Book One: Fear

Chapter 2

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New Chapter, read, enjoy and review.

One month, I spent on the streets. One month. It's long when you have nothing to eat, nowhere to go and no one to help. You try to get by as much as you can with what you have and when all you have is nothing. Well, there's only a few options left. You shoplift in supermarket, you sleep in churches, even in libraries, and until eventually you got caught.

There I was, handcuffed, sitting in front of a police officer. He was writing down something on his form. They took my fingerprints, my name, I was mugshot. Great, isn't it?

"You know why you're here, right?" He asked me in a monotone voice.

"I think I got an idea." I replied sniffing.

"Well, you shoplifted and you illegally slept in a library." He reminded me as I didn't already know.

"I didn't break in." I put in.

"You think you're funny?"

"I think I'm adorable." I couldn't help but reply. It's not everyday you get to reuse that line, now is it? He didn't seem impressed. "Look, I was hungry that's why I shoplift that can of food. It's freezing out there, that's why I remained in that library after the closing hours. If I could buy my food, I would. If I had my own place, I wouldn't be here justifying my actions."

"Well, why don't you do like any sane people and go look for a job?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"You think I didn't try." I said a little bit too loudly attracting the attention of the people in the station. "I lost everything. I have nowhere to go. I don't know anyone here. You think I haven't tried to find a job. You think I wanted this. You know humiliating that is right now." Tears were brimming in my eyes. I took a deep breath in. "You say it like it was the easiest thing to do. You say it like I chose that life. Well, I didn't choose that life. I didn't want to be in here sitting in front of you." I choked a sob. "I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm hungry. Can you not understand that?"

"You are not the only one in Gotham who's starving." The police officer answered. "We're not running a charity here."

"I'm not asking for your charity." I said banging my fists on his desk. "I'm asking you to understand that I didn't have a choice." I got up knocking my chair down. "You don't get to treat me or look down on me as if I was a piece of trash, just because you can. You're no better than me."

"Is everything alright here?" A man asked standing on the side.

"Yes, Sergeant, this woman is just a lunatic." The police officer answered despitefully.

"I'm not a lunatic." I said a bit more loudly that I intended to. I looked at the Sergeant and came face to face with James Gordon. I was a bit taken aback and surprised to meet the man in person.

"Sergeant, the girl was caught stealing food. And there's several reports of her sleeping in church and library." The police officer said to Gordon.

"I lost everything." I explained to Gordon and it wasn't a lie. I did lose everything. My old life, my belongings, everything I fought for. "Alright, I didn't have a choice."

Gordon extended his hand to the police officer. "Give me the key." He simply asked.

"But Serg…" The guy started to protest.

"Now." The officer puffed out and got up. He pulled out his keys and gave them to Gordon. "I'll take care of this." Gordon smiled gently and un-cuffed me.

You might think that meeting Batman, which I haven't yet, would be more impressive than meeting Gordon. But let me tell you that sitting in front of him, right now was quite impressive.

He is exactly as he was depicted in the movie. Kind, warm and brutally honest. He didn't have to help me. He didn't have to offer me a hot drink. He could have just turned away. And yet, he didn't.

"There you go." The waitress of the dinner said smiling placing the hot cup in front of me.

"Thanks." I said taking the hot cup in my hands. I blew on the hot drink.

"Now, tell me, what's your name?" Gordon asked me.

"Emma. Emma Sanders." I replied sipping from my cup.

"Tell me, Emma, would you like something to eat with this coffee?" Gordon asked smiling warmly once again.

"You don't have to do this." I told him. "You don't have to help me."

"I know." Gordon nodded looking at the menu. "So, pancakes? Toast, bacon and eggs?"

"Whatever you'll take." I answered.

He raised his hand and the blond waitress stopped by. He ordered some pancakes, bacon and eggs.

"Why are you helping me?" I couldn't but ask. "I mean aren't you going to get in trouble for this?"

"I can't get in trouble for a girl who doesn't exist." Gordon retorted. "And there's more dangerous criminal than you in Gotham City. So, what's your real name?"

"I told you my name already. Emma Sanders is my real name." I confirmed him.

"We have no records of an Emma Sanders here in Gotham or in another states or countries." Gordon said seriously.

"Look, if you dragged me in this dinner just to tell me this or to put behind bars. You could have done that back at the station." I snapped at him.

"I don't want to put you behind bars." Gordon shook his head. "And I dragged you here because you looked hungry. Even though, it's curious that you seemed to have appear out of nowhere. You don't seem to be dangerous."

"So, you've decided to help me out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Yes." The waitress came back with our orders. "How long have you been here in Gotham?"

"A month." I replied picking up my fork. "And before you ask, it's been a month I've been sleeping in the streets."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. The food has an exquisite taste especially when you have spent days and weeks, living on nothing but a rotten food, half finish sandwiches. It felt really good to have real food in my mouth. It was so good that I could actually cry. And I did cry.

"There's a refuge not too far from here." Gordon started. "You could stay there for a while."

"I've been there already. I don't want to go back there." I hiccupped.

"You don't really have a choice." Gordon retorted. "Listen, stay there until you find a job and a place of your own." Gordon got up and put down some money. "This is for the lunch. And this is for you." He said placing fifty or thirty bucks in my hand.

"I can't accept that." I refused profusely. "I don't know how I'll pay you back."

"Pull yourself together and get through it. And your debt will be paid." He smiled. "I need to go back to work. Good luck, Emma." And he left.

I don't know why he helped me and I don't think he knew himself. I'm sure I'm not the first homeless person who landed in his precinct and I don't think it helped every single one of them. And yet, he helped me.

I finished my meal and went to the refuge as Gordon advised me. With the determination and every intention to pay back my debt. I will do everything it takes to pay all the debts I owed to the two people that have helped me since I arrived here in Gotham.

A young man led me to a single room. He laid down a fresh set of clothes on the bed and left. After, of course, he explained me all the rules that I shouldn't break if I wanted to stay in that refuge. Last time I went to the refuge, it was to get food and that was a month ago. And by pride and shame, I didn't go back there. But today it was different. Someone helped me and reminded me kindly that I was given a choice. I had no other choice but to get through those tough times by myself. Like I once did.

Two months later, I've had left the refuge and got my own flat. One week after, I've started to live at the refuge, I found a small job at a restaurant. I started by washing the dishes all day long and then moved on serving the tables. With my first paycheck, I paid back the receptionist of the city hall and invited her for lunch.

She was tall and blonde with bright green eyes. Her name was Suzanne McCarthy. I told her about me living in a refuge and how I was in a bad place. And she said the sweetest thing ever. "You should have asked for my help. I would have helped you." It's sweet, isn't it? But sometimes people do say that and most of time they don't mean it. But she meant it. I know because she's the one who helped me a flat in her building. Yeah, we were neighbors now.

Sue is my first real friend in this world. And I loved her very much. I was still working at this restaurant, not the fanciest one in Gotham but a good one nonetheless. Once in a while, after my extras hours the cook would give me a doggy bag with a meal cooked especially for me. And since I moved in my new place, he'd give me two. One fore me and another for Sue.

"Boeuf Bourguignon and wine for dinner tonight." I announced stepping into her flat.

"You're a savior, Em." I followed her into the kitchen. She grabbed two plates and placed them on the island. "Exceptionally, tonight we'll eat in front of my TV."

"Mmmh." I raised up my eyebrows. "What's the occasion?"

"They're talking about the Prince of Gotham tonight." She said excitedly.

"Why?" I leaned on the island frowning a bit. Is he back already? Just so we're clear, it's only by curiosity because I really have no intention to get involved in the dangerous life of Gotham City.

"Well, haven't you heard?" Sue asked me, giving me the two glasses of wine before she started to move to the living room. I grabbed the bottle and followed her. "Bruce Wayne has been MIA for four months already. And no one, not even his butler, have heard of him ever since."

"I wasn't there four months ago." Alright, I'm okay. Bruce Wayne will be back in seven years. And I won't probably be here in seven years. So, no risks for me to get involved.

"Never mind that." She waved me off as a picture of Bruce appeared on the screen. It was during the trial of the man who has killed his parents. "Isn't he gorgeous?"

I scoffed. "The mailman is gorgeous for you." She slapped my shoulder. "Your words not mine."

"Come on, Em. Don't tell me that you don't think that this guy is gorgeous?"

"He has his charms." Sue gave me a blank stare. "Alright, he's gorgeous. Happy?"

"I knew it." Sue said loudly. "There's a heart underneath your Tin Man persona."

"Alright, Dorothy, me finding Bruce Wayne gorgeous has nothing to do with the fact that I might have a heart or not." I deadpanned. "And he has nothing more than the average guy. He is gorgeous, I give you that. What else does he have?" An alter-ego that saves people on a nightly basis and fights crimes.

"A billion of dollars."

"So shallow of you."

"I know." She smiled proudly. "Hey, I got what you asked me."

"Great!" I rested the glass on the small table.

She passed me the paper. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I think I owe it to him." I nodded with conviction staring at the form in my hands. A form that will grant me the entrance to the police academy of Gotham City.

Hope you liked this chapter. What do you think of Emma getting in the police academy? I don't know if I managed to keep it real but I hoped I did. Let me know what you think.