A Jokers Riddle

Chapter 6

Ridley sighs as she climbs the stairs, the creaking filling her ears like a deathly lullaby. He body feels weighted, as if every step toward her drafty apartment was harder, more difficult. She stops in front of her door, leaning her head against the thin wood as she fiddles with her key. She shoves it in and the door clicks open. She yawns, tossing her keys and purse aside.

"I was wondering when you'd get home," a voice comes from the darkness and she jumps with a scream, grabbing a knife she kept in the depths of her pocket.

"It's literally just me," Red hood's familiar voice comes and she doesn't move until he inches out of the shadows. He'd come a couple times since their first visit, each time more banged up. This time. This time is wasn't too bad. "Yeah someone stabbed my leg... multiple times."

"Oh," she answers and brushes a frizzing curl from her eyes. She walks over, barefoot on the rug, and sits him down on the couch. "Where did I last leave the medical kit?" She questions. He was over only a few days ago, with terrible long gashes. As if he was attacked by a group of ravenous cats. "Oh, it's in the bathroom," she remembers and walks towards it

"Yeahhh," he says and lets his eyes follow her.

She comes back after a moment with the old first aid kit. She sets it down with a clatter and kneels next to where he sat, on her yellow couch. He'd lost count of how many times he'd stained it. He'd have to buy her a new one when he came up with the money.

"What do I even do for this? How do you get stabbed... more than once?" She murmurs more in frustration then worry. She digs into her bag and pulls out a needle and stitches. She'd lost count on how many times she'd had to sanitize it.

"Someone had a grudge against my jokes," he shrugs and looks down at the wound. He was actually ambushed- strangely- by a bunch of those goons. This time with big question marks on their chests. It was a stupid costume. They looked very 60s

"I can believe that," she answers as she studies the wound, planning out her stitching method. It wasn't very pretty. He'd be out of the mask for a while. "Oh, gosh, Red. This is disgusting," she lets her nose upturn as she tries to gain the courage to go in. She had touched more of his blood in the last month more then she'd ever touched any of her own. And she had her fair share of gashes and injuries.

"Welllllll, I didn't ask them to stab me..." he winces as she sticks the needle into his skin.

"Seriously what?" She questions as she bites her lip and her eyebrows furrow in concentration. She doesn't spare a glance at him. She was too focused on mending his wounds.

"It kinda hurts," he admits and stares down at the blood. He winces again and sucks in a heavy breath.

"Sorry," she answers as she laces it through, her stomach becoming nauseous. "I suppose that's what happens when you fling yourself into danger, taunt the criminals, and then fight them."

"I mean, they're criminals. We're gonna fight either way," he shrugs and winces as she goes through the worst part of his leg.

"Sorry," she answers as she gives a small, awkward pat on his calf, trying to finish up with shaking hands. "Just close your eyes, or breathe, or something," her voice trails off and she just chuckles. "I don't know, I'm not a doctor. I'm a secretary."

"Well for a secretary you're pretty good at patching deranged vigilante's up," he tilts his mask toward her. "But that probably means I'll need to have a back up plan if I'm really hurt."

"Why don't you just go back to where you came from?" She pauses and then giggles. "Well I'm guessing you live alone." She finally finishes the last stitch. "And I'm not good at patching up. I'm good at watching youtube until two so I can basically revive you," she chuckles and tosses everything back in the kit to clean later.