In the city of Gotham, there was a thick fog looming over each and every tall building that protruded from the paved ground. It was just beginning to become night and the skies were darkening. As I sat perched upon my wooden bench, rather jumpy and hoping the bus would arrive shortly, twirling a lock of reddish brown hair between my fingers, I heard a chuckle from behind me. I inched closer to the edge of the seat, ready to run if I needed to. But that would hardly do me any good, I was slow and clumsy. I muttered incoherent curse words under my breath and my eyes darted uneasily from side to side. I knew that laugh. Everyone in Gotham knew that laugh.
The bus pulled up in the next second and I thanked the lord up above. Then again, a bus wouldn't stop the almighty, feared Joker from killing civilians like me. He always found ways to get around miniscule obstacles such as this one. Now, I'd never met the man in person and I didn't want to, but I, like every other person inhabiting Gotham, knew his face well. He was all over the news, striking fear into the very heart and soul of Gotham.
It wasn't long ago that the beautiful Rachel Dawes had been blow to bits and pieces by the man. This meant that Harvey Dent lost his sanity not too long ago as well. Harvey Dent was dead now, wasn't he? I had heard that as a rumor from one of the biggest gossipers in town, my employer. You see, I work at a hospital and my boss is a huge town gossip. Normally hospital employees weren't such loudmouths but this woman was an unbelievable exception.
The time it took for the bus to get to the bus stop near my apartment building wasn't a very huge amount of time, and I was happy when I opened my apartment door to find my dear cat sprawled out on the couch, yawning when he spotted me. I slid my bag off my shoulder onto the floor beside the sofa, and sat next to the small tabby cat and scratched behind his ears. He purred gratefully and I sighed. It had been a long day at the hospital. The Joker kept killing more and more people, some he just left injured which went right to the next best thing to Gotham General (which had been blown up by the Joker, I formerly worked there), a nice little hospital recently built. All it was called was Gotham Hospital. I'll admit; the name wasn't very creative but it gets the point across.
"What should I make for dinner tonight, Henry?" I asked the cat, tapping a pale, slim finger on my lips in thought. I wasn't an extraordinary cook so I usually just cooked up TV Dinners or went out and got a salad from the local store. There were times when I invested my money in a pasta dinner from a nice Italian restaurant. It was my treat to myself for working so hard and gaining the extra money in order to feed myself a nice meal once in awhile. I deserved it anyway. Though I must say, I would probably be five times richer if I didn't spend so much money on mass amounts of coffee.
I stood up, feeling cold at my side from where Henry had been warming me up with his soft fur and tiny, warm body. He was my only company nowadays other than the folks at work. I didn't have many friends and my parents had both acquired cancer and died. My dad died first and then my mum passed away at the end of high school. I was left with my aunt, who had been frightened off by the Joker and went to live in another town, she didn't say where. I didn't mind since I'd been nineteen at the time and allowed to live on my own. It didn't take me long to get through medical school and then get a job at Gotham General. Money was now coming in regular-like, although it could be coming in more abundantly. I can't complain, I have enough to feed myself and my cat and that is all I ask.
As I was searching through the remnants of food in my fridge and freezer, I noticed that my television was on. 'Funny,' I thought to myself. 'I could have sworn that wasn't on when I came in.' I didn't make a notion to turn it off though, because something caught my eye. The news was on, alerting the public that the Joker was at it again. He was wreaking havoc on Gotham and had just kidnapped a young man and wanted Batman to reveal himself or he would kill him. Although I was relatively sure that the man had nothing to do with anything, it was just a random stranger, I sighed. That was when I recognized the face of the man. My heart sunk. He worked at Gotham Hospital with me. The man was around my age, maybe a bit older. He was so nice and his name was Patrick, always insisting I call him Pat though. Seeing him in the Joker's arms made my stomach twirl and I closed the fridge to take my seat next to Henry again.
"Batsy, you know you don't want more murders on your hands. When you come to rescue this," The Joker looked down at the frightened boy in his grasp, a knife pressed to his jugular. "Young man, I just want one thing. Take off your mask for us! C'mon Bats you know you don't want this man to die." I heard Pat whimper and the Joker pressed harder on his neck, a small trail of blood seeping into Pat's nice white tee. I watched with my mouth agape and then drunk in the surroundings of where he was. Why, that was the building across the street! No wonder there was the sound of a helicopter for so long. Then again, I was so used to the loud noises that I could hardly notice them anymore.
It took a lot to get me to peek out the window, and when I did I regretted it. The Joker was facing my window and grinning, as if he knew that I would be looking out at him. He waved and tapped Pat's shoulder with his knife, whispering something violently into his ear. A moment later I saw Pat look up with extreme terror etched in his features. His eye held a hidden warning but I didn't understand. Behind me, Henry meowed softly.
"Not now Henry, I'll feed you later." I hissed quietly, and he only rubbed against my leg, his tail wrapping around. The small cat was distracting me and I felt unsafe now that the Joker knew where I lived. My poor cat was home alone for most of the day, what if he didn't like cats and came in to kill the little guy? I moved away from the window and went to the cupboard to get cat food for the darling feline, just so he would be out of danger's way and eating safely in the other room. When I was done with him, I went back to the window and let out a huge scream at what I saw.
There in front of me, stood the Joker, dangling Pat out of my window. He turned to me and I realized how terribly horrifying he looked in person. It was one thing to see him on a television set, but to see him for real was a whole different story. His eyes were two round pools of pitch black. They intimidated me to no end, and his makeup was caked on with white, black around his eyes and red smeared over his mouth and Glasgow smile. He grinned, revealing two rows of perfectly straight, but yellow teeth. I wanted to cry and run but I knew that would be impossible. I couldn't leave little Henry behind. And then there was Pat, who was desperately clinging on to the Joker's arms so he wouldn't fall to the ground below. My apartment was quite a way up and Pat would be dead before he reached the sidewalk.
The Joker giggled childishly and I stared at him in horror. "You look nervous." The psycho said with a sly smirk on that forever-smiling face of his. I cast a glance at Pat and then back at the Joker, and the small look didn't get by him. He noticed it and turned to face Pat all the way, directing his entire attention upon him for a second. "Oh, him? I'm not sure what to do with him. What do you suggest, should I drop him and watch him fall to his death, or should I just shoot him now and leave him here to be cared for by a great doctor?"
I was too horrified to reply. The only thing I could do was wonder why or how he knew I was a doctor. Pat must have told him. Why would that slip into the conversation though? Perhaps this was all a dream. I pinched myself discretely and when I felt the pain I hoped the madman wouldn't notice. But it seemed true that nothing got past this guy, and he began laughing uncontrollably. My ears felt like they would start bleeding, mostly out of fear than anything else. He was absolutely terrifying.
"Did you think this was all a dream, princess? Because I have to assure you, it's definitely not. Maybe this will wake you up!!" he seethed for a reason I did not know. In a second, Pat was tossed away, down the building. I screamed and pushed past the wall of a man to get to Pat's hands, which were outstretched and his mouth was wide open, screaming. I, too, was screaming and I felt hot tears slip out of my eyes and fall down my freezing, porcelain cheeks. That was one of my only friends at the hospital. Was this some kind of personal attack?!
"Awake now, doctor? I sure hope so because you won't want to miss the fireworks!" that childish, horrifying voice said from behind me. I had almost forgotten about the madman and I regretted pushing past him. He now had the ability to toss me out of the window as well. I looked up and noticed the helicopter filming my window, trying to catch everything. Looking back down, I saw Pat's body on the ground. There was a red puddle around him from what I could see and there were several men in blue and yellow down there, hoisting him up and putting him in a black bag. Left behind was reddish pink goo. I could only assume that those were his insides, or his brain which had been shaken from the fall.
I didn't see anything too detailed in the gore, since it was so far down. I could only make out colors for right now, and I was fine with that. While I was lost in the tears that blurred my vision, I felt a pair of warm, strong arms slither around my waist and tug me back from the window. I screamed and wailed, then got thrown to the floor by the clown in my apartment. He glared at me as if I were some sort of nuisance and looked around the apartment, taking in everything. It was like there weren't cops and television reporters outside, hoping he'd drop dead any minute now. They all wanted so badly to stop him from ruining Gotham's lives. He just wanted to watch the city burn though, and we may never know how but he was beginning to succeed. I stared up at his black eyes and visibly shivered. This only caused him to smile.
"Why so scared, beautiful? Maybe I just want a friend. Perhaps I'll make sure you don't die like your unfortunate colleague did." The Joker put on a mock face of sorrow. "Such a shame that something so, so tragic happened to someone so young."
In a split moment I pushed the Joker down onto the floor and pinned him to the ground. He'd been caught off guard by this, which I assumed wasn't something that happened very often. But his facial feature, which was shocked a minute ago, turned into something livid and he chuckled darkly. It almost seemed like he couldn't get me off, maybe I was stronger than I thought. But that thought turned around when a shiny silver gleam caught my eye, and he pushed me away without a care at all. In less time than it took me to get him to the ground, he had me there, unable to move from his body pressed into mine on the floor. There was a knife in one hand and the other was keeping one of my arms down. The Joker glared at me and I looked at him in anger. Sure, I was still afraid but for now, perhaps courage would make him change his mind of killing me. Pat's fear had only made him plummet to his death a bit ago, and the Joker wasn't fazed at all by having the blood of a very innocent man on his hands.
"Tell me, girlie." The Joker growled, running the knife along my cheek. He rested the silver weapon on my lips and I saw him smirk a little. "Why is it that you think you can just shove me around? Do I look like a plaything to you?!" he found this funny for some reason and he began cackling. I watched him silently, exhausted, scared, and angry.
"Why don't you smile?" he asked out of nowhere. I frowned deeper just to get him angry and a look of irritation flashed across his painted features before I heard a grumble from him. "Smile for me." He said a bit calmly. When I didn't comply, he roared, "Smile for me!!" I instantly forced a smile and he looked satisfied. A smug smile took form on his face and I wanted to wipe it off, but I was afraid that if I stopped smiling, he'd get angry.
"You look better when you smile, you know." He complimented. I was still ticked off at him for killing my friend so I wasn't flattered one bit by what he said. He added on to his statement when he saw my grin fade a bit. "Ah-ah. If that beautiful smile goes away I might just have to give you an everlasting one, like my own." He turned his face so I could see the entire scar under his smeared makeup and I shuddered, but only put that smile right back on as if I was really enjoying this. The Joker seemed to be and I inwardly groaned. When would this end?
As if on cue, a black figure towered over the two of us and I really had a reason to smile then. The Joker noticed and looked up at Batman. "Why hello Bats, how nice of you to join us!" he announced happily and he stood up, bringing me with him by grabbing a handful of my hair. I was now at his mercy, my back against his chest with a knife pressed to my throat, the same position he'd had Pat in before he died. This angered me but I figured I deserved the same fate that dear old Pat did.
"Let the girl go." The gruff voice of Batman said. I opened my mouth to take in a bit of air, and I realized how helpless I was in this situation. I would have to find a way to thank Batman before he left, just because I was so sure I was going to die but now I had that little light of hope shining down on me. Batman was a savior, and I never understood why everyone blamed all those killings on him. He was a hero, hopefully my hero pretty soon. I locked eyes with him and silently pleaded for him to help me. Of course he would, he was Batman for goodness sake.
"I don't think so Bats. Not before you reveal yourself. Take off that nice black mask of yours, will you?" the Joker said, his voice dangerously close to my ear. I hadn't noticed how close he was until he spoke, and now I was becoming overly aware of his hot breath fanning over my exposed neck. When Batman shook his head and came running at the Joker, I felt the blade press into my neck and stain my shirt. I whined like Pat had, and looked up at the Batman who had stopped coming forward when the blade dug into my skin. "Not so fast, Batsy." He said and I could just hear that smile in his voice. He sounded excited and I peeked up at his face to confirm my theory. He was definitely excited, for some reason or another.
It almost looked like Batman was contemplating just taking his mask off to get me out of this madman's clutches, but I shook my head violently, causing the blade to knick me a few times in the process. I ignored the liquid that shot out down my neck. It stung but I didn't care, I didn't want Batman to reveal himself just for me. "No, don't!" I squeaked out. The Joker's grip on me tightened and he began to laugh insanely. "Bahahah! My sides hurt from that!! Such a good laugh! You sure are funny, princess." This confused me. I said a total of two words and they were a warning to Batman. Then again, this guy was absolutely crazy and any sane person would know. Maybe I wasn't sane. Maybe I was just as out of it as this guy. "And you sure are a psychopath." I countered. He glared down at me. "What did you just say?" he grumbled. "Your mind is a mess of insanity." I said, gaining courage with Batman in the room. I'd almost forgotten he was there. The Joker rolled his eyes. "Then why don't you just unscrew my head and rinse it out, doctor? Or are you not talented enough to do so yet?!" I glared at him and we seemed to be stuck in a glaring contest for a while. It was then that Batman lunged forward, knocking the Joker and myself to the ground. I was excited at first, until the Batman pulled away and I felt the Joker tighten an arm around my waist.
It was then that I noticed the shining switchblade stuck into my chest and the blood pouring from it at a rapid speed. All I could do was gasp and I looked up at Batman, tapped his shoulder, and then my head fell to the ground and I blacked out, blood pooling around me.
