ghosts // riverdale

[15]

At the time, everyone believed that Jason Blossom's death could be the worst thing to happen to Riverdale. A father killing his own son? It was awful. How could there be anything worse? At least, that's what we all believed then. That's what even I believed then. Slowly, I began to lose faith in humanity. First, Cliff Blossom. Then, the Black Hood. All involving gruesome murders. Yet, these were only the murders that the public knew about. Those were the stories that the papers ran. If Riverdale had really known the darkness that had swallowed the city whole, perhaps Riverdale would become a ghost town. Then again, perhaps it already was.

----------

"I can't believe that we're actually going to do this," Archie mutters as he paces across Veronica's bedroom anxiously. His sweaty hands are pushed deep within the pockets of his black dress pants, his fingertips gripping on the smooth sating lining the pockets. "What?" Veronica murmurs as she bats her eyelashes in the mirror, making sure that no mascara is causing her eyelashes to stick. "Going to another one of these super fun Riverdale charity events?"

"You know what I'm talking about Veronica," Archie murmurs with a hint of annoyance in his voice. For him, what was happening tonight was huge. For everyone else, it was just another day in Riverdale. "You know," Veronica says with a shake of her head as she places one last coat of red lipstick across her lips, "how many of these events do we need here in Riverdale anyway? It's like we go to one of these things every weekend. I mean, are we doing it for dramatic effect?"

"Veronica," Archie nearly growls, "I'm being serious. We're going to basically accuse a girl of attempted murder." Veronica's deep brown eyes narrow in on Archie's through her reflection in her vanity mirror. "First of all Archie, she's a woman." Veronica clicks her lipstick closed and pops it into her clutch. "Second of all Archie, that's exactly what we're doing." Veronica turns and walks towards Archie, stopping right in front of him to place her palms on his shoulders. "It's time that we get to the bottom of what's going on with Brooke Harlow, once and for all."

----------

"Is it really necessary to go to another one of these stupid things?" Jughead groans as he sits at the edge of Betty's bed. He plays with the beanie sitting atop his head as he tries to get it comfortable. "Yes Jug," Betty says from inside her closet, "I already told you. If we're going to do this at all, it's happening tonight." Betty steps out from the closet, her bright white teeth shooting Jughead a reassuring smile. Jughead shakes his head again as he releases a large sigh.

He places his fingertips nervously against his forehead as he finds it impossible to smile back at Betty. "I don't know, Betty," Jughead shrugs, "I just feel like tonight is going to go really bad. I know that my dad is already going to be really mad at me and I've been trying to build our relationship, not tear it apart." Betty sits next to Jughead on the bed and wraps her arms around his neck.

"Jug," Betty says into his neck, "everything is going to be fine. Does your dad even really know who Brooke is?" Jughead breathes in carefully as he removes his fingertips from his forehead and places his wet palms into his lap. "He says that he does," he whispers as he stares straight ahead. "Yeah, well I'm not sure that he does," Betty says as she loosens her grip on Jughead slightly, "and I say that tonight we tell him."

Jughead shakes his head as he turns to look Betty in the eyes. "And what are we going to do if we're all wrong about Brooke Harlow?" Betty breathes in gently as she releases her arms from Jughead's neck and places her palms in his. "I don't know, Jug," Betty smiles, "I don't think that's going to happen." Jughead turns away as he stares towards the open window leading to the cold outside. "I know what's going to happen," Jughead murmurs, "it's going to be a fucking blood bath."