RED ROOM [H.S]

24.

Harry.

There was something about corrupting her that made my skin tingle, even when the devil wasn't in my ear, demanding me to bruise her skin and mark it red.

It should have worried me, the fact that though I wasn't in a manic state, the feeling of absolute euphoria coated my skin because of the markings that were scattered across her body due of the roughness of my hand.

It meant I was losing it. Slowly but surely, the devil and his thoughts were becoming my own, and the angel was beginning to fade away into the back of my head.

I hummed softly into the quietness of the room as I lathered her limp body with water. I watched in fascination as the bubbles coated her skin momentarily, before sliding down her body, back into the warm water.

Sophia, who's name I still refused to say aloud to her, laid between my legs, half her body hidden by the bubbles I had emptied into the oversized bath. Her head was rested on my shoulder, my hand tightly wrapped around her waist to hold her from moving. If it wasn't for the devil and his demands, Sophia may not have been in my arms right now, allowing me to touch her delicate skin, so in a way, I had him to thank for this moment of bliss. Maybe if I continued to listen to him, Sophia would allow me to hold her, kiss her...maybe she would even let me corrupt her beautiful mind to the dark side of things.

When I first met her, I didn't want to do that. I wanted to keep her mind pure and take her away from the agony that was her life, but after I witnessed how truely feral she could be, with the gun against her temple and the blood staining her neck, I wanted nothing more than to keep her next to me and conquer the world. We could paint the world red. Kill anyone who dared to question us. She could be my Queen amongst peasants. She was slowly taking my sanity away from me, it was only fair that I did the same to her.

Images of the Joker and Harley Quinn rattled through my mind and I had to hold back my grin at the thought. She would be so powerful next to me. She wouldn't ever have to worry about another person degrading her again.

Sophia stirred slightly in my arms as the water trickled down her arm from where I was moving the loofa.

My mother was a great women, and she still was, I would never forget all the things she did in my childhood to try and create such a perfect illusion that I was normal. This included bubble baths every time my thoughts got the better of me and I acted out of impulse. Bubblebaths as a child were somewhat of a soothing ritual for me. It brought me back down to earth and helped me feel as if my tears were invisible as the dropped into the water after another manic attack. Sophia wouldn't understand how intimate this moment was to me, and I would never admit how monumental it was to have her with me. Bubblebaths were always such a...private thing. Even as an adult, as feminine or as childlike as it seemed, I needed to be grounded when my fingers wouldn't stop shaking from the adrenaline. It was a the one place the devil couldn't get me, my mother would tell me. She never judged me, though even from a young age, I could see the fear in her eyes. It made the guilt inside me grow every time. My mother would prepare the bath as she pretended not to cry, coo soft words before allowing me a moment of peace alone as she tried to reason with my step-father about my outbursts.

I swallowed at the mere thought of my step-father and shook my head to rid the images of his face. He was like the devil. Red faced, always angry, always shouting. He was a bad man.

I relaxed slightly as Sophia moved again, this time, her delicate hand pressed against my bicep as I moved the loofa around her body, removing any traces of blood from her porcelain white skin.

"Tell me about the thunderstorms," I asked softly.
My thumb rubbed against her stomach under the water and she sighed deeply. A sound that sounded as if she was content.