DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Joker or any other DC characters, only Julie and other OC's I implement into this book.
Crime & Chaos
" EMERALD GREEN "
by alwaysgeia
It was 8 am on a cold and cloudy Tuesday. A girl in beige descended the dreary and littered street, her coat hood hid her face from the wolf-whistling men of Gotham City.
He, too, had his hood up to hide his gnarly scars; still, he earned glares from strangers and the usual mothers-pulling-their-child-away as they passed him. At the end of the street, the girl had bought a coffee from a small outdoor cafe business.
He'd give this week a miss. He had to plan. Give her a shred of hope that he had disappeared, been killed, arrested...
"Enjoy. Have a nice day."
"Thanks, you too." A gust of wind blew through the air and her hood fell on her shoulders. Her hair flowed in tousled, amber wind-swept curls; springy coils that danced in the air with every movement. As though the wind was a vicious predator, she pulled her hood back over her head.
Toooo nice, he thought, thanking a stranger is a low-blow, Jules. Take it from me. He was stood behind her now, her vanilla perfume evaporated off her skin into the air; a lovely difference compared to the smell of shit and garbage. She was, in his words, a burning candle in a deep cave, slowly dimming. After he was done, the wax would be melted down to the core.
She cast a glance behind her, but he was already gone. Turned his back to her and pretended to look at a tower of postcards that had fake pictures of the shiny new Statue of Freedom in a 'joyous' Gotham City. The Statue that stood today was mouldy with bird shit. Who would buy these anyway? Why would anyone choose Gotham as a holiday? This city was just a smog-ridden dystopia, barely fit for human life. How Julie had found herself in this ugly place was laughable to him; it was the worst place to possibly live in, a place that no one would look at.
She had turned the corner towards a two-story building - presumably her college - and entered through the main double doors and out of view.
The one-man security checked her lanyard and let her through, eyeing her up and down with a smile on his greasy, stocky face. She kept her head down the entire time, staring at her phone and texting her group's chat.
The tiny TV in the corner of the college's reception murmured in the background. "549 arrests have been made following counts of racketeering, fraud and murder..."
As she walked down the hallway to her form's room, a sharp pain shot through her torso. Biting her lip, she clutched her side and leant against the wall for a few seconds. The night he had broke in, his boot had cracked one of her ribs, so now, she had a bruised right side and a pain in the ass to walk with it. Her tongue had mostly healed over, but it had left a gnarly scar in its track that was still painful to eat with. She was glad Beth had let her stay the weekend - she wouldn't have been able to sleep in her own house.
She inhaled and exhaled heavily, a few people walking past had looked at her strangely but she didn't care. They don't know the reason, and they never will. She clutched her biology folder tightly and threw the strap of her bag further over her shoulders, freeing herself from the wall.
The day was passing rather quickly and she hated it. It was coming to the end of her afternoon class and she pulled up her phone to scroll through various news articles, one caught her eye from GCN.
"BREAKING NEWS: BATMAN DEAD?"
Scroll.
"One civilian said: 'If Batman doesn't turn himself in, he will be the cause of hundreds of deaths.' Another commented: 'I think it's selfish. Criminal vigilante or innocent people - it's a no-brainer.'"
Scroll.
"A shocking new tape from the Joker has interrupted news channels across the City this afternoon and is surfacing the internet at a fast pace."
Scroll. Video appeared. Click.
"Be aware. The image is disturbing." And it played.
Julie's eyebrows furrowed as the video buffered. As the audio crackled into audit, her entire being shivered. From a first-person camera view, there was a man slumped over on the floor dressed in a cheap batman costume with his hands presumably tied behind his back.
"Tell them your name." A shudder crawled up her spine. His voice did things to her, but not the good kind of things.
"Brian... Douglas."
"Are you the real Batman?"
"No-"
"No?" He gave a breathless wheeze and ripped the rubber mask off Brian's head, "no? Then why do you dress up like him? Hehehehe, woo-hoo hoo!" And wiggled it in front of the camera.
"He's a symbol... that we don't have to be afraid of scum like you."
"Yeah, you do, Brian. You really do." He grabbed the man's face and dug his gloved fingers into his cheeks.
He grunted, "yeah, oh, sh, sh, sh, sh."
"So, you think... Batman has made Gotham a better place? Hm?"
"Look at me."
Brian looked down.
"LOOK AT ME."
His voice had changed entirely, she wasn't sure what to feel or think. Just grateful that she wasn't in Brian's position. The camera view turned around to show the Joker. This morning's breakfast bubbled in her throat.
"You see, this is how crazy Batman's made Gotham. You want order in Gotham? Batman must take off his mask, and turn himself in."
"Oh, and every day he doesn't, people will die. Starting tonight."
The camera zoomed in on his mouth.
"I'm a man of my word."
She closed the video as soon as she heard his cruel laughter.
She would've laughed at the irony when he said 'crazy' but this was no laughing matter. He'd kill people just to make a point that either Batman was like the rest of them or prefer to keep his identity anonymous than prevent murders. But who was to say that the Joker wouldn't murder, even if Batman took off the mask? Who's to say that someone else won't be videoed being tortured, perhaps someone like her. No. Don't manifest it, stupid.
With a sigh, she grabbed her things and exited the classroom. Lunch started in 5 minutes and she just wanted to sit in the bathroom to let everything out; the raw emotion of fear, that's what he wanted - fear. To break her down piece by piece like a puzzle, then he'd let her connect the pieces back together, and he'd do it again and again and again until a puzzle piece snapped. The puzzle never again to be fulfilled.
She realised only now that she hadn't touched her camera since that day at the bank and she felt a pang of guilt. It's supposed to be used at least 3 times a week, she promised that for her dad.
Whenever she spoke of her dad to people, they would tell her 'you're so strong'. She didn't want to be strong. If being strong meant hiding her emotions and pretending everything was fine and nothing happened, then she preferred to be weak. The closest person she could speak to was her sister, Isabelle, but even then she couldn't say what she wanted to. She'd feel judged by everyone if she expressed what she truly and sincerely thought. But him... would he judge her? It wasn't like he could judge anyone based on his actions. Am I seriously considering the Joker as being my therapist?
She was shaken from those thoughts when a hug engulfed her from behind. An elbow jammed into whoever's stomach it was and a painful groan was heard. As she turned around, an apology almost slipped out. Her fist collided with the culprit's arm.
"What the hell, Will? Don't do that." She was still shaken from her previous encounter.
"Christ, Julie. I thought this was our thing?" Will smirked, putting both hands on the wall to pin her against it.
"I already told you-" she rolled her eyes and ducked under his arm, "-I don't want to go out with you."
Will sighed comically, a smile still plastered on his boyish face. "It's not fair when you play hard to get, toots."
Vomit threatened to spill out and she bit her lip, her eyes brimming with tears. She blinked a couple of times and turned around to face Will (who had been in pursuit behind her).
"Can you stop fucking pestering me? I said no. What don't you understand?"
A few people stopped and stared at the two of them. They shooed away when a teacher squeezed through the crowd. "What's this, then?"
Oh, great. Mr-arrogant-and-broody had arrived.
"God - Wow! This day is just going brilliantly." A sardonic laugh escaped her throat as she gestured towards the professor. Will glanced between the two of us and then opened his mouth.
"Sir, I asked her for the topic we discussed in your class and then she started screaming at me."
"Bullshit."
"Juliette, shut up. Your attitude is disgusting. Thanks, Will, you can go."
Julie crossed her arms and glared at the teacher, his lips curled as they made eye contact, "you can't give me detention. This isn't high school."
"Unfortunately not, but I can ring your parents."
"Parent," she corrected.
Mr Lloyd had a ghost of a smile on his punchable face, "your mom, then."
The girl shrugged, knowing her mum wouldn't really care. Almost 18 years of age and she mused it cute that he thought she'd give a shit. "You do that."
After a short dispute, Julie had joined the group at the small lunch table. Instantly, Clarice made a shrill scream, catching the attention of some students.
"Julie! Good, you're here. So! We're all going shopping today after our last classes to pick dresses. The party is next Saturday, you know-"
Maggie glanced up from her nail-picking, looking at Julie. "Did you get scolded by Mr Lame-ass? I saw you both-"
"Remember to pay me back, guys!-"
"Yeah. Will was being a prick and blamed me for it," her eyebrows rose and fell quickly as she sighed, "and - obviously - his egotistical-ass is too proud to listen to me."
"Will or Lame-ass?"
"Both." They both grinned, laughing and insulting the two males. She normally didn't speak about people behind their backs, but this was an exception.
The clock struck 12 and they left to finish their classes.
Clarice met up with the three girls with her phone clamped to her ear. She ended the phone call with a quick 'bye, love you', and said: "My mom is picking us up and taking us to the town centre."
"Let's agree to pick different coloured dresses. Remember what happened at prom?" Maggie giggled.
"Oh, god. Don't remind us. Julie was the only one who didn't wear a red dress!"
"That's because I'm ginger, red doesn't suit me."
Clarice's mum dropped them off at the centre and offered to pay for food.
"No, Miss Brown, it's fine-"
"Don't be silly, pumpkin. I have too much money that I don't know what to do with it!" Clarice's mum let loose a shrill giggle and Julie, not wanting to be rude, forced herself to laugh along. Before either of Clarice's friends could argue, her mum shoved $30 into each of their hands. "Use it in that new restaurant. The food is amazing."
She started the engine and honked the horn, driving off.
Beth laughed in disbelief. "What did we do to deserve you and your mom? We are literally the poorest people you could've befriended."
Clarice shrugged. "I have rich friends, but they're fake," seeing the look on their faces, she added, jestingly: "Faker than my mom, obviously."
After a long walk around the town, they spotted a dress shop and walked inside. Gliding her fingers over the silk dresses, she let a smile paint her face, the shop had a congenial aroma around it. She was subconsciously feeling the fabric of an emerald green cocktail dress when her thoughts started wandering to the dark place. How would he feel looking at her in this dress? Seriously, stop it. If her hunch was correct, he wouldn't leave her alone for some reason. What was it about Julie and her bad relationships with men? After her dad passed, she felt as though she'd never trust a man ever again. Could that reason be that he was besotted with her? Or was she a distraction from his life of crime; a light in the dark; the moonlight in a vast, shadowed forest? Come on, brain, give me a reasonable fucking answer-
"Oh my God, Julie! This dress would look so gorgeous on you. It matches your eyes. You're still paying for yourself, right?" Clarice smiled, giving her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder.
"Mhm," she checked the price on it, "I can just about afford it."
"Do you really want to go to the fundraiser? You don't seem excited."
Her eyebrows furrowed, remotely offended. "'Course I am. I just have a lot of my mind right now." A lot of Joker.
"Oh, yes, right. Your dad." Clarice smiled sympathetically, glanced her up and down and walked off to join the others. Julie tried not to let it bother her that people thought she was upset just because of her dad. Even if she was still in that mental breakdown phase a couple of months ago, people still didn't care; they'd act as though they did, but, in reality, they didn't. She was just another girl who lost her dad at a young age. Another girl who would get attention for the weeks before the funeral, then, after that, they'd expect her to move on. To grieve and forget. To pretend that her life wasn't falling apart.
It wasn't just her dad anymore. It was a psychopath in purple that haunted her.
Julie plucked the dress from the hanger and went to try it on in the changing room.