Title: Afraid of the Dark
Author: Rae Street
Summary: Kami's in the clutches of the Joker, and things are getting a bit strange.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Status: WiP
Disclaimer: All Batman characters belong to DC Comics, and whomever else they belong to. Used without permission. Kami and all other non-DC characters are my own creations. Please don't sue me... I ain't got no munny, just a lil' plot bunny. Sue him instead. ;-)
Afraid of the Dark
=Chapter Seven: Rude Awakenings=
I groaned and groggily opened my eyes. The room was spinning slightly, causing me to feel somewhat nauseous. I closed my eyes again and rubbed them with my hands, trying to clear my vision. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, or how I arrived back at the Joker’s hideout; I was, however, acutely aware of a massive headache, a result of the blow I received from Mace’s gun.
I shuddered at the memory… Mace had been so angry, and the fact that he already had it in for me beforehand made me very afraid of what he would do now. And what about the Joker? What was HE going to do to me? I had prevented Mace from killing Nightwing, one of Joker’s enemies; Joker surely wasn’t going to take my actions lying down. I was doomed.
My stomach rumbled and I winced at the sudden pain. Great… how could I possibly be nauseous and hungry at the same time? Not to mention thirsty; my tongue was literally stuck to the roof of my mouth. My stomach grumbled again impatiently, and I realized that I was going to have to get up and find food, no matter how rotten I felt.
I cautiously opened one eye and glanced around. The room had stopped spinning… that alleviated part of my nausea, at least. I was lying on the couch in the living area, in front of the TV. I didn’t see anyone else in the room, a fact that both relieved and concerned me. I was glad to be alone, but I was also afraid of what they might be up to. Planning my ultimate demise, perhaps?
I shook off the thought and carefully pulled myself into a sitting position. I couldn’t worry about what they would do to me; I had more immediate needs to take care of, such as food, water, and pain reliever if I could find some. I gripped the arm of the couch and forced myself to stand. My head was killing me, but at least I was up. I turned toward the kitchenette and took a few wavering steps.
The sound of squeaking hinges stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned to see the Joker standing in the open doorway, the scowl on his face sending shivers of terror down my spine. Great, here it comes… I am so dead.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” he growled, stalking towards me.
I couldn’t move from my spot. Joker advanced until he was inches away, and stood glaring down at me for one long, horrific moment.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he said. “You’re not well enough to be up and about; not after that nasty whack on the head you received from Mace,” he took me by the elbow and ushered me back to the couch.
I dropped down in my seat, gaping up at him in surprise.
“Wait right here while Uncle J. gets something for your headache,” he said, patting me on the head.
Joker turned and disappeared into the bathroom. I stared after him in shock. Why was he acting this way? He hadn’t even mentioned the episode with Nightwing, other than to comment on my injury, and he had sounded sincerely concerned with my well being… was he? No, he couldn’t be. There had to be some other explanation… but what? What was he up to?
I flinched as the bathroom door swung open. Joker strode through, grinning from ear to ear; in his right hand he carried a glass of water, in his left a small white bottle.
“I have just the thing to fix you right up,” he announced as he approached.
He stood in front of me, holding the water and pill bottle toward me. His eyes narrowed when I didn’t immediately take them from him.
“What are you expecting, poison?” He asked with a grin which sent chills down my spine. “Just to show you how wrong you are, I’ll take one of the pills myself. Here, hold this,” he said, shoving the glass of water into my hands.
He opened the bottle and shook a small purple pill into the palm of his glove. He then brought his cupped hand up to his open mouth, threw his head back and swallowed. I didn’t see the pill actually go into his mouth, but when Joker saw the skeptical look on my face, he opened his hands to show that he wasn’t holding anything.
“Now it’s your turn,” he said, holding the bottle out to me.
I was still skeptical, but my head was hurting so much I felt I had no other option; I really needed something to relieve my horrible headache. I took the bottle from him and shook one of the pills into my hand. I put it in my mouth, took a gulp of water and swallowed. I looked up at the Joker; he was grinning, and there was a strange gleam in his eyes. I suddenly wasn’t so sure I’d done the right thing by taking that pill.
“That’s my girl,” Joker said, patting me on the head again.
I gritted my teeth; I really hated it when he did that. As he was patting my head, something fell out of his sleeve and dropped to the floor at my feet. My face blanched as I glanced down; it was the pill Joker had supposedly taken.
“Oops! Clumsy me!” Joker exclaimed, giving a wide innocent smile. “By the way, how are you feeling now?”
“I knew it! I’ve been poisoned!” I shrieked, leaping up from the couch.
I wanted to get to the bathroom and throw up before the poison had time to take effect, but the Joker grabbed me and shoved me back down on the couch before I could. I struggled and hit at him, trying to make him let me go, but I couldn’t get away. He soon grew tired of my struggling, grabbed both my wrists in one hand and covered my mouth with the other.
“Calm down, and stop struggling!” he ordered, his face less than an inch from mine. “Now!”
I stopped struggling, but was shaking uncontrollably.
“Are you calm?” he asked, “Good,” he said when I nodded. “You haven’t been poisoned, Kamille. The pill you took was merely pain reliever, nothing more. You have absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Boy, you’re really high-strung, aren’t you?” He chuckled.
Of course I was high-strung! Who wouldn’t be in my situation? But I didn’t respond to his comment; I just regarded him warily, watching to see what he would do next. Joker sighed when I didn’t react and loosened his grip, allowing me to sit up. He sat down next to me, and I suppressed a shudder.
“Kamille, Kamille,” he said, shaking his head. “How many times do I have to tell you… I’m your friend, not your enemy. Do you really think I would go to all this trouble for an enemy? What reason could I possibly have? Believe me… if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so a long time ago. What will it take to gain your confidence?”
“My freedom?” I said before I could stop myself.
Joker’s face drooped for a moment, but he brightened up again.
“Not the answer I was looking for, but I was aiming for honesty,” he said, “You want your freedom, eh? Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” his eyes glinted again as he spoke.
My stomach rumbled loudly, reminding me that I was still hungry. Joker blinked in surprise, then smiled.
“Oh, are you hungry? Well, we can’t have that, can we? Now, you wait right here,” he said, patting my hand, “while Uncle J goes to the kitchen to fix you some dinner.”
Joker somersaulted off the couch and waltzed to the kitchen, humming as he went. I stared after him in shock. Why was he being nice to me? Did he really believe in what he was saying? He had me off balance, making me horribly confused and miserable, and I didn’t like it. What did it all mean?
Joker came back with a TV tray, and a plate laden with Caesar salad and lasagna. He watched me like a hawk as I ate, not satisfied until I had eaten every last bite. When I finished, Joker nodded in approval and carted away the tray, then sat next to me on the couch.
“Let’s watch a little TV, shall we?” he said, reaching for the remote with one hand and draping his other arm across the top of the couch behind my head.
I would have jerked away, but I was suddenly too tired to move. Joker glanced down at me when I yawned.
“Oh, by the way… that pill you took also contained a mild sedative,” he said, “so you’ll probably be taking a little nap shortly. But don’t worry; I’ll nudge you if you start to snore,” he chuckled.
I took a sedative? Oh, great! Now he tells me! It was too late to do anything about it; the sedative was already in my system, and it was anything but mild. The last thing I remember is falling over.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I’m floating, falling, within a dark abyss. Angry clouds whirl around me, cold and suffocating; ghostly bonds wrap tightly around me, constricting my every movement. I cry out in fear and recognition; I’ve been here before, trapped in this awful nightmare, and I’m terrified of what will follow.
Soft whispers begin echoing in the dark. I can’t understand what they are saying at first, but the volume rises after a moment and I suddenly realize that the voices are whispering my name.
“Kamille, Kamille,” they echo over and over.
“Who are you?” I call out, but the voices only continue to whisper my name. “Stop it! Stop whispering my name!” I cry out, but the only reply is the sound of my name echoing in my ears. "Stop it! Please, Stop it! What do you want?" I sob.
“Vengeance,” “Retribution,” “Justice,” the voices whisper.
I struggle against my bonds trying to free myself, but I fail. The ghostly bonds wrap tighter still around me, making it difficult for me to breathe. A humorless laugh springs forth from the darkness, echoing within the great abyss.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I gasp hoarsely, my own voice barely above a whisper.
“Don’t you know me, Kamille?” a bodiless voice says in my ear. “Don’t you remember me?”
I recoil in shock; I know that voice, but it isn’t possible… it can’t be him. The murky mists surrounding me begin to recede; I watch in horror as they swirl and converge to form a dark, featureless silhouette of a man.
“Do you recognize me now, Kamille?”
“No, you aren’t real, you can’t be real,” I say in a hollow voice.
“Oh, I’m real… as real as I can be in this nightmarish existence you’ve sentenced me to,” he says harshly.
“But I didn’t!” I cry out. “Can’t you understand? What happened was an accident! I never meant to-”
“Liar,” he moves toward me and I shrink back in fear. “You little liar… I know what happened that day… I was there! You MEANT for this to happen!”
“NO!” I shout. “No, I didn’t! I never meant for anything to happen! You’ve got to listen to me. It WAS an accident! Please, just listen to me!”
“LIAR!” he roars.
The silhouette rears up and expands, becoming a great angry wave towering above me.
"No, Tommy! NO!" I scream as the wave comes crashing down upon me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I cried out in my sleep; I could hear myself, but my voice sounded far away, hollow to my ears. I struggled to wake up, to escape the nightmare, but I found that I couldn’t. I was trapped in that void between waking and sleeping, unable to break the surface to the conscious world. Cold tendrils of nightmare snaked about me, pulling me deeper toward unconscious oblivion.
Just as the nightmare was about to claim me once more, I felt a soft touch on my forehead, and a soothing male voice called my name, drawing me back from the brink. As I began to awaken, I gradually became aware of warm, strong arms holding me. I felt safe and protected, something I had not felt in a very long time. I suddenly wanted to stay asleep, to prolong the feeling, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“Kamille,” the voice said softly as a gentle hand brushed my hair from my face. “Wake up, Kamille.”
“Dad?” I mumbled groggily.
“No, I’m not your father,” he answered.
“Uncle Ernie?” I asked; the voice was familiar, but I still couldn’t place it.
“No,” the voice chuckled, “but you’re getting warmer. Who else do you call ‘Uncle’?”
I hadn’t been fully awake before, but I was now… and it was the laugh that had done it. My eyes sprang open, and I found myself staring up into Joker’s smiling face.
“Joker!?” I gasped.
“Ehhh…” he made a sharp buzzer sound, “wrong answer. That’s Uncle J to you,” he grinned.
We were still on the couch; Joker was sitting upright in the same position as before, but I had somehow ended up wrapped in his arms, cradled against his chest. If I wasn’t freaked out before, I certainly was now. The last thing I could remember was falling forward toward the floor, so how had I ended up in this position? I was so stunned by this outcome, I didn’t realize I was still staring up at Joker until he grinned.
“Comfy?” he asked in a low voice.
That snapped me out of it. I rolled off the couch, scrambled to my feet, and dashed to the bathroom. Joker’s laughter followed me… even with the door closed and my hands pressed tightly against my ears, I could still hear him. I was embarrassed and humiliated; and the worst part of it was, I had actually LIKED being held by the Joker… at least I had while I was still unconscious. It had made me feel so secure; but now all I felt was confusion. What was happening to me? Was I losing my mind?
I suddenly realized that I couldn’t hear Joker’s laughter any longer. I flinched when I heard a soft tap on the bathroom door.
“Kamille?” Joker called through the door, “Kamille, sweetheart, are you alright?” a faint chuckle could be heard in his voice.
I gritted my teeth; I hated being called Kamille, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Only my friends called me Kami, and he wasn’t my friend, no matter what he said.
“Kamille, I honestly didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he said in a patronizing voice. “But you have to admit your reaction really was quite funny,” he paused, waiting for an answer, but I didn’t respond. “Kamille? Oh, don’t be like this… quit moping and come out of there,” he waited, but I still didn’t answer. “Kamille,” anger was building up in his voice, “there isn’t a lock on this door. I could easily come in there at any time and drag you out, but I am giving you the option of making the mature decision to come out on your own. Take your time, but be warned; my patience is wearing thin,” the threat was visible in his voice.
I glanced at the door; he was right, there wasn’t a lock. I didn’t have a choice. If I stayed in the bathroom, I’d be pushing him too far… and I didn’t want to think of the outcome that option would have. I took a deep breath, and with my heart in my throat, I opened the door.
Joker had been glaring fiercely at the door; but he visibly brightened when I opened it.
“Now that’s my girl,” he smiled and patted me on my head. “I knew you would make the mature decision. So, are you feeling better since your nap?”
I clenched my teeth, fighting the urge to growl and bite his hand. What was I, a dog? A new pet? I mentally groaned as the realization struck me; it was exactly what I'd become... a new pet for Joker.
“I’m feeling just fine,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Joker looked at me expectantly, but I didn’t know what he was waiting for.
“ ‘I’m feeling just fine,’ what?” he prompted.
“I’m feeling just fine, Uncle J,” I said tightly when I realized what he was getting at.
“That’s better. Now, come along,” he took me by the elbow and steered me toward the couch, “the news re-broadcast is almost on; believe me, you won’t want to miss this.”
TBC...
