Baby, I'll Be Your Frankenstein

12:17am

My apartment's not the nicest place in the world, but at least it's somewhere where I can sleep, eat and hide away from my parents. The latter being the main reason why I decided to leave home so quickly as soon as I turned twenty one. Now it was a year later and they were still following me all over the city. Driving me to therapy and back, calling me up when I didn't need them to.

I flicked on the light switch in the hallway as I entered, shrugging off my jacket and hanging it up on the rack before walking into the kitchen. I wriggled my cell phone out of the pocket of my jeans and quickly checked to see if I had any missed calls. No. Nothing there. Typical, I thought, rolling my eyes and traveling over to the tired sofa.

Pulling my shoes off my aching feet, I ran through the conversation that I'd just had at the bar. That man seemed really determined to tell me what he did. It just didn't seem right. I leaned over to the side a little bit so I was able to reach into my back pocket with ease and pull out the small card that was in there.

I quickly turned it over, getting a good look at both sides. My brow furred in confusion. I still didn't understand. The man had given me a bloody playing card. What kind of normal, sane person does that? No one, that's what.

The card was a little ragged around the edges, stained brown either from water damaged or just simply age. Printed on the back was a hexagonal pattern, the center of each shape a deep purple, while the outline a shade lighter. I flicked the card over onto the other side, the white background shining at me. There was a small outline of a person printed into the white, some shapes colored in yellow, some purple, others red. On the top left and bottom right corners of the card was the word Joker. I shook my head and tossed the card onto the stack of mail and magazines on the coffee table in front of me.

It was useless trying to figure out what it meant. It was a stupid playing card that some random person had given to me for no reason, other than to freak me out or make me insane trying to decode it. But I was already insane, or so I'm told anyway. I sighed and lifted myself up off the sofa, heading in the direction of my bedroom so I could sleep and forget about the world.

---

11:42am

If I get a phone call when I'm still in bed, I get really pissed. It's one thing to be woken up by a knock at the door, but with a phone, it just goes on and on and on. Well, if it's your mother calling you then you know she won't give up. Like now.

I could tell by the length of the ringing that it was her. She always stays on the line until there's that clicking sound and a recorded voice starts telling her that the person she called is not available. Then, she hangs up, waits about ten seconds and calls me again.

The shrill noise stabbed at my eardrums, forcing me to clamp my hands over my ears while I rolled on my front and tried to ignore it. It didn't work. I slid out of bed, muttering angrily to myself and shuffled into the kitchen to grab the phone off the hook and talk to my goddamn mother.

"Hello?"

"Kathryn? Is that you?"

"No mom, I'm a representative of a holiday company that you've called up to finalize your travel arrangements. Would you like to go self-catering or all inclusive this time?"

My mom sighed, "Very funny sweetie. I was just calling to see how you're doing."

"Well, I was doing great until I started speaking to you." I said flatly.

I've never make it a secret that I hate my mom calling me nearly every day. She does it because she says she cares, so I told her if she really cared, she'd leave me alone. Needless to say she ignored me completely. Caring mother my arse.

"Kathryn, don't speak like that. You know I'm doing this because I care."

I rolled my eyes.

"I know you do mom, you care a little too much. If you catch my drift..."

She coughed slightly to clear her throat and started talking again.

"So, how did work go?"

"Oh y'know, same old thing. Getting a drink poured over me, kneeing some guy in the balls, getting a skanky old joker card given to me by this randomer. Just an average night really, couldn't have gone better."

"You...you kneed someone in the...what?"

I smirked as I heard my mom's flustered voice trying to put a coherent sentence together. I leaned against the wall and twisted the string from my pajama pants around my finger while I waited.

"Kathryn!" she finally said, "I'm surprised at you! You would never do a thing like that. And taking things from strangers! Did your father and I teach you nothing?"

"Oh, like I've never heard that before," I muttered, "Actually, no you didn't really teach me anything. Apart from how annoying you both are!"

My free hand clenched into a fist at my side. Oh how I would have loved to punch her in the face if she was here right now.

"Kathryn...I..."

"One more thing, don't call me again okay? I'm sick of hearing your voice."

I didn't wait to hear her reply. I slammed the phone back down and ran back into my bedroom. Sitting down on the bed that was still slightly warm, I bent over and reached into the space between the floor and the bed. Feeling around in the dust for a few seconds, my fingers grabbed hold of a small box. A sense of relief overcome me as I dragged it out from it's dusty home.

As I set the box on my lap, I brushed my hair out of my face and adjusted the strap of my top so it was on my shoulder. My hands opened the box and grabbed one of the objects inside without thinking. It was sleek, like a fountain pen, with a thin triangular blade at the tip. I held the metal implement in my fist for a moment, allowing the coldness of it to absorb into my skin.

I closed my eyes and took a moment to clam down, the contact of my skin against the metal comforting me. After a few moments, my eyes opened and I placed the blade against the bare skin of my forearm. I applied the slightest pressure on the blade. A tingle arced through my body, the floor tipped up at me and I felt my body spiral away into nothing.

What happened next was that a perfectly straight line of blood bloomed from under the sharp edge of the blade. The line grew into a long, fat bubble. A lush crimson bubble that grew bigger with each passing second. I was outside myself, watching the line grow. Waiting to see how big it would get before it burst. When it did, I felt amazing. I needed to do it again. I moved the blade from that area of my skin and drew another line in my flesh. This time, I applied more pressure, wanting to feel the adrenaline rush through my body again.

---

1:34pm

When I came round, I felt as if I was lighter. As if I was able to float in whatever I wanted to. That was until I felt the sharp stabbing in my left arm that made a hiss of pain escape my mouth.

I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes with the back of my right hand. Then I looked down at the pale skin of my forearm which was now covered in red lines. There must've been at least twenty lines, criss-crossing at different angles all the way up to the crease of my elbow.

I sighed and shook my head, a small smile on my lips. I knew what this meant. I'd let everyone but myself down. And now I'd have to go back to see Jill a week earlier than expected. Which meant spending half a day with my parents again.

Joy.