Lurking In The Moonlight

Chapter Sixteen: Love And Marriage

I woke up the next morning to find I was alone in my apartment. Arthur had left me some time between last night and this morning. As I made my way into the bathroom, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and gasp as I looked at what Arthur did to me last night. I was covered in clown paint all over my face, down my neck and all over my breasts. Looking closer at my neck, I found several ugly bite marks, one looking really gruesome. There were also bites scattering downward.

They weren't painful and looking at them, felt weirdly nice. Arthur has a tendency of making me tell him doing sex that I was his and seeing these marks on me, made me feel like I was his. I smiled, touching them gently as I started into the shower, washing off the clown paint. It took extra time because that shit just wouldn't come off with regular elbow grease.

After a shower and a bit of coffee, I was off to work for the day. I stopped along the way at a clothes store to buy a turtle neck long sleeve shirt, to cover up the hickeys Arthur had left. I did what I usually did when walking into work, I went to see the children. They were excited to see me as always.

The day went by, as usual, drowning myself in paperwork and sitting with a few lonely people in the ICU. It went quickly too. It was 5 o'clock when I walked out of the hospital, to find Arthur standing there, smoking and waiting there for me. I smiled as I reached him and he smiled back at me. I pulled him into a hug, happy to see him. He gladly returned it. We pulled away and was about to start the trek home, when a familiar figure started to walk through the entryway.

It was Doug. His face looked awful, nose offset and bruised and his lip had a scab on it from where I made him bleed. I flinched and leaned slightly into Arthur as I avoided looking any farther at the man. Arthur noticed my actions and looked in the direction I turned from. Arthur must of had put two and two together as a secure arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me closer at he passed. Arthur glared at him until he was in the hospital, out of sight.

"Did he hurt you?" Arthur asked, not taking his eyes off of where Doug went.

"He didn't get far. I reported him to HR yesterday. They're going to be handling it."

"And what are they going to do about it?" He sneered, finally looking down at me.

"I'm not sure," I said, feeling a bit low about not knowing what they would do about it. He frowned, before seeing that it caused me to be upset, and dropped the subject. Told me about his day, changing the subject as we walked. He finally signed up for a spot next week at the Pogo lounge to do his stand-up for the first time and wanted to go over his jokes with me.

When we got back to the apartment, I was surprised to find his mom sitting in the living room, watching TV.

"Happy, did you check the mail?" She asked, not even taking her eyes off of the TV. It felt cold, uncaring. Arthur answered that there was none, stepping in the bathroom.

"Have you eaten today, Ms. Fleck." I asked, making my way into the kitchen to make something for the three of us. By the time I finished cream of chicken soup, Arthur finally came out of the bathroom. While I was making dinner, I heard Arthur being thrown into one of his laughing fit. I didn't want to bother whatever he was doing in there, so I stood and just listened. I smiled at him as he looked so tired from the episode, he gave me a weak one in return.

I moved past Arthur, bowl in hand to give to Penny. "Here you are Ms. Fleck."

She smiled at me, touching my cheek as she took a bowl of soup from me. "Thank you dear. You take such good care of me." She turned to Arthur, who cared the other bowls of soup in for us, setting them on the table. He sat down on the couch and began to light a cigarette up before eating and I stared straight into my soup. "Marry this one, Arthur."

Arthur stopped lighting his smoke as soup shoot out of my mouth, eye widened. Arthur blushed, suddenly being shy over the subject matter. "We've only been together a month, ma. Isn't it a bit early for marriage talk?"

"Love knows no time." She said, turning her attention back to the television. I blushed and looked at Arthur, who looked over at me too. I didn't know what was to come from our future, but for now. I was just happy being with Arthur.

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The week went uneventful. Arthur worked on his stand up most of the time, not having a job to go to anymore. He didn't seem too worried, having a new sense of confidence that I'd never seen come from him before. He walked a bit taller, smiled a bit more, just had, in general, a better attitude. I spent every moment of my life around Arthur. He was an addiction at this point. When I wasn't with him or working, I felt lonely and sad. Being around him was giving me a reason to live.

We spent most of our time together going over jokes for his upcoming act. I spent all my time in their apartment, sleeping with Arthur on the couch, which he never seemed to mind. I think he enjoyed the human contact as much as I did. The only time I would go down was to change my clothes or Arthur and I would sneak away to have sex.

When I was at work, I would bury myself in it, hoping to get some answer about my problem to Doug, but since the last time, I saw him Doug hadn't been back to work since. Never called off, never showed up, nothing. No one had heard from him and his job went on without him.

"Happy! Come look! Thomas is on the TV." Penny called out to Arthur as he made breakfast for the three of us that morning. I took the day off, helping Arthur get ready for his set at Pogo's that night. I was sitting and watching the news too, in my pj's. "They're interviewing him about the murders that happened last week."

"Murders? What murders?" I asked Penny as her sight was only set on Thomas Wayne.

"Haven't you heard? Three men were killed on the subway last week, some clown killed them." Penny Informed me as Arthur brought in two bowls of oatmeal, tossed them on the coffee table as his eyes glued themselves to the TV as well.

"What does he have to do with them?" Arthur asked as he grabbed a cigarette and began to smoke.

"...as you know, Jerry, all three of them worked at Wayne Investments, and they were the best of the best. Solid young men. And while I didn't know them personally, like all Wayne employees, past and present, they were family."

"You hear that! I told you! We're family." Penny shouted as Arthur hushed her.

"Yes, and it's a shame. It's one of the reasons I'm considering a run for mayor. Gotham has lost its way."

I looked over at Arthur, who looked unnerved by Thomas talking about the murders. His legs begin to twitch as he inhaled and exhaled the cigarette slowly.

"Arthur?" I asked but I was hushed too. I felt discouraged and grabbed my bowl of oatmeal, trying not to yak at the taste. He didn't put any sugar in it.

"What kind of coward would do something that cold-blooded? Someone who hides behind a mask. Someone who's envious of those more fortunate than themselves, yet too scared to show their own face. And until that jealousy ends, those of us who've made a good life for ourselves will always look at those who haven't as nothing but clowns."

Arthur leaned back into the couch, chuckling to himself as Thomas called people under him clowns.

"That's not funny," Penny said with all seriousness as Arthur continued until it threw him into a laughing fit. I dropped the bowl of tasteless oatmeal and pick the smoke out of his hand, putting it in my mouth as I rubbed his back until the fit subsided. It lasted longer than it normally does, and Penny seemed uncaring about her son's condition, putting her empty bowl down on the table and walked out of the room.