Author's Note: One of my characters was inspired by a certain version of a certain song. This character was also partially inspired by a character in Girl Interrupted, but this song is what mainly inspired the character. Once you see the name of the song you'll know which character it is. If you'd like to hear it, when you get to the line marked with an asterisk, go to youtube and put in this link /watch?v=jRXQsQKGqIU
Don't start the song until you get to that part, as it'll help set the proper ambiance for the scene. Enjoy
A full three days passed, and as time went by, I saw a bit of a change in the others. Nine of us were dead, leaving eleven left to compete. This was good for those of us that remained, but at the same time there was some grieving going on, even though most of us weren't on very friendly terms. Even I felt a little something, if only because living with people for an extended period and seeing them, talking to them, putting up with them every day tends to leave a mark, however small and easily forgotten it may be. If anyone hadn't been taking this thing seriously before, they sure as hell were now.
Edward and I stopped speaking to each other. I was able to put away the annoying feelings in my chest for the most part and hardly even thought of him anymore. Every once in a while I'd catch him looking at me and he would scowl and turn away quickly. He seemed to be taking our breakup harder than I was. I kind of felt bad for rejecting him like I had, it had been kind of harsh, but I wasn't about to back down now. I had some dignity, after all.
"Attention all apprentice-wannabes, report outside for your next challenge on the double!" ordered Joker over the intercom.
I had been in the gym for most of the day. The others usually used the gym to exercise or play sports, but I preferred gymnastics. I had never been taught how to do gymnastics, but I had a pretty good idea of how they were done from watching others, and I was a fast learner. I was really bored, and so I didn't really care if I was doing them right or not. I hopped off the balance beam and left the gym to begin my trek back to the front door. I managed to get there without getting lost, which was more than a lot of the remaining players could say when they journeyed through the seemingly endless madhouse.
Most of the others were already there, and the rest were right behind me. Outside, it was raining cats and dogs and the wind howled loudly. Thunder roared and a bolt of lightning struck the ground not too far off in the distance. Great day for a challenge.
"Hi Robby-kins!" said Bree as she threw her arms around Robin's waist and latched herself onto him. "Didja miss me? I know I missed you."
Robin sighed and attempted to gently extricate himself from her grip. When she noticed he was pulling away, her eyes filled with rage, and her hands made a strangling motion. She stopped, however, when she saw the Joker and Harley waiting for us.
They were already out there protected from the rain by umbrellas. The camera guy was also out there, and had been equipped with a waterproof camera but had no protection for himself. When he saw us he turned on the camera and pointed it at the Joker, who immediately began introducing the episode.
"Hey there all you couch potatoes, and welcome to another episode of the Joker's Circus!" He turned slightly so that he was talking to us and to the audience. "Today's challenge is one of endurance, and will have three parts. For now all you need to know is that part one is an obstacle course, and it's right over there!"
The Joker pointed over his shoulder, and through the rain I saw a bunch of junk that I supposed could be an obstacle course. It began with a climbing wall about fifteen feet high, and after that I could just barely make out what looked like two giant swinging axes. I couldn't make out any more details through the rain, but knowing the Joker the rest of this course was going to be deadly.
"You'll go through the course repeatedly until a certain amount of you either give up or pass out. Then we'll move on to part two," said Joker.
"How many people need to drop out for the first challenge to end, exactly?" asked Jess-Belle with her hands on her hips.
"Depends. I'll just keep letting people wimp out until I decide we've lost enough," he said with a devilish grin. "The sooner we get started the sooner we can move on to part two, so GO!" he said as he fired a bullet, not into the air, but into the neck of a henchman who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I took off, as did everyone else, and began climbing the wall. It took me almost ten minutes to do, mainly because the handholds were slippery and I had trouble getting a good grip. I eventually made it to the top and climbed down, letting go when I only had a few feet to go. Holly was ahead of me, as was Johnny. The rest were behind me but right on my tail.
The axes were only a few feet ahead, swinging dangerously close to the ground. Even though we were in the city and on pavement, there was some kind of sludge on the path, making it very slippery. I reached the axes and got down on my hands and knees, getting mud all over myself in the process. The axes came very close to carving me like a turkey a few times, but I was able to stay down and was soon past them.
Next came a large pit, it was so deep that I couldn't see the bottom. Above it were several ropes hanging down. I grabbed one, took a step back, and swung across the pit, just barely making it to the other side.
The next obstacle in my path was barbed wire about two feet off the ground. I had to get back down on my hands and knees, and I had to crawl even lower than before, practically inhaling the mud. As I went under it my dress snagged a few times and I probably tore it in a few places but other than that I was able to free myself easily enough.
The next part of the course had more mud, but with several stones placed throughout that were barely big enough to stand on with one foot. I leapt onto the stone closest to me and then the one after that. I had a pretty good idea of what would happen if I touched the ground, which was confirmed when a large rat ran out of a gutter and into the mud on the opposite end of the course. A minor explosion went off and it was bye-bye rat. I leapt across the rest of the stones and made it to the other side.
The course took a u-turn and the next obstacle was a ring of fire I would have to jump through. How it managed to keep burning in this weather was beyond me. I stopped to catch my breath and to prepare myself to jump, knowing that if I screwed this up I could possibly be setting my whole body on fire, and after my last burn I had no wish to go through that again.
Before I could make the leap, Zelda ran past me and, after just a split-second of consideration, leapt through the hoop and kept running. I took a step back and did the same, and made it through without a hitch.
The last part of the course was the Joker and Harley's pet hyenas chained to a post. The path was narrow and their chains were long, and so I had to move very fast to avoid their sharp teeth. The way they snapped at me, they probably hadn't been fed lately. I got past them, and found myself back at the beginning. I sighed and started over again.
I did the course three more times, and still no one dropped out. How many times would I have to do it? I was becoming tired and frustrated, I started moving a bit slower to conserve my energy, because there would be no winning this part of the challenge, only not-losing.
On my fifth lap Elise twisted her ankle, and Drake stopped to help her up at out of the mud and to stay with her (he was probably just using her as an excuse to quit without looking like a weakling). Now that people were quitting, it wouldn't be much longer before the Joker ended the challenge.
On my seventh run through the course, I was crawling under the barbed wire, and Edward was ahead of me leaping across the minefield. When he was halfway across, a bolt of lightning struck the ground near him, creating a domino effect, triggering all the hidden bombs one by one. Edward gave up leaping across the stones and tried to make a run for it, but he wasn't nearly fast enough to escape and was blown back by the explosions around him. He landed on the ground hard, and didn't move.
"You okay Ed?" I asked him as I cleared the barbed wire and ran to him. His temple was bleeding, he groaned and opened his eyes and looked up at me.
"I'm fine, keep going!" he groaned, and I didn't hesitate.
On my eleventh lap Zelda jumped through the flaming hoop and accidentally brushed the side, catching her dress on fire. The rain quickly put it out, but it distracted her and she got too close to the hyenas, and they wasted no time in getting their jaws on her. They both each got a good bite in, one just below her right knee and the other just above her left breast. She yelled, more in anger than in pain, and got away from them as fast as she could. She tried to keep going, but fell back in the mud on her face.
"Stupid mutts, I'll turn you both into a coat and matching hat!" she spat at them.
A shrill whistle blew, and the Joker called out, "That'll be enough kids! Come on back inside before you all get pneumonia. Losers go shower, everyone else follow me!"
"Finally," I muttered to myself as I followed him back in. It was a wonder anyone could tell us apart anymore, because we were all completely covered in mud.
The Joker and Harley led us down a hallway and into a room I thought I had already explored but couldn't have, because this room was unlike anything I had ever seen. There was a lot of strange tech, and the walls, ceiling and floor appeared to be giant computer screens.
"This room is a virtual reality chamber. For part two you'll have to navigate your way through a virtual reality challenge, sort of like a video game. To pass on to part three all you have to do is make it to the finish line. You'll be wearing these helmets, and if you take them off before you complete the challenge you will be immediately disqualified," said Joker as Harley began passing out chrome helmets with goggles attached, and put one on to show us how to do it right, but had trouble getting it over her jester cowl.
I had to undo my pigtails to get the helmet on, but even then it was still a little small. I adjusted the goggles, which made everything look distorted and only let me see in red and green.
"Brace yourselves!" laughed the Joker as he flipped a switch, and instantly I was no longer in the Joker's house, but in a lush, green forest. My clothes were clean, as if I hadn't been rolling around in the mud. The sun beat down mercilessly, yet I felt cold too, as if it were snowing. It was a feeling I couldn't really describe; the best thing I could compare it too would be a fever: you're burning up yet you feel like someone locked you in a freezer.
Around me were the others, also taking in our surroundings. I had never been out of the city before, and they had probably never set foot in a forest, either. It was kind of surreal to be surrounded by so many plants and trees, and to not hear car horns or smell the fumes. It was quiet except for the sounds of animals, and the air was clean and fresh, and I hated it. Maybe it was homesickness or something, but the city was where I belonged. Before me was a narrow trail which I assumed led to the finish line, and I took off, as did everyone else. They all had their own separate trails, so we would be going alone, which was how I liked it.
I followed the trail for a while, wiping sweat from my brow while my teeth chattered. I was making good time, until I came to a fork in the road. I took the left path and kept going.
I slowed to a jog as it suddenly began to hail. The hailstones weren't very big, but still hurt when they hit. I covered my head with my hands and kept going, and after about twenty minutes the hail stopped just as suddenly as it had come. I came to a small pool of water that was waist-deep next and waded across it. I came across a bear at some point, and had to remind myself that it wasn't real and didn't pose a threat. It was easy to forget this was all virtual reality, and that the Joker was controlling everything that happened in here. I was kind of disappointed, because fighting a bear would be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I had the option of provoking it anyway, but without the risk of death it would be pointless. Not to mention the fact that I did have a challenge to win.
As I walked past the sleeping bear, I heard a loud, piercing scream. Out of sheer curiosity, I ran through the trees towards the sound. It was probably just someone freaked out by a snake or something and had forgotten we were in make-believe land.
*When I reached the source of the scream, I couldn't believe my eyes. Bree lay dead on the path in a pool of her own blood. She had obviously been murdered, but there was no one else around. How could this have happened? People couldn't actually die in virtual worlds because they weren't real, but had the Joker somehow made it so that we could die? I knew the clown was a genius, but surely that was impossible, yet I couldn't deny the evidence before me. I began to wonder if maybe I should have taken that bear more seriously. I took a step towards her, and without any warning felt myself being attacked, but I could see no one. I could feel someone on my back, and I felt my face being clawed by invisible nails. I reached back to try to throw my attacker off of me, but there was nothing there to grab. I suddenly realized what was going on, and removed my helmet. I was instantly brought back to the real world and I could now see my attacker, but I had to do a double take because it was unbelievable. Holly knocked me to the floor, her knife raised in the air, ready to strike. I was shocked, Holly had killed Bree? Sweet, childlike little Holly, who was afraid of her own shadow, had murdered her best friend? I hadn't known she was even capable of murder, much less when it was pretty much the only person who cared about her.
What made it even weirder was the song she was singing. She was singing the creepiest version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star I had ever heard. It sounded so wrong and haunted, it sounded like the voice of a phantom, or of a fallen angel. It was then that I realized what Jess-Belle had meant when she had said she only sang that song on special occasions. I tried to fight her off, but she had caught me completely off guard. She must have taken off her helmet and killed Bree, and then she had come after me. She probably would have killed us all, and what better time to do it, when our guards were down even more so than when we were asleep. Joker wanted us to die one at a time to drag this out as long as possible, but it was clear she didn't care about that in the slightest. I could tell by the look in her eyes that gone was the unstable Holly I thought I had known, replaced by a maniac that thirsted for bloodshed. Her eyes were rabid and her teeth were bared, and her white blonde hair looked like it had just been through a hurricane. Her movements were jerky and uncoordinated, but she was stronger than she looked; her pencil thin arms shouldn't have been able to overpower me, but the element of surprise had given her a huge advantage. I grabbed her arm to try to keep her from stabbing me, and as she fought me she continued singing that song but at a faster, crazier pace. As I groped for my own knife she let out a wail like a banshee and slit my throat. I immediately felt hot blood pour down my neck, and I clutched at my throat in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. She let go of me and faced me as she raised her knife in the air to strike again, when out of nowhere Robin threw himself on her and pulled her away from me. Even more surprising was the appearance of Violet at my side. She pulled out her knife and a lighter and began heating up the knife. Miraculously, Holly hadn't severed any arteries, but if my bleeding wasn't stopped soon it wouldn't matter. Of course Joker and Harley were nowhere to be found, and even if they were there they would only point and laugh as I choked on my own blood.
Breathing was becoming difficult, and my vision was growing fuzzy. I felt my strength being drained from my body as blood soaked nearly every inch of me. I gasped for air and felt myself convulsing uncontrollably. The world seemed to spin around me as pain pulsed through me. Violet finished heating the knife, which probably wasn't as hot as it needed to be but was the best she could do with the amount of time given us. Knowing what I was in for, I bit down on my hand to keep myself from crying out. She forcefully shoved the searing hot metal against my throat, and I screamed anyway.
~Robin's POV~
I tackled Holly to the floor and grabbed her hands to try to wrestle the weapon from her grasp, but she was not about to give up without a fight. She kept trying to stab me over and over, all the while doing a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle that would haunt my nightmares for a long time. I looked into her usually innocent eyes, seeing nothing but evil and darkness there.
I couldn't hold her down on the floor without her stabbing me, so I pinned her arms around her back and tried to take the knife from her, but couldn't without giving her an opening to attack or escape. She kicked and tried to wriggle free so I also wrapped my legs around hers, becoming a sort of human straightjacket. She kept trying to free herself, but gradually I could feel her tiring. Her song became a soft humming that was still disturbing but was a lot better than the singing.
I held her there until she eventually calmed down and started humming a different song. She let me take her knife and I slowly released her.
"Bree was your friend," I said to her, unable to stop myself. "She was your best friend and you murdered her. How could you do that to her? What is wrong with you?"
"Shhh…" she said as she raised a finger to her lips. She pointed to Bree's bloody corpse as she whispered, "Bree's sleeping now, I don't want you to wake her up. She's sleeping, forever!" she giggled insanely. She picked herself up and said to Bree, "Baby and I will miss you." She rocked her baby doll in her arms whilst whistling Rock a Bye Baby, her need to kill apparently sated, for the moment.
I was amazed by what I had just witnessed. I had dealt with many people who killed simply for the fun of it, but that didn't mean I ever really got used to it. Even worse was the fact that Bree had trusted Holly, had been a friend to her, but that hadn't mattered at all in the end.
Because I had taken off my helmet it meant I was disqualified, and I could only hope Joker wouldn't use that as an excuse to hurt anyone. Violet was sitting with Rose, and I couldn't tell if she was alive or not. I went over to them, and saw that Rose's chest was still falling and rising, which meant she was still alive, but only just. She needed medical attention, but I had a feeling that she was on her own here. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do, which frustrated me all the more.
Violet gazed at me with those deep violet eyes of hers, the way she looked at me, it was as if she was studying me. She looked like she wanted to tell me something, but was unable to. She held out her hand and brought it towards me, but seemed to think better of it and quickly pulled it away. Looking at her, I noticed something familiar about those eyes, but I couldn't put my finger on it. She was certainly strange, but unlike most of the others, her strangeness wasn't a bad thing.
Over the span of half an hour the others completed the challenge. The Joker and Harley came back and directed them to the winner's circle.
"Well Chuckles, even though you did take off your helmet which I'm pretty sure I said was a no-no, being the forgiving soul that I am I'll let you keep playing. Starry, you too. Go join the finalist's circle with your little friends," said Joker with a broad grin on his face.
He pointed to where Johnny and Jess-Belle were standing, and I obeyed and went to stand with them, and Holly followed suit. Her clothes were soaked in Bree's and Rose's blood, but that didn't seem to bother her very much.
"Time for part three of the challenge, if you'll all follow me," he said as he opened the door as Harley eagerly skipped to his side.
"What about Rose?" I asked.
The Joker and Harley cast a quick glance over at Rose and shrugged. "She seems fine to me," they both said in unison.
"Of course," I said through my teeth as I followed them.
They led us to the gym, where there hung four ropes. Closer inspection revealed they were made of barbed wire.
"For your last challenge, all you have to do is climb your rope to the top and then stay there longer than everyone else. It's very simple really, and Harley has volunteered to serve as cheerleader!"
"There is no way I'm climbing barbed wire," said Jess-Belle. "Bree's dead so there won't be an elimination ceremony, so what's the point of even having this challenge?"
"Well, I guess if you don't want to do the challenge you don't have to," said Joker, sounding like his feelings had been hurt. "You can tell your teammates that you almost won but chickened out at the last minute like babies, I'm sure they'll understand. I mean, who am I to expect my little trainees to step out of their comfort zones and suffer a teensy weensy bit of pain? You do whatever makes you feel comfortable, lord knows we wouldn't want anyone to get a boo-boo."
"There's no way I'm going back there without at least trying. I have a reputation to uphold and exaggerate after all," said Johnny as he took hold of one of the ropes. He hoisted himself up and began to climb, wincing as he did.
The Joker gave me a look that clearly said that I had best start climbing, even though he made it seem like I had a choice in the matter. I took a deep breath, chose a rope, and began to climb. There were tiny spaces in between each spike and so I put my hands on them, but I couldn't avoid the spikes entirely. The barbs didn't scratch very deeply and didn't draw much blood, but they really hurt. They got my arms and legs, and they stuck me in a much more private place, too.
"Come on you guys, you can do it!" cheered Harley as she waved around red and black pom-poms and jumped up and down. "Jester! Little Star! Chuckles! We have pep, yes we do! We have pep, how about you? Go team go!"
"Can't you cheer any better than that?" asked Joker disgustedly.
"Sorry Puddin', that's all I know," she said sheepishly.
My hands were sweaty and I was having trouble holding on, and I was exhausted too, but I made myself keep going. When I was about halfway there, I paused for a moment to catch my breath and looked down. Fortunately I had no problem with heights. I could see Jess-Belle on the ground with a pouting expression on her face, and I saw Johnny a little ways below me. Holly was higher than us both, it was as if she couldn't feel the barbs at all. I started climbing again and was almost there when-
"And Little Star wins the challenge!" announced Joker.
I began climbing back down quickly, and in my haste stuck myself with more barbs, but I ignored the stinging pain. I reached the bottom and checked myself out and saw that my arms and legs were covered in scratches and my costume was torn in several places.
"Congratulations, Starshine," said Joker with a wide smile. "If we were still holding an elimination ceremony you'd have won invincibility for your entire team." He turned back to the ever-present camera guy and said, "Well there you have it, folks. Who knew Star-Bright had it in her? Tune in next time to see even more depraved psycho action!"
I left the gym and found Violet helping Rose back to the girl's dorm. Rose could walk, but she was still very weak, so I picked her up and carried her to her room. Her neck was burned badly and would scar horribly, but it was no longer bleeding, at least.
"Trying to play the hero again, Robin?" she asked me weakly with a half-smile. A smile I couldn't return.
"Shut up and be grateful for once," I told her, which only made her smile more.
I laid her on her bed and left her alone to go to my own room. My stomach growled, but after what I had seen today I had no appetite, which bothered me. It wasn't like I hadn't seen this stuff before, so why was it getting to me? I knew why, it was because I was powerless to stop it. At least with Bruce, I saw the evil and corruption but could fight to bring it to an end. But here, I could do nothing, and it was driving me crazy.
~Rose's POV~
"Wow, Holly got you good, didn't she?" said Zelda.
"Did you know she was like that?" I asked her. My throat was extremely sore, and it made talking difficult. "Why would she do that all of a sudden? It wasn't like her at all."
"The thing with Holly is she's always like that. She's got the mind of a child but the heart of a killer," said Zelda listlessly from her bed. Holly was in the room, but didn't seem to care that we were talking about her. She was taking care of her headless baby doll and humming to herself, as always. "When she was first brought to the asylum who know how many years ago her doctor thought she had a split personality, but that's not the case. She loves killing people, but most of the time she doesn't feel the need to actually do it. Occasionally something sets her off or she just feels like killing and goes on murdering rampages until she gets over it. You're lucky to be alive, you wouldn't believe how many people she's killed, more than a lot of the people here. Even more than me, which is a shame. The only people I've killed are my step-mother, a few cellmates, a guard or two, my ex, a handful of civilians and some of the Joker's goons, and my step-mother's cat. I may be forgetting some people, but I think that's it, and so I really need to step up my game. I want to set a record before I die."
"Why'd you kill your step-mother?" I asked curiously.
"She was poisoning my dad so she could get his money, I told him that over and over and he wouldn't listen. I killed that awful witch and her cat for good measure by putting them in her car and driving it into a pool while they slept. After my dad found out what I'd done he called me a sociopath and had me committed," she said indifferently, as though she were talking about someone else, and not herself. "It was just as well that he did, because the crime, coupled with his ingratitude, made me discover how much I like living on the other side of the law. I also killed my first doctor, who was also Vie's doc at the time. You remember Dr. Wise, don't you Mime?"
Violet was sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring blankly at the wall before her and said nothing. She didn't respond in the slightest, and it was at times like these that I wondered what was going on inside that head of hers, if anything. I couldn't believe she had forfeited the challenge just to save my life, and I had no idea why she had done it. She probably expected a favor in return, but I wondered what it was.