Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

11

What hero's journey would be complete without a self-imposed exile?Witness Archie Andrews. Just as Luke Skywalker went to planet Dagobah, so, too, has Archie been in the Canadian hinterlands, wondering what dark demons he would have to conquer before being able finally, to go home.
And speaking of home...
Since Riverdale's quarantine, the crime rate in the town had risen. There'd been, for instance, a series of daring cat burglaries that Cynthia was certain were the workings of Riverdale High's very own queens.
It's been five weeks since we were cut off from the rest of the world. The quarantine was lifted, but the town still hasn't gotten its pep back. Though aboveground, Riverdale was a haunted shell of its former self, underground, at Veronica's La Bonne Nuit, life was beautiful.

We were awoken from our slumber by my phone calling. I sat up straight away, looking at the phone and reading Betty's name from the screen. Jughead turned the bedside lamp on as I answered her call.

"Hey Thia, I know it's late." She began and I told her that it was fine. Betty had been released from the sisters, well, actually she staged a daring escape, and was now housing the kids from that horrifying place in her living room. "One of the kids Tyler is still doing Fizzle Rocks, said a Serpent was dealing them but didn't know who." She stated.

I had put the phone on speaker so that Jughead could hear her too, so he could listen to the information that Betty was passing on.

"You sure he wasn't lying?" I asked her and she told us that if he was lying then he came up with it quickly. That was the end of our conversation with Betty, after telling her that we would be looking into it and that we would get back to her with whatever information we could gather.

J was looking at me with a confused face, not really believing that a Serpent would deal with them, but if they were, having no idea who it was, it clearly stressed the King out.
"A Serpent dealing Hiram Lodge's drugs, like we're one of his gangs." Jug all but spit out.
"There is always more to the story, Jug." I reminded him, and he nodded at me, before taking my hands into his. After the past few years, I knew that nothing was normal in Riverdale.

He lay back against the headboard of his bed, looking at me with our hands connected.
"This is my fault. I was gone for too long. I left the Serpents high and dry. I left you high and dry." He panicked, going over the last few weeks in his head. He had left me in charge of the Serpents, while he ran off to hide with Archie.
"I'm fine. I understood why you left, you were protecting Archie. And I thought I did pretty well with the Serpents while their king was away." I told him, and he smiled at me. The boy pulled me into his chest as we lay back down, ready to go back to sleep.
"Yeah, and while I was busy protecting the Red Paladin, Hiram made a play for the town and he got it. Fizzle Rocks are everywhere." He stated. It was true that since Jughead had left town, the number of Fizzle Rocks dealings had increased beyond count, and it seemed we confiscated more off younger serpents every day.
"And Weatherbee's running Riverdale High like a police state. We don't have an elected Sheriff. Could this town get any worse?" I added.

We sat in silence for a couple of seconds before Jughead asked about why Hiram wanted the town quarantined. No one knew. Even the conversations we'd had with Veronica during the quarantine got us nowhere. She was as clueless as the rest of us.
"Betty said that Hiram was paying the sisters to test out his drugs on the patients there. I don't see how he could possibly get away with that." I told Jughead, and he agreed. This mystery was up against one of our biggest villains yet.
"I doubt even their testimonies would lock Hiram Lodge away." Jug stated as I cuddled into him.
"I just want my brother to come home." At my words, Jughead turned the light off pulling me closer, as if the strength of his embrace was enough to protect me from the demons in the town, both in my head and the ones that still walked the streets.