The Darker Side Of Life (Asylum Romance Sequel)

22: A Visit From Helena

A week had passed since my sister died.

And I have nothing to say.

No spark of life left in me. No spark of hope.

I don’t have a friend here to tell me it’ll be okay, to play video games with me to take my mind off of it.

I don’t have a girlfriend here to kiss me and tell me it’ll be okay and to make me forget by taking me in her warm embrace.

I don’t have a father to tell me that it wasn’t my fault. He doesn’t say anything at all, actually. He just gets up in the morning and leaves before uttering a word to anyone, not even my mom. I only see him on the news, threatening to destroy Gotham itself by blowing it up. He wants everything to burn, like he did before he met my mother.

I don’t have a mother to make me comfort food and tell me that we’ll get through this. She pretends like it didn’t hurt her, she pretends like all is well. She seems way worse than my father, actually. She doesn’t accept the truth for what it is, she just lives in a false reality. I guess it’s best for her to believe that Layla’s still here—better for the baby.

I don’t have a sister to give me hope to keep on, even though my parents are gone. She was always there before, always the strong one. Way stronger than I ever was. She was a rock. She was strong-willed.

And I don’t have my own willpower to push through this and mend everyone back.

No one has ratted us out or tried to arrest us. Maybe my father, since he’s in the open, but I haven’t seen Helena or Tim anywhere. Not Bruce either. Not even on TV, dicking up Gotham with his stupidly high amount of money.

My sister’s funeral was yesterday. Quick and painful. It was a private ceremony, just my family, and an unexpected guest. Damian. He was there, stone cold, looked like he was about to combust any minute. He wasn’t involved in the death. He admitted that he was Robin, and he told Batman, Nightwing and Huntress not to ambush us. But they were so wrapped around justice that they forgot we were human.

What was that thing Two-Face said? Oh, yeah. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

I rolled over my bed for what seemed to be the millionth time today and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked terrible. I had started to grow a beard and my hair had become carelessly messy. My eyes were bloodshot, and my clothes were disgusting. I hadn’t changed in a week, let alone moved. I was deteriorating.

I stayed in bed for the whole morning, until I heard a tap at my window. I didn’t move. I didn’t care if it was someone coming in to talk to me, or kill me.

The window opened followed by a thump. I opened one eye and turned to see Helena. Her angel face and puppy eyes made my heart break, I wanted to kiss her and whisk her away, but as soon as that thought slipped into my mind, so did the thought of my sister’s bloody corpse on the floor with Huntress’ arrow stuck in it.

Helena’s hand went to her nose to pinch it, her mouth contorting in disgust. I know. I smelled terrible. Couldn’t care less.

“Look, Kellen. . .”

“Out.”

She sighed. “I. . . I didn’t mean to shoot your sister.”

“Well, you did, so. . .”

She looked away. “You startled me.”

“You make an excuse instead of apologizing,” I sighed, sitting up. “Typical you.”

“Would an apology make you feel better?” Helena snapped.

She was right, it wouldn’t. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want us to be honest with each other. Honesty in the first place would have prevented all of this. . .”

“Want me to be honest? I wish I didn’t see you and fall for you. I wish you weren’t so damn pretty and charming. I wish you and I never went on a date. I wish you and I were never a couple, I wish you never stepped into my house and I wish you never realized who I was. I wish you didn’t kill my sister, you fucking pretentious bitch. Did you not recognize my house?”

“You never let me see the way of your house let alone the outside of it. You never let me see your parents how they really are or how things actually run.”

“And you didn’t tell me you were Batboy’s bitch.”

She sighed. “Everyone in my family was murdered. He took me in.”

I looked up. “What?”

She hesitated. I could see she didn’t want to speak, but she opened her mouth and forced words out. “My family, the Bertinelli family, was one of the most notorious Mafia families in all of Gotham. One day. . . When I was only six years old. . .The rival Mafia don kidnapped me. . .A-and he. . .” She abruptly stopped talking to let out a shaky breath. “Raped me.” She spoke in a whisper.

I sat up now, feeling my heart break for her. “Oh, my god.”

“My parents sent me away to a boarding school for my own good. I got my own body guard, and I learned how to fight. I was damaged, I was angry, I was. . . .Scared. Forever scared that the terrible thing would happen to me again. I graduated, came home, I witnessed my whole family’s massacre. I went with that body guard, Sal, to put an end to the mafia before I came back here, to Gotham, to become Huntress. Batman was trying to lift that anger from me, so I didn’t become like that rival mafia. So I didn’t become some ruthless killer. He put me in school to repeat my last year so I could make some friends, get familiar, and become more human. To have no fear of the world, and,” she started to sniffle. “I didn’t mean to hurt Layla, and I want to help.”

I rubbed my face with my hands, taking her whole story in. Her damage explained everything. How every time I moved my hands to touch her she became super cautious, how she never speaks of her family. How she seemed to know everything in school. She was also as old as me. Nineteen. My parents stopped me from entering in with the class that was my age so I was more matured in the younger class, because boys mature slowly and they wanted me ahead of the class and the game. She was there because she was repeating her last year.

“I hear you, Helena. I hear you loud and clear. So here’s my honesty. Since I made you speak words you probably didn’t want to ever speak again. . .” I sighed. “I’m the son of The Joker and Caerulean. I’m Neuro. My sister didn’t make a name or anything or ask for this life. Her and I were only in the business whenever we had to bust out my mother and father. My mother and father have been together for a long time and we support them in all they are, but now we’re a broken family. We used to work so well together. . .” I sighed.

“There’s a way to save Layla. . .” Helena spoke, staring into my eyes. She took my hands, and I was too satisfied with the feel of them to shake her off.

“How?”

She smiled softly, and I felt reassured by that one smile. “Poison Ivy.”