Veronica // Heathers Fanfiction

XXI

TW: Death

"I think she's faking it," Betty said without preamble. She feared that if she waited any longer, she would lose the courage to speak up.

"What?" JD asked. Betty handed him the diary. Based on the look on JDs face, she saw that he recognized it instantly.

"Where did you find this?" his voice was barely above a whisper.

"In her office. It's awful, JD. All the things that she did to her friends, to Hazel, to you..." Betty said, unable to stop herself from speaking, now that the dam had been broken, and she was finally able to tell someone the horrible things she had read. "She's a psychopath. She's not paralyzed. She's faking it." 

"Betty, stop it! She's practically brain-dead. She's not faking it," he said. Betty could see in his pleading eyes that he was begging her to stop because he couldn't deal with the possibility that all she was saying was the truth. He couldn't handle it. "She's not a psychopath."

"She killed Hazel."

"No. No, she didn't. Hazel drowned. It was an accident," he mumbled. "Is this a sick joke? Are you making this up?"

"No! I would never," Betty said. "You had a fight in the cafeteria on your first week at Westerburg. Then she climbed through your bedroom window after a fight with her friend. You proposed to her when you two were having breakfast. You never told me any of this, so how could I know it?"

"I don't..." JD ran a hand through his hair. It broke Betty's heart to see him like this. And to know that she was the one causing him such pain. She hoped he wouldn't hate her, too.

"Just read this," she pleaded. "You deserve to know the truth."

Betty waited alongside him the whole time. She didn't know how long it took. She saw the pointers moving in the clock, but her mind didn't register the numbers. Maybe hours had passed, maybe just minutes, but she stood beside JD as he read every word of the diary.

They sat quietly by his bed, the silence heavy with the anger and betrayal that brewed inside JD with every second passing, like the calm that precedes a storm. Betty could practically hear the thunders roaring with every turn of the page.

Without uttering a word, JD closed the book and got on his feet. Betty was able to catch a glimpse of his tear-stained face before he stormed off to Veronica's room.

After her initial shock, Betty got up to follow him. She found him standing over Veronica's bed. He was laughing, but the tears kept rolling down his face.

"You fucking psychopath," he said through gritted teeth. "You did all of this. It's all your fault, you lying bitch."

Blinded by the anger, JD grabbed Veronica's neck, but the woman didn't fight back, instead, she remained still. She probably didn't believe JD would be capable of actually killing her. Betty wasn't so sure.

After reading the diary, Betty felt an anger towards Veronica that she had never felt before, and despite Veronica never doing anything to hurt her directly, Betty still felt the urge to wrap her own hands around the woman's neck. But to JD? She took away everything from him. If Betty had been in his place, she would hesitate in killing her.

Veronica deserved to die.

But as Betty saw JDs hand pressing harder and harder on her neck, her brain yelled at her to stop him. Not for her, but for him.

Veronica deserved to die, but JD didn't deserve to spend the rest of his life in jail because of it.

"JD, stop!" Betty said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He let go of Veronica instantly. "You're going to crush her trachea. They'll know it was you."

JD looked like he woke up from a trance, breathing heavily and blinking the tears away.

"I can't...I can't let her get away with this," he said, his voice hoarse.

"I know," Betty said. "But we need to find another way, one that won't put you behind bars for the rest of your life!"

And then it hit her. The memory of a sleepless night seated on that blue couch, with that cursed diary on her lap. And for the first time, Betty was thankful that Veronica's word had come back to haunt her one more time. And it is so sickeningly satisfying, that Betty can almost laugh.

A mother who resented her child from the very beginning. A smart woman who wanted to kill and paint herself as the victim.

I don't think you can tell the difference when someone chokes on accident and they're being choked on purpose, by someone else...

"Asphyxiation," Betty said, her voice coming forth so venomous it scared even herself. "Make her throw up, then cover her nose and her mouth. Everyone will think it was an accident."

Betty locked her eyes with JD's widened ones. His hazel eyes turned to pinpoint and she knew he understood exactly what she meant. His hand twitched like he did every time he was deep in thought. He was considering it.

Betty shifted her gaze towards Veronica. She wasn't sure at this point whether she was keeping the act or if this whole time her condition was true, but it didn't matter. Injured or not, she had to pay for what she did.

Veronica, on the other hand, was looking at JD. Her eyes weren't fearful. She didn't look like she was silently pleading for mercy. Instead, she looked at JD expectantly, as if she was daring him to make the next move.

"Turn around, Betty," JD spoke up. Betty obeyed him. She didn't want to see it.

It felt like it would never end. The vomiting, the choking, JD's groans, and bated breath as he finally put an end to all the suffering, by giving back to Veronica the same pain she gave him. Betty knew in that instant that she would never get out of her mind the sounds of Veronica's agonizing last minutes of life.

And then, the silence. The number of people alive in the room went down from three to two.

Betty opened her eyes and fearfully turned around. She didn't want to look at Veronica, but she needed to know it was all over.

Veronica's eyes were open, but for the first time since she saw her, Betty was sure there was nothing inside. She was gone.

"Shit..." JD whispered. His hands shook like a leaf as he closed Veronica's eyes.

JD stumbled on his feet and leaned against the nearest wall to steady himself. Betty stayed in silence, giving him a minute to process what had just happened as the life he knew shattered before his eyes. He needed a second to grieve the Veronica he thought he had known and loved for all those years.

"Oh God," Betty said, putting a hand on her mouth to muffle her cries as the realization of what happened hit her. "Oh, God. Oh, God."

JD ran a hand through his face and tugged at his hair lightly. Betty watched in silence as he took in a shaky breath to steady himself.

"She choked in her sleep," he said. He looked a million miles away. "We were asleep. Therefore, we didn't see anything. Or else we would have helped her."

"She choked in her sleep..." Betty whispered.

"I'll call 911 in the morning before Martha arrives," he said. "Now let's go to bed.

***

Neither of them were able to fall asleep. But exhaustion stopped them from doing anything else other than staying in bed, with their arms wrapped around each other. The only sound came from their steady breathing as they watched the hours on the clock go by, and the moon give way to the sun to shine bright.

At 7 a.m., he got out of bed.

"Are you ready?" he asked Betty, holding the telephone in his hand. Betty wasn't ready at all, but she nodded her head anyway.

JD dialed the numbers, his movements slow in an attempt to deflect what was coming for as long as he could. Seated so close to him, Betty could hear the person on the other line.

"911, what's your emergency?"

JD took in a deep breath.

"I hm...I think my wife is dead."