A Flower for the Joker, rated PG-13 (higher later)
Lily Marone was a family secret. Her mother and especially her father were ashamed of the strange, demented child they had brought into the world. You see, Lily was very different from other people and that was clear from the very beginning. At first her parents were delighted that their child seemed so advanced in her mental capacities. She seemed to learn much faster than the average infant and she hardly ever cried or fussed at all. That changed when Lily was about two years old. That was also the year her father started cheating on her mother. Lily seemed much too affected by the silent antagonism that grew between her parents, almost as if she could hear their unspoken words of hatred. She began to throw tantrums during which she was inconsolable. Her mother did not know what to do, and Lily wouldn’t come near her father. It wasn’t until Lily began speaking that the two parents realized their daughter had a serious problem.
Sometimes she would come out with information she could not possibly know. Details about her father’s “business” meetings or intimate thoughts from inside her mother’s head, most of the time, however, Lily spoke nonsense.
“My brain is as big as the room! It is as big as the whole world; actually, maybe it is the whole world.” These were the kinds of musings that Mr. and Mrs. Marone would find their daughter exclaiming to herself, alone in her room.
When the child was seven they started sending their daughter to a psychiatrist, who informed the concerned parents that their daughter seemed to believe she could read people’s minds.
“Lily certainly has a gift for reading people’s emotions. She uses this as her proof that she has some kind of special power. It’s common among children to believe themselves endowed with this kind of power, she’ll most likely grow out of it, I think.”
Lily did not grow out of it. Her curious exclamations and uncanny knowledge led to her ostracism at school. By the time Lily was ten years old she had learned to keep her thoughts, and others’, to herself, but the damage was done. It is unclear whether or not the Marones ever loved their daughter, but as soon as their son, Anthony, came along they had lost interest in their eldest. Lily was neglected by her parents and continued to see a psychiatrist until she was sixteen years old, when she had her incident.
A few years prior to the incident Lily had been transferred to a specialist who operated from Arkham Asylum. For the young girl it was a terrifying experience to enter the facility once a week. She wondered if this would be her future home. Her parents would certainly be pleased to get her off their hands. After a while she had grown used to the place, and had even explored it extensively, except for the Rogues’ gallery of course, which was where Arkham housed all of Gotham’s most dangerous criminals, and was obviously restricted. The only time Lily had ever entered that forbidden corridor was a few days after her sixteenth birthday…
Her psychiatrist, Dr. Sparrow, had been attempting a form of hypnosis in order to discover the origin of Lily’s “delusions.” While she was under the hypnosis the doctor kept asking her why she lied, why she made up stories. When she was reawakened Lily felt enraged, a feeling she usually shied away from because the angry thoughts of others had always scorched her. She pounced on Dr. Sparrow, tipping him over in his chair. Before Lily could act on her rage, or regret it, the doctor was knocked out by the shattering blow his skull had taken when the chair hit the floor. Lily scrambled to her feet, fearful for a moment, before fleeing the room in tears.
Her vision blurred as she ran aimless down one corridor, then another, realizing that she had no idea where she was going. After a few moments she calmed slightly and stopped by an elevator, determined to leave the building. She pressed the down arrow and waited. When Lily entered the elevator she was surprised to see only one floor option, this elevator must go directly to the ground floor. She pressed the button and gripped the side of the elevator as the familiar falling sensation entered her gut. After a moment the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.
Stretched before her was a long hallway, lined on each side by glass walls. This, certainly she had never seen before. She stepped off the elevator hesitantly and glanced around. The guard station was empty, strange. Whatever this place was she knew the doorway at the end of the hall must lead to an exit, with that thought she began walking. Almost immediately the hall filled with the sounds of moans, howls, yelps and screams. Lily contributed her own scream as the emotions and sounds washed over her. She wasn’t sure if the sounds she was hearing were real, or if they were coming from inside the heads of the lost souls housed in these glass cages. Her eyes widened as she looked to her left and right and met the stares of madmen. For a crippling few moments Lily did not think she could move. She imagined she would spend the rest of her life here, pinned down by the desperate howls and vague, unformed emotions of the insane.
Just as Lily began to despair she felt it. Or heard it. She couldn’t tell. At the very end of the hall she sensed calm. Someone was there, someone who could help her. She struggled forward and after agonizing moments finally reached the end of the corridor, collapsing before the one cell that held a silent inhabitant. She reached up and put her hand against the glass, shuddering meekly, and closing her eyes. It took Lily a moment to realize that what she felt wasn’t exactly calmness, but rather a subdued kind of amusement. She looked up to search for the cell’s inhabitant. Lily jumped when she saw the empty looking eyes staring into her from just behind the glass. Despite the absence of makeup, Lily knew immediately who this was. The scars on his face and the slight green tint in his hair gave it away. The Joker.
She’d never been frightened of him, but then again she’d never met him. Now that Lily sat only inches away from the Clown Prince, with only a sheet of glass between them, she felt her breath quicken and her heart begin to pound. Then his thoughts floated into her head. Images of her with bloody patterns all over her body, strung up to a bed, or handcuffed on the floor. Lily gasped and scrambled away a few feet. That’s when the inhabitant of the cell directly across from the Joker slammed himself against the glass wall of his cage, apparently trying to get closer to the girl. Lily quickly returned to the Joker’s side.
“Well Hellooo there…little girlll. What’s your name?”
Lily continued to stare at him but said nothing.
“You look a little nervous. Is it my friends? They can be so rude to guests. But, uhh, tell me sweetie…where’s the guard? How did you find your way into our little, uhh…humble abode without getting stopped by himmm?”
Lily took a deep breath and said something she probably shouldn’t have, “He, I…I don’t…he wasn’t there,” she started to hyperventilate and her tears renewed themselves, “I got on the…the wr-wrong elevator!”
“Sh-sh-sh-shhh, there, there, little lamb. You found me, which is lucky for you, because I’m the, uhh…only sane one in this place, I think. Now, I want you to stand up, go ahead.”
Lily looked into his eyes questioningly and stood up on shaky legs. She felt vulnerable with her back to the inmates of the cells behind her.
“Now, you see that button on the wall there, right there? Why don’t you just give it a little push, hmm?”
“Wha? No!”
The Joker placed his hand over his heart and looked affronted, “Why! After all I’ve done for you! I mean you were falling apart there without me, weren’t you? Say, you shouldn’t even be down here…you’ll get in trouble you know. But I can show you the way out, if you press that button.”
Lily looked at the man who called himself the Joker incredulously and then the man behind her began slamming on the wall of his cell once more. Amazingly he managed to make a long hairline crack in the glass. Lily gasped and pressed herself up against the glass of the Joker’s cell.
“Shhh, don’t worry lamby, I’ll protect you from that bad man, you just have to let me out…”
Lily closed her eyes as she reached her hand toward the button. She thought about her unloving parents before pressing the button and releasing the Joker.
Sometimes she would come out with information she could not possibly know. Details about her father’s “business” meetings or intimate thoughts from inside her mother’s head, most of the time, however, Lily spoke nonsense.
“My brain is as big as the room! It is as big as the whole world; actually, maybe it is the whole world.” These were the kinds of musings that Mr. and Mrs. Marone would find their daughter exclaiming to herself, alone in her room.
When the child was seven they started sending their daughter to a psychiatrist, who informed the concerned parents that their daughter seemed to believe she could read people’s minds.
“Lily certainly has a gift for reading people’s emotions. She uses this as her proof that she has some kind of special power. It’s common among children to believe themselves endowed with this kind of power, she’ll most likely grow out of it, I think.”
Lily did not grow out of it. Her curious exclamations and uncanny knowledge led to her ostracism at school. By the time Lily was ten years old she had learned to keep her thoughts, and others’, to herself, but the damage was done. It is unclear whether or not the Marones ever loved their daughter, but as soon as their son, Anthony, came along they had lost interest in their eldest. Lily was neglected by her parents and continued to see a psychiatrist until she was sixteen years old, when she had her incident.
A few years prior to the incident Lily had been transferred to a specialist who operated from Arkham Asylum. For the young girl it was a terrifying experience to enter the facility once a week. She wondered if this would be her future home. Her parents would certainly be pleased to get her off their hands. After a while she had grown used to the place, and had even explored it extensively, except for the Rogues’ gallery of course, which was where Arkham housed all of Gotham’s most dangerous criminals, and was obviously restricted. The only time Lily had ever entered that forbidden corridor was a few days after her sixteenth birthday…
Her psychiatrist, Dr. Sparrow, had been attempting a form of hypnosis in order to discover the origin of Lily’s “delusions.” While she was under the hypnosis the doctor kept asking her why she lied, why she made up stories. When she was reawakened Lily felt enraged, a feeling she usually shied away from because the angry thoughts of others had always scorched her. She pounced on Dr. Sparrow, tipping him over in his chair. Before Lily could act on her rage, or regret it, the doctor was knocked out by the shattering blow his skull had taken when the chair hit the floor. Lily scrambled to her feet, fearful for a moment, before fleeing the room in tears.
Her vision blurred as she ran aimless down one corridor, then another, realizing that she had no idea where she was going. After a few moments she calmed slightly and stopped by an elevator, determined to leave the building. She pressed the down arrow and waited. When Lily entered the elevator she was surprised to see only one floor option, this elevator must go directly to the ground floor. She pressed the button and gripped the side of the elevator as the familiar falling sensation entered her gut. After a moment the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.
Stretched before her was a long hallway, lined on each side by glass walls. This, certainly she had never seen before. She stepped off the elevator hesitantly and glanced around. The guard station was empty, strange. Whatever this place was she knew the doorway at the end of the hall must lead to an exit, with that thought she began walking. Almost immediately the hall filled with the sounds of moans, howls, yelps and screams. Lily contributed her own scream as the emotions and sounds washed over her. She wasn’t sure if the sounds she was hearing were real, or if they were coming from inside the heads of the lost souls housed in these glass cages. Her eyes widened as she looked to her left and right and met the stares of madmen. For a crippling few moments Lily did not think she could move. She imagined she would spend the rest of her life here, pinned down by the desperate howls and vague, unformed emotions of the insane.
Just as Lily began to despair she felt it. Or heard it. She couldn’t tell. At the very end of the hall she sensed calm. Someone was there, someone who could help her. She struggled forward and after agonizing moments finally reached the end of the corridor, collapsing before the one cell that held a silent inhabitant. She reached up and put her hand against the glass, shuddering meekly, and closing her eyes. It took Lily a moment to realize that what she felt wasn’t exactly calmness, but rather a subdued kind of amusement. She looked up to search for the cell’s inhabitant. Lily jumped when she saw the empty looking eyes staring into her from just behind the glass. Despite the absence of makeup, Lily knew immediately who this was. The scars on his face and the slight green tint in his hair gave it away. The Joker.
She’d never been frightened of him, but then again she’d never met him. Now that Lily sat only inches away from the Clown Prince, with only a sheet of glass between them, she felt her breath quicken and her heart begin to pound. Then his thoughts floated into her head. Images of her with bloody patterns all over her body, strung up to a bed, or handcuffed on the floor. Lily gasped and scrambled away a few feet. That’s when the inhabitant of the cell directly across from the Joker slammed himself against the glass wall of his cage, apparently trying to get closer to the girl. Lily quickly returned to the Joker’s side.
“Well Hellooo there…little girlll. What’s your name?”
Lily continued to stare at him but said nothing.
“You look a little nervous. Is it my friends? They can be so rude to guests. But, uhh, tell me sweetie…where’s the guard? How did you find your way into our little, uhh…humble abode without getting stopped by himmm?”
Lily took a deep breath and said something she probably shouldn’t have, “He, I…I don’t…he wasn’t there,” she started to hyperventilate and her tears renewed themselves, “I got on the…the wr-wrong elevator!”
“Sh-sh-sh-shhh, there, there, little lamb. You found me, which is lucky for you, because I’m the, uhh…only sane one in this place, I think. Now, I want you to stand up, go ahead.”
Lily looked into his eyes questioningly and stood up on shaky legs. She felt vulnerable with her back to the inmates of the cells behind her.
“Now, you see that button on the wall there, right there? Why don’t you just give it a little push, hmm?”
“Wha? No!”
The Joker placed his hand over his heart and looked affronted, “Why! After all I’ve done for you! I mean you were falling apart there without me, weren’t you? Say, you shouldn’t even be down here…you’ll get in trouble you know. But I can show you the way out, if you press that button.”
Lily looked at the man who called himself the Joker incredulously and then the man behind her began slamming on the wall of his cell once more. Amazingly he managed to make a long hairline crack in the glass. Lily gasped and pressed herself up against the glass of the Joker’s cell.
“Shhh, don’t worry lamby, I’ll protect you from that bad man, you just have to let me out…”
Lily closed her eyes as she reached her hand toward the button. She thought about her unloving parents before pressing the button and releasing the Joker.