Ok here's the deal. No I didn't get abducted by aliens, or get killed, or anything like that. I just lost my will to write for a very very very very VERY long time. I have no idea what happened…I just totally lost my mojo or my muse LOL. And I am so so so SOOOOOOOoooOOOO sorry to all of you who have read this story and loved it. You have no idea how sorry I am…I feel really REALLY bad. I hate it when I'm reading a story and the author just up and disappears. I know life happens, but it still sucks.
I am up to Chapter 17 right now, I know AHHHH OMG POST THEM POST THEM!!! But, they aren't quite finished yet…I'm still somewhat in writer's block mode. I didn't realize I had so many fans, and fans that are actually asking for this story to be finished. I have no faith in my ability as an author apparently hehehehe. I'm trying not to draw it out, but I always find ending a story is the hardest part….especially when you really don't want the story to end. I want to try to give this story 30 chapters, but I'm not making any promises or anything. It might go over or under depending on which ending I decide on.
Alright enough of my rambling….on with the story!!!
DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Walmart....or anything else in this story except Laiss....she's mine :D
Alright, where am I gonna get some food around this town? Bruce had given me a wad of money at one point during my stay, in case I ever needed it. Boy I bet he's regretting that one now! I smirk to myself as I look over the wad of cash that I had hidden in my bra. It pays to have a multi-billionaire slip you some cash, especially when its $2,000. I stuff the cash back in its hiding spot along with my license, and smirk.
I look towards the street and start walking. I stop and people are walking by on both sides of the street and there is traffic going through at a pretty steady and rapid pace. I see a sign down the road a short way to my left that reads 'Gotham Regal Hotel'. Well how convenient! I wonder if its all that expensive. While I'm standing there absent mindedly thinking, something causes my head to jerk to the right. About five cars back from where I am standing, is a dark gray blue car that looks exactly like Bruce's causing me to panic. My heart almost stops in my chest and I have all I can do to keep from passing out again. I've never passed out and fainted and been so weak in all my life!!! I don't know if I should run or not, so I just stand there. To my relief, when the car does go by, its just some frizzy headed blonde woman in a business suit driving by.
I finally find my legs again and venture across the road in between traffic and make my way towards the hotel. Some people stare at me as I walk by, but most just ignore me and that's a huge relief. When I make my way into the red brick building that's the hotel, I notice how expensive the place looks and get a little nervous about the price. But to my delight, the man that is taking my reservation is under my charm, and he gives me a nice discount. Instead of paying $200 a night, he knocks it down to $100 for me after I flirt with him a little. He doesn't even ask me for ID, which is a relief. It would be a bit hard to explain my license, since its from another world. I hate taking advantage of people this way, its making me feel ashamed for what I'm doing. But considering my current circumstances, I think its understandable and slightly justified.
After I get my room, which is thankfully on the ground floor, I ask him about local restaurants and businesses. Luckily, there are good restaurants close by, and one in the hotel. There is a shopping plaza down the road about a quarter of a mile, one that I saw briefly earlier driving to the council with Bruce. I noticed the Wal-Mart name on the sign and almost flipped my lid. I didn't know this world had the same businesses mine does. That's something I've come to notice about my world and this one, a lot of the things are the same. Maybe that's why the over lapping of the two worlds wouldn't be so noticeable to everyone.
I make my way to my room first to get settled in a little, and the room is more than I had hoped for. There's a king sized bed, a T.V with cable, extra pillows and blankets, a generous supply of toiletries, really luxurious fluffy towels and a nice monogrammed terry cloth robe in the large whirlpool tub bathroom. There is also a small washer and dryer inside the room which is great. I leave the room and make my way to the restaurant that's in the hotel. After I eat some lunch, I decide to head back to my hotel room and brush my teeth. After I do this I head out to the Wal-Mart that's down the road for some shopping.
While I'm walking, I keep a sharp eye out for Bruce or the Joker. I've managed to keep my energy off the radar for this long, and I'm not exactly sure how long that will last. I don't even know what will happen when I fall asleep. By all rights, I should be terrified out of my mind. I'm alone in the city of Gotham, which up until a few days ago, I thought was imaginary. And Gotham is a pretty big city. The fact that the Joker is lurking somewhere and that Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, is out there searching for me makes me shiver a little. I'm not scared at all-I'm excited. This is exhilarating, and wild. Everything is still surreal to me here.
I get to the Wal-mart without incident. I shop around and pick up things I know that I will need: some shampoo, conditioner, a hair brush and comb set, some scrunchies, powder, deodorant, floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, a razor, face wash, a long baggy shirt to use as a night shirt, khaki shorts, a nice pink tank top, a package of panties, some socks and a small bottle of laundry detergent and a small box of dryer sheets. I end up spending under $100 which is great. I don't plan on being in this town long, tomorrow I will find a way home even if it kills me. I walk back to the hotel, but this time I'm more arrogant and don't even bother looking around for the Joker or Bruce. When I get back to the hotel room and latch the door I start laughing and doing a happy little dance. Looking over at the clock I notice its three in the afternoon. I decide to strip down wash the clothes I'm wearing in with the new ones so I have some nice clean clothes for later. While they are washing I watch some TV. Strangely enough, the station names are all the same in my world. The people that are on the stations even look similar to the ones in my world, so similar that they even have the same names. Maybe this is what Shane meant when he said things overlap all the time and its unnoticeable to everyone. A thought hits me just then, while I'm laying here naked across the bed. The things are the same as in my world. The people, the stations, the places. Things that were currently going on in my world, are currently going on here all around the globe. The only thing that isn't anywhere on here is any mention of the new summer blockbuster movie, The Dark Knight. Its as if…it doesn't exist here. Well it exists, just not as a movie. As real life. This makes me wonder, is my life just a movie in someone else's world? Is someone watching me right now, on a screen somewhere? My head starts to spin a little and I realize after a little while that the washer stopped, so I go over and throw everything into the dryer. I glance over at the clock and its now four, almost
dinner time. I decide to go take a nice long, hot shower while all my clothes are drying. After I'm out and dried off and in my robe, I go flop down on the bed and glace at the time again. 5:00 p.m. I let out a deep sigh. Everything is so boring now. I click on the TV one more time to check the local news station out. Walking over to the dryer to pull out some clean clothes, I hear a this just in late breaking news segment starting. I'm half-heartedly listening as I'm rummaging through the warm clothes, I hear some male reporter say 'The Joker', which causes a lump to collect in my throat. I walk back out from the bathroom and look at the TV. What I see next floors me. There are flaming piles of rock, burning paper, people crying and screaming.
'…Again, the Joker strikes at Murray Bank, taking every last cent, and blowing up the building before anyone could get out alive. There are said to have been at least forty employees and an unknown number of customers inside the bank at the time the explosion happened. There were no survivors. We are urging residents in Gotham to please stay in their homes and off the streets. The Joker was last spotted heading out of town…'
I can't take anymore and shut it off. Why? Why would you kill people so heartlessly? Looking down at the ring I'm wearing, I have all I can do not to burst into tears. I'm in love with a maniac. A maniac who can't possibly love me back. I decide its best not to think on it, and just get dressed and go eat some dinner. I decide to wear my new shorts and new tank top to the restaurant. After I'm done eating a big dinner, I head back to my hotel room. By now the sun is hanging low in the sky, causing everything to take on a reddish glow. Being bored out of my mind is never a good thing for me. I decide to visit the front desk again and ask what there is to do in this town. I'm told that I really should stay in my hotel room to be safe with the Joker running around. But working my charms on the guy working here again, I manage to find out there is a movie theater down the road a short way and around the corner. That would be the movie theater I saw going to the council. Its even on the same road, just a short way up from it. I decide that's probably not the best place to go. I also am told that there is a roller rink up the road about a mile or so. There is also a high end night club that's right across the road from the roller rink.
Heading out of the hotel, I decide the roller rink sounds like fun and head that way. The evening air is heavy, but cool as it blows across my skin. The lights of Gotham city are starting to slowly click on one by one. Electric and neon signs flashing here and there, street lights humming above me, headlights of passing cars. It's hard to believe this is another world. Lost in thought for a long while, I come up on the roller rink faster than I had anticipated. Across the street, the nightclub still looks closed, but the hotel clerk was right, it is a high end night club. There are velvet lined ropes out front of the building, and the windows are completely blacked out. The sign above the club isn't lit yet, and the letters scrolled out in flowing old English script spell, 'Renaissance'. Just ahead of me I see a dimly lit neon sign that says 'Roller-Rama' and I head into the building. It's darker than I would of liked inside, and the air is musty and thick. I can smell hotdogs and pizza cooking, and I can hear a popcorn machine popping. It's very open inside with very little walls blocking the view of any one single area. Off to my left, there is a counter and behind it are racks filled with rental roller skates. A man behind the counter looks up at me and his expression perks up when he looks at me. His skin is very dark, and he has extremely sunk in eyes. Must be from all the late nights working at the roller rink. Over to the right, there is a brightly lit concession stand, with a woman standing behind it setting out the condiment packets into their respective bins. She looks up but doesn't pay particular attention to me, just flashes a quick little smile. Out in front of me there is the skate floor, surrounded by black four feet guard rails with three bars stretching the entire length of the floor. There are darkened dug out areas at either end of the skate floors, with black benches inside that are barely visible from where I'm standing. The walls and floor are all painted black, with bright neon colors speckled randomly all over. Typical roller rink. I walk over to the counter where the man is, and he smiles brightly at me.
"Evening. Anything I can help you with sugar?" His voice is husky, as he looks eagerly at me.
"Uh, yes…do you have a size five skate in ladies please?" I say sweetly and try to smile.
"Why I sure do, stay right here now don't go no where I'll be right back with them stakes." He says winking at me and turning around.
Suddenly I hear a noise from behind me and I look over to my left, and see some people coming in. Just some teenage boys that are obviously brave enough to come out with the Joker running around. I turn back around and jump a little when I hear the skates clunk down in front of me.
"That'll be $3 for the rentals sugar." He says smiling at me.
Reaching into my pocket, I take out the money and flip thru my bills and hand him three ones and thank him as I walk away to go put my skates on. Looking down at my ring I sigh. This should keep me busy for a little while and keep my mind off….well….yeah' I make my way around the corner of the rental counter area, and realize that there are numerous black plastic lawn tables and chairs around the corner, as well as around the corner of the concession stand. Finding a place close to the skate floor, I pull a chair out and sit down and take my sneakers off. I frown as I look down at my sneakers and then look up. Directly in front of me, and on the left wall of the rental desk are little lockers with orange keys in them. Putting on my skates and lacing them up, I slowly roll over to the lockers, grab a quarter from my pocket and insert the quarter and the key pops out and I lock my shoes inside. I roll my way back out and onto the skate floor. As I'm making my way around the floor, I notice the boys that came in are all leering at me. I roll my eyes and just continue to skate. The music that comes on makes me jump a little and almost fall, and I look over to the back of the lockers and the man that was at the rental counter is giving me a thumbs up indicating he's turned on the music for me. My jaw almost drops as I realize they have the same music in my world as they do here. It's so mind blowing and fascinating how similar our worlds are, and how much is the same in them. The song playing happens to be Sandstorm by Darude, a very popular skating song in my roller rink at home. I pick up the pace a little and notice that one of the boys that came in has actually gotten brave enough to come out on the floor. He has shaggy brownish hair, a lot of acne, and is wearing a pair of carpenter jeans and a black and white stripped hoodie with a black t-shirt underneath. As I whip around past him, he calls out to me.
"Hey! Hey you!" His voice is almost as shaggy as his hair. Out of politeness, I stop.
"Yes?" I try to be as friendly as I can.
"You new here?"
"Well, yes. But I won't be here very long."
"Want to skate with me?" His facial expressions and voice, along with his giggling buddies in the background couldn't make him any more obvious than he already was.
"Sure." I say, trying not to sound too annoyed.
His eyes light up and I hear mutters of 'score' from his sniggering friends. "Cool." He says as he starts to skate towards me. I move slowly around the rink with him as he talks over the music.
"So what's your name?"
"Serenity" I didn't want to give this kid my real first name, and technically Serenity is part of my name so I'm not really lying. "What's your name?"
"Matt. How long are you gonna be in town?"
"Hopefully only until tomorrow…"
"Oh really? That's too bad. I would of liked to get to know you better." I ignore his obvious attempt at flirting and look around the roller rink.
By this time, more people had filed into the door. Must be people here are use to the Joker running around on a killing spree. Some were looking out at us, some were over ordering food and the concession stand lady was running around filling orders, some were renting skates and some had begun to lace up their skates and were eagerly looking out at the skate floor.
"So…Serenity. How old are you?" He asks as we come to a stop near the entrance to the skate floor.
"Seventeen. And you?" I ask as I walk over to the concession stand with him following me like a lost puppy.
"I'm seventeen too. Are you thirsty?" He says eyeing the concession stand.
"Yes, I'm going to get a soda. Would you like one?" Just then, one of my favorite skating songs comes on, Caramel Dansen, and I immediately get all excited and forget to mask my energy. "Oh! I love this song!" I chirp out and Matt smiles at me.
"Yeah I'm thirsty too, and don't worry its my treat." He says pulling a twenty out of his pocket.
"Well thank you Matt." I say smiling at him. I'm starting to get happy, a little too happy. A little too energetic. "May I help you?" The lady behind the counter asks and I turn to her.
"I'll have a small Sprite…" I say as I look at Matt.
"And I'll have a large Coke." He says.
"One Sprite and one Coke coming right up. That'll be three dollars." She says as she turns to get cups from beside the soda machine. I'm standing there bobbing my head to the music and listening to the soft whooshing sound of the soda machine.
We get out sodas and Matt pays the lady and gets his change. Then we go over to a table that doesn't have anyone sitting at and I take a big drink out of my soda and then slowly roll over to the rental counter. I don't even notice that everyone in the place is staring at me.
"Excuse me." I say to the man behind the counter.
"Yes Miss?" he turns from taking inventory and looks at me.
"Could you please play that song you just played again? I really love it and I missed it out on the floor because I was getting a soda." I work my charm on him and he smiles and winks as he goes into the back to repeat the song. When he comes out I thank him and go straight for the floor and give Matt the come on look. He follows me out on the floor, and this is when I really get everyone's attention. I start skating backwards, sideways, and doing little flips and kicks. Back in my world, the roller rink was almost like a second home to me. My grandfather actually got me into roller-skating, rollerblading, and into ice skating to keep my coordination up for boxing and kickboxing. Not to mention it was just plain fun. As I'm twirling around the skate floor, I'm not even paying attention that everyone in the place is crowded around the guard rails watching me with awe. I don't even bother trying to hide my energy, it has totally slipped my mind. For just one moment, I'm free. Going around the rink with my hair flying around behind me, tipping my head back and watching the lights flash.
Matt gets up next to me as I slow down and stop showing off, and this is when I notice everyone staring. Then they all break out cheering and clapping and my face gets beat red.
"You're really good!" Matt smiles at me as he nods towards the crowd.
"Nah, I'm ok." We both laugh at my modesty. The crowd that had cheered me on quickly disperses and Matt and I are left to skate slowly around the skate floor. A few people have decided to join us out there, and we smile as we go past them.
Matt and I skate for a little while longer, and get to know each other a little better while skating. I found out that he's going to be a senior this year in high school just like I am, and that he's a skateboarder and hoping to go pro. When I look at the time and realize its near ten at night, I decide its time for me to head back to the hotel. Finding a way home and avoiding Batman and the Joker both will require a decent nights sleep-that's even if I will be able to fall asleep. I decide to hit the bathroom, and brush my hair out since its all dry now.
"Well Matt, I really enjoyed meeting you, but I really need to get back to my hotel room." I say skating slowly over towards my locker where my shoes are.
Matt has skated up behind me and gets a very curious look on his face. "You're staying in a hotel alone?"
My face drops slightly when I realize I just told a teenage boy who is with a gaggle of his friends, that I'm staying in a hotel…alone. The last thing I need is a bunch of teenage boys after me too. "Uh, well yes...I…" words fail me as he gets a huge grin. Taking my skates off and putting my shoes back on, I can feel his eyes on me.
"Would if be alright if me and my friends come over to visit?" The look in his eyes tells me my stupid charm over men is cranking full force.
"I really don't think that would such a good idea…I'm leaving in the morning and I need a good nights sleep." I finish putting on my shoes, pick up my skates and walk to the rental counter.
"Awww c'mon Serenity, we can buy a pizza and some stuff to snack on…and we could watch a movie or two…" Matt is standing off to my right side, and I'm trying not to look at him. The man behind the rental counter takes my skates and thanks me, I walk away from the counter out into the middle of the open area and turn to face Matt.
"Look Matt, you're a nice guy and everything…but I really don't think that's such a good idea…" I stop because Matt is now looking over my shoulder in contorted horror, and my spine prickles. He starts slowly backing away from me and my stomach seizes up. I can hear my heart beat thundering in my ears. There could be only one thing behind me that would cause everyone to scream almost in sync, and start running out any exit or hiding anywhere they can. Matt stops moving, obviously frozen in fear.
I smell it before it even gets around the left side of my head. Everything starts moving in slow motion, as if time itself is afraid of what is happening. Slowly and carefully, I see a hand gun barrel come around the side of my head, pointing straight at Matt. I can feel the immense heat radiating from him, and I start to shake. I can't even move or scream I'm so scared. The gun is still moving out around my head, pointing straight, held by a gloved hand. Slowly, the purple coat that covers his arm comes into view. His front is now merely millimeters from being pressed into my back, and I can hear him breathing above my head. His other arm gently slides up over my other arm and lays across my chest causing me to sharply inhale as he protectively wraps his arm around me. He is slightly leaned over, and his breath is tickling my ear. The gun is steady and pointed right at Matt.
When he finally speaks, I let out a soft almost inaudible yelp. "Hitting on my girl Matt?" His voice is rougher than normal, like an animal snarling.
"Wha- your-I-…." Matt stutters out, and I swear I see tears in his eyes.
The gun shot in my ears jerks my entire body straight up and my head gently bounces off his chest. The Jokers arm tightens slightly around me. Matt falls in slow motion, dead to the floor. I can see a small stream of blood coming from his chest as he lays on his face, twitching. The fact that he just killed a teenage boy that had his whole life ahead of him, sends me into shock. I stand there, mouth open, totally immobilized. When I feel him shift behind me slightly, this is when I finally snap out of my stupor. I leap forwards, spin around and avoid his grasping hands. I manage to get about five feet in front of him, looking dead on at him. His eyes are dark, sinister. He slowly smacks his lips, obviously just waiting to pounce on me.
"You promised you wouldn't…" I breath out captivated by his presence.
"I only promised I wouldn't hurt you." He smirks at me, with the gun draped by his side.
"You just killed someone who had their whole life ahead of them…how could you?" I stand there shaking my head.
He gets a strange look on his face, and cocks his head to the side. "I'm the Joker…what did you expect?"
"You heartless son of a bitch…" my anger and shock obviously please him as he flashes me a toothy grin. When he takes a step towards me and goes to reach for me I jerk back. "Stay away from me…"
"No no I can't do that." He says pursing his lips, looking upwards and then directly back at me. Oh boy…he must of taken an extra dose of insane pills tonight. He goes to grab me again I avoid him and slide back away from him. "Are we uh, going have to do this the hard way?" He drops his face every so slightly when he says this, glaring at me.
When I try to move back a step he starts ghosting towards me, and I start moving faster praying I don't trip over anything. He snarls at me and takes a dive at me and this is when I shriek and run for the exit doors on the skate floor. I can feel him right on my heels as I burst thru the doors to the alley way. I spin my head around looking for the street, and I can see it to my left straight ahead. Running around front I see something small, metallic and green go whizzing by my head along with a noise behind me that sounded like a burst of air. I look across the street, and in a sandwich board in front of the club, there is a small dart sticking out of it. Oh my god…he has a fucking tranquillizer gun! When I burst out running into the street, I can see a black van in front of the roller rink with two men in the front. Another dart goes whizzing by me and actually catches part of my hair. I shriek as I scramble left running down the road like a maniac. I'm trying not to scream at the top of my lungs so I don't draw attention to myself. Well anymore attention to me than there already is considering I'm running full speed down the middle of the road, zigzagging every which way to avoid being hit by darts sailing by me. I hear a vehicle screech out from behind me and I turn to look over my shoulder. The black van has started after me, and I'm pretty sure I know who's in that van. People are watching me run by, and cars are honking at me as I'm running thru them. There isn't much traffic at this hour of night, most of the people have gone home to hide from…well what's behind me. I can hear the van accelerating and gaining on me in my feeble attempt to outrun it. I can see the hotel in the distance, and wonder if I can make it there in time.
"Fuck…this….fuck…this….with…a stick….side…ways!!!" I breath out heavily as I'm running at full speed trying to find somewhere to hide.
While I'm running, I'm hit with something right in the back of the neck. My legs are still pumping when I reach up to my neck to see what hit me. To my horror, there's a dart sticking out of the back of my neck. I rip it out and throw it, and I can feel a little blood spill down from the wound. I stop running because I can feel my whole body starting to go limp as the drugs work their way thru me. I start walking, rubbing the back of my neck. Please just let me get to the hotel. Please…oh God no please…I can no longer stand and I start slowly sinking down to my knees. It's extremely hard to keep conscious, the world is starting to fade. Get up….no Laiss….get up…I try to stand and can only crawl slowly along the ground. It seems the more I move, the faster the drugs work. All at once I'm bathed in bright lights. Headlights. I hear a vehicle slow down and stop. A door opens. Footsteps. No…get up Laiss….run.. I can't crawl anymore. My eyes won't stay open. I flip over on my back and look up. The buildings are waving, the sky is like a black swirling void. The footsteps stop right near me, near the right side of my head. I try to open my eyes but they just flutter and fall closed. My entire body is no longer responding to my commands. I'm laying flat on the ground sprawled out. No!! No this can't be happening…I want to cry but my eyes don't even well with tears.
I hear a tsk'ing noise over me. All at once I feel hands under me trying to lift me. GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!!! I hear a strange grunting noise coming from him. I manage to flutter my eyes open slightly and realize he's being pushed back by some invisible force. What the hell??
"You do realize she's preventing you from touching her." I hear a woman's voice coming from the left side of my head.
I try to look at her, but all I can see under the blinding headlights is a silhouette of a woman with long dark hair, dressed in a long dress or a robe I can't tell which. I feel a sharp stinging pain in my thigh and hear that loud burst of air. I've been shot again with that tranquillizer dart. I feel another sharp pain as he pulls out the dart. My mind starts to fall into darkness now, slowly swirling down. I feel the Joker lift me up and cradle me into his arms. My head comes to rest against his chest, and the last thing I hear is the beating of his heart, and him saying "Pretty little Laiss…"