Elena stood outside the school waiting for Eric to pick her up. She felt a bit drunk now that all the shots hit her all at once. It made her giggle a bit as she swayed back and forth. After a while she finally saw Eric's police car approaching her. But it made her a little nervous, cause when a police car normally came for her it was to bring her to the police station to sober up. Then later Dana would come and act all concerned for Elena in front of the police and beat her as soon as they got back. Oh sweet life.
Elena got in the car and Eric sat there with a smile. He was such a typical cop with his mustache, short hair and big belly.
"How was school?" he asked with a smile. Elena looked over at the hell hole that she had to be at everyday, surrounded by people who hated her, bullied her and just simply couldn't stand her. She had to try to convince him that she had been there all day, she turned to him with a fake smile and replied: "It was-um, fine."
She wasn't the best drunk liar. Eric shook his head and closed his eyes while sighing. He opened them and turned to her as he tilted his head.
"You skipped school again, didn't you?"
Elena looked down in her lap and tried to come up with a good lie. But in stead of thinking of something clever she started to nervously laugh because of the alcohol affecting her.
"I had other plans, I..I just.." she tried to explain but Eric cut her off, "And you're drunk? Jesus Elena, maybe I should just drive you home." he said harshly. Elena panicked and sobered up very quickly. She didn't want to disappoint Lilly because she was the only one who actually tried to help her.
"No, Eric please! I'm just dealing with some shit." she replied. He knew all about it because he cared for her just as much as Lilly did. When his co workers tried to arrest Elena, Eric would always say he could handle it. So he took her with him and drove around with her until she was sober enough to lie to Dana when she got back to the institution. If i wasn't for him, Elena would be thrown in juvy until she was eighteen for sure.
"Then get your shit together and stop drinking all the time! I know you Elena, and you are stronger than you think." he said and gently placed his hand on her back.
"I will, I'm sorry Eric." she said and looked outside the window for the rest of the trip. She managed to fall asleep, and after a while they arrived at Arkham. Eric gently shook her shoulder to make her open eyes. She turned to him and he smiled.
"We're here."
Elena yawned and stretches her arms out. As she was about to step out of the car Eric grabbed her wrist which made her turn to him with a confused expression. She looked at him and noticed he suddenly looked very concerned.
"I glad Jim could do this for you, really, I am. But you have to remember Jerome is a murderer and a psychopath. He loves to manipulate people and he's good at it too. So don't let him get into your head, okay?" he asked and looked her in the eyes to see if she understood him. She just nodded and felt herself getting nervous now that she realized she was actually meeting a murderer.
As she turned around and looked up at the buildings, she understood why people went crazy here, she got the goosebumps just by standing outside. And she had heard freaky stories from Alex about this place. Like people being experimented on against their will or murdered in absolute cruel ways by the other inmates. She got shivers down her spine.
"You ready?" Eric asked her, and she gave him a nod and a small smile. As they got inside they were met by a man with short light brown hair. She recognized him right away because she had often seen him on the news. He was a cop who lived for his job. He always caught the bad guys no matter what he had to do or how far he had to go.
"Ah there you are. Nice to see you again." he said and gave Eric a hug. After they pulled away he looked over at Elena and reached out his hand to greet her with a smile.
"And you must be Elena..." he asked waiting for her to finish with her last name. She shook his hand and replied: "Just Elena. And you are Jim Gordon I presume?" she asked trying to avoid the 'why no last name?' question that everyone tended to ask her. It was simple, her parents were dead and she did not want to have anything that could connect her to them, especially their last name. It would just make people see her more as a freak than they already did.
"Yes I am, nice to meet you Elena. So, you guys just follow me and I'll take you to Jerome." he said as they followed him through nine or ten high security doors. All the inmates they passed stared at her and it freaked her out so she made sure to keep her distance. When Jim stopped he looked at Elena with a serious look as he placed his hands on his hips.
"So I hope Eric told you what you need to know about Jerome?"
Elena nodded and felt herself getting more anxious now that she stood outside the door that she soon was about to enter so she could meet a freaking murderer. But she just tried to smile and swallowed the clump in her throat.
"Good. And there will be a thick glass between you two so he can't harm you in any way. And I will be in there with you so you have nothing to fear. Shall we?" he said and opened the door.
As soon as Elena walked inside her eyes got locked with the boy sitting behind the glass and she could only assume that was the Jerome. He had vibrant red hair that could get anyone's attention and he looked up and down her body before a wide smile appeared on his face. It was such an intense stare, no one had looked at her like that before. She got awkward as she realized she was staring at him so she tried to find something else to look at, but failed terribly. It was almost impossible to take her eyes off him.
"Ah Jim, long time no see!" Jerome said and moved his attention over to Jim.
"Remember last time we met? You know, when you found my mother's dead corpse and all, HAHAH. Not that was fun." he said laughing and looked at Jim who didn't find it funny.
"Jerome, seriously." Jim said and placed his fingertips to his forehead as he sighed. Jerome looked back at Elena still smiling.
"Oh right, I see you brought company. A toy for me to play with maybe?" he said playfully. Elena swallowed the big clump that had managed to sneak it's way back into her throat and looked at Jim with a concerned expression on her face. There was something about Jerome that she couldn't quite figure out. Just being in his presence for less than a minute and she had already noticed he had his ways to sneak into your mind.
"Just ignore him. You have what you need?" Jim asked and Elena nodded as she pulled out her recorder from her pocket. She slowly walked to the chair that was placed in front of Jerome and sat down. She started the recorder and placed it on the table before she slowly looked up to meet his eyes again.
"Hi there gorgeous, I'm Jerome." he said staring at her like he was staring into her soul. She opened her mouth to say something but was to nervous to get out any actual words, and it was so embarrassing. Maybe she wasn't completely sober yet?
"I, um..I.." she stuttered and tried her best to reply. Jerome seemed to find it amusing and wanted to play with her.
"Aw, don't you know it's rude to not introduce yourself? I mean I'm a murderer but I still have manners." he teased her. She got even more embarrassed of herself and her cheeks were turning red. It was stupid really because she had done many interviews before, but never been this nervous. All though she had never met a murderer before either, to be fair.
"Sorry..Um, I'm Elena." she finally responded and took a deep breath as it felt like she had held her breath the entire time.
"Oo that's a pretty name, Elenaaa." he said playfully before continuing.
"So, Elena, you seem nervous? Good, you should be." he said as his tone instantly got darker and much more sinister. Elena instantly looked up and he wasn't smiling anymore. He looked at her with a threatening expression that made her feel helpless, even with the thick glass between them. She panicked and was just about to turn to Jim before Jerome said in his normal tone, "I'm kiddiiing, HAHAHA! Ask your questions."
He rested his head in his hands like a child and waited for her to start asking away. Elena cleared her throat and tried to calm down.
"Oh my god, just do this right and don't embarrass yourself anymore!" she thought to herself and slightly shook her head.
"Okay..so, Jerome, how is it like to be in the asylum?" she asked. Jerome just leaned back in his chair looking relaxed as he placed his hands behind his head.
"It's like being on a holiday, really. I mean I get my own room and free food three times a day. And it's all just for killing my mother? Amazing! Hahaha." he laughed like it was a joke. Elena scowled a bit. Was he serious?
"How did you kill her?" she asked. Jerome smiled as he leaned forward again and he seemed exited to answer this question.
"I used a hatchet! I would use something more painful like she deserved, but it was the best I could find. Anyways, I kept hitting her till those annoying screams of hers finally stopped. But unfortunately Jimbo here used our snake to find her, so now I only regret not feeding her corpse to the dogs." he replied and looked like he only regretted being caught. Elena had to process his answers. It all seemed like everything literally was a joke to him.
"But why did you kill her?" she asked curious and tilted her head.
"Well, wouldn't you? Parents always tell you to do this and do that and blah blah blah. But why not just kill them and be your own boss, ya know?" he asked throwing his hands out like it was the most clever idea in the world. Elena looked away and felt herself getting emotional as soon as he mentioned parents. It was kind of a trigger for her.
"I..I don't have any parents, so." she said with a lower voice, trying not to get too emotional so she would start to cry in front of him. She had already embarrassed herself enough. Jerome tilted his head and didn't understand why she seemed so sad.
"Then you're lucky. You get to be your own boss, without getting to do the fun part of course." he said and it honestly made Elena go from sad to pissed in just one second. She frowned and leaned a bit forward.
"Lucky? Oh no I live with a crazy bitch that beats me at every chance she gets! I don't call that 'lucky'." she snapped at him and Jerome seemed to enjoy seeing her getting upset.
"Why don't you just leave? Or kill her?" he provoked her. He said it like it was so easy, just make them go away in a heartbeat, literally.
"Don't you think I've tried? I always get forced back to her prison and then she punishes me." she replied.
Jerome started to laugh and he shook his head while saying: "HAHAHA, I know the feeling!"
She was just about to say something when a phone rang and she turned her head around to see Jim standing there looking concerned while staring at the screen. She had almost forgotten he was even there.
"I have to take this, but I'll be back in a minute!" he said and rushed out before Elena could even reply. She turned back to Jerome and flinched as she saw he was much closer now to the glass than he was before. It suddenly felt like as if the glass had just disappeared.
"Would you?" he asked her, and he didn't smile anymore, now he had a more a curious expression on his face. She got confused and didn't understand what he meant.
"What? Would I what?" she replied and tilted her head.
"Leave! Would you leave if you could? Ya know, just disappear?" he asked her more inpatient, like he needed her to answer quickly. Elena thought about his question. Of course she wanted to leave, it was her biggest wish.
"Yes, of course. To be honest with you, everyone hates me anyways..so escaping that shit hole would be a wish come true." she said and quickly got confused by why she just said that to him. Why did she just open up about that to a murderer? The shots Alex gave her had to be affecting her words.
"Why do they hate you?" he asked curiously. Elena did really not want to cry and she felt herself tear up but quickly wiped it away so he would not see it. But he seemed to notice, he just didn't comment on it.
"I'm just...different." she said looking away. He laughed and shook his head which caught her by surprise.
"So? Being different gives you the opportunity to do more fun things. Like killing people!" he said exited with his hands out again. It seemed like every time he mentioned murdering someone he got super exited. Jim suddenly stormed back inside while saying "We have to go, now."
"Oh, but Jiiim, we were just getting to know each other, psycho to psycho, ya know?" Jerome whined and pouted his lip like a little baby. Jim ignored him and dragged Elena with him before she could even react to what Jerome just said.
"Wait!" she said and ran over to the table to grab her recorder. As she looked up Jerome smiled at her as he said: "Goodbye gorgeous, until we meet again." and waved at her as she was dragged out of the room. They got to the main entrance where Eric waited for them and Elena asked concerned "What's going on, Jim?"
"A group of dangerous criminals have been spotted downtown, it's not safe for you to be here now. You guys should get on your way back." he said and Eric nodded in agreement.
"Be careful out there, buddy. I've heard the criminals in Gotham are really dangerous." Eric said to Jim before he dragged Elena with him out the door.
"Bye Jim, and thank you!" she shouted.
On the way home all she could think about was Jerome. Gosh, he really provoked her! But there was just something about him. He was so mysterious and dangerous. And how does a boy even kill his own mother just like that? And that was the only thought that stuck in her head.
Ahh finally Jerome is a part of the story. I could just feel the tension between them, could you? This are about to do dowwwn. I can't wait!
Please comment and vote!
-Michelle