A Tale Of Clowns

Chapter 14- Recovery Takes Time

Jason sat down on the couch as Harley looked at him with soft eyes.
"So, Jay, your mother told me a gist of what you're going through but I'd rather hear the full story from you instead. What are your most pressing concerns right now?" Jason nodded, he took a deep breath and began telling her what exactly he thought about himself.

"I look like the Joker Harley! Whenever I look in the mirror I see that same pastel white face and hear that.... That fucking laugh, every night I'm back in Ethiopia, with Shelia smoking a cigarette and Joker beating me with that damn crowbar! I can't look at a fucking cigarette again because of my own biological mother smoking one while Joker beat me to death!" Jason gasped for breath, his whole frame shaking from sobs.

Harley nodded as she took some notes, "Let's talk about your nightmares, how long have you been seeing them?" 

"I saw them regularly when I was comatose according to Talia, but when I went away for my....fuck it, to an ancient group of assassins to train I stopped having them. They came back when I came to Gotham they came back for a few days but then you blew him up so they stopped, and now....yeah I see them every night." Harley nodded, her expression unreadable, she wrote down a few more things before she turned to Jason and softly said, "Would you like to take a break for a few minutes before we continue?" Jason nodded.

Ten Minutes later

"So tell me about your past, your life with your first family." Harley said after Jason was ready to continue. Jason told her about the activities his parents would with him before they gave into their addictions, how his mother would take him to the theatre on weekends after spending the day at the park, then they would go to the church,how his parents would get him books from the library whenever they got the chance, Even when his mom started taking drugs and dad started drinking they tried their absolute best! Of course that's when Samuel came in to the picture. Harley nodded, she knew about Samuel, she was the first person Jason had told what he had done to him after all.

"From what it sounds like Jay, you love musicals." Harley said softly smiling, Jason nodded with a distant look on his face, "After Dad went into jail things...they went downhill fast. Mom's addiction spiraled, Samuel didn't show his face there again but others would always be there, my mom's mental and physical state spiralled, I had to drop out of school so I could take care of her, jacked tires off of cars, pickpocketed people, did whatever I could to get by. I think by the end, she started to resent me....."

Harley frowned, "Why do you think that?" her pen ready to take even more notes, Jason was surprised at how her clipboard wasn't full yet, "Well, two weeks before she...died. I was patting her back after she had finished vomiting in the toilet bowl....I tried to reassure her that we would get through this, but I guess the reality of her situation was too much for her to handle, she was an addict who had a child at eighteen, dropped out high school, didn't go to college, her husband was in prison and she had to raise a worthless child that wasn't her own....she turned around and slapped me, it wasn't the first. It was the last. The look she gave me, she called me a leech who sucked the life from everyone around me. That was the last time we ever talked." 

Harley put her clipboard at the table beside her chair and moved to the couch to sit at Jason's side, she hugged him while he cried again, this would take a long time to recover from, Jason had been hurt, in both of his lives, but she was Harley Quinn and her friend would get better. She would make sure of it. "Jay, from what I've heard your mother treasured you, she was stressed when she said those things, drugs have that kind of effect on people, I'm sure you were a wonderful kid. Parents say some things to kids without thinking about it, don't ever think you're like that okay? You're a great guy, and one of my best friends. Remember that okay?" Jason nodded wiping his tears.