Doe Eyes ✧ Gotham [1] #Wattys2019

chapter five

             Jane woke up, still exhausted from the night. She barely could sleep last night due to Jerome's ghost, or whatever it was, and the constant voices in her head haunting her. In total, she guessed she got about an hour of sleep - tops. She stared at the ceiling above her, slowly sleeping with her eyes opened when she felt someone poke her. She sighed and turned over.

Sitting on a chair next to her bed and staring at her was the reason she couldn't sleep. He smiled at her. "Sleep well?" She rolled her eyes and turned over to her right side, ignoring the thing her brother was. Suddenly, he appeared in front of her again. "Aw, that's cute. You can't ignore me, Jane. I'm in your head."

"I can try," she spat back. His playful face was getting increasingly on her nerves. She didn't understand why this was happening to her. Why was she seeing his face, and why was she hearing these voices?

Speaking of the voices, they had been getting louder and louder. At first, it sounded like gibberish, but the more she listened, the more she understood. They kept repeating the same word: Kill.

Kill what? Jane had no clue but she knew she wasn't going to kill anything nor anyone. She wasn't going to become Jerome.

Jerome sighed and leaned closer to her. "You know, Jane. I've been thinking about a time from when we were kids, a time I'm sure you'll remember." Jane inwardly groaned. The last thing she wanted was a story from their shared childhood. Most of the stories revolved around her getting hurt or traumatized. "I believe I was eight at the time, so you were, what? six?" Jane knew where this was going and shut her eyes closed tightly. Jerome was speaking very theatrically. "It was night, and I dragged you right outside the circus. You were crying because you knew where I was taking you."

Memories from that night started flowing back. Jerome had taken her there to have her watch him kill a defenseless animal in her name. He did this because earlier that day, she had accidentally stepped on one of his crazed drawings of killing people, dirtying it and ultimately ruining it. For revenge, he wanted to hurt her just as bad as she supposedly hurt him. He knew she loved animals so it was a clear target for him.

Jerome chuckled. "Oh, I still remember you pleading." His voice went higher, imitating a little girl voice. "'No, Jerome, please. The bunny didn't do anything wrong. Just hurt me instead. Please!'" After he killed the bunny, he had beat her. Not much damage was done, since they were just kids, but throughout the beating, he placed the blame and guilt on her.

"It's your fault that I had to kill the bunny. You needed to learn! Don't ruin my stuff!"

That had hurt the most. In Jane's six year old heart, knowing that it was her fault a small little bunny's life was taken because of her was enough to have her fall into a depression. She had convinced herself that she deserved the beating and the beatings that followed.

A tear ran down Jane's face as she slowly opened them, facing the ceiling. "Why are you telling me this?" Her voice was very quiet.

"Because Jane!" He got closer to her and she swore she could feel a breath on her face. "I'm dead. You need to continue my legacy. You need to kill. It's what you were born to do."

She sat straight up and stared at the hallucination. "I'm not killing anyone, Jerome!" She fought back. She wasn't going to become him. "Leave me alone!" She screamed that last part and she felt a small clarity. Jerome had disappeared and the voices had left her alone.

Jane sighed. She didn't know why these hallucinations and voices were happening, but she was determined to ignore them. She could work through them. She didn't need help.