This was a writing assignment where the instructor had the students choose a past assignment and rewrite it using a different character's perspective. This story is loosely based on a dream I had that I turned in as a journal entry.
I just got off work and had to stop off at my mom’s to pick up my mail; I didn’t intend on being there for very long. When I got there, the house was empty; the cats weren’t running around or sleeping quietly on the furniture. I walked into the dining room to check the back window; the dogs weren’t waiting anxiously at the back door to see me. Mom wouldn’t have taken the animals somewhere, would she? I sent my sister, Jessica, a text, grabbed my mail, and headed for the front door. I was sure there was a reason for the animals being gone; figured maybe she would know. As I headed to the door, I could see a figure blocking the oval door window. The design in the window distorted the figure, but I could make out the color of the figure’s jacket; it was purple. Mom’s favorite color is purple. I opened the door expecting to see my mother w the animals; but it wasn’t her smiling face I saw. I tried not to scream as I looked at this stranger’s face. It was a man’s; at least I thought it was a man…His face was painted up like a clown’s; I’m terrified of clowns…He had green hair, and his face was painted white with red lipstick made into a giant demented smile. I slowly backed away from the door, eyes wide and mouth gaping in horror, still staring at this smiling face.
“Don’t be rude, my dear. Aren’t you gonna let a fella in?” he said coyly in a soft but gruff voice that was followed by a high pitched evil laugh. I regained my courage and made an attempt at slamming the door in this man’s face; he stopped it from closing with his foot. I turned and ran for the back door as he made his way into the house, pulling my cell phone out of the front pocket of my jeans along the way. I heard the man yelling at others behind him; “Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Get her!!” I successfully dialed my sister’s number and heard it ring once just as I reached the back door. I unlocked it and turned the knob, but was taken by surprise by one of the creepy man’s henchmen. My phone dropped to the floor just as Jessica’s voicemail kicked in; I was able to let out a single scream before a purple bandana was forced over my mouth and nose.
***
I didn’t know how long I was out. I just remember screaming and a sweet smell filling my nostrils. Did chloroform smell sweet? I didn’t know. I couldn’t worry about that right now. My eyes slowly adjusted and I looked around. It was midday; I hadn’t been out for very long. I recognized this room; I was still at my mom’s, in Jessica’s old room…Why was I still here? The room was completely empty; I was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with a gag in my mouth and my arms behind my back, tied incredibly tight with thick rope. It was digging into my wrists and I could feel the blood slowly running down to the tips of my fingers. There was a small 19” tv in front of me; it was wrapped in bungee cords, secured to the floor; it was playing “The Dark Knight”. What the hell was going on?? I felt so helpless. I kept thinking about that frantic phone call I made to my sister. I kept thinking she never got it. I was going to die here. My mom was gone, the animals were probably dead. My eyes filled with warm tears as I continued in my thoughts.
I cleared my head when I heard the engine of a motorcycle revv as it passed down the street. It was a nice day out, I was sure Jessica would be out joy-riding today. Maybe she was out and about when I called. I hoped she would check her voicemail box right away; I knew how much she hated seeing the little icon on her phone. I heard more motorcycles passing down the main road coming from downtown. I could make out the difference of each bike from the sound of the engine; Harley’s, Yamaha’s, but none were my sister’s. I slowly rested my head on my chest and began to cry again. This really was it. I was exhausted and half-asleep when I heard the Joker talking. There were speakers behind me, hanging in the upper corners of the room. He must have had his henchmen install them while I was knocked out.
“Oh, how sweet! The older sister coming to the rescue! I think I’m going to cry!” he said with a laugh. So one of those bikes really was my sister! Tears of joy escaped my eyes and saliva from my lips soaked into the gag. I’ve never been this excited to see my sister.
“Be careful of the water, darling! Those “worms” aren’t friendly!” Again, his high pitched laugh pierced my ears. He was taunting my sister as she made her way through his little fun house. I was certain that he had a few more of his henchmen hiding, waiting to ambush her. Maybe even some horrific traps. I couldn’t think about that, so I turned my eyes to the tv. The movie had ended once already, but was playing again. Somehow, The Joker rigged it to play over and over, as a form of punishment. Did he hate this movie that much?
The Joker was quiet for quite some time; I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know whether or not Jessica had been ambushed and taken by the henchmen or still making her way through the obstacles laid out in front of her. I became more and more anxious as I waited. I was drifting into sleep when I heard The Joker’s voice screaming out of the speakers; “You fools! How did she get passed all of you?! I pay you to do my dirty work!! I didn’t help you escape from prison for nothing!!” I heard steps running up the stairs behind me, and I started screaming through the gag. I tried looking behind me, but was unsuccessful. I began shaking the chair and hopping in it to get it to turn, or fall over or something, just so I could see behind me. I was so frantic in my efforts that I never heard the footsteps approach closer.
“Hey, hey, hey it’s cool! I got you, Hannah, calm down!”
She removed my gag first, “I’m so frickin glad to see you! I don’t know how long I’ve been here! What the hell did he want?!”
“Dude, I don’t even know, let’s just get outta here…”
I nodded my head in agreement as she untied the knots; I was so relieved that she was here and we were getting out of this mess.
***
The strange man went on to terrorize a dozen other families just like he did to mine over the course of 3 weeks. I heard about it on the news, but no one seemed to know what he was looking for exactly. All I cared about was someone catching that crazy bastard before he started to kill innocent people.
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