Chapter Ten

It was obvious how adment the Joker was about my not escaping. The only shoes of mine he had given me were the two pairs of heels that added a lofty six or seven inches to my height. I couldn't help but hate my outfit. A vibrant blue spaghetti strapped shirt, my college sweatshirt (which sported the crest of Gotham University) over that, skinny jeans, and my favorite pair of "summer heels". They were much to strappy to wear during winter.

"Why do I insist on wearing nothing but heels? Where the fuck are my sneakers, I know I have a pair." I uttered, crossing my arms.

Almost as if he heard me talking out loud to myself, the door swung open showing the Joker. Picking the clothes I had worn for about five days straight off the ground, I left the room and allowed the Joker to lead me back to my room. Several of his thugs, including Albert who sported a fancy black eye, surrounded us as we walked. I felt like a high risk prisoner being lead to her cell. However, I had to admit, I felt bad for subjecting Albert to a black eye.

Joker unlocked the door and followed me in. He locked the door behind him. I dropped my dirty clothes in a corner. It was then that I noticed my fluffy flannel black comforter on the mattress. Warily, I looked over at the clown, who nodded breifly at comforter. Like a small, frightened child, I slipped under the thick blanket and wrapped it around myself. Including my head. I felt no shame whatsoever as I leaned against the wall.

"Why did you bring me my things?"

"A woman should never have to go without at least one change of clothes," He shrugged. "But you...I shouldn't have even given you your things. You have been naughty. I mean, that wwhhooolllee...escape thing."

"Can you really blame me?" I asked quietly, laying down on the mattress.

The Joker watched me as I pretended to fall asleep on the lumpy bed that had once been comfortable. I could hear his tattered brown shoes hit against the flooring as he neared the door. He unlocked and opened the it, but paused before closing and locking.

"Soon," the Joker uttered. "You'll soon see it my way."

His words chilled me to the bone as I laid on the mattress, wrapped in my cucoon made of comforter. What was it that I would eventually his way? I doubted that the way I veiwed life would change. The Joker was a sick man with some serious mental problems that no doctor, witch-doctor, shaman, whatever you want to call it would fix. Not a lot of what this man said or did made any sense. With a snort, I rolled over and fell asleep.

I was woken up by the slam of my door and a body jumping onto my bed. Of course, it had to be him. Joker leaned against the wall, licking the purple frosting off of a cupcake. My stomach gurgled, telling the world that I was awake. His deep borwn eyes looked down at me, a smirk grew on his face as he set a cupcake with green frosting, that had been sitting in his other hand, on his knee. The Joker slowly peeled the paper off of the cake and tossed it in the far corner of the room.

He took a big, slow bite out of the fluffy golden bread. I narrowed my eyes, watching him from where I laid on the mattress. There was no doubt in my mind that he knew I was starving. A maliciously wide grin grew on his face when he swallowed. Like a child, he patted his belly in satisfaction.

"Delicious," He purred, taking a much smaller bite this time.

"You're an asshole." I groaned, attempting to hide another vicious growl. He chuckled as he finished off the first cupcake.

"Naughty girls don't deserve sweets."

"And yet you still refuse to give me proper nutrition."

He looked at me in the corner of his eyes, as if he was pondering something. I was a little curious, but not by much. The Joker, after all, was a mad man. "I haven't had anyone go grocery shopping lately so there's no food. Except for the lot of cakes and other goodies me an my boys took. So, here, eat up."

The Joker held out the green frosted cupcake. It sat there in his open, purple gloved hand, taunting and teasing me. Eat me, I swore I heard the pastry call to me. The delirium was getting to me; I needed to eat. At this point, I could care less if it was drugged with a sedative or LSD, I just wanted to eat. Gingerly, I took the cupcake. Sitting against the wall furthest from Joker but still on the mattress, I used my finger to eat the frosting first. I couldn't help but think the icing tasted familiar.

"Should I ask what poor soul got their livelihood smashed to pieces when you and your guys stole this?" I asked, not giving him eye contact. I could feel the mad man watching me as my green stained finger delivered the last bit of frosting to my mouth.

He shrugged. "Some awfully decorated bakery on the North side. Can you believe someone actually styled their business like a 1950's kitchen? It had a cat clock and everything. You really should have seen it, doc. The owner must be a pure nutcase!"

My hunger blocked my thought process. It wasn't until I took a bit of the cake that I knew whose bakery Joker was talking about. Of course I knew why the frosting was so familiar now! It was the same recipe Autumn used; not too sweet, not too bland. And the cupcake...it had to be hers. I had been eating her creations since her parents had bought her that Easy-Bake Oven when we were growing up.

"Autumn's..." I trailed. "What all did you take?"

"Oh, not much," Joker mused. "All of the things that were on display, a few ovens, kitchen tools..."

"You're an awful person," I managed to choke out.

There was no other option for my than to finish the cupcake he had given me. I was starving. Still, I felt bad for eating something that was the product of Autumn's bakery getting raided. The Joker sat in my room for three more minutes when he realized I wasn't going to be talking much. As the door shut, I decided it was time for an escape.

AUTUMN POV

It had just been three days since my shop had been torn apart, three very long days. With it all up in the air I found it hard to keep myself busy throughout the day. The only work I had was to finish a few custom cakes I had already taken orders for. The only plus side of this was that I was able to catch up on much lost sleep, I hadn't been rolling out of bed until noon.

I was taking an evening to stroll around my part of the city, hoping to clear my head. Without Alice around I didn't really have anyone to vent to. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even bother to check the street as I started to cross. It took the screeching of tires and the smell of burning rubber for me to look up.

The driver at I made eye contact, he looked at me like I was scum. I wanted to flick him off or walk away like I was some sort of a bad ass but all I managed to do was awkwardly jog to the other side of the street.

Just after a few feet I started to hear the rampaging sounds of a runner's sneakers as they slapped the pavement, keeping my eyes on the ground I moved to the far left of the sidewalk, giving the jogger as much space as possible. With my eyes to the ground I noticed that the red and black sneakers were slowing to a stop.

"How is it that every time I run into you, you're always in some sort of trouble?" I heard a breathy voice ask, raspy from the chilly air it was hard to recognize.

Quickly I looked up and saw the well known Playboy of Gotham. I had to fight hard to keep the look of disdain from off of my face, even though we had spent the previous night together.

"Stalking me isn't going to make me want to date you again," I chided as I started to quicken my pace; I hoped he would be too tired to keep up.

Bruce only widened his stride, grinning from ear to ear. "I think you're the one stalking me. Yesterday you were at the same newsstand as I was and now you are in my jogging route."

I rolled my eyes, "Bruce you don't own the city."

"I beg to differ."

A group of rowdy college boys walked by us, each of them taking a second look to check me out. Almost instantly I felt my walking partner drape his arm over my shoulders and pull me to him. Bruce Wayne was not a jealous man; he just liked to show off at times.

I turned to look at him, finally noticing the tight black shirt he was wearing; sometimes I found it unfair he could get away with tighter fitting clothes better than I could. Blushing slightly at the sight, I quickly turned my head up to the darkening sky.

I found it odd that only a few hours away in my home town, the stars would be boldly shinning in the sky but here the smog and city lights devoured them.

Bruce and I walked a few blocks, his arm had fallen and he had taken a hold of my hand. I didn't protest, it felt too nice to be walking on the outskirts of the small park in the middle of the city in the early nightfall. It would have been a little romantic if I had made my mind up about the man besides me.

Sirens started screaming in the distance, howling like animals. A sudden flash of light illuminated the sky; it was a serious ordeal if the police were seeking the help of Batman.

"You should probably get home," Bruce said between clenched teeth as he tightened his grip on my hand and hurried his pace.

"Bruce, that's a good ten blocks away from here. We'll be fine." I sighed as I tried to deaden my weight, but he still managed to pull me along.

"In this city Autumn, you don't take chances like that." He barked as he charged me back to my apartment.

We stood at my front door; I was almost out of breath while Bruce seemed alert as a watchdog. Rubbing my reddened wrists I searched his face for any hint to what he was thinking. He had a habit of doing this every time crime's ugly face reared into the city. It was like he was trying to find the criminal himself.

"If you're so worried why don't you stay at my place for a while?" I offered, hitting the door with my hip, opening it just a few inches.

He shook his head, "I really need to get going. I have some work to do." His words were short and sharp, his tone changing from playful to dead serious.

"I'll call you tomorrow," he said as he started to jog down the stairs. I couldn't help but to admire the view.

"I'll be waiting," I muttered under my breath as I shut the door, it did little to drown out the sounds of danger outside.

ALICE POV

The sirens were loud, they were close, maybe just a few buildings down. I could barely hear my thoughts. All I could focus on was the shrill noise that polluted the air.

"No."

I took a deep breath as I slowly stood, my feet wear bare, and my heels had really started to bother me after wearing them for a full day.

"I have to escape." I whispered as softly as I could, I never knew when I had someone listening outside my door. I padded over to the boarded up window, from a small crack I could see the whirling lights of the police cars. If there was crime going on, I could bet that the Batman was running about the city.

If I could somehow get his attention, I could get out of here.

With the sirens covering up most other sounds it would work in my advantage. I acted faster than I thought for once as I backed up against the opposite wall to the window. I took a deep breath and tried to ready myself for the oncoming pain. I hit a short and small sprint as I crossed the room and rammed my shoulder against the wooden planks.

Much to my surprise they groaned as they gave under to my attack, small hairline cracks started to appear. I backed up and slammed it again, ignoring my already throbbing shoulder. The second time a few pieces from the middle fell apart and tumbled down to the ground.

The hole was just enough for me to place my face to and shout out to the city.

I gathered all of the air from around my, counted to three, and then I shouted as loud as I could for help. I shouted over and over, until my voice started to drain out and crack. I kept shouting even though I was hoarse and my throat burned. As tears started to trail down my cheeks all I could think about was that those stupid fucking police sirens was still ringing.

"No one is going to hear me." I cried as I pressed my forehead against the broken boards.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," a voice cooed from behind me.

I spun around to see the Joker walking into the room; he was smiling with his hands behind his back. I couldn't take it anymore; I hated being trapped in this limbo. Frustrated I reached out and grabbed one of my heels, I tossed it at his face.

"If you are going to kill me, go ahead!"I hissed, "I'm tired of this."

The shoe missed his face just by an inch, Joker gave me an annoyed look as he tossed a plate of food down onto the floor.

"I was going to give you the meal that you so desired," he said as he stepped over the splattered food. "But like I said earlier, naughty girls don't get what they want."

By now he was standing right in front of me; his hot breath was hitting my face.

"Do you really want to dieeeee?" He asked, reaching out he started to stroke the side of my face, his touch was tentative but I knew there was violence behind it.

"It's better than this." I muttered, trying to fall away from him.

Joker grabbed me by the roots of my hair, pulling it just enough to lift my up on to my toes. I saw his other hand dip into his pocket and retrieve a stiletto knife. He pressed the cold steel blade against my tender skin; I felt its quick bite.

"Are you sure about dying now?" He whispered into my ear.