A Joke Gone Wrong

His thick, purple glove was pressed hard over my mouth, disabling my ability to scream. The heavy scent of his cologne invaded my nostrils. It usually masks the scent of death that follows him, but due to our close proximity, it initiated my reflexes to make me gag. This is it, I thought. There would be no smashed windows, no thump of a body being thrown across the room, no masked figures and no deep, comforting voice. As the blade of the silver knife bit into the soft skin of my neck, a tear spilled out of my locked eyelids. I heard his psychotic laugh ring in my ears before I felt his lips trail down my cheek and swiping away the moisture.

"I'm sorry that it has to be this way my dear, but you know too much. Goodnight, Sweetheart." His words were the last thing I knew before I was swallowed up into a warm caress that carried away my senses and my consciousness.

For almost my entire life, I've had a silent protector, and also, a not so silent ... how should I put this ... enemy, shall I say. I've been kidnapped several times and had my entire family taken away from me. My life now rests in his hands. My name is Kate Hearn. I'm seventeen years of age and I live in the infamous Gotham City.