 'No, mom has the right to know'. Or even 'I'll only zip my lips if you give me a puppy!'
But secretly, I liked the fact that we had something to share between us, because we had nothing else. After that, he had held me at arms length and I had begun to call him Bruce. It just felt better to call him something other than dad, because truthfully, I didn't know him that well.
"Reece?"
I turned to see Bruce standing in the doorway, holding a cardboard box. A moving cardboard box.
"What the hell is that?" I said slowly, giving him a wide berth. This was way weird. First of all, he never came into my room, and second of all...Well he was just being weird! A regular guy holding a cardboard box is fine, but Batman holding a cardboard box was just odd. I mean he's batman! He let's his kids have the minions of his enemies!
He ignored my language and held the box out to me. "You're sixteen now and uh...I mean well it's more of a thank you for you know- But uh...I figured you're old enough to have a-" He shoved the box in my directions and I leaned forward to look inside.
I let out a shriek of delight. "Holy shit, Batman you got me a puppy!" I stared down at the small doberman sleeping in the box. He was so adorable! Not my idea of a family dog, I'm more of a German Shepperd kind of girl, but I guess it's fitting considering who I got it from.
Bruce winced and I covered my mouth, "Sorry! I doubt they heard, they're in the backyard at the moment."
He nodded and turned to leave then turned back. "Um..Reece? You know I love you right?"
I froze, "Uh-Uh-Yeah, I know- I mean you do a crap- I mean you don't portray it very well but I know."
Bruce shuffled his feet and turned to leave again. I bit my lip and held out my hand to stop him. I felt like I needed to say something. Something better than a jumble of stuttered sentences. But I just couldn't get the words out, so instead I said.
"So..he-he's a normal dog right?" I spluttered and Bruce turned to roll his eyes at me.
"Of course not Reece, he's half bat, half dog and one day he's going to sprout a cape and save the world. Of course he's a normal dog." he said sarcastically and I smiled.
"Just wondering." I set the box down on my bed and took the puppy out so he could sleep a bit more comfortably on my pillows. "Thanks dad."
"You're welcome."