tag you're it // heathers au

two // sirens

Once JD came home, he and Veronica called the police. They said that, during an argument over the game, Jesse hit Bella with the mallet and that he accidentally swung too hard, cracking her skull. The police of Sherwood sort of sucked, so they bought Bella's death being an accident. But everyone in that house knew that he murdered Bella. The family sat at the dinner table together, pretending that there wasn't a brutal murder in the woods behind their cul-de-sac that day.

"You aren't even sorry." Chloe said out of nowhere, breaking the silence of their monotonous dinner.

"This isn't a game of kickball, Chloe. Sorry won't bring her back to life." Jesse replied, taking a bite of his steak after he spoke. Chloe glared at him while eating her mashed potatoes.

"Bella was my only friend." Chloe complained.

"Oh Chloe, I thought we were friends." Jesse smirked at his little sister sitting across from him. He knew he was mocking her and he even enjoyed it.

"What's your damage, Jesse?" Chloe asked, her nose scrunching up angrily. He simply chuckled at her. JD and Veronica looked in shock at their daughter, wondering where she learned that phrase.

"Lots of things." Jesse replied, his smile gone and his voice robotic. He knew very deeply of his very early life being filled with nothing but abuse and neglect. He wasn't loved until he came to live with Veronica and JD and he knew that. It tore him apart inside to know that his mother never loved him. Sure, his father loved him and so did Veronica but that wasn't the same, even if he did call her mom now.

The hours passed with more arguments stewing between Jesse and Chloe. Jesse went to bed satisfied with his day. Chloe went to bed with the image of Bella's dead body in her mind, she went to bed angry at her brother and her parents and the police.

JD and Veronica were getting ready for bed when they began to finally discuss what happened that day. "He smiled at me after. He could see how upset Chloe and I were and he smiled." Veronica ranted to her husband.

"I know, you told me already honey." JD replied.

"What if he keeps killing?" Veronica asked. "Because we all know that he didn't hit her on accident."

"He won't. And if he does, we'll put him into a hospital." JD answered. "If he does anything to Chloe, we'll definitely intervene." He added.

"Okay." Veronica said. "I love you, JD."

"I love you too, Veronica." He said.

Jesse went into Chloe's room, pushing the door open gently. Chloe was sleeping, though she'd probably wake from nightmares. Jesse just stood there for a moment watching Chloe. "I did it to protect you." He promised his sleeping sister before leaving the room again to have nightmares of his own. But he stopped as he heard his parents talking.

"He can't be like we were. I can't watch him make the same mistakes." Veronica said.

"Then we'll put both of them in therapy. There's probably some form of trauma budding in Chloe because she saw a dead body and she's eight. And Jesse could really benefit from confronting his trauma. I think he's old enough." JD replied.

"Okay, okay." Veronica breathed, relaxing once more. Jesse stopped eavesdropping on his parents, going back to his room finally. He sighed and got into bed, quickly drowning out the world.