Snakes and Ladders - Falice

Elastic Heart

And another one bites the dust, but why can I not conquer love?

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Just when the Jones and the Coopers thought that they had everything under control, it all felt apart. Chic claimed that he was trying to help, and Alice was yet again blinded by his wide-eyed act, but Betty knew better. He'd lead the shady man's girlfriend directly to the Cooper residence and opened the door for her. The owned of the car that Betty and Jughead had hidden in Swedlow Swamp. Even Alice had to see that it was simply a stupid move on Chic's part, even if he had no ulterior motives – which Betty still suspected that he did.

And that was how Betty, Alice, and Chic found themselves seated at their kitchen table across from Darla herself as she not-so-subtly suggested that unless Alice wanted to see herself and her whole family in jail for murder, she'd need a pretty hefty bribe. If money was all she wanted, that could easily be settles. Frankly, Alice was glad that it was just money. But, the situation itself was sticky.

It was all so dangerously complicated that Alice didn't know what to do with herself. All she'd ever wanted to do was protect her children and keep her family safe. And now, the danger was inside her very house sitting between her daughter and son. It was all so gut-wrenching that Alice's hands did not stop trembling for nearly twelve hours nor did her feet cease their twitching as Darla remained in their home, awaiting the opening of the bank.

With all her free time, Alice had worked the logistics out in her head. Betty would go to the bank and get the money from their joint account. That way, she would easily be able to take out the money and Hal would never need to know and therefore raise questions. Alice feared that she knew exactly how he would act upon receiving the answers that he so desired. Unlike her, he never seemed to care about protecting his loved ones. It made Alice wonder if there was anyone that Hal Cooper loved.

And I might've got to be with one, why not fight this war without weapons?

When morning finally came, and Betty ran off to the bank, Alice realized that they still were far form being out of the woods. Almost immediately after Betty left the house, they received yet another unwanted visitor. Alice recognized him as the manager that worked at the hostel that Chic once lived at, the man who had attacked her son the night that Betty brought him home to her.

Him and Darla had taken over their homes with hostility and decisiveness. There was no arguing, not with Marcel now a part of this. He'd brought backup in the form of weapons and had no problem with threatening to use them. After merely five minutes, he'd already threatened to kill Alice in dozens of different ways.

Alice herself was lost. She'd never been in such a situation and she didn't know her options. All she knew was that Marcel and Darla were threatening to kill her and her children if she didn't comply, and there was no way in hell that she was going to let that happen. If her and Chic had no choice but to remain at home, perhaps that was that. But, there was still hope for Betty yet. When Alice called her daughter, her voice shaking as she tried to mask her true fear, she told Betty not to come home.

What Alice didn't say, was goodbye. For the time being, Alice had truly accepted her fate. She knew that when Betty didn't return with the money, Darla and Marcel would come after her and Chic. Alice planned to do her very best to keep her son safe, but when it came down to it, she knew that there was a large possibility that she could be giving her life today. And if she did so to protect her children, she was okay with that.