Disclaimer: I don't own "The Dark Knight"
I never thought I would willingly get up early on the weekend or a day off from school until today.
Despite the fact that I had a rough night's sleep the night before, I was actually up and dressed in some comfy work-out clothes five minutes before my alarm clock went off at 6:30 A.M.. With a smile on my face, I walked out of my room and into the hallway to go to Bruce's room to see if he was awake and ready to teach me the self-defense techniques I wanted to learn.
But when I got there, there wasn't even a sign that he had even slept in his bed for the usual two hours he always gets before he goes on his nightly patrols.
He must already be in the exercise area next door I thought to myself. So I made my way over to the next room.
No sign of my godfather in there.
...OK...
The only other place I could think of as to the whereabouts of Bruce was downstairs in the kitchen getting a quick breakfast. As I headed down the spiral staircase to the first floor of the Penthouse, I was greeted with the mouth-watering scent of scrambled eggs and crisp bacon being cooked over the stove while the heavenly aroma of freshly toasted bread floated its way out of the kitchen to my nose. If there was any type of meal Alfred was good at making, it was breakfast, and he was the best at it! Unfortunately, my mind wasn't on breakfast.
It was preoccupied by the fact that Bruce wasn't in the kitchen either, and the smile that was on my face from the moment I woke up, had diminished into a small, confused frown.
Alfred hadn't noticed that I walked in yet, so I took a moment to announce myself.
"Morning, Alfred," I said, almost quietly.
The butler turned around to find me standing in the doorway and the proud smile that appeared on the old man's face made me smile back.
"Well," he said in a bright and cheery voice. "Look who's up and about on her own. I should call The Gotham Times."
I laughed a little bit as I sat myself down at the kitchen counter while Alfred prepared a plate of the delicious breakfast he was making for me.
"Would you like milk or orange juice?" he asked me.
"Um, orange juice is fine," I answered before asking the one question on my mind. "Alfred, do you know where Bruce is?"
"What was that, Miss Sarah?"
For a second, I thought that Alfred really didn't hear me, but...it sounded like he was pretending he didn't hear me.
"...I-I asked where Bruce was." I said again. "...Have you seen him?"
Alfred said nothing for a moment as he put a steaming hot plate of scrambled eggs and bacon over toast in front of me along with a glass of orange juice. I couldn't tell if he was actually trying to remember if he had seen Bruce or if he was hesitating to answer to think up another lie.
"Actually," he started. "I did see him this morning."
I perked up a little when he said this.
"But he left in such a hurry that he told me to give you this note."
The little bit of a smile I had faded when Alfred reached into his pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. Hesitating a bit, I took it from his hand, knowing that I wasn't going to like whatever it was Bruce had written to me.
Sarah-
Emergency meeting at Wayne Enterprises came up. We'll do the self-defense lesson some other time.
See you when I get back from Hong Kong.
Love you,
Bruce.
...Some other time?...Yeah right.
Bruce was probably jumping up and down at the fact that some big important last minute meeting at the office came up. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little upset.
I sat there at the counter quietly, a bit sad that my godfather wasn't going to be able to teach me how to defend myself. He knew how important this was to me, especially since I felt that living in a city like Gotham would become very dangerous soon for everyone. And yet...
...Something didn't add up. Usually when I wanted to do something with Bruce, he'd make time for me. If I wanted him to come with me to Amusement Mile, he'd take the day off. He'd drop everything to spend the day with me. He always had. What made today different?
"Miss Sarah?"
Alfred's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him to find a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah?" I asked, sucking in a breath.
"Is everything all right?" Alfred asked me.
"Yeah. Why?"
"You've hardly touched your breakfast."
I looked down at my plate and took a bite of my breakfast. He was right. My eggs were cold. My bacon felt like dried up beef jerky. The toast was hard and my orange juice was warm. How long was I sitting there? I swallowed up my bite of cold scrambled egg and got up from my seat.
"I guess I'm not hungry," I replied softly as I started making my way to the staircase. "Sorry Alfred."
"Where are you going?" Alfred asked.
"Um...I think I'm gonna call Ally. See if she wants to go shopping or hang out or something."
I didn't say anything more as I walked upstairs back to my room. I don't think I wanted to. What I did want was to call Wayne Enterprises and talk to Bruce about today. Maybe he could call someone from a karate class and have me squeezed in today to learn a few moves. Sitting on my bed and grabbing my cellphone, I called Lucius Fox's front desk. If anyone knew where Bruce would be in the building, it would be Fox.
"Thank you for calling Wayne Enterprises," a secretary answered the other line. "This is Jessica."
I smiled a little bit. Jessica was Fox's secretary, who worked at Wayne Enterprise's since before Bruce came back from his 7-year absence. She was a nice lady who always treated me like a little sister whenever I would come and visit Bruce and Fox at work.
"Hey Jessica," I said. "It's Sarah."
"Hey Sarah! What can I help you with?"
"Is Lucius busy?"
"I'm sorry, but he's in a meeting right now. What do you need?"
"Um, is my godfather in that meeting?"
"Mr. Wayne hasn't been here for two days. I don't think so. Why?"
"...There-there wasn't an emergency meeting this morning?"
"No. There wasn't."
...Bruce lied to me?
...And he got Alfred to lie to me too?
I sat there on my bed shocked. I can't say that I didn't think of the possibility, but I can't say I wasn't surprised...He promised me that he wouldn't lie to me again.
He lied to me.
"Sarah?" Jessica asked on the other line. "You there?"
"Um..." I found my voice. "...Yeah. I'm here."
"Do you want me to tell Fox you called?"
"No. That's OK. Um...Thanks Jessica. Bye."
I hung up the phone and sat there...just stunned at the fact that my godfather lied to me. Why would he lie? What was the reason? Was he being over-protective again?
Just...Why would he lie?
I stared at my cell phone and took a look at my contacts list...I could call him right now and demand to know why he lied...But I didn't.
You see, the thing is I never fought with Bruce before. We have never argued. We never raised our voices at each other. And I didn't want that to happen. Especially if he was leaving town for a few days. I didn't want tension between us before he left.
Thirty minutes of fighting over what to do next, I had called Ally, asked if she wanted to hang out and shop, got dressed, packed my bags for tonight's sleepover and the weekend with Rachel, and left the Penthouse after saying goodbye to Alfred.
...All the while, trying to keep myself from crying.
I had spent my day shopping at the mall with my friends instead of hitting punching bags and learning to defend myself. Ally was surprised when she got my call at 6:30 in the morning, suggesting we spend another weekend buying the latest fashion trends money could buy. When she asked me whatever happened to the planned quality time with my godfather, all I muttered to her was "Business Meeting" - - the same lie given to me by both Alfred and Bruce. Fortunately, Ally never asked anymore on the matter, though the disappointment I felt since breakfast was evident to her.
By the time the evening took over her nocturnal rule over Gotham City, I was sitting in Ally's bedroom surrounded by friends and warm company. I loved sleepovers at Ally and Kayla's house. They were always so much fun. There was even a time or two when we would sleep over at Celia's house.
We never had the sleepovers over at the Penthouse. Bruce was always worried that one of my friends would accidentally discover a little clue that would lead them to find out he was the Batman. He said he would feel better about it as soon as Wayne Manor was rebuilt but until then, parties for me were limited at the Penthouse.
That night was Celia's night to plan the sleepover. We came up with this idea a long time ago that we would take turns hosting the sleepover. Whenever it was Ally's turn, we would spend it doing makeovers and braiding each others hair. Kayla's nights of hosting the sleepover would have us watching really gory movies that would scare the crap out of me and having her prank call every person who was mean to us or anybody else at school, which was mostly Haley Kingston's house...And even if it wasn't Kayla's turn to host, she's always prank calling somebody. My night would have us outside playing flashlight tag and board games.
Celia's plan to host was to have us watch old 1930's horror movies like "The Bride of Frankenstein" or "The Mummy" and tell ghost stories up on Ally's roof with candles. Tonight we were watching the classic 1931 "Dracula". I read the book by Bram Stoker around Halloween last year, and was curious to see the movie.
We had just finished watching the movie around 11:30 or so. Ally and I had been sitting on her bed eating popcorn and drinking soda, while Celia was at the foot of the bed on her back, her upper body hanging upside facing Ally's flat screen TV. Kayla was over by the desk where she could use her cell phone for her prank calls while it was charging and still be able to watch the movie.
"Wow, Ci-Ci," Ally spoke first as she stretched her body from sitting still for the past hour and a half. "That was actually good. I'm glad you picked the movie tonight."
"See?" Celia grinned with pride, sitting up and straightening her black rectangular glasses on her face. "I told you guys the classic monster movies never fail."
Kayla looked up from texting on her cell phone at this point in our conversation.
"Dracula's a vampire, right?" she asked us.
I raised an eyebrow while I was clearing up the popcorn and soda mess.
"Yeah," I answered in a "duh" tone. "I don't think he was biting those people's necks for fun, Kayla. What's your point?"
"How come he didn't sparkle?" Kayla asked again.
Celia twisted her body around to face Kayla, a look on her face that was both a glare and something that said "Are you seriously asking that question?". Ally and I looked at each other and sighed. We hoped this wasn't going to turn into one of those nights. Kayla and Celia may have been partners-in-crime and best friends and all, but even friends have their disagreements and opinions.
"Kayla..." Celia said slowly. "We've been over this everyday for the past four months. I will say it one more time and hope that you will understand: Vampires. Don't. Sparkle. Case closed."
"Well, they should!" Kayla stuck her tongue out at Celia.
"Whatever," Celia rolled her eyes before turning to Ally and I. "So, what do you guys want to do now?"
"I don't know," Ally shrugged with a smile. "It's your night, Ci."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Don't you have anything other than classic movies planned?"
"Not really," Celia confessed before thinking to herself. "...How 'bout we go for a walk in those woods in Ally's backyard?"
"A walk?" Kayla asked in protest. "Aw man. We might as well call it a night now."
I was about to tell Kayla to stop complaining when an idea popped into my head. Quickly acting, I reached over to Ally's bedside table and grabbed a flashlight, turning it on beneath my face to create an eerie look.
"Not if we tell ghost stories on the way," I grinned mischievously. "Come on. Let's get the dogs and go out."
"That's a good idea!" Celia exclaimed. "I've got a good one I can tell."
Kayla just raised her eyebrow in confusion.
"This sleepover just got a little bit more lame," she commented. "Ghost stories, Sarah? Are you kidding me?"
"Do I ever kid?" I asked, putting my shoes on.
"Come on Kayla," Ally tossed her cousin her coat. "What's wrong with ghost stories?"
"What's wrong is that we're a little too old for ghost stories," Kayla stated her frustrated-based opinion. "We're not 6 anymore. And what good is a ghost story if the people in it are not real and it's not even set in where you live?..." Kayla then grinned. "Unless it's a ghost story with Haley Kingston in it being terrorized. Then it's a good story."
"Kayla," Celia said, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "You think any story with Haley Kingston being terrorized is good. Besides...I think I've got a story that will scare the crap outta you."
Ten minutes later, we were all outside together in Ally's backyard woods with Ally's three golden retrievers on their leashes: Chewey, Genghas, and Colonel. I had control over Genghas, the dog who tried to protect me from being kidnapped last year by my Uncle Edgar's associate. Ever since then, Genghas seemed to be the dog that was always by my side. He's always very protective of me when I was over at Ally's house. I guess he didn't want anything to happen to me again.
Kayla had Chewey and Ally had Colonel with them while Celia led us on the pathway in the woods with a flashlight in hand.
It was a very chilly night that night. And eerie as well. It was the perfect setting to tell a ghost story.
"So what's the story about, Ci-Ci?" Ally asked Celia, trying to keep up with Colonel's fast paced walk.
"Frankly, I don't know really," Celia replied. "All I know is what people at school have told me. Even the teachers have heard about this guy, and they're a little creeped out too."
"Really?" I asked, a little intrigued by this story already. "I'm liking this story so far."
"OK, then let's get started," Ally came to a clearing. "You guys wanna sit here?"
"Nah," Kayla answered. "I don't get good reception out here."
Without even glancing at Kayla, I grabbed the cell phone that was in her hand and put it in my coat pocket.
"Hey!" she shouted in protest.
"Quit trying to prank call Haley Kingston, Kayla," I warned. "After the last 20 times, she's probably figured out how to block your number by now."
"Give it back!"
Kayla reached for my cell phone, but Genghas, ever the protective one, growled at her before she could do anything.
"Whoa!" she jumped back, withdrawing her hand. "What's up with Genghy over here? He's never done that before."
"That's 'cause you never tried to grab something from Sarah before," Ally held the beam of her flashlight in Kayla's face, who winced at the brightness. "If you promise to not do anymore prank calls, she'll give it back."
Kayla looked at her cousin with a quizzical look, then to me, then back at her.
"I can't make that promise," she said bluntly. "Keep it."
"Good," Ally said before turning to Celia. "Celia, are you prepared to tell us a ghost story that will scare us beyond our wildest imaginations?"
For a moment, Celia was quiet. She stared at all of us as if we just asked her a question that she didn't know the answer to.
I don't think Ally and Kayla knew how to register the expression on Celia's face at the time. I had just sat down on the dirt floor with Genghas when I saw what the look was my dear friend had.
I'll never forget it. It looked a bit doubtful, hesitant...and also fearful.
"...On second thought," she started, looking down at her feet. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you guys this story..."
"Why not?" Ally asked, surprised. "Is it gonna be too scary for Kayla or something?"
"I'm standing right here, Ally..." Kayla muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"No," Celia answered. "...But I don't think going on rumors of what I've heard count as a ghost story."
"Rumors?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows.
"You mean," Ally put her two cents in. "There's a possibility that this guy may actually exist?"
"Well, now you gotta tell us!" Kayla exclaimed, suddenly interested.
Celia sighed. It didn't look like she wanted to tell the story anymore. Fearing that we were peer-pressuring her, I took the reins in talking for a moment...
...Plus, if there were rumors going around about something scary in Gotham, there was a 50/50 chance that those rumors could be true. If there was anything going on, I had to tell Bruce what I heard. I was gonna try and get as much information as possible while trying not to appear like I was pushing Celia to say something she didn't feel comfortable saying.
"Hang on guys," I told Ally and Kayla. "Let's not push just yet." I then turned to Celia. "Ci, what do you mean rumors? Has something happened lately?"
After a few seconds of silence from her, Celia shrugged.
"I don't know," she replied. "A part of me doesn't think so..."
"...And the other part of you?" I asked when she hesitated.
"...OK, look. You guys know how weird Gotham can get sometimes right?"
"Sometimes?" Kayla's tone begged to differ.
"Shut-up, Kayla," Ally whispered.
"Yeah," I answered Celia. "We know how weird it can get. What's your point?"
"Well..." Celia let out a breath. "You know how people seem to get famous around here by wearing masks for some reason? Like Batman? Or, you know, that weirdo with the burlap sack on his head and the drugs?" I nodded. "Well, this guy I've been hearing about sort of falls into that category, except he wears make-up and stuff."
"There's a guy running around Gotham wearing make-up?" Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah."
"What for?"
"Probably to scare people."
"A guy wearing make-up to scare people isn't scary. It's just stupid."
"It's not stupid if he's murdering people, Kayla!"
"What?" Ally and I both said in unison.
You know how sometimes you watch horror movies and there's always that scene where the characters find out something shocking and some weird weather thing happens right after to give it a much more evil feeling?
Well, it happened right after Celia told us about this guy murdering people.
The wind seemed to pick up a little, and I could've sworn I heard thunder rolling somewhere in the distance.
Genghas started growling at something behind me too, but he quickly hushed when I patted him on the head and got up off the ground to move closer to Celia. I tried to remember any murders that have happened recently, other than the clown robbers at Gotham National Bank, but nothing seemed to come up.
"Ci-Ci," I looked at her with concern on my face. "...How much do you know about this?"
"...I've just heard rumors about this guy," Celia started. "They started about a year ago, right after Sarah was rescued from the drowning incident in the Gotham River and right around when everyone in the city saw the Batman's light signal in the sky."
"These rumors have been going on for that long?"
"Yeah...That long..."
"...What's this guy's name?"
To this, Celia shrugged.
"No one knows for sure," she explained. "But, based on what he's done and how people describe him...I call him the Man with the Bleeding Smile."
Once again, Genghas started growling at whatever it was that was behind me, a little bit louder this time. I looked behind me this time to see what it was that was making him growl, but all I could see was just the bushes behind me.
"Calm down, boy," I whispered, scratching Genghas behind the ears. "It's OK."
I looked back at Celia with another puzzled look. She had called this strange person The Man with the Bleeding Smile. Why? What has he done that inspired Celia to give him that name?
"The Man with the Bleeding Smile?" Kayla asked in a skeptical tone. "Really? That's the name you give him, Ci?"
"Ignore her, Celia," Ally advised. "Tell us more about this guy."
"I've heard he's got green hair," Celia continued. "Or it looks like it's green or something. And he's got a real pale face, black eyes-"
"Ci-Ci, Ci-Ci, hang on a moment. Stop right there," I interrupted. "...Can you tell me why you call him The Man with the Bleeding Smile?"
Celia's face seemed to pale a little bit more, and that made me worried.
Here's something about Celia you probably already know, but I just want to throw it out there just so all of you truly understand why I'm worried. Celia loved all things dark and mysterious, and the occasional gory and disgusting movie. She would never flinch at the sight of blood or the thought of exploding guts or something like that.
...But if she paled like she did when I asked her about this man, it must've been pretty bad.
She gulped once or twice, took a deep breath and looked at me.
"He...He just-" she started.
All of a sudden, Genghas went from growling to ferociously barking to the end of his leash at whatever it was that was in the bushes behind us. Before my arm could be wrenched off while I was holding the leash, I tightened my grip and held onto Genghas before he could get loose as the other dogs, Chewey and Colonel, started growling.
"Crazy dog!" Kayla shouted. "What's gotten into him?"
"I don't know!" Ally shouted back. "Genghas! Knock it off! Settle down!"
While my friends and I were trying to settle Genghas down, I thought I saw something in the bushes. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Whatever it was, that's what the dog was barking out...Funny though...I caught a silhouette of it. It almost looked like...
"Whoa!"
I suddenly fell forward when the other end of Genghas's leash broke off, and he took off running after whatever was in the bushes. I didn't see, but I could hear shuffling and twigs snapping. By the time I looked up, Genghas and his prey had run far enough to where we could only hear barking.
"You OK?" Ally quickly asked as she and Kayla helped me up.
"I'm fine," I dusted clumps of dirt off my pajamas.
"Come on!" Ally took off running after Genghas with Colonel by her side. "My parents will kill us if they knew we were outside at night and we lost one of the dogs! Genghas! Come back here!"
All of us started to run after Genghas through Ally's darkened wooded area, calling after him in hopes that he would stop chasing what we thought was a mere shadow...Nothing more, nothing less. Occasionally, one of us would trip over a tree branch that would show it's roots from the ground, but we'd all hurry to get up and make sure everyone was okay before we took off running again.
While we ran, the thoughts in my head ran faster than my own feet. The silhouette I saw in the bushes looked exactly like the one I saw on the terrace outside my room back at the Penthouse...
...I swear, if Bruce ever came here dressed up as Batman and was spying on me to feed his protective side before he left for Hong-Kong, I would strangle him...
We finally caught up with Genghas, who was barking at something up a large oak tree. Ally took the leash from me and tied the broken end of it to Genghas's collar while he was still barking.
"Ally," Kayla started to heckle through exhausted breaths. "Your dog *gasp* is *gasp* a freaking *gasp* psycho."
"I wonder what he was barking at..." I wondered out loud.
"It was probably his own shadow," Ally finished fixing the leash. "Bad dog!" My friend turned toward us. "Guys, why don't we call it a night before we get caught?"
As Ally spoke, I took a good look at the tree Genghas was barking at...Whatever it was, it was still up there...
"One minute," I said softly, my gaze never leaving the tree. "...Kayla, give me a boost. I wanna see what's up there."
"Huh?" Kayla asked as if she didn't hear me. "What? Why?"
"...There's something up there."
I moved closer to the tall oak tree, my gaze never leaving the branches above me. My friends stared at me like I was crazy or something.
"Sarah," Ally tried to get me to see reason. "Genghas was probably chasing a cat or a rabbit."
"No," I shook my head, disagreeing. "I'm pretty sure it was bigger than that. Kayla, if you give me a boost, I'll give you your cell phone back."
"Deal," Kayla moved towards me.
Ally didn't say anything, although I could totally tell she was standing behind me with a gaping mouth to go with her shocked expression. Kayla bent down next to me and linked her fingers together to make a step for me so I could reach the first branch. I put my hand on her shoulder and a foot in her hands.
"OK," Kayla breathed out. "Ready? One, Two, Three!"
I pushed myself up thanks to Kayla's support and was able to grab the first branch of the oak tree. Below me, I heard Kayla grunt a little bit.
"Hey Sarah," she said to me from the ground. "I think that last pizza slice you ate made you a little heavy. I mean, you don't wanna ruin that petite figure of yours girl,"
"Shut up Kayla," I lazily replied as I reached for another tree branch.
"I'm telling you Sarah!" Ally shouted. "There's nothing up there! Now let's go back inside! I don't wanna get in trouble for being outside this late!"
"In a minute!" I called out, climbing higher into the tree.
Let me tell you guys something. The mind is a very powerful part of your body. It can make you see, feel, taste, and hear things that aren't even real. Things that aren't even there. And then you're left wondering whether or not it was all in your head.
At the time, I was 99 percent sure that Batman himself was hiding somewhere up in that tree. I couldn't deny the things that I have seen; the things that I have felt.
Genghas growling at something in the bushes.
The silhouette of the Bat's mask presented to me in the darkness.
And the fact that Batman and his encounter with dogs in recent history weren't exactly very good ones gave me the big green light that he was here.
But as I took one branch higher into the tree, I thought I saw a bit of the cape, flowing in the slightly blowing wind. Grinning to myself, I slowly reached out to grab it and to give it a small tug...It had been a year since I was this close to a friend I had made in my time of need. But before I could even brush my fingers against it, I heard someone scream from down below me...and then laughter.
"What is it?" I called, looking down below me. "What's going on?"
"Sarah!" Ally shouted with laughter. "You gotta come down here and see what scared the crap outta Kayla."
Before I climbed down, I looked back to where the piece of cape would've been, but it was gone. I was...not surprised to say the least. I mean, Bruce does have a habit of disappearing without making a sound.
Then I was left wondering whether or not I had really seen Batman. Was it all in my head? Or did I really see him?
With a puzzled look written on my face, I climbed down the tree carefully and joined my friends. When I reached them, Ally and Celia were laughing, desperately trying to keep all three dogs on their leashes. Kayla didn't look to happy. She had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. I raised an eyebrow.
"OK..." I was confused to the whole situation. "What happened?"
Celia and Ally couldn't answer. They were too busy laughing and holding onto each other. Ally managed to point a finger down at the ground near Kayla's feet, who had a scowl on her face and her arms folded against her chest in a prideful fashion. There was the cutest little black kitten walking around Kayla's legs, purring as it went.
A smile creeped on my lips, and I looked at Kayla.
"Really?" I asked, giggling. "You were scared of a kitten?"
"It just came out of nowhere!" Kayla protested as we all laughed some more. "Shut up! What was up there anyway? Did you find anything?"
"...No," I said softly as I turned to look at the tree. "...It was just my imagination."
"Aw," Celia bent down towards the kitten. "Come here, sweetheart,"
The kitten tentatively walked towards Celia's warm and loving arms before jumping in there and purring against her chest, apparently satisfied that it was immediately loved unconditionally.
"Isn't he adorable?" Celia asked rhetorically.
"I think he's just a fur ball," Kayla said in a grumpy voice.
"You're just mad because you were scared of a cute little kitty," Ally said in a cute voice as she scratched the cat behind it's ears.
"I'm keeping it," Celia snuggled her cheek up against the kitten. "He is so cute!"
Ally and Celia went ahead back to the house with the kitten right between them, the two of them gushing over how cute it was. Kayla followed with a scowl on her face, adding in her own opinions such as "It's just a stray!" or "Your parents are never gonna let that thing near your little hellions of a brother and sister!" or even "How do you even know it's a boy?".
For a few more seconds, I stayed behind and stared at the tree where I thought I saw the Caped Crusader take refuge to when Genghas started running.
On the way back to Ally's house, I was still debating whether or not I had seen what I had seen.
What would happen later that night would help me be closer to the truth.
Sleeping over at a friends house is obviously different than sleeping in your own bed. A lot of things can happen and if something scares you in the middle of the night, you're on your own.
In my case, if I had another nightmare, I couldn't go to Bruce for help or for comfort.
And that's exactly what happened, except...I don't think I was really alone that night.
It happened around two or three in the morning. All of us were in Ally's bedroom asleep in different spots. Ally was curled up on the colorful hammock she had swinging in between her closet and bookshelf, Celia was sleeping at the foot of Ally's bed, with the new kitten she had found sound asleep against her chest. Kayla was lightly snoring underneath Ally's bed, the only evidence of her being actually underneath her cousins bed were her two feet sticking out.
I had been sleeping uneasily against the glass doors that led to the terrace that very dark night. Actually, it was so dark, I couldn't even see my hand if it was right there in front of my face.
And I did have another nightmare for the third time in a row. The same one where all I heard was screaming and crying. Only this time, the crying came from me.
I made sure I kept it to myself when I awoke in tears. I didn't want to wake up my friends.
But here's what happened.
I remembered trying to go back to sleep, even though I was still crying from an unnamed fear, and I felt a hand smooth back the hair on my head, and a gloved thumb wiping away the tears on my cheeks.
I knew it was him. I knew it was Batman, but I still couldn't see him and I was too tired to actually try and talk to him and ask him why he was here.
"It was just a dream," I heard the soft, deep and growling tone of his voice. "Go back to sleep."
I shook my head. I didn't want to. I was afraid that this was still a dream of some sort, and that if I did go back to sleep, it would be an uneasy one.
"It's all right," he said again. "...Go back to sleep."
As soon as I felt the familiar kiss on my forehead, I almost felt the wind from outside blow on me as the door to Ally's terrace opened...But it was gone as soon as it came and I was once again asleep.
I know Bruce came as Batman that night, but the question remained: If Bruce said I couldn't come near him when he is Batman...
...Then why is he starting now?
(A/N: "Hey guys...I know it's been a while since I updated, but a lot of life-changing experiences happened in the past few months. Here's what happened.
I got engaged."
Bruce Wayne: "Before you start jumping up and down saying "Congratulations", we want you guys to know that a lot of crap happened after the author said "Yes". I swear, she dated a real idiot that had a flagpole up his butt."
Me: "He started asking me how much money I made every time I got my paycheck, set me on this really unrealistic budget, pointed out every one of my flaws and my family's flaws, and because I wanted to see the good in people, I overlooked it...Until on the day I had bought my wedding dress, my friends were on a dating website looking at random guys in the area I was living in, and he had a profile on it. They told me, showed me, and I got the courage to tell him that he was treating me like crap, and that if he didn't show me or my family more respect, then it was over. He said I was over-reacting, and then I showed him what I found. I broke off the engagement and was left with a white dress that took me a long while to stop being angry at. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update again. I hope to have this done soon, before "The Dark Knight Rises" comes out.
Speaking of which, I spent the summer following the production of the movie...There is a lot of interesting developments, including that the time setting of the third Batman movie will be set 8 years after the events of "The Dark Knight", which means that Sarah Chante will be about 21 years old during this, which excites and scares me at the same time.
I also hope to have a little Christmas Special story to go with the Friend stories on December 17...My 21st birthday.
I hope you all forgive me for my absence while I mended a broken heart."
Bruce Wayne: "Does this mean I can start nagging you again?"
Me: "...No."
Bruce Wayne: "I'm doing it anyway."
Me: "Yeah, I figured you would."
Bruce Wayne: "Review please!")
