Venom | A Bughead Fanfiction

Chapter One

Betty downed her drink, deeply wondering about her surroundings and everyone around her. The aesthetic lights came in shades of blue, pink, and violet. It scattered around the illuminating dance floor, bouncing off the twinkling fabric of the people dancing. It didn't matter if someone was drunk or sober, young or old, innocent or guilty. With all of their differences aside, everyone had one thing in common: the need to escape reality. The need to go someplace where no one would be judged. The yearn to disappear from the outside world and become a different person.

And that's exactly what The Venom allowed them to do. No questions asked, no lies told. Everyone danced and laughed and were finally at peace with themselves. After their seemingly endless escape from reality ended, they would retreat back to the outside world. No questions asked, no lies told.

Betty examined the people on the dance floor, full of life and optimism. She reminisced about the time she was capable of having those feelings; when she attended Riverdale High. She remembered Archie Andrews, her childhood best friend whom she once fawned over. Kevin Keller, her friend who she drifted away from a while ago. Veronica Lodge, the girl who was always there for her, even when she had problems with her father. Cheryl Blossom, who the gang slowly gained a liking toward her after her brother's murder. All of them were some of Betty's best memories.

But Betty didn't get that luxury anymore.

Not after she went dark three years ago.

Not after she split with Jughead.

Betty stirred her champagne with her finger. The rippled effect distorted her already warped image. Her blonde locks were hidden under a jet black wig that was cut short. Her lipstick, a dark red hue, reflected off of the translucent champagne.

Her image had completely changed after she went dark.

Polly had lost the twins. She became depressed, wouldn't leave her room, cried for days, and would barely eat. Betty felt useless, as did her parents. Hal and Alice had driven her to therapy sessions and put her on anti-depressants, but they did little progress. Polly's depression had become so bad that it lead to Betty finding her lying on her side in her bathroom, an open bottle of pills in her hand. Betty's heart was racing as she tried to wake Polly up. She screamed for her parents, who soon came bursting into the bathroom. Alice frantically called for an ambulance as Betty was hyperventilating and Hal was hovering over his daughter's unconscious body, desperately attempting CPR.

Fortunately, the ambulance arrived just in time. Polly was taken to a hospital. Betty and her parents spent hours on end with her, holding her hand or sitting beside her as she lay in the hospital bed. But their efforts weren't enough for Polly to come back home. Then, Polly was admitted into a mental hospital and, just like that, she was gone again.

That took a toll on Betty and her parents. Her parents fought tearful fights while Betty was clutching her pillow to her ears while in her room, hoping to drown out the sound. Finally, they stopped. It ended with Hal storming into his room, grabbing his belongings, and reversing out of the driveway.

Betty had crept downstairs after she caught a glance of her parent's car viciously storming out of the driveway. Alice was standing at the doorframe, staring out to the neighborhood. She rubbed her temples while her tears choked her mumbles. "Mom..." Betty had called. Alice didn't look at her. A tearful Betty walked closer to her mother, terrified. "Mom, where did Dad go?" Alice still refused to look. She was too busy staring at the wedding ring that used to inhabit her finger, lying in the concrete, shattered into pieces.

Betty's lips quivered, her hands trembled. Different pieces of diamond captured her focus. Her fear suddenly turned to undeniable anger as she jerked her mother away from the door frame. Anger was all Betty could feel as it rushed through her body.