Enlightened

Chapter Seven: Ghost Busters

8:48 AM, Saturday July 2nd 2025. The Black Hood called Sheriff Toni Topaz as she was standing in her office, and threatened her secretary Cheryl Blossom. Less than two feet away sat that secretary. The grief stricken Sheriff put her phone back into her pocket and turned to face the puzzled red head seated on her desk.

Cheryl could clearly see there was something wrong. The colour had drained from Toni's face and she had a look that radiated sadness, much like the one that she'd had when she found out Tom died. The red head furrowed her eyebrows with concern and stood up off the desk, crossing her arms over her chest. "Toni? What's wrong?"

Toni looked into the red head's eyes and Cheryl could see the tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "He... he called me. The Black Hood. He knows we're here..." Toni said quietly, letting a tear escape and roll down her cheek. "He threatened you Cheryl. He said he was coming. F-For you..." The Sheriff trailed off as she looked into the red head's eyes. There was no fear in her eyes. Toni couldn't quite make out what that look was. Love? Pity? She wasn't sure, but it definitely wasn't the look she'd expected.

Cheryl brushed a tear off of Toni's cheek and cradled her jaw in her left hand. She exhaled deeply and gave the pink haired girl a small, sad smile. "Oh Toni, I'm glad you want to help me, but I think this is out of our control."

Toni pulled away, frustrated. "No! There's something I can do! I'm the sheriff for God's sake. I should be able to catch a fucking killer!" The smaller girl said, angrily flipping a chair. "When are Betty and Jughead coming in again?"

"9:30. Why?" Cheryl said taking a few steps towards the enraged police officer and picking up the chair.

"We need to start working on this case. I have to catch the Black Hood." Toni responded frantically, walking over to her desk and taking out the cipher. She placed the piece of off white paper on her desk and looked at it. Cheryl just watched as she attempted to put pieces together. "When's Yarrowsten coming?"

"10:45." The red head responded, she sounded tired. Irritated almost.

"Perfect. I can use what he figures out to identify our killer." She said aloud to herself. She took out a pad of paper and a pen, and carefully replicated the cipher into her note pad. She clipped the pad to her belt and stuck the pen behind her ear. The pink haired girl then walked back over to the annoyed secretary and looked her in the eye. "What?"

"You need to calm down. Rushing the case won't help. No work gets done when you're all frantic like this." Cheryl said crossing her arms over her chest. Toni was, once again, puzzled by the red head. Sometimes, she didn't understand the red headed girl. Did Cheryl not understand the importance of the situation? She could die! Did that not matter to her?

"I don't get it Cheryl, how can you so easily dismiss the thought of potential death?" Toni asked, not hostile but seriously confused.

"I've been faced with situations with terrifying circumstances and possibly deadly outcomes before, TT." She put her arms on the smaller girls shoulders, pulling her a little closer. "I've been sent to conversion therapy, had my mother and uncle try to kill me, hell I had the original Black Hood in my house. This stuff doesn't scare me anymore. If I got scared every time something bad happened to me, I'd probably lock myself in my bedroom and become a freaking hermit." Cheryl gave a small smile, cradling Toni's face. She placed a small kiss on her lips and put her hands back on the smaller girl's shoulders. There was no happiness in Toni's face when she withdrew this time. "What's wrong?"

"You may not care about you, but I do." Toni said turning around and running a frustrated hand through her hair. She turned back around and looked into Cheryl's eyes with a pleading look. "I need you Cheryl, I can't have you dead." She trailed off to a whisper. "I can't have anymore people I love dead." The red head didn't catch the last part. Before Cheryl could respond, the office door swung open. It was Veronica.