Halo And Horns

Chapter 12: Be The Light

All Sam could hear as he stood in the empty school corridor were the sounds of his breath, the background noise from the station through his phone and the extremely quiet static of the call but he could feel his heart begin to pound inside his chest. He felt alone and he felt cold. He felt afraid and he felt nauseous. He had never once expected it to happen to him.

He had become a cop for the salary. He never once really cared enough to join the force for the sake of "protecting and serving", hell he couldn't really care less about it. So, what if people are going through stuff? He's fine, isn't he? His family and friends are fine so that's all that mattered to him. Someone went missing? Sure. Someone got murdered? Alright. It didn't matter, it was his job so he looked for the missing people, he looked for the culprits, he interviewed the suspects. Sure, it was true that the job came with danger but he never once thought he would be a victim of such a thing. Because something of the sort never happened to him, he had always thought it never would.

But now, right there, he stood with his phone to his ear and hearing someone tell him that, that wasn't the case at all. No one is safe, not even the black-haired green-eyed cop who, all his life, has obeyed the law and did nothing to make anyone angry. He had always been kind on the outside at least. He was always the good-cop when interviewing suspects too. He didn't know what he did to deserve such a thing and by his friend nonetheless. Was it karma for not caring about what happened to others? But he did his job didn't he? He's saved countless lives and imprisoned countless culprits. Murderers, kidnappers, rapists. Wasn't everyone a little bit selfish? Everyone has thoughts like he does. No one truly cares about another person unless they're important to them, so why him? It's so unfair. But none of it mattered anymore. His daughter is the one who mattered. He had to get her back and he had to protect his wife and unborn son.

"I know it's hard to believe," Charles was saying now. "But I have enough evidence to bring him in. If you can't believe it, I want you to come see for yourself. We connected the dots. We collected the reports from around the world, made about the Joker and it somehow makes sense."

"I get it," Sam interrupted. "I'll be there." And he hung up but right before he slid his mobile back into his pocket, it rang again. He stood there looking at the lit-up screen with his wife's name on it. Denise, it read. Why was she calling him at a time like this? Then he realized that the teacher he had met a moment ago was still standing in front of him, shocked and looking at him curiously.

"Is... everything okay?" she asked, softly.

"Y-yeah! Thanks for letting me know, I'll be on my way then." He booted away hurriedly, picking up the call.

"Honey?" Denise's voice went into his ear and he felt warm and calmed down just for a bit before realizing his situation; his wife was pregnant; he cannot afford to worry her. He had to steady himself, pretend to be fine. "Is everything okay? It's getting late, where are you?"

"I'm sorry, honey, I think I'll be busy with a case today." He said.

"What about Beth?"

"Yes, I uh—left her with a friend."

"A friend? Who? Why?" she sounded alerted.

What was he supposed to tell her now? Who should he name? She knows it's not Charles. She knows there was no one else he trusts enough to leave them with their daughter but he cannot afford to think for too long or she would figure it out. "Nick," he said, before he could stop himself, the name out of his mouth. "She's with Nick, I trust him and she likes him."

"Why did you—"

"You need rest. So, rest up today, I'm giving you a little break." He said and quickly hung up before she could say anything else. And as he knew it would, his heart was pounding, trying to break free of his body and his legs were turning into Jell-O. But he couldn't afford to break down, not yet. He would save his daughter and bring Nick to justice. Ah, justice? He had never once given a damn about it but now that it was his own family at the edge of the cliff, he was all about it; Justice.