New Girl In Town

Chapter 24

Sweet Pea's P.O.V.

    It was nearly 7:00, and I was squished into the backseat of Betty's mom's car; she was in the driver's seat, Jughead was in the passenger seat, and I was behind him. Her perfectly manicured fingers were tapping on the steering wheel to the beat of some pop song that was playing on the radio.

"Take a right here," I instructed her as we approached Asher's house, and she did so with a smile on her face. How could someone be so happy all the time? I had to be honest though, I was surprised at how pleasant she was to me considering the way I had treated her earlier that afternoon. And I'm not going to lie, she was actually pretty cool; I had spoken to her a few times before, and she's always been accepting of the Serpents despite the way her mother treated us. I just couldn't get over the fact that she was a Copper.

"That's her house on the left," I said, pointing to her small home beside Sweetwater River. Betty pulled into her driveway as I texted Asher to let her know that we were there. After a few minutes of waiting, I texted her again, but I still got no reply.

"All of the lights are off," Betty stated curiously. "Are you sure she's home?"

"I don't know why she wouldn't be. She was really excited about tonight," I countered, equally as confused as to where she was. "I'll run in and see what's taking her so long".

"I'll go in with you," Jughead said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "I have to go to the bathroom". We both got out, tread across the lawn and ascended the porch stairs. I knocked on the door twice before slowly entering the house.

"Jesus, what the hell happened here?" I questioned worriedly as I saw the mess on the other side of the door.

"It looks like a tornado came through here," Jughead stated, picking some of the trash off of the floor as he did so.

"Ash?" I called out, slowly making my way further into the home. As I rounded the corner into the living room, however, I stopped abruptly, unable to comprehend the picture in front of me.

The first thing I saw was Asher's body lying limp on the floor; a small puddle of blood had formed under her head, and splatters of it stained her clothes leaving dark spots on her jeans and t-shirt. I stood there gawking at her, unable to move until Jughead approached and broke the transe that I was in.

"Did you find her..." he asked, but his voice trailed off as he entered the room and discovered the horrific scene. "Holy shit!"

"Asher," I whispered as I ran over to where she laid. I gently scooped her small frame into my arms, careful not to cause any more pain to her broken body. I surveyed her quickly and found that the source of the blood was mainly from the gash above her left eyebrow; small cuts also seemed to litter her body.

"Is she breathing?" Jughead questioned urgently as he ran over to where we were and crouched down beside me. I carefully positioned my ear next to her mouth, desperate to hear some sign of life in her. A sigh of relief fell from my mouth when I heard her breath; however, that relief was short lived when I realized how faint her quick, little pants were.

"Grab a towel or something to stop the bleeding," I ordered Jughead without looking away the girl in my arms. Blood trickled down her face, and she lost more and more by the second. How long had she been there like this, and how the hell did this happen? I examined her more closely and noticed a bruise starting to form below and around the gash on her forehead; I couldn't tell if the bruise and the cut were caused by the same thing or not.

"Here's a towel," Jughead called as he ran into the room. I snatched the rag from him, gently placing it on the wound. I'd had my fair share of serious injuries caused by various motorcycle accidents and fights with the Ghoulies, so instincts took over as I tended to her. I applied a small amount of pressure to the cut in an attempt to slow the bleeding, but the rag was already soaked, making my hand sticky with her blood.

"Who did this to you?" I whispered, tears threatening to spill from my eyes as I saw my love in such a horrific state. I was beginning to panic over the amount of blood she was loosing.

"Hey, look at this," said Jughead as he surveyed the room, bending down to grab something from the floor, holding it to the light in order to examine it closer. "It's glass. Looks like it came from a beer bottle or something. That would explain the little cuts on her arms".

I analyzed the marks on her arms and found small shards of brown glass embedded in them, confirming Jughead's theory. It was in that moment that it dawned on me; a rush of anger quickly flooded my emotions as the realization sunk in.

"It was her dad," I growled, struggling to contain my fury. I remembered Asher telling me about her father's drinking problem and how it often lead to enraged and uncontrolled outbursts. She must have gotten caught in the middle of his most recent episode. "I'm going to kill him," I snarled, my body shaking with fear and rage.

"Sweet Pea, calm down," Jughead asserted as he approached me slowly. "What we need to do is get her to a hospital".

"No hospital," I heard a broken voice mumble in protest. Both Jughead's and my head snapped towards Asher, equally thankful and surprised at her awakening. Her eyelids fluttered as she struggled to get up from her reclined position.

"Hey, hey. Don't move," I said, gently holding her. "Jughead is right, we need to get you to a hospital. You're bleeding a lot".

"No hospital," she simply repeated. "Just take me home".

"But you are home", I explained, brushing a few sticky, blood covered hairs out of her face.          

"No, I want to go home," she whimpered, growing more and more restless. I then realized that by 'home', she meant my trailer.

"Okay baby, I'll take you home". I stood up carefully, worried that one wrong move would further damage the fragile girl in my arms. I hurriedly made my way towards the front door. Jughead opened it so that I could get Asher out, and we haistilly scurried across the lawn and back to Betty's car.

"Drive back to my place," I ordered as Jughead helped me lay Asher's petite and broken frame across the back seat, resting her head on my lap so that I could continue to tend to her wound. She was falling in and out of consciousness, but at least she had woken up and was able to communicate.

"Oh my God! What happened?" Betty exclaimed, a worried look immediately masking her usually happy expression.

"We'll explain on the way. Now go!" I demanded, and she didn't hesitate as she shifted the car into gear and pulled out of the driveway. As we sped down the street, all I could think about was how I had failed to keep Asher safe when she needed me the most. And of all people, it was her father who I needed to protect her from; the man who should love and care for her, not beat and break her. No man would ever get away with treating a girl like this, not in my book. He was going to pay for what he did.