Everlasting Fear

chapter 25- Did I Really Want Him To Come Back For Me?

One Year Later-

 Ashleigh’s POV

It had been a year since that night. My body was still scarred, my marred skin told the story of what had happened to me. Most people would recoil in horror at seeing the deep twisted cuts which lined my body, but I couldn’t help smiling at them. They reminded me of a time in my life, when I had felt accepted and loved by one of the most feared men in Gotham City. I sighed and looked up at the plain white ceiling above my head. Over this last year, nearly every villain who ever existed in Gotham had escaped Arkham Asylum and had been successfully caught by the batman, but one. The Scarecrow escaped six months ago, for six week the batman sat on the roof of my apartment building hoping to catch a glimpse of the Scarecrow trying to take me again, and truthfully I wish he had come to take me away, but obviously I wasn’t that important anymore. I had grown comfortably numb with the idea that the scarecrow would never return to Gotham so I reapplied as head of medical staff at Arkham Asylum.

My alarm blared horrifically loud. I slammed my fist into the annoying device and pulled my naked body from the surrounding comfort of my warm bed. I drug my body to the bathroom and switched on the shower till it began to steam. I pushed my cooling body into the searing hot water, and hissed as steam rose off my skin. I let the water creep into each and every fracture of my scars. I washed my hair quickly and lathered my body and allowed the high pressure water to wash it all away. I clambered out of the shower and quickly shut it off. I wrapped white cotton around my distorted body. My body quickly dried, allowing me to pull clothing on bit by bit, I blow dried my hair quickly as it slowly began to curl, leaving the mass of now fully brown hair wavy. I sighed and pulled my black and red glasses off my night stand and pushed them on the bridge of my nose. I grabbed my black back and my car keys. I locked the small apartment up and walked down the two flights of stairs to the occupant’s car park. I slipped into my black Volkswagen Octavia, and drove through the buzzing centre of Gotham city, till I reached the winding back roads leading up to one of Gotham most notorious buildings, Arkham Asylum. I reached the gates and swiped my pass over a small screen, causing the old iron gates to open slowly electronically. I parked my car swiftly in my designated parking bay, and turned off the quiet engine. I stepped out of my car allowing my heeled feet to meet with the dry concrete floor beneath me. I walked into the main building, three guards stood there. They preformed their security checks and allowed me to pass through, the medical bay was quiet like usual. I walked into the main medical office to see David sitting in a chair in the corner of the white wash walled room. “Good morning Ashleigh.” He chirped up happily, I smiled down at him, “Good morning to you too David.” He smiled brightly, I settled into my own seat behind my desk and smiled seeing that there was a steaming cup of tea there, “You’re getting good at guessing when I’m getting here in the mornings.” He stood up and walked over to my desk, He smiled gently down at me, “Well you get into work the same time every day.” I shrugged and smiled up at him, he was right but the thought of having a cup of tea made for me most mornings was nice. “Ashleigh, I was wondering…” he trailed off and took in a large breath; I knew what he was going to ask me, “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? It doesn’t have to be a date or anything….” He trailed off nervously. I sighed he knew the answer already, I looked at David over the black rims of my glasses, “I’m not ready David, please.” I said simply as I looked into his eyes, I expected him to back off, but I was wrong, “Why won’t you get over him Ashleigh? He ruined your life!” I hands slammed against my desk as I raised myself from my chair, I growled lowly and narrowed my eyes at David, “He didn’t ruin my life David, only one person did!” I screamed out at David he was stunned, I walked slowly around my desk and allowed my lips to curl into a smirk, “The only person who ruined my life was the person who took it from me in the first place, and now he’s dead.” I spoke lowly at the cowering man in front of me. My smirk faded from my lips, I grabbed my coat and slipped it over my shoulders, and walked towards the office door, “Where are you going?” David finally spoke; I looked at him over my shoulder and growled, “I’m going away.” I slammed the door behind me; I pulled my coat close to my body and manoeuvred my body out of this hell. I pushed open the doors to Arkham Asylum and took a large breath of air. My lungs begged to be pushed, they screamed to run through the wind again. I supressed these thoughts, and began to walk through the dead looking grounds. Old metal fences were buried half way in the dry cracked earth, I sighed at the dusty earth kicked up, and caused a brown mist to cover the grounds. I sighed and walked towards a hollow tree much older than Arkham Asylum. I pressed my hand against the sun bleached trunk, and finally leaned my body against it. It felt so light, weightless as it supported my body, the branches reached and clawed at the white sky above me. I sighed and looked back to the closed doors of Arkham Asylum; I looked down at my watch and saw it was nearly two in the afternoon. I sighed and closed my eyes, suddenly I heard the heavy creak of the doors of Arkham Asylum open, I looked to the doors and saw Oakley running towards me. “Joker just attacked two guards, but he was apprehended.” I nodded and walked unwillingly back into the hell I worked in. I walked next to Oakley, and even before I entered the medical bay I could hear screams of pain. I shrugged off my coat and folded it over my arm as Oakley opened the door for me, and inside I saw chaos. I growled under my breath, as there was the Joker in all his mad glory, his face bloody as he was pinned to the floor by two guards, and another two guards were writhing in pain. I walked past the smirking and chuckling Joker and towards David who was trying to stitch the unwilling victim, “Give me that please David.” I stated, David looked at me shocked but answered, “I’m sure I can do it.” I shook my head, I did not want to deal with any thick headed men today, “Oakley please restrain David’s patient.” Oakley nodded and walked towards David, I looked at the other guard to see a fork sticking out of his cheek, I scoffed slightly, the joker had used a fork to attack guards before, and why didn’t they learn from that? I shook my head, and walked towards the man, he looked at me with pain in his eyes, “please open your mouth.” The man quickly opened his mouth to reveal two prongs of the fork inside his mouth; the other two were in his upper jaw bone. I looked to Oakley who was now helping the now mended patient to sit up, “Oakley, this wound can’t be treated here, there a risk of soft pallet damage.” Oakley stared at me, and nodded, “I’ll get and ambulance here as soon as possible.” I nodded and looked back at the man, “you’ll get better treatment at Gotham hospital.” He nodded and closed his mouth slowly, causing blood o be pushed forward and out of his mouth, as it dripped off his chin. I grabbed a paper towel and held it to the man’s lips, “Please hold this too your lips, an ambulance will be here soon.”  The man in uniform nodded slowly. I walked over to the restrained Joker, who chuckled and spat blood across the laminate floor, “Pull him up, I need to see his injuries.” I stood back as the men heaved up the joker; I looked at his shattered face, to see a broken nose and a collapsed cheek bone, suddenly the joker’s smile vanished from his face as he looked at me seriously, “He didn’t forget about you. He’s coming for all of us Ashleigh.” I stumbled back into a metal medical table, and grasped the cold metal surface of it. Finally the known dark chuckled erupted from the Joker’s mouth, “He’s gonna come for you Ashleigh!” he screamed suddenly he was forced to the ground, my heart hammered in my chest, did I really want him to come back for me?