Disclaimer: All the characters used in this fic belong to DC Comics and are based on Chris Nolan's characters in The Dark Knight. I only own my characters and my plot.
Into the Abyss
Chapter 1: Nostalgia
A/N: Sequel to Mindless Majority, and the second installment of my Post-TDK trilogy. Dedicated to Heath Ledger, the mastermind behind The Dark Knight's Joker.
Music: More Than A Memory by Hoobastank
Anna Michelle Sanders paced across the kitchen floor of her apartment. Her jet-black hair falling into her eyes only to be brushed aside every few steps. A sigh escaped her lips as she glanced at the clock. It was only six-thirty. She still had another half-hour before her daughter Amy came home from her dance class that was held for two hours each day after school. But as of late, being away from Amy for extended periods of time worried Anna.
Giving herself a mental smack, Anna ceased her nervous pacing and made her way to one of the two bedrooms down the hall from the kitchen. She pushed the door open with more force than necessary and slowly walked inside. Kneeling on the floor beside her bed, she reached underneath it and swiftly withdrew a small cardboard box that had been taped shut. She stood up, setting the box gently on the bed, and reached into the nightstand by her bedside and pulled a box-cutter from the cluttered depths of the top drawer. Carefully, she pulled the cap from the box-cutter and began slicing through the tape that held the box shut.
When the tape had been cut, the flaps of the box opened with a silent pop, and Anna rummaged through the contents until she found what she wanted. She withdrew a tattered black notebook that had scribbles on the inside of the front cover. Practically invisible beneath the various scribbles, was her name, written in bold black marker. Anna thumbed through the pages, nostalgically reading through the various stories, songs, and poems that she had written just after being accepted to Gotham City University.
The memories of GCU caused her eyes to water slightly. She blinked back the tears that began to form, and continued to flip through the pages of her notebook. She turned to the middle of the notebook, where she had written about certain events that had deeply impacted her life.
One of the pages, she noticed, was wrinkled and stained with dark red ink. It seemed to have been warped by water, and the ink, that had once been so perfectly aligned, streaked down the page. Her eyes flew across the page as she stared at the photos. All those good memories... ruined.
Anna soon found that her eyes were filled with tears and that several of them had made their way down her cheeks. Ignoring the moisture on her face, Anna emptied the box beside her on the bed, and sifted through the contents. Several photographs, notes, and drawings soon covered a large portion of the bed, leaving little room for Anna to sit. She dug through the photographs until she came upon one of two young children: a boy and a girl.
The boy appeared to be younger than the girl, with short dirty blond hair that stuck up in small tufts all over his head. The girl had long black hair that was tied into an unkempt ponytail, and her arm was draped over the boy's small shoulder, keeping him in a one-armed hug.
Anna stifled a sob and turned the picture over to read the date. Summer of 1988.
As she stared glumly at the photo, she murmured, "What in God's name happened to you, Jack?"
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