No sleep for the wicked

chapter 5- Stitch by stitch

Fear had overcome me, the darkness that surrounded me twisted to form hideous faces which represented my demons. Each one whispered secretes which I wished to stay buried, secretes which made me fear myself, and secretes which made me aggressive, ones which made me a monster. Yet I faced the same nightmare every night of my life, I had become so used to the feeling of fear I was numb. I just stared at each of the faces and decided to face them like I did each and every night. I just stood up and walked away, the worst thing to when facing any fear is to sit there and wait for it to stop, because it never will.

The feeling of being alone in such a dark and nightmarish place makes you think that a place like this couldn’t be real, until you come face to face with someone else. “Hello Ashleigh.” The Scarecrow, in his whole attire, his famous Scarecrow mask and his wrists were strapped with, a mechanism which allowed him to use the fear toxin at his disposal. “Hello.” I answered back, there wasn’t much I could say, I was still deeply confused, and “Ashleigh you’ve been under for over twelve hours now. I think you should wake you.” Then I jolted upwards. I was in a cold sweat and my heart was beating fast in my chest, where was I? Thick blankets covered me; I was still in my first aider’s uniform.

I looked round the room, and there in the corner stood Jonathan Crane, his mask cover all of his face but his dark glassy eyes. “What do you want Crane?” I slipped of the mask, and there he stood, his lip was stitched roughly, and blood still smothered his face. “Well, I just don’t know yet Ashleigh.” he walked over to where I was lying and sat on the edge on the bed. He looked over his shoulder at me, and then turned his body towards me. “Ashleigh, I want you to help me.” He looked down at me, and then looked away. He pulled open a draw next to the, and pulled out some thin metal wire glasses, and then he pulled out a needle and thread. “I need you to stich me up properly.” He got up off the bed and sat on a wooded chair, he had his palm flat and out towards me, and in the centre of his palm sat a needle with a thread looped in it. He looked at me as he brought up his other hand to unthread the rough stitching from his face. His face flickered with pain as he unthreaded it. The last stitch came, out and still his eyes had not moved from mine. “Ashleigh please help me.” I pulled of the woollen blanket, and cautiously walked over to where Jonathan Crane sat. I grabbed the needle from the palm of his hand, “don’t you something I could sterilize it with?” he nodded and pulled out a lighter out of his pocket.  I took it gently from his hand, and allowed the flame to run over the needle, Jonathan took a deep breath before; I pushed the red hot needle into his skin. The feeling and sound of Jonathan’s skin coming in contact with the red hot needle made me look away from him, I tried to minimalize the pain but it was no use, I pulled the thread fast and as gently as possible through Jonathan skin. I tied a small knot in the end of the thread, and stepped back from Jonathan.  “There I’ve helped you.” I climbed back into the metal framed bed and made sure my back faced Jonathan Crane, I heard the bare floor board’s creek behind me. Then I felt the bed dip in at my waist. “Ashleigh I don’t want you to be mad at me.” It was too late for that, he used hidden fear toxin on me, and kidnaped me. I have a right to be mad at this time; I twisted round to face Jonathan only to notice how close he was to me. His nose was touching mine and all I could see was his glassy dark eyes. But I still needed to put my side across, “Jonathan I’m allowed to be mad at you, no matter how much you don’t want me to be, I am going to be mad at you.” Jonathan didn’t seem to be fazed by the fact that I had resentment towards him. He nodded his head up and down, which caused his lips to move close to mine. This was just plain dangerous, I tried to move my head back but it just caused me to push my head deeper into the cushion, and this caused Jonathan to loom over me even more. Suddenly there was a loud crash outside, and Jonathan fell, off the bed. He walked over to the door and opened it, and there stood the deranged Harley Quinn and Joker. “Hello, sweetie.” Even though Harley was rather demented, she had a kind demeanour; I had met her on three different occasions, all to stitch up injuries. And for the Joker, I had met him over sixteen different times, all for the same reason, again with injuries also to give witness statements for when he attacked Arkham guards. “Well you picked a good one there Crane.” His crude nature never appealed to me but he had a good sense of humour.” Stop eves dropping,” I could tell he was rather unhappy, “well we wanted to know how Dr Clark was coping here.” He peaked round Jonathan’s shoulder and smiled at me, I gave a nervous grin back. Why were they acting so civil with me? I pondered for a while until Harley asked some, “would you like to come down for something to eat sweetie?” I nodded quickly, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and walked towards the door, which Crane was guarding, “you’re not going down there with them.” I looked over at Harley and joker who had very large grins plastered on their faces, “why don’t you can come down as well darling.” Harley said which made her smile even more. Crane started to consider this, and then he looked at me, “would you like something to eat Ashleigh?” I nodded again, and followed the Joker, Harley Quinn, and the Scarecrow down the stairs. As well reached the bottom of the stair, I gasped. Two Face, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and the Riddler, where all gathered in the kitchen. Suddenly Joker threw open his arm, “Welcome Ashleigh Clark, the doctor who treated all of us with such kindness Crane decided to kidnap her.” Joker burst out laughing, as crane looked down sheepishly at his rather shiny leather shoes. “I’m only joking crane, we welcome Ashleigh with open arms.” I smiled at all the criminal, and stepped over the thresh hold which led into the kitchen. This could be volatile on my behalf.