© Ellie Goodson 2016

Chapter Ten-Kidnapped by the Clown

~Arabella Jones~

My body noticed several things all at once as I came back from unconsciousness. The dampness of the cold, hard floor; the dull light making me have to squint to see anything and the awful pounding in my head. My mind however, was a complete blur. I couldn't think straight, I could only think a dozen questions and not be able to understand any answers what so ever. Where was I? What had happened last? Who...who did this to me?

The door cracked open slightly, and a familiar face became recognisable as the light hit it. I gasped in a deep breath as all the memories came flooding in. The Joker, the clown had taken me and I had no idea where. My whole body went into panic mode as I struggled to crawl further away from him, my back hitting the wall after a few attempts. My body still attempted to move further, chest heaving and heart pounding a pure fear ran through my veins.

The clown ran down the steps; his thickly soled shoes made no sound against the solid flooring. I froze as he approached me, the pain still hot and furious in my head, my eyesight was still blurred a bit and I felt nauseous and extraordinarily dizzy. I watched in anticipation as the Joker crouched down in front of me, studying my panicked position. My body was sprawled out, my chest moving rapidly and my eyes were wide and burning like wild fire.

He licked over his lips, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Morning, doll." Morning? It-it was nearly afternoon when he had...taken me. Had I been knocked out for that long? I licked over my own dry lips, clearing my throat to speak.

"Where am I?" I asked carefully, body frozen so that I remained in the same position as before. "What have you done? Why aren't we in Arkham? I-I don't understand!" I felt all the familiar emotions bubbling within me again. Panic, fear and something else...something indescribable.

The Joker reached out a purple, gloved hand, cupping my cheek gently. "Hush doll, I'll answer all your questions soon enough. For now, we need to get you out of here." I swallowed the lump in my throat, no longer able to hold the same position. My body failed on me, and so I fell against the ground with a thud. I closed my eyes for a split second before they instinctively opened themselves again, not able to trust the Joker.

Ignoring the clown's outstretched hand, he'd done enough, I pushed myself up with the little strength I had left. Anger was beginning to kick in; they did say that I had a short fuse. I held my fisted hands by my side as I walked past the Joker and up the stairs. "Doc, how'd you know where you're going?" He asked, not far behind me.

"Oh, I don't. But if I have to stay in this...whatever it is, any longer I'm going to scream." I replied bluntly, flexing my fingers from their fisted position.

I still didn't understand what was going on. Why had he taken me? Where had he taken me? Had he broken out in Arkham, and if so who else had? So many unanswered questions were beginning to making my head hurt worse than before. The newer and brighter light wasn't helping either. I squinted for a couple of moments as my eyes adjusted, a pain searing through my skull like white fire.

I heard a door close behind me, and turned to see the Joker locking the door from which we'd just submerged from. "Where are we?" I asked impatiently. He rolled his shoulders, and I noticed then that he was again without his purple coat-left with a blue hexagonally patterned shirt and a green waistcoat along with a purple tie which hung loosely around his neck. His trousers-like always-were purple accompanied by thickly soled shoes of some kind.

My eyes scanned back up to his face, still freshly painted with white along with red lipstick covering his lips and scars and black eye paint that leaked up to his eye brows and down to his cheek bones. Like usual, his green hair was tangled and a mess, like a lions mane around his head. I got this strange feeling in the bottom of my stomach then, but it was only there for a couple of seconds. It was like a little flutter, this tickling sensation at the pit of my stomach that sent a shiver up my spine. The feeling was strangely...blissful.

I looked away, awkwardly, as our eyes met. "We're in my warehouse, and that's all you need to know for now." I nodded my head, pinching the bridge of my nose for a few moments. Taking several deep breaths in an attempt to calm my nerves, I dropped my hands by my side and waited for a further explanation. "Come, I'll show you where you're staying." I followed the Joker through hallway after hallway, the amount of corridors I'd had to remember was ridiculous. It looked like I could forget about Arkham now, though.

I watched the clown from behind, wondering why he was treating me so well. I had read many books in my time, a lot of which had some form of kidnapping involved. They treated their victims awfully, the kidnappers, abusing them and they certainly wouldn't have given them a safe and warm place to sleep. So why was I different?

We stopped in front of a purple door; it was a calming shade of purple, but oddly dark and intense. "You'll be staying in my room and you're to stay in here until someone comes and gets you." I nodded my head, too weak and tired for words. Everything in the past five minutes had drained from me, and I'd be willing to rest anywhere. There was a...moment of silence between us before the Joker reached out and opened the door.

The room inside wasn't what I had expected, not one bit. I had expected dirty, dark and isolated. Instead the room was warm and welcoming; it made me feel at peace. The walls were also calming shade of purple, but also a focusing shade, slightly dark but not moodily dark-lighter than the door though. The curtains were a light shade of green, but were thick and so they blocked out a lot of light. The lampshade was also green, a couple shades darker and more like the colour of the Joker's hair. The floor was hard and cold, and that was the only thing that fitted with the expectation I had for the bedroom.

I turned back around to see if the Joker was still watching me, my heart sank a little as I found that the doorway was empty and the clown wasn't anywhere in sight. Why did my heart sink? The psychopath had just kidnapped me, knocked me unconscious and was forcing me to stay with him, in his warehouse, in his bedroom...I should be glad that he was gone, relieved even but instead, my heart told me that I was sad. It made little to no sense to me at all.

Hesitantly, I walked over towards his bed. Just the thought of crawling under the thick duvet and resting my head on the plush pillows, finally allowing my aching body some rest on the comfortable mattress...well it was enough to make me get onto the bed without hesitation. The pillow cases were multi-coloured, red green and black, and the duvet covers were an identical shade of purple to the walls that surrounded me. It should've looked over whelming, but it all looked organised and perfectly coordinated, and the OCD part of me loved it.

I was too hot and frustrated to crawl under the covers, and so I laid on top with my head rested on the pillows and eyes closed, finally allowing myself to just think. And breathe. And be calm. My mind raced, but everything connected in an unorganised way. I couldn't figure out many things. Why did the Joker take me with him when he broke out of Arkham? Who else had broken out of Arkham? Why had Catwoman warned me about Arkham? Why did she say that I was important to Batman-The Batman of all people?

I now knew that Ivy was planning to escape herself, and that was why she wasn't telling me anything and was acting unsettled around me. Whether she got out or not, I didn't know. I had some form of respect for the cat lady as she warned me about Arkham, obviously it wasn't enough though. I mean, I ended up laying on the Joker's bed for God sake. However, some small part of me was still annoyed that she hadn't had the generosity to tell me what was going to happen, if she had, maybe I could've avoided this.

The anger I felt towards the Joker-towards the whole stressful situation-was rapidly dying and was being replaced by the urge to cry and sob like a weak, little baby. For days I had been frustrated and confused, for nights I had been unable to sleep and overly uncomfortable and now...sure I knew what had happened in Arkham but along with that information, came many more questions.

Giving up for the time being, I turned over on my side to get into a more comfortable position. My body clock told me that it was still day time, late morning or early afternoon. I hated sleeping in the day; it forced my body in an unorganised chaotic thing. Hopefully I'd be allowed to sleep, just for a couple hours at least.

The warehouse was eerily quiet, I couldn't hear anything coming from anywhere, and it was as if the whole place was dead. The thought caused a searing pain to shoot through me, all these new feelings and pains that I couldn't understand we're sending me into insanity. I wondered if maybe the Joker had left, along with his 'goons'. The clown had goons, and his goons were the men who worked for him and did most of the dirty work. Don't get me wrong, the clown had the habit of pretending to be one of his own goons so that he could join in with the fun, it was amusing to imagine. A smile formed on my face as I realised something I should've long ago about the Joker, deep down he was just a child who wanted some fun. Wanted to play, just in the wrong way.

I rested back on the bed, more relaxed with the thought of the Joker as a little boy, purer than now, running around screaming with innocent joy. I didn't know why it was relaxing, but I didn't care either. Anything would be perfect as long as it settled me enough to sleep. To sleep in blissful darkness, relax my mind and body and finally allow myself to be blessed with energy.

I must've slept eventually, because when I next woke it was noticeably darker. And yells were echoing through the corridors of the warehouse.