Straying out of Sanity

Not even a minute later I forcefully hit the ground, which came as a shock because I couldn't tell which of the five had pushed me down. There was also a sudden amount of yelling and I realized at least one of the guys had been knocked down on top of me. They were off in another second though, as I was suddenly pulled away from my position on the ground by my legs. I screamed and clawed at the ground before seeing that the guys were fighting.

I quit screaming,to watch as I was no longer being dragged backwards. "Emma, are you okay?" I heard Jay's voice ask as I was flipped onto my back. He was on his knees before I could answer and I latched onto him sobbing.

"No," I cried into his shirt.

"Yes you are, don't lie," Jay teased.

"Shut up," I said, letting go of him.

Jay smiled at me, like nothing had just happened, and asked, "Where are you bleeding from?"

"I don't even know anymore," I said shakily, trying to stand but Jay kept me down. I was sure my neck was the main source of blood but I also still tasted blood in my mouth and I was scratched up fairly bad.

Paige was next to us before I could say anything and a rag was pressed to the bleeding cuts on my neck, which made the stinging a hundred times worse. I hissed but she said, "Keep that to your neck, at least until you stop bleeding out. Your dress is completely ruined."

"Thanks for telling me," I said sarcastically as she soaked another rag with rubbing alcohol. I winced again as I pressed my rag back to my neck as Paige gave Jay the other rag before standing.

"I'm gonna go see if there's any guns in the van," Paige said and hurried out of the alley. I followed her with my eyes before quickly looking back to the group of guys. Surprisingly Mitch, Leo, and Hunter were among them, easily holding their own against the kids.

"You aren't gonna help them?" I asked Jay, who was trying to clean the blood off of me with the alcohol soaked rag, making my skin burn further.

He looked over at the scuffle for a second before replying, "Nah," with a smile.

"Pussy," I teased and he rolled his eyes.

"Besides if I'd help anyone it'd be those guys, 'cause they'll be dead in another two minutes if the beating's kept up," Jay told me.

"Yeah," I said absently as I watched Hunter repeatedly punch one of the kid's faces in as Mitch and Leo teamed up on three more. The fifth was on the ground in the fetal position, crying almost as bad as I was earlier.

I scoffed, feeling sick satisfaction from the sight and said, "Wait 'til you see what The Joker does to 'em."

"Emma..." Jay said slowly, looking back to me, "The Joker didn't come."

"What?" I asked. Of course The Joker came to save me. "Yes he did," I said, quickly standing and walking away to the end of the alley where I saw the usual black stalker van with Paige hopping out of the back. I moved next to her to look inside the van but to my dismay I found it completely empty.

"He didn't come..." I said quietly

"Who didn't...?" Paige began to ask but quickly grew quiet. "Oh... him..." she said before I heard her shove a clip into a handgun. I looked away from the Joker-less van and to the gun she was holding.

Without hesitation I took it from her and walked back into the alley silently. Jay and Paige watched as I walked over to the kid crying in the middle of the alley and I stopped right above him. I looked down at him before looking at my gun, turning it over to observe the other side as well before pointing it down at the kid's head, looking away, and pulling the trigger.

The shot was louder than what I had expected, and also had a considerably bigger kick, but the kid had a nicely sized hole in his skull. With the gunshot the rest of the fighting ceased. Two of the kids fighting with Mitch and Leo started to run full speed down the alley. Mitch held the other tightly as Leo took a step or two after them but decided against it. Hunter had stopped punching his victim and was now only kneeling over the bloody form, staring at me along with everyone else.

Suddenly Mitch let the kid he was holding go, forcefully pushing him to the ground. The kid fell face first and I heard him begin to beg, "Please," but barely got through the first syllable before I shot him twice in the back, this time looking.

Behind me I heard Jay clapping idiotically and Mitch smirked. "Let's get outta here before we draw anymore attention to ourselves, shall we?" Hunter asked, standing from the bloody kid and walking out of the alley, bending over to pick up three bullet shells on his way. Leo followed him and Mitch came up to me, stepping over the kid who received the headshot. I didn't look at him and he only put a hand on my shoulder, remaining silent as well. He lightly squeezed once before leaving.

I sighed and followed him out of the alley, pausing to give Paige the gun back. She looked from me to the gun in her hands, shocked, as I left the alley with Jay. We joined Leo and Mitch in the back of the van, after I quickly gathered my purse, shoes, and phone, and a moment later Paige joined Hunter in the front seats to drive us back to the mansion. Everyone was quiet for the ride and neither Leo nor Hunter would look at me. I had a feeling it was due to what The Joker had told them the other day about leaving me alone. What bullshit. If I was "his" how come he sent those two to save me? The more I thought about the situation the more angry I grew. Who was he to say I was "his" anyways? I never agreed to that or to anything that has to do with The Joker. I wasn't some piece of property or one of his henchmen, I was just along for the ride; like Mitch, Jay and my sister.

By the time Paige had gotten us back to the mansion I was not only pissed off but how he had also used me last night, threw my cousin out a window and how he even had enough balls to kiss me afterwords. She parked the van in the giant garage and silently got out, Leo, Jay and Mitch hopping out the back. Leo left with no recognition of me but Mitch turned around and waited for me with Jay.

"Emma," I heard from the front of the van and I turned around to see Hunter still in the van. He climbed over the front seats. He nodded towards Mitch and Jay. Mitch nodded back and left, Jay following a second later smiling deviously at me.

"Um..." Hunter said almost awkwardly as he crouched beside me in the van. "I don't really know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." I replied blandly.

"I feel obligated."

"I didn't know I was an obligation."

"No, Emma, that's not what I meant," he sighed, moving himself to sit next to me. "I meant I want to say something I just don't know what to say."

"Then don't," I replied looking away from him.

"Don't be bitter, you can't rely on that clown for shit." He took my chin and gently turned my face back to facing his. "If you ever need him, just come to me instead, I don't disappoint like that fuck," He smiled at me and I smirked.

"He threatened to kill you remember?" I asked him but his smile didn't falter.

"Of course I do. You never forget a gun to the face in this business. I'm just sayin' that I'll be here for you when he's not."

"So, in a way, you're saying that you're willing to share me with him?" I joked.

"Well....yea," he laughed once, then continued, "I can't resist that pretty face."

"Whatever Hunter," I finally smiled and he leaned over to kiss my forehead before exiting the van.

Left alone in the van I looked down at myself. What the hell could Hunter see past all the blood and gore smudged all over me? My beautiful swirly, sparkly, golden dress was completely ruined as Paige had stated. My skin was grimy and bloody and cut up. My fingernails were a mess from my struggle against those asshole teens, and so was my hair. I desperately needed a shower and that's what I got out of the van, planning to do.

I carried my purse and shoes in one hand as I walked up into the mansion. It was strangely deserted until I reached the third level where everyone's rooms were at and where most the TV rooms were located. In the one Fletcher had almost killed me in was a large gathering of people, all of them seemed happy. Mitch was amongst the group but he seemed more stressed than anything and Jay was standing in the hall with Tom and my little sister. Tom spotted me first and smiled, unfazed by my appearance but when my sister saw me her eyes widened and her jaw literally dropped.

"What the hell happened to you?!" she asked shocked and Jay scoffed at her.

"If only you saw the other people, she'd look normal," he told my sister with a smirk and she turned to him with the same expression.

I stayed silent and moved closer to them, but noticed The Joker almost immediately in the room and stopped halfway to my destination.

How leisurely and happy he looked ruined the semi-good mood Hunter had given me and sent me right back to pissed off. I stared at him, all of his thugs saying something about the death of Harvey Dent and how the mayor, Anthony Garcia was next, and how brilliant The Joker was.

I was glowering by the time the Joker noticed me. His head slightly tilted to the side as he eyed my bloody attire. He then looked to my face directly and rose one of his eyebrows at me. A few of his henchmen noticed me as well and had close to the same expression.

Shutting them out, I folded my arms and walked over to The Joker, both of us keeping our expressions. After a second of silence, filling the entire room now, I had some things I wanted to say him but I settled for one word, "Honestly?"

His eyebrows dropped and he shifted to stand straight in front of me before a mocking smirk crossed his face and replied with an, "Honestly." The way he looked told me he expected me to do nothing about his mockery but after everything that he'd done, or failed to do, in the past hours was too much for me to just take his actions.

With my free hand, I quickly slapped him across his cheek as hard as I could. He nearly lost his balance and due to the force, he was almost doubled over, holding his jaw with one of his hands. A pained grunt escaped his mouth as the silence in the room came to a tension you could split with a knife. Another grunt came from the clown, and then another until I realized he wasn't grunting but slowly snickering.

I rolled my eyes, disgusted and turned to leave the room, by the time I was out, his snickering turned to laughter. The further I got from him, the more manic the man sounded, and sadly the more his laughter started to scare me.

"Emma, oh my God, you're nuts!" Laurel said as her, Jay and Tom caught up to me in the hall and continued to speed walk to the room with the black spray painted four.

"I know," I said plainly as we finally reached the door, The Joker's laughter sounding almost like he was choking now.

"You don't know what you're doing, do you? Did those kids fuck you up that badly?" Jay asked as we entered the room, Tom closing the door behind us and blotting out The Joker's laughter.

"He just pissed me off," I said throwing my purse and shoes to the floor and sitting on one of the beds in the room, I didn't know whose it was anymore. "He can't act like that, he can't do that to me. I want him to know I won't let him," I said burying my face in my hands and finally crying, knowing I probably would never do that to him ever again, making my words complete bullshit.