Glass and Roses
DISCLAIMER: I do not own JTHM or any of its characters. I do not own Jhonen Vasquez. I do not own anything.
CHAPTER I
"You know, Devi, you can't hide forever. Sooner or later you're going to have to tell him he has a son. Sooner rather than later." It had been two months since Devi had her baby, Bryker. At the moment, Bryker, a pale faced little boy with a tuft of dark purple hair, was curled up in his mother's arms asleep while his mother sat in a window booth at Taco Smell with Tenna.
"I'm not gonna have to tell him, Ten. I'm never gonna see him again."
Tenna was shaking her head, and taking the sleeping boy from his mother to rock him herself. "You can't be sure of that. What if one day he finds him? He'll be mad at you. You know what Johnny does when he's mad, or did you forget?"
Devi shivered. "I wish." She muttered under her breath, taking her son back and shooting Tenna a glare that meant 'at least ask my permission before taking my baby'.
"I'd call him, D." Tenna continued, fiddling absentmindedly with a saltshaker.
"You would?" Devi shot, clutching Bryker to her protectively.
Tenna sighed. "Well, not-I mean, if I were in your situation, ya know?" Devi's mouth twitched.
"Alright. I'll tell him." She gave in, "...Later." She added as an afterthought.
Tenna groaned, getting up from her seat. She knew that the whole subject was hopeless. It took Devi months to leave the house after her murderous date with Johnny. Telling him he had a baby boy had to be hard. "See you later, D..." She muttered, leaving half of the bill on the table and walking out the door.
Devi dug in her purse to finish off the bill and went home. Looking down at Bryker's innocent toothless baby smile, she whispered, "God, I hope Ten's right..."
Devi walked tiredly into her house, setting her keys on the counter and tucking Bryker in for a nap before dialing the eerily familiar number into her telephone, her fingers shaking so wildly she worried she would dial incorrectly.
"Hello?" A dark voice answered the call hurriedly, as if it were interrupted.
"Hello, Johnny. Are you busy? We need to talk." Dead silence greeted Devi's voice, making her last few words echo slightly into the receiver. She cleared her throat uneasily. "Erm...Nny?"
"Yeah...yeah. I'm here. Could you hold on one moment?" There was the clunk of him setting down the phone on the table. With little strain, Devi could hear what was happening on the other side of the line.
"I really need to take this call. You understand, don't you?" Devi wondered whom he could possibly be talking to.
An unfamiliar voice answered him. "Does this mean you'll let me go?" A could laugh erupted, obviously from Johnny.
"No, no..." He responded, laughter still in his voice, "I'm just gonna have to kill you faster." There was a shrill scream and the sound of a blade slicing through flesh. The scream died instantly. Devi's eyes widened as she heard the soft tap of the receiver being picked back up off of the table.
"Devi? You still there?" Johnny's voice sounded cheerful now, as if he'd just played tug-a-war with his new puppy instead of cutting the head off of a stranger.
Devi swallowed. "Uh-huh..." She answered slowly, contemplating weather or not this was a good idea. "You know, maybe this isn't the best time..."
"Nonsense." Johnny pish-hawed, "I have loads of time freed up now..."
Devi was no idiot. She knew what that meant. She took a deep breath. It was now or never. "You erm...you remember that night about a year ago..." She could almost hear Johnny smiling at this.
"How could I forget?"
Feeling the need to protect her dignity, she exploded, "I was drunk, Nny, don't read too much into it." Broken memories of the night flashed through her mind, giving her a stabbing headache.
There was a snicker from Johnny, but Devi ignored it with effort. "I was too...doesn't mean too much. ...Is that all you wanted to tell me?" he muttered, sounding frighteningly exuberant.
Devi took another shaky breath. She did not want to do this. She could still hang up the phone. He'd take it as a yes and she'd never have to talk to him again. But she couldn't do that. She knew she'd have to do it, sooner rather than later. "N-no..." She stammered. Another evil giggle went ignored. Sooner rather than later, she reminded herself.
"You-you made me pregnant."
There was no sound on the other end for a long time. Devi readied herself for another hideous cackle, but it never came. The silence was crushing her. She was begging for some sign of him still listening, but the line was as good as dead.
Suddenly there was a loud clatter in her ear. He had dropped the phone. "Nny?" She asked tentatively, There was no answer. Not like she was really expecting one. "Johnny? Johnny, are you still there?" After a few minutes without a reply, she placed the phone in it's cradle and turned on the television. "So much for that..." She grumbled under her breath.
In the middle of Devi's favorite show, The Happy Bunny, a knock was hammered against her front door. She answered it to find a tall thin man staring at her, his long trench coat pulled up to his nose. "J-Johnny?" she gulped, moving to shut the door in his face, but he placed a violent looking boot in her way.
"Are you okay?" He asked bluntly, skipping over the usual greeting policy of 'hello, long time no see.' Devi blinked.
"I was." She muttered pointedly.
Johnny was either oblivious or just ignored her tone. "I'm so sorry." His monotone voice scared her. He never sounded so...sane.
"Erm..." Devi tried to unearth some from of words, but only drew up a blank. Johnny took a step forward, Devi stumbled back. Johnny looked away ashamedly and let out a deep sigh. "
I really am sorry, Devi..." He told his feet with uncharacteristic sincerity. Afraid to look up, he continued, "May I see it?" Devi narrowed her eyes.
"It is a two month old boy. And you stay the fuck away from him. Him and me." Johnny's downcast eyes squeezed shut. That had hit him hard, Devi knew it. Despite herself, she felt a sharp pang of guilt. Johnny sensed this and looked her in the face.
"I better go." He coughed, aware that his sane composure was quickly fleeting. He reached over and briefly touched her hand before he turned away, racing down her porch steps and flying over the pavement. As if on cue, he pulled a shimmering blade out of his coat. He may have kept himself from murdering Devi, but the next person to cross his path would be a bloody photograph on the 9:00 am news.
Devi shut the door quietly and stood, watching the outside world sleep through the oval window that was set in the solid oak. After looking over her hand for a moment, as if he'd implanted a bomb in it, she fell into a restless slumber on the couch.
Around three in the morning, Devi was woken by a series of loud, short- breathed sobs. She hoped off of the couch and flew into Bryker's room to rock him back to sleep. Strangely, he stopped crying almost immediately, falling quickly into the sleep that usually took him forever to get to.
When she looked up to see out of Bryker's bedroom window, her heart stopped. There, perched on the windowsill like a watchful owl, was a fat plastic doll, holding a burger over his head with one cubby hand. Under its huge toothy grin, a handwritten note was taped.
Happy belated birthday, Bryker D.
JohnnyDevi swallowed, fear pulsing through her at one million miles an hour. "How does he know his name?" She choked finally, feeling panicky tears well up in her eyes. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU LEARN HIS NAME?" She screamed out the window, groping at the burger boy and holding it up to the light.
As she held it above her head, ready to shatter it against the floor, a very unexpected thought flickered through her mind.
Don't smash it. Keep it. Keep it for Bryker.
As much as she tried to shake the thought from her head, it wouldn't go away. Giving in to it, she set the ghostly doll down on Bryker's toy chest and turned to leave. She stopped abruptly. A new thought ran through her mind, and she scooped Bryker in her arms before going back to sleep in her own, windowless room.