Mad Love

Jack was exhausted after his long day at work, and even more exhausted by the fact that he had spent most of the day talking. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he inserted his house key into the locked door of his apartment. Or so he thought. The second he put his key in, the door swung open quite easily.

Jack’s heart seemed to drop into his stomach. But he continued into the house, almost vomiting when he saw what was waiting inside of the apartment for him.

“Hi, beautiful.” Brendon says, flashing Jack that big, sparkling smile that Jack had seen so many times before.

“What are you doing inside of my apartment?” Jack asks timidly. The last thing he wanted to do was make Brendon upset, as sometimes the results could be fatal.

“I found the spare key that you gave me in my sock drawer.” Brendon says, digging into his pocket. He pulls out a medium sized brass key and drops it into Jack’s outstretched hand. “I figured I didn’t need it anymore and decided to return it.”

“Well, um, thanks.” Jack says, awkwardly staring at the key that was just dropped into his hand. “Anything else?”

“Jack, come with me.” Brendon insists. “We can get out of this shitty little town, we can go anywhere that you wanna go. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I end up.”

Jack sighs and forces a smile. “My thrill is gone.” He says. “I’m not the same person anymore, Brendon. You ruined me.”

Even though Jack hated to admit it, it was true. The eight years that he had spent with Brendon had ruined him, molded him into a different person.

“You were a fucking wildcard, Jack.” Brendon says, reaching out and grabbing Jack’s wrist. “We can always try to get him back.”

“I won’t be fixed by running back to the same thing that broke me.” Jack says roughly, snatching his wrist out of Brendon’s fingertips. “You belong in Arkham if you think I’d ever even consider getting back together with you.”

Brendon steps forward, his hand catching Jack’s wrist again, his grip concrete now. “You’ll never forget me, Jack.” He snarls. “I was the best thing that ever happened to you. No one will love you in the way that I did.”

“There has not been a time that you said you hate me that’s gone unnoticed or forgotten.” Jack says, shaking his head. “There are too many bad memories that override the good ones.”

Brendan scoffs and lets go of Jack’s arm, shaking his head as he heads out of the apartment they once shared, slamming the door behind him.

Jack didn’t get very much sleep that night. No matter how much he tossed and turned around in his bed, he couldn’t bring himself to fall asleep. He was scared. He was terrified, in fact. The thought dawned on him that maybe Brendon had gotten another key made, maybe he had made a replica and given the original back to Jack. His pulse was beating so hard in his veins that he felt like it was shaking the walls, like his heart was going to erupt out of his body.

He knew that he wasn’t over-reacting either. He knew how cold-blooded his ex-fiance could be. Jack had experienced the cold rage that had crossed into his lover’s eyes, and experienced the burning slap of his fiance’s palm against his face first hand. Jack began to think that he was never going to be able to break this cycle. He thought that he was attracted to toxic people because he felt as though he deserved the heartache they would bring. Jack decided that he didn’t like himself very much that night.

The next morning during work was quite tedious to Jack, to say the least. His throat burned from all of the crying he had done. On his way to the maximum security ward, he had barely said a word to Marilyn or the two guards. He had simply bee-lined straight to the last cell in maximum security and pulled up his chair. He sat down with somewhat of a huff and pulled out his clipboard.

“Long night, Doc?” Alex asks from his seat on the floor in the front right corner of his cell.

“I suppose you could say that, “Jack sighs, running a hand through his hair. “How did you sleep?”

“With my eyes closed...Doctor.” the Joker answers, flashing Jack a grin.

When Jack didn’t say anything, or merely smile in response, the Joker paused for a minute, crawling to the spot right across from Jack. He sits on top of his bent knees while he looks up at Jack. “What’s on your mind, Doc?”

Jack takes a deep breath and smiles. “Just tired, Mr. J.” He answers.

“I’ve told you that you’re a terrible liar, correct?”

Jack chuckles. “Yes, Mr. J.” He says. “Multiple times.”

“I think that you should accept that fact,” Mr. J says, tilting his head. “And admit to yourself that you are never going to be able to lie to me.”

“I suppose not,” Jack admits.

“Kind of a hot day for a lab coat, eh, Doc?” Alex says, changing the subject rather quickly.

“Yes, you’re right.” Jack says, shrugging his lab coat off of his skinny shoulders. He places it around the back of chair before going back to his notes. “So, anyway, Mr. J, how old are you?”

“Thirty.”

“Really?” Jack says, jotting down the number thirty on his clipboard. “You don’t look that old.”

“Now, Dr. Barakat,” Alex says, somewhat seriously. He examines Jack’s face closely before glancing down. “May I ask you a question?”

Jack nods, somewhat hesitantly, but it was a nod, nonetheless.

“Wherever did you get those bruises on your arm?”

“Oh,” Jack says, quite startled as he begins to pull his lab coat back on. “I’m really not supposed to talk about my personal life with my patients.” His cheeks are tinted red.

“Looks like someone needs a bit of protection out there in the real world, eh?” the Joker chuckles. If only he had any idea. It seemed like Jack couldn’t go twelve hours without getting hurt lately. He silently decided to try and avoid interaction with other people for a while. He thought it best.

“I can be tough when I want to, Mr. J.” Jack insists with a faint smile. He knew that it wasn’t necessarily true, but at least he could pretend that it was.

Surprisingly, Jack was able to keep his promise to himself. He was able to cut down his meeting with the Joker down to almost half of the time he usually did, and he got twice the information out if him.

“Alright, Mr. J. It’s about time I head home.” Jack says, standing up from his chair. “I hope you have a good night.”

“I will, Dr. Barakat.” Mr. J says quietly. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Jack only smiled back before tucking his clipboard back under his arm and began heading back down the hallway toward the medium security ward. What Mr. J had said dawned on Jack. What did he mean? He’ll see me tonight? Jack brushed it off and continued down the hallway, completely unaware of what Mr. J had planned for the night.

A few hours later, Rian had come down to the maximum security ward to tell Jack’s patient of his absence.

“Good evening, Mr. Joker.” Rian says, doing his best to hide his fear.

“Ah, nurse. What a pleasant surprise.” the Joker answers, resting his head against the wall of his cell. “Where has the Doctor gone? I’m beginning to quite enjoy these daily visits of his.”

Rian nods. “Yes, Mr. Joker, that’s actually what I came to talk to you about,” He begins, clasping his hands together. “Dr. Barakat’s mind seems to have been failing him lately. He was sent home early and I’m afraid he won’t return for three more days.”

“Oh, no, no, no.” the Joker says. “That just simply won’t do, now will it?”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” Rian apologizes sincerely.

“Will you at least pass a quick message to him for me?” the Joker asks, motioning for Rian to take a few steps forward.

Rian nods and steps forward before he was able to figure out what was happening.

Alex quickly reaches through the cell bars and grabs Rian by the collar of his shirt, pulling his arm back quickly. This action sends Rian’s body tumbling into the cell bars, his skull smacking two of them hard enough to knock him unconscious. Alex grinned to himself before crouching down and pulling Rian’s lanyard out of his pocket. He slides Rian’s ID card through the scanner locking his cell door. A small green light flashes before the door slides open, and the Joker slips out of his cell.