Veronica // Heathers Fanfiction

III

Betty had once been in a car accident herself. She was 12 at the time, back in 1986. It hadn't been anything serious, but her mother's low inhibition thanks to her constant drinking and the slippery roads of wintry Ohio hadn't been a good combination, making their old Sedan skid off its course and hit a light pole; the incident led to 200 dollars lost at the mechanics and a cut on Betty's forehead since she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Her mother had felt horrible, overtaken by guilt, but that didn't stop her from drinking. After Betty's dad had left the two of them, her mother would constantly turn to a bottle of booze for comfort, until eventually, that habit killed her in 1998, leaving the then 24 year old Betty to fend for herself. Even with both of them coming out alive, Betty struggled to feel safe inside a car for months, it terrified her to think that they got lucky and that they could have been seriously hurt or died.

As she walked up the stairs to the Sawyer-Dean household, her mind brought her back to that moment and she couldn't help but wonder if Veronica felt the same way.

She reached the top of the stairs after JD, who waited for her, casually leaning on the stair newel. The second floor was not much different from the first, meaning it was equally as big and Betty would probably get lost a lot during her stay. She followed JD around, who led her to a bifurcated hallway, with three doors on one side, and two more on the other. JD pointed his head towards one of the doors and said it was his room, but instead of entering it, he went for the door next to it.

Betty had seen the elevator next to the staircase, it looked recently installed and it was hard to miss. When she entered the room, she expected to see Veronica in a wheelchair, perhaps with a few bruises, or maybe a leg or arm in a cast. But she couldn't have foreseen what she saw instead.

Nothing would have prepared her to see Veronica laying on a hospital bed. There were no casts or bruises, but she looked far from okay. She didn't move, not even when her husband leaned in to kiss her on the forehead and caress her hair. She didn't seem to notice his presence at all, or Betty's for that matter, instead she was perfectly still as a doll, not moving a finger. She was looking at the ceiling, her eyes seemed glossy and empty, the only indicators that she was alive were her chest moving up and down and her blinking every few seconds.

"Ronnie, this is Betty," JD said softly to his wife, who remained unmoving. But the way JD treated her made Betty feel a tad bit better, it was clear that he still loved her, and at least she was being well taken care of. "I told you about her, remember?"

Betty simply stood there, inches away from the bed; her chest tightened, and she found herself holding her breath, unable to react. She wasn't going to cry, was she? She didn't even know this woman. But then she remembered her conversation with JD no more than five minutes before. Veronica's daughter died and then only a few months later she gets into a car accident and ends up bedridden. How much tragedy can one family take?

Betty didn't know how much Veronica could process in her state, she didn't even know if the actual Veronica still existed. Was she even aware of what happened to her or to her child? Could she feel her husband's presence next to her? Was she still there, somewhere, listening and understanding everything but unable to communicate, tettered inside the prison that her own body became? Or was everything that she used to be, everything that made her her gone, and all that was left was the empty shell?

Betty was so lost in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the other person present in the room until JD spoke up. "Betty, this is Martha, Veronica's nurse," he said, gesturing to where the other woman was standing.

Like Jason and Veronica, Martha appeared to be in her early thirties. She was wearing white pants and a white cotton cardigan, with a lilac shirt underneath, and she had her bag on her shoulders like she was about to leave. She gave a sweet smile and shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, adjusting her thick rimmed glasses on her face and unintentionally Betty copied her movements, doing the exact same thing with her own glasses.

"You too," Betty replied, reciprocating the smile the best she could. Martha seemed like a very sweet person.

"She looked tired so I thought it was best to put her to bed a little earlier,"  Martha said, this time talking to JD, who gave her his full attention. Betty looked at her watch, surprised to see it was past 10 p.m. "I already gave her all of her medication so she should be good for the night."

"Did she already eat?" JD asked, looking at his wife. Veronica blinked but unsurprisingly didn't give further response. Martha nodded yes with her head. "Great, thank you, Martha. See you in the morning, then."

"Bye, Mr. Dean," Martha said. Playfully, she squeezed one of Veronica's legs when she passed by her bed. "Bye, Ronnie. See you tomorrow!"

She waved goodbye to Betty and walked out of the room, closing the door gently. Then, it was just the three of them in the room and Betty had to try her hardest not to stare at the poor woman. Thankfully, JD broke the silence.

"I just remembered, I haven't shown you the office yet. Just give me a minute," he said. He turned on the table lamp beside Veronica's bed, and this time leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and whisper a soft 'goodnight, love'. Veronica's brown eyes followed him as he walked away. He opened the door, making way for Betty to exit first, turned the lights off, and left, gently closing the door after. His movements were robotic like he was used to that routine by now, and did everything automatically.

As they walked down the stairs to return to the first floor, neither of them said another word.