It's funny how life works. There I was, sitting still in the recreational area alone watching the first snowfall of the year, as mental patients picked fights and go insane over a loaf. I scoffed at the madness, but all that was on my mind was Arthur. I barely knew the dude, but he made me feel wanted. Useful. Dare I say, love.
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"It's the most wonderful time of the year," I jokingly sang to the doctor, who was sitting opposite me, as I twirled my hair, staring at the wall with my feet on the table. He stared at me confused, wondering why I wasn't screaming at my dreadful luck and my days at Arkham. I slowly turned around at him, my lips curling into a smile as I continued the lyrics. The man just stared at me with his cold, dead eyes as he wrote down on his notepad.
"Why so glum, doc?" I asked, smiling at the frowning man. He glared at me so coldly, I could feel the temperature of the room decrease, but my grin grew bigger. "Hm, seems like that ice in your heart's affecting your eyes as well."
"You seem more... energetic today," he uttered as his awfully deep, husky voice echoed the freezing room. His voice often gave me shivers down my spine, but I usually hid it. However, today was different. I jokingly immitaded a horny woman's expression and I shook vigorously.
"Oh doctor, that voice gives me goosebumps!" I moaned loudly, watching his expression turn from cold to disgust. It really made me laugh hysterically, that man. I wasn't really sure if he actually did lose his v-card from that awful expression he kept put on his face. No woman would actually want to do him, unless he was actually a charmer outside of the building.
"That was inappropriate," he muttered, pushing up his glasses as he glared at me still. I rolled my eyes, sighing at his tedious behaviour and I began to mimick his expression. His ears were literally blowing out steam and his face was turning red every second, it was hilarious.
Finally, it was time to wrap up the session. I just couldn't wait to get out of this place, or maybe he forgot. Whatever that gave me the spontaneous attitude, it was fun having to not scream at people's faces calling them bastards.
Two guards suddenly bursted into the room and began to grab both my arms. Doctor Gray and I had two minutes left of the session, but he didn't glance at me one bit. It was quite unusual though this happened only exactly the time the session ended, not when one minute or two before. Doctor Gray might've assumed it was normal and it was the end of the session since he didn't glance at his watch or the clock ever and he uttered: "i'll see you tomorrow."
The guards firmly pulled me out of the room and out into the hallway, but it was odd that it was the wrong route to my cell. Nervousness began to crawl up my spine as my heart was pumping out of my heart. What if the asylum wanted to get rid of me? What if I was being executed? Execution wasn't exactly a thing in a mental hospital, but who knew?
Soon, I realised they were dragging me to the women's bathroom. I gasped as those buff men pushed me in front of the wide door, and then I felt a heavy bag thrown on my back roughly. I winced as I turned around in pain, glaring at the men.
"What the hell did you do that for? Why are we even here- oh you cannot force me to take a shit as some experimental tes-" I furiously yelled out as my eyes widened in rage. Suddenly, one of the tanned buff man forcefully threw his hands against my mouth as my words muffled through his huge hand. He began to angrily shush me, rolling his eyes as his other partner sighed in annoyance.
"Shut up and stop screaming please!" he hissed madly and he grabbed the bag from the ground and and aggressively slammed it on my hand. "Change and we leave, boss expects us to be there in 30 minutes."
"...boss?" I stammered in confusion, hesitant to enter the bathroom, but the man pushed me in angrily as he began to nag.
As I forcefully entered the bathroom, I glanced at the duffel bag in bewilderment. What the hell- why I was supposed to wear those? I thought. I slowly opened the bag, revealing a wig, some sunglasses and those outfit the doctors would wear in the hospital. Then realisation punched me in the face.
"Joker's gonna kill us, man," I heard the man worriedly falter as his loud footsteps were pacing around.
"Damn, she's such a pain in the ass, what the hell does he see in her that "dazzled him"?" the other man replied as he scoffed at my annoying behaviour. As mad as that comment made me, I was quite charmed by what Arthur had said about me. It was also quite weird to refer to someone as Joker in a casual conversation, and considering they called him boss, I assumed they didn't know his first name, so I kept in mind, not to slip.
Quickly, I rushed in the first bathroom stall and stripped off my terribly atrocious jumper and slipped on my "formal" outfit: a black pencil skirt, which was awfully tight, a buttoned up white shirt, a short blue tie and the doctor's coat. I was intrigued by the coat, not gonna lie. It made me feel very professional and serious, though it wasn't exactly my forte. It also came with a blonde wig and squared glasses, which brought out my e/c eyes.
As I was about to leave, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and everything that happened the last month came running back to me. Joker terrorised the asylum and there was where we met, between bars of the recreational area and the hallway. Then we made out that midnight in my cell. And now, I was getting out of this dreadful building for the first time in three years. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to process this. To breathe this sickened building one last time, hopefully.
Walking out of the bathroom, I held onto one of the staff's pass and the three of us began our way out of the building. As I walked past a few doctors, I saw familiar faces, especially Doctor Gray, who was surprisingly winked at me, assuming I was one of the new psychiatrists. To be rational, I was smoking hot in that formal attire, it was clearly shaping my curves, not like the oversized, stained jumper that was showing off my eye bags.
"Gentlemen, I'd like to thank you," I smiled at them as we continued to walk down to the lobby casually. I could feel them exchanging glances when I heard their hesitation.
"..for what?" one of the men hesitated.
"helping me, helping Joker."
"Oh," he spoke with uncertainty in his tone. I immediately stopped when I realised something was wrong, causing the both of them on the verge of tripping.
"What was that for?" he grumbled as he collected himself, and the other was basically glaring at me. I sighed, raising an eyebrow at both of them suspiciously. "What was that "oh"?"
They both began to groan as he rolled his eyes at me. "Boss wanted it to be a surprise," he explained in annoyance. "Can we go now?"
I nodded as I began to walk away from them. As I reached the elevator, both men finally kept up with my speed and we entered the lift without a single suspicion from any of the staffs or doctors.
"Phew," I sighed in relief as the doors closed. As I leaned on the cold, metal wall of the elevator, I saw a glimpse of the men's expressions on their faces worried and unsure. "Guys.. what's wrong?"
Finally, one of the men decided to let it out as he sighed. "Boss doesn't know about this."
My eyes widened as his words entered my ears. Tension built up in my head as anxiety forced itself on me like a rapist. "He's gonna kill y'all," I uttered without thought. They both anxiously nodded their heads. I could feel they were more anxious than I was since it was them who was going to face him.
"Wait, why did you do it without his permission?" I asked.
"Well.." the man hesitated, but insisted to go on, "he was planning on blowing up the whole institution-"
And that already explained the whole thing. I was in shock at Joker's "brilliant" plan, but for some reason, I wasn't also. It sounded so villainy that it was somehow cliche. He was a "new" villain of this horrible city after all, it was expected for him to blow this city apart, like every other enemy of this damned city. Or that's what the patients say about him.
"I would die," I chuckled, but they went on with more of his brilliant plan.
"He was gonna terrorise first, with machine guns, and then get you, then blow this place apart," he interpreted nervously, stuttering at some parts. I moved closer to him as I rubbed his back to give him some comfort. The other man, however, was daydreaming.
Finally, we reached the ground floor. As casual as we could, we walked out of the room as two guards of Arkham and a psychiatrist out of the elevator. Of course, it was a busy lobby. There were patients and their families gathering around and some were just mentally sick that they had no one. It was miserably sad to see those without someone by their side, but hey that was how I ended up in this damn place. Or was it murder?
Hurriedly, we rushed out of the building and ran into a black van. The anxious man got into the driver's seat and he quickly drove off, leaving those doctors go insane over an escapee. I couldn't help to laugh and imagine the situation that was gonna happen when they found out I wasn't in my cell anymore. Or the building. Or the state maybe.
The man continued to drive as we passed by multiple buildings and cities that I never thought were there. That I thought were only made up in my head because of how miserable I was a million feet above the ground. Then we drove by a scattered area, that was diffusing the further we drove. It took us twenty five minutes until the man pulled over.
As I got down, I found myself in front of this depressed-looking, plain but huge warehouse. The men walked towards the building, but I stayed put, confused and worried. This can't be where the infamous Joker stays, I thought. I always pictured the fancy killer in a sophisticated but quiet area, not too far from the city. The daydreamer dude then turned around and yelled my name.
"You coming in?" he shouted, desperately wanting to get out of the sun as he had his hand hovering over his eyes. I nodded silently, still staying put as I watched those men enter in nervously. Those days when I was trapped in Arkham, I'd see myself in a decent homey coffee shop, sipping on my mocha as I gazed at the doughnuts, enjoying my freedom, but definitely not in a warehouse with a wanted man who is apparently a clown.
Slowly, I entered in and to my surprise, it was quite a comfortable looking entrance. The inside walls were astonishingly aesthetically brick walls and there was a counter and a huge, soft looking couch filled with five men drinking beer and playing cards. There were also several air-conditionings on the ceiling, which comfortably cooled the room. Tall staircases were neatly built on the right side of the room that led to a sophisticated looking area upstairs. The two men who helped me escape were chatting with each other in the kitchen, driving coffee.
I walked up to the two men but I could feel the eyes of the men on the couch on me, watching my every step as the room began to buzz.
"Oh shit, is that Joker's girl?" One man said.
Joker's girl. I loved that. It made me smile uncontrollably.
Soon, I was finally off the men's eyes. And also beside those two nervous distracted boys. I tapped on the dude who drove's shoulder and he turned around.
"Hey, any idea where the clown's at?" I asked, giving him a warm smile. He pointed at the ceiling, mouthing "the last room" and went back to their conversation on how to explain to Joker about the whole situation. I nodded and headed upstairs.
The upper floor gave me such elegant vibes. A lovely vase of roses were neatly arranged at the end of the hallway, on a nice, small table. I assumed the last room was the room on the right side of the hallway, which had no other doors on the opposite of itself. As I walked through the hallway, I realised how narrow it was.
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Flashback
Dameria's scream echoed the narrow hallway from the croaking, wooden door. Anxiously, I walked towards it with my broom firmly grasped by my sweating palms. I could feel the walls of the hallway running out of oxygen as the walls got tighter and tighter, coming closer to me like it was going to completely squash me. My breath got heavier each step I took closer to the room. Dameria's presence was quite a terrifying one; it was scary to feel her presence anywhere near me.
As I slowly opened the creaking door, I saw her on bed completely naked with a tiredly beaten man, laying in bed breathlessly. I was terrifying worried for the man, and the thought of why he was also naked, but with a frown and a whimper plastered on his face absolutely scared the shit out of me. He couldn't have been.. could he? She was capable of anything.
"Give him a robe and get him out of here," she growled as she got out of bed with no clothes, revealing her parts where no man on earth would want to see, shamelessly. The view itself had traumatized me, even if it was just from a shower. But the thought of what she possibility had done to the crying man, that I was afraid of.
I ran to the supply room and grabbed a robe and a towel, thoughtfully also grabbed him a cup of water and hurried back to Dameria's room to see him halfway passed out. Worriedly, I helped him up and wrapped a robe around him. Luckily, Dameria was in the shower and the hours she'd spend in there was thankfully right under this circumstance. We both quickly rushed out as he attempted to drink his water without his tears contaminating his water, making it salty.
Finally, I got to have a closer look at this man. He looked around his 40s, which was years younger than the witch herself, and was awfully thin. I watched him cry and whimper in the kitchen as he roughly grasped onto the robe in shame and confusion.
"I was just.. working and.." he sobbed as his tears began to pour out even more than before, "she grabbed me and pushed me into her.. car and.."
"Let it out, sir.." I calmly rubbed his bruised back as I refilled his cup.
"She's humongous.. she's.. wicked.." he continued, "she had also.. r-r-rap-" and he started coughing out. I worriedly patted his back as he began to cough. Worst of all, his temperature was burning.
"Listen.." I whispered to him as softly as I could, "run away from here, go to the police and immediately report her, please."
He looked into my e/c eyes as his coughing began to fade away. I could see the pain and suffer he had gone through that night. "What about you? Oh I pity that you're her servant."
I looked away for a second, sighing as I sat down with him. I finally pitied myself for how much I had put up with that woman. The abuse, the torture, I needed to put this to an end. But I couldn't.
I couldn't kill. It wasn't right. But I also couldn't wait for a million years for some knight in shining armour to save me from this inevitable torture.
"That's.. life, I guess."
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Anxiety began to crawl up to me the closer my steps got to his room. I knew I had no reason to panic like this, but narrow hallways had always been one of my many triggers. One of the things that brought back my much frightful memories. I stood in front of the door, frozen and afraid. Was my past going to replay like this all over again?
I slowly twisted the doorknob to see Arthur sitting on a chair, facing the hide glass window. His room was very cozy, much to my surprise. I expected guns and bazookas to be scattered everywhere, but instead the room was light purple and blue on each side of the wall. Slowly, the man turned around as he placed his cigarette on his little ashtray beside him, neatly placed on his bedside table.
"...y/n?" he gasped in shock as he quickly stood up. His hair was suddenly brown and his face was bare; no makeup was on his face. My heart felt as if it had been a whole again and I could feel my blood rushing through, the relief I felt when I glanced at him. I smiled as I ran up to the shocked man and gave him a tight hug. As surprised as he was, he simply hugged me back, smiling.
"What are you- how did you get out?" he stammered as he pulled me away from him.
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