Chapter 16 Talkin' to Myself
It smelled of must and rot. The two scents danced together and filled Alice's nose as she was forced past the theater threshold. Her eyes warily adjusted to the dim florescent glow and the faint sound of deep chatter resonated in her ears. How cliché, she thought, that the Joker would have his hideout in an abandon theater. She had to hand it to him though, he was one for the theatrics. This place suited him.
As she was pulled through the hallway with Arlo leading, she noticed a series of doors on her left and right. Most were closed hiding whatever was behind them but a few were cracked open reveling humble cots and sparse furnishings. She had no doubt in her mind that these must be the Joker's henchmen's rooms. She wondered briefly if she would have a room, or if she was even staying for that matter. She immediately pushed the thought out, she wouldn't let herself be consumed by what if's, she had to go with the flow. No questions asked, roll with the punches, play his little game.
The three came to the end of the hallway and were greeted by a wooden door which opened up into a large great room. This was the source of the chatter. Ripped couches, beat up tables, and hefty men littered the room. They were talking amongst themselves, drinking beer, lighting cigarettes and chasing the heady smoke of marijuana down with a myriad of pills. The scene reminded Alice of a shallow high school party, only there were no red cups and these men were clearly not high school age. The door slammed behind them, making Alice jump. The Joker noticed and smirked at her, ever so slightly tightening his grip on her arm.
Everyone in the room froze and looked up.
"Evening boys" the Joker drawled, captivating everyone's attention.
The men responded with respectable nods and some uttered a 'hey boss'. But most turned their attention to Alice, they eyed her up and down with curious and rather thirsty looks.
She could feel their eyes burning into her body and she snarled her lip in disgust. The Joker seemed to sense this too, so he changed his grip on her arm and wrapped his arm around her waist. He let it hang low, and dug his fingers into her hip bone, tapping them rhythmically. The stance was clearly possessive and if that wasn't enough his taunting glares made it clear that she was his toy only. It went without being said and the men slowly returned to their various activities, making sure to avoid looking at Alice.
The Joker smiled, satisfied with the group's reaction. He removed his arm from Alice's waist and whispered something to Arlo before disappearing behind a door across the room. Instinctively Alice followed him with her eyes, staining to see behind the door, curious as to where he went. But before curiosity could kill the cat Arlo placed a light grip on her shoulder,
"Come on, follow me." He said softly.
He led her back through the door they came through and down the dim hallway to a closed a door. He opened it and flicked the lights on. Like the other rooms, there was a small cot and a worn down dresser, but attached to the room was a small bathroom holding a tiny shower, sink, and toilet. Alice took note of this and smiled inwardly, at least she had some privacy.
"Well this is your room Alice", Arlo said with a sigh, "come on sit down." He gestured to the cot and placed himself on the edge, reluctantly Alice followed suit.
He smiled politely, warming his cool green eyes and running a hand through his dark hair. She took note of his striking features up close. He was very unique looking, almost foreign, slightly Middle Eastern. A thick smell of after shave lingered around him and hung in the air. Alice didn't feel threatened by him, if anything she felt safe. He proved himself to be a respectable man and that sat well her.
Arlo took a breath and started to speak,
"Now, the boss wanted me to lay down the rules." He nodded and kept speaking, "rule one, don't try and escape. If you do you're dead. You won't even make it out the door before a bullet is lodged into your skull, you got it?"
Alice nodded yes and made a mental note, escaping = dead.
"Rule two, you do what the boss says when he says it. No questions asked. I'm pretty sure that goes without saying. And uh rule three…is uh…well there is no rule three. Just don't be stupid. You think you can do that?" he said in an undermining tone.
Alice hated being patronized.
"Yeah. I got it." She answered coldly.
"Great." He smiled and patted her on the thigh before standing up and heading to the door.
That's it no explanation? Here she was in the Joker's hideout being told what to do and there wasn't an explanation?
"Wait!" Alice said. Arlo stopped in his tracks and turned around eye brows raised in question.
"Why am I here?" she asked softly. Arlo sighed and walked back over to the cot sat down. He placed a hand on her knee and took a moment before talking. Alice just stared at his hand, taken back by his lack of personal space, but she didn't mind. She met his gaze.
"Am I like some kind of henchwomen now? Am I working for him? Like whats the deal here. Why me, why am I here." She asked desperately.
"listen, I wish I could tell ya but in all honesty I don't know. I'm just as lost as you are. The boss has a tendency to keeping everyone in the dark."
Alice wasn't satisfied with the nebulous answer, even though Arlo was being completely genuine.
"Well I mean come on, you have to know something! Anything, please. Why the fuck am I here. And don't you dare pull that 'there doesn't have to be a reason' bullshit."
Arlo nervously laughed and ran his hand through his hair, "look all I know is that you've been stirring things up in Gotham and getting attention. I also know that the boss doesn't like it when the attentions off of him, so my guess, this has something to do with that."
Alice rolled her eyes, "okay, but um…" she hesitated to ask her question, she didn't want to sound scared, but she kind of was. She was in his territory now, the game was on his turf, that meant he had the upper hand. She mustered up the strength to ask her question,
"Is he going to kill me?"
With that Arlo stood up and took a moment before answering. He walked over to the door and opened it. But before he walked away completely he turned around,
"If he wanted you dead, you would be dead by now." And just like that he left the room closing the door behind him, leaving Alice just sitting there.
She grunted hard like a bull before slamming her fist violently into the cot letting the lumpy mattress absorb her petty anger. She was pissed off and annoyed more than anything else, she wanted to know what the hell she was doing there and she wanted the Joker to be the one to tell her, that was the least he could do after slaughtering all her henchmen.
But instead of wasting her energy on sulking, she lay back on the cot and decided to look at the grand scheme of things and do some thinking, which she was starting to realize she was doing a lot of that lately. She started letting her thoughts pass her lips so she could actually physically hear them, addressing herself in the third person, which she found was a great coping skill.
"Okay Alice, you're fine. You don't need to get your freaking panties all in a bunch. This prick clearly wants you alive and that's a good thing. The worst he could do to you is kill you and he hasn't done that yet, so just be cool." She closed her eyes and took a deep refreshing breath before continuing her little pep talk,
"all you gotta do is just hang in there, hes got nothing on you, just the lingering thought of death…but whatever, that's water under the bridge! Like that freaky dude Arlo said if he wanted you dead you would be. So HA. The joke is on him, I'm still kicking and kicking hard." She got up with some unexpected energy and started walking around the room, talking to herself, moving around aimlessly like a child with ADD.
"You got nothin' to worry about Alice. All is good. Look on the bright side, he can't do much to you, you're already fucked up enough! HA! Oh you've been fucked for a while too, I'm just happy you finally realized it, it was just a matter of time, and now look at you," she somehow made her way to the bathroom and was now talking to herself through the mirror, "you're finally embracing you. Life already fucked you once and you rose from the ashes like a phoenix! You're a changed person! Ever since that dick killed that poor man right in front of your eyes, you've been different. Oh but he was doing you a favor! All that horror and pain from such a long time ago is pointless! God, ever since you killed Will you've been on fire! No, there's no going back to that dumb bitch who ran away from her fears, there is no more room for the bliss of ignorance. You know who you are and what you've done, and no one can take that away from you!"
Alice was getting real fired up now. She couldn't contain the smile that was growing on her face as she kept talking to herself in the mirror.
"You damn well know that you can look a man in the eye and take his life without blinking, and who needs more than that! Man, it's a real bitch that you're here Alice but take control. Think. You set out to destroy this city with your men by your side, you wanted to see this very city that chewed you up and spit you out, you wanted to see it burn to the ground and eat itself from the inside out like a fiery acid. You want to own this city and make everyone know that you, Alice Rose Polanco, Diamond, will rule this burning city and bring it to its knees and make it beg for your forgiveness-" She took a pause and stared at herself hard in the mirror before the smile vanished from her face.
"You can't let being here stop you Alice." She inched her face closer to the dingy full length mirror that hung on the bathroom wall.
"There is nothing more he can do to you. You're already crazy! HAH! God when will this obnoxious clown realize this! If he would only stop trying to destroy you! His petty mind games are nothing to you. He can't break something that's already broken Alice! You already hit rock bottom and you damn well like it there! He's not your keeper. To hell with that clown!" she was starting to raise her voice now, totally oblivious to the fact that she was starting to sound like someone who belonged in straight jacket, she had never talked to herself like this, but she realized it was kind of freeing.
"Alice Rose, you want to watch the world burn," she reached her hand up and caressed her image that reflected back at her, she lowered her gaze and brought her voice down to a whisper, like she was telling herself a secret,
"but I want to be the one to set it on fire."
A/N: Whats up guys I'm back at it! I missed writing so much and after being in the hospital, moving, and changing schools, I've finally found some inspiration again! So buckle up and drop a review because nothing can stop me now! Xoxo