New chapter people!
Is Chloe losing it?
Is Joey getting it?
Is Grace there?
Find out below, in your next instalment of 'Joey's Story!"...ha-ha I love talking like that XD
When Joey returned to the kitchen, everything seemed the same, which meant that the place was still a dump.
"Heya Joeykins!" chirped Chloe happily from the back door as she tried to use a wrench to take off the door-handle.
Oh jeez
"Come on we gotta sit down and turn out all the lights!" Chloe declared as she snapped off the door-handle and began to walk over to the, now scared, teen. Chloe looked at Joey with pity in her eyes and pushed him onto the floor. For a girl, Joey had to admit that she was strong. Chloe sat beside him and began to look through a nearby basket.
"Here ya go" said Chloe, handing Joey a sandwich, "No meat, just the way you like 'em"
Joey had begun to notice how his friends' accent was beginning to change. More and more southern, he thought.
Is she schizophrenic?
Before he could comprehend what was going on, probably due to getting lost in his thoughts, Chloe picked up Joeys arm and put it around her shoulder as she tried to snuggle into him. It was then that Joey really took in his surroundings, despite the place being a complete dump, the blankets set up by the table were cosy and there was one single light resting between the two of them, not to mention the picnic basket.
"I don't like the dark" Chloe whispered in a small voice, trembling as she did so.
Joey looked down at her and saw the fear in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular.
"The memories come back, the ghosts, I feel as if he will get me again and I don't want that to happen" she began to cry.
"What ghosts?" Joey asked, trying to sooth his friend by running his hands through her hair.
The red haired girl burst out into fresh tears before finally answering the question, "My mom's old boyfriend...remember Grey?"
Joey nodded into Chloe's head, "Well he wasn't as nice as he let on to be...it started when mom left the house one time and he was left in charge of me, he got a call and he got angry...and I just happened to be there and in no time I had become his punch-bag" the girls voice broke at the end of her sentence.
"How long did this go on for? What happened to him?"
"A couple of months...mom started to notice marks and how I would shy away when she tried to hug me and I was badly bruised, but she came home one day and she caught him"
"What did she do?"
"Kicked him out, called the cops, the usual, he pleaded insanity and ended up in Arkham"
"Grey...what is it with people being named after colours?" asked Joey, trying to lighten the mood, "Pink even dyed her hair pink"
Chloe let out a small laugh as the tears continued to leave tracks down her face.
They stayed like that for a while until Chloe eventually fell asleep.
Joey was left in silence with only the sound of Chloe's breathing and his own. Occasionally there would be a sound of the next door telephone ringing or a door slamming shut.
He tried to imagine his friend so vulnerable. The questions and images began to swarm around inside his head.
There was a sound of a key turning inside a door and then the door opening, followed by footsteps.
"What the hell?" asked a voice from the hall in a half whisper.
Joey tried to gently take Chloe off of him and began to head towards the door without making a sound. He opened the door just in time to see Grace about to open the door herself. She jumped nearly five feet in the air.
"What the hell happened here?" Grace began but had to end her sentence in a whisper as Joey tried to shush her and motioned to a sleeping form on the kitchen floor since Chloe's head was sticking out from around the table side-ways.
"Okay" Grace said as she tried to calm herself down and took off her jacket. "She really took 'be safe' a bit overboard. Help me try and take the wood off the windows and hide the hammer".
Joey nodded and headed upstairs to begin taking off the wood that Chloe had been so intent upon putting up. He began with Graces room and then continued on to do the rest of the upstairs. Before long he had complete his task and went downstairs.
As soon as he had reached the bottom of the stairs he saw Grace, who seemed to have finished the downstairs too.
"When did she start this?" Grace asked in a tired voice.
"Just after you left, I never knew she was scared of the dark"
"Her therapists said that they were waiting for something like this to happen it's all my fault"
"Hey it's not your fault, if it's anyone's then it's mine, I'm the one who brought the Joker down on us"
"But you can't help being born, I brought Grey here and I really don't need this right now, it's hard enough trying to keep the bills in check, I'm so sorry Joey, for everything you've been through and everything that's going on now and..." Grace couldn't finish because she was in hysterics and choking on sobs.
Joey wrapped his arms around his godmother and tried to shush her.
"Hey, don't think too much on it okay? Everything will work itself out in the end. What happens happens for a reason, okay?" Joey said into Graces ear.
She nodded and pulled away from him, wiping away her tears as she did so.
"Did she tell you?"
"Yeah" Joey replied with a sad voice.
000
Monday morning had been far from normal. Chloe had fought with her mother so she could go to school and the place looked as if a bomb had hit it, which was highly strange for any house inhabited by someone like Grace.
Joey woke up the fight between mother and daughter but didn't think too much on the subject. His mind was elsewhere.
Today was the day.
He might have to kill someone today. Help his uncle to get revenge against the bullies.
Was he ready for something like this?
My dad did it and he seems perfectly fine...then again...look where he is, Joey thought sarcastically.
He left the girl's to their own devices and headed towards school. Better to get this over with than to fear and run from it, Grace had once told Joey after he had told her about his first dentist appointment when he was eight.
Halfway to school, he heard fast footsteps and paused to turn around and see where the noise was coming from.
"JOEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Chloe was screaming as she ran towards him, waving her arms frantically as she did so.
When she finally caught up to him, Joey began to walk again.
"Why did you leave?" Chloe asked.
"I didn't want to get in the way of you and your mother" Joey answered honestly.
"It's nothing, don't take any notice, she only wanted to tell me that she thinks that I should see a shrink, something about last night." Chloe said nonchalantly.
"You don't remember what happened?"
"Of course I do, I went upstairs and went to sleep" Chloe said, as if it were obvious.
"Wait, so you don't..." Joey began.
"Don't what?"
"Never mind"
They had finally arrived in front of the school gates.
"I remember the bullies too, I'm sorry, and I know that you didn't like when they said that you were dating me, I mean, I know that I'm not the best looking girl out there, so don't mind them" Chloe said before they entered.
"Chlo, I don't care about them, the truth is: I think you're awesome! I don't want someone that's drop dead gorgeous, I want someone with personality! And you have that. I've known you for forever. I like you"
"You don't mean that, you're just saying that to make me feel better." Chloe said looking at the ground.
"No I'm not" and without a seconds hesitation, he had bent down and begun to kiss her. She was shocked at first but just as she was beginning to relax, there was a grunting noise. Both teens jumped.
Chloe looked away at the school, thinking that it was a teacher and told Joey that she would see him later before hurrying off to her locker.
"Defiantly the lady's man I...uh see. I'm sure it's from our side of the family." Came a muffled voice from behind Joey.
He turned around and looked up to see the Joker in his fedora and scarf again.
"Now?" Joey half whined. He was talking about another thing completely and the Joker knew it.
"Don't whine, that's girly, now come on, we got work to do" the undercover clown declared before beginning to walk away towards a nearby van that was already running.
"What's the plan?"
"Do I ...uh...look like a guy with a plan?"
"You'd be surprised" Joey muttered to himself as he got into the back of the van. He remembered his last experience inside it, when he had been pushed out of it. Just remembering this made him feel pain in his back which helped him to remember more and more clearly.
"Here" said the Joker, no longer wearing his hat or scarf, and handing him a black piece of metal. Joey took it reluctantly and looked down on it and feeling the cool metal beneath his fingers.
It was a gun.
The van began to move as Joey was examining the weapon.
"What's going to happen?" the blue eyed boy asked as he looked up at his uncle.
"I'm gonna show you how to...ah...stand up for yourself"
The clown's eyes still never left the boy. He seemed to be observing him and it was unnerving to Joey, who just tried to stare at the floor but he couldn't do it. He just stared back.
"You look a look like your dad" commented the Joker.
"I hate my dad" replied the teen.
"Then I guess we have...uh...something in common"
There was an uncomfortable silence after this, until Joey broke it with "What do you know about my dad? Did you meet him?"
"I know enough to hate him... Saw him in Arkham when I was inside, he is a prick that...uh... thinks he knows every-thing. He got what he deserved in the end. He doesn't know everything now, I'm the one that's...ah... free"
"I saw him" Joey admitted, "He tried to make me come back because he said that he was my father...I told him that I have none"
"Tech-nic-ally, I didn't either, I had a drunk...well...two of them"
"What's gonna happen to today's bully? Do I have to shoot him, stab him, drown him?"
Joey wasn't mad on the idea of killing someone right now, no matter how much he hated them. What if they bullied because they had problems? Like Joey's parents? Or Chloe?
"You better not be getting cold feet on me now" said Joey's uncle darkly. He said it happily but the threat was obviously there.
The van jerked to a stop and Joey nearly lost his balance.
They were outside a 'well to do' house. One of the snobby bullies perhaps? It had a white picket fence and everything.
"What are we doing here?"
I decided to be mean and put you on a cliff-hanger.
I got a bit of a bock, I admit. But if I know me like I think I do, I should have good ideas for the next chapter...wait do I know me? LOL
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And hello new readers!