Matches ♕ Bughead

♕ | Chapter Twenty-Three

chapter twenty-three: fear

♚Jughead♚

MORE TIMES than not, when one is put in a situation that conveys fear, they act out of their mind, and not their heart. That's the difference between fear and anger; anger causes one to act out of their heart and not their mind.

When put in a situation that portrays fear as an imminent threat, the human body reacts by instinct, switching into the ultimate survival machine with only one mode. It's like a game, how the brain suddenly switches into survival mode. The only thing is, you cannot choose the level of difficulty, as that depends only on the player.

When in fear the mind shifts to another place, and suddenly you're not acting as the player in the game, but rather watching the player. It's as if you're watching yourself from above, not totally feeling as if you're actually moving. It feels like everything has gone still, the adrenaline taking over and doing all the hard core thinking work for you.

That's how Betty and I feel right now, running down the hallway of the school in the middle of the night. Thankfully the Variety Show is playing tonight, so the school is full of parents and teens, including Sheriff Keller. In all honestly Betty and I completely forgot this was even going on tonight, as we haven't touched base with the group very much. I had no idea Archie tried out, that Valerie quit the pussycats for Archie and that Archie had betrayed Veronica by replacing her as his partner in the act. Betty and I were gone for only a day and it appeared a lot of beef went down in the group. I can only hope Archie cleared his mess up.

"Sheriff Keller!" Betty yells as we run down the hall. Both our shoes squeak against the waxed floor, our clothes dripping wet from the storm roaring from outside. "Sheriff Keller wait!"

"What are you two doing here? I thought you'd be watching Archie preform." He furrows his brows, his hands placed firmly on his hips as he makes his authority known.

Betty looks down at her shoes, and I can tell there's a part of her that's upset we aren't watching our friends preform. We've just been so caught up in this Jason Blossom murder that we've kind of let our own personal lives float by us. "We got a lead from Polly about some car her and Jason were going to use. They were planning to run away." I speak on behalf of us, showing Sheriff Keller the pictures on my screen.

"Where is this car?" He immediately asks, getting right to the point.

"A road past Route 40, past the Maple Syrup sign." Betty spits out, returning to reality.

"Okay, we'll take it from here." He says, before walking off and mumbling into his radio.

"Come on, we have to go find Polly. We have to tell her the news." I say, reaching for her hand but she stays still, staring into the gymnasium doors with her eyes frozen. "Betty?" I ask.