Harley took her seat on her return flight from Chicago. She practically fell into her tiny seat as she moved out of the way of the person behind her. She dropped her briefcase on the seat beside her and sat back against the hard seatback and took a deep breath of the stale cabin air.
She'd never enjoyed flying, but her endeavor to learn more about the Joker in order to help him had brought her here, in a tiny compressed tube full of irritated passengers and surly crew members. Flying was vastly overrated.
Give her a car any day of the week. Just her driving with the window down while her favorite song played on the radio. She could fly to Tahiti; she would rather drive anywhere else.
"Um, excuse me, Miss?" A familiar voice called to her. She opened her eyes and her lips partly slightly with surprise as she took in his clean-shaven face and calm hazel eyes, his wavy blonde hair that hung just past his ears. He narrowed his eyes at her questioningly.
"I'm in" he glanced past her to the window seat, "7E." He said.
"Oh, of course" she said and moved to stand.
"If it's alright with you, I'd rather have the aisle seat." He said and she glanced up at him and smiled politely before lifting her briefcase and sliding over into the window seat.
"Yeah that's the problem with long legs and tight spaces" he chuckled. She smiled at him, and couldn't help but stare at his smooth face. He had no scars.
"I've never been much of a fan of, confinement." He said and studied her face, "are you alright?"
"Nervous flyer I guess" Harley laughed at herself and sat back and buckled her seatbelt.
She tucked her briefcase under the seat as he sat back and pulled out the emergency procedure card and laughed to himself. She smiled and turned away from him to look out the window and the ground crew working in the dismal evening, bathed in artificial light and freezing rain.
"They only put these things on planes to give people a false sense of security, you know." He said.
"Hmm?" She turned to see him staring at her, holding up the plastic coated card.
"Nobody is really saved by these things. They're just pretty pictures selling a pretty lie that something could go wrong with this machine and they will come out unscathed. It's ridiculous really." He said.
"You tell this to everyone you know who's nervous about flying?" She asked, feeling a little sick. He smiled, that smile.
"I'm letting you in on the truth, the reality that in case of an emergency that piece of foam you're sitting on would never save your ass. The best you could hope for is that when those masks come out of the ceiling that they're full of poison gas that'll kill you in an instant!" He said snapping his fingers. She shook her head incredulously.
"You are a piece of work, Mister." She said sharply and turned away. She heard him chuckle.
He remained quiet through the pre-flight briefing and taxiing. He only said "whee" and laughed as the plane's tires left the bumpy tarmac and the plane soared smoothly into the night sky.
Harley gripped the ends of the arm rests so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She gasped slightly as she saw a bolt of lightning split the sky outside her window. The plane shook and she held her breath as they continued to ascend. She licked her lips and closed her eyes tightly.
A hand covered hers and she peeked to see him looking at her, a soft expression on his face.
"Look up there," he said pointing at the display above the seats in front of them between the two air vents. The display told them to fasten their seatbelts.
"Yeah?" She said looking at him and then back at the pictogram.
"When that light goes out, then everything's going to be fine." He said. She stared at the pictogram until finally the plane stopped shaking and a little 'ding' sounded and the light went out. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Isn't that something?" He asked and she looked at him.
"What?" She frowned.
"That little light and noise 'ding' can make all the difference. A moment ago you were scared out of your wits and then that light went out and now everything is okay. Even though there is still a storm going on around us" he smiled. "That is real magic."
"You really aren't helping." She said and pressed herself back into her seat. He patted her hand.
"Sure I am, Harley, I just opened your eyes. Nothing is as it seems, there is no safety net. Just spread your arms and close your eyes and fly." He chuckled, turned away to look at the row back across from them.
"I, I never told you my name," she stammered feeling cold inside.
"Didn't you?" He said and turned back to her, squeezing her hand tightly. His eyes were drowned in black circles and his mouth was a red slash across his face. His hair was long green and wild like a strange halo around his head.
Harley gasped and started in her sleep. She sat up and pulled the covers tightly around her as a thunderclap hit the sky hard enough to shake the room. Lightning brightened the room momentarily, but long enough for Harley to see the images across the room at the foot of her bed.
Tears brimmed at her eyes and spilled forth as a loud sob escaped her chest. She ran her fingers through her tangled, damp hair and threw the covers back and got out of the bed. She raced over to the wall and shouted at it.
"Get out of my Head!" She cried and began tearing pieces of paper from the wall, documents and pictures ripping as her cries did through her. She balled her fists, full of torn paper, and she hammered on the wall with them.
She staggered back to the bed and fell upon it as her legs caught against the edge. She lay on her back, feet dangling on the soft covers and watched the light and shadows play across her ceiling.
She wiped her face but more tears came and she felt truly helpless.
Last night in her office had really affected her.
There she had been drunk and making silly jokes about the Joker and moments later he stood before her with one hand gripping the doorknob and the other a rose. And his eyes were full of menace.
She hadn't been able to get the look of his eyes out of her mind since he left her sitting on the floor, crying and holding his 'gift'.
The whole event had been surreal and terrifying. The Joker was in her office with her alone at night and there was no one there to stop him from doing whatever it was he pleased. How he'd gotten out of his cell and to her office was a moot point, he was there.
She'd fainted and he'd picked her up and played with her like she was his little doll. He'd dumped out her purse and gone through her things and made fun of her, humiliated her, assured her that he could find her when he got out of the asylum.
There were no ifs ands or buts. He could get out of his cell and he would leave Arkham whenever he pleased. Freedom was his brass ring and he had made his intentions clear.
Whether or not he would see the inside of the courtroom on Wednesday, she didn't know. It was in his hands now. A lot of things were.
She was certain that she could not help him.
In a way she'd done him a favor by taking him off of his medication. When she testified in court they would take him to Blackgate where he certainly would not receive the medication and care he had at Arkham. When he escaped, he wouldn't get it then either.
She'd watched him suffering the withdrawal effects, knowing them for what they were. But no one else had noticed. No one else cared about him. It had been hard for her to watch him twice a day as he took pills she knew would do him no good.
She'd done it all because she had a plan to keep him in Arkham; with her. It was for the best for him. No one would or could care about him the way she did.
But she had underestimated him, like everyone else had.
Why he had chosen to play with her in her office instead of killing her and leaving she didn't know. He'd just given her a rose, without thorns, and quietly slipped back into his cell.
She rolled over and crawled up her bed to the nightstand and lay back down, watching the lightning play off the rose. She touched its soft petals and smooth stem.
He'd asked her a silent question in his carousel soliloquy.
When I leave, will you come with me?