I Saw Him
By Nesa's Catharsis
You know I own nothing so I don't see the point in telling you that I own nothing.
I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I mean I knew a general idea, but I didn't really know, ya know? Not until I saw him.
I had just finished school, my college roomy and I had gotten an apartment together for the summer, not that she was there much, she had a new guy and spent a lot of time at his place. Most of the summer I sat at the tv, watching Dr. Phil, occasionally yelling at Dr. Phil when he said something lame. But mostly I just sat at home. Occasionally I went out, but none of those losers kept my attention for long, I guess they were always too boring. It was halfway through the summer and I needed to submit an application for internship. I knew that I wanted to become famous, like a female Dr. Phil who was fun! Popular, ya know what I mean? I wanted people to want to watch me and follow my advice.
That year had been hard on Gotham, the assault of the Narrows caused chaotic ripples throughout the city and that included me. I knew the only place I could intern in Gotham was at Arkham and I did not want to do that. Everyone said that Arkham was horrible, a dead end, and I was bound for bigger and better things. I had the application as a last hope (and I mean last!) but I kept it under everything else, face down. I planned to go to New York or Chicago or even Metropolis, anywhere but Arkham.
And then I saw him. He was on the news, he had sent in a video and it was running over and over again. My roommate called me in from the kitchen and we sat and watched as he threatened some guy dressed as that Batman and then threatened the citizens of Gotham itself. Then we watched it again. We kept watching even when the pretend Batman turned up dead. And then we watched as they replayed the footage.
I had heard of him, everyone had. He was half legend, half nightmare. I thought he was just another criminal. They said he deserved to be in Arkham and that was yet another reason not to go there. But I had never really seen him.
When he shushed the pretender I felt my heart lighten. When he yelled at the man I felt my heart race. And when he growled that he was "a man of his word" I knew my heart was gone.
I read everything about him, found every clip of the video, every commentary about his crimes and even had a colloge of the screencaps as my desktop. When he showed up on the news again I shrieked in glee. Thankfully I was alone. I think my roomy knew something was different. She asked if I had met a guy. I smiled and told her maybe I had. I lied to her. I knew I had!
When they threw him back in Arkham I cried. He was a genius, an artist and they were putting him back in that place? They were wasting his talent. It didn't take long though for me to see it as a good thing. I could meet him! Face to face! The thought occurred to me as I was laying in bed, crying over his misfortune. The next day I sent in my application for internship at Arkham.
Before long I was driving through the gate for the first time and headed to see the Joker. And I did, I saw him. The rest is history I suppose.
Even as I tell this story, even though I'm bandanged and back in Arkham, this time as a patient, even though my life is "ruined" I would never change a thing. Because I saw him and the moment I did, I couldn't see anything else.
