Chapter 7 - New Surroundings
Waking up with a pounding headache I groan slightly to myself. That's what I call a weird dream, I think to myself as I'm trying to lift my arms in hopes to stop the pounding in my head, that's when I realize that I can't move at all. My eyes shoot open but the only thing surrounding me is pure darkness.
The memories from last night slowly start to come back up. Bruce and Elena went to this party. I was in the kitchen with Alfred. Intruders ... The Joker!
My brain starts to work again as I as the memories keep on coming. Especially the dark eyes and this cruel smile. "Hello? Please, help me!" I try to scream but no sound escapes my mouth and it's only now that I realize that my mouth was covered with duct tape. Panic starts to rise fast inside me as I desperately try to scream for help, try to wiggle myself from the rope that was keeping me in place but nothing seemed to work, in fact, the only thing that my struggling was doing, was cutting the rope deeper into my skin.
It's so dark that I'm not able to see anything. Trying to calm myself down I can hear footsteps slowly approaching me as the door is opened. I have to squint my eyes shut as the room is filled with light.
Standing in front of me are two men wearing clown masks. "Wakey wakey, princess" the shorter man taunts as he slowly approaches me. He kneels beside me and I immediately start to plead with him through the tape to just let me go.
Lifting his mask as he flashes me a toothy grin and I can see that he must be on the older side. Maybe 40-something. There are wrinkles on his face and more grey than black hair, well the little amount of hair that was still left on his head. "Now don't exhaust yourself, the boss will be with you shortly."Boss?
They're probably talking about Joker, but what could he possibly want from me?
"Enough, Patrick!", the second man interferes. His voice sounds so much younger than Patrick's. "The boss said to check up on her and give her water nothing else!"
Patrick snatched the water bottle from the second man who was still wearing his mask. "If you scream, I'm going to knock your teeth down your throat, understand princess?"
Oh how I wanted to scream at this disgusting pig to not call me princess, but I was in desperate need of water so I just quickly nodded my head as the second clown carefully removed the tape from my mouth. Before I could even utter a word, Patrick grabbed a fist full of my hair yanking it back as he's forcing the bottle between my lips. I try to drink as much as I possibly can, but being in this position some of the water ends up in the wrong pipe making me cough. Some of the water also spills all over my white tank top and my black shorts.
The second that the bottle leaves my mouth another piece of duct tape is applied. The masked man turns to leave but Patrick is still standing in front of me and I don't like the look that he has on his face. His hand reaches down to my top as his stare intensifies. He keeps on staring at my wet shirt as I try to squirm and yell even more. Thankfully the second man notices what's going on.
"What the hell are you doing? Boss will kill you for this" but Patrick only scoffs at that. "Yeah, well when he's finished with you, better believe it's going to be my turn, Princess." And with that, both men leave the room leaving me completely terrified and alone.
As I'm kept in this room I slowly start to lose all feeling of time. I don't know if minutes, hours, or even days have passed. At one point I even managed to fall asleep. My head just keeps on pounding reminding me constantly of how I even got here in the first place.
After what feels like an eternity I'm ripped awake with the slam of a door but as I open my eyes the only thing that I can see is darkness. Did I just imagine that? Was I starting to lose my mind already?
"Hello?" I try to mumble through the gag. I could've sworn that I just heard footsteps.Okay Aria, just breathe, It's probably just your head messing with you.My attempt to calm myself down, unfortunately, backfired quickly because I could hear someone chuckle.
"You knowtalking-ahtoyourselfis a sign of someone going crazy?"
Well, that at least confirms that I wasn't just imagining things. I tried to turn my head left and right in a weak attempt to see where to voice was coming from but since my arms and legs were still bound to a chair it wasn't possible to take a proper look. Not like I would've been able to see anything.
"You must bewondering-ahwhere I am? Well, I really could beanywhere-ah. Maybe I'm not even real, just your mind playing games on you. Or maybe..." The voice suddenly stopped, making me even more anxious. I tried to calm my breathing down as best as I could, but there was no voice, no breathing, no footsteps. The only thing that I'm able to hear is my heartbeat.
"I'm right behind you." The voice is now directly behind me. Warm breath tickled my ear and the back of my neck followed by a loud piercing laugh making me wince.
The light was suddenly turned back on making me turn my head in an attempt to shield my eyes from the sudden brightness. "I see, sleeping beauty has finallyawakened-ah" My eyes widened in shock and fear as I was now looking at The Joker.
He's wearing purple pants, a blue shirt, and a green vest. His green hair is pretty messy but what scared me the most was his face. It's covered in white face paint. His eyes ... staring into the endless blackness, almost as if there is no life behind them. Just death and agony. My eyes quickly drift to his mouth where I can see two big scars.
"Slept good?" The clown asked, as he starts to slowly walking towardsme. Shaking my head, pleading with him not to hurt me, but the tape wasn't doing me any favors.
"No?" he asked in mock hurt. "You seem quite out of it fromour 'playtime' together, lastnight-ah.The ride here was a bit bumpy, I musst admit." He giggled at that memory, while my tears just keep on streaming down my face. Through the gag I keep on pleading with him to not hurt me, but that only seems to annoy him even more.
"What?" the clown asked, "What?! Ihateit when people mumble."
I can start to feel my panic rise again as my whole body starts to shake uncontrollably. I desperately plead and beg through my restraints for Joker to let me go and that I won't tell a single person, but my peas only seem to annoy the Joker. He rips my head back making me fall backwards with the chair I was still tied to, hitting my head on the floor in the process. Tears start to escape my eyes as my head starts to pound anew.
Whilst I try to regain my focus I can hear Joker laughing uncontrollably before lifting me back up with the chair. "You're going to be soboring-ahlike everyone else. Please Mr. Joker, oh please don't kill meeeee." He mocks as he again bends down to my level.
"I'm going to remove the tape, but you better say something ...original-ah" And with that, he yanks the tape away making me cry out in pain.
Original? What am I supposed to say that's original? Think quickly, Aria!I couldn't bring myself to stop crying, this man was truley frightening me with his constant mood swings.
"Did you kill Alfred?" The words sprout out of my mouth before I can stop them. For a moment Joker doesn't say anything, he just keeps on looking at me.
"Well, that isindeedsomething, that I haven't heard before."
Well, I guess I won't get an answer so I muster up enough courage to ask; "Why did you kidnap me? What do you want from me?"But I again receive no answers he just keeps his eyes locked on me, like a hunter hunting its prey down. I let my head sink in defeat unable to look him in the eyes, but before I can even realize what's happening, Joker causually walks up to me and sits down on my lap. He doesn't put all of his weight on me, but it's still enough to make me gasp as he isn't necessarily a lightweight.
"Look at me." He demands, but I refuse to look at him. His eyes are by far the scariest about him and I just can't bring myself to looking into the darkness.. "I SAIDLOOK AT ME!" Flinching I lift my eyes to meet his. My body trembling with fear after hearing this demonic voice I slowly lift my eyes to look at his scars.
"Now-ahdidn't your mommy tell you that it's notpolite-ahto stare at someone?" He leans in closer to my face but with me still being bound by a chair the only thing that I can do is squirm beneath him. "Oh, yeah that,well-ahyou see after last nightrumblecan't have you moving around freely." He whispers against my ear.
"What's your name?" he asks while his tongue licks the corner of his scarred lips. Unable to answer I just keep staring at my lap, while my long hair hangs over my face almost as if to protect me from the monster in front of me.
Joker unfortunately isn't a very patient man as his hand once again finds its way into my hair forcing me to look at him as fainth 'KLICK' sound hollows through the room. Next thing I know a cold blade presses itself onto my cheek. I start to cry silently my eyes refusing to look anywhere but the blade about to cut into my face. "If I have to ask again, youwon'tlike it."
"Stacy" I whisper my lie, but before I even get the chance to comprehend what's about to happen his hand connects with my cheek making my head whip to the side.
"I . Can't . Stand .LIARS-AH" His voice is calm almost amused, but what shocks me the most is how on earth could he possibly know, that I lied? "Now-ahlet's try again, shall we?"
"Aria" I whisper through my sobs.
"Ari-ah" Hearing my name roll off his tongue was weird, but not knowing what was going to happen to me, was driving me crazy. Forcing my eyes shut trying to block out my thoughts just to have my hair ripped back up by Joker making me understand that he expects me to keep looking at him.
"SoAri-ahwhat were you doing at fancy, shmancy Wayne mansion?"
"I ... I moved here about a week ago. I ... My sister is Bruce's girlfriend." Not sure if it's really that smart of an idea to get Bruce and Elena involved in this, but frankly what other opportunity do I have at the moment?
"Well, you're already more fun, than Doc.all-determiner." Does Joker know my sister?
"Andwhere-ahare your parents? They shouldn't be too worried about having you come here" Lost for words as the flashbacks started to take over my mind. I start to struggle against my restraints, but Joker seemingly annoyed by my action only presses the blade of his knife a little deeper into my throat, breaking the skin and I can feel some blood running down my neck. His eyes follow the blood drop as he wipes it away with his index finger. Looking at me again he puts his finger into his mouth sucking my blood off his finger.
"They're dead." I spit in defeat but he still wasn't satisfied. "It was a car accident a year ago. I survived ... They didn't."
"Howtragic-ahto have mommy and daddy on your conscience." He starts to laugh manically. He laughs for a few minutes before he finally stops.
"Aaaand is there anyone else? Maybe a boyfriend?" I just shake my head no. I never dated or done anything, but why would he even care.
"Girlfriend?" Again I shake my head no.
Joker leans into me once again putting his mouth next to my ear sending shivers down my spine. "I really hope for you, that you're telling me thetruth-ah." Taking the blade away from my throat a scream escapes me as he puts it now inside my mouth.
"Oh,sh-sh-sh. Now, now, you were such agood girl'Till now. And good girls get rewarded. Do you wanna know how I got these scars?" I don't dare to move at all. He isn't going to carve my face in, is he? Well of course he will. The Joker always does things just for the heck of it and somehow I managed to become a pawn in this twisted game.
Making himself more comfortable on my lap, he tucks a piece of a loose strand behind my ear. "You see, my motherhatedmy guts since the day of my brith. Every little thing that I did.BAM. She would hit me so hard, sending me flying into the nextshelve-ah. I've tried everything I could think of to make her happy. To make her smile. One night she is even angrier than ever before, so I go into the bathroom with the kitchen knife and dothis-" He puts his face close to mine and now I can smell him. He smells like gasoline and gunpowder and cologne but somehow the scent suits him. "To myself. As I go back into the living room she starts to scream at the top of her lungs. She can't even stand to look at me. I just wanna see my mommy smile again, so I decide that from now on we'll smile together."
A small part of me can't help but feel sorry for him. I know exactly what it's like to have such a mother, but the pitty is quickly washed away as he again started to laugh, before he finally got off of me.
"How.. How long will I be here?" Silence. "Can you at least untie me please?" Apparently my question was so funny to the Joker that he burst out in hysteria.
"You-uh see I'm not as dumb as you might think I am. Or did you forget our Rumba?" He clicks his tongue against his cheek as he watches me. Slowly he makes his way back to me. His right hand goes into the pocket of his purple pants where he pulls out a small pill.
Does he really expect me to just swallow some random pill that he just literally dug out of his pocket? But I'm quickly reminded just who exactly is standing in front of me. The only choice that I have is whether I swallow it on my own or have him force it down my throat.
Filled with fear, I open my mouth slowly while the Joker places the pill on the back of my tongue. He looks at me, watching carefully to see if I swallow it. Once I realize that I won't be getting any water, I try my best to collect as much saliva as I possibly can and swallow the pill down.
Once the pill is gone I break out in a fit of coughing. My eyes wander back up to Joker, who starts to pat my head not so gently. "Goodgirl-ah." He mumbles against my hair breathing in my scent. This was so wrong, but as weird as it might sounds I needed any sort of comfort right now, even if that meant reciving it from him.
I don't know what kind of pill he just gave me, but I can feel myself becoming more and more lightheaded. My eyes are growing heavy with every passing minute.
Joker pulls out a deck of cards and starts to shuffle it without ever taking his eyes off me. He places three cards on my lap.
One Ace of Spades.
One Joker Card.
One Queen of Hearts.
But before my tiredness completely overcame me, I could've sworn that there were photos of me on both the Ace of Spade and the Queen of Hearts cards, my younger-self smiling back at me before I fell into a dreamless sleep.