"There's these....voices. They tell me abunch of things. Sometimes they're
helpful and sometimes they aren't. They started talking to me while I was
left alone in the....closet." Jack explained quietly.
"And these voices are only in your head? They aren't connected to a real
person?" Crane asked.
"No real person."
"Ok and this closet?"
"I was left in there. Sometimes for days. Sometimes he'd even remember to
chain me to the floor. No food. Just a tiny bit of water. No, he didn't
want me to die that easily."
Jack rolled up his sleeves to revial black bruises about 2 inches in
length circling his wrists.
He didn't know why he did it but Jonathan reached his hand out and let
Jacks hand rest in his. He ran his thumb over the bruise, watching Jack
trying not to wince.
He didn't want Jack to stress out more then he had to.

"So these voices came to you because you were alone. You wanted...needed
someone to talk to." Crane said, gently touching the bruise again.
He nodded and picked up his coffee with his other hand.
"And you got away today?"
"No. I got away 3 weeks ago."
"And you went home."
"That was home." Jack whispered.
His eyes glazed over and he seemed to stare straight through Jonathan.
"Jack?" Crane asked, waving a hand in his face.
He snapped back to normal and blushed a little.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Ok so if that was 'home' where have you been..."
"Hiding?"
"Yes. Where have you been hiding?"
"AWW. Look how cute they are!" A voice whispered loudly.
"I know! They look sooo cute together." Another voice chirped.
Jack and Jonathan looked toward the noise and spotted 2 girls hiding

behind the coffee machine smiling at them.
Both of them blushed and pulled their hands away.
One of the girls came over with 2 more coffee's and swaped them with their

drunken ones.
"I'm sorry. We weren't listening to what you were saying if that's what
you were thinking. We were just talking and looked over and saw you two
holding hands and....these are on the house." She finished, pointing to
the coffee's then walking away.
Jonathan rolled his eyes then saw the slight fear in Jacks eyes.
"Dont worry," He whispered."I don't think they were listening."
He nodded and drank his coffee.
"so,I've been just....going from place to place. Stayed in a couple
motels. If I wanted to get some food in me, I had to stop staying at
motels."
"So where did you go instead?"
Jack looked away from him.
"Stayed in some alley ways of the Narrows."
"A-are you serious?" Crane whispered.
"Yeah."
"I'm sure that isn't very pleasant."

"Well, no one bothered me for a couple weeks. But then...then this
gang...Well they said I had to pay if I wanted to stay there. I mean, who
the hell would charge someone to stay there ya know? It's a fucking dump.
But, there were some nice bums. This one had this really really nice coat,
a coat that a....a Wayne would wear."
"You know he's supposedly dead right?"
"He's not dead."
"What?"
"Nobody just dies..."Jack waved it off and went back on subject.
"So I came into the richer part of Gotham. Stole some clothes, food, and a
little money. Then I almost got caught but thank god they didnt see my
face. Otherwise wanted signs would be everywhere."

"And HE would find you."
"Exactly."
"Ok so why did you come to me?" Jonathan asked.
"I told you. The voices."
"Oh right. Well first you need to learn how to ignore them, because I know
you answer back to them don't you?"
Jack nodded looking away.

"And you need to learn how to trust because you're only trusting them and
that's just motivating your mind to produce them. But, I'm not going to
lie to you. I don't know everything about you're situation, but from what
you've told me I know its going to be hard for you to trust anyone for a
while."
"I trust you." Jack said immediately.
Jonathan sighed.
"Ok. It's good you trust me but, you shouldn't just trust people that
easily. What if I was just saying that I'm not going to tell anyone?
What if when we're done here I took you straight to Arkham or to the
police?"
Jacks eyes widened in disbelief and he scooted his chair back.
"I'm just saying 'what if.' I swear I won't do any of that."
"Ok well I won't trust anyone except for you." Jack said shrugging.
Jonathan rubbed his head.
"Thats probably the best. Ok lets get out of here."
They stood up and walked out of the coffee shop and back to his car. While
they were walking, Jack kept his head down and walked very close to
Jonathan.
"Would you like to come to my house?" Jonathan asked, once in the car
driving back to the office.
"mmm...I don't want to intrude."
"Oh you wouldn't be."
"Won't your girlfriend be mad if you bring home some stinky....thing?"
Jonathan almost laughed.
"I don't have a girlfriend and you don't smell."
"You don't?"
"Why would you think I had a girlfriend?"
"Well your not exactly ugly." Jack muttered.
Jonathan blushed and kept driving.
---------------------------------
"Are you sure you don't want to come over? You can take a shower and eat
something. I have a spare bedroom."
*God what the hell am I doing. I don't even know this guy. what if he's
bullshitting about all of this and is going to kill me?* Jonathan thought.

But as he watched Jack think it over, he knew just knew that Jack wouldn't do that.
*A hot shower,dinner, and a bed? That's heaven for me. But, what if he
wasn't kidding about the 'what if'? I can't go to Arkham. No. I wont go to
Arkham.*
"Um no that's ok. I'll just crash with Happy." Jack replied.
"Happy?"
"Yeah Happy. The old bum with the Wayne coat."
"His names happy?"
"Well no. I just call him Happy 'cause, 'cause that's what he is. He's always happy."
"Ok. Well if you need me just call ok?" Jonathan gave him a piece of paper with his cell number on it and 2 dollars in quarters. He also pressed a 20 dollar bill into his hand.
"No." Jack said, handing it back.
"Take it. You need it more than I do."
Jack stuck it into his pants pocket then looked at Jonathan.
He smiled warmly and hugged Jonathan quickly, then pulled back and walked away.
Jonathan watched him untill he disappeared around the corner.
He stuck his hands into his pockets as he walked back to his office but
stopped when his hand touched something. Pulling it out he discovered it
was a playing card, a Joker card to be exact. Written under the little
joker picture were the words 'THANKS' and all the 'J's on the card were
circled.