Crazy Child

Facing Your Fears

Opening her eyes again Jessie looked around the dark room she was in. She looked down at her body to see she was no longer restrained. She slowly took a step forward. It was cold and every step she took she felt as if the floor would crumble beneath her. She held her breath and began to walk forwards. As she continued to walk she took a look around at her surroundings. It seemed that she was in the middle of a decayed city. The sun light up the backs of building and cast long shadows as it slowly sank beyond the horizon. In the far distance she saw a building standing tall. She began running towards it. As she was running it began to rain, lightning began to strike near her and thunder clapped around her. She tried to outrun it but a lightning bolt came down directly in front of her, causing her to scream.

She stopped and continued watch as lightning shot near her.She tried in vain to reach the building but the thunder knocked her senses around in her brain and the rain distorted her vision. Lightning kept coming down to strike her out with a vengeance she didn't know electrons had. She soon found herself in what looked like Gotham North Park. She ran for cover under a large tree when the sky cracked and came down on the tree, causing it to fall directly towards Jessie. Her eyes widened and she began to run from it. Every time she looked back at it it seemed closer and always seemed to follow her no matter which way she ran. Jessie felt a tug on her leg and triped. Looking back she saw the tree fall down on her foot. She let out a scream of pure pain and terror, even though she felt nothing.

She felt a hand grab hers and pull her out from the tree. When she turned to thank whoever it was she was face to face with Scarecrow. She let out another scream of terror and felt something prick her arm. She pulled away and backed away in horror as the figure started growing taller and more distorted with every second. Then she was back in the city. Except this time it was no longer decayed but bustling with people that walked ran and skipped in every which way. She recognized it as.. Gotham? She found herself wandering down street after street until her feet finally lead her home. Except when she arrived at her apartment she found it falling apart, destroyed, graffitied and even burnt. Her eyes widened and she ran in. Tears streamed down her face, the inside was worse.

"MOM!" She screamed out. She had to be here somewhere, Jessie knew that. When she ran up stairs she ran straight to her mother's room. There she saw her mother on a chair looking down. "Mom?" She said hesitantly with tears still falling down her cheeks. When she was finally close enough she lifted her mother's head to only see burnt and rotting flesh. She screamed and fell to the floor crawling backwards away from it. Scrambling to her feet she she turned around suddenly finding herself in her father's old place of work. Her heart stopped for the smallest second; she saw her father again. She smiled and began to run to him. She was less the ten feet away from the door when an explosion happened and left her standing in horror. Her fear took over again forcing her to scream again calling to her father. She broke down crying and fell to her knees. Covering her face she tried to shake the images away.

She felt something sharp enter her arm and a loud, dark and menacing voice speak. 'Why don't you open your eyes!" It demanded. Jessie's eyes shot open. The Gotham skyline was gone. Instead she found herself in avast room. There were sculptures and artifacts littered around the room encased in spotless glass. At the end stood a large display. Jessie walked towards it slowly, not taking in anything else in the room. There sat a large book, almost like a scrap book. Jessie opened it up carefully to reveal pictures of Harley and Joker. They were burning down furniture and destroying walls. Someone was getting tortured. As Jessie flipped through the book faster and faster she realized, this was her house, that was her mother! Her eyes widened and she felt sicker and sicker as she came to the last picture in the book.

She felt more tears stream down her face. It was of her holding her mother's bloodied head up smiling while Joker hugged her and Harley smiling behind her mother. "No!" Jessie cried and shoved the pedestal away along with the book. She could no longer look at the book of her horrid future and cried.

"Is that what I'm supposed to turn out to be?" Jessie wondered to the empty room.

"No you'll be like me." Said a very creepy voice behind her. Turning around Jessie came to see herself. Except it wasn't her. This girl held blood stained clothes and had adorned the colours of green and purple like she was born into them Her hair was blonde and pulled back into high pony tails that ended with ombre of red to match the blood on her clothes. Weapons adorned every part of her body and as she smiled at Jessie, it seemed the entire world became unsettled. Jessie backed away from herself.

"What scared of who you are?" Her doppelganger laughed and went to attack. Jessie put her hands up and defended herself. The two fought for a while. When Jessie had finally gotten the upper hand and pinned her darker self down. She ripped the knife from her dark sides hand and plunged it down into her throat. Jessie blinked and gasped in fear. Her evil self fell away to show the dying face of Connor.

"Connor? Connor! No Connor, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!' She cried and held her hands over her mouth. It was to late he was all bloodied and bruised, and now dead. Laughter filled the air and a flash of light lit off.

"Good work kiddo." Laughed Joker causing the already loud laughter to grow louder. She looked up at him and backed away shaking her head.

"No! No I didn't mean to!" Jessie's voice was fading and scratchy, and she felt her eyes burn from all the crying.

"Awe honey. Come to mama and papa." Said Harley. She made slow movement towards Jessie. The walls seemed to join in on the laughing causing more noise to the mayhem. The laughter wouldn't go away. Jessie held her hands over her ears and cried and screamed for the laughing to stop. "See this is what happens when you don't listen." Said the Joker and stared down at her. "So. Why don't you just listen to us?" The teen let out a piercing scream. screamed, "I'm SORRY! I'll listen I swear!" Jessie continued to hold her head, squeezing her eyes shut and continued to scream out apologies and promises to listen.

Finally the laughing stopped and a slow clapping was heard. Opening her eyes again Jessie saw that she was still in the horrid office of Dr.Crane strapped to the chair. Looking towards the clapping she saw Joker smiling and Harley standing beside him happy.

"Well Jonathan you sure got it in you."Joker laughed. Jessie flinched and kept her eyes darting around the room looking for any danger. Two thugs walked up to her and took all the straps off of her. "Why don't you come give good old Joker hug." He looked Jessie dead in the eye. Something inside of her seemed to tick, moving her like a robot towards Joker.

"If anything is off. Simply send her back." Scarecrow quipped completely disinterested with the clown. As Joker ushered Jessie out of the door she glanced back slowly into the small concrete room. From all the pain that had come from it at least Scarecrow was honest in his actions. There was no manipulation. She caught a glance at the man and noticed something off about him. Jessie was just short enough to see under his dark hood. His eyebrows were knitted together deeply and his eyes were darting around the room.

Observation: Scarecrow was... nervous?

Conclusion: Something about this was very wrong. 

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Thank you "Iamarkhamasylum" for the title of the chapter.