Inside the Dream World

Anna went through the next 2 doors relatively quickly. #3 Was when Anna was 12 and living in a group home where they starved her for over a week before the place was shut down for neglect. #4 A boy she had liked asked her on a date only to attempt to rape her but they were discovered by someone and Anna got away, though not without a fair amount of damage to her body and spirit.

When Anna reached door #5 it looked familiar. It was a door to someone's house. Inside Anna was transported to a girl's locker room and she was running. There was an exit sign on the wall ahead of her and she was sprinting to get to it. She slipped on some wet tiles and fell. She tried to stand but was kicked in the stomach and flipped onto her back.

"Scank! Scank! Scank!" Girls voices chanted as they beat Anna and took video of what they were doing with their phones. The girls wore cheerleader uniforms, all with their hair tied up in ponytails with ribbons that matched their red and black outfits. They were supposed to be the nice girls that people looked up to. But they were the monsters. One of their faces stood out to Anna as they kicked and threw things at her. One of them she knew better than the rest in the mob.

Anna could feel the darkness closing in and whispered the girls name "Natalie…" The sound of Anna's voice faded as she went lights out. When she came too Anna was in her room back in a foster home from years earlier. She heard voices yelling from outside her door. Anna opened the door, eavesdropping.

"Why do you guys even want her here?" Natalie shouted.

"Firstly young lady, that girl has been nothing but nice to you." An older woman's voice countered.

"She's a freak!" Natalie yelled.

"She needs help Natalie, and we need the money."

Money, that's always what it came down to wasn't it? Money.

"For fuck's sake! Can you at least trade her in for someone normal?"

"Watch your mouth!"

The two voices continued to yell when Anna closed the door. Night came a heartbeat later. Anna heard someone throwing up in the bathroom. When she entered the bathroom, she saw Natalie on her knees with her fingers down her throat. Natalie had been forcing herself to throw up.

"You shouldn't do that." Anna heard herself say.

"Fuck you freak." Natalie said back.

Anna went to Natalie's side and tried to pick her up from the toilet. "Let go of me you fucking lesbo! If you tell my mom about this, I'm going to make your life a living hell!"

Anna looked at her bruised face in the mirror, "You've already done that."

"Oh, you think today was bad? Trust me bitch, you have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm captain of the cheerleading squad. My boyfriend is the student body president and we are a shoe in for Homecoming king and queen. One word from me and I'll have the whole school believing you have AIDS, or are a crack whore, or anything I want and believe me that shit will follow you wherever you go. I will destroy you." Natalie's breath smelled like vomit as she delivered her threat. When she was finished, she turned away from Anna and went towards her room.

Anna walked up from behind Natalie and wrapped her arm around Natalie's neck. Using all her strength, Anna squeezed Natalie's throat until she felt something pop and Natalie went slack. Dragging Natalie's dead weight back into the room where Natalie slept Anna laid her down on the carpet and looked at her own handy work. Natalie's eyes were open, looking off in no particular direction, dead.

In a moment of panic Anna paced the room. "Shit, shit, shit. What the fuck am I going to do?" she whispered. Then Anna had an idea. She pulled Natalie's sheets off her bed, knotted one end into a loop and used Natalie's computer chair to tie the other end of the sheets to the ceiling fan. With her make ship noose in place, Anna hoisted Natalie's dead body upwards and somehow got Natalie's limp neck into the loop. Positioning the computer chare then pitting it over Anna then went to work on a suicide note. It was nothing fancy or poetic.

I'm fat, I'm mean and I hate myself. Don't mourn me. I deserve this.

Before exiting the room, Anna began repeating something over and over. It sounded like a self-help mantra. Over and over she said, "This never happened, it's not your fault, she did this to herself. This never happened, it's not your fault, she did this to herself." The whole way back to her own room Anna said this phrase. She reached her room, pulled back the sheets and went to sleep.

Outside the Dream World

The Joker watched in a mixture of shock and pride as his little girl staged the suicide of her bully. She was more like him than he could have ever known otherwise. When she went through the previous door to the memory of her near rape experience Joker almost lost his mind and ripped Anna from the progression himself. He couldn't take what his poor daughter had lived through and was still somewhat functional.

The sentence she had been repeating was bothering him though. He had heard it before but from where?

"Puddin, I don't know how much more of this I can take." Harley said from her place at Anna's side.

"You? What about her? This is her life; she came out of it and she's only 16. But you can't take much more?"

"I only meant that…."

"Shut up and make sure her heart is still strong." He cut Harley off and went back to watching the screen. He saw Anna gearing up to open the second to last door. This one was bright blue with a car handle instead of a door knob.

Anna's face was clearer in this place. She looked vibrant and happy. Her hair was clean and shining. She was walking through the hallway of a school and kids were saying hello to her. One girl gave her a high five. She turned left into a classroom and smiled at some young looking male teacher. He was tall and handsome with black hair that passed his ears, pale skin, blue eyes and some model wannabe 5oclock shadow. Strangely enough, minus the trying too hard to look younger that he was, the teacher looked a little like the Joker back when he was Joe Kerr.

"There's my girl!" He said and pulled Anna in for a side hug. "How was 5th period?"

"I aced my history test!" She reported proudly producing the test with a red A+ scribbled at the top.

"That's awesome sweetie! We should celebrate after school today. Pizza, my treat, meet me after 8th ok?"

"That sounds great, thanks Mr. Beck!"

"Anna, we talked about this…" The teacher said tilting his head and giving Anna a crooked smile.

"Sorry, Mike." Anna said rolling her eyes and smiling

"That's better, now go on, get your butt in that seat."

The casual way Mr. Mike Beck spoke to Anna, who looked to be only 13, made the Joker want to break something.

"Ok class, please take out your copies of Romeo and Juliet and turn to the ball room scene." Mr. Beck sat nonchalantly on his desk like he was posing for a photoshoot. "…Now some experts question the love that R & J had for each other. They speculate that the teenage lovers were too young to love that deeply. That it was infatuation which guided them to their demise. But I disagree. Life expectancy at that time was what? 50? So, it's not hard to believe that if your life was likely to end in less that 40 years that you would know what love is. Not only that but I don't believe teenagers get enough credit. Juliet was 14 when she met Romeo. At that age it pretty clear you know your wants and desires better than most people twice that age. It's a time in your lives when you lead with emotions not logic. Your hormones and instincts are at their highest and everything feels like forever. In my opinion the two star crossed lovers were not only in the truest love but were also soulmates. So, who wants to be Juliet?"

The high school students squirmed in their seats avoiding being picked.

"Ok, make me the bad guy why don't ya." They all laughed. "Anna, you read for Juliet."

Again, that singling out of his daughter boiled rage within the Joker as we watched.

"Now Romeo, who will be Romeo to our fair Juliet?" All the teenage boys groaned in response to Beck's question. "Come on fella's this is your chance to woo the most enticing female in literature, not to mention that your all probably hurting poor Anna's feelings." Still the boys said nothing.

The Joker found himself silently begging for one boy to raise his hand, otherwise he knew what would come next.

"Fine, I'll read Romeo." Beck said with a smirk.

"Of course you will pervert." The Joker said to himself. He watched as this hebephiliac educator read the sweet lines Romeo said to Juliet that seduced her heart. He knew full well what Beck was doing to Anna.

On the screen Anna blushed as Mr. Beck took Anna's hand, "…My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand, to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." He kissed Anna's knuckles and the Joker felt wetness in his hand. It was his own blood. He'd been clinching his fist so tightly his fingernails pierced the flesh of his palm.

It was after school then and Anna was getting into Beck's car. "Here," he said handing Anna his iPod, "Pick us a soundtrack." They drove off.

"Mike, the pizza shop was back that way." Anna said looking behind her.

"I figured we could go to my place and order a pizza, I just got a copy of the 1968 Romeo and Juliet. Trust me, you've never seen anything like it before."

"I don't know, I saw the Leo and Claire version and I thought it was fantastic."

"Please, Leo and Clair have nothing on Olivia Hussey and Leonard Writhing. They really bring the characters to life. Believe me, you're going to love it."

Anna looked uncomfortable but smiled anyway.

They arrived at Beck's apartment and he opened the door for Anna, "My Lady," He said trying to be debonair. Anna smiled holding her back pack tightly to her chest.

They were sitting on his couch watching the old movie when the scene they'd red in class came on and Beck brushed his fingers against Anna's. She didn't pull away.

"I'm leaving Anna," Beck said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'm leaving the school." His eyes were on their hands. Their fingers touching lightly but not quite clasping.

Anna suddenly looked nervous. "You got another job offer?"

"No, I just have to leave."

Tears sprang in Anna's eyes. "Why?"

"You know why Anna, I can't do this anymore. You're so beautiful and smart. I can't be around you anymore. It hurts too much."

"You're leaving because of me?" She asked shocked.

Beck got off the couch and rubbed his face. "Face it Anna; I'm 34 you're 13. There's no way in the world you could possible feel for me what I feel for you. And I know it's wrong but… I can't help myself."

"I don't understand. You're the first person who has ever believed in me. You can't leave."

"You are a strong girl Anna, so capable and intelligent. But I can't be for you what you need and you can't be what I want. It just won't work."

"I still don't understand what you're talking about." Anna said crying.

"I'm in love with you Anna. And I know it's wrong and illegal but it's what I feel. But I'm a man. To you love is just Romeo and Juliet, pretty words and holding hands. A man has needs that you cannot fulfill and it would be wrong for me to ask you to fulfill them. That's why I need to go. I need to get you out of my head. Even if you'll never be out of my heart."

"Please, don't leave. You're my only friend. I have no one else." Anna began to sob.

Beck dropped to his knees in front of Anna and wiped her tears away, "Anna," he whispered and kissed her forehead, then both her eyes, then after a tense moment he kissed her lips. Their kiss deepened and Beck guided Anna to lay down on the couch positioning himself atop her between her legs. His hands wasted no time in going up her shirt and massaging her breasts as he tonged her mouth. His erection rubbed against her center. Pulling back, Beck breathlessly whispered "I've wanted to do that for so long."

Anna trembled in fear. "I'm not ready to do everything."

Beck smiled brushing her cheek with the back of his hand. "It's ok, we'll wait till you're ready but maybe you can do something else for me?"

"Will you stay?"

"Anna, if I know there's a chance for us, I'll never leave you. I love you."

Anna nodded, "Ok," Beck backed off and brought Anna back to a sitting position. And began unbuttoning his pants. Anna looked down at his hands and gasped. "It's alright baby, I promised you we wouldn't go all the way. This is just so I can function after kissing you like that. Otherwise I'll be in the worst pain imaginable, you don't want that, do you?"

Anna shook her head. Beck released his privets from his tight jeans and began to stroke himself. "Come here," he told her as he guided her head to his lap.

The Joker turned away from the screen. If it took the rest of his life, he would hunt down that motherfucker and skin him alive. When he composed himself enough to turn around again Anna was sitting on the floor of a different bedroom cutting herself on the inside of her thighs. Her hair was dirty, black circles surrounded her eyes and she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks. When the cutting was over Anna pulled up her black jeans without putting any sort of bandage on her cuts and walked out the door.

She was back at Beck's apartment then. "Hey love," he greeted her, "I thought we agreed no weekend visits during the day. I was gonna swing by your house tonight for a little car hangout."

Anna's eyes were vacant, "I needed to see you." Her tone was dark and dull like a zombie.

"Ok, come on in. But we can't make a habit of this." Beck turned around to lock the door as Anna pulled an exacto-blade from her back pocket and tucked it into her sleeve.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I was thinking about us and wanted to tell you that I'm ready to go all the way." Her tone was still zombie like.

Beck's eyes were alight. "That wonderful, I was hoping you'd feel that way soon."

"I wanna do it now." Anna said coldly.

Beck smiled, "My Juliet turned Cleopatra? Come here." He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. Anna began unbuttoning his pants she got on her knees. "Woah baby, slow down. If we're gonna do this I don't want to waste it in your mouth."

"Just a little," Anna said taking him in her hand. Beck smirked and tilted his head back waiting for Anna to take him in her mouth but nothing happened. He looked down and saw Anna holding the exacto-blade to his balls.

"Anna, baby, what are you doing?" He asked not breathing.

"You said you loved me, you said you needed me."

"I do,"

"Liar," Anna's eyes were stone cold.

"Put the knife down Anna, you don't want to do this."

"Never come near me again. Never touch little girls again. Or I'll find you and make you into a little girl. Got it?" she asked with venom.

"Ok, whatever you say." Anna got up from the floor still holding the knife in Beck's direction. "Don't move." She warned him and we walked to his back and unlocked the door. Anna's face contorted like it had with the cheerleader. She turned around and from the back, slit Beck's throat from left to right.

Beck gasped and tried to cover his bleeding throat. On the floor, he convulsed a bit then stopped moving. Anna placed the exacto in Beck's right hand and wrote another suicide note.

I'm a monster, I hurt little girls, don't mourn me, I deserve this.

Nearly exactly what she had written for Natalie's suicide note. Anna then went about Beck's apartment finding all his preteen porn and scattering it for anyone who discovered his body to see. As she walked out of his apartment Anna repeated the phrase again.

"This never happened, it's not your fault, he did this to himself. This never happened, it's not your fault, he did this to himself."

"One door to go princess." The Joker said to the screen.

Inside the dream world

Anna walked out of door #6. It was the first time she actually walked out of one of the doors and wasn't thrown out. She had no tears left to cry. She was just a fried mess as she fathomed she'd killed 2 people. She remembered both versions now. The story she'd convinced herself to be true and what really happened. Until that day, she thought Natalie, her cunt of a foster sister had committed suicide and thought Mr. Beck had just transferred schools. But they were murdered, by her.

The final door stared her in the face. It was blood red and three times her size. She had to go on her toes to reach the doorknob which was metallic purple. When Anna stepped through she was in a police station. Her body was tiny, her little feet unable to reach the floor. A police officer with kind eyes and a mustache asked her questions.

"Anna, you have to tell me the truth, did you start the fire?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders but said nothing. The police officer's tag read Gordon. Anna looked around his desk and saw a photo of a pretty lady holding a little boy and girl in her arms. Their faces were painted like bunny's. Officer Gordon noticed Anna looking at the photo,

"That's my wife Barbra and my children. My Daughter's only a little older than you."

"How old is she?" Anna asked.

"9"

"5 years older than me."

Gordon smiled, "That's right. When she was your age she was crazy about Twix bars. Her mother would tell her no because they're bad for your teeth but I'd sneak them to her occasionally. She'd give me one bar and she'd have the other. It was our little secret but her mom would catch us most of the time."

"Did her mommy hit her for eating the bars?" Anna asked matter-of-factly.

Gordon was taken aback by Anna's question. "No, we don't hit our kids."

"My foster mommy used to hit me. But she's dead now."

Gordon cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Tell you what, I could really go for a Twix right now. If I get one from the vending machine would you share it with me?"

Anna gave Gordon a small smile and nodded her head. Gordon returned her smile and called over another officer. "Montoya! Can you keep an eye on her for a sec? I'm gonna grab something from the vending machine for her."

The lady he called Montoya had dark hair and an equally warm smile "No problem." When Gordon left his desk Anna looked at the file he's left behind. The words Arkham and evaluation stood out to Anna. He probably figured that at 4 years old Anna wouldn't know what any of this meant but she's been reading since she was 2 and understood everything. Arkham was a scary place where they sent bad people and they were going to send her there.

She watched for a window when Montoya wasn't looking. When she turned to take a sip of her coffee Anna bolted. She had no idea where the exit was or what she would do when she got outside but she had to get out of there fast. She ran as fast as her little legs could take her, trying to pull open every door she saw till one finally opened. She slammed the door shut and crouched into a ball. The room was dark and she thought she was alone until a voice greeted her.

"What do we have here?" she turned to see a man with green hair and red lips smiling at her. He was cuffed to a table and was sitting in a metal chair.

Outside the Dream World

"You've got to be kidding me" The Joker said to the screen. He remembered that encounter like it was yesterday. He'd been taken in for questioning over a string of murders in the narrows and a little girl ran into his interrogation room.

"That was my daughter."

Inside the Dream World

Little Anna looked at the man who looked like a clown. His smiling was sparkling with metal. "What's your name little one?" He asked.

"Anna" She answered, unafraid.

"Pleased to meet you Anna. What are you doing here?"

"They're gonna send me away. They think I killed my foster mommy and daddy."

"Ah, I see. Did you?" Anna shrugged the way she did with Gordon. "I think that's a yes. How?"

Anna took in a breath. "I dropped one of my foster daddy's cigarettes on their bed."

The Joker nodded his head, "Not bad kid. What did they do?"

Anna looked confused. "What did they do that made you drop the cigarette on their bed?" The Joker asked more slowly.

"My foster daddy was doing bad things to me and my foster mommy hit me. My social worker wouldn't help me. I just wanted to get a new family."

"Sounds reasonable enough to me, come here." He beckoned Anna over and pulled her onto his lap. His cuffs made clanking noised as he sat her down.

"You know you can't tell anyone that right?"

"I don't wanna go to the bad place."

"I know princess, so here's what you're gonna do. Forget."

"Forget?" Anna asked confused.

'Mm-hm, forget it. Tell yourself it wasn't your fault, that they deserved it and walk away. Get it? Here say it with me. This never happened, it's not your fault, they did this to themselves."

Anna repeated the Joker's words, "This never happened, it's not your fault, they did this to themselves."

"Again" He told her.

"This never happened, it's not your fault, they did this to themselves."

"Now keep saying it till you believe it." The Joker instructed her.

After a few more times the two began playing thumb wrestling and laughing. "What happened to your teeth?" Anna asked.

"I fell down really hard, are they scary?"

Anna shook her head, "I think they're pretty."

"You're a strange one. But I like strange ones."

Anna rested her head on the Joker's shoulder "I wish I was your little girl."

The door to the interrogation room was thrown open. Anna and the Joker looked calmly at officer's Gordon and Montoya. The faces of the two officers were full of utter distress.

"Ok Joker, put the girl down."

The Joker smiled "But we're just having a little fun. She's such a sweetheart."

"This doesn't have to get ugly," said Gordon, "Just let her go."

The Joker's smile turned serious. "You think I would harm this precious child?" No one said anything. The Joker lowered his head not breaking eye contact with the officers and kissed Anna's head. "Run along now princess, and don't forget what we talked about."

"I won't," She turned and hugged him around the neck causing the officers to gasp. She took officer Gordon's hand and waived a goodbye to the Joker as she was pulled from the room.

"I just love children," she heard the Joker say before turning a corner out of earshot.

Back at Gordon's desk, the officer questioned her about her time alone with the Joker but she interrupted him. "He didn't do anything to me. He was nice and taught me how to thumb wrestle. And I don't wanna go to Arkhem I didn't do anything wrong. My foster daddy smoked a lot. He was smoking when they went to bed. My teacher said a fire can start that way. I just wanna go to sleep." She rubbed her eyes that still burned a little from the fire.

"Ok Anna, we'll find you someplace to sleep tonight."

Anna felt the falling sensation once again, only this time it was way more violent. She felt like she was falling from outer space then abruptly she landed back in her body.

Now free of the dream world all her new memories came crashing back, each one made her brain feel like it went for a spin in a blender set to puree. She screamed and thrashed. The pressure on her head made her want to claw her own eyes out. Harley and her father used all their strength to keep Anna calm. One second she was upright attached the bed and the next she was sideways trying to run for her life, the hospital bed making it impossible for her to get anywhere.

"Let me go!" She screamed. The Joker pulled out a knife and cut loose Anna's restraints. She ran in a jagged line and clawed at the walls for a way out.

"Are you mad?!" The Hatter yelled

"Leave her!" Joker shouted back. Anna finally came to a stop in a far corner of the cellar. The Joker approached her slowly with his hands up. "Anna? Princess? It's daddy, you're ok."

"D-daddy?" she asked shivering.

'Yes, it's daddy. Come on over here."

"I-I saw you. Y-you h-helped me." She was coming to terms with these new facts.

"That's right, now come here. Come to daddy." He held his arms wide and slowly Anna came from her corner and embraced him. "That's it princess, daddy's got you. Shhh it's alright now."

"I want-t-to go." Anna stammered.

"Ok, let's go home."

There you have it! Anna had been a killer since she was 4! A chip off the old block and she hadn't even met her father at the time. Bad news is I was having technical problems with this site all day yesterday or else this chapter would have been up hours ago. Good news is I had time to complete chapter 17! I'm just proof reading it now and should have it posted before the end of the day!

It's kinda like when you skip a week of your favorite show then get to enjoy a double header.

Enjoy and please, please REVIEW!