3 Nights in Gotham

Stranger Danger

My heart was thumping out of my chest as I shuffled to the front of the room.I had to present a paper on a hobby I have and why I like it. I knew for sure that I would be bullied after I was done presenting so I watched my step as I walked between the rows of desks. I finally make it to the front and I hold up my paper. I look over at my teacher, Mr.Shag with a fake smile."Go ahead, Skylar."He said softly as he nodded. I take a breath and start reading."Stories. There are many ways to tell one. You can tell a story through dancing, symbols of hieroglyphics, shadows, expressive writing, or by just using your imagination and your mouth. But the form of storytelling that interests me the most are comic books. Specifically Batman.I've been collecting Batman comics since I was 10 years old. I remember my big brother taking me to a comic book store that day...He bought me a Batman comic. I read it when I got home, and it wasn't long before I got lost in Gotham city.I know I'm not the only one like this but I prefer the villains over Batman! Of course I probably wouldn't want to live in a city alongside them but I definitely have a liking for Gotham's crazys and rogues. My personal favorites are The Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter.But as I got older I realized that Batman's comics were a lot more realistic than other comics. In other words it is realistic enough that it could even be real!" I paused for a moment from reading and looked up at the class. They were either playing on their phone under their desk, laughing at me under their breath, or just not paying attention at all. I didn't really care so I continued."My brother is leaving for collage in a few weeks and I will continue to collect and read these amazing books forever!" I lower my paper and put on a fake smile."Thank you, Skylar. Please return to your seat" Mr.Shag insisted, gesturing to the desks.As I walked down the row of students some of them were whispering and giggling to each other, and some gave me mean looks. Then as I was about to reach me desk I fall and land on my face. I look over and the foot that tripped me belonged to none other than: Kyle:The school bully."Seriously, Skylar, you wrote your paper on Batman comics? From that presentation I would think you belonged with the psychos in Asher Asylum." Kyle snarked ignorantly."It's Arkham Asylum..." I corrected in an annoyed tone, as I pulled myself up and sat in my seat. As you can tell from that, my name is Skylar, and I obviously love Batman comics. And you also saw that I get bullied over it...a lot.I'm in the 8th grade and go to Chicago Middle School. My two friends are Joy and Mark, but they don't exactly like comics like I do. Joy is more into animals and running, and Mark likes football, baseball, and music. He is very picky when it comes to music. But a thing we all have a few things in common. We all like to play soccer and our favorite is when we put on our favorite songs and kick the ball and do tricks to the beat. But that isn't what this story is about. Something crazy happened, something I never thought in a million years would happen! It all started with one bad day. It was about a month after the day of the presentation, and I was walking home from a long day of classes and bullying. It was cold outside and tears were slowly rippling down my cheeks. I decided to take a break and warm up at my favorite comic book store, that was halfway between my house and the school. But little did I know somebody was watching me. Somebody I never thought I would ever cross paths with. I was starting to let the mean comments that the bullies chucked at me get to me more because my brother left for collage a few days prior, and my mom had to work an extra shift since my brother wasn't working anymore. So now I have to watch my little brother Jack. Usually our neighbor watches him until I get home from school. Inside the store I sit on the bench between two shelves, after a few seconds a tall-skinny man walks in and I decide to go look at the Batman comics while I was warming up. I'm in the section for a few minutes and the man walks into the same section as me and picks up a comic. I could decipher some of his features. He had a trench coat, and orange-brown hair that covered the top part of his face. He skipped to the end of the comic and scoffs, he then angrily shoved the paper book back on the shelf. I gave him a 'What the heck is wrong with you?' look. He then turned to me and gave me an annoyed look. He looked somehow familiar, but I ignored the feeling. I was finally warm enough so I set back out to go home. I was on the street that my house was on, but I looked behind me and saw the man from the comic book store not too far behind. If I led him to my house I would be putting Jack in danger so I skipped my house and wandered into a part of Chicago I wasn't familiar with. It was almost pretty much dark out before I peered over my shoulder again and the man was closer to me, so I picked up the pace. I eventually start running, but I look back and he remains at a speed walking pace. I wasn't too far from downtown Chicago at this point so I turned a corner. Bad decision! The corner turned into an ally with a dead end! The only way out was past the tall man standing at the end of the alley."What do you want?!" I yelled at him as I started shaking more than I already was. He doesn't respond, he just starts treading closer. He spreads his arms out and lowers his head, and picks up his pace a little. His arms were completely blocking any way around him."W-what do you want?" I pleaded in a quieter, higher voice. A whimper escaped my throat. He seemed to have grinned at that. He got to the point to where he was feet from me. He slipped his hands into his pockets and raised his head back up. As he towered over our eyes met and they were a cold, icy blue. I could feel them piercing through me! He then stepps closer and leans forward.''I want to know what you fear..." He whispered chillingly in my ear. I then realized right then who it was. I tried to get away, but he grabbed me and held me in place.''So you know who I am don't you now?..We can't be having that..." He dismayed in a menacing tone of voice. He then stomps on the ground 3 times and another, shorter man comes into the alley. All I could see was his outline due to the lights of a car on the outside of the alley. I started to struggle a lot but his grip was tight! He then tightens his grip on me to where I could barely move. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my neck then I black out.

Hi, I hope yall enjoyed this first chapter! This same story is also on Quotev. And yes this story is mine (I have lots of proof). I hope you enjoyed, and expect more from this book.