Mad Love

Chapter 2

It was raining outside, and it sucked. My apartment was a ways away from the asylum and since my car was completely smashed into by a drunk driver I had no means of transportation except by foot, taxi, or by bus. I hated the bus and would take foot over bus any day, and taxi's feel sketchy to me.
I held a small black umbrella that did very little to protect me from the rain. I for some dumb reason decided to take the night shift for extra credit, but as I neared the large building, I noticed how creepy Arkham can get at 10:00 at night in pouring rain.
"All that's missing is lightning." I muttered to myself. I then entered through the gate with my keycard and walked up the driveway that led to the asylum. Shivering as I did so, I rang the doorbell. A tired Frannie opened the door. She looked as though she were about to leave as she was wearing her rain jacket and scarf.
"Your late." She grumbled. I rolled my eyes and pulled my now soaked long black hair out of my face.
"Ever heard of a raincoat or an umbrella?" Frannie teased.
"Actually, I have an umbrella but it sucks at doing its job."
"I can see that." Frannie then gestured for me to come inside. I entered and I took off my soaked through cream colored trench coat. Frannie took it from me, put it on a hanger and hung it in the closet. She then hurried around grabbing papers and typing a few things on her computer. As she did so, I walked over to another closet and pulled out a lab coat.
"Here are some papers you need to fill out throughout your shift. It's really easy, all you have to do is walk around the asylum and write a checkmark if the patient is safely in their cell, oh! And make sure to put each of their cells on 'sound proof' because then it will make it easier for them to sleep, okay?" Frannie then shoved a large stack of papers into my arms and a small clipboard as well as a pen.
"Seems easy enough." I sighed.
"Good, it should be, and if you need something or if something goes wrong here's my number as well as the boss's." Frannie held out a small sticky note with two numbers scribbled on it.
"Oh, and here's the set of keys you'll need in order to access certain areas of the asylum, their labeled for you."
"Thanks."
"Well I'm off, good luck Harleen."
"Bye." I muttered, looking down at all of the papers. Just then it hit me, I'm not the only one in this place right? I became worried, what if the power goes out, what if...
"Hey, are you the new Intern?" A voice said from the hallway.
"Um...yeah, I'm Harleen, who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Jessica, I'm an Intern too, well not really any more. I was the new intern two years ago, but I'm still in college."
"Yeah, it's my first year of college." I said, relieved that I wasn't the only one in the building.
"Are we the only ones in the building right now?" I asked.
"Oh, no no no! There are dozens of guards all over the place. It's too dangerous without them and there's Rob too, he's the tech/security guard."
"Oh, okay. Cool."
"You should probably get going on your job, it's almost 11."
"Yeah, I guess your right. Thanks!"
"No problem, nice to meet you Harleen."
"You too, Jessica!" I then made my way down the hall towards the main cell area, deciding to go to the dangerous area last. Most of the patients in the main area were asleep so I quietly turned their cells to soundproof. After checking off everyone I moved on to the next section, then the next, then the next, until I finally reached the area where all of the dangerous prisoners were kept. I then pulled out the ring of keys from my lab coat pocket and looked for the one that opened the double doors to the dangerous area. I finally found one that was labeled area #45 which was the same number as the area I was trying to get to, so I tried the key. The key worked and I pushed open the surprisingly heavy door and peered inside. The place always gave me the creeps, or maybe it was because I knew HE was here. I hadn't even spoken to the guy and he still creeped me out. I'm sure I'll have nightmares about him tonight.
I began to check the cells and turn on the soundproofing. I avoided HIS cell until his was the only one I hadn't checked. I sighed and slowly made my way towards it. I then peeked my head over to see him, he was sitting against a wall, staring at the one across from him. He had a bored expression upon his face and he didn't seem to notice me. I quickly sped past him hoping he didn't notice me and was about to turn his cell sound proof when he said,
"You know it's not nice to stare." His voice was deep and husky and the red smile on his lips was much more smeared then yesterday.
"I-I..." I was speechless, my words left me. I was paralyzed. "W-why are you still up?"
He gave a small smirk.
"Would you be able to sleep in a place like this?"
"I guess not." I was too afraid to make eye contact, and I was a bit surprised that the first patient I was talking to was the Joker, who was apparently very dangerous, funny how I had heard very little of him when I first moved to Gotham for College.
"I-I gotta go." I said quietly, turning on his soundproofing and checking off his cell, not waiting for an answer as I quickly walked away. I didn't turn back, but I felt his gaze on me.