Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or places from The Dark Night or Batman.
CHAPTER 2
With a maliciously slow speed, the dangerous man opened the door. The only light was from a laptop that had been left on. The humming was the computer fan cooling down the hard drive. The dark room was in use.
A twin bed was pushed against the far corner. Posters of bands hung on the walls. He tried not to giggle as the human occupying the bed shifted in sleep. He approached slowly, pulling out his knife. And not one to be subtle, jumped onto the defenseless form.
Instinctively the smaller figure began to thrash. He heard the girl begin to scream beneath the sheet. He ripped the cloth away and covered her mouth with a gloved hand. He saw her eyes widen and water, close to tears.
He leaned close to her face and whispered, "Hello girlie." She struggled even more as she took in the scars on his face, and the glint of his dark eyes. He hushed her and leaned back a bit. His voice took on a conversational tone, as if he didn't have a knife in one hand, another hand keeping her from screaming, and his body pinning hers to the bed.
"Sooo, girlie, I assume it was only you and daddy dearest living here." He accented the mention of her father by tapping his knife against her cheek. She nodded quickly, hoping that by being cooperative she could stall him long enough for her father to discover him.
"You see, your daddy was a bad man. He got into the wrong business and skipped out on my boss. And guess what?" He smiled widely and nodded eagerly at her, crudely imitating her earlier nod.
She looked confused so he continued, "He skipped out on you too!" He laughed loudly and his frame shook. The tears in her eyes overflowed. He roughly shifted over her body and she froze.
He grinned again; the scars on his tan face that had frightened her earlier made the smile seem demonic. "So Dolores, can I call you Dee? Dolore? Dolly? Sure? Why thank you!" His intonations changed over each word, as if he had a different way to pronounce everything.
Dolores began to cry in earnest now, and the man slightly shook her head. "Doll, you gotta stop with the tears. You see, your old man has been hiding from my boss for almost two decades now. Apparently he had a change of heart, and a few kids, eh? What happened to mommy and your brother? Lucas, was that his name?" She continued to sob, but her eyes now burned with anger.
He grinned broadly again, tightening the hand over her mouth. "As I was saying, my boss wanted your daddy to be taken care of. So, he hired me. And I arrived tonight for the main event, only to find a note-ah, and a sleeping daughter." Dolores tried to move her arms from their position under his knees, but was halted by the knife dipping close to her neck.
"Ah, ah ah! How very rude young lady! I was mid-story. Dolly dear, you need to work on your manners!" The tears kept coming as the man above her laughed at her expense. "So my boss hired me to make an example of your father. But I just thought of something!" His eyes seemed to grow darker as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
His breath tickled her ear and she shivered. "I found my example. It will be, YOU." His voice boomed, and she jumped. She struggled again with new found strength. One arm got loose and she grabbed the hand that covered her mouth. Caught unaware, he felt his hand be pulled from her face. He heard the shriek that tore from her mouth.
He slapped her harshly, and she lay limp in shock. He heard a door slam in the distance. "Damn you and your goddamn father. I hope finds you one day and is ashamed of what he caused." He growled as he grabbed her chin; all signs of previous humor gone from his face.
"Ohhhhhh Dolores, why don't you smile for me?" He pulled her forcefully upwards until her face was inches from his. He caressed her cheek intimately with the hand that held the knife. She opened her mouth and gritted her teeth, muttering angrily, "Devil."
Before she was aware of what was happening, he had inserted the knife into her mouth, and began to jaggedly carve through her cheek. The girl began to shake and she screamed again. This time he heard the front door slam. A voice from downstairs shouted up, "Hello? You alright up there? I gotta gun if there's a burglar." Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs.
The man pulled the bloodied knife from the girl's mouth, shoving her back onto the bed. "Nosy neighbors are the worst-ah." She screamed again as her hands made contact with the torn flesh. Her eyes closed and she continued to wail.
The intruder took one last look before he tore the screen from her window. She heard the noise and opened her eyes a slit. The sound of footsteps approaching became louder.
She watched as the man stuck on leg out of the sill before turning to blow a kiss. "Bye-a doll face! Hope we can play again another time!" And within seconds he had disappeared into the night.
The young girl vaguely noticed the neighbor burst into her room. All she could see were the black eyes and the crude scars as she passed into unconsciousness.
The neighbor had made sure that no news caught wind of what happened that night. He was kind to her, but after checking her into the hospital, never visited her again. Dolores, as a 16 year old girl with no relatives to claim her, was passed into the foster care system; supposedly fading into oblivion.