Pumpkin Face

Disclaimer: A little something that I had a dream of regarding Arkham Asylum. Note that this is just a one shot. I may or may not have intentions of doing another, but it is a small collection of interview tapes of a character I created. That is all. Read and review.

"There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls."

-George Carlin

"To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none."

-Sir Francis Bacon, Essays [1625], Of Seditions and Troubles

By: VampireQueenAkasha

"Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

Jack jump over

The candlestick."

-The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes (2000)

Tape One

Strange: "Patient name is Dahlia Wardlaw also known by the people of Gotham under the pseudonym 'Pumpkin Face'. October 18th, 8:33 PM. Patient was brought in by the Batman several months ago upon her arrest. Good evening, Dahlia. Please, take a seat."

Pumpkin Face: (Clicking sounds and chair creaking) "Well...good evening, doctor. How are you doing this fine...lovely day?"

Strange: "Good. I am fine. Hm. You appear to be in a much better mood from yesterday since we last spoke to one another."

Pumpkin Face: "Well, Halloween is coming up after all. It's my favorite time of year, you know."

Strange: "Yes, you have mentioned that to me once before. I would like to take the moment to understand you, Dahlia. I have seen the reports, read your files. I would like to know more about the true Dahlia Wardlaw hiding behind the ruse."

Pumpkin Face: "Really? I'm touched that you do, doctor. No one spends the time to talk to me these days. When they do, they simply spout hateful things and try to harm me. (Chuckles) "It always ends with me having to cut something off to get anyone to listen." (Sighs) "It's a shame, really. I'm pretty easy to talk to."

Strange: "That's rather interesting to hear you say that, Dahlia. I don't believe that was on the minds of the people you've killed."

Pumpkin Face: "Hehehe, well, those weren't people, Doctor Strange."

Strange: "Elaborate, Dahlia. Tell me about your victims."

Pumpkin Face: (Impatiently) "I don't know if I want to. I have to prepare for Halloween. I have no time to be talking about the past."

Strange: "Very well. Guard? Would you be so kind as to remove Dahlia's mask?"

Pumpkin Face: (Struggles) "Wait, don't! Don't take my face! Don't!"

Strange: "That's much better. Now we can get a good look at the face that you try so hard to hide."

Tape Two

Pumpkin Face: (Snarling) "Give me back my face or I'll eat your tongue!"

Strange: "Hm. I imagine you would in any other circumstance, but I am holding the rope, Dahlia." (The sound of a chair creaking) "I can see what person you really are; without your mask, you would show the weak, pitiful creature you truly are inside. Much like the Batman."

Pumpkin Face: (Scoffs) "Batman? What does that miserable pile of meat have to do with this?"

Strange: "For the moment, nothing. Now, let's talk about you. Why you feel the compulsive desire to hide your face from everyone. What drove you to kill those men so many years ago before your arrival to Arkham Asylum."

Pumpkin Face: "Give me my face..."

Strange: "No. Not yet."

Pumpkin Face: (Enraged)"WHY NOT?"

Strange: "I want answers, Dahlia. And you will get your mask back once you have given them to me."

Pumpkin Face: "I told you that I don't want to talk about it!"

Strange: "You will if you want your mask back."

Pumpkin Face: "Give me it!"

Strange: (A pause; he is clearly studying the mask) "Your grandmother made this for you, am I right? The stitching and leather comes together rather nicely. She had quite a steady hand, your grandmother. Hmmm... What do you say if I were to simply just burn it?"

Pumpkin Face: "NO!"

Strange: "Good. Will you talk?"

Pumpkin Face: (Bitterly) "Fine, I will..."

Tape Three

Strange: "Let's take a moment to delve deep into your childhood, Dahlia. Tell me everything that led up to that fateful night."

Pumpkin Face: "I was thirteen. My grandmother owned a pumpkin patch outside of the city. She made pumpkin candy, pies and won prizes for her largest pumpkins at the yearly fair. She would even let me carve them for Halloween. We would set them out in the driveway for the cars passing to see." (Quiet laughter) "It was tradition in our family; my parents and I would visit her farm every year on Halloween."

Strange: "And I assume that is where your obsession with pumpkins came into being?"

Pumpkin Face: (Sarcastic) "What do you think?"

Strange: "Continue."

Pumpkin Face: "My parents were going to her house for our traditional visit as I said before. My mother, father and grandmother sat at the table together, prepared to have dinner. It was a wonderful evening. Everything smelled so good."

Strange: "What came next?"

Pumpkin Face: "They did, of course. They came into our house. Can you believe such a crazy thing?" (Struggles furiously, laughing with rage) "THOSE. PUTRID. ANIMALS. CAME. INTO. OUR HOUSE! They arrived with guns and told my father that he owed them money. I didn't know these men and neither did my mother and grandmother."

Strange: "Did they tell you why they were there that night? What were they planning to do?"

Pumpkin Face: "They looked furious, wild. Like a pack of dogs waiting for a piece of meat. They began to tie up my mother and father. My grandmother tried to fight them off on her own, I could see that she had a knife in her hands. She cut one of the men in his leg. Hah. He didn't like that. Not at all. He took the knife and turned it on her, sticking her in the face! I watched, too scared to move, to scared to do anything. I started crying like a little baby and that was when the leader looked at me."

Strange: "What happened next?"

Pumpkin Face: "He wanted to leave me to learn never to do what my father did. To...teach me a lesson."

Strange: "And how did he do that?"

Pumpkin Face: "They tied me up in my chair and forced me to watch the carnage. My parents, butchered right in front of me. I couldn't scream. I couldn't do anything. I don't know why or how, but I felt...away from myself. In a far off place, but still in this world. I felt...distant. Cold and numb. I remember thinking that it had to be a horrible nightmare. But I was awake. I knew I was."

Strange: "And then?"

Pumpkin Face: "I was left alone after that. They left the house. I can still hear their laughter as they worked on destroying my grandmother's pumpkins." (Miserably) "Kicking them, smashing them just for fun. As if murdering my family wasn't enough..."

Strange: "And that was what it took to make you what you are?"

Pumpkin Face: "Yes. I suppose if you want to believe it that way, I won't argue on that." (Laughs somewhat maniacally) "In a crazy way, I owe them a bit of thanks. I saw the world for what it really was that night; full of animals and savages out to kill anyone; not people. Some people go to jail, doctor; others like those men get...put down."

Strange: "Did you eventually come to find them?"

Pumpkin Face: "I did. You know I did. (Snickers, deranged) "It was funny, really. They cried more than I did that day. You'd be surprised how loud a man can still scream after his face has been carved up." (Laughs louder) "The best part was the leader. He foolishly tried to offer his own wife to me as penance for what HE HAD DONE! To save his own hide for his crimes, he offered his wife."

Strange: "In this day and age, Dahlia; that is hardly surprising, really. I can imagine the end result of your need for revenge."

Pumpkin Face: "Maybe you can."

Strange: "And so you go on, carving people up like the jack-o-lanterns you've made once as a child."

Pumpkin Face: "I told you, doctor. I don't see them as people."

Strange: "What DO you see them as?"

Pumpkin Face: "Meat, animals. Dead walking flesh with no purpose but to destroy everything they touch. I'm simply...showing them that we're all the same inside." (Laughs coldly) "Red and dead."

Tape Four

Strange: "Patient Interview Dahlia Wardlaw. October 26th, 11:24 PM. Subject has become hostile with the removal of her mask."

Pumpkin Face: (Furious) "You told me that you'd give it back!"

Strange: "I told you that I would, I never said when I would. Now, I want to know about your relationship with Jonathan Crane."

Pumpkin Face: (Quietly) "There is no relationship between us."

Strange: "Really? Doctor Young seemed to believe otherwise."

Pumpkin Face: (Nearly screaming) "That little pig is wrong!" (Quiet again) "Jonathan would never be seen with the likes of me... Someone that brilliant wouldn't."

Strange: "You find him to be a brilliant man?"

Pumpkin Face: "Who wouldn't?"

Strange: "Was there ever a time that you two may have been allies?"

Pumpkin Face: (Chuckles sardonically)"Once in my life. I offered to help him fill his fear gas inside the pumpkins in Gotham on Halloween during the festival. I thought to myself, 'These animals want to break them, then they will get a nasty little surprise waiting when they do'. Every house in Gotham would be infected. Screaming for all the world to hear."

Strange: "And it worked, I trust?"

Pumpkin Face: "Like a dream." (Laughs) "Or a nightmare."

Strange: "Charming."

Pumpkin Face: (Petulant) "Can I have my face back now?"

Strange: "Soon, Dahlia. Soon."

Tape Five

Strange: "How is she doing today?"

TYGER Guard: "The prisoner's been quiet for the most part. She had to receive multiple doses to calm her down earlier after she tried to take a knife to one of the doctors."

Strange: "How unfortunate.

Pumpkin Face: (Humming) "Trick or Treat, trick or treat, the taste of blood is oh so sweet..."

Strange: Hello, Dahlia. Are you ready to cooperate with me now?"

Pumpkin Face: "Just leave me alone!" (The sounds of shuffling can be heard) "I don't want to talk without my face!"

Strange: "You will have your mask back."

Pumpkin Face: "You're lying. (Snickers) "Oh, I know you doctor; you get your little satisfaction from watching us squirm. You simply want to see me suffer some more, is that it?"

Strange: "Not really, no. In fact, I want to let you in on a little secret."

Pumpkin Face: "Just give me my face. Please..."

Strange: "Focus, Dahlia. I want you to understand what I am about to tell you. You believe that by hiding your face, you are somehow safe from the world. If no one saw your face, no one could harm you. You probably felt inferior as a child. Weak even. It makes you stronger, doesn't it? In reality, behind everything, you are simply a frightened child."

Pumpkin Face: "SHUT UP! GIVE ME MY FACE!"

Strange: "Oh Dahlia...don't you want to know the reason behind Jonathan's disappearance?"

Pumpkin Face: "What?"

Strange: "It was the Batman. He was the cause of the disappearance of your beloved Jonathan Crane."

Pumpkin Face: "WHAT? I'll kill him! I swear it! I'll wear his skin like a robe!"

Strange: "In time. You will have your chance soon enough, Dahlia. I shall return your tools to you. But first, there is something you must do for me."

Pumpkin Face: "What do you want?"

Strange: "It appears that we require someone of your...expertise to take care of a rat problem below. Are you up to the task?"

Pumpkin Face: "Of course. And then I get to kill Batman?"

Strange: "If you believe that you can. Goodbye, Dahlia."

(The tape skips somewhat and the sound of Dahlia's maniacal laughter can be heard).

Pumpkin Face: (Singing) "Little bat, little bat, fluttering in the sky... Pumpkin Face is coming so now it's time to die..."

(The tape ends with her laughter fading in the distance).

THE END