ᵀʰᵉ ᵖˢʸᶜʰᵒ & ʰⁱˢ ᵖˢʸᶜʰᵒˡᵒᵍⁱˢᵗ ꪜꪖꪶꫀᦓᛕꪖ

09

﹂︎CHAPTER 9 ﹁︎

დ︎

I made my way out of the ally and decided to head towards the direction of the Gotham Gazette. Considering Zsasz said that's where Jerome was last seen about.

I soon past the Gotham Gazette, and that's when I could feel my stomach turn in regret, now debating if this was such a good idea or not. Jerome did say not to follow him but it's been 2 days. What else am I supposed to do?

I keep on walking until I could no longer see the Gotham Gazette.

That's when I spotted a huge building right in front of my eyes. This must be the penthouse Victor was talking about. Whoever lives here must be rich.

I was thinking of a way of how I could get into the penthouse, until I heard someone shout. Little did I know this strange man was shouting at me.

"Hey, you. Over here!" The man demanded.

I looked around, seeing if he really was talking to me and by the looks of it he was. "Why me" I muttered, walking over towards him with caution. "Can I help you?" I asked.

"The real question is sweetheart, can I help you?" He said, as he licked his lips eyeing me up and down.

Gross. But maybe I can use this to my advantage.

"Actually yes, you can. Have you seen a guy about 6 foot tall, green eyes and red hair?" I asked, hoping for the best.

"What the hell does a pretty girl, like yourself want with a red headed freak like Jerome?" The man responded, his face turning in disgust.

Bingo.

"You really can't say much, looking like that" I scoffed.

By the expression on his face I could tell he was taken back by my response. And angry. Really, really angry.

"Who do you think you're talking to?!" He roared.

"Someone in desperate need of a bath, by the looks and smell of it" I remarked, scrunching up my face in disgust, from that god awful stench coming from him.

"That's it you bitch! You're coming with me" He growled, holding both of my hands shut tight.

"Look, I need to see Jerome, just take me to him" I exclaimed.

"Tough luck, because you're coming with me" He whispered, sending me unpleasant chills.

"Jerome will kill you" I sneered.

"Too bad he won't find out" He snapped, with a clear hint of irritation in his voice.

I broke the silence. "What's your name? I'd at least like to know the name of the guy who's going to kill me" I observed, feeling as if my plan had failed.

"Robert. But everyone calls me Greenwood. And oh, I'm not going to kill, i'm going to do unimaginable things to you, then kill you" He laughed, as I took a gulp.

"You're fucking psychotic!" I hissed, standing on his toe. He groaned, stumbling back in the process. I took that opportunity to run and not once look back.

Considering we were half way up the stairs to the penthouse, I knew he would struggle to get up them, so that bought me more time.

I went to take one more step until I was pushed down to the ground.

I turned around and saw Greenwood, who was hovering over me. "You're faster than I thought" I yelped, as his body weight started to crush me.

"Shut up!" He growled.

"I bet you took the elevator, on the other side" I laughed, dryly. He looked at me, his face growing red. Either from anger or embarrassment.

"Wait, you so did, didn't you?" I muttered, muffling a laugh. "Lazy shit" I added on.

"You wanna say that again?" He threatened.

"L a z y, s h i t" I spelled out, individually.

"That's it" He said.

And before I could question what he meant by that, he dragged me up from the floor and slammed me into the wall. Which led me to let out an inhuman scream.

I could feel myself growing dizzy, and I could see and feel the blood dripping down from my head and onto my face.

The next thing I saw were about 4 people who were surrounding me, including Greenwood. But then suddenly another person emerged from behind the others.

"Who the hell was that screami-"

I know that voice.

"Jerome?" I croaked out, my throat sore and dry.

And as soon as he saw that it was me, he ran to me and gave me the biggest embrace and it was the safest I have felt in days. 

"I missed you" He admitted, whispering in my ear so only I could hear as he held my waist steady,  supporting my balance.

"No, you missed the teasing" I scoffed, pulling away from his embrace.

"That too" He laughed.

I smiled at him, but before I could get another word in my head started to throb and my vision got blurry as well as the sound around me slowly drowning out.

The last thing I heard was Jerome shouting
and then everything started to fade into darkness and I was completely alone.