Scars.
I'm only laughing on the outside.
My smile is just skin deep.
If you could see inside I'm really crying,
You might join me for a weep.
She ran as fast as she could, never looking or turning back. All she did was keep running.
This certainly wasn't the first time she had ever ran away from home, oh no. She had managed to sneak out plenty of times before, but she would always get caught.
Her dad would call the police as soon as he noticed her gone, and they would chase her, find her, and bring her back home. This normally wouldn't have been so bad, except her mother died years before and her father was very abusive. Every time they would bring her home, he would beat her senseless as punishment for ever leaving in the first place. And more often than not, he would have his way with her. Forcefully.
Just the thought of having to go back made her choke even harder on her tears, and she ran faster and faster, trying not to think about the beating and raping she would have to suffer through if she was caught again.
"No," She cried in defeat, hearing sirens in the distance. She found a narrow alleyway and quickly ducked inside, hiding behind a few trashcans while whimpering softly to herself. The sound of the sirens only drew closer, and she was about ready to give up.
That's when she heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire.
Shocked, she lifted her head up and her sobbing momentarily stopped. Everything seemed to have gone quiet, yet she heard the distinct sound of a shotgun reloading. She carefully leaned out from behind the trashcans, trying to see what was happening. It was only then that she realized the sirens were not coming after her.
And there, not more than one hundred feet away from her, stood the infamous Joker. She felt her heart sink at the sight of him, partially out of fear, and partially out of amazement.
There were three, no, four cars coming towards him. He had already taken one cop down, who was laying on the ground in a bloody heap. He merely smirked, reloaded his shotgun and walked in the direction of the cops, completely unphased by them. The cops, being the stupid swine that they were, tried getting out of their cars to apprehend him. The second the first cop tried to get out of his car, he was already shot dead; a shotgun blast to the head. The bullet made a deathening loud sound, making her ears ring. With ease, he had shot down the remaining three cops, and stood there, cackling like a maniac with his trademark laugh. She tried to move out from behind the cans just a little more, so she could get a better view. Stupidly, she bumped the cans with her knee, sending them all toppling over loudly. "Shit!" She whispered, ducking behind the corner of the building, hoping he didn't notice her. Psh, yeah right.
She ever so carefully looked out from around the corner, trying her hardest to avoid being seen. She peeked around the edge, her eyes grew wide with fright and her heart sank. She saw him walking towards her; he was loading more bullets into his shotgun. She sat, frozen in fear. This was the Joker, the most infamous criminal in the whole city. And he was coming after her. She forced her legs to work, quickly running back down the other end of the alley, feeling the tears coming on again. She whipped her head around as she ran, only to see him following behind her. She could feel the panic rising inside of her chest as she desperately tried to run faster and get out of his sight. She was crying so hard now, she could barely even see in front of her. Once she thought she was safe, she ducked into the nearest alley she found, desperately trying to catch her breath. She sat for a few minutes, and once she had finally calmed down some she stood back up. She went to look out the alley again to see if the coast was clear.
The last thing she remembers was him running towards her, and butt of his shotgun making contact with her skull. She fell to the ground, and everything went dark. "Ugh...my head..." She groaned, and slowly opened her eyes. They went wide once she realized she was inside what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. She quickly tried to stand up, only to realize she had been tied up and left on the floor. She tried to scream, hoping somebody might hear her and call for help, but it was no use. She was gagged too.
She let out a muffled and defeated sigh, looking around the building. It was poorly lit and dim; it was hard for her to make out anything. There was no sign of the Joker anywhere, or any of his goons for that matter. She sat waiting for a while, and still nobody had come.
'Maybe it's not all bad...' She thought to herself. 'At least he hasn't killed me yet.' She let out a muffled chuckle. 'Yeah right, he'll toy with me first, and then kill me.' She sighed in defeat again, trying to get as comfortable as she possibly could on the cold, hard floor. Eventually she managed to fall asleep.