© Ellie Goodson 2016
Chapter Seven-Prison breakout
~Eliza Blue~
Every other psychopath was scrambling to its feet, sprinting for the opened cell door. The guards were nowhere to be seen, it was as if they had vanished into thin air like magicians. On the other hand, I was frozen to the spot, only able to watch the scenery before me with horror. My body refused to move, I wasn't breathing or even thinking. My mouth hung open in a silent scream. Everything I knew, everything I had grown used to, was crumbling away before my eyes.
In the distance, I could see Dexter charging for my cell. "Miss Blue! Miss Blue! You need to go, we need to get out." My head shook furiously, just as vigorously as my hands.
"No, no! You go, Dexter get out of here." With a look to his right, the Joker's bodyguard gave me a sharp nod before sprinting off. Never, had I ever felt so terrified. Messiah, Caesar and their soldiers were the first criminals out, storming for the open cage door. After them, every other criminal had followed. Helga had taken a hold of Apollo and had charged away long ago, Kael and Novalie and Moxie had clambered over the others for the exit after Diem and Fraser.
The room had erupted before my eyes. Everyone was running, sprinting and screaming. Everything was alive in a chaotic manner, moving with unbelievable ferocity. I was being abandoned, left behind without a second glance. It was suddenly like being in the wild, criminal against criminal, every man for itself. People were getting shoved away, trampled on and kicked to the back. Fights were starting between cell mates as each one left the outer cell. Arkham Asylum had lost all order; everything that I knew about it was gone, wiped away before my eyes.
Once Dexter was out, I was alone. Yet, I wasn't quite completely alone. With trembling legs, I took a few shaking steps out of the cell. I was torn, I didn't know whether to head for the Joker's cell and risk getting trapped, losing my chance for freedom. My mind buzzed, should I just leave him behind? My heart was racing in my chest, like a horse galloping in a race for its life. Out of pure anger and pain, I started to cautiously make my way for the cage doors. The Joker had abandoned me for months, why should I bother with him?
Only a few mere steps closer, I felt my heart stop cold as a cell door creaked open. My body froze, the only thing moving was my neck as it twisted to that I could see where the noise had come from. "Leaving so soon?" Filled with relief and anger, I felt my body unfreeze as I charged for the Joker himself. My arms laced themselves around his broad body as soon as I was close enough.
"You left me for three months!" The pain in my voice was undeniable, and so was the anger. "Three months you didn't show your stupid face! Why? Why?" My voice had risen to a scream, and I felt my face reddening and I stepped away from the clown.
The Joker looked different. There were black crescents under his eyes, visible through the white face paint. His make-up had smudged off, revealing most of his natural face. The clown's eyes were bloodshot, and there seemed to be a lack of energy inside of him. His clothes were crumpled, like paper that had been folded too many times. The blue tie that was usually laced around his neck was instead untied, and rested over his shoulders. His hair had been pushed out of his face, and so white face paint trickled up the roots and throughout the green.
The sirens shut off suddenly, bringing both the Joker and I back to life. "Talk later. Right now, we need to get out!" Still furious, I took the Joker's hand with a huff. My ears were ringing from the lack of noise, but my chest still heaved with anxiety and the speed of how fast we were running. My mind raced with a thousand different questions that pestered my mind like a bug. I wanted to scream at the Joker, to hit him with fury before collapsing into tears. What he had done to me...it was exactly why I always closed off all of my feelings. Emotions get you hurt, every time.
It was clear that the Joker knew where he was going, however I had no clue where we were. At some point we came across some guards, their guns aimed right for our heads. Being the useless person that I was, I found myself freezing on the spot with a gasp. The Joker, however, simply whipped out a gun from nowhere and swiftly shot down each guard before they could even pull on the trigger. "You really are no good in a crisis, are you?"
"Well, maybe if I was armed I would be of more use." The clown's words had boiled my blood; it angered to have him criticise me after what he had done to me after the past three months.
With my teeth grinding and fists clenched, I collected a gun of my own from a moaning guard. Silencing him with another bullet, I turned to the Joker with a fire burning in my eyes. "Where are we going?"
"Out, we're leaving." With that, he started forwards once more. My feet followed behind him, and my entire body felt completely numb. It appeared that my brain had shut down from all the mixed emotions; everything felt like a dream-completely surreal. My tongue ached to voice my hatred and questions towards the Joker; however I didn't even trust myself to open my mouth.
Usually, in a situation like this, an average person's mind would shut off and focus completely on the task ahead. Obviously, I'm not an average person, for my mind wouldn't stop racing with a thousand different thoughts. Every question disorientated me a bit more, and it seemed like the entire world was spinning around me, making me dizzy and...sleepy. The lump in my throat continued to grow, and a strong headache was developing all over my brain. My numb hands were shaking, or maybe my entire body was shaking. Sweat trickled down my face, dampening my hair and sticking it to my temples and cheeks.
Continuing to follow the Joker with heavy feet, I felt the world turn and churn, causing me to stumble. My hands hit the floor, along with my head and knees. Warm liquid started to gush down my forehead, and I felt a similar sensation pool from my hands and knees. By the feeling, it appeared that I had fallen right onto broken glass. "Dammit." The words were uttered from my mouth, before being echoed by another voice. Hands clawed at my arms, tugging my heavy body up and resting it against another body.
"Eliza?" My brain connected the voice was a name, or at least a title. The Joker.
Pushing myself off of the body, I stumbled ahead while wiping the blood from my eyes. "I'm fine!" It was meant to come out as a stubborn yell, but instead my mouth could only mumble it. The room was spinning, and the hit to the head had only disorientated me even more. I couldn't understand why my body was melting down, for it had never happened before. Had I been drugged? Or maybe, had my body had decided to give up, at last? I could hear the Joker right behind me; feel his heavy breath on the back of my neck. "Really, I said I'm fine."
My intentions were to turn around, and to hold the Joker back so that I could gather some distance. I was supposed to assure him that I was okay, and that I could care for myself. Instead, what I did was the opposite. With trembling legs, I attempted to turn around, only to find them twisting and tripping over themselves. Blood was still pouring from my body, and the lump in my throat was now suffocating me. Everything happened in slow motion. I watched as the Joker's face dropped with fear as he realised what had happened. I felt air rush past me as my body fell to the floor, knees buckling before finally crashing to the ground. Everything went dark as my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Sweat and blood had collided to form a salty and metallic mixture in my mouth. Everything was numb, everything was dark and everything felt...slow, peaceful.
The last thing I felt before everything stopped moving, was my body colliding with the cold, hard ground. I felt my head whack against the ground, my arms hit the floor with force and my body crushed my legs under its dead weight. I had no idea what had happened. Everything was normal one minute, and then my entire life had crashed before my very eyes. One minute, I was collecting a physics book to make me feel better, and in the next, everything was chaos. Now, I was crumpled on the ground, like a broken doll.