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Chapter 3: Walk Down Memory Lane

Downtown Gotham is a funny place. You could be surrounded by grand condos, luxury towers, and the type of penthouses made for the elite. Beautiful fixtures meant to make beautiful homes…but looks can, as cliché as it is, be deceiving.

There are high-end bars that the head honchos of the financial district shoot the breeze in. You know, just a $75 cocktail with the gang. The aesthetics of the luxurious side of Downtown Gotham brings out glorious museums with $1000 masterpieces. There are gala's thrown by major corporations like Wayne Enterprises in the most extravagant hotels. Numerous charity events are organized to help those less fortunate in other parts of the world. Only, never in the other part of town. Why help those 5-minutes away when you can help those 500,000 miles away? Enjoying all these ammenities while boosting your status quo.

Yeah…Downtown Gotham is a funny place.

A short drive or a walk down the wrong alley could find you in the roughest part of Gotham. Those stunning chandeliers that hung so pretty in the high security finance district are replaced with broken wind chimes on tiny porches of beat-up apartments. Keep strolling by and you'll find some run down houses that look out of place with the urbanized district. A short walk from the wealthy side of downtown would take you to the places where the janitors for the beautiful penthouses call home. Where the poor try so hard to make ends-meat, but seem to fall victim to the fast money and cheap lives criminals find enticing. It's dangerous this part of town. Dangerous, yet there's something that shines in those ratty apartments that Jack could never find underneath his pretty chandelier in his beautiful penthouse. No, not his…it could never be his. Always his ugly father's beautiful penthouse.

"Jack! J-Jack wait for me!"

It was a dark and dreary day in Downtown Gotham. Little pitter-patters of rain splattered around the only two children brave enough to play on the abandoned street. One child had to be no more than nine years old. She had warm tan skin and long black bangs covering her forehead. She had thick, long, eyebrows and they currently appeared to be furrowed at the touch of a raindrop. Her clothes appeared to look neat, but were much too large for her small frame.

The other child, a boy with curly blonde locks, appeared to be thirteen. He was dressed in a nice suit and tie and to be honest, anyone who saw the pair playing around together would find it quite odd.

"Jack! Stop! " The girl huffed and puffed. The boy called Jack, however, only scoffed at her request and shouted to her over his shoulder.

"No way Layla! I let you catch me last time. You have to actually try!"

This handsome boy, Jack, was way ahead of her with no mind of stopping until he heard something strange.

"J-cough. Cough! Jack! Cough cough! Layla erupted into a wheezing fit with endless coughs.

"Layla!"

Turning quickly on his heels, He ran over to the now collapsed girl. He bent down on his knees, staining the expensive pantsuit bottoms and dove for her pocket, attempting to find her only cure. The rain started to increase and the once pitter-patters evolved into heavy raindrops soaking them to the bone.

"C'mon..C'mon! Layla where is it? Help me! Where's your inhaler?"

But Layla couldn't muster a word through the hoarse sounds erupting from her throat. She held a tiny fist to her chest and shuddered with each cough.

"Cough cough cough!"

Layla was struggling to breathe and could only manage to grasp the hem of his shirt with her tiny fingers. After searching to no avail he formed an impulsive thought.

"Hold on to me Layla."

In one fluid motion, he yanked her up into his arms and carried her bridal style to her apartment. Although weak and trembling, Layla managed to muster a little strength to wrap her arms around his neck.

Thankfully, Jack always took Layla to play near her house so they reached it in no time. He banged his fist onto the door like a mad man. A short figure in clean, yet cheaply tailored clothes similar to Layla's answered the door sipping on a chipped mug of coffee. Jack recognized the mug as Layla's Mother's Day present from last year. They had made it together with Jack making one for his mother. His father shattered it over his head the same night. The Napier's aren't "cheap" his father said.

The woman at the door wore a soft smile on her face until she looked down upon her daughter's trembling frame.

"Jack! What happened?"

Jack was frantic in his thoughts but knew he had to talk calmly so she would understand him.

"Layla forgot her inhaler again Ms. Pierrot. Please, where is it?"

Layla's mother shoved jack into the apartment and set forth finding her back up inhaler. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned swiftly with another inhaler.

"Here you go sweety. Deep breathes now. There we go." She shifted her gaze over to Jack.

"Jack, place her down softly honey."

Honey. How Jack wished his own mother could say something sweet like that. The only time she ever seemed loving towards him was when she motioned for him to pass her another bottle of scotch. Provided he comply, of course.

Jack nodded his head and laid her down flat on the floor.

Ms. Pierrot spoke tenderly to Layla as she slowly regained her breathing patterns and the asthma attack subsided. After a few more moments, Layla was able to stand and speak back to normal.

"Mommy, Jack saved me!"

Ms. Pierrot embraced her daughter and then looked at Jack with immeasurable gratitude in her eyes. Jack looked down feeling uncomfortable. Jack always knew he had more than Layla…but he always wanted what Layla had, a parent's love.

Jack was pulled from his pondering as Ms. Pierrot called out in a worried tone.

"Oh Jack! Your suit is all ruined."

Jack turned pale. His father had just bought him that suit for the party tonight…it was the first thing he bought him in months. Jack's father was a mess all week tormenting Jack and his mother about not messing up the party tonight. He had some new business partners he wanted to impress.

"I'm dead." He thought, but his thoughts were pulled away by a set of arms wrapping around his waist.

"Thank you Jacky". Layla buried her head further into his chest.

Suddenly, the thought of his furious father beating the shit out of him didn't seem so bad anymore. He placed his chin on her head and wrapped his arms around her too.

" Your lucky I love you Layla."

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