How the Joker Fell in Love Part 34

Danger shifted in the chair she was sitting in. It was made of some sort of scratchy material, and it seemed to have animal hair on it. It smelled old and musty, and seemed like it would fall apart at any moment.

Mr. Thorton sat in a nearly identical chair on the other side of a dusty wooden coffee table. The table had magazines and books and paper on it, all in no particular order, in fact, in no order at all. Like the rest of the room, it was all disorganized. However, there was a box of tissues on her side of the table within arms reach. How convinient.

This was her first meeting with her new therapist, Mr. James Adam Thorton, Ph.D. He specialized in dealing with post-traumatic stress cases, which seemed to be quite useful for her. She still refused to admit that she had it, because she didn't. She didn't want to feed their constant need to be right.

"So," Mr. Thorton started. "Why don't you just tell me everything that's happened to you?"

Danger sighed. "I already told this to Gordon; surely he... I don't know... briefed you or whatever you call it?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm afraid we're going to have to start from scratch."

She sighed again. "Can I go with the condensed version?"

Mr. Thorton looked skeptical at first, then lightened up. "For now," he promised, then let her start.

"Okay." Danger took a deep breath, then began. "So I went to school, the Joker kidnapped me, he tortured me a lot, then he killed my only friend there, Harley Quinn. Then, he made me kill some other girl, Megan Margheim, and then he kicked me out. Then I came back, and we got mad at each other in a club, then he brought home some whorebag named Jodi. She was a bitch. Then he cut my hair, then tortured me some more, then he burned Jodi to death and let the cops have me. But he told me before he left that they won't have me for long." Danger sat back in her chair once she was finished.

There was a moment of silence while Mr. Thorton took all of that in. "How did he torture you?" he asked.

"Just knives, cutting me up, that kind of stuff. He threatened me one time with a holepunch and a screwdriver."

He nodded. "Have you heard from him in any way since then?"

"Yeah, he gave me a call on my cell yesterday, actually. No, I haven't."

"It doesn't have to be him calling you. What I'm asking, if I can rephrase my question, is... Have you thought about him much?"

"Yeah." She felt no need to lie.

"Like what?"

"Mostly just hearing his voice sometimes here and there, and I always feel like he's watching me when they turn the lights out in my room. Like he could be anywhere, you know?" Why was she pouring her soul out to this guy? She had no clue, but he just somehow felt safe to her.

"Hm I see. And, any dreams you'd like to discuss? Dreams at this stage are very helpful and meaningful."

Danger stopped herself from opening her mouth. He had no right to know about her dream. That was very very very very very personal. She shook her head instead. "Nope. I haven't dreamed since they started that medicine. It must have some sort of effect on the brain like that or something."

"Hm" was all he said. "Well, if you have anything you'd like to discuss, just some to me. I'm always here." He smiled, then stood up, as did Danger. "I believe our session has concluded for the day. I will see you tomorrow." He shook her hand, then she hurried out the door.

Once out of that smelly room, Danger could finally breathe. That guy was creepy, but she did feel a little better. Who knows, maybe he really could help her?

She shook her head. She needed to stop trusting people. Everyone started off with 0 out of 100 trust points at the beginning, not the other way around. She needed to remember that.

She walked out of the building to Ava's car, which was waiting on the curb with the motor running.

Danger climbed in shotgun. "How come you had the motor running?"

"Didn't you feel how cold it is out there?" Ava asked, giving her an incredulous glance.

Danger shrugged. "Not really. I guess that's what you get from being crazy. You never know what the weather's like."

Ava laughed. "You're not crazy," she disagreed. She peeled out of the parking lot and away from that creepy old building.

"Oh yeah? Then how come I have a therapist?"

"Lots of sane people have therapists!" she protested.

"Oh really? Like who?"

Ava gave her a quick glance. "Me."

Damger swallowed. "Oh." Stupid.

Ava laughed light-heartedly. "It's fine, you didn't know. I just a problem with my temper, that's why I have the therapist."

"Ah, revenge streak?"

"You have no idea," she said, her voice somewhere in between humor and warning.

"So where are we going?" Danger had been allowed to be out of the hospital for a few days now, but only for a few hours a day. She really hadn't been any real place, just some fast food restaurants and the movies one time.

"The one place I bet you're dying to see again," Ava answered, then pulled up to a huge building.

"The mall!" Danger exclaimed.

"Mm-hm!" Ava said, pulling into a parking spot with a smug look on her face. "I knew you'd like it."

Once they were out, Danger gave her a big hug. Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Oh I think I've got an idea. It means just as much as the cost'll be to repair my ribs."

"Sorry!" Danger immidiately jumped back, giving her some space to breathe. "So, are we ready to go?"

"Ready when you are," Ava said, smiling now that she'd recovered the use of her lungs.

"'Kay, let's go!"

It wasn't long before Danger was completely overwhelmed. All the stores, all the people. It was like she'd just returned to her birthcity. It was a place she vaguely remembered, but it was still a foreign land.

Ava luckily knew where she was going. She dragged Danger into every one of her favorite stores, and soon Danger began remembering what it was like to have a friend. She found herself laughing out loud more than ten times, and there were times where she even forgot about the Joker! It was incredible; this was just what she needed.

She and Ava were eating a pizza at the food court. Danger was scarfing hers down; she'd forgotten how deliciously greasy mall food could be, and she ravished it.

Ava gasped suddenly, her eyes as wide as the pepperoni slices on her pizza.

"What?" Danger asked, then followed her eyes. She felt her stomach constrict, and suddenly felt really sick.

Bruce Wayne was walking straight for Villa Pizza, right next to them.