Hey," Adriana heard Damien say as he tapped loudly on the bathroom stall where she was kneeling with her head over the toilet. Half-digested pills and stomach acid had come up a few moments earlier. "Was it that bad? Tell me what you saw?
"This is the lady's room," she said weakly. Her throat was sore. "Please go."
She heard him sigh loudly then walk out. After taking a handful of toilet tissue and wiping her mouth she sat on the cold, hard floor. Mostly, she was embarrassed. Every thought the Joker had penetrated her mind. She was able to see much of his past, which was horrendous. But he didn't remember any of it. He couldn't remember his past trauma. Somehow his mind had blocked it out. Amnesia.
As far as she could tell, he didn't know much about himself as far as his identity, and he did not care to know. He had no curiosity about it. He had no weaknesses or vulnerabilities. He did not care whether he lived or died, and nothing could get to him to break his violent cycle. The world was his playground for the time that he was here. The end. She had found nothing of use for the police.
The water felt great in her mouth as she rinsed away the taste of vomit at the sink. She looked into the mirror for the first time in a long time and noticed the bags under her eyes and her exhausted appearance. She looked away from the mirror and left the bathroom.
"Tell me," Damien said as soon as she walked past him, waiting by the bathroom door.
"There's nothing to tell," she said. "I can't help you."
"Dammit, answer me," he said and grabbed both of her arms.
"I will spit in your face if you don't let me go," she said. She was in no mood for this.
He just laughed and released her.
"Just give me something," he pleaded. "Something we can use."
"He has no weaknesses," she said and walked away.
.
.
.
After staring at the ceiling in her room for 3 hours after lights out Adriana felt the need to swim. She had tried taking the new pill again for sleep on its own with a huge serving of bread and yogurt. Dr. Andrews finally agreed to give her a second dose after her pleading. She assured him that the previous batch had come back up undigested. He was so reluctant to phone the pharmacy for a second dose but finally he complied. Truthfully, she was still nauseous and was sure that a few more of the pills remained in her stomach..but what did it matter?
Her stomach felt a little strange but she knew she couldn't vomit again after such a small pill and huge meal. It was late but the guards knew her well, and treated her differently from the other patients. They knew that she never caused any problems and was allowed certain liberties that were not granted to the others. Also, they knew that the police had employed her and many of them wanted to eventually become part of the force. They treated her well. She left her room without being stopped and went down to the pool.
As she floated in the water and stared up at the stars through the glass ceiling, she though about her life. She hated it. She never wanted to see Damien again, but she was unsure of how to end it with him.
They got along so great in the beginning, and he was so kind and understanding until he realized that he could use her. Her entire body always felt tense, even as she floated in the heated pool her back muscles felt tighter than ever. She imagined the ten million dollars taking her to a cabin in Montana, far away from it all. Alone in the mountains. Ten million she would never get.
She wondered about the money. How had the police come into so much to pay her?
She stretched her neck from side to side in an attempt to loosen the tension and gasped when she saw him watching her. The Joker.
The guards he had paid had allowed him to roam free on his own after hours. He had just wired them money minutes ago. His thoughts entered her mind as she floated. He was almost fully intent on killing her.
Maybe this was it? Her time to die? When she thought about really didn't care. It would be a welcome relief. In a strange instant she became excited. She wanted it to be over with. She was not suicidal but didn't feel the need to shy away from the end of it all.
She turned and swam to the ladder at the end of the pool where her towel was hanging. She felt him watching her as she emerged from the water. His thoughts came into hers once again. He had no weapon but perhaps he could find a way to hold her under water until she drowned. The thought of drowning scared her a bit..why couldn't he have a blade or something to make it quicker? Drowning was something that always terrified her. Her entire life she felt like she was drowning in the thoughts and actions of others.
She dried her face and wrapped the towel around her hips. He was confused. She seemed disgusted before. He had watched her heave with sickness after looking at him for less than a minute. And now she appeared to be calm and tolerant.
The Joker watched as the woman walked slowly from the end of the pool to where he was standing. Her face was entirely blank. As she came closer her noticed that she did not appear disgusted now at all. He began to wonder again, why she was here? What mental illness was she suffering from? It became more interesting than killing her.
She looked emotionless. He assumed she was plenty drugged.
She came up to him and stopped, and looked at him expectantly. He was not expecting this. He fully expected her to try to scream or run..and then he could enjoy the necessary reaction of strangling her. But she seemed to stoic. Quietly waiting in front of him. He wanted her to cringe, show disgust again, give him a cross look, something. Nothing happened.
He took a step towards her, intending to get very close to her. Getting into the personal space of woman was a tested and proven method to get them to cringe and shield themselves. Again, nothing. She was insane. Maybe that's why she wasn't reacting. She was drugged. But she didn't have a drugged look in her eyes. She appeared entirely lucid.
Without thinking he reached for her neck and wrapped his hand around it while pushing her against the wall. He wasn't choking her yet, just pushing her. Still no real reaction. She almost looked like she was waiting for this. She wanted to die. He could finally see it in her eyes.
"What are you waiting for?" she finally said as he held her neck.
"You want to die," he said. He almost wanted to laugh. What problems could she possibly have? Her mental afflictions couldn't have been that bad, otherwise she wouldn't be permitted to roam the hospital at night alone. He released her neck.
In that moment she looked nauseated again and heaved. He looked back at her strangely. Would she actually vomit after being touched by him?
He watched her gag again and noticed she looked embarrassed with her hand clamped over her mouth. She knelt slightly and turned away from him. When she finally stood up, he could see she had wretched on the floor. He counted the partially dissolved tablets in the puddle. Nausea from pills.
She looked up and then he noticed she was staring at something beside him. He turned and noticed one of the guards he had paid was staring at them with a concerned look. His face what as white as a ghost. He had agreed to let the Joker roam the facility since all the patients were in their rooms and he would be in the recreation wing roaming around. It was safe, the guard told himself, and he needed the money to pay off a loan. And now it was over. The Joker was going to kill a patient, the guard thought.
The woman looked back at the Joker and wiped her mouth and walked past him. He did not stop her as she left.
.
.
.
"I need to discharge myself" Adriana told Dr. Andrews the next morning.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "You're on quite a course of medications here. Perhaps you should stay at least until we can gradually-"
"No, I need to go now," she said. She wanted out.
She thought of the previous night where she was sure that her life would be over. Was she suicidal now? Clearly being institutionalized wasn't helping her.
The guard who she saw at the pool the previous night was wondering why she hadn't reported him for not immediately stepping in and protecting her. She had heard his thoughts all morning. It didn't matter to her.
"Okay," Dr. Andrews finally said. "I still want to see you twice a week. Please keep our appointments, even if you are no longer-"
"I will," she said, knowing that she likely wouldn't. She loved Dr. Andrews, he was a great doctor, but the previous night taught her that no one could help her.
"Okay," he said again. "I'll start the discharge paperwork."
.
.
.
That evening after taking a shower and laying in her own bed at home for a few hours Adriana began to feel hungry. She had almost no food at her house but going the store and being around so many people and thoughts was just too much. Her dinner was a few scoops of expired coffee flavored ice cream. It was hard and icy but did its job. Afterward she got into bed.
She felt herself drifting off to sleep when there was a loud knock at her door. She cursed. She was actually about to naturally fall asleep! After standing, fully intent to give whoever it was at the door a piece of her mind, she threw on her robe.
She flung open her front door and saw no one there.
A prank?
"What the hell?" she said out loud, to whoever had pranked her. "I could be asleep right now!"
Before slamming the door, she noticed an envelope on the ground. It was black. She picked it up and looked around the front yard, seeing no one. The front and the back of the envelope were plain. No address, nothing. Whoever had left it was gone because she couldn't hear the thoughts of anyone close by who had left it. She went back in and slammed the door loudly.
"Ugh," she said and tossed the envelope onto her kitchen table and opened her refrigerator. Nothing but a bottle of ketchup and a pack of mozzarella cheese sticks. She picked up one of the sticks and peeled off the plastic and looked over at the envelope. It must have been some stupid promotional junk mail, she thought.
The sounds of her tearing it open broke the silence in her house. She picked up the cheese stick and took a bite before separating the paper inside from the envelope.
She unfolded the paper and another smaller piece of paper fell out.
"2000 Arthur Avenue
Rooftop
12:15 AM."
The smaller sheet was actually a check folded in half. It was made out to her from the Gotham City Police Department. $10 Million.
She was confused. She flipped the sheet of paper with the time and address over onto its back, and it was blank.
"What the hell? 2000 Arthur Avenue? Isn't that the hospital?" she asked herself. Gotham's hospital had recently been rebuilt after the Joker set off a series of bombs to destroy it several months ago. She went onto her computer to check the address. It was the hospital.
The mysterious letter with just a date and time. How did she even know for sure it was for her? She looked at the check. It had her name. She triple checked. Her name was still there. At that moment her phone rang.
"Yes," she said after picking up.
"You discharged yourself?" Damien said immediately. "Finally, it was about time. I'm on my way over-"
"No, please don't-" she didn't want to see him. "I'm tired."
"I'm a few blocks away," he said.
"Actually, I'm not even home," she lied.
"This is the land line phone I called you on," he said.
"Oh..." she said caught in the lie. "I mean...I was just on my way out. Sorry. I gotta go."
She hung up the phone. Even though she was exhausted, she would do anything to avoid seeing Damien right now.
She grabbed her shoes and a jacket. She was wearing pale pink satin pajama pants and a lace negligee. She threw on a black trench coat and ballet flats and pushed the check, envelope and her keys into her pocket before grabbing her wallet and going out of her back door.
After walking a few blocks, she felt pathetic. Literally running from a man she couldn't bring herself to break up with. Breakups were always awful for her.
She kept walking until she got to a bus stop a few streets away. She aimlessly rode the bus into town and decided to go to the mall. She sat through three movies and window shopped for a few hours. A full day without her cell phone, Damien couldn't reach her or find out where she was. It was an immense relief.
After leaving the mall she walked more, down a street full of cafes. She made more random turns. Walking with no goal or destination in mind as the sun left the sky. Thoughts of the people of Gotham flooded her mind the entire time. Soon, it was dark, and the cool air felt nice on her sleepy eyes. Being out and around so many people for hours drained the last bit of energy that she had. Fortunately, everyone in the mall that day seemed to have positive thoughts, for the most part. No dark traumatic memories or painful experiences hit her.
"Twenty dollar reading!" a woman startled her. She seemed to come from out of nowhere.
"Oh, no thank you," Adriana said to the woman.
She was in her late 50's with long dreadlocks, and deep brown skin. She had a very strong, tribal look to her, and her bone structure was amazing. She wore a long red and gold skirt with a black top, the skirt was so long Adriana couldn't even see if she was wearing shoes.
"Don't you want to know your future? Love? Money?" the woman said with a smile.
Adriana looked at the woman.
"Sure," Adriana sighed. She had nothing better to do and truthfully, she just wanted to sit for a few minutes after walking so far.
"Come in!" she said and led Adriana to her place of business a few steps away. It looked like a regular house with a very simple sign in the window.
They entered the house and Adriana was expecting some elaborate and heavily decorated, cheesy psychic's room. A table with an ornate cloth and a crystal ball. But the home was very simple, and the furniture all looked vintage and well designed. There were a few very classy paintings on the walls. She pushed a button on an electric tea kettle and led Adriana to a loveseat and they sat.
"What's your name child?" she asked and offered Adriana tea.
"I'm Adriana," she replied as the woman sat and poured some of the drink into a tiny but beautiful china teacup. "You?"
"Oh," the woman replied, as if she wasn't used to clients asking her name. "My name is Sidi."
"So, you're a psychic," Adriana said and reached into her wallet for the $20. She didn't really care much for a reading but wanted to give the woman money to be nice.
"You could say so," she replied mysteriously and accepted the bill. She laid it down on the table and looked back at Adriana. "I would consider myself to be...connected. Intuitive."
"So you have a crystal ball?" Adriana asked. "Or...tarot cards or something?"
Adriana didn't believe in any of it, but it didn't matter.
"Tea?" the woman picked up the cup and handed it to Adriana.
In any other circumstance, Adriana knew she would be careful accepting drinks from people she didn't know. And the drink looked like it was still too hot. But she was so exhausted she didn't even care. Maybe the tea would give her enough of a caffeine lift so she could make it walking back to find a bus stop or to at least hail a cab back home. She sipped the tea which was sweet at first but left a very bitter, astringent aftertaste. She hid her disgust well, trying not to offend the woman and sat the cup back down.
"Thank you," Adriana said politely.
"Give me your hands," the woman said, and Adriana placed her hands out. The woman looked at them strangely and smiled cautiously. She then took Adriana's hands.
She watched the woman close her eyes. It looked like her eyes were moving very quickly under her eyelids. Adriana watched, amused as the woman's lips parted. It seemed to go on forever, the woman's rapid eyes movements, and she squeezed her hands tighter and tighter.
"Is everything okay?" Adriana asked as the woman's eyes looked still. She was just sitting there holding her hands in silence.
Sidi opened her eyes slowly.
"You're gifted," she said.
"Oh," Adriana said. "So, is this... the reading part?"
"You're gifted," Sidi repeated. Adriana looked into her mesmerizing brown eyes. Surely, she couldn't know anything about her 'gift' just by touching her hands.
"What do you mean?" Adriana asked.
"Tell me," Sidi said. "What abilities you have."
Adriana gently took her hands back.
"More tea?" Sidi offered looking away.
"No," Adriana said. "Thanks..."
"My best guess is that you read minds. You are like a sponge, I can sense that at least," Sidi continued. "Your gift is blocking mine. Essentially entirely. Which means it must be...a rather unenjoyable ability to have for you. It is strong, and it is heavy. Has it not yet occurred to you that you could not read my thoughts?"
Adriana was shocked. The woman was totally right. She hadn't heard a single thought from her this entire time. Maybe that's why this house and her presence was so calming. It was totally quiet.
"Why can't I-" Adriana started to ask about why this woman's thoughts were quiet.
"Don't you worry about that," Sidi replied. "You are tormented."
"That's true," Adriana said after some pause. "Everything you said was right. I heard thoughts...read minds...see memories. And yes it is heavy. It is...really bad."
"I see," Sidi said, pouring more tea even though Adriana's cup was still nearly full. "Where is your family from?"
"Well," Adriana wasn't sure what that had to do with anything. "My dad is from Spain. My mother is half Egyptian, and half Somalian."
"Mulatta," the woman said, nodding.
"Uh.." Adriana started, she had never been called this word, but she knew what it meant and that it was true. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Are your parents like you?" Sidi asked. "Your mother?"
"You mean..with this curse? No. But my great grandmother was. My mother's grandmother. My grandmother...sort of. But not nearly as bad. It skipped my mother completely..." Adriana said.
Sidi nodded. "Only women then?"
"That I know of," Adriana said. "No men in my family have it. Well, that I know of."
"You see it as a curse," she stated.
"Well, yeah," Adriana said back. "I don't want it anymore. I mean..I can't live like this. I thought I was going to die last night and I was happy. I mean relieved. I thought it would finally be over."
Sidi looked at Adriana, and Adriana could see her sympathy growing.
"Okay." Sidi said and stood. "You have such a rare and precious ability. But wanting to end your life...we can't have that. However, I can help you. Remove this gift."
"What?" Adriana perked up, suddenly not so exhausted. "Remove the curse."
"Yes," Sidi said.
"Oh, Oh my G-" Adriana started.
"It will not be pleasant," Sidi said.
"I don't care!" Adriana said.
"Or cheap," Sidi went on.
"How much? Please, I will pay anything," Adriana pleaded.
"One thousand," Sidi said.
"Okay," Adriana pulled out her credit card immediately and Sidi took it an left the room.
She came back without the card and with a tray of what looked like various dried leaves separated into many separate piles. Somehow they didn't mix or try to blow across the tray as she carried them quickly. There were small jars of powders...small rocks...crystals.
"This," Sidi mixed what looked like a random amount of several powders into Adriana's tea cup. "Should do it as a first step. Now carefully, follow my instructions. This is very important. Last of this I have...you are very lucky. This is why this...procedure...is so costly. This is exceptionally rare. Only grows in Haiti by one person that supplies me."
"Okay," Adriana said and watched her stir with a tiny wooden spoon. After she tapped the spoon on the end of the cup she spoke again.
"You need to follow my instructions very carefully," Sidi said slowly.
Adriana nodded as Sidi sat the cup in front of her. Adriana thought of the torturous life she had always known. She wanted freedom from the shackles of her curse it almost made her want to leap out of her skin. She watched Sidi put two small spoons by the cup carefully.
"You will need one sip now from this spoon, and then we will-" Sidi said.
She stopped speaking as Adriana downed the entire cup.
After swallowing Adriana felt like her throat was on fire and then closing up. All the saliva in her mouth went dry and she fainted in less than a few seconds.
.
.
.
"She's dead, mama" Adriana heard a sweet voice say. "She is. We should have called an ambulance-"
"She's breathing," she heard Sidi say in an irritated tone. "She just can't follow instructions. Now it won't work. She has...made everything worse. I used the last of two of those bark powders and I can't get any more until next season-"
"Am I dead?" Adriana gasped.
"No," Sidi said, and Adriana realized Sidi was wiping her forehead with a damp cool cloth.
"Did it work?" Adriana asked. It was all she cared about.
"It wasn't done properly. You did not listen to me. You were not supposed to drink it all at once. There were other steps. This is bad. We will have to finish this procedure, but not now," Sidi said. "Can you hear her thoughts?"
Adriana looked at the very pretty young lady kneeling beside her across from Sidi.
"I.." Adriana tried to hear the woman's thoughts, but it was difficult. She guessed the woman's name. "Aymara?"
"Yes, that's me," the woman said. Her hair was very long and a tightly curled texture. She looked down at Adriana concerned. Adriana found herself admiring the woman's cheekbones and deep bronzed brown skin.
"You can still heal thoughts clearly?" Sidi said.
"It's...not clear no...her thoughts," Adriana tried to explain the difficulty finding Aymara's name. It felt like she had to search for it very hard. She tried to dig a bit more and found that she was Sidi's daughter. She tried to concentrate more and got nothing, it was tiring. Her head began to hurt.
"Is she like you? With protected thoughts?" Adriana guessed and tried to sit up but Sidi stopped her.
"No," Sidi said. "You need to stay still. You have poisoned yourself."
"It's okay, I mean I feel much better..." Adriana said honestly. She felt like she had better sleep after just fainting than she did after months in the psychiatric facility.
"You were passed out for almost 3 hours," Aymara said.
"Three hours!" Adriana said happily. She would drink the burning throat swelling tea every night for three blessed hours of sleep.
Adriana sat up feeling suddenly refreshed.
"My curse...it's not as intense," Adriana said. "I mean, it's like I have an on-off switch now. I can try to hear thoughts...like before I heard your neighbor thinking about euthanizing his sick cat but now nothing. Maybe if I try though..."
Adriana strained to hear his thoughts. They were quiet and far away, and she had to strain to hear.
"Yes...I hear him," she said. "It's quiet but it is there..."
"This is not good, child," Sidi said to her.
"No, it's great," Adriana smiled and threw her hands up.
"What's this?" Aymara held the letter telling her to go to the hospital. It had fallen out of Adriana's pocket. Sidi took it and looked at it.
Sidi held it in both hands and stared at it.
"I don't know," Adriana said. "Someone left it at my house."
"Go," Sidi said and handed it to Adriana.
"What?" Adriana said. Sidi seemed so sure of herself. What did she know? "Is this some psychic thing again?"
"No. Just intuition. Feels like good luck," Sidi said and helped Adriana to her feet. "And you being in a hospital at this moment will not hurt you. I will drive you."
The three of them got into Sidi's car, and arrived at the hospital very quickly.
"You sure you're good?" Aymara said to Adriana from the back seat.
"Yeah," Adriana said and stepped out of the car. "Thanks."
"We'll wait," Sidi said.
.
.
.
Adriana felt strange. She planned on totally ignoring the letter. It was suspicious and quite frankly, creepy. She had her check and that was all she wanted. The hospital wasn't busy, but she wasn't sure how to get to the roof.
"Excuse me, how can I get to the roof?" she asked a janitor that was mopping a stairwell.
"Elevator to 12th floor then the stairwell up one more," he answered not seeming curious about why she wanted to go on the roof in the middle of the night at all.
She followed his instructions easily and ended up on the rooftop. The moon was bright in the clear sky. What was this? Why was she here? The clock in Sidi's car said it was 12:08 AM. Adriana stared across the horizon at Gotham city. This was the last place someone like her should live. Not the best place for anyone with mental health issues. The daily news reports alone were enough to drive anyone mad. She had no friends, her sister lived in Chicago, and her parents overseas. She had nothing holding her there, so why not take this money and run?
The glow of the moon held her attention for a few more moments before she decided she wanted to leave. She turned around and was surprised to see she was not alone. The Batman stood in front of her.