For years, Arthur never knew the truth. He never knew just how much of a monster she really was to him. Penny Fleck never card about him. If she did, she would never have allowed him to be abused when he was an innocent child. Arthur hated her for using him and lying to him all these years. Now it was time for payback. There was a lot to be said and so little time to say it. He decided to make it short and sweet. He wanted to come right to the point and tell her what he really thought about her and the life she put him through.
Once she was awake, Arthur lit up a cigarette and took a drag, lifting his head and blowing smoke into the air. He didn't care if it affected the senile old woman lying on her deathbed. She would soon be dead anyway.
"Hello, Penny", said Arthur. He spoke softly, but there was a hidden rage somewhere underneath that gentle masculinity. He scoffed and shook his head in disbelief. "Penny Fleck...I always hated that name."
Arthur took another drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke into the air again. "You remember", said Arthur, looking over at her, "that when I was born, you told me God gave me this laughing condition for a reason? That I had a purpose? Well, fuck you, Penny. Because it wasn't God who gave me this condition. It was you...Or was it one of your boyfriends?...I know about everything. I'm not stupid like you think I am." Arthur looked away from Penny, breathing in another drag and blowing out more cigarette smoke. He shook his head in anger and resentment, questioning her, "How could you let that happen? What kind of woman are you? What kind of mother are you?"
Penny tried to speak to him, but only managed to say one word in a very weak voice, "Happy..."
Arthur closed his eyes, chuckling and shaking his head in disgust. He looked over at the old woman with bitterness and said, "Happy? Do you even hear yourself right now? I don't think you ever paid attention to anything or anyone but yourself. I haven't been happy one day in my entire fucking life." Taking one last drag, Arthur breathed out a cloud of smoke and dropped his cigarette on the floor, crushing it with his foot before he stood up and said, "You wanna know what makes me happy?" He walked over to the old woman's bedside. "What really makes me laugh?" With an eyeball of hate and without even a second thought, Arthur pulled the breathing tube out of her nose and told her, "I used to think...that my life was a tragedy." He snatched up the pillow behind her head and whispered darkly, "But now I realize...it's a fucking comedy."
Arthur covered her face with the pillow, smothering her with it until she ran out of breath. Penny, as weak as she was, tried in vain to put up a fight, but had no strength and was fighting a loosing battle. Arthur showed no mercy on his face, no compassion. His gaze was cold as stone. He wanted to hurt Penny the same way she hurt him in the past, but found the matter of a quick and painless death much more satisfying. The heart monitor beeped rapidly, speeding up faster and faster, until finally, it went silent. Arthur waited a minute to make sure he killed her, then removed the pillow from Penny's face, seeing she was dead.
Once the bitch was dead, Arthur dropped the pillow on the floor and turned over to the window, breathing deeply through his nose and basking in the glory of the sunlight as storm clouds gathered outside. Thunder rumbled and lightening flashed across the darkening sky. It started raining again.
Travis drove around for a while inside the taxi, gazing out at the people he called animals. Freaks, druggies, hookers, and every other possible title he could think of to describe the night life people of Gotham City. It was no different here than it was in New York. The rain pattered on the roof of his cab, the windshield wipers blinding his vision temporary while he cleared them of the rain to see where he was going on the slick road. There were few people walking around on the street that night. Most of them did the smart thing by staying home. There was one person he spotted walking down the sidewalk that looked very familiar. Wearing a brown jacket with his hood down, Travis recognized the person from his wavy, longish dark brown hair. Pulling over to the curb, he leaned over and rolled down the passenger side window to talk to him.
"Hey! Arthur!"
Arthur stopped in his tracks, signaling that Travis had his attention. He didn't look at him.
"You want a ride somewhere?" Travis offered.
Arthur turned his head a bit, but still not enough to look at the taxi driver fully. "I don't have any money", he said.
"I don't care, just get in here."
Arthur turned and walked over to the cab, opening the back door and getting inside. Travis rolled the passenger side window back up and started off down the road again. He glanced in the rearview mirror at Arthur, who was soaking wet from head to foot. He had to be out of his mind walking around on a night like this. Travis had a terrible feeling something bad happened to Arthur. He looked so melancholy, and not just because he was wet.
"What the heck you think you're doin' walking around in the rain?" Travis asked him. "You'll make yourself sick if you do that, you know. And why the long face? You and Wendy have another fight or something?"
Arthur still didn't look at him. He looked out the left back window at the pouring down rain, the mood matching the same way he felt: gray, miserable, and depressed. "My mother just died", he said.
Travis blinked and turned his head to look at him briefly. He looked forward again and asked him, "What happened to her? Do you know?"
Arthur paused momentarily and answered, "She just stopped breathing. One minute, she was fine. The next minute, she was gone."
"Ah, Jesus, Arthur. I'm sorry."
"Not half as sorry as I am. She had a good life while it lasted."
Travis glanced at Arthur in the rearview mirror. He could tell he wasn't exactly all there. Something else was on his mind, but he didn't know Arthur well enough to ask or question him about it. He seemed like he didn't want to talk about anything, so he just left it at that. The taxi driver continued driving around for a while down another section of Gotham, honking his horn at one point at someone who almost pulled their car out in front of him.
Arthur sat there in the backseat, feeling that there was nothing left for him anymore. He had no job, no family, no friends, and no life. He was all alone. He might as well go jump off a bridge and fling himself into a river.
Just then, he felt a soft hand place itself gently over his, gripping his cold fingers. Arthur slowly looked to his right, seeing a smiling Wendy sitting next to him. He only imagined she was there with him, but then the thought occurred to Arthur. All this time, he was never truly alone. Wendy was there with him the whole time. He remembered back to all the times they shared together: the night they first met outside his apartment when her ex-boyfriend threw her out, the morning after the incident and she asked if she could see him again, the day before the subway killing when she came across him outside the bank when he was following Sophie, the one time he got arrested and she helped to bail him out of jail, the date they had at the coffee shop after his failed stand-up act, the fight they had about Thomas Wayne, her being there for him when Penny was at the hospital.
Even when he tried to kill himself, Wendy somehow managed to be there for Arthur. All they did was talk, but it was enough to make Arthur feel better. He was ready to give up on himself at that point, but Wendy helped him through it by being there for him. Arthur never realized just how much he meant to her. He was so blinded by his unreliable version of reality, he completely pushed her aside. He had been unfair to her. If anything were ever to happen to him, it would break her heart. He couldn't bare to let that happen. Whether he realized it or not, Arthur needed Wendy now more than ever. She was his last hope. If Wendy rejected him, he was better off dead.
Travis honked his horn again and muttered under his breath, "Fucking shitheel", which caught Arthur's attention.
"Did you say something?" Arthur asked him.
Travis glanced at Arthur's reflection in the rearview mirror and shook his head, keeping his eyes focused on the road. "No, nothing. I'm just thinkin', that's all. Nothing important, you know. You want me to drop you off somewhere?"
"Yeah. Take me to Wendy's apartment", Arthur answered.
Travis looked back and returned his gaze forward, asking, "Kinda late, isn't it? You think she's awake at this hour? How long have you two been seeing each other anyway?"
Arthur sighed and said, "I don't know. A week, maybe? I lost track of everything."
Travis came to a stoplight and waited until it turned green and started moving again. He drove to the Upper West Side and pulled up to the apartment building. He turned off the engine and looked back at his passenger.
"Listen, Arthur, I'm really sorry about your mother, but if you ever need anything, just...If there's anything I can do to help, you know, just...Just give me a call, all right? I'll see you around, Arthur."
Arthur didn't say anything. He opened the door and stepped back out into the rain again. He shut the door and walked right up to the building. He pushed threw the revolving door and went inside. He looked around the lobby and walked over to the elevator. He pushed the button and the elevator doors opened. He stepped inside and turned to push the button to take him up to the eighteenth floor. The elevator closed and took him up.
Once the elevator came to the eighteenth floor, Arthur stepped out and walked down the corridor until he found apartment 18-B. He knocked on the door and waited for a response. Please let her be home, he prayed silently.