Chapter 7
Dance with the Devil
Thinking/Dreaming
Action Sounds
Speaking
Disclaimer: I own nothing
The silence was so loud my ears were ringing. This man, this Joker sat there looking as if he was the cat that swallowed the canary. Everything about him seemed off and I didn't like the way he continued eying me up like candy. We were at a stalemate, neither of us moved. Neither of us spoke, neither of us was giving up.
"This one is mine Joker." Scarecrow was squeezing the life out of me. I felt bruised and my ribs creaked in protest of his grip. I wanted to breathe but I didn't want to get any closer to…him. My scar ached and my tongue itched to rub it but I didn't dare take that chance in front of this Joker.
"Oh you've yet to prove that to me straw boy. You come into my home," He motioned to the warehouse around us as if he were showing off something from Better homes and Gardens. "And you bring that candy to me and I'm not supposed to take a bite?" He lifted an eyebrow and sat forward as if to pounce.
"If it were up to me she would have never heard your voice, she wouldn't be in this." Crow was digging his nails into my hip and I could feel the tension rolling off his body in waves. His face remained calm and stoic but his eyes were deep pools of icy water, so deep that any man should have fear to tread in them. I wanted to speak, to stand up for myself but I felt lost between the gazes of two titans. My throat constricted killing any words that dared to form, I would need to walk this thin ice carefully or be lost in the waters of what lie beneath.
"Well that's too bad Johnnie boy. She's in deep, practically drowning." He adjusted his gloves flexing his fingers beneath the leather. "You see, she's been such a naughty little thing. Taking on the mob, Maroni to be specific." His grin grew as he interlaced his fingers and leaned forward again. "That's a big player in this little town. Most of the police are in his pocket, any number of horrible things could befall such a broken toy."
"She is not broken. She has protection, she has me." Jonathan was back, I could almost feel the shift as his arms loosened enough to let me breathe again. Crow's fury must not have been enough for the situation we were in. I could feel something tugging at the back of my mind, almost like a dream while sleeping but I brushed it away. I couldn't afford to sleep now; one should never sleep while staring down a shark.
"Oh and what wonderful protection that's been. You see, you'll get what you needed straw boy. And I'll get what I want. I don't think I see any problems with this do you?" He reclined a bit and his jacket opened just enough to show the gun strapped to his side. My blood froze, I hated guns. I didn't remember Jonathan having anything but his gas, would it be enough to get us both out?
"So that's how you're going to play it?" His voice was hallow. It sent a chill down my spine making me feel like I was about to be abandoned all over again.
"Well, yea. Now pack it up and fly away little crow. I've got a lot to do and such a finite amount of time to play with." He made a shooing motion with one of his hands and his grin seemed to gape at me like the open jaws of a wolf. I felt myself being pushed off onto the couch and the cool fabric burned at my skin.
"This isn't over Joker." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the side of my head, his voice was nearly silent with his plea. "I will come back for you." His eyes never left Joker's gun as he stood and was led away by more goons in makeup. My heart was hammering in my chest and I could feel myself shaking from the force of it. I watched him leave, he never once looked back. I lowered my eyes hiding the burning tears until I could force them to stop.
"Oh don't cry little red. You'll be right at home in no time." He was standing and walked over to my side. His hand was held out to me and I took it, I didn't have a choice anyways. The leather was warm from his hands and soft as if it had been worn for quite awhile. He pulled me under his shoulder and wrapped his arm around me as we walked deeper into the warehouse. He was humming something under his breath and his fingers tapped at my side in a soft cadence. He led me to a small room in the back and led me inside.
"Now this is where you'll be staying. Try not to wander; we've both seen what happens when you do." He chuckled and traced my scar with his fingers before walking away. He paused with his hand on the doorknob and turned his head slightly back towards me. "I'll be back for you soon, get some sleep. You'll need it." He laughed shrill and loud and the door did almost nothing to muffle it as he slammed it closed. The soft click of a lock told me that I wasn't escaping. I fell to my knees and sat there in the unfamiliar room. My mind wandered and soon I was thinking of my sister, was she alone too? Was she being fed that drug and paraded around like a trophy? Was she still alive? This time I didn't hide the tears, I let them fall as silent screams tore at my throat. I was so close to being free, I could have saved her. I sat there and sobbed felling helpless for what seemed like hours. My eyes burned and felt bruised my throat raw from holding back the screams and sobs. My heart felt like it was being ripped in half from the extent of my pain. I was the older sister; I was supposed to protect her. How can I do that when I couldn't even protect myself? I curled up into a ball under the bed; I didn't trust sleeping in the open. Each blink of my eyes seemed to take longer and longer until they closed and I let the sleep take me.
I was back in the hospital, the tubes and wires stringing out of my body like strings on a puppet. The only noise I heard came from the machine beeping softly to my right. I could feel the stitches back in my flesh and my tongue flicked over each one it could. The pain returned and I welcomed it. Soon I could hear footsteps coming down the hall and I turned my head to watch the person walk by. Mae. She looked like she did back before all the drugs, before Alex. She walked into the room and stood by my bed just staring at me. Her shoulder length dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail; her green eyes were glowing softly as bright as I'd ever seen them. She smiled and I could see the sheen of lip gloss on her lips. I tried to reach out for her but my arms were restrained, tears burned my eyes. This was my sister; this was the woman I wanted to save. The woman I needed to return my sister to. She leaned down over me and pressed her lips to my ear.
"I'm still alive you know, but you left me all alone in this cold darkness." She bit my ear and her teeth felt sharp and cold. She pulled away and I saw that her teeth were all now sharpened and dark. Her eyes were dilated and empty like two pits trying to pull me in. She grabbed the IV's from my arm and ripped them out, my blood flowing freely out of my body and into the fabric. "You failed, why should you still live if you can't even save me?" She laughed and it was a horrid heckling sound, like a hyena feasting on a kill. "Die fast big sister."
"Mae no!" I tried to reach for her again as she laughed and walked out. "I'll save you." My voice was weak and there was so much blood. The bed was soaked and I thrashed against my bindings trying to free myself. I needed to grab her, to remind her that I wouldn't leave her to die. I wanted to shake her until she was herself again. The machine to my right was beeping at a frantic pace and it nearly deafened me. My skin cracked and I looked down at it. I could see my flesh being replaced by porcelain; it was cracking from the force of my struggles. I tried to break free but the cold shell rose higher and higher on my body. I was becoming a doll; I would stare forever at nothing and bleed. My eyes would drip the red mortality of death as I lived forever in a silent repose. I could almost feel my tears thickening threatening to glue my eyes shut as they became red and dripped down my face.
"You give up to easily." I turned and saw Jonathan sitting next to me. He was resting his chin on his hand just staring at me as if I were an interesting book.
"You left me." My jaw began freezing up as my flesh gave way to the brittle flesh of porcelain. He reached out and put his hand over my mouth, halting its progress.
"I said I would come back for you. You're different from all the others; you can hold another like I do." He lowered his hand, sliding it down my body returning my flesh to its former consistency.
"You want me to let you in. You said that before in the other dream." He stopped as he reached my chest looking back up at me seemingly surprised.
"And what exactly did I tell you?"
"You said to let you in because Scarecrow would protect me." I felt weak. The bed was dripping blood as it continued to spurt out of my ragged veins. There was so much blood I felt empty inside.
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" He leaned up until he was nose to nose with me. His eyes glowing with an ethereal light.
"I don't know." He held my chin in his hand so I couldn't look away.
"Then I'll show you." He leaned ever closer and just before our lips could touch…
"Ah found you. Hiding under the bed? Now that's just odd." Joker ripped me from my dream as he pulled me out from under the bed. His grip on my ankle was painful but I kept my mouth shut. After I was safely out from under said bed, he pulled me to my feet and dusted me off. "There we go, all nice and pretty." He grabbed my chin and held it firmly in his grasp. His other hand started smoothing out my hair as if I were a doll he was cleaning up.
"What do you want with me Joker?" His grin grew as I spoke to him.
"Oh how I've missed that voice. We've got a date tonight so I'll need you to get all nice and spiffy." He let go of my chin and grabbed each of my arms near the shoulders. "And when I mean spiffy I mean spiffy." He grinned his yellow teeth glinting in the light. He shook me for a moment as if to drive his point home. "Now the boys here have stocked this room up with all sorts of nice clothes for you to wear, I'll be back in an hour. Be dressed to kill." He pushed me away from him and strode back out locking the door behind him.
"Spiffy? The hell is spiffy?" If my eyebrow could rise any higher I'm sure I'd see stars. I looked the room over for what seemed the first time. A nice sized bed in the middle, a bathroom off to the left. Two dressers on either side of the bed, a wardrobe in the corner. I sighed and walked over to the wardrobe and flung the doors open. I was assaulted by bright colors and dressed in every fabric I could think of. I hated dresses but if this was what he deemed 'spiffy' then I guess I'd play along. I searched through them until I found the only one in my size. I pulled it out and sighed, green and purple how original. I walked to the bathroom and showered before finding underwear that I could wear under it. The dress clung to my chest but flowed down over my hips in a wave of fabric. The lace underneath was an unfamiliar sensation against my legs. I found some tights in the dresser and slid them on. The straps were thin and made the dress seem made for me. I looked down and swished the fabric around my thighs, wishing it would have at least reached my knees. I felt like I was walking around in a baby doll lingerie set. I found a pair of purple and green shoes in wardrobe and slid them on. I brushed my hair and let it flow down around my shoulders. I ignored the makeup left lying around and just put on some lip gloss and eyeliner. I hated makeup with a passion; I only put it on because I didn't want him to have me do it at gunpoint. I felt like a clown in these colors, true the green looked good on me but the purple made me feel like I was the center of attention. I walked out of the bathroom and froze seeing Joker sitting on the bed leaning back as if he were waiting for me.
"Oh now that's spiffy. And boy do I know spiffy." He stood up and held out his hand to me. "Come now doll face, we've got a party to crash and so many people to maim and scar for life." He laughed and grabbed my hand pulling me out of the room and through the warehouse. All too soon we were in the back of a white van and his arm was around me. I didn't like it but I couldn't fight, he had that gun still strapped to his side and it dug against me with every bump in the road. He smelled like gasoline and matches with something underneath that I couldn't identify.
"So whose party are we going to?" I kept my eyes glued to the floor I didn't want to stare at his grinning face for the fear that I would punch it and end up in an even worse predicament.
"Oh the who doesn't matter." He stroked my hair and pulled me closer against him. "It's the why. And I mean why not?" He cackled and shook me as if I were in on the joke. I could feel his eyes burning down the front of my dress as I shook and my fists clenched into the fabric of the dress.
Soon we were being unloaded from the car and handed masks. Mine was a pale porcelain half mask that was painted green and gold. The eyes were catlike in shape and it had purple feathers hanging down the entire left side, effectively hiding my scar. I felt ridiculous until I looked over at Jokers mask. It was a phantom of the opera mask that was colored green with purple lipstick on the lips. He held out his arm to me and I took it I was pulled up the stairs and into a room full of people. I could see his goons wearing cheap suits and masks mingling with the others. The men and women dancing seemed to be covered in pearls and gold and my eyes searched the room wondering where I had been taken. A large banner on the other side of the room made me freeze in my tracks. 'Gotham fundraiser for victims of drugs and abuse' stood out brightly against the walls. I could see a large container under the banner that was having money shoved inside by men and women with large smiles on their faces. They were trying to help victims like my sister but would never get the chance. I wanted to shout, to get someone's attention for help but before I could Joker beat me to it.
"Well hello ladies and gents of Gotham City." He ripped his mask off and everyone started screaming and rushing for the exits. The goons had blocked them all off and were carrying large guns pointed right into the crowd. Many of the women started crying and the men tried to protect them the best they could.
"Well now since this is a fund raiser I've decided that we should amend the cause a little bit." His grin was large and he waved his hands around for emphasis. He walked over and ripped the banner down before stomping on it and laughing. "Well it seems that the poor little victims will have a cold Christmas this year." He grabbed the container of money and tossed it to a nearby goon. "Now let's see how much you're all willing to give." His voice turned serious as he pulled the gun from his pocket. "Find your nearest Joker donation collector and hand over your valuables. I'll take payment in the forms of cash, credit card, jewelry and blood." He laughed loudly making several women begin to weep loudly. "Oh I don't take tears, so don't bother trying to cash those in." One of the men tried to push a goon away from the woman he was with and in the next moment was on the floor with a hole in his head. "Now who's willing to donate?"
"You're a monster!" One of the women screamed at Joker as she threw her diamond earrings at him. A goon grabbed her and started ripping her dress, pulling her valuables from her body.
"Oh feisty I like that." He just laughed and I stood there helpless as these men and women were robbed blind. Just when I thought that it was over a goon shoved a gas mask over my face and held it in place. I struggled but then I noticed that all the goons had slipped some on.
"Well now we come to the end of the party. I'm glad you could all make it, you're just going to love what I have in store for you next." A green gas started flowing into the room and everyone started screaming. There was a wild panic and I could hear gunshots and screams as the gas blocked most of the action from my view. The gas stung my skin but I endured it with tears falling down my cheeks. He was a monster.
"Oh he he look at all the poor saps enjoying my gas." The gas cleared and I could see Joker dancing with the body of a women dressed in black. Her face was pulled back into a twisted grin and her face pale from death. He spun her around and dipped her before dropping the body to the floor. "Oh now that's no fun, I want a woman with a little life in her." His gaze turned to mine and he walked over slowly, fixing his suit as he did so. The mask was pulled from my face and I waited for the gas to claim me too but it never did.
"Oh don't worry doll face, it's a short acting batch. Don't want to loose you just yet." He grabbed me and pulled me to his chest, I could hear his heart beating wildly next to my ear. "Shall we dance?" He adjusted our positions until my hand was in his and his other hand was on my hip. I tried to block out the scene around us as I put my hand on his shoulder. He had just killed a room full of people who were trying to save those who couldn't save themselves.
"Do I have a choice?" He pulled me the center of the room when a slow song sparked to life over the speakers. I was pulled around in a slow waltz as he just grinned at me. After a bit he leaned down and kissed my scar before whispering in my ear.
"A choice? Most of us never get that far. Enjoy your stay at Joker's Palace my little red one. I think I'm keeping you." He laughed quietly and led me around the dance floor one more time, kicking bodies out of his way as if they didn't matter. As if they were nothing to him. "Now lets dance and tomorrow I'll show you the world."
