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𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐉𝐎𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄. With her eyes barely open, she blindly felt around the floor beside the couch before her fingers finally grasped the device. She brought it to her ear, her mind still foggy from sleep.
"Florence?" Jughead said, his voice tense and urgent.
"No. No, you need to come to the hospital right now." The urgency in Jughead's tone cut through the haze of sleep, making Florence's eyes snap open as she sat up abruptly.
"What happened? Did somebody get hurt?" she asked, trying to suppress the rising panic in her voice.
"Just come here." Jughead said before the line went dead.
Florence sat there for a moment, frozen as her mind tried to catch up with the situation. The room around her slowly came into focus. She was in Sam's living room, sprawled on the couch. The soft glow of early morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a dim glow over the room. James was still asleep beside her, his arm, still encased in a cast, resting lightly across her. On the opposite side of the couch, Sam was curled up, still deep in slumber.
As she moved to get up, a sharp pain throbbed in her temples, and she noticed the half-empty alcohol bottles scattered across the coffee table and the floor.
She remembered the phone call she had gotten just a few minutes earlier. Panic surged through her as she nudged James. "James, James, wake up!"
"Yeah?" he murmured, his eyes still closed, his voice thick with sleep.
"We need to go, come on!" Florence urged, carefully lifting his arm from around her waist before standing up.
"Go where?" James asked, his eyes now open and blinking against the dim light as he looked around their disheveled surroundings.
"Hospital, now!" Florence said urgently, slipping on her boots with hurried movements. At the word 'hospital', James snapped to attention, scrambling to find his shoes.
Florence crossed the room to where Sam was still sleeping. She shook her friend's shoulder gently. "Sam, we have to go. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Mhm," Sam mumbled, barely stirring, clearly still lost in the depths of sleep.
Florence didn't have time to ensure Sam was fully awake. She turned back to James, who was now standing and ready to go. "Let's go," he said, his voice steady despite the rush.
