XIII.

Arthur came home. The road had been long, tedious and cold, just as he had wished. He closed his door and lay his soaked body on it, still thinking about what happened today. Thomas Wayne was right. His life had been a lie disguised with joy. The words that Penny always said were repeated which broken record in his tormented head. He repeatedly crashed his forehead into the wood until a few tears came up again. The memories of his life passed which movie; happiness? When had he been happy? In no time of his fucking life.

And between his tears and memories, his laughter emerged. His thunderous and peculiar laugh managed to widen his lips and lift his cheeks, laughter flooded the apartment and the pain consumed him infinitely. Arthur sat down in his armchair, his body kept shaking and the sound of his laughter had come to neighboring apartments, listening as they asked to shut up. He ignored them, leaned back and placed himself in a fetal position and he will leave time to continue next to his tears and laughter.

Grace watched through the window of the hospital room. The drops slid swiftly through the glass and she paid attention to the time on her watch. It was after ten and Arthur did not arrive. Concern arose in her, she brought one of her hands to her chest and felt the beating of her heart at an unusual pace. Grace prayed that Arthur was well, that he did not have the misfortune of crossing any of the demonstrations that people made. She sighed, dropped her arms and approached the armchair in search of her purse and took out a few coins.

"I will make a call, Mrs. Fleck. It won't take me long," the redhead said as she palmed the woman hand. Penny responded with a grimace and Grace left the room.

When she reached the ground floor, she took one of the public telephones and began to throw the coins, surprised at the echo they were making. The hospital was empty and the serenity that abounded in the place was scary. Grace dialed the number and waited patiently, listening to the sound of the line. Moments later the sound of the telephone line stopped and Grace knew that the answering machine had entered, hung up the call, took one of her hands on her forehead and a bitter sigh came. She tried one last time and the result was the same. That anguish tormented her again and continued with her prayers for to Arthur was well.

Upon arriving in the room, Grace paid attention to the television to see that the Murray Franklin show began. Penny looked at the program and she turned up the volume so both could enjoy the program. In what they enjoyed the night, and before Murray finished the show, there was something that caught the redhead's attention.

"Do you remember our friend who tried to be a comedian?" He asked. "Well, many of you have called us to repeat his video and the truth is that surprises me." The audience began to laugh at the obvious sarcasm. "So, we've thought about it a lot and what better way to invite the man in person." All the people clapped, Murray asked for some control and put his hands together with a loud clap. "Of course, dear public, we will do everything possible so that in the next program our Joker will be the star of the night."

"Joker?" The redhead questioned between surprised and amused.

The show ended, she discovered that Penny had fallen asleep and tried to cover her with the sheets. She turned off the television, moved the curtain that divided the room to protect the privacy and took one last look out the window. The darkness that the night offered terrified her, the blackened sky did not stop throwing its rain and resumed the armchair, ready to rest. Today she had been very unsettle for the day, especially knowing that she would soon be a mother.

Remembering this, he brought his hands to his belly and with his thumbs caressed him sweetly, gave a half smile and thought about the future that was approaching. She could not deny being afraid, she had never planned the idea of a child, even when she was Richard's couple. Now Grace just had to wait and know how Arthur would take it to be able to move forward with this new step in their lives.

Arthur had turned the apartment upside down, his laughter and crying stopped a couple hours ago, and now an immense rage was who accompanied him. He was in the kitchen, his arms were laying on the dishwasher and the effort it caused dimmed the veins on his light skin. In his body he did not stop feeling a colossal heat; it burned him and its sudden action was to open the refrigerator, take out all its contents and lock itself in it.

Time passed, the phone rang about twice but preferred not to answer; the answering machine did its thing and no message was left. Feeling the cold in his body, Arthur got out of the furniture and walked to the room to stay in bed. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, without stopping feeling miserable and remembered something important.

He remembered his old friend, the old revolver. He looked for it among his things and when he found it he looked at it as a lost treasure. A crazy smile was drawn on his face and stroked the gun, he had missed his old friend. He placed it under his chin and his eyes looked at the rotting roof on which he lived, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. Nothing had happened. He acted repeatedly and when he reacted to the nothing that happened, he lowered the gun and opened it. It was empty and he knew he had to buy a few bullets. He got up from the place and left it on the table, looked for a cigar to calm the nerves but with the hatred present in him. And throughout the night he thought in detail how Penny should pay the happiness that had brought him so much.

The powerful scent of cigar bothered Grace's nose, the smell was so intense that the disgust had woken her. She looked confused and discovered Arthur, leaning against the wall, smoking as usual and looking rigidly at Penny.

"Thank God!" Exclaimed the redhead, relieved. She finished rising from the armchair and quickly approached him. She hugged him with all her strength and could feel how tense it came from his body. Grace looked confused and see that at no time, Arthur had not reciprocated her greeting. "Are you okay?" She asked uneasily.

Arthur brought the cigar to his mouth and did not answer, Grace kept analyzing him and distinguished how the brightness of his eyes had dimmed. Something had happened to him, she had noticed it for a long time but he did not speak, and she felt that he was pressing hard for him to trust her most intimate concerns. Gradually Grace stepped aside, watching as he ignored her presence.

"Go home," he said. "Arthur ..."

"It's my turn," he continued. "You look terrible and you need to rest."

The deep and sour tone of his voice managed for the first time, do Grace to feel some discomfort. He had always enjoyed to be next to Arthur, but now that feeling came and annoyed him entirely. She nodded her head, turned around in search of her purse and, before leaving the room, she approached him, kissed his cheek and whispered: "I love you." Arthur did not respond to any of his affections and she left the place, taking with her that bitter feeling.

Arthur sharpened his ears and waited for the roar of wedge heels to go away, and once that sound was not perceived, he placed himself next to his mother and waited for her to open her eyes.

An hour passed and the blonde opened her eyes, seeing her son next to her.

"Ha ... Happy," she called, showing enormous joy.

The look of anger that covered Arthur's eyes worried Penny a little, a strange grin was his response and he brought the cigar to his mouth as he approached his stretcher. The words that Arthur spit were full of hate and Penny did not understand why, if his son had always put a smile on her face. He took his pillow and the last words he heard from him left marks on her mind.

"I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but I finally realized it was a fucking comedy."

Arthur placed the pillow on her face and squeezed with enormous force. Without understanding his son's action, Penny sought to stop him but no matter how hard she tried, she weakened. Slowly he was losing air and, as soon as the monitoring machine stopped, Arthur released the pillow and looked at his mother's sad and faint face. He accommodated the pillow as it should be and, letting out the smoke, he moved away from the stretcher feeling like the anger he had forged did not disappear altogether. The woman, whom she thought was her mother, who cared for her, had paid what she did, what made her believe she was and yet his hatred did not die out. It wanted to flow. A little bit of grief blanketed his heart and he giving a last look to his mother, turned around and left the place, no matter what would come next.

He faked a trip to the bathroom, when he returned he found the nurses trying to revive Penny. Arthur tried to pretend surprise, deep down it was a bit difficult. The nurses did their best and Penny Fleck was left for dead that morning. The nurse who had motivated Grace for the pregnancy test, looked strangely at Arthur and he seemed worried but deep down she knew he wasn't, and her instinct warned her that he had to do with Mrs. Fleck's death, who showed slight improvement. Arthur enlisted everything for an early funeral, that same day in the afternoon, so he went home in search of his best suit to end this.

At home, Grace had suffered from disgust and dizziness again, the symptoms of pregnancy were beginning to drive her crazy, but she knew it was natural and should take it for a while. She took her yellow section and began looking for a gynecologist to schedule an appointment as soon as possible, and as she turned the leaves, the image of that serious Arthur came to her mind.

As much as she thought she could have it that way, that feeling had stayed with her and the fear of telling him about the pregnancy had sprouted. Grace took her hand behind the back of her neck and scratched it eagerly, she thought it was best to wait for Penny to improve and thus release the news. For her that turned out to be the best. The redhead set aside the directory and decided to rest since if it was exhausted. She took a shower and lay on the bed, prepared her alarm for four in the afternoon and drove to the world of dreams to reconcile with it.

In the cemetery, Arthur was the only one present and his crimson suit stood out for a moment like that. The father did not question the man and Penny Fleck was buried under the blessing of the church. Arthur never mentioned a word, a smile was his final answer and he left the cemetery without looking back, but to his surprise, those detectives were waiting for him off-site.

"Mr. Fleck," said Detective Burke. "Good afternoon," he replied smiling. "We hear about his mother's death, we're sorry," Detective Garrity continued. "You wouldn't have bothered, officers," he said, carrying his umbrella over his shoulder and a cigar in his mouth. Both detectives looked dumbfounded by his cynical behavior.

"Mr. Fleck. I know this is not a good time to bother you, however, we would like to talk about your mother."

"Why do you need to know about her? If she already passed away."

"Apparently the circumstances of his death turn out to be ... mysterious."

"More by not asking an autopsy."

"I'm so sorry," he said as he turned around and walked away from the men. "Mr. Fleck!"

Arthur raised his hand, said goodbye to both of them and continued on his way home.

When he set foot in his apartment, Arthur heard the phone and ignored it as it should be. He have continued smoking and let the answering machine do his thing. As soon as a female voice sounded, it was perceived that it was not Grace's, he heard:

"We want to invite you to Murray Franklin's program and ...

He got up from the bed and quickly approached to answer the call. He could not believe what was mentioned, he would be with Murray Franklin. His dream had come true and with a peculiar smile, he accepted the invitation.

The afternoon came and Grace arrived at the hospital, upon entering the room she discovered the nurse preparing the bed for a new patient.

"Hello," she greeted confusedly. "Where Mrs. Fleck is?"

"I'm sorry to give you this news, miss. Mrs. Fleck passed away this morning."

Grace's skin paled, a frightening sensation ran through her body and the need to pass out arrived. He managed to hold up the wall and the nurse ran to assist her.

"Are you right?!"

"Yes, yes ... Did she die?" She nodded. "Sorry, apparently it was a respiratory arrest."

"Apparently?" She asked in amazement. "The son denied an autopsy, so the doctor ruled that."

Grace tried to support herself, thanked the nurse for everything and left the hospital in search of Arthur, imagined the pain he must have and she wanted to know the reality about Penny Fleck's dead.

A/N:

Thanks so much for reading. I will be deeply grateful with any comments, constructive criticism, opinions and / or suggestions :3