AN: Here's the next installment. Hope you all enjoy! As always, please send me a review...thanks so much to those who do, it means alot! :)
When we got back to the hideout, The Joker grabbed me and threw me down to the floor. He was pissed about my little stunt at the jewelry store. He got on top of me and pinned me in between his legs. He pulled his knife and held it to my throat. I didn't even try to fight…if I would have moved my head an inch, I would've been cut by the blade. Instead, I just laid there as still as possible staring into the madman's eyes, praying he wasn't about to kill me.
"I'm not to happy about your behavior," he began. "I'm willing to forgive you just this once, but it had better never…and I mean never, happen again. If it does happen again, you can bet you'll be sorry," he continued, pressing the blade harder against my skin.
I wasn't going to cry, but it definitely wasn't comfortable, and I was definitely becoming nervous that he might decide to off me now. I mumbled, "Sorry…I won't do it again."
"What did you say?"
"I said that I was sorry and that I won't do it again," I said, raising my voice.
"I don't recall asking you to speak," he snarled.
He raised the knife from my throat and I sighed in relief. Then I noticed that maniac glint in his eye…like when he had come up with a truly evil plan. I gulped, scared to find out what his idea may be. He put more of his weight on me so that I had no hope of wiggling free. "You know, a threat isn't much incentive for you to behave. I think I need to do some damage already…as a sort of reminder," he laughed, bringing the knife down to my face, placing it between my lips.
Right then I knew what he was thinking. I instinctively shook my head as my eyes began to well up with tears. He looked down at my with that crazy smile on his face. The look on his face definitely screamed "I'm insane!" and in any other situation I probably would have laughed at that, but this was a little too serious to find funny. He grinned even wider (if that was possible) and said, "Whatya say we put a smile on that face?"
I couldn't hold it in anymore, "NO!!" I screamed out. "Please no! I swear I will never ever do something to make you mad again. And if I do, then you have my permission to carve my face, but please don't do it now."
He paused a minute as if to ponder my response. Then he looked back at me, seeing the tears streaming down my face. He removed the knife and began stroking the tears from my cheek with the back of his hand, "It's ok, sugar," he cooed. "You have yourself a deal, but it's only because I like you so much," he said. I knew he added that last part only to try to cover that he had a heart…or at least when it came to me he did. He got off me and pulled me to my feet, giving me a small hug. Then he showed me to my bedroom so I could get some sleep. He's such a weird one…maybe he's bipolar on top of being flat out crazy, I thought to myself as he left me alone in the room.
Surprisingly enough, I managed to sleep really well that night. No nightmares or freaky Joker dreams. Which is really shocking because I definitely expected to dream that my face was carved to mirror his. When I woke up in the morning, my hands unconsciously reached up to feel my face. It was completely normal. I was relieved because I half figured he'd come "put a smile on my face" while I was sleeping.
I stood up and stretched. Then I made my way across the room to the door. I figured I should probably find The Joker to see what he planned for us to do today. When I opened the door, he was standing right in front of me, holding up a cute lavender dress.
He pushed past me and entered the room, shoving the dress into my arms. "I got that for you. You're gonna wear it this evening when we go out. Oh, and I brought you some shoes," he said holding up a pair of dressy ballet-style shoes.
I just stared at him. You have got to be kidding me, I thought. Apparently he mistook my look for confusion because he explained, "Well, I figured heels weren't a good idea with your ankle."
"Oh…err…thanks," I managed to say. I was still completely confused by this man. Yet, somehow I liked that he confused me and kept me guessing…it kept things interesting at least.
"I'll leave you to get dressed then," he said heading for the door. "Oh, and try not to ruin the dress this time, will ya?"
"Sure thing," I said with a grin as I closed the door behind him.
I changed into the outfit quickly, afraid of the consequences if I took too long. Once I had the dress on, I looked in the mirror. It fit perfectly. This dress was considerably shorter than the last one he bought me, but I figured that could be a good thing. At least it will be easier to move without tripping myself. I smiled at myself in the mirror and turned to head out of the room again.
Once again, The Joker greeted me when I opened my door. "Aah, it's perfect," he said, licking his lips as he studied me from head to toe. Something about the way he eyed me and licked his lips sent a shiver down my spine. It was like there was another reason I was in this dress. You and your stupid over-active imagination, I thought with a sigh. I quickly turned my sigh into a smile though when I realized The Joker was looking at me curiously.
"So, how about we take a little joy ride before we get down to business?" he asked with his signature smile.
I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by "business" and "joy ride," so I simply nodded and followed him out to the car.
But of course, he simply meant that we drive around Gotham and strike fear into the hearts of the city's citizens. I don't know how many times he drove up on the sidewalk to get all the pedestrians to dive into the street to avoid being hit by him. Every time he did it, he burst into an uncontrollable fit of maniac laughter. Then he'd look at me and say "Isn't this fun?!" I would just politely smile, but I doubt he actually bought it.
Finally, as the sun was beginning to go down, he slammed on the brakes and threw the car into park in front of an apartment complex. Then he turned to me with a smile, "Time for the dirty work." I gulped; I knew this was going to be bad. I also had a feeling this was going to be another test for me.
As we headed up the stairs to Apartment 419, The Joker handed me a 9 mm gun. "You know how to use it, right?" he asked. I nodded my head, taking the gun from him. "Good, good," he said, flashing me another grin.
When we reached Apartment 419, The Joker knocked on the door. I stood hidden behind The Joker, praying that I wasn't going to have to shoot anyone. A man opened it and gasped. "Hello," The Joker said.
"Go away! You're not coming in here!" the man shouted.
"That's what you think," The Joker replied.
The man stood his ground and positioned himself to block the entire doorway. "You'll have to get through me first," he said, sounding a lot braver than he probably was.
"Suit yourself," The Joker grinned as he raised his gun and shot the man once between the eyes. The lifeless body fell to the floor with a sharp thud. The Joker stepped over his body, laughing. I stepped over the body, scared half to death, wishing I wasn't here.
As we entered the room, a woman screamed and ran to hide. The Joker just laughed harder as he began looking around the room for something. I just watched him. All of a sudden, The Joker cried out in what sounded like pain. I turned to see a young man, about my age, throw himself on The Joker and begin punching him. He yanked the gun from The Joker and threw it across the room.
The boy continued to punch The Joker, yelling through his tears, "What the hell did you do that for?! You killed my father and now you're going to pay!"
The Joker lay there, helpless, struggling to get away from the boy. Then I realized he wasn't trying to get away, he was trying to get the knife out of his pocket. Problem was that the boy had him pinned in such a way that he couldn't quite reach his pocket. I remained frozen in my spot, watching The Joker struggle and get beat to a pulp.
Suddenly, I was broken from my trace as I heard The Joker cry out, "Do something already! Shoot him!!" My head jerked up to make eye contact with The Joker. He looked awful…he needed help for once in his life. He screamed out again, in a pained voice, "Just shoot him!!"
I broke my gaze from his beaten face to look at the gun in my hand. "That's it, shoot!" The Joker cried again. I took a breath and raised the gun, taking aim at the boy still punching The Joker with all his strength.