No Way Out- Chapter 2

The morning rays of sunlight break shine through the cracks along the boarded up windows. Squinting, I glance around the large room, everything being washed over with light. The warehouse we called our own has been abandoned for years but this was our hangout spot. Haedyn wasn't beside me anymore. He must've gotten up early to go pay a visit to Dr. Crane or something. Maybe he had class. He is 20 after all and in college majoring in Biology. Shocker.... He is just like his father. I run my hands through the blankets and pillows looking for some kind of note he left behind�"nothing.

I stretch, getting out of the bed, tossing the pillows and blankets off me. The mattress sat on the floor, no headboard behind it. Haedyn says he leaves the bed like this so I wouldn't be able to hide things under there. He knew it was my way of cleaning the room, an out-of-sight-out-of-mind feeling. He knows me all too well. The warehouse is my second home when I don't feel welcomed at my actual one. I have a dresser, some clothes here and there. Just some necessary things. There's faint chatter coming up through the vents. A number of voices, all overlapping each other. I can't quite make out what is being said.

Haedyn comes into the room, a McDonald's bag in hand. "She's alive!" He flashes his beautiful, bright smile at me. He looks fresh, dressed in new clothing, his dark hair slightly spiked in its own little messy way. It doesn't look like he was here camping out with me all night. I didn't hear him shower or get ready. "You hungry? Got a pancake breakfast for two, extra hash browns. Your favorite." My stomach rumbles at the delicious smell of the hash browns. I could live off those things if I really had the chance.

Ignoring my stomachs desperate cries to devour every last bit in that bag, I waltz over to the table. "Thanks. You could've woken me up."

He sits the food down on the small table that sits near the bathroom. "You looked so peaceful. Besides, after the night you had, you really needed the sleep. You don't get enough as it is." He says as he sets the table with plastic forks and knifes bordering the paper plates. "I laid out a towel for you whenever you are ready to shower."

"Are you saying I smell bad?" I smirk, taking my usual seat that faces the window as well as the door. I have this thing where I have to be able to see the windows and doors. Just in case I am in need of a quick escape. Besides, I'm not one for being snuck up on.

"Oh, that's you I'm smelling? I thought that was coming from outside."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Haedyn took his place across from me, passing out the food. "Who's downstairs?" I ask, running a hand through my messy black and white hair. My bed head could terrorize any normal person but not Haedyn. He is used to me waking up, looking like I am wearing a cheap clowns wig from some Halloween store.

"No one important. A couple of wannabe thugs seemed to have wondered onto our sacred grounds."

"Oh my. That is serious." I joke, taking a small bite from my pancakes.

"Definitely. I was almost trembling in my boots. I mean they just look scary. Pants at their knees, hats on in every direction. Multicolored shirts... It was surely terrifying." He grins, taking a bite of his own.

"Did you show them how we have fun?" I take a bite out of a hash brown, trying not to look like a starving wolf. Chew, swallow, and enjoy the food. Occasionally, we had to deal with thugs coming around. They yearn for a change of scenery. Can't hang out at clubs all the time, right? We had to deal with thugs coming around sometimes. Most people don't believe that we live here. The ones that do believe that we are freaks. I enjoy messing with them when the opportunity rolls around. They are never too fond of my games.

"Come on. You know I could never do it without my girl." His girl... I'm no one's girl. A single-pringle as some rich b***h put it when I overheard her conversation with one of her friends before robbing a jewelry store. Nothing has stopped him from calling me his girl since we've been friends. He's protective of me but not quite in an older brother way. He wants me to be his, longs for it. But I don't have the heart to crush his... I might be ruthless at times, but I really care about him... Maybe even love him. I shudder at the thought. Love... ugh...

"Good to hear. I would've hurt you. I am always up for fun. Your Dr. Crane check in on you and your classes yet?"

"Not yet. He is probably still asleep. Long nights in the lab..."

"Hmm..." I couldn't control myself from digging into the pancakes, hardly stopping to properly chew the food. I really wish I wasn't this hungry but I can't remember the last time I had a proper meal. I am always running away from home. Maybe I should invest in a fridge or something here.

"Woah, champ. Slow down. I promise I won't take anything away from you. You can have some of mine if you want it. But I'd love to not have to give you CPR right out of class." He gives me that gorgeous smile once more. His brown eyes so kind and warm. That smile could be my weakness. He is my weakness if I am honest. Maybe being his girl wouldn't be such a bad thing. No Lena... don't think like that. It is not fair to him. He deserves to find someone who is normal, who isn't as damaged as you. The little voice in my head tells me. He deserves true happiness. You could never give that to him. I swallow my bite before smiling in return, pushing the voices out of my mind. "No more nightmares last night?"

"No..." I say, looking down at what was left of my breakfast. "Thankfully." The last few bites went down quickly. I'll admit, I am not the classiest when it comes to eating food but Haedyn never seems to mind. In fact, sometimes he eats just as quickly with me.

"Are you going to tell me what it was about?" I know he won't tell anyone but I couldn't let him go through what I was. This was my battle. Though Joker has never done anything to him personally, Haedyn hates everything about him, telling me how he wishes he could just kill the man and get this over with. Makes me feel like I am a bit of a burden, though he really doesn't mean it that way. Maybe I'll let him. Then again, maybe I won't. It is too dangerous and like I said, this is my battle, not his.

Sighing softly while dragging my fork through the sticky syrup, I peek up at him through my lashes. "Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if they had actually kept me. Would I be different? More like...him? Would he actually care about me? Or even love me?"

"Lena, you would still be you. If you stayed with them, you would be more dangerous. You're lucky to have had a somewhat normal life before you were brought back to your parents. You're already a thousand times better than them."

"That's a lie." My eyes meet his. So concerned.

"She let him break her. He destroyed her from the inside out, but you fight back. You face your fears and hold onto your sanity. Dad would love you to be his child."

I laugh lightly, something that I don't do often. "Not sure incest is his forte. Besides, I'm not sure I'd want to be your sister. You know too much." He laughs, returning to his food. This is my best friend. My person. I feel bad because I use him to take my mind off things. But he lets me. That makes him just as guilty as I am.

"Well, maybe you're right. Hopefully, I can get you something to help with your nightmares. It's bad enough you deal with them while you're awake."

I push away from the table gently. "I'm gonna hop in the shower before we pay a visit to our new friends." I say, leaning across the table to kiss his cheek before making my way to the bathroom. I shut the door behind me, starting the shower. Haedyn's t-shirt slides off my body, onto the floor.

Something strange in the mirror catches my eye. A girl, slightly younger than I am, stares back at me. Her wide dark violet eyes, full lips, and checkered hair framed her heart-shaped face nicely. Her skin was very oddly pale, but not ghostly white. The girl in the mirror hunches her shoulders forward as if she is crying, shying away from someone. My brows furrow as I watch her. She turns away from me so that I cannot see her face anymore. Scars paint a beautiful yet disturbing picture on her bare back. Scars of how had she has fought to stay alive in this harsh world of hers. She is the image of me--- beautifully damaged.

I turn away from the mirror, getting into the steaming shower, flinching as the water laps at the newest of bruises. IT has been a few days since I have seen Joker but he was still very much here. One day, I will escape from this hell hole and finally be free of this wicked grin. I step out of the shower, wrapping the black towel around my body.

There was a knock at the door. "You okay?"

"Be out in a second." I wipe the condensation off of the mirror. The girl is no longer there. The voices in my head mutter quietly, like they are trying to figure out where she went. I ignore them to the best of my ability, looking at myself in the mirror. Some bruises decorated my shoulders and faintly on my stomach. No matter how hot the water, I could never seem to wash every aspect of him away. The torture, the feeling of his large hands beating me in hopes to subdue me. It's a constant reminder of the life I am trying to escape from.

The reflection in the mirror changes. There he stands, staring at me with his dark eyes, eyes just like mine. His green hair shimmers in the light, his red lips pull up in their twisted way, revealing his teeth. You can't run from me, Lucy. I am a part of you. I blink hard, trying to get the image to disappear. The Joker laughs holding out his hand to me, tempting me to take it. Accept it, Lucy. We are one in the same.

"No!" I scream, punching the mirror. Glass shatters around me on the ground and in the sink. His face breaks up, still his smile remains in every shard. His laugh echoes throughout the bathroom. I sink down, covering my ears, rocking back and forth. "Leave me alone!!" Haedyn busts in, crouching beside me.

"Lena. Lena! It's alright!" He shakes my shoulders gently, trying to get me to look up at him. My eyes are squeezed tightly shut, my hands still over my ears. The laughter still rung through the air. Accept it, Lena... Haedyn shakes me once more, finally drawing me out of my trance. "Lena!" Tears pool in my eyes, causing him to be blurry. He gently removes my hands from my ears.

"Lena, are you okay?" Joker... "Lena, what were you thinking?" He was here Haedyn... He was here. Haedyn took my bloody hand carefully in his, examining it. He reaches for the first aid kit beneath the sink. "What happened?" He asks softly, using tweezers to pick out the glass lodged in my hand.

"H-he was here, mocking me." I whisper, blinking the tears out of my eyes. I flinch as he pulls out the biggest piece.

"Sorry... Joker? Lena, no one is up here but us. It is just us. I promise." He examines which cuts would need stitches, if any. "What did he say?"

"I can't run from him, Haedyn..." I can't tell him that I am scared shitless. Saying it out loud would make it even more real. I can't turn into him. I can't let him break me down like my mother. Haedyn cleans and stitches up some cuts before wrapping my hand in an ace wrap.

"He isn't here. It's okay." He looks me directly in the eyes, holding my damaged hand. I didn't even feel him stitch the cuts. My hands shake in his, causing him to run his thumb over the bandage. "You're alright, Lena." My labored breathing starts to return to normal.

"Listen to me. You are nothing like that man. Don't let him get to you okay?" I nod slowly in response. "Come on. Let's get you up and dress. We still have thugs to get out of here." A small smile plays at my lips as he helps me up off the floor. "Can't have you going downstairs giving them a show." He always makes me feel better quickly, pushing all my worries away, even if only for a short amount of time.

"Oh no. That is too good for them." I say, wiping away any tears that made their escape. Haedyn leads me out to the bed, sitting me down carefully. "What to wear..."

"How about you let me choose." Him? Choose? Well this will be interesting.

Grinning, I say, "Alright, but don't make me look like a nun. It's out of style."

He snorts, going through the dresser drawers, pushing clothes aside before pulling out a dark purple t-shirt and black shorts with the bottoms bleached white. "How about this? Maybe with some bling?"

I take the clothes from him, grabbing a pair of undergarments to go under the clothes "Bling? Ha! Maybe you should stop hanging around all those sorority girls on campus, Jinx. Your vocabulary is in danger." Jinx is Haedyn's middle name but I use it as a nickname. I don't say it often, at least not in front of other people. That would just give them a chance to use it but it's our thing. He was my Jinx, always promising to protect me from my biggest fears while inflicting them on others.

Not paying much attention, I slide into the clothes in front of him. He turns around like a gentleman, though he has seen me naked plenty of times. "Perfect. Maybe there's hope for you after all, Jinx." I pull my hair up into a pony tail. Mom once thought that I wanted to have hair a bit more like hers so she dyed my hair half black and half white. I haven't changed it either. I kind of like it. Why tamper with perfection?

"So, ready to see our friends?"

"Most, definitely." Haedyn walks downstairs first with me following in suit, their voices growing louder as we approach the training room. The room is large, a boxing ring in one corner, punching bags spread about. There are weights, tight ropes, some gymnastic stuff here and there for me. Of course, with it being a warehouse, there were some abandoned cars and packages there. Nothing that needed to be worried about that much. Haedyn had invested in some couches and whatnot for us to lounge around in whenever we finished our training, or just wanted to hang out outside of the room. I am the only one who actually has a room here because let's face it, I'm here more than anyone cares to admit.

The group of men are leaning against a car, some of them smoking and or drinking, while the others just chat about their side chicks or goals of robing some liquor store for booze. Really intimidating... The three men look up at us as we walk up to them. One of them, a guy with a short fro and dark chocolate skin, reaches back into his pants like he was going for a gun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Haedyn watches him closely.

"Woah there, fellas. We mean no harm." I put up my hands, palms facing them. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" A short guy, Hispanic looking with his beautifully tanned skin, shot back at me.

I just smile. "Well, you see, I live here. You?"

"You live in an abandoned warehouse? Seriously? What, mommy and daddy didn't want you anymore?" The group of guys snicker. Haedyn shifts a little, keeping eyes on the men. I feel his burning desire to punch them but we resist. I glance at him, watching his jaw clench.

My smile remains on my face as I lower my hands. "Sure, something like that. So what exactly are you doing here? In my home?"

"Just looking for a little bit of fun."

I turn to Haedyn. "Imagine that! So are we!" Looking back at the men, I say, "Who is in charge here?" A tall, built man steps forward. He looked mixed, dark hair disheveled. His dark eyes giving me an up-down.

"Me."

"Ah, I see. What is your name?"

"Nico."

I hold out my hand to him. "Hey, Nico. I'm Lena." Out the corner of my eye, I see Haedyn shoot a sideways look at me. His eyes screaming at me 'what are you doing? Are you crazy?' Probably. Nico shakes my hand, never taking his eyes off of mine. "Nice strong grip." He winks at me, a Cheshire like grin on his face. Don't get your hopes up. Playboy. "What kind of fun are you boys looking for? We have some weight stuff here. Some of you look like you could use a bit of toning."

He smirks. "What else do you have in mind?"

"How about...a robbery? I know this great place. Really fancy, tons of stuff worth taking. But it is high risk. I'm not into all that amateur stuff. Too boring." I fold my arms across my chest, looking over at Haedyn. He is fully staring at me like I had lost my mind. "Too easy, ya' know?" I smile, wrinkling my nose a bit.

"What 'bout ya' boy here? He gon' go with us?" The Hispanic guy tips his head toward Haedyn. I cringe slightly, hearing him talk. Ugh... Why does he talk like that? I'm sure deep down inside this thug-life dude, there is a guy who speaks in full, beautiful sentences and not this s**t. "Of course, I am. You think I'd miss out on the fun?" Haedyn looks at the boy, balling his fists.

"Are you down for going to this place to have some fun or not? It doesn't matter who I bring with me since you have your own little posy. Right?" I frown at him.

"Of course not, princess. Alright. Well, let's go. You lead the way. Got a car?"

"Don't worry about us." I take Haedyn's hand, leading him outside to his black 2012 Fisker Karma Model. He fishes in his pocket for the keys as we approach the car. The other men go to their car, a white Trailblazer that is parked just off the side of the warehouse. I slip into Haedyn's car, the seats feeling so comfortable. Haedyn gets into the driver's seat.

"What the hell are you getting us into?" He starts the car, buckling his seatbelt.

"Just having a little fun."

"Fun? With them? Are you nuts?" He looks over at me, eyebrows raised.

"Aw, is Jinx afraid of some wannabes? We can stay if you want. I think Looney Toons is on. You know, the classics. Not that new s**t." I smirk at him, trying to contain my laughter. He didn't seem in the least bit amused.

"I hope you know what you are doing..."

"Trust me. It will be fun."

"Where are we going, boss?"

"Joker's."

Author's Note

What do you think of the mirror scene? That is one of my favorites but I want to know your opinion.