Sometimes Heartbreak Never Goes Away

Tricks Up Sleeves

Chapter 5 - Tricks up Sleeves

It was a snowy ride home as Fp drove back from Riverdale General Hospital. The car bumped up and down on the snowy white streets of riverdale. It had been a long night for Alice. She watched the snow covered roads memorized by how beautiful they looked in beginning of January. She used not pay attention to the winter months. Now it seemed like that's all that would keep her mind off her daughter and her injuries. She searched the back seat to see Jughead Jones sleeping soundly in the back. Once the car stopped she thanked Fp before shutting the door behind her.

Fp couldn't stop thinking about Alice as he drove him and Jug back to the SouthSide. He didn't know how he was going survive the night without her in his arms. Or him waking up to her on usually empty side of the bed. He stopped the truck and noticed his son was still sleeping in the back seat. He didn't want to wake, so Fp picked him up and carried him inside like he was a little kid again. He opened the trailer door with his free hand and walked to Jug's room. He placed his son in his bed, covering up with blankets. Fp walked into his own room, laid down on his bed. He was still feeling empty with no one on the other side of his lonely bed.

After she saw Fp drove off, she walked into her house. This time the house felt less homey. To be honest it never felt like her home. Her home will always be the SouthSide. Of course Alice knew since she ran away from it. It shouldn't be her home. But it was her home and always will be her home. It's where she met her second family. The family she left behind and still regrets leaving behind sometimes. It's mostly Fp who she misses. She always thought about their life they could have had together. But she had to have met Hal Cooper. She didn't regret her daughters. She wished they were Fp's too. She stayed up most nights honking about her long lost son, she never got to know, or love with all her heart and protect from anyone who wants to pick a fight with her son.

She walked into the kitchen. She was met by Hal who looked like he was going to kill her or throw something. Alice was pretty terrified. Hal stood up as he swayed back and forth. For fuck sake he is drunk off his ass. Alice knew that when Hal was this drunk, he could be very violent.

"Hey baby, I just saw Fp Fucking Jones drop you off!" Hal slurred as he threw the liquor bottle in his hands violently towards the wall barely missing her head by inches. Alice flinched as the bottle came flying towards her, She ducked just in time. The bottle smashed into billions of pieces. She looked down at her arm, there was a small sliver of glass. She could already see the blood streaming down her already bruised arm.

"Hal, why don't you go to bed." She tried to negotiate with him. This time Hal got right up in her face.

"You think you have some tricks up your sleeve. It's not going to work on me sweetheart." He snapped as he grabbed Alice by collar of her red dress, she still had on from her fight with Tall Boy. Alice tried her best not to let her tears fall from her terrified eyes. She had never seen Hal so angry before.

"What do you mean tricks up my sleeve?" She asked trying to remain calm. She wanted to snap at him. But she knew that wasn't good idea with his state of mind. Hal was getting more frustrated with her constant lying.

"You know exactly what I mean! You're having an affair with Fp!" Hal sneered as another bottle was thrown at the wall.

The bottle came flying even faster than before. Alice's heart was pounding in her chest so rapidly. She had to get out of here. Otherwise he was going to kill her. She moved closer to him trying to calm him down. Which backfired as he came tackling her down to the ground. She kicked, punched as hard as she could. But Hal wasn't giving up. He grabbed her and held her down. Alice's face was now covered with many bruises. This was going to very difficult to cover up.

"Alice! I TRUSTED YOU!" He screamed venomously as he had his hands around her neck. This was it she was going to die. She would never get to see Polly have the twins or Betty wake up. She knew her daughter, her daughter was a fighter.

"Hal, honey it is just a miss understanding. Fp was just bringing me home from the hospital. He picked me and told me about Betty. Okay, nothing happened." Alice begged as she choked on her own tears. Hal released his hands from around her neck. She could finally able to breathe. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. Hal started sobering up. His face turned into panic.

"Oh Alice. What happened?" He asked with a panicked tone. The first thing she could think of was the Black hood.

"Hal the black hood, he did this." Alice cried as she saw Hal come closer. She had never been so petrified in her whole entire life. Even when she was a SouthSide Serpent. The Serpents wouldn't have ever hurt like Hal did. She watched Hal call 911. She felt bad for lying to police about who did this. Sheriff Keller came in and took her to the ambulance. She was relivived that she was able to convince Hal to stop struggling her.

Tom looked around the house. There was broken glass spread through out the first floor. What was interesting to Tom was that were was no forced entry. After he was done investigating, he went to hospital to question Alice. She was laid up in bed. she had massive bruises, a broken wrist, her neck was all black and blue. He honestly made Tom sick to his stomach. The poor women had gone through enough tonight. He watched her struggle to sit up.

"I have a few questions to ask you, Mrs cooper." Tom stated as he opened his evidence note book. Alice nodded and he continued. "Who brought you home?" He asked suspiciously as he got his pen ready to write. Alice looked down at her feet, which were buried underneath the white hospital blankets. She swallowed nervously before answering.

" Fp Jones brought me home after Betty's doctor told me I should go home." Alice explained as she felt a few tears trickle down her sore cheeks. Tom wrote in his note book. He cleared his throat.

"What happened after he brought you home?" Tom questioned. Alice choked on more tears as she described what happened. Tom grabbed a few tissues and handed them to her. She wiped her very red eyes with the tissue.

"Okay, one more question." He stated as he leaned closer.

"Okay." She sighed as more tears burned her cheeks.

"Why wasn't there no forced entry?" He questioned. He watched her eyes. He could tell they were binding the truth.

" I don't know maybe he or she got when I didn't notice." She replied shakily. She hoped he believed her. She couldn't handle another one of Hal's beatings. She had cried so much tonight. She looked over at sheriff Keller and hoped he knew that was a lie. He knew she was lying. That it was something else. He was going to get to bottom of it. "Okay that's all the questions. Why don't you get some sleep." He suggested before closing the door behind him.

Betty woke up in a blinding white room. She couldn't remember being in here. She started to panic. The alarms were set off as she wrestled in the uncomfortable bed. The doctors and nurses rushed in.

"Hello, Betty. I'm your doctor. You got hurt ealier this evening." Her doctor explained to her. She was relieved that she was safe and the Black hood wasn't actually dead. He didn't take her. She was so uncomfortable "Could you get me some different pillows?" She asked politely. They quickly got her new pillows and placed them where the other pillows were. "Why don't you go back to sleep. You need more rest. You're blood levels have a little lead in them. No need to panic. It's not a lot to actually hurt you. It's just not good for you." Her doctor urged.