(I have received inspiration from the movie Coraline. So I have created my own demented version of the moview plot. The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Batman belong to DC Comics and the Dark Knight movie series. Dawn and other minor characters belong to Hell's Tinkerbell.)
"Dawn Kingston, this is the fifth time you were sent here for inappropriate behavior. What is it this time?" a man dressed in a plain brown suit said. He had been chastising a young woman of sixteen years of age in his office from behind a desk. "Snipping hair off, Mr. Washington." Dawn replied, casually. She was a fairly tall young woman with a petite, yet strong form. Her hair had been frequently dyed to outrageous colors, at the moment being a bright pink at a shoulder length. Her eyes being of gray blue and the person dressed in a typical dark punk fashion. A white tank top that says Dead and Cuddly, purple corduroy pants that hugged her hips, and black torn up sneakers.
The principal of Gotham High said, "You are a such a smart young lady and you do foolish things." "Yeah, I'm a walking paradox. Why don't you ask Britney who took my diary. It's been missing from my bag since yesterday!" she exclaimed. "I don't care about that right now. Next offense will be expulsion and it is detention for you now!" he shouted. "On my way…" she said while sitting up and grabbing a battered backpack covered in patches from the floor. Dawn left the office and extended her middle index finger to her latest victim, Britney Fisher, the blond head cheerleader with a missing pigtail. The blond gave her an aggravated expression with furrowed brows while she stood by the door and watched her leave the room.
Instead of going to the detention hall, she snuck off school grounds. The rules being of little consequence to her and wanted freedom. Her escape had been done with the ease of the famous escape artist Harry Houdini. She was a prowling raccoon by hiding in open lockers within the halls to hide herself from a security officer and jumping out of the window to land in a tree. The tree being the checkpoint, having a convenient branch that extended over a chain linked fence. With prudent grace, the delinquent girl carefully made her way to the branch, tossing the bag down to the ground, turning herself upside down by hanging from the branch, and flipping in mid-air to make a swift descent.
A brisk and carefree walk had been made across the street and had the intended destination to a nearby Darby's fast-food diner. She enjoyed the warm breeze that smelled of cooking meat and cheese from two blocks away. A trek was done from across a lush public park and passing by a decent apartment complex that had been her current place of residence. She paused before the complex and thought…Naw, I can wait for a snack. Right now there is treasure to be found!
Her most unusual hobby had been scavenging in designated debris stations. Also known as dumpsters. Dawn had discovered all sorts of discarded treasures within them and used them to her advantage. One's trash seemed to tell her a story about the discarder. For example, she once discovered a paper bag filled with unused condoms, birth control pills, a diamond ring, and lastly a photograph of a couple where the man's face had been scratched. To her conclusion, she assumed that it belonged to a jilted lover and had been heartbroken enough to quit having sex completely.
She made her way to the dumpster quietly and peeked inside its dark, rancid smelling chamber by lifting the lid. A pair of leather shoes beckoned her outstretched hand which rested upon a stack of papers. She leaned over the edge of the dumpster to improve her reach. A fingertip brushed a shoelace which had encouraged her to pursue and claim the elusive shoes. "Almost got it…" she said to herself.
Footsteps were heard from behind her as they approached. Shit…I need to get away! she thought with the fear of being caught by an authority figure. "Gotcha!" a male's voice could be heard. A pair of strong hands had grasped her buttocks and pushed her forcefully into the dumpster. Maniacal laughter had been released as Dawn screamed with surprise and fell face first into a banana peel covered in coffee grounds. As she removed the slimy item from her face in disgust and tried to stand, she yelled, "Who the fuck did that?!" The laughter increased in volume and the sound of sliding metal was made from outside the box. Her hands attempted to push the lid upward, but had failed. The man locked me in! she thought fearfully and began to panic.
She had been genuinely frightened, but had forced herself to sound angry by pounding upon the lid and yelling, "Let me out of here you son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill you!" The lid had been pounded from the outside and the man's voice said, "Pipe down, girlie!" "Fuck you!" she shouted in return. "Take a bath first!" the man's voice remarked. The buzzing sound of machinery was released and heard a rumbling engine from outside as well. She felt the dumpster be lifted and moved, then heard heavy traffic rushing by her smelly prison. He is abducting me! she thought with widened eyes.
An hour had passed since the abduction and the dumpster came to a stop and descended to the ground beneath. The scrapping of metal repeated, the lid was lifted to reveal a man in a purple business jacket, and blue shirt. His face was concealed beneath a rubber clown mask. Before Dawn could retaliate or protest, the man had pressed a moist cloth over her nose and mouth. Her eyelids began to slowly close, conceding to the heavy slumber in which her psyche departed from reality.
With a gasp, Dawn awoke from her sleep. Warmth and moisture surrounded her, she was either in water or a womb. All that could be seen was white and a vague blue color of water. Her eyes refused to focus, the thoughts processed at a sluggish rate. Slowly, a massive yellow blob drifted into her field of view. Shaking hands managed to reach up from the water, her muscles were weakened. The fingers rose from the surface as though they were mountains emerging from an alien ocean, reaching to the gods' never hinted at, and only envisioned in the deepest fever dreams.
"Shiiit…" she moaned softly, "I'm tripping." Had she taken a strange new drug? And where in the hell had she come across a tub this big? It seemed in scale with a Greco-Roman hedonistic monstrosity, large to the size of absurdity. Perhaps the drug that had invaded her mind, made it seem that gigantic. Slowly, her cyclopean hand grasped the yellow thing before her, rotating it into focus. "A duck…what the fuck?" she said, confused. Behind her came a shrill cackle. "She's a poet and now she knows it!" a female's voice said. As startled as she was, Dawn could only rotate slowly to face the voice's owner. "I was wondering when you would be pontificating!" she said again.
She faced the woman who seemed to be twenty years of age. Her out-fit had consisted of a red and black tight jester's outfit with a diamond pattern. Her exposed skin had been completely painted a uniformed white, the only exception had been black accenting her eyes and lips.
"Are you…the Crow?" Dawn asked. Her question sent the young woman nearly toppling off the chair she had been sitting in, apparently watching Dawn in the tub. Her mind began to become clarified with logic and pressed herself against the curved porcelain wall to preserve her modesty. "No, I'm not dead yet," she replied with a seductive smile and waggling her fingers at Dawn, "Harley-Harley Quinn." Everything about the painted woman shook Dawn's nerves and had mild anxiety. "I am here to give you something." Harley explained. She stood up, slowly approaching the recessed tub. "Several things, actually." she added. Her hand extended and offered it to Dawn. "Fuck you, I don't even know how I got here, so there's no way in hell I'm touching you!" Dawn snapped.
The drugs began to mix unpleasantly with her adrenaline. Suddenly, Harley's leg whipped out, stepping upon Dawn's head and induced pressure to drive her beneath the water. Panicking, Dawn flailed at the boot, grasping wildly and attempting to pull herself from under her captor's foot and emerge to the air. She could hear Harley's laughter at her expense of struggling. Once the foot lifted, Dawn bursted from the water, gasping and spluttering. Again, Harley offered the hand. "Gonna take it this time?" Harley asked in a condescending manner. Dawn growled beneath her breath and accepted the hand tightly. She had been jerked nude from the water. "Now put this on." Harley ordered. She pulled a short, frilly yellow dress that had been trimmed with white lace from behind the chair and a pair of white bloomers. It resembled a Victorian doll's garments. "Gotta look good, ya know!" Harley added to the command.
Harley deftly whipped open a butterfly knife, gracefully tossing it from between hands and watching Dawn adorning the person with the dress and bloomers. "Time for you to meet Mr. J." she said. Her grin being absolutely humorless, showing her many pearly white teeth. "And who the fuck is that, huh?! Some twisted shithead who gets his rocks off stripping girls down, throwing them in tubs, and dressing them up like dollies?!" Dawn demanded with ferocity. Harley giggled, the pale blue eyes flicking to something out of Dawn's sight line. "Not exactly." she replied. Dawn snarled, leaning forward. "If you're gonna kill me, then do it. If I'm gonna meet Mr. J, then take me there! Just quit fucking around!" Dawn demanded again.
"Sure thing!" the same male's voice said. The voice was a mirthful, bouncing baritone, surprisingly loud. Surprising, due to its proximity. Dawn whipped around, only to find herself inches from a psychotic, grinning visage. A red slash of a smile arced across crudely smeared white makeup. Yellow teeth stood out in his enormous grin, the scars of a Chelsea Smile extending past the corners of his mouth turned it literally nearly ear to ear. "'Welcome to my parlor,' said the spider to the fly!" he said eerily.
Dawn scampered backwards, colliding into Harley. "Allow me to introduce myself…I am the Clown Prince of Crime!" he said. He clasped both of his hands behind his back and bowing deeply, his greasy green hair falling over his face. With a flip of his neck, it whipped back. "You, however, can call me The Joker." he concluded.
Dawn stepped forward, barely contained her anxiety and performed a curtsy. She had hoped that the gesture may appease him in her captivity to lessen the frightening situation. A sheepish grin emerged and with nervousness in her tone, she managed to say, "Uh…It is nice to meet you, Mr. Joker. My name is Dawn Kingston." Joker giggled beneath his breath and remarked, "What's with the manners all of a sudden?" "It's nothing." she replied.
He then approached her and pushed her hair aside to peer into her widened eyes. Dawn breathed heavily, suppressing her fear of his very presence as the sweat poured down her pale face. A violet leather gloved hand gently clutched her chin to lift the face upward. Dawn forced herself to make eye contact, facing the hazel eyes that penetrated her own. His face hovering three inches away from her. "You look nervous. Is it the scars?" he asked in a tone that seemed sympathetic. "No, sir…" she answered, truthfully. "Then what's making you so scared?" he asked. She paused, not certain if a sincere answer would either result herself being subjected to torture or an agonizing death. "It-It's because…I don't know why I'm here." she said, choosing the words carefully.
Joker giggled again, bringing his face an inch closer. She could smell the sugary sweet scent of faint cotton candy that flowed from his breath. Her hands balled into fists in order to restrain their trembling. "You try so hard to be tough, don't ya? You're a wonder, that's why you're here. We have seen your little fun and it would be bad to have such talent wasted. I know everything about you, Little Miss Sunshine. So please…" he paused his speech to trace a knife across her cheek. His voice lowered to a soft sadistic tone, "Smile for me…" Dawn breathed heavier and obeyed him, the smile emerging in a quivering manner. He then looked to Harley and exclaimed, "Such an obedient girl! Let's play with her!" "Play?" she asked nervously. "Let's do some tickle torture!" Harley said in a wicked childish manner.
Dawn took this moment to think of an escape plan during Joker's distraction. Demonic or not, they are just like any person with the same vulnerabilities. she thought quickly. She then fell upon her knees and cried out, "Don't kill me!" Joker laughed heartily at this cowardly act and said, "We have finally spooked her! We win!" Dawn began to weep, having tears stream down her cheeks, a hand quickly snatching the toy duck from the tub. It's working…she thought. Joker gestured to Harley to approach her and said, "Bring her to the play room." His eyes then widened with surprise to see a small streak of yellow strike Harley in her left eye. "Yeow!" she screamed while clutching the injured eye. "You little brat!" he roared. He began to charge at her, which had been foolish, it caused him to collide into a bare foot that had slammed his testicles. Joker screamed in pain while cradling the crotch and yelled in anger to have Dawn shove him into the tub with a tremendous splash.
She then, grabbed a bottle of liquid soap solution from the floor, quickly shuffling backwards while spraying the floor with the fluid. "Come back here!" Harley shouted. She then began to pursue her, only to slip and fall repeatedly upon the soapy trail. Dawn's heart fluttered and thumped violently against her ribs as though it were a caged bird striving for freedom. Just as her hand clutched the door knob, she felt a penetrating sting upon her neck. Her face grimaced with pain, having a hand inspect her neck, and felt a foreign object protrude from the flesh. The hand grasped the object as her psyche felt the familiar heavy lethargic sensation. She removed the item to be shocked to see a small dart clutched between a forefinger and thumb. He drugged me again! she thought fearfully. The eyelids slowly closed and collapsed upon the floor.
