No Rest for the Wicked || The Joker's Daughter { ON HIATUS}

Chapter 7: Drinking

     Sitting on the floor in her apartment, Mary felt woozy. No, wobbly. She giggled at the word wobbly and then toppled over onto her side. She had given alcohol a try and it turned out she really enjoyed it. It did keep her mind from racing, after all. Suddenly, there was banging on the front door that made her shoot straight up. "Who is it?" She hiccuped. "Pizza delivery." Excitedly, Mary opened the front door before sighing. It was Eli. "Oh...  I should've known... I didn't even order a pizza..." She pouted and turned to stumble away. Eli was going to laugh, but the current state of his friend worried him more than it amused him. "Nice to see you too, Mary. Sorry about that, I forgot my key this morning."

     "Do you want a drink?" She picked up the bottle of vodka only to find that it was empty. "Oops, maybe another time, then." She giggled. "Come on, why don't we just get you into bed?" Eli steered her to her room and struggled to lift her into her bed. "Why are you drinking so early, anyway? And why wasn't I invited?" He pried. "I had a lot on my mind. Plus, you were at work and I so I couldn't wait." His brows furrowed at her words. "What was on your mind that you had to get rid of?" She hiccuped again. "I don't remember... " Giggling, she shrugged. "It must've worked."

     Eli crawled into bed and sat next to her. He could tell that something was truly the matter, something to worry about. His friend really needed him. "So, where did you get all the alcohol anyway? You're barely eighteen." Mary smirked up at him. "I shouldn't tell you this since you're a mini cop-ling." The statement caused her to burst into laughter. She thought she was hilarious. "I'm not a cop." He corrected her, not finding the joke as amusing. "Yeah, but you're a cop's son... Duh." She figured he just didn't understand her joke. "So, let me guess, you stole it?" She nodded, pulling a finger up to her lips to shush him. Frustration covered Eli's face. "You're better than this, Mary. That's why I vouched for you. I know you can do this." Mary shook her head, suddenly remembering what she had been running away from. "No... I'm not. I don't think it's possible to get away from the scary thoughts in my head. They're bad. I'm bad."

      Eli caressed Mary's chin, tilting her head up to look at him. "Hey, Don't say that." He searched her eyes but they were too glazed over to hold any of her genuine emotion. "You are a good person who was thrown into bad circumstances. They make you the strongest person I know. Don't let anyone take that from you. Especially not someone as worthless as The Joker. You're not him." He scoffed at the name. The man was a coward in his mind, hiding behind a cheap gimimcky disguise. Mary looked as if she was about to say something but instead leaned forward and puked into Eli's lap. She sobbed, apologizing profusely, but he shook his head. "It's okay. I've got you." Grabbing a trashcan, he held her hair and helped her through her first alcohol crash.

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     The next morning, Mary woke up with a killer headache and no recollection of the night beforehand. Eli was still there, though. He was fast asleep on the bed next to her and looked exhausted so instead of waking him to say she was going to work, she kissed his forehead and then stuck a sticky note to it to let him know. 

     Surprisingly, she made it to work on time, but still got a bad attitude from her boss. He was punishing her for her recent behavior, she presumed. Not that she didn't think that she deserved it. Still, cleaning duty was a bit of an uncalled for punishment. Especially since cleaning wasn't normally in her job description.

     As she was mopping the floor, a guy who looked about her age walked through. She backed up in order to move out of his way but he didn't pass her. Instead, he stood there staring at her with a creepy grin on his face. It didn't creep her out as much as it annoyed her, though. "Could you move it along? You're leaving footprints on my floor." Mary would've thought the man was attractive if he wasn't so inconveniently placed.

     "You're The Joker's daughter, aren't you? Mary Quinzel, isn't it?" He asked, matter of factly. Mary was taken aback, the worry showing immediately on her face. "I, uh, yeah... I guess so. How do you know that?" She eyed him up and down. His eyes were hidden behind moppy blonde hair, leaving Mary unable to read them. "I watch the news like everyone else." He simply shrugged before bowing. "It's surreal to see you actually standing here, though, pretending as if you're a completely normal, just like the rest of us." The words stung her to her core and before she could retort, he had turned and walked out of the building leaving her alone and stunned.