I'll Keep You Safe | Bughead

22.)

I'm not sure if the address listed in here is a real one, but if it is, I'm sorry in advance. It probably isn't though. Anyway, enjoy! 

Song Credit: "when the party's over" by Billie Eilish

TW: kidnapping, violence

I'm on the last month of my first trimester and I'm already kinda showing. I don't want to spend six more months here, let alone the rest of my life. I'm starting to feel like my situation is a lot like the movie Room, but hopefully, I won't have to wait five more years to escape.

I need a plan. I need to find a way out of here and a way home. And then it hit me like a frying pan...literally. Looking over at the stovetop, I saw the small pan that I use to make breakfast each morning. 

I walked over to it and pretended to cook something, knowing this was usually the time when "Dad" would stop by. I was right because the next thing I heard was the sound of the big metal door opening. 

"Morning, Betty," he said, setting the grocery bag on the counter and coming over to me. "What're you making?" he asked. "My escape," I mumbled, my eyes not leaving the pan. "What was that?" he responded.

There was silence for a second. My hands were shaking and I closed my eyes tight and then I exhaled slowly. I quickly lifted the pan and hit "Dad" over the head. He collapsed with a groan and I hit him again when he was on the floor.

I stood up, dropping the pan to the cement and sobbing. I gasped for air as my hand covered my mouth, realizing what I had just done. I couldn't tell if he was breathing, but if he wasn't then that would make me a murderer. 

I can't go to prison. Not after I had just freed myself, especially now that I'm pregnant. I crouched down, putting two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse while my other hand was under his nose to feel for breathing. He was breathing. He had a pulse. He was just unconscious.

I stood up again and grasped the counter. I hand on my chest as I sighed and tried to calm myself down. Then I saw the door. Dammit! "Dad" must've shut it when he came in. So not only did I just almost kill someone but now, I'm locked in a room with that same someone.

This is bad, this is so very bad. Or at least that's what I thought until I saw the key poking out of "Dad"'s pocket. I snatched it quickly and raced for the door, jamming the key in and turning it every which way. 

Finally, the door unlocked and I let out a gasp of excitement as I flung it open, racing down an unfamiliar dark hallway until I  found a flight of stairs. I grasped the railing and headed up, finding a trapdoor that was thankfully opened. I climbed out, bracing myself slowly and making sure my movements weren't too sporadic for the baby's sake.

I was in a house. I didn't recognize it, but I looked around and saw the family portrait of me, mom, Polly, and "Dad" and realized this must be where he started living after Mom kicked him out. I saw a landline on the counter and stumbled toward it, dialing Sherriff Keller's phone number and waiting for the line to pick up. 

"Keller." "Sherriff Keller?" I asked into the phone, still trying to catch my breath. "Betty? Betty Cooper, is that you?" Keller asked. "Yes. Yes, it is. Hal...Hal Cooper kidnapped me. I don't know where I am and--" 

"Okay, okay, Betty. I'm gonna need you to slow down. You said Hal Cooper took you? You mean your father?" "Yes. I don't know where I..." my voice trailed, seeing a pile of mail with the address of the house. 

"18689 North Sweetwater Pointe," I read into the phone. "Is that your current location?" Sheriff Keller asked. "Yes, I think...I think that's the house," "Officers are on their way. Stay put, Betty." "I will. I will just please, please hurry," I sobbed into the phone before the line went dead.

I grabbed the counter and slowly fell to the floor, sobbing and hyperventilating. I was gonna be saved. Mom. Jughead. I need to talk to them. I slowly got myself up, reaching for the phone again and dialing my mom's number. 

"Hello?" she greeted. "Mom. It's Betty. I'm coming home," I said. "Betty! Oh, Betty, is that really you?" she sobbed on the other line. "Yeah, it's...it's me. Sheriff Keller is coming to get me. I'll see you soon," I replied, smiling from hearing my mom's voice again.

"Where...where are you right now?" she asked. I repeated the address to her and she replied, "I'm on my way. Oh, I love you so much, Betty. I'll see you soon."

---

After I heard the nearby sirens and the knocks on the door, everything seemed to go by in slow motion. The front door opened as officers came in. I pointed to the trapdoor and told Sheriff Keller, "He's down there. In the room." Some of the other sheriffs helped me out the front door and I saw police cars, an ambulance, and news reporters, but most importantly, my mom coming over to me with wide open arms.

She hugged me tightly and we both sobbed in each other's arms, "Mom," I sobbed. "Mom, I need to...I need to tell you something." "What, baby? What is it?" she asked. I pulled away for a second as I whispered. "I'm pregnant." 

"What did you say?" she asked. "You were right, before. I'm pregnant. I have been...for three months," I admitted. "Oh, honey," Mom sighed, pulling me back in. "Then I guess it's good that I gave him the address," she sighed. "What?" I asked. "Who?"

My question answered itself as I saw a motorcycle pulling up to the curb. "Jug!" I cried, running over to him as he did the same to me. "Betty," he sighed, pulling me in as tight as he could. Still sobbing, we kissed passionately and lastingly like we never would again; because in those three months that I was trapped here, we both thought we wouldn't.

We pulled away with poor timing because as soon as we did I saw "Dad" being taken out of the house and going into the back of a sheriff's car. The entire time, he just stared at me, while all I could stare at was the blood trickling down from his temple from where I hit him with that frying pan and the vastly dark look in his eyes.

"Betty, we're gonna need you to come down to the station for questioning. It shouldn't take that long and Jughead, you're welcome to come as well," Sheriff Keller said as he came up to me, Mom, and Jughead.

---

After the Sheriff's station, Mom drove us back to the house and I headed upstairs to go to sleep, it was only evening, but after the ordeal I'd just gone through, I would pass out any minute. "Goodnight, baby," Jug said to me as he tucked me in. And then I remembered: he still doesn't know I'm pregnant.