With nothing but the dead of darkness surrounding me and my shallow breaths filling the confined space, I sit with my hands bound and mouth covered with tape in a classroom closet. I tried not to make much noise as an attempt to hear what was happening outside, but being that I'm crying and getting all snotty, I'm finding it difficult to do so. The thought of suffocation terrifies me.
I notice through the small slither of light shining beneath the door, a figure pass by, along with the muffled sounds of movement.
Actually, you may be a little confused, so I'll take you back to the beginning.
The year is 1972 and I'm 10 years old. My mother, yet again, is dragging me to the gymnasium. "Just come on. You'll thank me in the future" she says, cigarette clinging on in between her lips.
We finally arrived. "GOTHAM CITIES GYMNASIUM FOR GIRLS" the sign reads big, bold, and black above the building. I walk in, getting a cold chill down my spine seeing all the older, more mature girls doing splits and what not.
God.
All the girls here were so annoying. When they weren't busy talking to each other about how many calories they've eaten last night, they were on their fancy portable phones nearly the size of their heads calling their boyfriends. I stare at them, filled with jealousy and a slither of rage. I want to grow up already. I want to be able to make my own decisions.
"This sucks" I say out loud. My mother turns to me, places her hand on my shoulder and scolds me.
"Don't matter if it sucks. Yer' lucky I'm ev'n lettin you stay here. Maybe you'll make some friends er somthin, who cares. You gotta stay here 'cause our baby sitter skipped out on us again." she said, sniffing and rubbing the bottom of her nose.
"But I'm too old for a baby sitter!"
"No you're not. You're only 10 years old, Harleen. Now stop complaining and go do something productive 'fore I take you to yer uncles. And you know how yer uncle likes ta get touchy feel-y...." she lowers her head.
I watch as she walks out the door, waving to Ms. Gallimor, the manager of the gymnasium, also her best friend.
My mother wasn't particularly a good person. She usually came home late, completely drunk (or high) with a new guy almost every time. She would always yell at me, hitting me with anything suitable she finds nearby. One time I stayed up a little late, till 12 o'clock because my mother didn't return home at her usual time so I assumed she was staying at someone's house.
Wrong I was, though. She came in, furious as a saltwater crocodile. When she spotted me on the couch, she looked down at her watch, then back at me and began stomping towards me, breathing heavily and swaying with her steps. She accidentally broke her empty beer bottle on the edge of the table as she wobbled her way over, nearly tripping and smashing the bottle on the table as she caught herself. Glancing to the sharp glass she held in her hand, she finally placed the pointy edges below my chin and scowled at me. Her breathe reeked of many alcohols. "What the fffUck are you doing up this god damn late young—YOUNG LADY?! Youuuuu are supposed to be asleep!" She stops talking and begins to cry. Roughly a minute passes and she finally breaks the silence. "I do so much to make other people happy, and I get nothing in return. NOTHING!" She looks up at me, walks barely 20 feet away from me and just stops , crying out again. Then suddenly, she begins laughing. "You know, I know yOUUUR little sssecret t t... You tried to hide it from me, but I know. Ha-ha... I've known for quite some time..."
The room fills with silence once again as she lowers her hands from her soaked and puffy eyes.
"I know... That you're the one who's been killing all the neighbours cats... I found their bodies buried in the back yard. And I know you're the one who-- who killed my b-baby... You got jealous of em' so you s-so-suffocated him.... " she stuttered out.
Her back turned to me still, she begins laughing even louder.
"HE WAS YOUR LITTLE BROTHER, HARLEEN! AND HE WAS ONLY 2 MONTHS OLD!............. You're lucky I haven't sent you to Arkham Asylum."
She twists around to me, putting on a fake grin. My cheeks glistened from tears but I just stared blank-faced at her, clenching my fists, and she stared back. Finally, the river of words being held back finally broke through the dam and forced their way out.
"I.... I know you didn't want him either, mom." I spoke. "You complained about how much he cried. About how expensive he would be. I killed him for you.... Mom." I took pause when I noticed the grin starting to form on her face.
She laughed, looking down to her feet. She then looked back up to me, frown plastered on her face, and threw the broken bottle at me, gashing my forearm as it hurled into me. She screamed, flipped a chair, then ran off to her room and slammed the door. And with blood pouring from my arm, I gripped tightly to the wound, my teeth gritting as I looked to the floor that was being stained red as the blood leaked out and dripped from my fingers.
I don't think she remembers that night. I look up, back to reality, seeing the girls staring at me. I'd just realised I've been standing in the same spot giving off a spooky grin for about a minute now. Oops.
Six hours pass, And I've been working exceptionally hard this time. I can finally do a full split without anyone's help, and other stuff that's unimportant. My mother finally walks in, paying Ms. Gallimor, forcing my hand and walking to the car.
I must admit, ever since I was a child, I've been a little...weird. I've always been fascinated with killing animals and dissecting them, not to make me sound like a Jeffrey Dahmer type Character, but it's just a simple curiosity... at least, that's what i've always told myself. But those curiosities never affected my school life. I made straight A's and continued being a "good noodle" throughout my years in fear of what my mother might do if I didn't. Though, I've never really had any real friends. My teachers would always try to help me make some, but I always ended up scaring or pushing them away by either being a total cold bitch or quiet and distant. I kept this up all the way to highschool. Now a senior, I felt.. good. I feel like I could become someone or something important. Maybe a doctor? I've always wanted to be a doctor.
Nonetheless, I finally did something with myself. I became a cheerleader, and started dating one of the hottest guys in school. However, I didn't date him because I thought he was hot or because I was trying to change my reputation; I dated him because he was stupid, and I love watching him do stupid things. I loved to feel good about myself. He was in my grade, a senior, but failing horribly. All F's, barely keeping a 2.0 GPA. His name was Jason. Jason Dunbar.
We were sitting outside at lunch and, as usual, the weird red headed boy who barely came to school was sitting alone at a table across from us, giving a spooky glare. It began to irk me.
"Hey, Jason.." I bit into a stiff fry seasoned in salt. "do you... know that kid with the ginger hair?" I asked softly, keeping my voice down.
"Oh, the circus freak? That's Jerome Valeska. We went to kindergarten together. I guess we were friends up until 7th grade."
"Oh? What happened, might I ask."
"Uh... Well... I started to get popular, and we kinda just-"
The lunch bell rang giving us 10 minutes for us to throw away our lunch, and get to class. As we both stood, I watched that Jerome kid jump up from his seat and scurry to the hallway. I kissed Jason's cheek, threw away my lunch, and began walking towards my locker when out of no where a door swung open, hitting me directly in the face, then someone pulled me into the room while I was dizzy and confused.
It was...him. Jerome. The ginger. The circus freak. He had this ominous smile on his face. As I held to my bleeding nose, staring with my brows kneaded in confusion, he grabbed ahold of my shoulder and twisted me around and tied me up, putting tape over my mouth, and shoved me in the classroom closet. For some reason, I didn't resist at all.
Only a moment later I could hear Jason's voice. "What the fuck? What are you doing! Let me go!" Jason and his friend Alex were both dragged into the room. I could hear the door lock.
"hm-hm-hm..." he chuckled. "It's been a long time, Jason. How longs it been, three years, ay? Man. Time really flies when you're having fun. HAHA! Hey," he jumped in Jason's face "story time. Sooo, few years ago, when we were going to highschool, after you decided to ditch me for the cool kids, I started to get bullied. A lot. But you already knew that. After all, you were there too. We went from best friends, to nothing. ITS FUNNY, ISNT IT??? HAHAHAHAAAAA.... Why aren't you laughing.......OH! I know what'll tickle ya!"
I could hear footsteps coming towards the closet. The door was opened and I fell, Jerome catching me. He stood me up, putting his arm around my shoulders, looking down at me smiling, practically towering over me. (I was about 5"3 feet and he was 6"0)
Jason began to get fidgety when he saw Jerome with his arm wrapped tightly around me. for some reason, the idea of making him jealous actually made me happy.
"Well well well... Look what you got yourself into. What a predicament, Hm? HEHEHE!!!"
His laugh was quite thrilling. I liked it for some reason. It made my heart race and got me excited. I couldn't stop staring at Jerome. "I have wanted to tell YOU something for quite some time, Harleen."
He said, looking at me grinning. He leaned me against the wall and pulled out a gun from his pants. Jason and Alex immediately backed up with their hands in the air.
"H-hey man.. I know I wronged you but you don't ha-"
"Do you know your boyfriend as well as you think you do?" Jerome asked me, cutting off and completely ignoring Jason. I gave a confused look. I'm not completely sure if I do. Being that I don't love him, I didn't try to pay attention to his life.
He ripped the tape off my mouth. "I... I don't... know..." I replied.
Jerome smiled and looked at Jason, then back at me. "Well, I think I know something you doooont HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" He started walking slowly towards Jason, looking at his gun. "Did you know... That your boyfriend is a dirty lying cheater?" Jerome asked, looking at me with his gun pointed to Jason's head. "I..." I didn't know what to say.
"Aha! Yes. I've been.. watching him. Oh! I admit. I've been stalking you." His voice got deeper as he looked at Jason. "Tracing his calls was way too easy." He started walking towards me. "Do you know how many girls he's met up with and FUCKED?!"
I jumped as he raised his voice, then shook my head.
His face got closer to mine and he grinned. "Roughly 8."
A tear rolled down my face.
"Oh, don't cry acting like you care. I know you don't." Jerome said, wiping the tears off my cheek.
He's right—Sorta. I may not love him, but... He's my first boyfriend... I care a little.. So to find out that this whole time he's been cheating on me... It feels like a betrayal.
Jerome twisted around. "Now usually I don't care about girls like you. But, I'm feeling a little sympathetic today." He placed the barrel of the gun under Jason's chin. "I'm willing to take out this dirty man-whore of yours AT NO COST! Hehehehhhh... But first... I think I'll take out his friend."
BANG!...
He shot Alex, and blood was spattered everywhere.
"Ah, he was just an unimportant side character anyways." Jerome laughed as Jason screamed, beginning to sob.
I, on the other hand, was un-phased by this. Strangely, I got a high off of it, and felt a grin form on my face as I watched Jason fall to his knees with his eyes overflowing with tears. It felt like revenge.
"But you and me, baby, we're the main event." Jerome pointed to me from across the room. His attention was then brought to the blood covering is outfit. "Darn." he smacked his teeth. "This'll be a bitch to clean out. Looks like I ain't taking these to the dry cleaners..." Jerome looked at me, and in a fast pace, made his way towards me. His face was now not even 2 inches away from mine He examined me closely, staring into my eyes as I stared back at him, trying to hide the slight smile that began to form.
"Could... Could you actually be enjoying this?? Haha! Fantastic!" Jerome yelled with excitement, spinning around to Jason. He slowly walked towards him, but stopped in his tracks, looking out the window. "Hm.. Welp.. Looks like they've come for me."
I heard the sirens outside. Jerome pulled out a knife and cut the rope binding my arms together.
"Looks like I'll have to wait to kill your boyfriend." He whispered.
He handed me the gun. "Take care of this for me will you dear? Hide it some place safe."
"... Run..." I said, still staring at the gun in my hands. I looked up to Jerome with my puppy eyes. "Just get out of here! Run! Hide somewhere! I can help you! We can say Jason killed Alex! You don't have to go!"
Jerome looked at me a little surprised, as if no ones ever tried to help him before.
"Haha ohhhhh... That little sheep isn't why they're here. Looks like they finally found out who killed my mother. HA-HA!" He began for the door. "Stupid bitch had it coming." He mumbled.
Jerome unlocked the door, blew me a kiss, and ran down the hallway. I waited a minute, taking a look at how pathetic Jason looked as he clinged to Alex's lifeless body. I almost felt a little bad for the loser. Then, I remembered what Jerome told me. "Eight times." I said out loud. "You went out and slept with girls eight times."
Jason looked up at me with tears filling his eyes. "This isn't the best time for this, Harleen!" His voice shook.
I charged over to Jason, standing over him with my fists clenched. "Actually, this is the perfect time. You know, if you really wanted to fuck that bad, you coulda told me."
"You got pissed off at me the first time we fucked! You broke up with me for two days, and I had to beg you to take me back." Jason tried to defend himself. But I had a counter.
"Oh, really? That's probably because you purposely got me drunk, then crawled your sweaty, tackler body over mine and forced me to stay still as you had your fun. You waited for me to be at my weakest to force yourself on me. You raped me."
Jason began to stutter out little words, but couldn't make a complete sentence. He just laid his head back onto Alex's chest and sobbed.
"Oh, shaddup." I kicked Alex's cold stiff body. "Ya know, you and Alex woulda made a great couple." I stormed out, hiding the gun in my bag and leaving Jason alone.
I got to the first floor of the school and saw a huge crowd surrounding Jerome. I ran through the crowd and pushed my way to the front. I could see Jerome along with that sinister grin of his. "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!" The Cops yelled forcefully. Jerome slowly put his hands up and behind his head, kneeling down and keeping his grin plastered on his face, a low chuckle echoing from him. The cops grabbed him and put him in hand cuffs, dragging him down the hallway towards the front entrance.
As he was passing by, Jerome looked at me, and winked. I couldn't help but smile.
And that, was how I met Jerome Valeska.