2+1=3//Bughead

7: Urban legend

BETTY
Getting to Toni's trailer, Jug and I noticed that her light was on.

Jughead swiftly knocked on the door, allowing Toni time to finish what she was doing.

"Good early morning to you two. What can I do for you?" She let us in, not wanting us to freeze.

"How much do you know about urban legends?" Jughead was taking the lead on the conversation.

"Considering my nana is someone who spent most of her years studying them, I know a fair bit." Toni sat us down.

"Well, first of all, Betty and I have some news." He held my hand.

"Betty's pregnant. Don't worry. I overheard Sweet Pea and Fangs discussing protection plans and when I told them that I knew, they filled me in." She smiled.

"Congrats by the way." She hugged me.

"Anyway. Back to the reason why we're here." I reminded Jughead, who was happy that his best female friend knew about the baby.

"Right. Betty had a dream, and when she described the dream to me, it sounded oddly familiar." Jughead placed his hands on the table.

"Tell me the dream Betty." Toni grabbed a note pad and pen.

"I felt a hand on my stomach. I looked down, seeing a black handprint on my pyjamas. I looked around the room and saw a tall woman standing near the mirror in Jughead's room, dressed in all black, with a veil flowing down her face, sheer enough for me to see her white eyes." I told her exactly what I told Jughead. Her eyes widened before she got up and walked over to the bookshelf across the room.

"Ok. Here's what you're gonna do. I'm gonna tell you what I think, but go to the hospital today just to be sure. Once you've gone to the hospital, come back here and I'll tell you the rest of what I think." She announced.

"Sure. What's the first part of your thought?" Jughead leaned back.

"I've heard about the tall woman you described. Her name is La Llorona. Also known as 'The Weeping Woman'." Toni showed us a horrifying picture of the woman.

"Before I go further, go to the hospital as soon as it opens." Toni instructed.
———
Going back to Jughead's trailer, we booked the earliest appointment to see our regular doctor, and when we arrived, I was nervous.

"Miss Cooper?" The doctor smiled as she brought us to her office.

"So, what brings you in today?" She smiled, sitting opposite us.

"We just wanted to check up on the baby, making sure everything's ok." Jughead announced.

"Of course." As normal, I lifted my shirt so the doctor could administer the cold gel that I hadn't yet gotten used to.

"Oh..." She looked worried.

"What's wrong? Is everything ok? Is the baby ok?" I panicked.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. The baby is just fine. It seems as if I was just looking in the wrong direction. My bad." She apologised.

Once the appointment was over, she let us go. Our next destination: Toni's trailer.

"You guys are back. Is everything ok?" She sat us back down.

"Yeah. The baby is fine. Everything is fine." I smiled.

"That's amazing, considering the legend behind La Llorona." She smiled, holding my hand.

"What legend?" I asked, seriously concerned.

"In some versions of the story, her children are illegitimate, and she drowns them so that their father cannot take them away to be raised by his new wife." Toni explained.

"Illegitimate?" Jughead asked, confused.

"Children who are born of parents not lawfully married to each other." I looked down, sad. I finally had some understanding of why the woman appeared to me in my dream.

"It's said that La Llorona hangs around water-based areas, so in Riverdale, that'd be Sweetwater River. She takes children by grabbing their arms and drowning them." Toni's additional information worried me.

"Look. Don't worry about it. If the dream happens a few more times, then come back to me and we can figure out what to do from there. If not, then just forget about the legend. Just go on with your pregnancy." Toni's reassured me.

"Thanks for your help, Toni. And sorry for coming to you so early." Jughead hugged his friend.

"No worries, Jughead. I was up already, studying for a test I have in 3 hours." She admitted, before we left her trailer.

Getting to school after taking a detour home to get changed, we saw Archie and Veronica.

"Hey, B. How's my pregnant BFF?" Veronica smiled, whispering the question.

"Last night, was a nightmare, but the baby is ok, so I really don't care anymore." I shut my locker door as Jughead waited for me.

"A nightmare? What happened? Did you dream that Jughead wasn't the father of your baby?" Archie joked.

"Actually, my dream was terrifying, because it involved an urban legend that is legitimately scary for any parent." I spoke, causing Archie to stop talking.

JUGHEAD
"Was she serious?" Archie walked behind Betty, walking along side me.

"Yeah. We visited Toni this morning, since her nana is the only Riverdale resident that knows of ancient urban legends." I admitted.

"What about Cheryl's Nana Rose?" Archie asked.

"She knows urban legends, but only legends relating to the Blossom Family. Nothing about the town of Riverdale." I stopped.

"So, what was the urban legend?" Archie was interested, much to my surprise.

"Well, I'm not going too much into it, but because of the legend, we had to go to the hospital this morning to make sure that Betty hadn't lost the baby." I gripped my books.

"Dude, I'm so sorry. I know that can be scary, especially early on." He hugged me, before we all made our way to class, Betty obviously staying quiet, as to try and forget about the early hours of the morning and the event that had occurred.

Waiting for the day to end, I watched as Toni walked up to me.

"How is she?" Toni stood besides me.

"Well, she has been silent since we got to school, mainly cause she wants to forget about this morning, and the stuff that you told her about." I informed her.

"Yeah. It's some scary stuff, but I know that whatever happens next, the baby shouldn't be affected at all." Toni hugged me again just as Betty walked up to us.

I gave Betty a kiss as Toni left us alone.