Falice

Realization

3.19

How I thought it could have gone instead
•••

Gladys pulled Jughead back towards the door. The gun shot was still ringing through his ears. FP remained on the floor looking at the bullet hole on his body. Jughead didn't want to leave him but he had to go. "We can't leave him like this." Jughead pleaded with his mother.

"Go," FP told him. "Go get Jellybean."

"We have to go," Gladys pushed Jughead out of the door.

•••

Gladys stormed into the house and went straight to Kurtz. She was enraged. She also had to figure out where to place him now that the authorities were on their tails. Jughead stuck behind by the front door. He felt his phone vibrate. He was too in shock to feel it at first but he pulled it out. Betty's name flashed on his screen. He unlocked his phone and answered her immediately. "Betty," He was glad to have someone to talk to. "I'm glad you called."

"Jug, I'm terrified." Betty looked out the car window. The Farmies seemed to have been lost in the distance. "I don't know what to do. I don't know who they are anymore."

"Who? What happened? Are you okay?"

"The Farm changed them. I don't know who my mother is anymore, my sister. I don't know who our friends are." Betty sniffled. There was a small silence between them. "Are you alright? You sound distressed."

"I, I'm freaking out. My dad just got shot on one of these quests we were coerced into and I don't know what to do." Jughead's words all came out stuttered. "I wanted to stay with him."

"Quest? Your dad got shot?"

"What do I do? My mom is handling Kurtz right now but it's his fault we're in this mess. He took Jellybean." Betty's heart broke at the sound of his voice. "My dad knows everything about my mom's doings and he won't rest until we get JB home. He knows it's all her fault. She put this family through enough pain."

"I don't know what to say. Everything is just getting harder."

"Jughead!" Gladys called for him. "Come help me down here!"

"My mom is calling me."

"Call me back. Love you, bye."

"I love you. Talk to you later."

The line was cut and Betty stared down at her phone. The tap on her window startled her. "Betty, you shouldn't have run off. The Farm can heal you just like the rest of us." She turned to see her mother.

"No, mom. I'm not joining a cult lead by a lunatic praying on broken people. He's married to a twenty six year old posing as a seventeen year old just to recruit more people. You can't see it but they're not helping you. They're using you for their own benefit."

"Edgar is a good man. He's taken away my pain like nobody else. He understands me."

"I'm here for you, mom. I've always been. You don't need your psychotic fiancé. You're too good for this polygamy."

"Why can't you see that The Farm is just helping my poor soul?"

"Snap back into reality, mom." Betty needed her to understand her reality. "There are more important things going on besides wanting to be hopelessly devoted to this cult. G&G for example. It doesn't seem to stop tormenting the people of this town. I just got off the phone with Jughead. The game has wrapped itself around the Joneses. Jug is worried sick for God's sake. His father got shot in one of the quests they were forced into." Betty ranted her heart out. Alice's face softened when she heard about FP. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go catch up to Jug and see how he's doing."