Ｓｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ

VII

     "love of my life, you've hurt me. You've broken my heart, and now you leave me. Love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back. Don't take it away from me because you don't know... What it means to me..." I lightly sing under my breath while staring blankly at the ceiling. I pause and look over at the bathroom door. I really wanted a shower. I pealed myself from the bed and went into the bathroom.

     I looked everywhere and didn't see a single towel, "Seriously?" I growl out while marching out of the bathroom and heading straight to the door that leads to the rest of the house.

     I shakily raise my closed fist to the door and begin to bang on it to get someone's attention.

     Moments after my fist made contact with the door someone jerked it open. I half expected it to be Joker. However, I was surprised to see that it wasn't. The man had a protruding beer belly and grease stains on his grey tank top. He had short, thin, oily hair and a patchy five o'clock shadow. I cringe in disgust.

     "What?" he snaps at me, taking me off guard. His breath was almost as bad as his appearance, "I-I...U-um..." Another man steps next to the nasty one that stood in front of me. The new man appeared much more clean. He had brown eyes and unkept black hair. He wore a dark blue jean button up with the sleeves slightly rolled up and the top two buttons undone revealing a white shirt underneath. He also had a watch on his left wrist.

     "Come on Butch. Don't be rude." Butch grunts at the other man's words and storms off. The clean man takes Butches spot in front of me, "Hey. I'm Monty." he extends his arm out for me to shake his hand. I stare at it and then look back up at him. He awkwardly coughs and lets his arm fall back to his side, "Sorry. Butch can be rude."

     I chew at the inside of my cheek and cross my arms over my chest, "I want to take a shower." Monty crosses his arms as well and rocks back and forth on his heels, "So...? Take one." I sigh in agitation, "There aren't any towels." Monty stops rocking and his arms fall back to his side, "I'm sure boss has some in his room. Just go ask him." Monty points down the hallway. I look to see at the very end of the hall was a faded green door with patches of paint slowly peeling off.

     That was an immediate deal breaker for me. I didn't need a shower that bad, "Thanks but no thanks." I say while going back to my bed and leaving Monty standing alone at the door way. He sighs and leans against the door frame, "Ya know, It would be a lot easier if you just cooperated with him." I laugh sarcastically at his words, "You've got to be kidding me." I avoid looking at Monty.

     "Look. I know you're not happy to be here. But if you want to have a semi decent life you have to play nice. And take care of yourself. When was the last time you've ate?" I roll my eyes and shrug carelessly, "Don't know. Don't care."  I hadn't even had the thought of food cross my mind. If I was being completely honest the idea of eating right now made me uneasily nauseous, "If you don't take care of yourself. I'm gonna have to tell him."

     I sat at the foot of my bed and twiddled my thumbs, "Do it then. I don't care." And that was the truth, I didn't. What could he do? He can't make me take care of myself.

     Monty lowers his head In defeat and sighs, "Fine." He says right before shutting the door and leaving me alone once again.

     I did not enjoy being alone. It was something I hated the most. I always felt like I was the most unstable when I was alone. When it's quiet is when all the thoughts start swimming around in my head. I sit at the edge of the bed and quickly bounce my leg up and down anxiously while I hum unrecognizable songs. I keep my eyes fixed on the ground. If I had to guess, I would say I've been here for at least eight hours. Which feels like an absolute eternity.

     I tightly clutch my arms around my thin frame and raise my eyes to the door that lead to the outside of my room. I clench my jaw and quickly raise from the bed and walk over to it. I stare intensely at the knob as if I could magically open it with my mind. I purse my lips slightly and quickly reach out to it and turn it. My eyes widen.

     It turned? I turn it some more until It couldn't anymore. I then slowly push the door open just wide enough for me to peak out of. I look down the hall towards Joker's room and then up the hallway. It looked like it lead to a living room. I push the door open all the way and quietly creep through the ajar door and down the hallway towards the living room.

     When I reach the open space I see there is also a kitchen to my right. My heart almost leaps out of my chest when I realized it wasn't empty. Five people sat around the kitchen bar, and their eyes were now on me. "Um." is all I could muster out before nervously chuckling. I recognized Monty and Butch in the group of people.

     Monty smiles at me and then points at a man that sat across from him. The man looked just as clean as Monty. He somewhat had innocent features. His hair was light brown and it was slightly spiked up and his eyes were bright blue. He also had a slight stubble present on his face. He wore a dark grey button up. Only it was left completely open and he had a white shirt on underneath, "This is Newt." Monty says and then moves his pointer finger to someone else sitting next to Newt.

     I was shocked to see that it was a women. She had short black hair, almost buzzed off and she appeared to be mixed. She wore a black shirt with the sleeves absent and small ear rings, "This is Ramsey." Ramsey carelessly waves at me and then removes her eyes from me. I uneasily smile in return, "You've already met Butch. And this is Cooper." Cooper was just about as disgusting as Butch. He smiles creepily at me, showing his rotting yellow teeth. I cower and make sure to stand as far away from Cooper as possible.

     We all freeze in our spots and hold our breaths when an eerie, slow laugh echoes throughout the kitchen, "Ha ha ha ha Oh he he ha haa" The laugh was very clearly fake, "Glad to see you out of your room doll." I turn my head to my right to see Joker lazily approaching me. He snakes his way behind me and then walks up to everyone at the table. They were obviously as scared of him as I was.

     The air was still and it was agonizingly quiet, "Well. I'm assuming you've met everyone?" I lightly nod at his words while looking down at the ground. He dramatically sighs and walks up to me, "Still. Wont. Look at me." He tilts his head and scans over me, " Is it the scars? You wanna know how I got em?" Before I could respond he quickly takes my face in his hand and holds a knife to my cheek, just like how he did in my room hours ago.

     I look up to look at him in the eyes. I was surprised to see instead of his usual harsh dark eyes, they were now a light chocolate brown. They were soft and almost full of sorrow. My brows furrow.

     He leans in, his face only inches from mine, "I had a girl, beautiful, like you. I was young, broke, and a fiend. One night, I stole from someone. Someone very bad. For her. I never got to show her the gift I got her before the bad man caught me. He sticks the blade in my mouth. And he does this to me." He stops and moves his head to different angles to give me a better look at his scars, "Now I'm always smiling. Now I see the funny side."

     I scan over his face. Looking for a drop of honesty. It was hard to tell. Everyone knew that the Joker's stories about his scars were different each time. Some say he might not even remember which one is the truth, "You're hurting me." I slightly whisper. He stills at my words when he sees a small drop of blood forming on my cheek from the tip of the knife being pressed against me a little too hard.

     He puts his knife away and raises his hand to my face. I slightly flinch with his sudden movements. His thumb gently whips the drop of blood from my cheek, "Go." He coldly states. I do as he says, almost sprinting back to my room.

     I quickly shut the door and rest my back against it, struggling to catch my breath. My body quickly heaves as I slide down to the floor, with my knees now tucked to my chest. That was enough to make me want to never come out of this room again.

     A small tear falls from my eye as I try to calm my nerves. My arms shakily wrap around my knees. I begin to count to help myself relax. I close my eyes and slowly fall into a tranquil state while counting before nodding off into a light slumber.