Eyes On Fire
"Good morning sunshine. It's time for.. Breakfast." He held a tray in his hands that was covered with a white towel. "Up, up, up! We have a huge day planned. And you need to get your vitamin C!"
Alexis remained sitting against the wall like a broken doll cradling her wounded fingers against her chest. She was uninspired to move by his arrival as she remained against the wall. Her head tilted to the side as her legs rested beneath her. Her cheeks were stained with the new tears that had fallen from her eyes.
He walked over to the bare mattress and bent over to lay the trey down in front of her. Then lowered himself to sit in Indian style behind the trey, "Hungry?"
Her eyes drifted down to see the trey sitting in front of her. She nodded slowly in agreement with his statement as she adjusted herself against the mattress. She sat facing forward as she slowly started to reach over to grab the towel from the trey.
"Nuh.. Uh… uh." Like a cobra he raised his hand swiftly and slapped away her pale hand. Which caused her to retreat back against the wall. "No, touching." He slid the towel off of the trey to reveal a dingy white bowl that contained what looked like generic Cheerios and a glass of water. "Sorry, I know you're use to my generous hospitality of last night." He grinned, "But you've been a bad bad girl."
She stared down at the meal that waited to be scooped into her fragile hands. She watched him from the wall, hoping for a sign that he was going to allow her to eat. He was going to make her beg for it. She tried to keep her voice stern, but her voice failed her miserably, "Can I… p-please?"
With his head bent down he corrected her, "May I." It was clear that he was enjoying every little minute of this moment. The fact was in the menacing gaze and matching smile. He batted his eyelashes up at her innocently like a child. "Say, may I have breakfast this morning my wonderful host-ah?"
Alexis remained quiet as she watched the trey in front of her. She contemplated her minimal options. Neither of them seeming appealing or resulted in her eating without a consequence.
In a sing-song voice he warned her, "Say it, or there will be no breakfast for you."
Gritting her teeth while keeping her head down she spoke, "May I have breakfast this morning.. My wonderful host." It was everything she could do to pry it from her dry lips.
He lifted his head to her forced request. He licked his lips as he gleefully slapped his hands together. He released that oh so familiar malicious laugh, "Why of course. It's so sweet of you to ask. Eat up my-yah dear!"
Alexis leisurely edged her hand over to the bowl and snatched it from the trey before he could take it back. She shoveled the small circular bites ferociously into her mouth spoonful after spoonful.
The Joker's lips relaxed as he watched her. His eyebrow furrowed at her animalistic behavior, "Don't forget the water, peaches."
She brought the cup to her lips as she watched him closely.
His face widened into a harsh grin. His tongue slowly gliding across his eager smile.
She lowered the cup and examined it through the clear glass. "What's wrong with it?"
"You mean, did I poison it? Trust me, if I would poison you I'd be much more uh." His lips parted and his tongue wiggled through to lick the corners of his mouth, "direct."
Alexis raised the glass again to her lips and with watchful eyes she took a sip. She didn't realize until after the first sip how dehydrated she truly was and in a series of gulps the water was devoured.
The Joker ran his hands down the length of his folded legs towards Alexis stopping just at his knee cap, "Finished?"
She nodded reluctantly unsure of what her answer would bring. With a soft whisper she closed her eyes, "Yes."
"I wanted to make sure you had a full stomach. So that you wouldn't get sick when we played."
"Played?" She searched his eyes for an answer.
The Joker jumped up onto his feet and the mattress bounced with his sudden weight. "Up an at 'em. We've got a lot of fun activities planned-d."
Alexis took in a deep breath as she began to rise reluctantly from the mattress. Allowing her back to slide along the coarse wall as she did so.
A smack of his lips as he barked his order, "Turn around." He demonstrated with his finger, which was rotating clockwise. He kicked the trey below his feet out of the way.
Alexis slowly turned around to face the wall. The sound of the utensils scattering across the floor made her flinch much more than she expected it to.
"Put your hands on the wall and spread-ah your legs."
Alexis placed her hands on the wall as she tried her hardest to maintain her composure. With all her strength she was fighting to remain standing - everything in her body was wanting to collapse. She could feel him move ungracefully across the mattress advancing towards her. The mattress would waiver underneath his weight - shifting side to side.
He leaned his head down into the nook of her neck. His breath caused her to flinch under him as she waited for him to continue.
In a muffled whisper, "I'm itching to try you out-tah." He sniffed the coconut scent of her hair that was still reminiscent from a few days before. She could sense the ever-growing smile his face contorted to as he savored the smell, "Oh, and I, uh, already know that you're a screamer. So feel free when we start."
Alexis bit down on her lower cherry colored lip as she attempted to keep her legs from buckling. She lowered her forehead so that it would meet the cold wall as her breath got heavier with the passing minute.
It would be over soon.
The Joker slowly glided his hands down her body in a rough frisk. His leather gloves moving slowly over her arms - taking every bit of her in. Then he slowly moved down her slender sides moving along the curves of her torso. He stopped briefly at her breasts giving her a brief squeeze, "Hmm."
Alexis's body shivered under his unwelcome paws. His rough nature continued as he finished running his hands down the length of her body.
The Joker stood back up and placed his hand firmly on the top of her shoulder to spin her around. He pushed her shoulder back into the wall roughly. He placed his hands on both the wall behind her just resting beside her head - pinning her in between his arms. "I'm never sure about you, little missy. One minute you're beating up my guys the next you're trying to escape through the air ducts. I have to keep my eye on you or you'll stab me while I sleep." He raised his pointer finger up to her nose to give her a small poke, "You're a lot to, uhm, handle."
Alexis looked off to the left avoiding subsequent eye contact with him.
The Joker eyed her over - as if he was thinking - once more before he took her upper arm into his hand. With a tight squeeze he jerked her forward off the wall. "Let's get to it then!"
His hand gripped tighter and tighter with their descent down the hallway. The click of his shoes against the cement floor echoed throughout the hallway. The sound stopping abruptly as he adverted her direction to the left into another room.
Whatever awaited her at the end of the hallway wasn't going to be pleasant.
With a swift kick in the back of the shin she fell to the floor and into the room. She scrambled to the floor trying to get back on her feet. She held her hands out to brace herself for impact once again. This only caused her to wail louder as the floor found that sensitive spot in her fingers. She began to crawl away from the Joker who was advancing closer.
Two of his henchmen were already waiting for their arrival. They shrouded over her frail body ready to pounce. They swooped her up by her arms and propped her up on her feet.
"So you don't get any ideas." He waved the handcuffs in front of her face to entice her. He tossed the handcuffs over to his men who slapped them on her wrists. Cuffing her hands in front of her body just below the waist.
"So this is your plan? You have to chain me up to beat me? To get whatever you want out of me." She shook her head in disgust, "Your father must've done one hell of a number on you."
"There's my little tiger." He growled at her, "Grr-rah, I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd come out to play. I'm not an animal. No, no I'm not." He pointed to the tub behind her. "No, I'm going to give you a chance to take a bath. I'm not one to complain but honey, you're getting a little" He held his nose in disgust, "Stinky."
Alexis struggled with the men's grip to look behind her spotting the metal tub sitting in the middle of the room. A yellow rubber ducky, obviously the Joker's touch, was floating in the water waiting for her. She groaned in disgust as she knew there had to have been a catch.
There was always a catch.
The Joker waved his hands forward and his men tugged her over to the metal tub. "Go ahead. Get in, gorgeous!"
The henchmen picked her up by her arms and lowered her shoe covered feet into the metal tub. She screamed in horror as she felt the cold water wash over her. She shuffled her feet trying to remove herself from the icy water. The yellow duck battled the raging waters as it was nearly thrown out. The men held her in her place as they lowered her deeper into the water.
"Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you we don't have any hot water. Must've slipped-d my mind."
She sat forcefully in the water thrashing her body around trying to get free from their grasp. She shivered uncontrollably as her body attempted to adjust to the water.
The Joker nodded to his men indicating for them to proceed. One of the men placed his hand on the top of her head and pushed her further into the water. The other man was directed to hold her down by her chest. Attempting to keep her still under the water as her body revolted against them. Her bound hands clutched together sternly against the mans chest. Pulling him down in attempt to get him to release his grip. The bubbles of air surfacing from beneath the water.
"Up, she goes!" The Joker called out. The men swiftly brought her head back up out of the water.
Once her head emerged she gasped for air forcing her to heave the water out of her lungs. She thrashed her head around trying to get the hair out of her face so she could see.
"And… down she goes!" He said with a whirl of his finger.
Alexis was caught off guard again as they plunged her deeper into the water. She kicked her feet out at the end of the tub splashing water out on to the Joker.
She could hear the muffle sound of his voice from beneath the water as he ordered his men, "Up."
Alexis shot up out of the water with her mouth gaping open. "St-"
"And… down!"
Alexis drew in a large breath of air before she was pushed down into the water.
It was awhile before the Joker granted her a reprieve, "Up!"
Alexis lifted her trembling hand to her hair and brushed it away from her face. She pleaded loudly as she sobbed, "Please, please. Stop!"
The Joker waved his men away. With his eyes fixated on Alexis he began to remove his trademark purple jacket tossing it to the side. He fidgeted with his tie trying to loosen it, "I've got it from here boys. Why don't you let me and the princess-sah have a few minutes alone."
They complied, of course, releasing their grip on her shoulders before removing themselves from the room. Shutting the door behind them as they went.
He kneeled down beside the bathtub and extended his gloved fingers to skim across the top of the water. "Hmm." He placed his chin upon his open palm as he rested against the metal tub. "So, Lexi, I wanted to ask you some more questions-sah."
Between chattering teeth she groaned, "Go to hell."
She saw him place his closed fist against his mouth as he cleared his throat. He continued, "I'd be careful what you say. 'cause the way you answer your questions determines.. Well it really determines the rest of the time you spend here."
Alexis continued to convulse in the water, "I told you. I told you everything."
"Found out you didn't tell me the full truth-ah." He removed his gloves and tossed them to the side. He reached out and grabbed her throbbing hand. "As you an I both know. I'm always truthful to you."
Alexis tried to retract her hands from his grasp but he held on strong.
In what seemed to be a rhetorical question, "What kind of friends lie to each other?" He stroked her fingers with his dirty fingers, "Now, you know, I warned you. That if you did anything that I didn't like it'd be far-rah worse than these beautiful fingers." He brought her fingers to his lips and placed his withering tongue against them.
She tried jerking them out of his hands again, but he kept her still.
The Joker tightened his grip on her right index finger and with a sudden jerk he snapped it causing her to scream in pain. "I'll get it out of you one way or another."
The Joker grabbed Alexis by the collar of her shirt and forcefully drug her out of the metal tub. Her legs scraping against it as she was removed. She screamed out in another fit of pain as she felt the skin of her knees split open.
He tossed her to the ground hovering just above her, "I'm not one to share. But, he's got a way of getting things out-ta people."
Alexis cradled her hand against her chest again as she laid against the cement floor. She tried to scoot away from him on her left elbow, but he kicked her in the side with the back of his heel. She grunted in pain as she rolled over on to her side.
The Joker stood over her - one leg on either side of her trembling body. He leaned down and grabbed her hair with his left hand forcing her body to arch off the ground to meet his lips. She remained face down beneath him as he whispered in her ear, "That's if he lets you live. He an I share an awful habit of getting carried away."
The faint sound of a knock on the door grabbed his attention. He turned around to look expecting to see someone poke their head in, "Ah there he is." His tongue jetted out of his lips as he looked back at her, "Wanna say hi?"
"Is he cooperating?" Jim asked as he walked down the hallway towards the interrogation room with Detective Stephens by his side. Jim was in the middle of scanning over the file that Stephens had given him to look over.
"Not to the extent that we were hoping." Stephens shook his head, "By the way, how was Barbara and the kids?"
"They're alright." Jim nodded in agreement with his statement. "Little Barbara keeps asking me when Alexis is coming to visit her again."
Detective Stephens shook his head understandingly, "I bet they were glad to see yah. You haven't been home since before the accident." He cleared his throat, "Were you able to get some sleep?"
"Yeah, a little." He raised his hand to scratch his head as he held the file in his other hand, "A lot of things are still waging through my mind." He opened the door and stepped inside the interrogation room. "Mr. Lawson."
Detective Stephens led the way towards the interrogation table that Shawn Lawson was sitting behind. His hands were still bound by the metal handcuffs as he sat uncomfortably.
"Would you explain to us why you were running off?" Commissioner Gordon asked as he peered over at the young men on the opposite side of the interrogation table. His fists were firmly planted into the top of the metal table keeping his posture upright.
"I thought you were gonna arrest me. So I flipped out." Shawn reached up to brush his shaggy bangs off to the left side of his forehead.
"You have a guilty consciousness, son?" Detective Stephens watched as Jim tossed the manila folder down on the table in front of him.
"Listen, I know my record is a bit" He thought for the correct word to use, "colorful. But I promise you. I haven't done anything wrong. I'm clean now."
"So why would you think we were going to arrest you?"
"I guess I'm just a little paranoid. Hell, I don't know!"
"Tell me where you got the packages," Gordon demanded.
"I told Mr. Engel this several times. The back alley, alright. I, uh, went out there to grab a smoke. Saw this weird guy wearing a ski mask dropping something off. So, after he left I looked to see what it was." He held his hand up in protest, "I swear, I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Why didn't you bring it to the police, first?"
"I told you, I have a bad record. Figured it would get me in further trouble. Thought you wouldn't believe me."
Detective Stephens flipped open the folder revealing his file. "You're right about saying how you have a colorful record." He listed off his offences as if he was unaware of what his record held. "Assault and drug paraphernalia. We also got your work record. Turns out you worked down at the shipping yard for a few months."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"What do you know about the Joker?" Gordon asked growing impatient.
"Just what I see on the TV. He's some crazed clown with a penchant for pissing you guys off."
"What happened at the shipping yard? Why don't you work there anymore?"
"I lied about my record. They were pressed for help and didn't run a background check on me. When things calmed down they found out. I got canned the next day."
There was a long pause before Gordon butted in, "Now, you claim you saw this drop off the other night, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Well we happened to look through the surveillance videos." Gordon cleared his throat loudly, "You want to know what we found?"
Shawn sat back in his chair preparing himself for the news.
"You weren't in the alley at all that night. So that would have to mean that you got the package somewhere else. Let me ask you a question Mr. Lawson." Gordon finally took the seat across from him. "You're aware of the charges that you're facing since you're not being truthful to us?"
He shook his head, "I want my lawyer."
"Of course you do," Detective Stephen's stated.
"While you're waiting for your lawyer to arrive. I want you to be thinking about the consequences you're about to face. If you help us out, we can make sure that you don't get a lengthy sentence. Though having another bit of jail time added on to your record isn't going to make the judge less-lenient. Your old enough now to go to a bona fide prison." Gordon got to his feet, "Even your pricey lawyers can't get you out of this one."
Detective Stephens followed the Commissioner out of the interrogation room. The door slammed shut and they began to head back to the front of the station.
"What do you think?" Stephens asked impatiently.
"He knows something and he's not willing to tell. That's all he has to bargain with to keep him safe from the Joker. He's got to him, intimidated Shawn into being quiet. If we give him something to guarantee that he'll be safe. He'll sing like a bird."
A young officer, in his mid-twenties, by the name of Brandon O'Rielly ran up to the two men standing in the hallway. He was carrying a large brown folder that was clutched in his bony fingers, "Commissioner Gordon? We brought in that Lincoln Marquez guy for questioning."
Stephens asked, "The one from the ship yard?"
"Yeah, Brandon? What do you got?" Gordon motioned for Brandon to hand over the folder so he could take a look at it.
"Turns out, there's been quite a lot of movement down there in just the past few weeks. He said he's been signing for these packages and no one has picked them up."
Gordon asked with hope in his voice, "Who's he signing them for? Did he say?"
Brandon shook his head no, "Wasn't given a name - only a phone number. He calls this number when the shipments come in."
"Did you run the number in the system?"
"Two steps ahead of you boss," Brandon held up an address and a warrant in his right hand.
"Good work, Brandon. Get the men ready. We're heading out now," Gordon ordered.
A/N: So there you have it another lovely (hopefully) chapter! I've been working hard on this chapter and I was going to post it a few weeks ago. It came relatively easy for me because I was just in the mood to write. But, anyway, if you're curious of the title for the chapter it's the title of a song from the movie Twilight. I've just recently been converted into a Twilight fan. Anyway, I love the song and I thought it fit pretty well. Reviews are always welcome!
Thanks to those who've added my story to your alert/favorite lists. It makes my day to see that you guys are interested in seeing where the story goes. Extra thanks goes out to Lone Wolf & Angelika04 for the reviews!