ROYALTY | RIVERDALE

chapter -36

chapter 36 || 036

'in her empty house'

The town of Riverdale was shocked by the viral video. Every student had seen it. The news had been playing clips of it. Parents were watching it at home, at work, anywhere. They were all so stumped by it. And horrified.

The day after the video surfaced everyone was acting different.

Cheryl was quiet. Even though Cheryl hadn't known the girl long it was chilling to know she was going through something like this with no one in her corner. That she was so alone she thought of the only way out was her taking her own life. Not too long ago she felt the same way.

Toni was numb. Diana had been a nice shinning light in the gangs life. She totally changed up the serpent dance, and that made Toni so proud. She was the closest thing she had to a girl friend in the gang.

Fangs was deeply hurt. They had shared the same bullet going through them. They had been bullet buddies. Diana made Fangs just little bit more hopeful that new people in his life wasn't such a bad thing. 

Sweet Pea was off the rails. He hadn't meant to fall for the girl. Not after she beat him in pool, or after she went on the date with Reggie. Or when she took the same bullet as Fangs. But it just happened. And now she was being painted as a criminal and a scared little girl. But he knew she was so much more than that.

Jughead was antsy but still hopeful. Yes the video had shown a very traumatic point in her life but she was here. She had meet all of them, and fought hard to fit in and live a normal life. And now she was fighting even harder to get justice. He just couldn't tell anyone yet.

Betty was sympathetic. She hadn't known her well either but the girl helped her with the dead body. And she seemed to be an amazing person to Jughead. She had given the group her last words, obviously Diana trusted her. And she was so fierce and that really inspired Betty.

Veronica was angry. Angry that she was being portrayed in such a way on the news. That the only part of her that everyone saw was that vulnerability. A state of panic. Diana had kissed her that day and she knew that girl was different. She knew she was someone different.

Archie was confused and clouded. Everything that had been going on with him he only realized everything that had been going on with Diana. But she was still in his attic and sometimes in his kitchen. And sometimes playing with his dog. For someone who's supposed to be a scared little girl she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

Reggie was hurt. He remembers the night that she got shot and she said that she had 'survived three stabbings'. He hadn't known that one of those was self inflicted. He hadn't known that she was going through so much. Maybe that's what led him to help her. 

Ravyn was nervous. After hearing about Bellamy and the video she knew that this scandal had gone too far. That her father had gone too far. The girl didn't know how to empathize with Bellamy. She had a bit of sympathy for her. But she knew in the end that her plan to fix everything was going to make up for everything.

-

I sat in the shed with my feet tucked underneath me on the couch. Now that the video was out everyone saw that side of me. I didn't even how that got out. I would have figured that someone would have erased it.

Who keeps a video like that? It was so long ago and then to send it out? What kind of sick person does that? 

It was probably him. He wants me to break again he wants to break me. Haven't I broken enough for him?

When the librarian came in the morning after she called the cops and an ambulance took me away. Who would have thought to check the computer?

The tears started spilling out before I could contest. It sucks. It all sucks. If I would have died that day and never made it here. Never met this people. Never fought for myself. 

Now not only was I a dancer, thief, murderer and a bastard to everyone, I was now publicly broken.

-

Bella had to send it out. She was always watching her from far away. If she went into a connivence store to steal some food. Or to some motel to crash with strangers. She was always there keeping an eye on her.

But the one time she wasn't looking she hurt herself. 

The one time she just happened to glance away. She had lost her in a street of people and was never able to find her again. 

She only found the library a couple hours later after the incident. And sat at the same desk she had at the same computer. She had been the one to find the horrible video that cut short before she impaled herself.

Bella was horrified and guilt ridden. If she had just stayed with them instead of running away when it got tough who knows what life would have been like. Maybe Rick would still be alive. Maybe her daughter might still be alive. 

Bella copied the video onto a thumb drive and erased it from the computer.

What they did to her they would never do to anyone ever again. They had made her daughter so weak that she only thought of one way out. She had lost her one true love and her child to the constable, Alexander Ava.

She wasn't going to lose to him again.

-

Alexander was struck with inspiration. There had been no news of the girl on the island so she was either hiding out somewhere else or on her way. Either way he'd find her. She had been the product of Bella's love that he never got. She didn't deserve to live. She deserved to be rotting sic feet under for just being born.

He wasn't going to lose to her again. 

He wasn't going to lose.