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Living in Darkness- HIATUS/editing ch 19-25	By : Meursault Category: DC Verse Movies > The Dark Knight Views: 9298 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, nor any of the characters from it. I have not and will not make any money from the writing of this story. All characters are fiction. Story is set after the Dark Knight movie by Christopher Nolan.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Hey everyone, sorry for such a late update. I've been terribly busy with school and transporting siblings around, not to mention being a tad lazy in the last few weeks of summer. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it took me awhile to decide where to go next, but I have some great stuff planned out. Thank for reading!!
Chapter Fifteen
The Joker was cold towards me throughout the afternoon and into the evening. This didn’t bother me too much since we don’t usually have civil conversations. Plus, I was still pissed he pretended to be my friend. Who does something like that; we’re not in middle school.
The next morning when I wake and stretch my back I quickly realize the Joker is already gone. He must’ve been in a rush; he definitely would have woken me up if he wanted breakfast. I tend to my arms, my hip and my sore legs before dressing and walking downstairs, eager to begin my day without having to face him. Maybe I can get some more reading done. I go down stairs and start to make my breakfast. While I’m brewing some tea, I hear a loud commotion outside. After many angry raised voices and there is an uncomfortable silence. Before I can peek out the window, the door bursts open and the Joker strides in.
I drop my cup in surprise and it shatters on the kitchen floor. The Joker wheels around at the noise, but doesn’t look particularly mad to me. In fact he seems hyper. There’s a crazed gleam in his eyes, almost like frenzy or fire.I don’t like it, but it’s better than rage, especially directed at me.
“Elena!” he chimes, coming up to me and kissing me on each cheek. “We’re going on vacation! Hurry, pact your things.” He pulls me by the arm and drags me upstairs.
“Vacation?” I ask, worried. I don’t want to go farther away from Gotham than I already am. Besides that, I’m more than a little concerned about the Joker’s cheeriness after last night. Maybe he’s just in a good mood.
“More like a business trip,” the Joker rephrases as he grabs a large suitcase from out of the closet and throws piles of random clothes inside. “I wouldn’t usually take my pets, but I don’t want you to have to stay here all by yourself. Don’t want you to get lonely!”
“I think I’ll be fine here,” I counter, ignoring the pet comment. “You were gone for a few days before and I was fine.”
“Ok…let me be clearer,” he enunciates, “I’m not leaving you here because you’ll probably try to run away again. Then I would have to go out of my way to kill your family. I just don’t have time for that right now!”
“I wouldn’t run away,” I half-lie. “Last time you were gone I didn’t leave.”
The Joker sniggers. “There were men guarding the house last time, you didn’t really have a choice. I know you; you would try to run away. Besides, this is a uh, a family trip. Everyone’s coming. That means you too.”
Guess I’m not getting out of this one. “Where are we going?”
The Joker laughs, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“I thought you only liked to torment Gotham, I can’t really picture you in any other city.”
“And you, I like to torment you too,” the Joker adds. “Truthfully, we’re not leaving Gotham. I just need to be closer to the city for my plan.”
Closer to the city; that means lots of people. If I can get away even for a few minutes, it would almost impossible to find me in the crowds. Looks like I’ll enjoy this trip after all.
“Do we get room service?”
The Joker makes a face. “Do I look like the type of guy who would stay in a hotel? Besides, you’re my room service. And I don’t even have to pay for you! Win-win!”
“I get it, I was joking anyways. How long are we going to be gone?” I ask as I go to the bathroom to get shampoo and toothbrushes.
“As long as it takes…” the Joker has a particularly evil grin on his face and I can’t help thinking about his last plan which involved making children kill each other.
“Ooook,” I mouth silently. I throw a few books into the suitcase and close it. “What was all the yelling outside about?” I ask.
The Joker shrugs. “The guys are getting bored guarding you. Apparently some of them thought they’d get to rape you by now. But the riot ended when I stabbed one of them in the throat.”
“What!?”
“Well that was the deal I made with them. I told them that if you ran away and they caught you, they could rape you.”
“No, I remember the deal,” I insist. “I’m just appalled by the whole thing. I understand you being a freak, but they’re normal. They’re human. You should let them have breaks to visit their families or go into town. Maybe then they wouldn’t be so much like…like you.”
The Joker pats me so hard on the back I almost stumble. “Well thank you for that great advice, Captain Obvious,” he sneers. “But for your information the initiation into my group includes killing an innocent baby. That’s right, a baby. So no, they aren’t human. Not anymore.”
“I don’t believe you, you’re such a sick freak” I whisper. How does he live with himself?
The Joker smiles widely and does an exaggerated bow. “Thank you Elena, you’re too kind. But enough talk, time to go.” He grabs the suitcases and dumps them in my arms, leading me out the door.
There are two large black vans outside and a group of about twenty men. They all look pretty nasty and a few gawk openly at me. I spy the one who pretended to help me escape and I frown at him.
“Alright gentlemen, time to go. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll all be rich enough to, geez I don’t know, pay off all the money you owe to the mob? Go to a strip club? Buy a candy bar? It’s up to you.” The Joker points to a sinister man covered with tattoos. “Jacks, you drive the first van.” He then scans the rest of the guys and points to a rat-like guy with limp hair. “You with the ugly face, you drive the other.”
All the guys begin to climb into the vans. The Joker takes the suitcases from me and dumps them in the back of the first van. He then motions me forward. “Get in the back,” he orders me. I climb into the back seat and scoot all the way to the side, folding my arms across my chest. The guy named Jacks was already sitting in the front.
“Hi Jacks,” I say, deciding that maybe if I got to know these guys better, they would think twice about raping me. Jack stares daggers at me through the rearview mirror. Most people would stop trying to make friends at this point, but I was pretty determined. “I’m Elena,” I say, smiling. “You must be important if the Joker let you drive the van.”
Jacks turns around forcefully, eyes popping in frustration. “Hey Elena,” he growls at me, “Shut the fuck up! If you talk to me again, I won’t think twice about twisting your head off.” He faces front again until the rest of the guys start to get it. None of them look at me, instead just talking to each other.
As the Joker clambers into the van, silence fills the air. The men seemed scared to speak in his presence.
The Joker seats himself next to me, putting an arm over my shoulder. “Go Jacks!” the he yells and the van begins plodding down the dirt road. The Joker takes a blindfold out from his pocket and turns to me.
“I need to blindfold you so you don’t know where the house is in relation to Gotham,” he informs me. “Now either you can willingly let me do this or I’ll have to force it on you, it’s your choice.”
I roll my eyes and lean forward, allowing the surprised Joker to tie the blindfold around my head. I guess he didn’t think I’d let him without a fight. I figure it’s not worth it, especially crammed in a van with nowhere to run. We drive for what seems like half an hour to forty-five minutes. The van continues to be silent except for the occasional cough. The Joker spends his time yelling directions to Jacks while playing with my hair with one hand and tapping his fingers on my knee with the other. I attempt to scoot away, but he just draws me closer.
Finally the van stops and the gas shuts off. I feel the Joker tugging my arm, leading me carefully out of the van. I reach up to take the blindfold off but he swats my hand away. “Not yet,” he says. There are loud noises all around me, but I can faintly hear the sound of traffic. We must be close to the city, but probably on the outskirts, which isn’t much of a surprise. No doubt people would be freaking out if they saw the Joker just walking in the streets.
I’m led by the Joker or maybe someone else to a bench to sit. There’s a lot of activity going around still; probably no one’s paying attention to me. I lift up my hand again to push my blindfold aside for a peak but am instantly knocked on the back of the head.
“Ouch,” I squeak, my head stinging from the blow as a gruff voice says in my ear, “Leave that on! Don’t touch it again.”
So the Joker left a guard on me, great. I’ll get my chance sooner or later. The Joker’s bound to slip up at least once. All I need is five minutes and then I’ll be lost in the crowd. Worst comes to worst I could always hide in a dumpster if we’re too far from town. The thought of me hiding in a dumpster brings a smile to my face; it just sounds so ridiculous. Though honestly, no more ridiculous than everything else I’ve gone through. I’m slowly starting to lose track of how many days I’ve been here. All the days blur into each other until it’s just one long cycle of endless hell.
I find myself rambling in my head and decide my time would be better spent resting. I feel the bench under me. It’s pretty long, so I spread out and rest my head on the hard wood.
I must have fallen asleep for at least a bit, because the next thing I know I’m being shaken awake. A gasp escapes my lips as I open my eyes to darkness, but then I remember I’m wearing a blindfold.
“Wake up, Elena,” says the Joker’s sickly sweet voice in my ear. “Don’t worry; I scared the bad dreams away.”
“Oh the contrary, you awoke them,” I mummer, sitting up and stretching my back. The Joker grabs my hand and hauls me to my feet.
“Come, it’s time for you to see where we’ll be staying. I think you’ll agree our vacation home is quite lovely.”
I catch the mocking tone of his voice and reply similarly. “Oh yes, I’m sure it will be gorgeous. I can’t wait to sit out on the veranda and watch the sunrise while sipping punch!”
With his hand on my back, the Joker leads me into some kind of building. It’s well air conditioned and blocks out the noise of the city. It also smells good in here, like lavender or clean laundry. Since I can’t see, I keep bumping into furniture that I swear is in the middle of the room for no other reason than tripping me. Finally, the Joker gets annoyed stopping every three seconds for me to regain balance and lifts me up with a grunt.
“Hey!” I beseech. “I can walk by myself. Put me down.”
“No, you’re too slow.”
“Well, maybe if you take this stupid blindfold off me-“
“A-ta-ta-ta-ta, be quiet. You’re voice is starting to annoy me.”There’s a ping noise and then the whoosh of something opening.
“Are we getting in an elevator?” I ask.
“I’m not carrying you up five flights of stairs,” the Joker grunts as the elevator door closes and starts to move. “Maybe you should lose some weight.”
I pinch him on the back. “You’re not supposed to say that to people,” I grump. “It’s rude, even if it’s not true.”
“I know. But I can’t help it, you’re just fun to make mad. Besides, you really shouldn’t care about what other people think.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I scoff.
“No.”
“Well I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore it when you insult me.”
“You should,” the Joker replies. “It just gives me more power over you when you react.”
“There is no sense in arguing with you,” I conclude. “We just keep going around in circles and never get anywhere.”
The Joker shrugs his shoulders. “Fair enough.” The elevator stops and he starts walking down a long hallway. He shifts me into a more steady position on his shoulder as he fumbles for something in his pocket. I hear the jingle of keys and the click of a lock. Then suddenly, I’m thrown into the air and land…on the ground.
I’m not expecting it and don’t have time to fall correctly. I cry out in pain as I land on my arm. I gently raise it. It doesn’t feel broken but it’s going to bruise. I hear the door close and decide it’s time to take the blindfold off.
Even though I’ve just been flung to the floor like an unwanted toy, I’m still impressed by the grandeur of the large room. “Holy crap,” I whisper, looking around. A large bed covered in a billowy black silk comforter adorns the far wall. There’s a large bookshelf surrounded by an armchair, matching couch and glass copy table. A wardrobe of dark wood stands by the other wall with a dim lamp setting everything in a rosy glow. An open door to my right shows a well lit bathroom, with a mirror covering an entire wall. Exquisite art decorates the empty spaces. It looks like an IKEA room, which would be great except it’s so impersonal. And cold. And empty. Hopefully by the end of the day I’ll feel more ‘at home’, if that’s even possible. There are closed drapes by the bed; it would be nice to bring in some more light. Carefully I walk over to them, minding my throbbing arm. I pull back the thick drapes, expecting to be greeted by the warm afternoon sun and a stunning view of Gotham. Instead, I face-to-face with a boarded up window.
“What’s with this?” I turn around and ask the Joker.
He smiles to himself. “Well, I couldn’t let you know where this building was in relation to the rest of Gotham. It would be too tempting for you to run away.”
“So you boarded up all the windows in this…house?” I inquire. I can only assume it’s some big mansion or empty hotel since there is an elevator.
The Joker’s smile widens as he folds his arms across his chest and leans against the wall. “Actually, that’s the great part. We only had to board up this room. You’re staying in here so the rest of the house can be left as is.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said that you’re staying in this room.”
“I heard what you said,” I snap. “But you can’t just keep me in this room all day by myself.” I start to panic, “What am I supposed to do? I’m going to get cabin fever or something.”
The Joker comes over to me, cradles my arm and examines it before letting it drop. “Your arm’s going to be fine. Beside, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
I make a face at the cliché. “That doesn’t answer my question,” I say, stepping back. “You know I get easily depressed when I have too much time to think.”
The Joker lets out a light laugh and shrugs his shoulders. “Hey, that’s not really my problem. To ease your pain though, I’ll let you know you won’t be by yourself all day.”
My heart leaps in my chest. “I won’t? Who’s going to keep me company? One of your nicer guards, some of them looked pretty normal.”
However, the Joker frowns. “I was talking about myself, stupid. I’ll be here sometimes to keep you from getting too lonely.” He steps closer to me so I’m backed against the wall. He then reaches around and puts his arms on either side of my head. Leaning in close he whispers, “We’ll have fun, I promise. I’m very good company.”
I scowl at him and push him away. “Get away from me.”
“You know what, Elena?” the Joker snaps, pushing me back so I fall against the wall and have to hold on to the curtain for to keep from falling. “You may think I’ve forgotten about last evening, but I haven’t. I-"
I laugh, interrupting. “Oh please, how could I think-” The Joker clenches my jaw in his hand to cease my talking.
“DON’T interrupt me,” he growls, his painted face too close for comfort, “I haven’t forgotten about yesterday, just like I haven’t forgotten anything you’ve told me or done since you came to me.”
I wretch my face away. “I didn’t come to you,” I yell. “You fucking kidnapped me! Don’t word it like I wanted to live with you.”
The Joker glowers at me. “What I’m getting at,” he articulates, “is that I know you better than most people. By all rights, I should be able to do whatever I want to you, including fuck you, torture you, or kill you. The only thing keeping me from doing this is-”
“Yes I know, our deal,” I interrupt.
“NO, not our ‘deal’!” the Joker bellows, grabbing my arm and bringing me closer to his face. “How dense are you Elena? I’m an Agent of Chaos! Chaos doesn’t make promises and keep them, doesn’t follow any order. Why would I not break a deal with you? The only thing keeping me from fucking you is that for some reason I respect you.” He throws me on the ground and I don’t get up, figuring it’s better to move as little as possible at this point. “And I don’t respect you for surviving all those little sob stories of your life. Depression, suicide, and rape are minimal compared to what some people go through. I respect you for being interesting enough to stay alive this long. You realize I was planning to kill you within the first week? It was only because you weren’t some self-centered yuppie that you’re still alive. However, if you stop being interesting, if you don’t give me what I want, I’m going to take it. And believe me, it won’t be pretty.”
He turns around and walks towards the door, attempting to leave. Faster than I though possible, I spring up from where I crotch on the ground and tackle the Joker from behind. I don’t quite knock him over completely, but definitely make him stumble. Then, it’s a whirlwind of fists and feet. I only have the upper hand for a few short seconds, but in that time I’m able to punch him hard in the face, making his nose bleed. The Joker throws me off him and kicks me hard in the stomach repeatedly. Unstoppable tears flood my eyes and I gasp for breath. After a bit I look up and see the Joker above me, blood streaming from his nose, staining his violet jacket. Then, his foot comes back, my face screams in pain and the world goes black for a second. Through blurry eyes, I see the Joker retreat towards the door.
“Don't worry; I'll be here when you get back. It's not like I have plans for today!” I call weakly yet sarcastically out to him through a bloody mouth. The Joker turns around and either smiles or scowls, I can't tell which. With that, he exits and clicks the lock shut.
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Living in Darkness- HIATUS/editing ch 19-25