Insanity // J.Valeska

Part Fourteen: The Drawback

HUGE thank you to everyone whose read the story! And without further ado, onto the chapter :)

*week 1 of imprisonment*

Stephanie Harlem was pensive.

Sitting stiffly in the deserted and dim common room, she began to formulate a plan of sorts.

It had been three days. Seventy-two hours. Seventy-two hours of being imprisoned in this dreary, rather isolated penthouse. She was content to remain in solitude, apart from the occasional sighting of the strange red-haired man who seemed to stalked her every movement.

The siblings, Theo and Tabitha Galavan, were either tremendously impressed with her, or quite agitated with her lengthy stay. She had successfully incapacitated their rally of inmates, all without breaking a flawlessly manicured finger nail. And thus they were left with a dilemma. Where to put the young heiress? That however, was not a choice for Stephanie to make, no, all she had to do was live with the result.

Despite everything, she was already beginning to feel the weariness of isolation seeping into her bones; she never truly knew just how much she took for granted while living her daily life, and what she missed most was for someone to talk and laugh with. Sure, she had the occasional spitting match with Tabitha, or had the even rarer glaring contest with Theo, but the creepy siblings were keen on keeping their distance from her. At least for the time being.

And don't even get her started on the other inmates.

Feeling embarrassed after literally having their asses handed to them by a teenage girl, the Arkham inmates kept their distance to an extent; they would shoot her death glares or even the occasional perverted look of strained desire, but for the most part nobody spoke to her.

This proved all the more reason for her to plan an escape.

The large windows scattered along the towering walls of the suites were for the most part covered up, small cracks were the only natural light available, meant to keep the inmates from discovering their location in Gotham. If they were even still in Gotham, that is. The vast french doors leading to a balcony were off limits to everyone, even the eerie siblings for whatever reason. And to make matters worse, all windows, doors and essentially any method out of the hellhole were under lock and key. Talk about a major fire safety hazard. The thing that actually concerned Steph the most was the lack of exit: there were no apparent staircases or elevators in sight. Meaning either any way out was hidden, or there simply were none. A feat which, while possibly, sounded quite unrealistic.

Steph glanced down at her hands, feeling defeated. She had no idea how to escape from this daunting penthouse, she was trapped. That was that.

"Oh cheer up, toots, you act like it's the end of the world!"

Steph whirled around on herself, her stance defensive and guarded. She shot the redhead a withering glare upon realizing it was in fact, Jerome. She immediately relaxed her stiff form upon recognition, and proceeded to return to her pacing and pondering thoughts.

Jerome had other ideas however. Not one for being ignored, Jerome skipped over to his accomplice, getting in her way on purpose. He merely smiled broadly when she flipped him off and instead walked around him, before continuing her anxious pacing. He huffed at her lack of attention towards him, and instead, went with plan B. Wrapping his arms around Steph tightly from behind, Jerome quickly flung her across the room where she landed squarely in the middle of the couch cushions, letting a whoosh of air and a short scream penetrate her full lips. Before the girl could gather her bearings, Jerome was on top of her, leaning his weight precariously on his forearms placed on either side of her head, forcing him to crane his neck in order to look her in the eyes. It was worth the mild discomfort, Jerome concluded, at the deadly look in Steph's clear blue eyes.