Chapter 4
As she promised her mother, Jackie remained in the house for the week requested, leaving only to go to the local grocery for necessities. In the back of her mind and the pit of her stomach, she ached to leave the house to do....something. But she knew better than to disobey her mother. Those days were spent in her room at her desk, drawing or reading. That was after she cleaned the house obsessively, of course.
And now it was the eighth evening, and she had just finished having dinner with her mother. She gathered the dishes and washed them, then sat across from her mother again, putting on her best "Please, Mommy, please" expression. Her mother looked up and back at her work a few times before sighing with a small smile.
"Alright, Jackie," she finally said, closing her book. "You can go out tonight, but I want you back at ten-thirty, alright?"
Ignoring the fact that her curfew was set back a half hour, Jackie let out a happy sound and hugged her mother. "Thank you, Momma!" she said, kissing her mother's cheek and running to the door, snatching up her jacket. "Back at ten-thirty! Gotcha! Thanks again!" She left the apartment in an excited rush, getting her arm caught in the right sleeve as she darted down the stairs.
She skipped the last four steps and darted out the door of her building. The early evening air graced her lungs as she inhaled deeply as she strolled down the sidewalk. She had missed the city air, she really had. She smoothed the cloth of her jacket, her fingers unconsciously probing for the slight indention that would signify a cigarette or two, but she found none, and instead thought to head over to her favorite bar.
She was halfway there, happily anticipating the drink she was going to imbibe, and completely unaware of the fact that several people were watching her. Years of having people stare at her taught her to completely tune other people out when she walked; some people even jumped out of her way in what seemed to be fear sometimes, and she didn't even know why. But she ignored them and everyone else; it was better than paying attention and then never leaving the house again in a fit of angst.
But as she walked further down the less reputable part of her neighborhood, she did become aware that someone—or, several someones—were walking a little too close to her. Against her better judgement, Jackie peeked over her shoulder. Two men were sneaking behind her in the shadows, their eyes locked right on her. Fear leapt in Jackie's chest, and she took off running.
Though she didn't look back, she could hear the men running after her, but it was slightly faint. Jackie knew that, if anything, she was extremely fast; a childhood of outrunning bullies (or chasing them down) had trained her for the nowadays. She jumped over several garbage cans, took corners sharply and smoothly; anything to get away from them.
After a few minutes of running from them, Jackie turned behind her to check and saw that they were no longer in sight behind her. She took another corner and pressed her back to the wall, her chest heaving from the exertion. She forced herself to hold her breath, and listened. All she could hear were the usual sounds of the city, a dog barking, and some man yelling in Italian in the far distance. No running steps. No queries as to where she was. Jackie heaved a heavy sigh and slumped down on the ground, wishing she had never left the house at this point, and decided it would be better to just go home.
She checked her watch. It was only seven-ten. Whatever. She sighed again and stood back up, brushing the gravel off of her jacket, and was about to turn to take the longer, somewhat safer route home, when a hand grabbed her and another pressed a cloth over her mouth and nose. She struggled briefly before passing out, not even knowing what hit her.
Jackie made a soft sound, coming back to the land of the conscious and greeted with a massive headache. She put a hand to her head and sat up, fighting the vertigo, to see what was going on.
She found herself in a warehouse room; there was only one large light in the room she was in, and it was quite dim and looking like it was going to go out at any moment. Feeling a rise of panic, Jackie shakily stood up and looked around before noticing that her jacket was gone.
That made a lump stick in her throat; her mother had given her that jacket! She quelled the urge to cry and looked around. "Hello?" she called. "Please…!"
"Aww…is the wittle baby gonna cwy?"
Jackie whipped around and saw some men staring at her from the shadows. The one in front was holding her jacket in his hand, a sneer on his face. Jackie could only focus on her jacket and how to get it back. She swallowed that lump in her throat. "…Please," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Please…give me my jacket back."
The men all scoffed and a few giggled manically. The man in front stepped out of the shadows, still holding the jacket. "YOUR jacket, kid? Where'd you get it, then?"
Jackie swallowed again. "My mom," she replied. "Just give it back!"
"You must think you're tough, eh, girlie?" he said, ignoring her plea. "Wearing this out in public?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jackie wailed. "My mom gave me that jacket five years ago! What's so wrong with it!?"
"This is the Boss's jacket, you little bitch!" another person from the shadows—a young man who couldn't be much older than Jackie—shouted out. "You have a lot of balls to steal the Joker's jacket!".
Jackie froze where she stood, confused and shocked. "…No," she said, shaking her head. "No, you…you must be mistaken…my mom gave me that! She told me she bought it at a thrift store!"
The man holding her jacket took a moment to examine it, inside and out. "….No mistake," he finally said, brandishing it. "This is the Boss's. I'd recognize this style anywhere."
Jackie felt her breath quicken with adrenaline, knowing that something bad was going to happen. "Please," she began again, but yelped and fell back when a bullet was shot just an inch from her feet. She landed hard and bit her lip when she heard the people laughing at her. The man made a light gesture and two other guys ran forward and each grabbed an arm each. The man holding her jacket stepped forward to her, using his free hand to pull back the hammer on his gun.
"I'll teach you to make an idiot of the Boss," he sneered, pointing the gun at her.
All of a sudden, his target's leg shot up and a boot collided with the man's chin, completely sending the man flying with the follow-through. He fell to the floor, screaming in pain, his lower mandible obviously snapped completely out of place. The two men holding Jackie stared in shock for a moment before crying out in surprise when their captive jerked forward, sending them flying to the floor too.
Jack snarled angrily and stalked forward to the man holding his jacket and stomped hard on his hand when he tried to take up his gun to defend himself. The man let out another pained scream as Jack ground his heel into the man's hand.
"Trash," he growled huskily, kicking the gun away. He bent down and picked his jacket up and shrugged it on, his overall posture seeming to transform with the application of the jacket. "Don't fuck with me, trash. I don't like it when people touch my jacket."
The man glared over at the rest of the men who were staring in shock. "Get 'er!" he shouted through his dislocated jaw.
The men and Jack acted at the same time. Jack flicked his wrist and a knife shot out from under his shirt sleeve, and as the men rushed forward to attack him, he swung his arm hard, taking out two throats with one slash. His free hand grabbed an outstretched arm and jerked forward, slamming the body into another person, sending them both flying.
The farce lasted for less than ten seconds before the whole warehouse room came to a halt when a loud, commanding voice shouted out, "ENOUGH!"
The men froze, and Jack only let go of the young man he was about to stab in the eye. All eyes shifted toward the shadows, where a figure stepped out into the light. Jack lowered his knife when he saw who it was.
The Joker.
Never fear, I have more! Sorry for the delay!
