SESSION 2
"Harley, you're forced to keep seeing me? What a punishment for you, right? I mean I know I could murder you at any moment but yet you still keep coming back for more! It's unfortunate that you feel you have to try and delve into my mind, if you go in too deep you may not like what you see or hear, just saying" he said it more seriously than normal.
Something was wrong. Either I heard him differently or it was a case of me slowly developing insanity...and quite possibly a love interest too. He somehow managed to manipulate me in such a way that I wanted to listen to his voice more and more. He was at least back in handcuffs, I managed to get the warden to believe that The Joker removed them himself...luckily nobody noticed that we...were kissing. We can't escape yet, it's way too obvious. But then my obsession to The Joker cannot become obvious either.
"Remember, I'm here to talk about you...not the other way around. I ask the questions, you don't ask the questions."
"Whatever you say, Doc" he said whilst crossing his arms and slouching on the chair.
"Why the clown theme? If I may ask" I wanted to know his inspiration, his motive.
His weird fashion sense might point me in the right direction.
"The clown look is so overrated, the typical funny man juggling balls and riding a unicycle. And oh so boring, so I decided that once I started carving smiles into people's face's that I should reflect the persona by putting on a mask of my own. Your smile...Miss Quinzel, it's the most fake part of the human emotions. Why not embrace that inner smile? I could help you, of course" he looks at me.
I don't like the look he's giving me. Not one bit. I shuffle in my seat uncomfortably.
"Not on a personal level, but anyway back to the story. So the act of drawing smiles onto people was fun, it brought a smile to my face every time. But it wasn't the same with paint...it had to be something more permanent, or the smile faded...typically paint wasn't very easy to work with either. Still, it was a good diversion when they thought it was red paint instead of blood. I used that to my advantage. Then I decided to use the clown theme more often, and soon it became part of my every-day routine!" the laughter...once again, the most spine chilling laughter I've heard.
"You wanted to make people laugh? Or did you just want them to smile? Sounds too sudden to me, if I'm honest"
"Well. If I'm honest, those shoes really don't go with your outfit. But I'm not complaining am I? But OK, to answer your question I wanted to get revenge for my parents. Who I murdered... but that's besides the point! The point was, I wanted some fun, I wanted to be free. To be like 'hey I can cut this guy's face open and you can't do a thing about it' and that's what happened. Then I started robbing banks, murdering people and I started having sex with incredibly beautiful women...and then murdering them" his laughter this time was more dark and cynical.
And at that point, my heart was in my mouth.
"Do you know what it feels like when you kill for the first time? It's an amazing feeling, you should try it. Would you kill someone if you had the chance to?" he asked me.
I actually don't know what to say to this clown anymore. I need to get out of this room. Argh! I need some time to think.
"I need to go to the bathroom, please excuse me"
"Take as long as you need, my dear" he said, smiling at me as I left the room and closed the door.
I looked through the window at him...he was waiting to do something, I knew it. I walked down the corridor to the entrance of the ladies toilets. I opened the door and closed it behind me. Walking up to the mirror above the sink I looked at myself, I looked deep and clearly into my sanity.
"Right Harleen...this patient may be trying to manipulate you into loving him but you cannot let him" I tried to calm myself down...or at least find out a logical reason for his behaviour. "Just because he keeps looking at you like that...it doesn't mean anything...right?"
I turned on the tap and splashed some water onto my face.
My mascara was running down my cheeks.
"Listen...you're fine, you're fine! There's nothing that patient can do to you. Nothing...you're fine...calm down...breathe" I took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out. "Why do I have to be stuck with such a perverted psychopath! Why does he make me feel this way! Am I in love with him? Oh god no...I can't be! Am I? No! I won't fall for his shit anymore!"
In my anger, I punched the mirror.
The mirror cracked and the small shards of glass shattered around the sink. My hand was bleeding.
"What's wrong with me? I'm never angry, I'm never like this...What the hell is he doing to me?"
And then, one of my colleagues opened the door and saw me. They saw me in this state.
"Harleen? What the? Are you alright?" she asked me, clearly seeing my unprofessional breakdown beforehand.
I was shaking. I didn't know what to do, if I let this woman help me then I wouldn't see The Joker anymore, I would be deemed unprofessional and possibly fired. But I didn't want to stop seeing him...Or did I? I don't know! Shit...I grabbed the woman by her shirt collar.
I was somehow not in control of my temper or my actions anymore.
"You...you won't tell anyone about this...because if you do...I'll...I'll" she looked at me, petrified.
She knew I wasn't like this...I knew I wasn't like this. But I couldn't control myself.
"Easy...easy! I'm just in here like you, to go to the loo and clear my head...easy...please...please just let me go"
I wanted to let her go, but I couldn't. I had the overwhelming urge to snap her neck. I choked her with a firm hold on her neck and then I dropped her body to the ground.
I don't think she's dead... I returned back to the mirror and realized what I had just done. "Oh shit...oh shit...! Oh my god!" I started laughing at myself in the mirror.
The laughter continued and got more and more maniacal as it went on. Every second of laughter was a percentage of my sanity lost.
I then left the ladies' bathroom and ignored the potentially dead body of my colleague I left on the floor.
I re-entered the room with The Joker.
"You took your time. Do you feel better? Had a little cry, perhaps?" he saw my smudged mascara on my face.
I looked a state. I tried to hide the blood on my hand, but I forgot about it for a second and put my hand on the table, the blood leaked onto the table and created a red blood stain on the surface.
"Took your anger out, hmm? I know I have that effect on people" he smirked.
Then...he stood up...and he walked over to me. His handcuffs were loose, he was swinging them around on his finger. How the hell did the handcuffs get loose? And since when could he stand up or freely move around in the room?
"I have a surprise for you, Harley" He restrained me and put the handcuffs on my hands. And then he kissed me on the lips whilst I was trying to yell at him. "Shhh, screaming and yelling won't do you any good"
He pulled out a roll of tape and ripped a piece off, he then put tape over my mouth. Firstly, where did the tape even come from? How did he manage to smuggle it in here? Secondly, what the hell is going on? He knocked me unconscious.
When I awoke, I was in a room. In front of me was a chair and what looked like a person covered over with cloth. The Joker removed the cloth and there was in fact a person there, squirming and struggling to get free. The Joker ripped the piece of tape from my mouth.
"Surprise! I know I know it's what you've always wanted right?" he looked at the woman strapped up in the chair.
Oh shit...this was the woman I...unintentionally strangled earlier in the bathroom. She's still alive? Well... if she is, I doubt she will be for long.
"Harley, I'm giving you the chance to experience revenge. Experience the thrill of actually killing someone. You really did a number on this one earlier, I didn't think you had in it you to even hurt a fly let alone nearly kill a woman. But why stop there? You've always wanted to, just admit it!" he held out a knife in his hand.
My chance to take it and kill The Joker or take it and kill this woman. Or don't take it, and he kills me. I pick up the knife, feeling the weight and feel of it in my hands. He nods at me. I take the knife and raise it in the attempt to stab her in the chest. But I fail to. I lower my hand back down and don't stab the woman.
"I know it's hard, but here...let me show you" he grabs me by the wrist and forces my hand...and the knife.
The knife stabs her violently in the chest. He then lets go of my arm and gives me the decision to leave her dying or kill her. I look at him, with a slight glint in my eye as my face and clothing are covered with blood. I take the knife and stab it in her chest multiple times and then stop. I look at The Joker, I walk up to him slowly. He watches me. I throw the knife on the floor. I push him up against the wall and hold him by the collar, about to punch him in the face.
I kiss him.
Lowering my aggressive stance and releasing the hold of his neck, he meets my lips and kisses me back. We're left in the Asylum treatment room. Some violence, blood and sex is expressed during our time in Arkham.
