Straying out of Sanity

After an odd, uneventful, and very late breakfast the four of us started to make our way back up to the room to kick Jay and the two lesbian strippers out so we could hang out in private without dealing with murderous clown-faced henchmen of The Joker. The plan didn't work out as well as we had hoped, seeing we never made it to the room because there was a strange gathering of the few henchmen I knew, including the one I had made out with last night. Accompanying Hunter, Jared and Paige were Leo, his buddies, and Candi. There were some henchmen that I didn't know, grouped together on another side of the room and they were all intently watching the television. Undoubtedly it couldn't be something interesting, just the everyday GCN channel.

The only reason we were distracted was because one of Leo's friends hastily called Mitch over, which brought everyone's attention to us. As Mitch walked into the room and sat down by Leo, I avoided eye contact with Hunter as best I could but Candi pulled me down into the seat next to her, unfortunately, seating me between her and Hunter in doing so as Stacia sat on the other side of her. Laurel, obviously feeling awkward, and the only free seats not being anywhere near someone she knew decided to sit on the carpet in front of me.

Hunter casually placed his arm around my shoulders and quickly smiled at my shyness before redirecting his attention back to the TV. Before I could question anything I heard the news anchor mention The Joker and automatically my undivided attention was given to the man.

On the large flat screen TV was footage of Batman being hoisted down from an office building's flagpole somewhere in Downtown Gotham. His mouth, due to the poor quality of a spectator's footage, was possibly smeared red in a smile, much like that of The Joker's. I was lost in shock, wondering how I didn't find out about this the night previous. I quickly looked over to Mitch who, despite his dark complexion, looked very pale.

"Police released this video concealed on the body. Beware, this image is disturbing," The news caster brought my attention back to the television and instantly the picture changed to Batman, though now he looked much too amateur to be real. And the voice speaking was chillingly familiar, so familiar I slept in the same bed with its owner nightly.

Everyone in the room had gone silent to watch the footage which only seconds in revealed the man to not be the real Batman as I had speculated earlier and that his name was Brian Douglas. The poor man was obviously terrified, weak, and bound to the chair he was placed in.

The Joker patronized the man when he tried to stand up for himself, eerily giggling the whole time. "He's a symbol... that we don't have to be afraid of scum like you."

"But you do, Brian. You really do," The Joker laughed the man off and continued to question the man but instead of obediently answering as before he only sat there shaking in fear.

"Look at me," The Joker stated plainly but Brian stared down and I instantly knew what he was going through. But I knew when The Joker wanted someone to look at him, they had better look at him. "Look at me!" I felt goosebumps erupt allover my flesh and I diverted my gaze from the television and down to my sister. She was pale now too and staring at the flat screen in horror as The Joker continued to speak.

The video ended with The Joker's manic laughter and Brian screaming and I closed my eyes tight, feeling a sickening shiver run down my body. I could not let myself forget what this man was.

Candi and Stacia also looked quite sick from the short video but other than that the room was, of all emotions, happy. It seemed I couldn't let myself forget who these people were, either.

I looked around the room, astonished, and noticed one of Leo's friends patting Mitch on the back in a congratulatory manner. I hadn't yet asked him how he had injured his arm or what he had done last night but a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach told me he was a major part of the video and the death of Brian Douglas. I now realized that he had a very solid reason for wanting me to stay away from The Joker, and it should've been obvious from the start.

"You okay?" I heard Hunter whisper in my ear and it startled me back to the current situation.

"N-not really..." I trailed off, yet again avoiding eye contact with him and staring back at the news anchor on the TV.

"You'll get used to this kinda shit," I heard the smile in his voice.

I couldn't bring myself to answer him but before he could say anything else to me I heard another group of henchmen walking down the connecting hallway to this television room, sounding just as pleased as the henchmen who just watched the video. They were talking about something but I couldn't quite make it out...

"... Doing shit he's planned again, that whore is holding him back."

I recognized that voice, and though it was a bit obvious, I assumed he was speaking of me. What an asshole.

He entered the room, the same man The Joker threatened when I started having nightmares, the same man who glared at me in the back of Croc's limo yesterday. Fletcher, I believe his name was, at least that's what The Joker calls him.

"And right I was in calling her a whore," he said plainly, not caring who heard or not as he entered the room with a few more men. I scoffed at him and rolled my eyes. "Looks like she is sleeping with more than just the boss."

"Hey," Hunter quickly came to my aide, "That's not cool man, drop it."

It doesn't surprise me to see you defending that slut," Fletcher laughed, his group following. Candi followed me in glaring as my sister gave me a confused look.

"Seriously, fucking drop it," Mitch threatened, who was closer to Fletcher than the rest of us. He then stood up from his seat, "What the fuck you comin' in here for anyway?"

"Joker's got more work for us; planting car bombs and joker cards, poisoning drinks, gathering DNA," Fletcher began, "but then again, coming to you guys was probably a mistake, seeing you're all preoccupied with that slut and Croc's hos," He continued, looking over myself, Candi, and Stacia.

"Fuck you asshole," I heard Stacia mutter as she prominently flipped Fletcher off.

"What the fuck did we just tell you, man?" Hunter asked, also standing from his seat, "Chill the fuck out."

"No," I said suddenly, standing also. "If this bitch has something to say let him say it to my face," I continued, making my way over to him until I was dangerously close to the man, and realizing I had to be at least an inch or two taller than him. "We don't want him throwing a tantrum now do we?" I then asked and heard Candi laugh behind me.

Fletcher obviously wasn't reacting well to a dose of his own medicine, he looked the exact opposite of amused, "You don't know who you're fucking with..." he growled.

"So you're an asshole and a hypocrite now?" I asked him. "It's obvious you don't fucking like me so why don't you grow a pair and do something about it or leave me alone, 'kay?"

"'Kay," he mocked and suddenly I felt hard metal pressed against my skull along with the unmistakable cock of a handgun. "I'll do something about it." A sickening smile spread over his face as I realized this confrontation was a very bad idea.

"Emma," I heard Mitch mutter as he grabbed my arm very tightly, "Shut up."

"Chill the fuck out man," I heard Hunter stress as he stood close on the other side of me

"Not such a smart mouth now, are you princess?" Fletcher chuckled, ignoring the two men beside me. God, I hated being called that.

"Maybe I didn't make this clear to you," I began slowly, "Leave me the fuck alone," replying as calmly as I could. I fully comprehended that his was the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life but I had gone too far with this and there was a nagging voice in the back of my mind edging me forward while the rest of me knew full well this would end in my death. I did tell myself to not forget who these people were and what they are capable of after all.

"How about after I blow your brains out? Hows that sound?" Fletcher asked me.

"Emma," Mitch warned but I forcefully pulled my arm out of his grip.

"If you were going to kill me you wouldn't have wasted your time chatting with me, coward," I told Fletcher.

"Emma, listen to Mitch and shut the fuck up," Hunter tried to reason with me but I ignored him as well.

"Excuse me?"

"That's right, you heard me. You are a fucking coward," I said and, either bravely or stupidly, I hadn't had time to decide, spit on his face. I watched his features distort into something ugly before tightly closing my eyes and realizing I had just killed myself.

The sound of the gunshot was deafening, though it didn't hurt. I'd been told that head shots weren't supposed to hurt but always wondered how people knew this was true. Soon after that thought I wondered how I was still able to think if I had just died and my brains were splattered allover the place, or hear an annoying ringing sound for that matter. Or the sound of screams in the background of the annoying ringing. Weren't dead people just supposed to be... dead?

A heavy force suddenly collided with my body, forcing my eyes open as I fell to the ground, landing painfully on my ass with the "heavy force" on top of me. I knew for a fact, no matter what anyone might say, that when you're dead you don't feel pain when you fall on your ass. Wondering how the hell I survived a bullet to my brain, I frantically looked around the room. Everybody was standing now, Stacia looked horrified while Candi was crying hysterically and my sister ran screaming to Jay, who had suddenly popped up in the room, half asleep and disheveled looking. Hunter had moved to the floor with me and was in the process of getting the "heavy force" off of me.

It took me a few seconds as my hearing started to come back, to realize that Fletcher was dead and on top of me, a gaping hole through his skull oozing blood and brain matter.

Wondering how this had happened I looked up in front of me and saw The Joker standing at the entrance to the room, holding a gun in his hand.

After moving Fletcher's corpse off of me Hunter tried helping me up but he was quickly shoved away from me by The Joker as he forced me to my feet. He kept a firm grip on my waist and as Hunter stood from the floor the barrel of The Joker's gun was pressed to his temple.

"Stay away from her or you'll end up like him, understand? She is mine," The Joker told Hunter.

Forcefully, Hunter nodded and said, "Understood."

The Joker accepted this answer and quickly rounded on Leo, pointing his gun at him now. The Joker didn't have time to say anything before Leo rushed out, "Okay, stay away from her, she's yours, I got it, I'll back off, we're cool man, we're cool."

The Joker also accepted this answer before saying to everyone else in the room, "And does anyone else have a problem with Jill?" He was answered by silence. "No? Nobody?" he pushed but the room remained silent, everyone scared out of their minds. I was still I a daze from realizing I was still alive and noticed Jay mouthing "What the fuck?" to me and I didn't know how to answer him.

After another few moments of silence The Joker shoved his gun into his pants and dragged me out of the room. I felt his grip on me falter for a second when I realized that I was covered in Fletcher's blood. I was in too much shock to freak out like I usually would have but I did feel my stomach jolt and felt instantly sick. But The Joker didn't stop dragging me behind him in the hallway, up a stair case or down the hall that lead to his room. Once we were there the door was slammed shut and I was pushed into the nearest wall with one of The Joker's knives on my neck. I couldn't stop myself now and just let myself cry. I didn't care what The Joker thought, I was obviously going to die today.

"Don't. Ever. Pull a stunt like that again. Ever," The Joker said menacingly into my ear, pressing me between himself, his knife and the wall behind me. "I can't always be saving you," he told me, increasing pressure on his knife for a few seconds, his free hand gently moving hair out of my face, before moving away from me and eying the bloody mess of my body.

I was shaking by now, unsure of what he was going to do to me. He pocketed his knife, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe off his hands from Fletcher's blood, licked his lips and then said, "Clean yourself off, you're... disgusting," before walking to the door. "Oh," he said before leaving, "Don't leave this room or I'll kill everyone you've come in contact with."

Once he was gone I let myself break, falling down the wall and crying until It was physically impossible.

By then it was nearly dark outside. I hadn't kept track of time so I didn't know how long I had been collapsed on the floor or how long The Joker had been gone. He had told me to clean up and when he came back I didn't want him to find him where he had left me. Shakily I stood up and slowly walked into The Joker's bathroom, stripping off my shirt that had crusted blood dried all over it. I let it fall to the tile, along with the pants I was wearing and my undergarments and stepped into The Joker's huge shower, that I wasn't completely sure if I knew how to work or not.

Settling for random jets of water coming from the walls and ceiling I did the best I could to clean myself off. I stayed in the shower much longer than normal, even for one of my long showers. Then after I took my bloody pants and shirt and rinsed them out as best I could. I got out of the shower afterwords and put my bra and underwear back on, hanging my wet clothes over the door to the shower. I wrapped my wet hair up in a towel then made my way back to The Joker's room to lay sideways across the bed and wait for him to return.