"Did you forget some..." As I turned my head looking at the door I felt my blood run cold because standing in the doorway weren't my sister and her boyfriend, but three men with clown masks ... and guns in their hands.
My body freezes on the spot. Unable to move. To speak. All I can do is to stand in place as the masked man keep on staring at me until the center clown, whose only mask has a frown slowly starts to approach me. His mask is white, with a blue mouth and red outlining, but what scares me the most are the eyes. It looks like there were just two black holes.
"Is everything all..." Alfred stops in the middle of his sentence as he now also comes face to face with the intruder. "Now I don't know who you are, but I assure you, that you are making a huge mistake, Gentlemen."
"Where is Burce Wayne-ah?" The Clown in the middle asks.
"Master Wayne is not here and you thugs aren't welcome." Alfred isn't baking down. It feels like forever just standing and looking at the middle clown not sure what to do next, when the other two men start to jump Alfred.
Amazingly enough, Alfred can defend himself pretty well for a man his age, but as I look away from the fight that takes place right in front of me, I only count two clowns fighting with Alfred. Turning my attention to the clown with the frown face I realize that he is still staring at me. His head was half tilted.
After what seems like forever my instincts thankfully finally kick in as I take off running. Unfortunately for me, the sad clown was way too fast for me, catching up just within seconds.
I run into the kitchen in an attempt to grab a knife. Or at least something to defend and protect myself with, but before my hand could even reach the handle of the knife, I felt a hand in my hair yanking me back, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground. As my head hits the tiles and my vision goes blurry for a second, which gives the clown the time he needs to climb on top of me. I try my hardest to scratch him for him to get off of me, but with him wearing the mask there isn't much damage that I can do.
He easily grabs both of my wrists with one huge hand and pins it above my head. CRAP!- I think to myself, laying there beneath him completely defenseless. The commotion outside of the kitchen is still loud, but my heart is beating so hard against my chest that I can barely hear anything else.
As panic starts to set in more and more, a thought rushes through my brain. What was that self-defense video again, that I saw? When someone traps you underneath them ... Pull the knees in and thrust your hip up.
And that's exactly what I do. I silently thanked all the gods above because my attacker wasn't expecting that, so I managed to catch him off guard and manage to reverse the rolls with me on top of him. I quickly manage to crawl on my hands and knees away from him. Just as I'm about to reach the door from the kitchen into the living room a hand wraps around my ankle pulling me back to the floor. I scream at the top of my lungs, desperately trying to drag myself away from this man, but he just pulls me closer to him. With my free foot, I manage to kick him in his shoulder, making him loosen his grip on my ankle. As he again tries to come towards me, I kick him where the sun doesn't shine.
To my horror, I didn't get the reaction that I was hoping for. Instead of him screaming, cowering, or well showing any signs of pain ... he starts to laugh. He laughs hysterically while I'm frozen with shock. He should be in pain! How can he be laughing right now?
Deciding better not to waste any more time, I attempt another run at the door, but somehow the clown is right behind me, grabbing me by my throat and slamming me against the wall making me cry out in pain as my head again connects against a solid ground.
Gasping for air I hear a faint CLICK and before I can even react a knife rests itself on my cheek. Tears start to well up in my eyes, as I silently pray that this isn't the night when I'm going to be reunited with my family.
To scared to move my eyes away from the blade all I can do is just endure as the man stares at me while he runs the blade up and down my face making me shiver with fear.
"Please!" I cry. "Please take whatever you want. Just please, please don't hurt me" I wince as the blade continues to run up and down my face.
"HEY YOU FREAK!" I can hear someone scream, but I don't dare to take my eyes off of him or his knife. All of a sudden he is pushed and tackled aside by Alfred, who is bleeding profusely from his head. I try to make a move towards him, but he quickly shakes his head no. "The other two are out for a while. Get out of here! NOW!" I nod franticly, crawling again on my hands and knees towards the door. My head is pounding and my vision is slowly fading. Just as I finally open the door to the living room a loud BANG hollows through the entire room making me scream out in total fear. I dared to slowly turn my head to look back and another choked scream escaped my mouth. Alred is now lying on the ground in a pool of blood as the clown is lifting his head looking directly at me.
"No" I whisper as more tears are streaming down my face. Barley having no energy left as my head is starting to feel more dizzy with every passing minute I decide to take my risk as I start to crawl to the front door. The smell of something burning catches my nose. Did something go off? Pushing this thought aside I solely concentrate on my exit. Just a little, I'm almost at the door. In freedom, then I can call help for Alfred.
BANG - I scream and try to cover myself as another gunshot goes off just mere inches from my head. The clown slowly starts to approach me, waving the gun in his hand and mocking me. Do not move. He bends down on top of me as I cry and plead with him to not shoot me. "Please! What do you want? Just take it!" I cry despratly. But what he does next truly shocks me to my core. With a low chuckle he bends down to my levle. "What I want-ah beautiful ... is right in front of me." With his free hand, he removes his mask and my eyes widen in horror as one clown's face is replaced by another. He has white facepaint all over his face, and two scars that form a giant smile, but the most gruesome are definatly his eyes. It wasn't the mask. His eyes are just pure black.
I come face to face with none other than the men who has been all over the news. The Joker.
He keeps on staring at me as he starts to laugh maniacly before raising his gun and slamming it down hard on my head and that's the last thing I see as darkness takes over me.
~~~
Third P.O.V.
"Bruce" Harvey approaches the couple taking in the view of the huge building and the people that he has never seen before. "The Party is wonderful. Thank you for your support." He turns to Elena. "And you my dear look just wonderful. Where is the lovely Aria?"
"She's at home," Elena states taking a sip from her champagne glass. "And where is your better half?"
"Rachel must be outside somewhere I'm sure." Harvey laughs uncomfortably. "Bruce, if you ever need a favor, please don't hesitate to ask. After everything that you're doing for me, it's the least that I can try and repay you."
Laughing Bruce just shakes his head. "No need Harvey. You've done more for this city than anyone thought was possible. We still have a long way to go but wherever there is a spark, there is hope." Raising his glass and his voice Bruce silences the room now with all eyes on him and Harvey.
"Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to take the time to thank you all for attending such an important event. Standing next to me is our District Attorney Harvey Dent and I can guarantee you that with Harvey as our DA we can all toast to a better and safer Gotham."
"To Gotham!" Everyone cheers as the people keep on talking with each other.
"That was lovely, Bruce" Elena leans forward to kiss him. But the cheerfulness only lasts a few moments when Rachel comes running towards the group. Her face clearly shows that she has been crying.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?" Both Harvey and Bruce are immediately at her side.
"Bruce I've just received the call. I'm so sorry" she sobs through her tears.
"What happened?"
She looks at him and shakingly whispers "There was a break-in at your mansion ... Alfred is in the hospital." All color drains from his face as he tries his best to stay calm and think logically.
"Wait, break in? When? How? Who?" Elena struggles to form a sentence. This all was just so surreal. They only left not even two hours ago.
"I don't know. Jim just said that Alfred is badly injured and that you need to come to the hospital."
"Wait, how's Aria? Is she also at the hospital?" Elena dares to ask as she now also starts to cry.
"When the police arrived ... they only found Alfred. Elena ... Jim thinks that Aria has been kidnapped."