Ｓｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ

VIII

"Dad?" I call out while searching for my dad in the empty white room, "Come on, Dad!" I turn around, but freeze in my place when I see my dad suddenly right in front of me. He laid sprawled out on a wooden chair, completely limp and his skin complemented that of a pale purple and blue.

With a shaky breath I inch closer to him. He had deep lacerations around his neck and the dark bags underneath his eyes were deeply sunken in, "D-dad?" I carefully step over the spilled pills that surrounded him. I gently touch him but quickly yank my hand away when I felt how cold he was. It was almost like touching a cold table. He was completely hard, and cold.

His stiff body starts to move. I slowly back away from him, crushing the pills underneath my feet as I do so. He lifts his head and opens his lifeless eyes, "Save me."

My eyes quickly shoot open. My breathing was ragged and I was disoriented at first, not exactly sure of where I was, "Uh, Toots. You uh, you okay?" I look down to see that I was laying on the floor. I look back up towards my bed to see Joker sitting comfortably on it with his usual grease paint and bright clothing on.

Great, I wake up from a nightmare only to be reminded that I'm living in one, "Do you watch all your hostages sleep?" I say in a sleepy voice while sitting up and resting my back against the door behind me, "Only the pretty ones."

I roll my eyes, "Why are you in here..." I trail off when I see a plate of food sitting on the bed next to him, "No-" I go to protest but he interrupts me. He crosses his arms and raises a painted brow, "No?" He asks. I swallow, slightly nervous, "I um, I mean, No... thank you?" He groans out in agitation and jumps up from the bed with the plate now in his hand.

He walks over in front of me and falls to the ground with his legs crisscrossed. He holds the plate of food out in front of my face. There was two eggs, two pieces of bacon, and one small sausage link. The eggs were placed next to each other, resembling eyes, and the bacon was underneath, curved upwards into a smile. The sausage link was the nose.

I cross my arms, "Don't make me force you." He warns. I sarcastically chuckle at his words, "Why do you even care?" He scoffs, "I don't." I cock up an eye brow, "Oh yeah? Then why does it matter if I eat or not? Just kill me yourself." His face slightly hardens and then softens again, "Please?" He pouts while still holding the plate out to me. However, I don't give in so easily, "You're really gonna make me do this huh?"

Before I could question what he meant he takes the sausage between his fingers, "Here comes the choo choo trainnn." My face sours, "You cant be serious." He inches the food closer to my mouth, "Deadly... Choo choo." He mimics a train whistle. I tightly seal my mouth closed, avoiding not only the food but the laughter rising in my chest, "Come on, Harmony." I pause at the sound of my name coming from his lips.

I stare at him for a long moment before groaning and snatching the sausage from his grasp. Before I take a bite I look at him, "Do you have water?" He half smirks at me before standing up. He opens the door that I was leaning against and walks out. While he was gone I shove the sausage into my orange pants pocket, not bothering to eat it.

He soon comes back with a glass of water held in his hand. He walks past me, shutting the door to where it was against my back again and returning to his spot on the floor in front of me. I quickly snatch the water from him and chug it fiercely, finally getting to quench my thirst.

I set the empty glass onto the floor, "Where's the uh, sausage?" he asks while he scans over my features, "I ate it. Please don't make me eat more. I'm really not hungry." I lie. His tongue quickly traces his bottom lip, "Fine." He says, taking the empty glass and plate of food from the ground and standing up. He gives me one more look before opening the door and walking out. However, he didn't shut it back.

I crane my neck to look behind me and into the hallway. I heavily sigh and stand up. I bite at my bottom lip before starting down the hallway and towards the living room and kitchen.

This time I took in more of my surroundings. In the middle of the living room sat a large couch. To the left of the couch was a recliner and in front of the furniture was a large flat screen Tv.

I look over to the kitchen, all of Joker's men were absent. Instead, Joker sat alone at the kitchen bar drinking out of a whiskey glass, "You know. It's like, really early in the morning right?" He doesn't look at me, "It's my-ah, coffee." It was weird to see him do normal things like drinking. It reminds me that underneath all that make up and eccentric purple and green clothing, he really was just a human.

I inhale deeply before walking over to the bar and slowly taking a seat in front of him. He watches me curiously with a brow raised, "Thought Ya hated me Toots?" I rest my elbows on the counter and sleepily lay my cheeks between my hands, "Too early for hate." He lowly chuckles, "How early is it anyways?" Joker raises his wrist up to his face, lifting his sleeve as he does so to reveal a black watch, "4:50 a.m." My eyes widen, "Are you always up this early?" He shrugs in response and downs the rest of his whiskey.

My hands fall from my face and lay on top of the counter. I slightly twiddle my thumbs, "D-do you um... Do you have a towel? And maybe some spare clothes? I need a shower..." He rounds the table to where he was now on my side, "Yeah, I wasn't gonna say anything. But you stink." He smiles at me before heading down the hallway. When he was out of view I raise my arm and sniff underneath my armpit. I shrug and then run after him.

By the time I caught up to him he was walking into his room. I stop at his doorway, afraid to invade his space, "you know, I don't bite." he pauses to look at me, "Hard." I gulp and slowly walk into his room.

I was completely shocked to see how well-kept it was. His bed had a purple and green bed set covering it and was completely made. Everything on his bed side table was neatly organized and his tan carpeting had just recently been vacuumed, "Do you have a maid I don't know about?" I ask, gazing around the large room while he rummages through cabinets in his bathroom.

He emerges from the bathroom and tosses me a light blue towel, "There's a lot you don't know, doll." I slightly frown, "I um, still need clothes." He rolls his eyes, "I don't mind toots." I shoot him a deadly look causing him to giggle.

He walks over to a large dresser in the corner of the room. He digs out a large black t-shirt and grey sweat pants. He throws them to me as well. I hold the sweat pants out in front of me, "I don't think these will fit." Joker shrugs, "They have a-ah draw string." I look up from the pants and up to Joker, "Are these your clothes?" He slightly rocks back and forth on his heels, "Yep." He says while popping the P. Of course they were, "Thanks." I blandly state before walking out of the room as calmly as possible.

I stand in front of the water stained mirror, my naked body staring back at me. My reflection had changed a bit. I had thinned some since the last time I looked in a mirror. My bones were more protruding and my skin had faded into a sickly color. My cheek bones were more defined and my hair was stringy and oily. I don't even want to talk about how bad my eye bags were. This definitely wasn't my most attractive motif.

I turn to face the shower, I stick my hand underneath the already running water to see if it was warm enough.

I sigh in relief when I step into the shower. I run my fingers through my hair to make sure it all gets wet. My eyes find the familiar tattoo on my collar bone. I smile when memories of my first love start to flood my mind. He saved me in more ways then I could count. Not a day went by where I didn't think about him at least once.

If I am being honest, it's pretty sad. I haven't seen him in twelve years, but he is one of the only happy memories I have to hold on to. Those memories are what keeps me going, what keeps me sane.

Without them I wouldn't be any different from the Joker.