Chapter Five: Monday

That Monday, Principle Houser did as much as organize a student body assembly to commemorate the North Gotham High students who lost their lives via the Joker attack. The local news station was permitted to film the ceremony, but shut off the cameras when the families entered. Most if not all of the students left the gymnasium in tears.

Lindsey and Kelsey decided to stop at their counselors' offices before fourth period. They knew the rest of the news staff would not be handling Rachel Jenson's death well, especially Corey.

Kelsey was able to see her counselor fairly quickly, but Lindsey had to wait in the guidance office until her counselor, Mrs. Jacobs, was free. She had the most students of all the other counselors assigned to her.

Lindsey fidgeted in her chair, very uncomfortable being stuck in the middle of other sobbing classmates. She observed a group of football players, ones who weren't at the party, outside the office. Their puffy red eyes indicated they were crying.

'So they're human after all,' she thought to herself.

Next door to the guidance office, Lindsey's attention was drawn through the glass doors to the main offices. The front door had swung open and Mrs. DeFranc stumbled in. Her voice was somewhat muffled, but everyone could hear that the normally calm, collected mother was in hysterics.

"Dead!" Lindsey flinched as she heard the one audible word fly from the woman's mouth. A few teachers had flocked to her side, trying to calm her down.

"No!" she shouted, "Claire! My baby!"

Lindsey's eyes widened and her jaw started to drop. Was Claire dead?

Another student had opened the office door to hear Mrs. DeFranc more clearly. Her shouts echoed into the hallway.

"In her room…she was suffocated! He killed her!"

One of the school's security guards pulled out his two-way radio and ordered, "Send some men to the DeFranc residence ASAP."

"No," Lindsey whispered to herself, staring straight ahead of herself but seeing nothing but the quickly narrowing walls, "Claire."

An office aid flipped on the TV that was on the table. According to the clock it was time for announcements. Instead of one of the radio staff starting them off, Nick Ramie was standing in the media equipment room.

"Greetings children," a voice announced, one that was not Nick's. Lindsey knew immediately whose it was. So did everyone else in the guidance office it seemed. They all stood from their seats, temporarily blocking Lindsey from the screen until she stood up on her chair.

"I'm here to teach all you little freeloading maggots one of life's very valuable lessons," the Joker's voice continued off screen, "We'll use this willing volunteer as an example."

One of his men, clad in a suit and clown mask as usual, entered from the right and punched Nick in the stomach, causing gasps and terrified shouts in the room. Lindsey felt as if her airways were closing as she watched in shock and horror. Instead the walls of the open room closing around her, she felt like she was drowning.

"I'm sure all of these brilliant certified educators and your loving parents have taught you little darlings that sharing is good," Joker narrated as his man continued beating Nick, "But when you go through your life trying to please others, say with alcohol, drugs, and killer celebrations like this charming young man, other innocent people tend to get hurt by your recklessness." He paused, emitting a sinister chuckle as Nick's bruised face was shown.

Lindsey clamped a hand over her mouth and screamed as the clown faced man snapped Nick's neck. The screen went black and the rest of the students in the office started running around, huddling together as if they would be next.

Lindsey sat back down in her seat, tangling her hands in her hair and holding her head with her jaw dropped. No matter how hard she tried she could not shake away the image of Nick's beaten face and the look right after he was finished off. Nick Ramie couldn't be dead. There was no one on the earth more alive than Nick Ramie. Or Claire DeFranc for that matter!

It wasn't until Monica yanked her to her feet that she realized all students were being sent home.

"Mr. Riley broke a window and got inside," Monica informed her, "But both of them were gone. Houser's got the police coming. They think Joker may still be in the building."

"That's not the only problem," a teary Angela Benedetti snapped, falling into step on the other side of Lindsey, "He killed Claire and Nick! Both of them survived the attack. He's going to come after us now, just so you know!"

"I don't like it when you say things, just so you know!" Monica retorted. Lindsey shushed them both as they arrived in the parking lot, "Not helping. Where's Kelsey?"

Monica looked around the crowd of students, "I'm gonna go find Dominic. I'll be back."

Before Lindsey could search for her friend, Angela stepped in front of her.

"Look, I didn't come up with that idea," she explained, "The rest of the dance team girls are all but getting a restraining order against me! They think this is like Final Destination where everyone who survived the thing dies but like one! And I'm personally going to make sure that one is me!"

Lindsey brushed her aside and made her way to her car. There was only so much she could take from Angela Benedetti.

"So where are you at exactly?" Bruce asked after Lindsey called him. She somehow found herself back at Shawn's condo.

"Well, I'm at home…"

"Yours?"

"Yeah."

She heard him sigh exasperatedly before asking, "And I take it you didn't pick up your sister."

Lindsey shrugged, "They didn't get let out."

"You didn't check?"

"They didn't get let out," she repeated, slower and louder. "You don't know that," Bruce answered in the same tone.

"Well sorry," she yelled into the phone, "Forgive me for being a little shaken from watching someone I know be killed on TV!"

"Lindsey-"

"Bruce I'm scared, ok? Claire and Nick, they were two who survived the attack! What if the Joker comes after Aubrey, or Dominic, or Monica, or any of them? Or their families...Abby and me...and Alfred and you...and my mom..."

Lindsey squeezed her eyes shut to keep from crying as she added, "I didn't pick Abby up because of that. I didn't want her to be caught if I saw him again."

"Lindsey," Bruce calmed himself to keep her sane, "Nothing's going to happen to you. I will make sure of it."

Lindsey just scoffed, "Oh what are you Batman? What can you do?"

"Alright, no, but I am your guardian for two weeks. It's my job to keep you safe now."

She rolled her eyes and remarked before hanging up, "Well, you're doing so great already."

She set her phone down on the counter and threw herself on the couch, resorting to watching old movies in an attempt to ease herself.

When Bruce and Alfred picked Lindsey up after retrieving Abby, Bruce made her go back to Lt. Gordon. Needless to say, she was rather irritated.

"He was narrating as one of his groupies killed Nick. What else do you want me to say?"

Gordon's elbows were resting on the table as he massaged his temples, "It would be so much more helpful if you wouldn't be so vague about everything. There really is no reason for this attitude."

"I don't have an attitude," Lindsey snapped. Gordon's brow shot up, "Uh-huh. Back on topic: What exactly did the Joker say?"

"I don't remember."

"Yes you do. You're trying to be difficult," his demeanor changed from the calm mediator to a mean dad interrogator, "Tell me what exactly the Joker said. I want to hear it from you."

Lindsey stared at him, still not saying anything. Gordon leaned back in his chair, "You're not in trouble, but failure to comply can get you in some."

"Is that a threat?"

"What did he say?"

Lindsey sighed, tossing him one more glare before saying hurriedly, "He said something about how going through life trying to please others leads to innocent people being hurt. He was using Nick as an example and was pretty sarcastic through the whole thing. Good enough for you?"

Gordon nodded and in the same manner her did in their first meeting waved her away toward the door.

"Just so you know," Lindsey yelled to Bruce from her room after Alfred brought her back to the penthouse, "Gordon really doesn't need anything from me after getting the story from people who were actually at the scene."

"He does when you're the only witness he'll be getting that actually knew the victim," he shouted back.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "He didn't ask me about Claire and I knew her. Besides Nick knew everybody and their damn mother."

"They don't know if Claire's death was caused by the Joker or his followers as well," Bruce answered, disregarding the second half of her statement.

"It was," Lindsey mumbled to herself, lying on her bed next to Abby who had fallen asleep while watching the portable DVD player they had found in Lindsey's nightstand drawer. How she managed to sleep through her big sister's shouts Lindsey would never understand.

Bruce was correct in the fact that the cause of Claire's death was still unclear, but Lindsey had a gut instinct that it was indeed caused by the same man who killed Nick. She was also sure that Claire and Nick deaths were not the end of his new run.

Here's the authoresque dilemma here; I know that this is a reread for a lot of of you, but I am making some tweaks as I go. I still would appreciate reviews just so I know that there is still some interest in the story. Sure I could go and check to see how many hits I'm getting, but it makes my life and my updating speedier (wink wink) if I get some feedback even just saying, "Good" or "Bad" or "Terrible" or "WTF?"