Insanity

Chapter 27

"Dad! We're home!" Edward yells as we walk through the door. I cringe as I hear my father stumbling from his room, probably drunk. He appears in the living room, an empty whiskey bottle in hand. "Thomas, Edward.." he slurs, "I need you two to take the car and go to the store. I want something sweet and there's nothing here." Both of the boys look at him like he's crazy. I sigh, "Dad, they can't drive. They're only 12 and 13." I explain to him, motioning for the boys to go to their room. He shoots me a death glare. "I wasn't talking to you, now was I, bitch?" he snarls, throwing the whiskey bottle at me. I duck and it smashes against the wall. I glare at him. "No, you weren't talking to me, father. But you're an idiot and seem to think that your 12 and 13 year old sons can drive!" I growl. He lunges at me and I dodge it. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" I shout. He picks up a piece of glass and lunges again and grabs my wrist, pulling me towards him. "Watch your language, little girl! I'm your father and you will respect me!" he hisses, pressing the glass against my throat, drawing blood. I knee him in the groin and go into my brothers room. They look up when I enter and their eyes widen. Edward jumps up, "Em...what happened to your neck? You're bleeding!" he shouts. I reach my hand toward my neck and touch my neck. I sigh, pulling my hand away and looking at the blood, "It's nothing, I'm fine." I say, grabbing a tissue from my carry along pack. I clean the blood from my neck and throw the tissue away, sitting on Thomas's bed. My youngest brother scoots closer to me and wraps his arms around me. I wrap my arms around him in return, smiling. "Don't worry about me guys, everything's gonna be okay." I say, motioning for Edward to join the hug. "We don't want dad to hurt you. You're the only mom we have." Edward whimpers. I pull away and look at him. "Nothings going to happen to me. I'm strong, I can handle it." I say. He looks at the floor. "Look at me." His eyes meet mine and I smile. "I promise nothing will happen to me. I'll always be here for you guys. I'll never let anything happen to you." I tell him, pulling them both back into a hug. "Everything will be alright." I say once more.
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I sigh into the quietness of my room. It's been a week since I escaped Riddler's hideout. Jonathan and I rescheduled our work for next week and Joker has given me a week to get my strength back up. During that week I've trained my mind and body extensively. I also got glasses so I can see better. Throughout the week I've had random and unexpected flashbacks of my childhood. Depending on the length of the flashback, I could be zoned out for as long 20 minutes. I don't know what's causing it, but it could be dangerous during a job. I haven't told Joker, though I probably should. I haven't told anyone. I'm going to have to tell someone eventually, and sooner is probably better than later. I gather up the courage and go to Joker's office. Knock, knock, knock. "Who is it?" he replies from the other side of the door. "It's Emily." I respond, playing with one of my gloves. He opens the door and looks at me with a curious look on face. "What do ya want, doll?" he asks, cocking an eyebrow. "Look, Joker...i have a little bit of a problem." i mutter, nervous about what he might say. "And, uh, what's that?" he asks. "Wellll....I've kind of been having unexpected flashbacks that cause me to zone out. I can't control it and I don't know why it's happening..." i explain.

"How long has this been going on?"

"All week.."

"And you're just now telling me!?" he shouts. I flinch away from his tone. "Well...I thought it would stop. I didn't think it would get worse." I mumble. Joker is fuming, "Did you ever think this may affect our job tonight!?" he snarls. Now I'm getting pissed off. "No, of course not, I wasn't thinking of that at all as I was rolling around in the nightmare that was my childhood!" I shout. He growls and goes to hit me. I grab his arm and twist it behind his back, effectively pissing him off even more. He breaks free of my grip and goes to hit me again. This time I jump and use his shoulders to flip over him. He turns around and glares at me, "You're fast, ain't ya?" he hisses. I shoot him a look, "I'm not Harley. I won't allow you to hit me. I learned to fight back when my father started to beat me. I refuse to be a victim again." I growl. He chuckles, "Well, you certainly do have some fight in you." I smirk, "Well, i have to. Can't survive here without it." I say. I go to leave his office and he grabs my arm, pulling me back. "Alright, look. Go tell Crane what's happening. I don't know what else to tell you." Joker grumbles. I sigh. "Alright. I'll call him and tell him to come over." I walk out the door and pick up my phone, dialling his number. I explain the situation to him and he says he'll be over in a minute. I sit on my bed and wait for him, slightly worried about what's happening to my mind. I few moments later, Jonathan knocks on the door and i let him in. "What do you think is wrong with me?" i ask, chewing on my lip. "I'm not sure, I'd have to run some tests. It could be serious, it could not. I don't know." he replies, playing with the mask in his hands. "What kind of tests?" i ask. He looks at me and shakes his head. "I'm not using my toxin on you, like I promised. Unless of course, you want me to." he chuckles. "Just please find out what's wrong with me and fix it. I hate it. If you can fix it, I'll owe you." i say, stepping closer to him. He smiles. "I'll try my best." I nod my head and wrap my arms around him, putting my head against his chest. "Thanks." i say before pulling away and looking at him. "Let's get started." i say, leading him up to my room. I sigh, I hope he can fix this.