I am on a role at the moment! Three chapters already! Let's hope I can keep up this wonderful streak of creativity!
"That, Jubjub is how you paint the roses red." The clown across from me is laughing hysterically and the man now sitting on his backside before me is swearing up a storm. The whispers cheer and celebrate.
"How many times I gota tell you Rick, don't antagonize them." Jubjub said mockingly, shaking his head at his fallen companion. Rick picks himself up off the floor, his previously pristine uniform streaked and splattered with red. He glared at me and stomped out of the cell. I stand and stretch as Jubjub wheels my chair out the door. I wave at him from my bed.
"See you later Jubjub."
"See you later Little Bit, play nice." He walks away, patting Rick's back and laughing quietly. The whispers congratulate me on my latest painting masterpiece. I look up and see the clown looking at me curiously.
"So beautiful, what are you called?" he asked, standing close to the bars of his cell.
"Aloria." He looked surprised.
"No street name pretty? What did they call you out there?"
"Out where?"
"Out there, in the world. Where you were before you were here." I thought back to life before the darkness came but all I could get was screaming and red. The whispers won't tell me where the screams come from, only that they deserved to scream and the red was well used.
"Aloria. Who are you?" Again he looked surprised, as though I should already know who he was.
"I'm the Joker, toots. Did the big, ah, bad rat Bat catch you?" he giggled.
"Bats are from the mammalian order Chiroptera; rats are from the order Rodentia, so therefore rats and bats are different, as in not the same. Did you know that there are over 5,000 species of mammals in the world?" I spun in three circles, counting them as I did so. When I was facing the clown again I jumped in surprise. When did he get there? The whispers hissed impatiently at me. Oh yeah, he's Joker, he asked me a question. What was it again? The whispers screamed at me. Right, got it! "I was brought in darkness. Before the darkness was screaming, not mine. I never saw any bats. I'm sorry; I was never in the belfry."
"The Batman didn't catch you?" he seemed confused.
"No. Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, how I wonder where you're at, up above the world so high, like a tea-tray in the sky!" the clown laughed hysterically before, leaning against the bars of his cell.
"Then how did you end up here, beautiful?" he finally calmed down and was back to being curious.
"The smurfs found me painting in a grocery store. They followed my trail from my painting on the bus that brought me from there to here."
"Did you paint the roses red on a bus? Like you did with Ricky face?" I nodded, glad he understood.
"A masterpiece! Started from the front and worked my way to the back. Painted the windows and the seats, the floor and the ceiling, it was beautiful! Stopped here, where ever here is, and painted the steering wheel red too! Walked around, painted a bus stop, and a phone booth. Everything here in this city is so grey! I got hungry and ended up in the grocery store. The smurfs trod all over my painting, meanies. Then darkness. Came into the light and met droning, floating heads, a Jubjub bird, a frowny-face and a Bandersnatch. That is a fantastic suit, did you know that!" Joker just stared at me before beginning to crack up again.
"Sounds like you have been very, very busy." Said a new male voice. I got off my bed and moved closer to the bars so I could see more than just the laughing Bandersnatch who was now on the ground clutching his stomach. "Over here lovely Aloria." The man in the cell next to Joker drew my attention. He was wearing green, bright green, and had very orange hair. His black tie had a light green question mark on it. "They call me the Riddler my dear. Now, before we go any further, riddle me this…I talk, but I do not speak my mind
I hear words, but I do not listen to thoughts
When I wake, all see me
When I sleep, all hear me
Many heads are on my shoulders
Many hands are at my feet
The strongest steel cannot break my visage
But the softest whisper can destroy me. What am I?" I stared at him. The whispers didn't like the smirk on his face, too smug. He seemed very sure that he had me stumped. I like puzzles, the whispers often give them to me to keep my mind working. I had to think for a moment before the answer came to me. The whispers cheered my briliance.
"You sir, are an actor." The surpsised look on Riddler's face was very gratifying.