Kayla stared at the insertion point flashing at her on her computer screen. She knew she had been staring at it for a long time without looking at the clock because it was beginning to blink to the beat of a song that had been stuck in her head.

Rubbing her forehead she looked around the for once silent Harvey Dent Campaign Headquarters. She knew she was lucky she even had a job here being straight out of the university, but she was smart enough to know how much trouble she could get in without really getting in trouble.

You see she was one of their 'public appearance' workers which her degree in Political Science somewhat helped her out with. She was supposed to be writing an advising essay to one of Dent's speechwriters to help him understand the 'concerns' of middle class Gotham based on some statistics.

"What a moron" she thought to herself "Does the guy ever turn on the tv?"

There were nightly reports on how the restoration of the Narrows was going and the progress the Gotham Police were making with rounding up the escaped Arkham inmates.

She saved what little progress was made on her essay and opened up Internet Explorer, watching as her point was made right in front of her.

"Armed robbery…double homicide…" She skimmed through the article on the front page of Yahoo News looking for something new.

"GDP puzzled by the murder of accomplice…Police suspect connection to the recent string of robberies by a symbol or calling card left by the presumably escaped Arkham criminal."

She laughed to herself "murder of accomplice" this guy was smart…he should be fun to follow.

Losing interest she quickly checked her mail and left for the night, thankful she wasn't the last one there so she didn't have to bother with the closing procedures.

Getting to her apartment she hit the play button answering machine…already knowing who the messages were from as she had purposely not answered them on her cell phone.

"Kayla?!...are you there?!" A loud voice she immediately recognized came through the speakers and she decided to spare herself by skipping to the next message.

"Hey Kayla, it's me" She closed her eyes and sighed upon hearing Alyssa, her high school friend who at this point in her life just annoyed her (much like she always had). "Guess what?! I got the job working for Dr. Keyser! He says that I'm by far the best choice from the others who applied fresh out of school and he even wants me to work alongside him with some of his personal patients. Anyway you have to call me soon we need to catch up! See ya!"

"Noooooo" Kayla said out loud "You need to brag to someone because you still can't seem to find anyone else who cares." She finished annoyed



Hopping into her PJ's she snuggled down under the covers figuring it best to just call and get it over with. After all if she blew her off again she might try to start something and Kayla may finally snap at her and give her what she's had coming for over 10 years, and in the process end up screwing up the rest of her life as well.

She attempted to will herself to be sleep but instead let her mind wander to other things.

"Stop…stop!" She thought to herself, there was only one place that her thoughts ever led to and she refused to let herself think anymore tonight.

Okay okay…I promise the Joker will be in the next chapter, please continue reading!

Constructive criticism is always welcome and reviews make my day