Poison | Jughead Jones

Chapter twenty nine

Remembering old scars

Bella's eyes shone with tears, small pools of pain sinking into her mattress with each drop. Her mind was racing ferociously with what was being unravelled right in front of her.

A secret she wanted buried in sweet water river.
A past she thought she had escaped.

Mascara streaked down her cheeks as if tattooing her skin with black ink, marking her fear into a physicality. SweetPea had wandered in a few hours after Bella had gotten home, morning light already breaking through the mouldy window panes.
Without a word, he found himself sat upon his sisters bed with his arms open in a form of comfort.

nothing had worked his sister up so much before, except the first few nights she returned home. Hidden behind doors, closed off from the shrouding heat that was summer, Jessebelle Rhodes kept quiet. Because she did come home before July 4th, it was just that nobody heard her arrival.

*****

Bella yelped as a twig snatched at her ankle, drawing a speck of blood as she darted through the tree line.

"Leave me alone!" She spat, hearing the loud footsteps echo across the rough bark of the tree trunks. A haunting laugh followed her small frame, as if trailing behind her with each fluid movement.

The sun was sharp across the canopy of leaves, blinding the fourteen year old as she continued to sprint. Nausea dug at her stomach with each heave of breath Bella had taken, nestling down deeper as if burrowing for sanctuary.

She had never felt such fear rise in her throat like bile before that moment, scared of what would happen if she ever gave up running. But exhaustion was her enemy, and her limbs began to lag like a weight had been thrown upon her shoulders.

It took one blow to her knee for the small girl to collapse to the floor, the air smacked out of her with the impact from the ground. her knuckles whitened as she grabbed fistfuls of dirt and leaves, trying to hoist her way up. But it was no use, her body was in too much pain to move.

Feebly, she turned.

Her brown orbs glassed in pain as if she were a porcelain doll about to be broken, and she looked up. She was met with an anger so fierce it fuelled the red fire that was their hair.

Their green eyes glowered down at the quivering girl, and Bella could almost see a fleeting look of remorse flicker across their face. But as soon as it was there, it had vanished, and nothing but danger had driven them to that point.

Because Jason Blossom knew what he had to do, even if it would break both of their souls.