You Took Me By Surprise (Joker Fanfic)

10 ~ Gotham's Lost it's Way

I avoided Arthur for a few weeks after that. I knew if I kept talking to him, I'd start falling for him again, and I wasn't sure that it was safe to fall in love with him. He was such an erratic person, and it seemed dangerous. That strange, inappropriate other persona he has of himself. That was the problem. I liked Arthur, I thought, but that other personality... well, I guess it was a part of him too. So yeah, I decided it was best to stay away. Even though I was disappointed with how things turned out.
I had actually found a different apartment which was about 10 minutes away from the previous one. It was still near work, it was slightly better quality (which came with a greater price, of course), and I could still easily see Sophie. I felt safer here. I had started taking dance classes, because there was not one graceful bone in my body when I tried to do so. It was something to do, a hobby. I was busy with work. I went out with Sophie some nights for a few drinks when she was free and her parents were looking after her daughter. It always surprised me that Sophie didn't seem to mind staying in that apartment complex, especially with her daughter. It would've worried me.
There was actually someone I met at dancing class who was kinda cute, a guy named Lawrence. We sometimes were paired up together and we flirted back and forth those times, but the rest of the time we didn't really talk. He was tall, muscular, and had brown hair scraped back into a man bun. He was vegan and was into yoga too. He was interesting. If he was ever gonna ask me out, I definitely wouldn't have said no...
There were still signs everywhere around the city about that killer clown, and I had a weird feeling about it. Everyone was terrified these days.
There was a killer amongst us, and he was literally getting away with murder, somehow. He seemed to really know what he was doing to have not gotten caught yet. He had killed three young wall street men on the subway. The subway! Such a public place and he wasn't caught, and he even killed them with guns. You'd think someone would've heard the shots being fired.
Gotham really was very grim now. I think when I first moved here I was looking at it through rose-tinted glasses since it was my first time moving out on my own. But the garbage strike was still ongoing, the rubbish was piling up higher along the streets, I saw rats scurrying around everyday when I walked to work, and the smell was revolting. So many people were unemployed, and I felt horrible for the homeless people trying to live on those dirty streets. The atmosphere was a mixture of anger and hopelessness. It was just getting crazier out there. And the wealthy, higher-class people, well, they were thriving as usual. It was unjust. They didn't give a crap about anyone else but themselves. One thing I will say for that killer clown, is that he seems to be killing people who are wealthy. I don't think that justifies it, but it's not the worst thing. What about all these homeless people on the streets? He could easily kill them if he was feeling blood thirsty, but for whatever reason, there hadn't been any news of any poor people being killed. Yet, at least.
There was one thing that I couldn't shake off myself lately. And that was a sense of impending doom.

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"What kind of a person does something so cold-blooded? Someone who hides behind a mask..."
This was madness.
News had broke out about 3 times during the last week that seemingly innocent and middle-class people were now victims of the killer clown's murders. I had just been watching the news because I wanted to know everything, and be alert.
"Clowns, that's what they are. They are clowns for being envious of people who are more successful..."
I wonder if that's why the clown did kill the wall street guys? That doesn't explain the middle-class killings though.
Interlaced with this chaos was the fact that there were now protests which a huge number of us had begun taking part in. Funding cuts in the social service sector? They were really fucking with people now. People were left without medications, and there was an increase in the suicide rates. It was going too far. I felt it was right to take part in the protests, I couldn't stand by and do nothing. Protestors donned clown masks, since one of the mayoral candidates, Thomas Wayne, had made that comment on TV. They also carried signs of course, saying things like "kill the rich". We are not clowns for wanting to be able to live a decent life. Another thing: the wall streets guys got a whole lot of sympathy, but the ordinary people that got killed weren't cared about as much. People like Thomas Wayne didn't care about people like us.