Day 4- War

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The next morning, Meredith entered the hospital and followed her usual path through the empty cafeteria. The television in the corner was still playing the news channel. She began watching:

"Our next segment is about the rising popularity of clown masks. Ever since the subway murders, many individuals have been spotted wearing these fake faces as a tribute to Joker. However, after the recent murder of Murray Franklin, the number of mask-wearers surged by the thousands," the news anchor stated.

"Police officers are working around the clock to get these Joker masks banned from the subways and other public areas. Here's a quick word from one of our local officers."

An overweight policeman appeared onscreen. "If we find you wearin' a mask, we will confiscate it from you," he said with a thick city accent. "I'm warning you! Do not walk around in Joker masks. It's disrespectful to the people that died, and it's dangerous. People disguised as clowns are getting away with more crimes because we can't identify 'em. If we catch one of you goons causin' trouble, you will be arrested!"

Meredith left the area and proceeded to Arthur's room. She entered and saw him slouching on his bed, staring into space as usual.

"Good morning, Joker."

"Hey."

She reached into her bag and sat cross-legged on the floor. "I brought a deck of cards today, but we don't have a table, so..."

He nodded and joined her. She began to shuffle the cards.

"Let's try a game called War," she suggested. "It's not complicated at all so it'll be perfect. I'll show you the way I know how to play."

"Sure," Arthur replied blankly.

She cut the deck evenly and handed him the other half.

"Keep your cards facing down," she instructed. "Flip the top card over and place it in the middle, while I do the same." They each revealed their cards.

"I have a 2, and you have an 8," she said. "The higher value wins each round." She handed him her card. "That means you keep both."

"Got it."

Meredith put down an ace which beat Arthur's 7. His 10 won against her 4. Then they both played 8's.

"When it's a tie, we go to "war". This means we both put three cards in the middle facing down, and then reveal the fourth. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"One." Down. "Two." Down. "Three." Down. "Four." Flip.

Meredith's revealed queen card won against his 3. "Now I take all the cards we just wagered. And that's it; we just keep going until one of us wins the whole deck."

***

"So you used to work as a clown," she brought up as they played.

"Yeah."

"What was that like for you?"

Arthur felt a strong laugh bubbling up in his throat. He tried to contain it but that only hurt his throat more.

Meredith tapped his shoulder. "Deep breaths," she reminded him, motioning her hand up as a cue to inhale.

Arthur couldn't help but think back to when those punks bullied him in the alley. The humiliation hurt more than the physical pain. He also remembered how his former boss punished him, and then threw him out after years of loyalty. But at the moment, he was too overwhelmed to convey any of this into words.

Instead, he simply said, "I lost my job."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped. He felt too anguished to speak.

Meredith sensed this. "It's alright. You don't have to." They continued the game and revealed two identical cards again.

War. Arthur won the round this time.

Several minutes of silence passed. Arthur, barely attentive to the game, was preoccupied with his thoughts and looked rather anxious. He randomly spoke up.

"...Said I'd be just fine..." he uttered in a near whisper.

Meredith could just barely catch his words. "Who said that, Joker?" she inquired.

"My mother. But she lied to me."

'Wait a minute,' she thought. 'He told me that he didn't have any relatives.'

"What did she lie about?" she inquired.

"Everything. She lied to me about who I am. She lied to me my whole fucking life."

Such a frustratingly vague answer. But whatever he was alluding to sounded very grave. Were they not on good terms? She almost didn't want to ask where his mother fit in the picture, but a part of her absolutely had to know.

"Where is she now, Arthur?" She realized she had used his actual name by mistake. He didn't bother to correct her because he no longer seemed to care.

"She—" Arthur stopped to laugh with a strained expression. "She had a stroke. I watched her die on her hospital bed. Saw the life drain from her eyes."

"Oh, that's tragic. I'm really sorry."

"I'm over it."

What Meredith didn't seem to catch was that Arthur had just hinted at murdering his mother. He was just extremely sly with his wording. Even though Meredith was left in the dark about a lot of key information, she was devastated to hear about his loss regardless.

With a dejected sigh, she put down another card to resume the game. She played a 6, the same as Arthur.

War. Meredith revealed a king during the round while Arthur, much to his liking, revealed a joker.

Meredith raised her brow. "Ah. The joker is a wild card. In this version of the game, it beats out everything else, including the king." He took her cards.

Arthur smirked. So the joker beats the king? The king, with all the wealth and power in the world, could be defeated? Arthur loved the irony. It reminded him that even a man like Thomas Wayne wasn't invincible.

"Nice. You won," Meredith said. "Want to play again?"

They continued the game until their hour was over.

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