Emmeline [Joker X OC]

Chapter Fourteen

 "Fold. Dammit Noah. I swear, if you have nothing-" Derrick pushed the cards down with a loud Thud. The room was heavy with cigar smoke and the smell of beer. A poker table replaced the usual coffee table, and all the men, apart fromJoker, sat around, drinking and smoking. He was nowhere to be seen.

Noah made me come out from my room, where I sat, no longer crying. I couldn't cry anymore. I had no more tear to spare. It throbbed my head to think so I didn't. I couldn't. I just sat on the bed, staring at the unmoving wall.

He pulled my arm away from the monster's room and sat me down on the couch where Vespa tickled my neck with his lips. I clenched my teeth from the memory.

"Not gonna show you. Don't gotta. But lets just say, we're all a bunch of queens." Noah grinned, eyeing Derrick's full house. Derrick brushed his fingertips under his cards and gritted his teeth. I smiled and then quickly returned to my neutral face.

As Crane dealt the next deck of cards, I rolled my neck and heard a bone crack. The smoke drifted at the ceiling and the smell was almost intoxicating. It was different, almost dangerous yet completely and utterly compelling. I fought off the urge to ask Noah for one.

The TV channel always played the news channel. More times than not, the same girl reported the daily evils of society. Kamryn Montrious. I was insanely jealous of her. The way she smiled painlessly into the camera, with her caramel eyes. Her almost black hair was neatly curved right under her breast. She was the only time I got to see someone human that wasn't a part or plan of this hell.

"Screw you Atkinson!" Derrick roared, standing up and chugged the rest of his beer. The men chuckled around him. Derrick smacked the table, pushing the cards on the floor and walked out of the room.

"Well someone's a sore loser!" Noah cried after him, a smile playing with his pink lips. I returned my gaze back to reporter but instead saw Joker's grinning face in the full screen television.

"-robbing a store and using highly extensive weapons. Alongside his usual group of male followers, cops reported a women at the break-in. Further details are unknown. This is certainly a step down from his tactics, so some may warn of a dangerous ploy just waiting to kill." she spoke with a steady voice as footage from Krenton's Astonishing Electronics replaced Vespa's face.

"Anyone who has any information about the whereabouts of the notorious killer, please report to the Darin police as soon as possible. The people of Darin aren't safe with him around."

A commercial began to play, jingling a familiar tone. It was a children's stuffed animal advertisement. Michael scoffed.

"Like anyone in the right mind would actually report us." his raspy voice snicked. I turned face them and noticed Noah looking at me. He quickly turned him focus onto the Asian and laughed.

"Some people don't like to use their brains."

I stood up, my legs shaking. Crane rose his eyes to mine.

"Come. I would like to show you something." he drawled softly. I pursed my lips. He rolled his eyes.

"I don't bite darling. Until you do something to piss me off."

He began walking to the library and I followed him, unaware that Noah was staring at my features again.

When I reached the inside of the library, I could finally acknowledge it's massive size. Multitudes of bookcases lined the beige walls, filled with tattered, old looking books. The floor was a darkened wood, and dark red cushioned chair sat underneath a yellowing light. The smell of old books waved in the air and something triggered inside me. I felt safe. I felt at home.

"It's beautiful here." I whispered, brushing my fingers along the spines of books. Phantom of the Opera. Jane Eyre. Common Sense. This must have been the Classics section.

Craner laughed.

"I figured you for a bookworm once Noah doted on your high success rate with the codes." he dug his hands onto the desk that stood in front of us with his front to me. "So tell me, how'd you know?" he asked.

I shrugged, strangely not feeling as nervous as I usually did.

"I'm unsure. The patterns seemed almost elementary to me. It wasn't hard to solve." I spoke with a stronger voice. It was the books. Something in here must have reminded me of the past. When I was strong. And a murderer.

"I'm trying to figure out who you were before, Emmeline Reine. Your condition complexes me. I'm a doctor, as you're aware. And it's my duty to fix patients." he smiled, his cheekbones prominent under his pale skin. His blue eyes twinkled under the dull lighting.

"Once you know, please tell me." I mumbled, staring uncomfortably into his eyes.

"Vespa wants you go with the boys more, once you stop having your panic attacks with certain triggers. I'm here to help you build and strengthen your intellectual side." he walked around his desk, and pulled out some books from the cabinet. I continued to eye him.

"Tell me, Emmeline, how that feels. The flashback. Being a version of yourself and seeing your surroundings. Tasting, smelling, living, but having absolutely no control over any of it. Does it make you feel," he searched for the right word. "powerless?" he asked, licking his bottom lip as he tried to find a pencil.

I swallowed, losing all the feelings of comfort I received from the library. My shaking hands returned and my heart rate increases. He wasn't one to be with alone.

"Why?" I retorted. He pushed me down onto a chair and smiled, sitting onto the one opposite.

"Why? Because I want others to feel that way. I want to study you. To examine you. To see what creates you to scream in fear and shake from the past. Once I figure out how that works, hopefully I can manipulate the memories to become something I want them too, but to remain lodged in someones brain as something real." he smiled at me. His eyes were the color of a bluebird and despite his evil words, the curiosity in them spoke to me.

"That's despicable." I breathed out. He shrugged.

"It's my place in the world. Let me be despicable. I'm smart, darling. Smarter than a whole box full of ordinary doctors. And once you get smart in this world, you want to fight it." he handed me a book and I took it. Sudoku.

I flipped through.

"This will help me crack more codes?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He nodded, taking out a notepad while tossing me a pencil. I opened to a Medium Level puzzle and looked at it.

"And what if I don't want to help? Don't want to take part in this crime - take part in what I deem against my virtues. Something that articulates murder?" I spat out. Craner stood up, laying the notepad onto his chair. Emmeline Reine. It wrote at the top. He walked to pour some tea. He looked at me, asking if I wanted one. I nodded.

"You might not want to help. But you are smarter than us all. I see that already. And I will help you find out who you are. Sure enough, I'm using it for my own advantage as well, but think of it as a favor to yourself. And if you are still too angelic for these crimes at this time, well then, just think of it as some fun work for your precious little brain." he handed me the tea and I sipped on it.

I gripped the pencil and began working on the puzzle.

Tell me what you think! How are you feeling about Emmeline? Thanks for reading, and please vote and share!