Haunting ||Archie Andrews||

Heart of Darkness// part 4

Heart of Darkness// part 4

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Two days later, after Jughead and Betty had argued a lot about who was going to bring up what they had found, the two stood in front of Hayley in the yearbook room. She sat in the chair they had asked her to sit in and had no idea what was going on.

Hayley looks up confused but still has a smile on her face, "Guys? You said you had something important to tell me, remember? That's why you called me over here."

"Hayley," Betty starts, "We found something."

"Okay?" Hayley nods, "What did you fi-"

"Polaroids," Jughead cuts her off, "We found Polaroid pictures of Jason Blossom."

Hayley's eyes widen in horror as Jughead places five of the polaroids on the table in front of her. He, then, slowly turns over each one to reveal Hayley's handwriting.

Be strong always, love H, 05.15.16

"How did you know Jason, Hayley?" Betty asks, "How come you never mentioned you two were friends?"

Hayley opens her mouth but Jughead cuts her off again.

"Or more."

"Jughead!" Betty snaps and shoots him a glare. They had discussed that they weren't going to talk about this.

Jughead, however, didn't listen and kept talking, "You know, for someone who was pissed off at their boyfriend for cheating on them once, you seem very comfortable doing it for about more than a year."

Hayley looks livid when she finally speaks, "Jughead, I thought you knew better than to speak when you have a absolutely no information whatsoever."

He quiets down in fear after noticing the look in Hayley's eyes.

"Jason was my friend. He was my best friend," Hayley confesses to the two, "We were friends for a year."

"How? Where did you even meet? Your paths could've never crossed in school," Betty asks softly.

"We met in a clearing in the woods. It was our spot. I was there one day after," she hesitates, but knowing there was no way out of this, "my sister's funeral."

Betty gasps in shock and Jughead almost drops the pencil he had been holding.

No one ever asked about Hayley's sister. They knew better than to bring her up. They always assumed that she was alive and well, or at least, getting better.

"How?"

Hayley's voice cracks, "She died in her sleep. They don't know why. Everyone thought she was getting better, but then suddenly one night, she just passed in her sleep. I suppose it was for the best. She was suffering. Her sickness just got too much for her."

"Hayley," Betty sighs and moves around the table to put an arm around her cousin, "Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Because I didn't want you to look at me the way you are right now."

Betty and Jughead are silent.

"Jason helped me. Those polaroids were a way he liked to remind me to be happy. At first, we just used to take pictures of me being really happy, but I knew I wasn't the only one hurting. Jason started posing for pictures after he got into a huge fight with his father about a couple of months ago. He was just always so stressed so I told him to take his own advice," Hayley says, a soft smile gracing her lips as she turned over the Polaroids to look at Jason's face.

"I loved him. I still do," Hayley confesses with a smile.

"You have to tell Archie," Jughead says after a few minutes of silence.

"I'd rather not," Hayley stands up and wipes her tears, "He is going to treat me like some fragile doll if I do."

"Hayley, Jughead is right," Betty says, "He can help you more than either of us can."

"I don't need help."

"You're hurting Hayley," Betty tries to convince her.

"He's going to hate me for keeping a secret this big," Hayley shakes her head.

"I could never hate you," a new voice speaks up.

The three snap their heads over to the door in panic, fearing that whoever heard them would tell everyone. Betty and Jughead calm down when they see it's just Archie standing in the doorway with a half eaten donut in his hand and a iced tea in another. Hayley stays tense as the boy walks into the room and sets the tea in front of Hayley on the table and envelops her in a hug. She wraps her arms around his torso immediately out of instinct.

Betty and Jughead leave, knowing that it was best to leave the couple alone.

Hayley and Archie stand there for a couple of minutes in each other's arms before Archie finally pulls back and puts his hands on her face lightly.

"Hayley, you are the strongest person I know. I could never think of you as a fragile doll."

"You heard everything?"

"No, not everything," he shakes his head and let's his hands drop, opting to grab both of her hands now, "But I heard enough. I'm so sorry you've lost all these people in your life. I can't even begin to fathom how you must be feeling right now."

"Not good," Hayley confesses, "but I'll be okay."

"You'll be more than okay," he says and wipes her tears, "Now, we are going to be late to first period because class will start in about-"

Ring, Ring

"Now."

Hayley giggles and Archie smiles before continuing.

"We could just skip the entire day?" He suggests.

Hayley rolls her eyes playfully, "I have parents Arch. They would kill me."

"I'll protect you."

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