"It's not bad" I mused "Not bad at all. Actually, it's quite beautiful."
"If by beautiful you mean twisted and thoroughly psychotic, then yes. Now back off before I arrest you for contaminating the crime scene." The cop snapped, shoving me out of the way. I grunted and stumbled back, tightening my grip on my half-filled sketchbook. I had barely regained my balance when another officer grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me to the side. "We're gonna need a statement, ma'am" He said pulling out a pen and pad. "But I didn't see anything!" I whined, "First you don't let me look at the art in the Art Museum, and now I have to fill out paper work! You guys suck!" The cop glared at me from over his note pad and I grimaced.
"Uh... I mean, uh... YOU don't suck. The Joker and Solace suck for putting up a pretty picture without a... a permit or something... I LIKE COPS!" I blurted.
"Yeah, right." the cop sighed before beginning his barrage of questions. "Full name?"
"Savahna Cortez." I growled in response. I really hadn't seen anything except the painting itself. I had walked in just as the pair of criminals had left. The only useful thing I could say was that I saw the helicopter leave. Of course, half of Gotham could say that.
"Age?" He asked.
"Old enough to be potty trained." I quipped.
"Lady, you are one smart-** remark away from being charged with obstruction of justice." He snarled.
"Twenty." I replied glumly. This cop was no fun at all.
"Your address in case we need to contact you?" I reached in my pocket and pulled out my I.D., I handed it to him hesitantly. He rolled his eyes and snatched it from my hand. He reached for his cuffs. "That's it I'm taking you in!" he spat.
I jumped back and held my hands up. "NO! NoNoNo!" I shrieked, "I just moved here a month ago from Phoenix! I don't know my address yet! I swear! I'm not interfering, I'm just stupid! Wait… I mean..." The cop cut me off.
"Jesus, woman! Just tell me what you saw!" I blinked, taken aback.
"I saw a helicopter flying away as I was coming in about ten minutes ago. Then I saw people running out and you guys running in and then-"
"I get it!" He fumed, throwing his pad down in exasperation. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and waved me away. "Just go home." I didn't budge.
"What? Do you WANT to go to jail?" He yowled.
"Well, no." I said quietly "But I need my I.D." I pointed at the little card in his hand. With more than a little aggravation, he scribbled down my address before thrusting my I.D. back into my hands. I looked at the card, then at him. "Don't you need my phone-" I began.
"NO!" He exploded. And with that I scurried out of the museum, but not before snapping a picture of the painting with my cell phone.
The walk home was long and hot, and I had to keep switching my sketch pad from one arm to the other to keep it from getting ruined by my sweat. As I went, I glanced at my surroundings, looking for something that would kick my lazy muse's ass into gear. The Joker painting had my mind working, but my muse was being a finicky little shit today. All was not lost though. Halfway to my apartment, I found a dead dog in the road.
"Oh no!" I breathed. I loved animals, and I hated to see them hurt. Still, after saying a small prayer for the creature's soul, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures. No reason to let him die in vain.
"You were a beauty, weren't you?" I hummed, admiring the soft black fur and handsome build of the canine. It looked like my dead friend had been a large Labrador-Pit-bull mix. And handsome he was, even the way he had been crushed and smeared couldn't hide that fact. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and headed home. But not before bowing low to the corpse. "Rest well my friend."
Once I'd gotten home I'd already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to draw. I wasn't able to start working on it however, as I had barely gotten through the door before my mother had me in a bear hug. "Oh my God!" She sobbed "Are you alright? I saw on the news that the Joker and Solace attacked the Art Museum. I was so worried! Did he hurt you?" I hugged her back for a moment before pushing her away.
"C-can't breathe!" I gasped "I'm fine, mom. And the Joker didn't attack anything. He and Solace just hung up a picture of the two of them killing the mayor. They were gone before I got there!" My mom shook her head.
"They JUST hung up a picture of them killing they mayor?' Savahna, that's bad. That means that... Oh, never mind!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. She leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, and then made a face.
"Savahna, sweetie, I love you. Now go take a bath. You're sweaty, you smell, and you work in the morning."
"Well screw you too, old lady!" I sulked before giving her her own kiss on the cheek.
I smiled as she walked off, not the least bit offended by my use of profanity. She and Dad had gotten used to it and knew that I'd never meant any harm by it. Walking to my room, I put down my sketchbook and scratched my head. I gagged as I got a whiff of myself. "Woah!" I coughed, "I am one stinky motherfucker!"
I gathered some clean clothes and jumped in the shower. It didn't take long to bathe, and besides that I had a picture I wanted to get started on. As I walked back to my room I heard my mom reprimand me for never wearing girl clothes. She added that I would look SO nice in something sleek and classy, and I told her I would take it under advisement.
I worked well into the night on my drawing. It was a picture of the Joker and Solace playing with a zombiefied version of the dog I'd seen in the road. He was on his hind legs and tentacles were bursting from his stomach. Everything looked good, but I couldn't get the joker's left arm right. I tried to fix it for hours before finally throwing my sketchbook against the wall and giving up.
I must have fallen asleep at some point; because I woke up the next morning to my Dad growling at me for leaving my room light on all night. I groaned an apology before sitting up and pulling on my socks. I really was upset about leaving my room light on all night. I paid rent to my parents every month. It was a reasonable amount, but when the bills went up my rent went up. That was... Inconvenient to say the least, since I was trying to save up enough to get my own place. And since I didn't have any friends in Gotham, I couldn't exactly split the expenses with anyone. I threw on my pet store uniform before running out the door, grabbing some cookies from the counter to serve as a makeshift breakfast.
"Bye Savahna!" My mom called after me, "Make some friends today!" As I skidded to a halt at the bus stop, I had no idea that today I would be doing exactly as my mother asked. And bless her soul, if she knew who my friends were going to be, she probably would have advised me to become a hermit.
A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter, since this the first thing I've ever written on Fanfiction. And don't worry; Savahna will become properly murderous as the story goes on. Please review!