Freak is an Ugly Word

A special thanks to all those that have reviewed. You're awesome! He's chapter 14 by the way. :)

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Midnight blue eyes watched as they wheeled Harvey Dent into a nearby room. She sighed running her hair through her long blond hair. A crowd of nurses and doctors were already forming around the room. They all wanted to catch a glimpse at Dent and his new look. Missy, a nurse herself, shook her head at them pushing and shoving each other out of the way. If he had been any normal patient, they would have all gone about their business. But sadly, he was not, and they fought over who would take care of him.

Scoffing at them, she turned her head only to be met with cold gray eyes. Missy was slightly taken aback. The girl’s eyes were staring at her so harshly it was almost frightening. It would have been, if she were not so small. Small, bandaged, but with the angriest eyes Missy had ever witnessed on a person.

Missy looked to Sam who sat next to her. He, as usual, was reading a book. “Sam?” Missy called to him.

“Yeah?” he answered not glancing up from his book.

“Has anyone gone and checked on that girl?”
He glanced up for a second and shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno. Probably not. They’re all to worried about Dent.”

Rolling her eyes, Missy stood up. “Fucking typical,” she mumbled under her breath. No wonder the girl had such a hostile look about her. She had probably been up for hours waiting for someone to tell her she could go. With a fake smile, Missy entered the room. “Hello, my name is Missy. I came in here to check up on you.”

“Really?” Princess asked sarcastically, wiping the smile off Missy’s face. “Wow. If you didn’ tell me that, I would have never known.”

Missy’s scowled at the girl. There was no way she was going to take that from her. She may have been an abandoned patient, but there was no reason for her to treat Missy that way. “Look you little bitch,” Missy hissed, “I don’t have to take this shit from you. I’m like those pricks that chose to ignore you. I work very hard for my money so that I can support my son, and I won’t take any shit from you, understand?”

Princess looked down, ashamed at herself. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I jus haven’ had the best couple of day. Well, more like life.”

Placing her hands on her hips, Missy glared down at Princess. “Well, you don’t have to take it out on me.”

Princess muttered another apology and stared down at the white linen cover placed over her knees. It was so thin, yet somehow, so very warm. That fact had always fascinated her. She could never fathom just how it was done. Spending a lot of time in the hospital, Princess had had many opportunities to inquire on how they were like that, but she was either too shy or too drugged up to ask. Mostly it was the latter.

For a moment, Missy studied the girl. Then, she turned and gazed at her chart. “How did you come to get your injury?” she asked.

“Some guy bashed my head against a wall,” Princess nonchalantly answered.

Missy’s eyebrows rose ridiculously high on her long forehead. “You act as if this was not the first time.”

“That’s ‘cause it wasn’.”

Incredulously, Missy stared at Princess. “How many times has it happened?”

“A lot.”

For a moment, Missy stared down at the girl in pity. Normally, she hated weak women. Hated how they let men push them around claiming that they “love” them. Came in the hospital with black eyes and broken arms. She had never felt pity for them. They chose their life and the abuse that came with it. But Princess was a different case. That she could tell.

By the way the girl in front of her talked, Missy could tell that she was a prostitute. There had been plenty to walk through the hospital doors for various medical reasons. Most of them were badly beaten. Most so badly that it was hard to tell what they had looked like. Princess had a busted lip, a fading bruise on her neck, a severe head wound, and bandages on her arm, hand, and feet. Those are what made Missy believe that the girl was a prostitute, and she wasn’t wrong.

She shook off the pitying feeling that was coming over her. The girl had chosen her life, so why should she take pity on her. It was her own damn fault she was in the hospital. Maybe if she hadn’t chosen that certain life style, none of it would have happened to her. No. Missy did not have to feel any sympathy for the girl sitting before her. It was her own fault.

Sighing, Princess looked to the woman standing next to her. “Can I leave?” she inquired. She did not want to be there any longer. Staying there was filling her head with dark thoughts. Thoughts that she really did not like. She did not want to be like her reflection. So angry and filled with hate. Yes, she led a hard life, but that does not mean she needed to hate everything about it.

“I don’t have the authority to tell you. Only a doctor can release you. I’m just a nurse.” Missy took a quick glance at Princess’ charts once again. “Judging by what your chart says, probably not. Your skull has a small fracture and you slept a day away. I’m sure that the doctors will want to run a few more test to make sure that everything is alright. After that, you’ll probably be released.”

Damn, Princess thought. She really wanted to go. It was not safe to stay in one place for too long. If the mob was looking for her, there was a large chance that they would find her there. They had spies everywhere, and she was almost positive that they knew that she was there.

Even if she forever had to live on the streets, Princess did not want to return to the hands of the mob. Anything was better than that. Even the chance of starvation sounded much more pleasing than that. Princess knew that she would not survive long on the streets, she was too weak. But it was a risk she was willing to take. Her newfound freedom was more important to her than her empty belly.

“How much longer do ya think I have ta stay here?”

“A few hours.”

“Fuck,” groaned Princess, flopping back on the bed. They were definitely going to catch her now.

“Why are you so anxious to leave?” Curiosity had gotten the best of Missy. Normally, she would not have asked, but she felt the need to know.

Princess rolled over, facing away from Missy, and curled herself into the tiniest ball she could muster. “They’ll find me here,” she whispered. “They’ll find me and take me back. I don’t want to go back.”

“Who?” Missy asked concerned. It was made clear that the girl was frightened of whoever she was referring to. “Who will take you back?”

“The mob. They’ll take me back and put me on the streets again.”

Suddenly, pity returned to Missy. The girl that lay before her had not chosen her life. She had heard of it before, plenty of times. People work up debt and are forced to by them back with either blood or body. But the girl appeared too young to work up a substantial amount of debt with the mob. Hell, she looked too young to be out of high school yet.

With her jaw set firm, Missy looked at Princess with determination. “I’m sure that they won’t find you here. No one even knows your name. I plan to keep it that way. Just pretend to be sleeping still. They’ll believe that. You have been out for a day, what’s a few more hours?”

Turning over, Princess gazed at the woman’s determined eyes. It sparked hope in her. Hope that she was right and they would not find her. But the fact of spies still plagued her. They would certainly recognize her, but Princess would recognize them as well. How could she not? She had slept with more than half of the men in the mob, excluding the bosses. Keeping the men entertained and happy had been a part of her job. A part that she now found a use for. If she spotted any of the men, she would be able to hide in hopes that they had not spotted her first.

“Besides,” Mary started again, “with the doctors so busy with Dent, I’ll most likely be the only one taking care of you. It’ll make this a lot easier. With just me in here, no one will know about you.”

A grateful smile appeared on Princess’ face. It was rare when someone wanted to actually help her, as she saw with Joker. He had not wanted to help her, but use her just as the mob had. Maybe not in exactly the same way, but using was using no matter what the pretenses were. With the thought of the man, she felt disgusted with herself. Once again, she had been led into a trap with sweet words. The mob had done that. They had taken her away with sweet promises that they would take better care of her than her father could. After she had fell into the gaping hole they had led her to, they had drugged her and abused her.

Princess’ eyes narrowed as she thought. What if Missy was doing the same thing? What if she was leading her into some kind of trap? After all, Princess did not know the woman. She could very well be working for the mob herself, and Princess would never know. Princess was not into woman and luckily the pimps did not force her to be. That much she was grateful for.

Missy saw the distrust in Princess’ eyes. It was understandable to her. Princess knew nothing about her and would have no reason not to distrust her. Missy was not leading the young girl astray, but Princess would not know that. So, Missy would have to convince her. Convince Princess that she was not going to betray her.

Gazing down at the girl, Missy could see that the possibility of Princess trusting her was minimal. It would be hard for the girl to trust anyone. Missy may not know all the circumstances behind Princess’ mistrust, but she was sure that they were good reasons for her to not place trust in just anyone. Missy did not even know the girl’s name. She had been unconscious at the time of her admittance and there was no possible way for anyone to ask. The cop that had dropped her off had left shortly afterwards so that she could make it to the Commissioner’s funeral two days ago.

“What’s your name?” Missy finally asked. She was not going to put the information down in the charts, but was curious none the less.

“Jus call me Princess, everyone else does,” replied Princess.

“Interesting choice for a name.”

A smirk appeared on Princess’ face. “Someone very important to me gave it to me. Besides, I like it better than my real name.”

Missy took the seat next to the bed. It was normally reserved for visitors, but it would appear that the girl was not going to get any. “What’s your real name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Jessica.”

“I don’t see a problem with Jessica. I rather like that name. If I had a girl instead of a boy I was going to name her Jessica.”

Before Princess could make a remark, a scream cut across the hospital. Missy quickly stood up while Princess just turned her head to the window. Nurses and doctors rushed by the window to the room they had wheeled Harvey Dent into. Of course, Princess had no idea who the man was, he had just been another man to her. Princess never had an interest for politics even before the mob.

“Who’s that?” she asked Missy.

Missy slowly sat back down, realizing that she was not needed. “Harvey Dent.”

By the way Missy said the man’s name, Princess thought he must be important in some way.
“Who’s he?”

Shocked, Missy looked at the girl. She could not believe Princess had never head of the man. Everyone in Gotham knew who Harvey Dent was. He was their White Knight after all. “Are you being serious?” Princess nodded in reply. “He’s Gotham’s District Attorney. Since his election, he’s been cleaning up the streets of crime. Even put some of the mob away. None of the bosses, of course, they can get out of anything. Gotham has become a much safer place because of him.”

Princess could not help but scoff. “Maybe for the higher end parts of town, but not the Narrows. That place is still horrible.”

“Is that where you live?”

Princess shook her head. “Not anymore. I’m livin’ on the streets now. I like it better.”
For hours, Missy and Princess exchanged stories. They learned a great deal about each other. Princess learned how Missy had gone through nursing school while working a full time job to take care of her son, Adam, that was just an infant at the time. His father had taken off as soon as he had learned that Missy was pregnant and had never once inquired to the well being of his child. Missy did not mind, she was better off without the low life. She had proven that she could take care of her and her son by herself just fine. Princess was glad to hear a happy story.

Missy, on the other hand, was horrified to hear Princess’. Horrified and amazed. She was horrified at hearing about the abuse, drugs, and rapes, but amazed at how someone so young could live through it all and still be mostly intact. Most girls would have kept with the drug habit, but Princess had kicked it. Most would have continued to cry during the beatings and rapes, but Princess had stopped. Somehow, she had forced herself to do things that some less capable people would have broken from. Missy could tell that Princess was not whole, but she still had a fire in her. The way she had glared and talked to her proved that much.

It was not until Missy heard that Princess had been with Joker that she really started to freak out. She had totally lost it. But Princess had lost it even more when Missy started to insist that she was going to tell the cops. That was not a good idea and Princess did not like the sound of it. The mob had spies disguised as cops, and they would inform them of her whereabouts. No matter what, Princess was not going to let that happen.

With her hands gripping Missy’s arm tightly, she tried to drag her away from the door. Then, an alarm went off and panic started to ensue. Confused, Princess gazed up at Missy. The only reply Missy gave the girl was a shrug of her shoulders. She flung open the door and grabbed the first nurse to walk by. “What’s happening?” she asked her.

“We have to evacuate the hospital immediately!” the nurse told her, her voice laced with panic.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Joker’s threatened to blow up a hospital. I don’t know all the details, but we have to get everyone out. There are buses outside for us.” Then she was gone, rushing to get all of the patients out of the building.

“Did you know anything about this?” Missy asked gazing down at Princess.

With eyes wide, Princess shook her head. How would she know anything about it? Joker had thrown her out two days ago. He had never told her anything anyways. Just left saying he would be back. When she got to thinking about it, she really did not talk to Joker much. She talked to Doc more than him.

A sigh passed through Missy’s lips. “I guess you wouldn’t. If you did, I’m sure you wouldn’t have ended up here. Well, let’s get to a bus.”

Hands still attached to the woman, Princess let Missy lead her to a bus. With everyone in a state of panic, the going was tough. People pushed and shoved the pair out of the way. One had pushed Princess so hard she banged her head against the wall. It had unfortunately been the side that was already injured. Immense pain coursed through her head and attacked all of her senses. It made her nauseated and dizzy. This fact forced the pair to stop until the spell was over.

It took a grand total of thirty minutes to get out of the hospital and another fifteen to find a bus that had space. When they finally found a bus, Princess was relieved. With all the brisk walking they had done, her feet were aching her. The pain in her head had not subsided, but she had not wanted to be stuck in the building for much longer. The shouts had not been helping her pounding head. Sitting down on the cushioned seats of the bus sounded most appealing to her.

At seeing the bus, Princess’ sped up now dragging Missy. When the reached the entrance of the bus, Missy stopped dead. Princess turned to ask her what was wrong, but was cut off when hands grabbed her and roughly pulled her onto the bus. As if she were a feather, they tossed her into the walkway. Princess barely managed to keep to her feet. Standing up straight she gazed at the other passengers. They were all terrified. The air was polluted with the musky sent of fear. It was so thick that Princess could taste it when she ran her tongue over her lips savoring the taste.

Princess froze. She did not like the way she was acting or had been acting. This was not her. She had never enjoyed the taste of fear nor did she know what it smelled like. What the hell was this? Why was she acting that way? Out of the corner of her eye she caught her reflection in one of the windows on the bus. It was waving at her, a smirk on its face. Her breath caught in her throat and she turned to face it. When she did, the reflection put her finger to her lips, shushing her. Princess did not need to be told twice. Like she would ever tell anyone about her reflection talking to her in the first place. She would only end up in the nuthouse, and who wants to go to the nuthouse?

“Princess?” a voiced called, ripping her from her reflection in the window.

Turning, Princess spotted who the voice had come from. Her eyes widened and a smile lit up her face. “Doc,” she called back excitedly. Skipping to him, she embraced Doc.

He embraced her back, but quickly pulled her away at arms length. “Are you alright? What happened?” His eyes scanned her body, checking for injury. When they landed on the bald spot on her head, hidden by her hair, his eyes widened slightly. Removing the thin chunk of hair covering the wound, he counted the stitches. Six. There were six of them, rowed neatly together slanting down toward her ear.

“I’m fine,” answered Princess. “It’s jus’ a little bump.”

Missy’s jaw dropped. “Just a little bump!” she exclaimed, the nurse in her taking over.

“You have stitches and your skull is fractured. I’d say that was more than a little bump.”

Princess shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” A statement of fact and she had many scars to prove it. Turning back to Doc, Princess’ smile fell from her face. If Doc was there, that could only mean one thing. “This is the hospital he’s gonna blow up, isn’ it?” she asked the man in a low whisper. Doc nodded in response. “Why?”

“I don’t know. This was just the one he picked. No one really knows why he does the things he does. I don’t even think he knows.”

Missy was pushed out of the way as one of Joker’s goons walked down the walkway. He gripped Princess’ arm and whipped her around. Fear laced her face as she stared up at the man. “Well, well, lookie what we got here. It’s Boss’ whore!” he exclaimed to the other men who burst into a fit of giggles or smirked at her. Doc glared down at the man who was just slightly shorter than him. “And look at this!” the man pointed at the glaring Doc. “It looks like the faggot has a soft spot for her. Are ya thinkin’ ‘bout goin’ to women now?”

A smirk appeared on Princess’ face. “You’re a naughty boy,” she told the man. “Very naughty to use such a word. That wasn’t very nice of you.” She ripped her arm from his grasp and placed a hand on his chest. “You are in dire need of a lesson in manners.” Her voice was low and seductive and not her own. Princess was confused but the expression would not show on her face, only the smirk. For the second time that hour, she asked just what the hell was wrong with her.

Doc was just as confused as she was. From the short time that he had known the girl, she had never once talked like that. It was always “ya” instead of “you,” and dire was a word her would have thought to never hear from her. That low voice was not hers as well. Did the bump on her head mess her up more than was thought?

The man, of course, did not notice the change. He had never talked to Princess one on one and figured she just wanted to have some fun. “And how are ya gonna teach me this lesson?” he inquired with a smirk on his face. His hand grasped her hip and gave it a little squeeze.

Princess glared down at his hand as if she could burn it off with the look. Then, her eyes, still narrowed, turned back up to him. “Who said you could touch me?” she hissed. Grabbing his wrist, she lifted the hand off of her, digging her nails into his flesh. As hard as she could, she shoved the man away from her. With her lack of strength and his body weight, he did not travel far.

What’s wrong with me? Princess asked herself.

It’s just me, a voice replied. Princess recognized the voice as the same one her reflection carried. We should be a whole person, but you won’t let that happen. So, I’ve decided to force my way into you.

Leave me alone, begged Princess. Ya gonna get me killed!

Even in your head your speech is atrocious. The voice sighed. Fine, I’ll leave you alone. For now.

The final warning before the voice vanished. Princess could not help but feel relieved. The relief was short lived when she saw that the man was glaring down at her his hands balled tightly into fists. Princess’ heart pounded and she briefly wished that had not shaken off what she now deemed Evil Princess so hastily. At least with her, she would not have been so frightened and the fear would not be showing in her face.

Before the man could do anything the building next to them exploded. Small bits of debris hit the windows of the bus and the vehicle shook slightly with the force of the aftershock. Doc quickly pushed her into the seat closest to them and sat himself next to her. “Stay down!” he commanded her.

The command fell on deaf ears. Princess was staring intently out the window at the burning building. The sight was strangely beautiful to her, making her wonder if Evil Princess was resurfacing. When there was no voice in her head and her reflection was only her staring back at her, she decided that it was her. Maybe the others thought so as well. Humans always had a strange fascination with destruction.

As the bus started to slowly drive away, Princess sat on her knees and watched the building burn as they drove past it. It was a big mistake on her part, and she soon came to realize it when her eyes landed on Joker. He was staring forward, never once glancing back at the collapsing building. Princess thought it strange. Never once did he look back at the devastation he had caused. Just kept staring forward.

His eyes shifted to her and she yipped and quickly sat down in the seat trying to hide herself. Silently she prayed that he had not had time to recognize her. After a few moments had passed, she thought that her prayers had been answered for once. Sighing in relief, she slumped further down into the seat. Out of the corner of his eyes, Doc kept glancing at her. He was praying for the same she had.

“Princess!” Joker’s nasally voiced called out. Princess’ heart sank as did Doc’s.

Shit.

“Come here!”

Double shit.

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End of chapter 14. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Just to inform you all, I will only be updating once a week now. Just on Fridays. Review and rate please!