Chapter Warning: None really - very, very brief mention of Arnold Dobkins criminal history (rape)
It had been a solid 24 hours since Abbie and the other inmates had "escaped" from Arkham Asylum - an excruciatingly long and boring day in which Abbie had taken it upon herself to attempt to convince their liberator, a woman by the name of Tabitha, to recruit just one more individual into their merry little gang of misfits. The others had gone about their business, squabbling about one thing or another every so often, and were either too preoccupied or uninterested to question why the olive-skinned girl was tailing the raven-haired beauty.
"Hear me out - I know you've said it's a bad idea, but I really think it would be -" Abbie started her spiel for what felt like the hundredth time, relentless in her quest to convince the woman to see things her way.
"Stupid," Tabitha snapped, cutting the inmate off as she quickly turned on her heel to face the girl who had been shadowing her for the better part of the past day; she had to admit that she almost admired her tenacity but she had worn her patience incredibly thin, "It would be extraordinarily stupid. You're feeling lonely and that's sad, but what you're asking of me is...senseless. It is an unnecessary risk and for what? To protect you guys? Don't kid yourselves - you're just the first draft picks out of the looney-bin. You get yourself maimed or killed, we replace you. That easy."
Abbie dropped her gaze - suddenly finding her feet to be very interesting - she watched the fabric distend slightly as she wriggled her toes around inside of her shoes. She knew that eventually she might get a rise out of Tabitha, but that did not prevent it from startling her.
"Just seems like it'd be a bit of a hassle is all - going back to bust out more inmates when one of us drops. How many times do you think you'll be able to do it before someone gets wise?" She replied quietly after she had managed to find her voice again, raising her eyes to find the taller woman glaring at her.
"For the very last time, I am not doing this for you," Tabitha answered lowly, "And neither you nor any of your little friends here are going to do it either. You sit tight until we say so, and even then, if I find you making any 'detours' or unnecessary stops when you're out, I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you. Do I make myself clear?"
Abbie bit down hard on the insides of her cheeks, drawing a small amount of blood; she couldn't help but to feel the anger surge inside of her - she wanted to bash Tabitha's face, she wanted to scream - but she knew better this time, and she swallowed her feelings, bobbing her head lightly in agreement.
"Good," Tabitha clipped before whipping around sharply - her long, inky hair flipping dramatically behind her back as she stormed off, slamming the heavy door behind her.
"Tough luck, toots," A familiar voice called from over Abbie's shoulder, causing the girl to roll her eyes.
So someone had taken notice, after all - and of course it would be him - even when they had been locked up, he somehow seemed to be able to keep tabs on everyone. It was as annoying as it was impressive. She slowly turned herself to face the source of the sound and leisurely made her way over to the immaculate glass table where he sat.
"Shut up, Jerome," She grumbled as she came to rest her hand upon the back of the chair that sat opposite of him, picking at the black fabric for a moment before pulling the object out just enough for her to take a spot at the table.
"Oooh, she's serious," the redhead giggled mockingly before his face abruptly darkened, his voice dropping into a low growl, "What's the matter? Are we not good enough for you?"
Abbie opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Her words escaped her, but not due to fear or anything of that nature - she knew how Jerome was, at least well enough to know when he was just messing with her - no, instead she found herself distracted by the feeling of a pair of eyes burning into the side of her head. She broke Jerome's gaze and cast her coffee-colored orbs into the distance to find that Arnold was there - a little ways off - eyeballing her, looking away only when he realized that she had noticed him.
"He likes you," Jerome grinned.
"Yeah? Well, that's nice."
"What?" The ginger questioned, "Brunettes don't do it for ya? Or is it, you know…"
Abbie arched an eyebrow at the pale man, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
"You know,"
"What?"
"The 'rape' thing," He answered nonchalantly.
"He's a creep," She replied bluntly, to which Jerome merely shrugged, "And that's not to mention that he is a 'he'. Both of which are deal-breakers in my book."
"Naturally," Jerome responded, followed by a brief moment of silence before he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the solid, cold surface of the glass between them, "So...why don't ya tell me about nurse what's-her-name?"
"Amelia," Abbie corrected sharply.
"Hm?" The red-head inquired, temporarily distracted by indistinct chatter in the next room.
Abbie sighed.
"Her name is Amelia."
The metal rings schliked across the rod as Mara pulled the curtains closed in a hurry, scurrying from window to window, repeating the motion over and over again; she double checked to make sure each of them were locked before checking that she had also locked the deadbolt on the front door.
She wasn't quite sure what she was doing - this was brand new, treacherous territory for her. The only thing that she had managed to come up with was that she absolutely had to leave - she definitely could not stay where she was, and though she didn't want to be alone, she also could not potentially risk the safety of others; wherever she was going, she couldn't count on her friends to shelter her.
"Clothes, Money, I.D.," The petite woman mentally took inventory of all of the items she figured she ought to take with her, "Keys, Knife.."
Her small hand reached out, trembling lightly as it wrapped around the cold handle of the blade that sat atop her armoire, lifting it so as to examine the weapon more closely; having removed the sheath, Mara felt a pang in her chest as the initials that had been engraved into the metal caught her eye.
"A.M.M"
It had been a gift, one that she had genuinely appreciated at the time, though now it mostly served to torment her...but she couldn't part with it. It was, after all, the only weapon she owned and in a city like Gotham, it was remarkably unwise to be without one.
Hastily, she pulled a small, burgundy rucksack from the bedroom closet and scrambled to collect the essentials, stuffing them into the bag haphazardly before slinging it over her shoulder and making for the door, stopping only to take one last glance back at the home that she had worked so hard to build for herself. It broke her heart that she was being forced to abandon it, and though she did not want to admit it - deep, deep down, she was furious as well. She knew that she was not completely blameless in the situation, but fuck if she hadn't tried her best to do better.
Using the back of her hand, she quickly whisked away a tear that had managed to slip down her face before turning and roughly pulling the door open. Stepping out into the hallway, she took a deep breath, feeling the door click shut behind her as she whispered to herself…
"Pull it together, Amelia."
A/N: Hello again and thank you for coming back and reading - I appreciate it! Pretty excited to be writing again, though getting back into the swing of things and finding the right words can prove to be difficult sometimes. I apologize for any grammatical or spelling errors that you may stumble upon, I really do try to clean everything up before posting but sometimes I miss stuff. This is something that I do for fun and because I genuinely enjoy expressing creativity in this way where you essentially try to create a whole world/imagery with only your words. We're just starting to get to the point now where things are going to start falling into place in a way, so I'm looking forward to setting that all up. Anyway, as I said - Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and I would certainly appreciate reviews!
