Why So Serious? (Heath Ledger)

Chapter 8

I arrived at the ball around 6:41 p.m., 19 minutes before I was supposed to meet up face to face with my abductor.... The Joker.

I walked in through the doors, having to show the security guards my invitaion. As I entered through the second set of glass doubled doors..I noticed right away that the room was ginormous! Glass windows and long silk curtains covered the walls.

A grand crystal chandelier hung in the middle of the room.. the floors were made of marble, so shiny you could see your reflection and at the back of the room were stairs, the width of a car, going up to another floor.. maybe it was another ballroom for if this one became too crowded.

I stepped out and people began to stare... but then in horror I realized why. There must of been hundreds of people here.. maybe even thousands... and they were all wearing black and white... Only.

I slowly walked through the crowd towards the back of the room, grabbing some wine as a lady with a tray walked past me in a rush.

I drank the wine quickly and could feel my cheeks burning as I reread the invitation... this was a Black-and-white masquerade ball, and I was wearing a red dress with white gloves, a white and gold mask, and gold highheels. Ha, I was practically invisible.

People shot me awkward glances as I passed them, as if I were some alien being from another planet, or walking around with lasers shooting out of my eyes. I kept my head down until I finally made it to the back wall.

6:53 p.m.

Déjà vu struck me hard. Being at this party, at the back of the room, waiting for someone...

I stood against the wall standing there patiently, for the Joker to find me. Maybe that was the reason he gave me my dress back, so he could easily find me... But how had he known whether or not I was going to read "black and white" on the invitation, or not?

I pushed the thoughts to the back of my head. That didn't really matter at this point considering that I had already misread the invitation, and was now wearing the dress.

I looked forward and noticed someone with a black mask covering half their face and a white tuxedo walking towards me. It obviously wasnt the joker but I held my breathe for a moment..... wondering why I had come in the first place.

He came up to me as I gripped the knife in my pocket hard with my fist.

"Alisa? I didn't know you'd be here? Who invited you?"

"John?" He took off his mask, and I was right it was John,"How did you find me?"

"Well it was very hard you see. I was walking around admiring the decor when I saw this girl in a red dress. I was confused for a moment because it looked quite similar to the dress you had sent me a picture of when we'd first met and I had invited you to-.... and besides, you gave it away when you said my name." We both laughed, me a little more nervously than I'd wanted.

"Yeah, I didn't quite read all of the card when I got it..." I looked down... not wanting to say who had given it to me.

"Well your a lucky gal, these invitations aren't cheap. Someone's got an eye on you." I shot a quick glance around the room scanning it with my eyes. Thinking it strange, what he'd just said.

"Yeah it was just a erm.. friend.. yeah."

"Well hey, I'm friends with the guy who threw this fundraiser, let me introduce him to you. His name is Bruce Wayne."

"Sure, that'd be great." I felt safe around John.

We walked together laughing and talking until we finally reached the famous Bruce Wayne. John introduced me.