Rainy Days ▸ BUGHEAD

chapter twenty eight

my eyes jotted to the person. if this were some predictable story, most would have assumed it was betty. she loved polly and she'd go that far to protect her. but it wasn't. and who it was i'd never guess on my own, and i'm great at guessing. the woman admitting to this act of crime was none other than alice cooper.

i didn't believe it, not for a moment. yeah sure alice had secrets, parents all over this damn town do. the thunder lies deep beneath the soul, right? but i don't think alice would hide a secret such as that. i don't think she as the stomach for that, much like my own father FP.

so the question is: why is she protecting polly?

we are aware alice hasn't been the best mother to polly. betty has told me a wondrous amount of the horrible things she's done to polly. but for some reason i cannot believe what that woman was saying. i knew alice didn't do it.

but cheryl believed it.

cheryl was in awe, just like the rest of us. "well alice, this is certainly a surprise."

you could tell cheryl was about to cry, and pretty hard. but she wasn't gonna let that stop her. in her dress pocket, she pulled out a key and unlocked the cage.

"polly..." cheryl said. "i'm so sorry i accused you. your punishment will remain undone. but as for you alice cooper, you can burn in hell, just like your daughter almost did."

cheryl untied polly, and let her go. she did the same with alice, but soon after threw her in polly's spot. but before she could lock the door someone interrupted.

"no, don't listen to her. i killed jason."

my eyes jotted yet again. this time the man playing the card was hal cooper.

oh no this could end badly.

"no!" betty said. "they didn't do a thing. it was me."

"don't listen to the coopers." archie said. "it was me, i killed jason."

noticing a pattern? thought so.

i couldn't believe what was happening. was this some sort of plan i haven't been informed on? if so, it's sort of genius. everyone had confessed expect me. maybe i should.

"no." i finally butted in. "i did it."

you could tell cheryl was catching on. she was mad, real mad. almost as mad, maybe more so, than a bull when it sees the color red. she doesn't do well with games, and big we were in for it. soon she started untying us all. yep each and every one of us. and soon enough we were all untied.

but what does this mean.

"well," cheryl said. "i should have known you rugrats do such a childish thing. each one of you confessing, in hopes you'll confuse me? oh aren't y'all so smart? wrong! you can't fool a blossom no matter how hard you try. and since you have crossed my line on so many levels, i have no choice but to punish you all! and don't think you can escape this one. not even you polly cooper."

i looked over at the cage. "the cage is much too small for us all."

"who said you're going in that cage?" cheryl asked.

she grabbed a candle holder, serval candles within. the were previously lit, smelling of gasoline. without any warning, she did something with them, none of us saw it coming.

DROP

the flames turned into big balls of real fire. i was in a huge dilemma of what to do, as we all were. and in this situation, we were only given one option. cheryl ran out and locked the door.

"run." she yelled. "try and run now!"