Everyone has those moments where an instinct takes over and drives us. We call it 'fight or flight'. But there is more to it than that. And we don't know how we will react at any given moment. We could be filled with anger and it propels us to fight. Or courage finds us and we run away to safety. Or fear overwhelms us and we freeze which makes us powerless to the situation we're up against. Or we succumb to indifference and we just give in.
—From the journal of Hailey Thomas, dated 2005, page 78
Hailey woke in a cell. Or at the very least she believed it was a cell. The space wasn't very large. It was about six feet wide and ten feet long. There was a cot that jutted out of the wall with a thin mattress that she was laying on. To her immediate right was a metal stool that was bolted to the ground. In front of it was a tabletop that came out of the wall. Past the foot of the bed near the far wall, stood a combination sink and toilet. Next to the door was an intercom. The door itself looked like it was made of thick metal and had a slot in the middle. There was a barred window at the top of the door. Hailey sat up and leaned against the wall. Tears ran down her face.
She was fourteen years old and was being held against her will. She hadn't had a trial. She hadn't been convicted of a crime. There was no reason whatsoever for her to be in the cell. But she knew that it had been that woman, Mona Long. There was no way that she was a CPS worker. Hailey didn't know who that woman really was or what she wanted. But she would never forget that face. She closed her eyes and prayed that Dick would find her soon. Or Tim. Or Superman.
Superman.
Hailey wiped her eyes and got on her knees. She took a deep breath and began to scream. "Superman! Please, save me! Superman!"
"There's no point in that, dear," said Mona through the intercom near the door.
Hailey looked at the intercom and narrowed her eyes. There was a small camera lens on it.
"You are three hundred feet below ground level in a structure made of lead walls. Superman cannot hear you or see you, darling."
Hailey shook her head. It couldn't be true.
"Superman! Please! Superman!"
She didn't know how long she screamed but her throat had gone dry. Her voice was hoarse and she sniffled as she said in a small voice, "Mom. Please, save me."
Someone brought her a tray of food through the slot. It clattered on the ground. The food didn't spill though. The tray had a cover. But Hailey didn't so much as looked at it. She was curled up on the bed hoping to disappear. She eventually fell asleep.
Hailey woke to strong arms dragging her out of bed.
"What are you doing?! Where are you taking me?!" Hailey thrashed around but the person who was pulling her out of her cell was strong.
"Shower," said a male voice.
He pulled Hailey up to her feet but continued to drag her down a hall. Hailey realized that it was the same man who'd been with Mona at the precinct. He was wearing scrubs like an orderly at a hospital. She figured he was her guard. There were no other people around. There were other cells but Hailey couldn't hear other people. She wondered if the rooms were soundproof.
The guard pulled her through an opening and shoved her inside. It was a tiled room with no doors. Two walls lined with showers. There was a soap dispenser next to each one. The floor was tiled as well except for the center of it that was a large round drain.
"You have twenty minutes," the guard said.
Hailey turned to look at him and he simply stood at the entry with his arms crossed over his chest. He was staring her down making her feel uncomfortable.
"Do I get any privacy?" Hailey said and the guard smirked but didn't reply.
Hailey considered not taking a shower at all but the truth was, she needed one. And she didn't know when they would allow her another chance to shower. So with shaky hands, she removed the scrubs they'd given her at the police station. She stripped out of her underwear and turned on the water. It was cold. She yelped and jumped back. She heard the guard snicker. There was only one dial. There wasn't going to be any hot water. Hailey grit her teeth then showered. She was shivering by the time she finished.
The guard grabbed her by her arm and dragged her back to her room. She wasn't given a towel. When she arrived at her cell, she was shoved inside. She fell to the floor and slid until she hit the foot of the bed. The cell door was slammed shut. Hailey let out a whimper and stood on shaky legs. She saw a tan jumpsuit and a pair of mesh underwear on the bed. She put them on and then sat on the bed hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to leave. She wanted to go home. She wanted her brother.
Sometime later a tray of food arrived. Hailey got up and grabbed it. And she ate like a feral being. Quick bites that she swallowed after only a bite or two. She had no idea what had been on the tray by the time she finished eating but soon after she was retching into the toilet.
The next time food was brought to her cell, it was a bowl of broth.
The days began to blend into one another. Hailey spoke to the voices in her head to get through her waking hours. She seemed to have an internal clock for when the guard would come to take her for her shower because she would stand in front of the door only moments before the guard opened the door. He didn't have to drag her out. She followed him without complaint. There was always a clean jumpsuit and mesh underwear waiting for her. And even though she was washing her hair regularly, she didn't have a brush and it was getting tangled.
The guard came into her room one day earlier than normal with hair clippers. He sat her on the stool and shaved her head. Then he took her to her shower. When Hailey returned to the room, all the hair trimmings were gone. The room was clean like it always was when she came back from her shower.
"We have some news for you, darling," Mona said through the intercom. Hailey stared at the camera lens but didn't answer. "Bruce Wayne escaped from prison two weeks ago. And since they couldn't find him, the DA rushed Sasha Bordeaux's trial. She was convicted of murdering Vesper Fairchild." Hailey narrowed her eyes. She knew that Sasha hadn't killed Vesper. "Turned out that Sasha was in love with Bruce Wayne and was jealous of Vesper."
Hailey tightened her lips.
"If you testify that Bruce Wayne killed Vesper, we will let you go free," Mona told her.
Hailey frowned when she heard that.
"You want to go home, don't you, dear?" Mona asked in a fake sympathetic voice.
Hailey did want to go home but she didn't trust Mona. There was no way that they would just let her out if she testified against her dad. And if they already convicted Sasha for a crime she didn't commit, it was obvious that her dad hadn't killed Vesper either. It had been the man that Hailey shot. And now she was glad she did shoot him and she really hoped that she killed him. It was his fault that Vesper was dead. It was his fault that Sasha was in jail. It was his fault that Bruce was on the run. And it was his fault that she was locked up like an animal.
"Fuck you!" Hailey told Mona angrily.
The woman sighed. "You know that brother of yours is looking everywhere for you. He had a screaming match with Commissioner Gordon and had to spend a night in jail for thrashing the precinct. He's taken so much time off work that he's about to lose his job," Mona said and paused.
Hailey's lip wobbled. Dick was looking for her? Tears streamed down her face.
"He even recruited Nightwing, Robin, and Batman to search for you. But it doesn't look like they'd had any luck. Batman went so far as to bring Superman in for the search. But the Kryptonian gave up his search faster than the Flash. Eventually, no one will be looking for you. They're going to forget about you. And your brother is going to blame you for losing his job, his girlfriend, his home...should I go on?"
Hailey shook her head.
"All you have to do is give us a written statement saying that Bruce Wayne killed Vesper Fairchild and you'll be free. Your brother will be able to keep his job. And Sasha's conviction will be overturned."
The door slot opened and a clipboard with a piece of paper and a pen clattered to the ground. Hailey got off the bed and picked it up. The statement was already written. All she had to do was sign it.
"Don't do it," Jason told her. He was standing beside her and frowning at the paper. "She's lying to you. If you sign that, they'll kill you."
"But if I don't, I'll never get out of here," Hailey told Jason in a small voice. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him. And a small part of her knew that he was a hallucination but without him, she was alone. And she didn't want to be alone anymore.
"The only way you'll get out of here if you sign that is in a body bag. I know what I'm talking about. Don't sign it," Jason told her. He went to reach for the clipboard but Hailey pulled it back. She hugged it to her chest. "If you do it, I'll never talk to you again."
Hailey began to cry but then she grabbed the paper and ripped it to pieces.
Another clipboard was shoved through the slot.
"Last chance, dear."
Hailey threw the clipboard she was holding at the camera lens and grabbed the next paper. She crumpled it into a ball and flushed it down the toilet.
Mona didn't speak to her again for a few days. But when she did, it was only to tell her that Sasha had been murdered in her cell.
The next time that Mona spoke to her it was to tell her that Bruce Wayne had returned to Gotham and had been cleared of all charges. She also told her that Dick had stopped looking for her. That no one was looking for her anymore. And she added that she had no more use for her.
The red light next to the camera lens was turned off. The guard came into her room and laughed at her.
"You belong to me now," he told her then he forced himself on her.
When he was finished, he took her to the shower room. Hailey showered in a numb state and when she returned to her room, there wasn't a jumpsuit or mesh underwear.
She was going to die in that cell. She was going to die all alone. Jason had stopped talking to her. Or maybe she had stopped talking to him. He simply sat beside her on the bed staring at her. Hailey stared at the wall in front of her trying to make pictures out of the textures on the wall. She saw a goblin that smirked at her. He was always smirking. When the guard forced himself on her, the goblin was smirking. When she cried herself to sleep, the goblin was smirking.
"I'm going to get you out of here," Jason told her one day. Hailey stared at him with deadened eyes. "I promise. I'll get you out of here."
But Hailey didn't believe him. And she hated him for promising something that would never come true. She was done hoping that someone would find her. Done hoping that Mona would talk to her again. Completely done with the cell.
Hailey grabbed her pillow and began to pull on the seams until she tore them. She pulled the stuffing out of it and shoved it into the toilet. Then she flushed the toilet and shoved her head in the bowl. She kept flushing it and swallowing water, forcing herself to breathe. The toilet had clogged and the water was spilling out onto the floor and into the hallway. She felt the urge to lift her head up to breathe. Her lungs burned. Her head swam. But she was determined. If she was going to die in that cell, it would be by her own hand. She would be free of this place. She would save herself.