Hey everybody! It's good to be back and updating again...
Sorry this took so long. It's a little short, too, but oh well. I hope it's better than nothing.
Here's chapter 8. Please read and review and let me know what you all think. Thanks for all of those people who have commented positively and constructively on this story so far. I really appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Dark Knight or the Joker. They belong to Christopher Nolan and DC Comics. Random OC is me = mine. :)
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Tropical Torment
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Chapter 8
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For a moment, I couldn't even move. My body was frozen in shock, my brain unable to comprehend what was currently happening. I stared wide-eyed into the dark, seeing the distortion in my shadow cast upon the wall before me, indicating that there was something tall and bulky behind me. I swallowed, bracing myself for what I knew I would find, and turned around, coming face to face with the Joker once again.
His scars stretched widely at the sight of me, and the darkness almost made me wonder if dark red blood was gushing from between his yellow teeth for just a moment. I shivered, at the mercy of the shadows and my imagination and the murderer before me.
"How...H-How did...?" I tried to ask, tried to understand, but my lips wouldn't move the way that I wanted them to and the words wouldn't come to my positively burned-out mind... The Joker giggled repulsively in response to my confusion, his nasty teeth glinting in the dark.
"...Surely you noticed the, uh, trail on the way up here...? Oh, well, I guess not..." he said, mocking me once again, until he reached out to brush his gloved, make-up-smeared fingertips across the sweet dappling my brow, evidence of my unnecessary effort of scaling the massive rock face instead of just walking up the stupid thing. I lurched backward, partially-tripping over one the random pillows that was lying a ways away from the rest of the pile that I had noticed earlier.
That's right...
I looked around again, seeing things clearly now that my eyes had adequately adjusted to the darkness. The pile of pillows looked comfortable, to say in the very least, after all I had been through today... They had some dirt and dust on them, but I didn't care. They were circles and squares and rectangles of various colors and sizes, grouped into an indentation in the hard rocky wall, and they were wonderful.
Further behind me, the random squares took shape. They were crates, longer than me – I could probably fit in them... It was a weird observation. I had not a clue what was in them, but they almost looked like the kinds of things that fell out of cargo planes, so maybe food or medicine or weapons... There was only one logical explanation for this stuff being here – someone had brought it here. I turned back to the Joker, meeting his gaze once more and feeling chills ripple up the backs of my legs...
He had planned for a survivor to his little game.
He had planned for me .
My blood ran a few degrees colder.
There was a moment of silence between us. I gaped at him and he stared back at me, amused at my expression, taking glee in my disorientation and fear, loving every minute of this ridiculous hell...
The horrid reality of the moment was too much for me. I tried to focus on something else, even if it was just for a second... I turned to the setting, outside of him and me.
The moonlight was the only light in the cavern, filtering in majestically, casting everything in pale shades of white radiance and black shadow. It also illuminated the beautiful island outside, making it a perfect piece of art, a montage of complementary shades and hues, one that I only just now had the time to notice after I wasn't hanging onto a cliff face for dear life... And... Reality was coming back...
It would have been so much more beautiful if I wasn't in a cave with the Joker at the moment.
It seemed likely that I was staying there, too, if my previous theories were correct. I didn't know the island. I didn't know the creatures of the island. I didn't know how to climb back down the cliff at all or follow the trail in the dark. On its own, staying in this cave tonight was the safest option – there was just one problem, and he wouldn't stop smiling a blood-red, ragged smile at me.
"...So...What now?" I managed to ask him, though I knew I didn't really expect a satisfactory answer. I felt surprisingly calm, conversational, collected all of a sudden... I doubted it would last.
"...Well, I think it's, uh, time for bed , beautiful..." He said to me in response, making my flesh crawl with how he said "bed"... Anything concerning him and a bed in the same sentence was unbelievable. There were all kinds of things wrong with what he'd just said and how he'd said it... I turned away from him, glancing once more at the pile of pillows that I assumed would suffice as the place that I would sleep tonight... And for how many nights after..?
I approached the pile and grabbed a random blue, square pillow and headed off toward the mouth of the cave, intending to just sleep along on the hard floor by myself as far away from him as possible.
"Hold on there , beautiful... I want them all together ... Doesn't it just feel – closer, to you?"
The Joker's words made me pause. I hadn't expected him to care at all about such an obsessive-compulsive thing like having all of the pillows in one place. Maybe he was just messing with me. I turned around, my mouth set into a firm line. I refused to comment, and threw the blue pillow back into the pile of its fellows. Then I sat down upon the cold stone where I was, situating myself and glancing out at the tropical night before me, outside the mouth of the cave. I would sleep without a pillow if he wanted to be picky like that. Whatever.
"Now, beautiful... you're gonna, uh, get quite cold over there ..." I heard him murmur just to me, his voice creeping up on me in the dark...
What the hell was he getting at?
I was starting to get annoyed, in a surprisingly normal, average, human way. I was tired and I wanted to go to sleep. That was all I was thinking about right now. Not that my family and friends were gone, my life was in danger, and I was alone on a deserted island with the Joker – I was just really freaking tired right now, and he was the one opposing that. I turned on him.
"Then where do you want me to go? " I snapped, grumbling like the sleep-deprived youth I was as I sat up and looked toward him. He smiled at me, giggling playfully in a way that made me feel uneasy in many ways. I was already regretting the wording of my question... The Joker then turned away from me, waltzed forward, pivoted on his ragged purple shoes, and then dropped back like a rock into the pile of pillows, bouncing slightly in their cushiony embrace. He sighed with exhaustion, situated himself...and then patted the space beside him. He wanted me to sleep with – sleep next to him... I was speechless.
"Right here ... We'll share, beautiful," he informed me, much to my absolute horror. All of the blood immediately drained from my face. I gaped at him, unable to respond in any way whatsoever. I was expected to share a bed with a sadistic, mentally-unstable, mass-murdering clown? My expression must have amused him, for another psychotic giggle slipped from his lips, lips that he licked so that they gleamed like blood in the moonlight...
"Don't be nervous, beautiful," he assured me, his voice haunting and electric in the dark, "I just wanna make sure you don't, uh, run off or do something, dra-stic... After all, how – would – I get to have any fun that way?" he grinned, his teeth a dull flash in the moonlight. He looked like a smirking demon, sitting there, waiting for me... I trembled, the word fun bringing many ghastly images to mind. My eyes prickled with frightened tears, but I fought furiously not to let him see me cry. That would be vulnerable and I hated to be vulnerable.
My feet felt spot-welded to the cavern floor. My mouth was getting dry from hanging open for an extended period of time. My heart pounded in my ears. When I made no inclination to do as he had instructed, his expression suddenly became frighteningly serious. His dark eyes bored relentlessly into mine, stabbing like daggers into my soul and washing a cold chill throughout each of my limbs. He was daring me to refuse his orders. My eyes didn't miss the glimmer of the knife at his belt. I clenched my hands into fists, trying to gain what self-control I could.
I couldn't forget that he was Gotham's greatest criminal mastermind. Here I was, refusing to take five more steps and lay down. Shivers crawled up my spine at the thought. He was no doubt one of the most dangerous men alive. He killed. He cold-bloodedly murdered. He burned. He destroyed. He was lethal. He could kill me at anytime in any place at his leisure. I was at his mercy. And I knew he wasn't one for being merciful...
I was terrified.
I'd admit that to anyone.
I can recall no time in my life where I had been that terrified before.
The Joker waited for my next movement. His tongue trailed slowly across his ragged crimson lips, making me shiver again. His eyes never left my face, causing my skin to crawl uneasily beneath his probing gaze.
"You're considering running away …to where ? It's not like you really have that many , uh, options here, beautiful," he smiled, the movement strange and twisted with his ghastly scars. He shifted into a more comfortable position, settling back into the pillows with his purple gloved hands behind his head, making his ragged green hair pool disgustingly.
"I'm tired...Don't make me chase youtonight," he commanded, his voice stern enough to be threatening while still holding an air of genuine fatigue... Gazing at the pillows, I realized yet again, on a very human level, that I was very tired as well. Still, I was sure he wasn't too tired to kill me, should he decide to, and I wasn't too tired to die...
I addressed my fear. Fear was normal. Fear was always present. Accepting it gave strength.
I felt a sudden urge to fight my fears.
If I ran, he won. He seemed to expect me to run. Causing fear and chaos and panic was what he loved to do. He enjoyed watching people fear him. Of course, I was terrified, but I didn't have to die a coward. I didn't have to give into my fear. I didn't have to give him any more enjoyment than I was experiencing.
So, fighting my every instinct screaming for me to run from the cavern, to flee for my life, to not get a centimeter closer to the infamous Clown Prince of Crime, I walked with stiff, unwilling, but determined movements over to the pile of pillows and sat down beside a man who could have killed me without a doubt. Fear sparked throughout my brain and settled icily in my stomach with our much-too-close proximity. Part of me could not believe I had just sat beside him.
What was I thinking? My nerves burned with feelings of panic and alarm.
His dark eyes glided heavily across my face, catching every uncomfortable twitch and unintentional movement contorting my otherwise blank expression. He seemed interested that I had come over to sleep beside him instead of barreling headlong into the wild recesses of the surrounding rainforest, getting as far away from him as possible.
I knew already that I would most likely be awake all through the night. I could hardly relax enough to sleep. I could have not lived to see another sunrise...
I trembled slightly, the reality of my ghastly situation hitting home once again. All that I had worked for, earned, gathered, and ensured for a wonderful future could have now been completely worthless. Tears prickled at my eyes again, but I quickly blinked them away.
Suddenly, without warning, the Joker's arm wrapped around my front and dragged me down onto my back beside him among the pillows. Screaming with surprise and fear, I struggled, managing to land a forceful but uneven punch into his face. Laughing it off loudly, he pulled a thin, wicked knife from his pocket, spun it in the air, and stuck it into my mouth, stretching my cheek against the blade.
Silence immediately descended.
My heart threatened to explode.
I gazed at him with wide eyes, hoping that I didn't appear pleading, weak, or pathetic. I managed not to whimper. Points for me.
"Hmm… no wonder you survived, beautiful. There's a little fight in you," he murmured darkly into my ear, making my eyes squeeze tightly shut in fear. He was wrong... He was so wrong... I only won because he let me win. I wasn't strong... He was wrong...
He slowly pulled the blade from my mouth, causing me to release a quivering gasp when it was gone. Trembling upon the pillows, I tasted metal and blood that no doubt belonged to other people. The thought made me shudder violently as bile rose into my throat. Ignoring my obvious discomfort, the Joker wrapped his other arm around me and pulled me close, stealing away almost all hope of escaping his clutches. My flesh crawled murderously once more as I felt his chest against my back.
No. God no. This wasn't happening...Why was this happening?
"What are you – " I started to yell, unable to keep quiet in this situation.
"Sleep well ,beautiful ," he whispered to me, laughing slightly and causing his warm breath to breeze across my ear. Hot tears prickled at the corners of my eyes and slowly dribbled down my face. It didn't take long for him to notice my blasted vulnerability. I tensed perceptibly as the Joker brushed his rough, make-up coated fingers across my face to wipe my tears away, smacking his lips at my ear.
"Don't – cry, beautiful... You'll ruin your make-up ," he mockingly informed me, a chillingly tantalizing smile in his voice.
"...I don't wear make-up ," I told him, my tone strong with the truth, though my voice still quavered with sickening revulsion and fear. I didn't like to wear it. I never had. I felt like my face wasn't mine.
"...You will when I'm through with you ," he murmured darkly to me, making me shiver once more in the inescapable enclose of his arms.
Oh,God, no... Please, no... I couldn't fight back the tears now. They flowed freely down my face, burning trails down my cheeks, splattering messily upon my pillow.
The Joker never stopped holding me as I cried myself to sleep.
The sound of his wicked laughter was the last sound I processed before darkness draped over my world...
I prayed that I would wake up from this horrid nightmare once and for all.
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So yeah, there you go! Thanks again, and please read and review!
SD