Before you begin to start reading this chapter you might want to grab a soda and some chips if you have them. It's going to be a long bumpy ride so hold on. it's really long. And I am glad to say this is one of my favorite chapters, it brings the main plot coming up out.
She woke up to find that the room was completely dark and that the Joker was no where to be seen. (this happens every time she wakes up, what a big surprise.) she shifted around a little, enjoying the warmth of the blankets around her before she sat up quickly. It was dark outside, which meant the Joker was either out tormenting people or asleep in one of the other rooms. Standing shakily, from fear of the Joker popping out of nowhere the way he sometimes did, she walked to the door and turned the knob before freezing. She doubted if the door made any noise that the Joker wouldn't notice, in the small time she had been there she knew he could hear every noise in the room. Her heart was pounding so loud, she thought it might wake him up at any moment. But when no footsteps came she gently tugged at the door with her good arm to open it.
It slide open without any noise and she sighed loudly with relief. She pulled the door open the rest of the way and then slipped out into the dark hallway. She paused to listen to see if she could hear the Joker's snore and when she could she made her way down the hallway, searching for a way out.
Her feet got cold rather quickly as she walked down the tiled halls. Her body protesting in pain from the way she had slept and the new need for sleep required to heal her new wounds the Joker had given her. But she pushed on steadily, looking for windows or door that would lead outside. After what seemed like forever she finally reached a door that sent out small waves of air from underneath it and she was sure this was the exit. She pulled the door open and a loud buzzing noise sounded.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. You should have known there was an alarm on the door. Without further hesitation and the thoughts of her family waiting for her she ran with all her might, jerking her arms in the process to help pick up speed. She flinched at the pain in her left arm but it was dull and didn't slow her by much. Turning around she found the Joker's form in the doorway no more then twenty feet behind her. Putting on an extra spurt of energy knowing her was farther behind her and she had a chance she sprang down the alleyway they were currently on.
Something behind her caught hold of her hair and she fell to the ground with the Joker on top of her.
"Going somewhere?" he growled and his eyes shone with the same darkness they had while he had broken her arm, and carved his haunting smile onto her face.
Fear filled her and she fought to get free but with the Joker's hand squeezing her still healing arm she soon gave up.
"Let's try this a different way." he said and scooped her up before throwing her over his shoulder. She squirmed a little at the uncomfortable hold, his shoulder jabbing into her stomach and with each step dug further into her. His breathing seemed to be strong and uneven, sweat pouring down his face, smearing his black and white into grey, and his red into a pink. She remained still for the ride home and once inside lost sight of her family again.
Will I ever get to go home? She wondered as he pulled her into the first room. He dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed. She drew her legs closed and looked away from his look of anger and lust.
He leaned forward onto the bed and grabbed the bottom of her chin before forcing her to look at him. He moaned and ran the back of his hand along the scar on her left cheek she winced and he withdrew his hand.
"You ever run again and I'll cut your legs off." he growled and began walking to the door.
"Wait?" she and he turned. "Am I going to be punished?"
Her voice shook and tears filled her eyes, as she waited for the answer.
"No." he said and walked out of the door before slamming it shut. She jumped at the loud noise.
"Why not?" she yelled after him. There was no reply and feeling angered that he had let her off the hook, something he had never done before. He had always tortured her for fun even. Why let her off the hook when she tried to get away. She stood and ran to the door before trying to pull it open. She knew he had locked it when she left so instead she pounded on the door with her fist, jolting her arm and causing it to ache deep inside where the bone resided.
"Why not? You punish me for anything and everything. If your in a bad mood, if someone else did something wrong. Why not now?" she pounded harder before she fell in a heaping puddle at the door, crying her heart out. She had been so close to getting away and then it had all been taken back from her. Her cheeks burned and her arm throbbed and all seemed lost.
Lost…
Valentine….
She stood and looked around the room before standing and pulling the drawers at the bottom of the wall open. She found pliers and papers and other nasty tools he owned to torture people. Finding a rather sharp, jagged knife she held it to the stitches that held her skin together and pressing down let the blade cut the stitches open…
Joker:
Irritated that she had tried to escape in the middle of the night he had locked her door and reset that alarm before heading back to bed. A few moments later he heard her banging on the door and got up to listen to commotion.
"Why not? You punish me for anything and everything. If your in a bad mood, if someone else did something wrong. Why not now?"
He heard her cry from the other side and then there was more pounding before he heard her slide down to the floor. Knowing that the small temper tantrum was now done, he moved to go back to his room when he heard her scream fill the air.
Walking back to the door he pulled it open and froze. Laying on the floor, holding her arm close to her, was his captive, blood surrounding her on the floor and one of his favorite knives laid next to her as well. Rolling his eyes he stepped towards her and grabbed her good arm.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed as loudly as possible at him before going back into a crying mess.
Without a second thought he pulled her up by her arm and held her to him, like a small child. She cried into his shirt and he let her before he carried her over to the bed and sat down with her in his lap. He grabbed her bad arm and looked at it, tilting it this way and that to check to see how much damage had been done.
"Ow." she cried weakly in his arms as he applied pressure to one bad part on her arm. She had reopened her stitches in order to bleed to death, without a second thought. He laughed at the sad attempt of her second escape that night and thought of nothing else but the third one she would try.
"I'm gonna put bars on your windows for safe keeping and your going to sleep in the same room as me until I can trust you." he said taking off his tie with one hand and wrapping it tightly around her arm. Keeping her from bleeding further. "If you loose anymore trust, I will kill you. And the reason I didn't punish you is because if you lose any more blood then you just did you would die, and I didn't want to risk it with my anger. I'm pretty sure your tired of hurting so I'll try really hard not to punish you anymore, however if you push me, you will be punished and it will hurt. Deal?"
She nodded her head resting against his shoulder. He stood up and held her with one arm, slipping off his jacket with the other before switching her into his other arm and doing the same. His purple trench coat fell to the floor and he bent down gently before grabbing hold of it.
"Put this on." he growled roughly. She could tell he was tired and she felt the same way.
As he set her down on the floor to put his jacket on she felt dizzy and reached out to grab the jacket, missing the jacket by three inches, she closed her eyes and shook her head before trying again. This time she grabbed onto it. Sensing her uneasiness he stood behind her while she put it on. Every once and a while part of the fabric would brush against him and he knew how close she really was to him. Picking her up again, he carried her to his bedroom and sighing he set her already sleeping form on the bed before turning and locking the door behind him. Watching her sleep for a while he shifted and stretched, before laying down beside her and drifting into a sleep himself.
He woke to find Valentine on the bed with them, laying in between them. Her arm wrapped around the white Sheppard. His breathing was even and he knew both the dog and the girl were asleep. Standing he moved to the bathroom that adjoined the room and relieved himself before staring at himself in the mirror. His makeup was bad she he washed the rest off and reapplied it before entering the bedroom. Valentine was awake and staring at him, as he came out. And the girl was laying in the same position as before with her arm around Valentine.
"Can you tell me what she's dreaming of Valentine?" he asked before stepping toward the Sheppard and petting it's head. Valentine whimpered and raised a paw to his master.
"I wish you could, I'd probably really be able to get along with her." he grabbed Valentine's little paw in his big one and shook it gently before releasing it and then continued petting Valentine's ears.
"I better get a little more sleep before I get her up. And then you and I have to put bars on her windows." he laid down next to Valentine who pawed at him to keep petting him for a little bit and then laid down when he realized that his master was no longer going to pet him.
The night was dark and the shadows that moved on the walls felt as though they were fallowing him as he moved at a steady pace down the alleyways that surrounded him.
Alley dogs scavenger hunted in trashcans for food. Others scraped the ground, hoping that food might appear if they dug deep enough. The Joker smiled as he watched one dog in particular. The dogs white coat shimmering blue in the moon light that was high overhead. The dog shook its coat and blood flew everywhere, covering the walls, much like Sarah's had when he had slit her throat.
A soft womanly voice called from around the corner.
"Valentine."
He followed the voice and so did Valentine. The great Sheppard moved with such grace his fur swaying in the wind while he walked towards the area the voice had come in. upon turning the corner the Joker froze and watched the young girl who stood there petting Valentine gently.
"Good boy." she said and stroked his head. Kneeling down to accommodate the height difference between them she kissed his head and Valentine lifted a front paw before lifting his head and licking Sarah's face.
"Joker." she called standing, Valentine followed her. He looked at Sarah, her throat slit, blood dripping down. Valentine followed licking up the small drops of blood that his former master had left behind.
She stopped in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I live here now that I am dead."
"How is that possible, it's only a dream?" he asked looking down at Valentine who was currently standing under the source of the blood. Every time he dropped his head to lick up the blood drop, another one fell onto her perfect white coat.
"You remember me, Jack." she said. "So I live here, in your mind."
"And Valentine, why is he here?"
"He misses me, Jack. He comes to visit me." she said smiling.
"Why didn't you just sign the damn statement. It was just a pack of lies, what did you care if it got out?" he asked.
Maggot began to drip from her neck and fell onto Valentine who backed up whimpering. Sarah's body grew thinner and thinner the more the maggots fell out of her, until nothing but the outer shell of her skin remained and then blew away in the breeze.
He woke to find Valentine whining and as he sat up, Valentine stopped and stared at him, and for a moment while his body was only half there, he felt as those Valentine's blue eyes could see into his very soul.
"You know I killed her don't you Valentine?" he asked sitting up.
He looked over at the sleeping girl before standing and then not even two steps away from the bed, he collapsed and watched as the whiteness around his eyes grew, causing him to go blind and the pain in his chest ached, so bad, he was sure he was dead.
Captive:
She woke to find Valentine's cries. Sitting up she watched him as he circled around the Joker who was laying on the floor. Valentine would circle and then scratch at the Joker's arm before circling and doing it again.
She stood up and shakily moved toward the Joker, her legs were to weak and gave way leaving her crumbled to the floor. Her dizziness came back.
"Valentine." she called, Valentine looked at her and then walked towards her. She grabbed onto him and he moved slowly to the Joker. Pulling her along. It was a slow process and she was surprised he knew what he was doing. As though he had been trained for this.
Upon reaching the Joker, Valentine returned to scratching him.
She sat up and rolled the Joker over, which took both her and Valentine. Who nudged him with his muzzle. She felt the Joker's head and felt it warm, his face was covered in perspiration. Feeling for a pulse she found it weak, as though strained. Looking around the room she found no phone and then thought of a cell phone knowing that that was the way he contacted people she searched his pants and found what she was looking for. Dialing 911 she waited while the other line rang.
"Hello, this is the emergency medical team, what is your emergency?" a males voice appeared on the other line.
"I've been kidnapped and my captor has fainted, we both need medical assistance at once. His heartbeat is weak…." she replied wondering if this was really the end with the Joker.
"And where are you located at?" the male asked.
"I-I don't know down some alley."
"Alright, stay right where you are and a medical team will trace this call to find out where you are." he said.
"Kay." she said. Tired from her effort and from her blood loss, she fell asleep right on top of the unconscious Joker. Valentine's howled getting louder as he sensed her leaving him to.
She woke to find herself in a hospital. A nurse sleeping next to her in a chair.
"Hey." she cried out.
"Oh, sorry about that, how are you feeling?" the nurse asked waking up.
"Horrible." she said.
"well, that's to be expected, you had some horrible wounds on you when you came in and we got on them immediately. Let me go get the doctor." she said standing and walking quickly to the door. A women in a white coat came in with a clipboard and two detectives.
"these cops would like to ask you a few questions." the female doctor said.
She nodded, to tire to do much more then that.
"Hi, my name is Detective Sid and this is my partner Detective Mira. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your ordeal with the Joker."
"Kay." she said.
"We'd like to know if he ever touched you?" he asked.
"Not sexually." she said.
"Well obviously physically." he said. "why did he do that?"
He asked pointing to the scars that ran on either side of her cheeks.
"Because I found some papers he didn't want me to see."
"What kind of papers?"
"a children's book, a statement and pictures." she said.
"A children's book?"
"Her name was Sarah Carlotti and he killed her because she didn't sign the statement."
"He killed her?"
"He said he slit her throat."
"anything else we should know about?" the detective asked.
"Valentine. Where is Valentine?" she asked.
"Valentine?"
"The albino Sheppard?" she asked.
"Mame, we found no dogs in the building when we came to get you or the Joker."
"But he was there, we were locked in there was no way he could have gotten out." she cried sitting up.
"He can't feed himself, he needs help."
"You need to calm down mame, I'll send someone back over there to look for the dog. Is he yours?"
"no. no he's not."
"He's the Joker's then?"
"No, he's-he's Sarah's the Joker kept him after he killed Sarah."
"Well then the dog will be taken into custody and redistributed to the public, thank you for your time."
"Wait, why can't I take the dog?" she asked.
"The dog is not yours or the Joker's to he will be placed at the human society to be adopted. Have a good day and try to relax and heal well."
With that the Detectives left.
Angry that she couldn't keep Valentine she cried herself to sleep, while the nurses ran in and out of the room, trying to calm her down, before giving her a sedative.
Joker:
The Joker woke to find himself tied to a hospital bed. Glancing around the room, he found a security guard.
"Hey." he growled.
The guard came closer and then froze before turning and leaving the room. Once he returned he came in with a male doctor.
"Hello, Mr. Joker. You had a heart attack and so we brought you in. although you look as though you are doing rather well in the recovery phase."
"Where's my girl?" he asked sitting up and flexing his arm.
"She is no longer yours she is currently being reunited with her family."
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"What's your name doc?"
Just then the lights went out and there were to sharp screams before the lights turned back on.
To be continued…..
