disclaimer: don't. own. it. haha and a few notes…not sure I could make the phone book that interesting ;-D aaaaaand regarding "effing" all the time…I honestly just hate saying the word. so…it's not in light of the rating—that's not my issue. I just hate saying that word lol…so, in your head, if you'd like, switch it to…the word…but imma keep it that way. anyway, thanks for ze song suggestions! I am checkin' zem out. as for Jeremy: this whole story is set post TDK…but not in Gotham. ergo, it is likely Jeremy's heard of who this freak is, but not quite aware who he's dealing with. like any typical guy, he's trying to play the hero in Lee's life, so all rational thought to the killer clown goes out the window. anyway, hope that clears some of it up! enjoyyyyyy!
blacksilkrose123 ©2008
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"Lee, what the hell are you doing?!" Jeremy spat in Lee's face.
She pushed at his arms, but to no avail. Her head slammed against the broken mirror. Pain ripped through her skull. "I'm not going to let him kill you, Jer," she whispered heatedly. "You hide now, and I can calm him down long enough for you to get your ass out of here. But he won't stop, Jeremy. Not until he has me, and you're dead."
Jeremy slapped a hand over her mouth, nearly suffocating her. He pressed his face into her hair, lips on her ear. "I'm. Not. Leaving. You."
Lee's eyes narrowed.
"Harley. You, uh, really know how to piss a guy off," Joker called around the corner. "I mean…what is this? Yeah, I know you damn women and your bathroom breaks…going in pairs…like some bladder-controlled support group…but puh-lease! Doesn't take more than five damn minutes to go, ya know?"
Jeremy leaned into her harder, warning her not to make a noise.
A stall door banged open at the wall behind them. Lee jumped. Another crashed into the wall, hinges squealing and snapping with the force of Joker's blow.
"I'm gettin' real…tired…of this, Lee. So unless this is some…scenario that, ah," he chuckled mirthlessly, "turns you on…I suggest…you ge-t d-own on your knees…right…now. And you'd, uh, better be-guh. For mercy."
His voice moved, shifting closer to their corner. Jeremy hauled Lee away from the wall and they took a few steps towards the opposite end. If Josh crossed the other wall at the same time, they'd be home free, out the door, and gone.
But Lee's heart tore.
She didn't want to be gone…
Her mind screamed at her. Yet her heart couldn't help it.
The brand on her neck grew to a numb flame. Reminding her who she belonged to.
Joker sighed audibly, his tone pausing at the corner. One step, and they could escape. "I know you're with…ah, him, Harley."
His boot kicked out from behind the wall. Jeremy threw her around the corner, just as the Joker rounded the other one.
They were safe.
"Pup, pup, pu-p, puppy. Come 'ere, girl." He whistled.
Lee stared from Jeremy to the door, arms shaking badly as he tried to pull her out.
Joker's voice grew louder. "Hey, hey. Ah…Jer B-ear, is it?" He paused, as if expecting Jeremy to respond. He cleared his throat dramatically. "Hey! Uh, listen u-p, Doro-thy. You return my…heh, Toto back to me…now…and, uh, we'll just see if we can't get you back them red slippers of yours, huh?" His footsteps were rapidly crossing to them. Metal sliced through the air.
Jeremy shoved Lee out of the doorway. "Go," he mouthed. "Meet you. Go!"
Lee nodded shakily, as Jeremy pushed himself silently against the wall, waiting for Joker to round the bend. But all she could do was watch. She waited. And she couldn't hold back the sob that escaped her quivering lips. She hugged herself, backing up as her eyes trained on that corner.
Josh Kerit stepped directly into her line of sight—and Jeremy's.
He only saw her.
He only ever saw her.
His face fell. "Harley?"
"Leave her out of this." Jeremy stepped up, pulling a gun from his back pocket. He shoved it roughly into the Joker's temple. "Go to hell."
"There's no place like home, lover boy." He growled. He kept those black, soul-piercing eyes on Lee, rooting her to the spot.
Josh cackled.
The gun cocked.
And Lee ran.
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"I'm not a bad egg-uh, Harley. I swear. So quit makin' me out to be…so…bad egg-ish. I'm more, ah, along the lines of…Sunny Side U-p. You ordered me. Now, deal."
But I wasn't listening to him.
As far as I was concerned, I wasn't going to hear another damn thing out of his grinning mouth. If I listened, I obeyed. And even if I didn't, somehow, I still obeyed.
I should have been there.
I should have been hit.
I should have been the one in that stupid hospital bed.
My face was mushed up against the glass of her door window. I couldn't go in. I'd told myself to move, but my damn feet were on some other frequency—probably Josh's, like every other part of me, except my head.
Everything else?
His.
I groaned as a headache erupted through my temples. Josh was at my side, just staring at me, one side of his lips quirked up like he was deriving some sort of sick satisfaction from my failing emotions. I glared through the foggy pane. At my mother. And at my reflection in the double-glass.
At her for being so weak.
And me for being even weaker.
"So, uh…"
"Shut up, Josh."
His eyes narrowed dangerously, brows furrowed. "Harley—"
I kept my face to the cool glass, unable to take my eyes off her bandaged, frail body. Not moving. Hardly breathing.
Josh's hand came down on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off abruptly. I suddenly hated him near me. I just wanted…just wanted him to leave me alone, like everyone else. No, it's what I needed. I needed this. This space away from him. Time.
I needed more time.
There was a low rumbling in his throat, frighteningly on track with a growl and nonverbal warning. He reached for my waist this time to tug me closer, but I pushed away from the window and smacked at his hand. Josh took a swift step towards me, but I didn't flinch. I just stood there.
And suddenly his head had snapped to the side.
A red mark the size of my hand throbbing on his cheek.
He palmed his jaw, eerily turning his head sideways towards mine.
"This is your fault."
That caught him off guard. He tried to play it off innocent. "M-my fault? If I hadn't—"
"Exactly! If. You. Hadn't. My mom wouldn't be in there right now."
"Yea. But you would. So, wha-t? I'm not…about to, ah, just stand by, Harley, and let you do that to, huh, yourself. There are, uh, bet-ter people for that. You? You've sun-k. Just low 'nough, that you're down on my level. And now? That you're, ah, here? I'm not 'bout to let you…screw…it all u-p. I've waited. Too long. For this. And I'm…I'm not gonna let you just…take that away. From. Me."
"Sorry to burst your bullshitting bubble, but you have no say in that, Josh."
"Be-guh to…differ, Lee. But I do."
I turned my head to stare back through the window. "And how the hell do you figure that?"
"Be-cause," his tongue buzzed. "You were mine the moment you were born, Lee-sters. It was just a matter of time before you found me. So cut that out…your own little bubble of bullshit. Like you don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout. 'Cause you do. I've seen it…in your eyes. You do. You do. You damn, damn do."
"Whatever." No denial. Just…whatever. I could only focus on my mom. The bandages on her wrists and face.
And my father.
My fingers clenched at the thought. My foot connected roughly with the wall before I turned and stalked down the hallway, leaving Josh standing there, smirking after me.
Like I'd finally learned the rules to his dangerous game.
I went back, a few hours later. Josh was missing. The hospital seemed empty. I hated being alone. So, as I balanced a few cups of coffee and a bagel, I shouldered my way into her room. She hadn't woken up yet. They didn't know if she was going to. But I wasn't about to take that chance. Coma or no coma.
Pulling up a chair, I curled myself in it and just watched her. There were tubes down her throat, glued to her arms, and that sick, fading beating on the monitors. Hanging by a string.
My hand wrapped around hers. I squeezed. "Why do you let him do this to you?"
I leaned further over, pressing my cheek to her cold hand.
"You deserve better."
"Ah, you both do."
I didn't flinch. I watched her carefully, lips cooing to her that it would be fine.
More for myself, than for her.
He was handing me a glass of something. Tasted like coke. But I needed the caffeine, so I downed it in four gulps, then let the glass plunk to the floor.
Josh was at my side now, his fingers softly raking through my hair. I didn't stop him. It wouldn't put me to sleep now. Even as his index and thumb curled over the tip of my ear, squeezing, then raking down my neck. I glared at my mother. But I couldn't move.
"It's, hmm, be-duh time, Harley."
What was he, my mother? No. My mother was right there, in a pain induced coma that she could never wake up from. And it was all my fault. Josh's fault. Dad's fault. "I'm not tired."
He chuckled quietly. "My stubborn, little Harley. I sai-duh…it's time…to go…to sleep."
My teeth clenched and I scooted away from him, closer to my mother. "I'm fine, Josh."
"Nooo, no, no…no, no. That's, uh, not good…'nough."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Nothing ever is, Josh," I spat his name.
He giggled now, arms unfolding from behind his back. But I wasn't looking at him anymore. "I, uh…ya don't…need to…worry. I'm not goin' anywhere…right…here. And, this won't hurt…much."
Something long and silver glinted out of the corner of my eye. Instinctively, my hand shot out and smacked his approaching arm away. It clattered to the floor with a hiss. The syringe exploded, yellow fluid seeping onto the checkered tiles.
"So the night owl's got…bat-like reflexes, huh?"
"What the hell are you trying to do to me?" I jeered. "Your dog is up to date on her rabies shots, thank you very damn much."
He stared at me for a moment blankly. Then his face broke out into that stupid grin. "Sure, sure. You, uh, thirsty for more?"
"No. I'm f—" I yawned loudly. "Fine." Where the crap had that come from?
He ticked off his fingers, giggling. "Freaked-out, insecure, nervous, emotional."
"What?"
"That's what it…oh, never mind. Won't make much…of a, uh, difference. In a minute."
I just stared back at him for a moment. I blinked, then swiveled away from him. "You know, they have places for people like you." Nice padded walls. Little white jackets that make you hug yourself. People who are on his level of…genius.
"My place? Right here. It's here."
I yawned again, vision dulling and my head spinning. I stood up suddenly to go grab some more caffeine, when the floor seemed to disappear out from underneath me. My hands flailed for support but found nothing.
Until Josh caught me easily in his arms.
He carried me over to the visitor's couch, stretching me out before depositing a pillow on his lap and settling my head on it. I glared up at him through one eye.
"Ya…know, if I didn't know…any…better," I slurred. I was sure by now my mouth hated me for making it move. "I'd say…you planned…"
"As much as I love shiny things, ha, needles…are queasy little misfits. But, uh, backups are my specialty."
His cool hand palmed my cheek, fingers lightly stroking my neck and beneath the jaw line. I shuddered—but it was for an entirely different reason than being cold. Josh bent over, pressing his lips firmly to my forehead. He kept them there for a minute or two, just breathing me in. I couldn't pull away.
"Ya wanna, uh, know somethin', Lee?"
"Mmfjeidjllllle…" I meant…translation: Yes, Josh Kerit, I would like to know something.
"The hospi-tal got a…phone call today."
"……….." Translation number two: Oh, how interesting. Do please tell me more!
"Dear…ol'…drunken…Dad's coming."
And my mind caved.
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a/n: sorry if it's a little short! I've been dorm shopping like crazy, and I think it should be labeled as a newfound addiction! wow-eee. many many reviews! and…that's déjà vu. I said that before. didn't i? …..point is this: I LOVE sporks. I mean…never mind. Uhh keep up the reading, peeps, and imma keep up the chappies! and…I just spent the last hour of my life making a Joker ringtone…no, of course I'm not obsessed. you're all just jealous! jealous I say!!