"Hello?"

You picked up the phone from

its place on the wall,

answering the telephone call whilst he was somewhere in his office doing god knows what.

"Who are ya talking to baby?"

His eyes fell onto you as he appeared

in the hallway.

"Some man"

You answered him but he assumed that

you were just playing out of boredom and

that there was no real phone call.

"I don't know sir"

You continued talking through the phone.

"Where is my daddy?

He's in his office.

Why are you asking me so many questions?

Am I being interviewed for one of those

crazy game shows?"

When you kept up the conversation for

more than a few minutes,

it dawned on him that there might actually

be somebody on the other end,

stubbing out the cigarette he was smoking

as he left his office again,

snatching the phone from your hand

and slamming it back onto the wall.

"Were you really fucking talking to somebody?"

He searched your face.

"I told you daddy"

You furrowed your eyebrows.

"It was a really nice man and he was asking

me lots of strange questions about who

my daddy was and where you were"

"It could be the fucking fbi or some shit"

He scoffed.

"You don't fucking touch that phone again,

you hear me?

Now they know who you fucking are and

that they can coax you into some sick shit

to get at me because you're acting

like a fucking child.

Now go play with something and don't fucking

pick that phone up again.

I don't care if it rings,

just fucking leave it.

And don't you dare answer it when

Im not here cos that's what they fucking want and we're not gonna give it to them alright?"

"Okay daddy..."

You trailed off into a silence,

joining your stuffies on the living room floor

for a tea party whilst you watched

your favourite cartoons,

oblivious to how serious the situation was.

"No mikey,

You cannot have two cupcakes because

it's going to spoil dinner!

Daddy said we can't and I always get the blame

for it when you break daddys rules.

I know it sucks but daddy says life is unfair

and that's just how it is..."

"Fucking little brat"

He muttered under his breath in his office,

rolling his eyes at how naive you were,

lighting up another cigarette because that was close enough to Gotham penitentiary for one day.