What We Once Were

Chapter 7.

Betty and Jughead decided to investigate the crime scene in Fox Forest. The authorities had it blocked off in yellow tape, wrapped around the trunks of pine trees so tall they seemed to touch the grey sky above. 

Betty crouched down to get a closer look at where the bodies were found. With the picture in hand, she compared the scene both in real life and in the photograph, hoping to see something or get a clue as to who or what might've done this. 

"Hey Betty, look at this." Jughead said with an ushered tone in his voice as he gestured towards a tree close to where the girls had been found. 

Betty stood up and appeared by his side, more confused than ever as she inspected the exact same cravings on the tree trunk that were on the girls. 

One the right, was a circle with a vertical line through its center. The second symbol was a square with an X in the middle, and the third shape was triangle that look exactly like the Deathly Hallows symbol from the Harry Potter series.

"I only know the third one, I would've had to have lived under a rock to not know that's the Deathly Hallows." Jughead said, with a tinge of humor in his voice. 

Betty half smiled at his comment, they'd had their Harry Potter obsession for about a year when they were ten years old. Memories of them running around in the woods pretending to cast spells with sticks they'd found and cloaks they'd scraped together was something she'd never forget. 

"Yeah, but the other two. That doesn't make any sense. Why would the killer have a symbol from a children's book then two anonymous ones?" 

"Maybe he was a Harry Potter fan, the other two could be his own he created." Jughead said. 

"I guess, but the square with the X, I used to draw that in my notebook. Everyone did at some point. It's just something I did when I was bored. It's a simple and generic design everyone knows, therefore-" 

"It's not easy to track at all." Jughead finished her thought. 

"Exactly. The circle with the line through, makes no sense at all. That has to have some kind of meaning behind it. Either way, they are somehow connected to each other with the identity of the killer. It could be a code or something. Like what the black hood did to me all those years ago." Betty's voice trailed off. 

Jughead touched her shoulder, "just to clarify, none of them are from your Nancy Drew code breaker book right?" Jughead tried to lighten her mood. He knew her father was a very touchy and emotional part of her past and he tried to keep her from slipping away from him and into that darkness that he knew was still lurking inside her. 

"Ha, no not that I can recall." Betty chuckled, feeling the muggy forest air dampen her clothes, causing them to stick to her body. 

"I've got pictures of the symbols." Jughead mentioned, knowing that she'd ask him about them later. 

"Okay, thanks. Jug, what were the girls' names again?" Betty asked, trying to decipher whether or not there might be a pattern. 

"Uh." Jughead opened the file. "Both were 16, their names were, Alison Perkins and Becky Bickenstein." Jughead answered, snorting as he said Becky's last name. 

Betty ignored his laugh and paced back and forth and rocked on her heels. "What did they do in high school." 

"Alison was a River Vixen, and Becky was a Vixen as well, but also part of the science club." 

"Do you think this person could be targeting high school cheerleaders?" Betty thought aloud. 

"That seems kinda strange, even for a murderer, but it could be a possibility. We could look into it, but we don't even know how old this person is or if it's a he or a she." Jughead added.