Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

13

Riverdale, once a safe, decent, innocent place, had become Noir Town, like the setting of a Roymond Chandler story, filled with dames to kill for, postmen who like to ring twice, and more mobsters than a Scorsese retrospective at Bijou.
We were a town of lost souls. Each of us wrestling with demons. Each of us with secrets we were trying to keep. Mine was on the larger side. Six foot five to be exact.
I was covering up the death of a wicked man. But Tall Boy Petite wasn't the only fresh corpse in Noir Town. Claudius Blossom had taken the big sleep, and his niece, my girlfriend, Cynthia Blossom, and my best friend, Betty Cooper, had murder on the brain.
And murderers, in Betty's world, needed to be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, Archie Andrews no longer felt hunted by Hiram Lodge, but he was still haunted. Trapped in that in-between place, avoiding his destined face-to-face with the Man in Black, Archie struggled, searching for a sense of purpose. The only thing Archie knew for sure: he was angry and hitting things made it better.
With Hiram laid up in the hospital clinging to life, there was blood in the water, and sharks were closing in on the mobster's daughter, Veronica Lodge.
And what would a town be without its very own 'Miss Riverdale', my partner in both love and business, and her own demons that seemed to be climbing back inside her mind once more. I knew that from the bags beginning to form under my eyes, that I had to drag her out before she fell into the bottomless pit of despair and was consumed by the town she had grown up unknowingly ruling.
Yes, we all had our problems. The town was drowning in them, and one was about to walk through my door.

I didn't mind playing detective, especially at this price. But if i'd known then and there where this investigation would lead me, I never would have taken the money.

Archie was imploding, and both my father and I could see that clearly. But while Jughead was beginning his investigation, Betty and I had agreed to some girl time, if you could call it that, by attending the funeral of our uncle Claudius.

Betty was dressed in some oversized jumper, whereas I was wearing a lace black dress, matched with a red fascinator and red heels, ready to walk into a very interesting wake. At first, the blonde had asked if she was under dressed. For a Blossom wake, yes, but in normal circumstances she was dressed normally. We walked to the top of the room, drawing attention as Penelope, my mother, began to thank everyone for coming.

Our entrance had disturbed the ceremony.
"Betty. Sweet, darling Betty and my daughter. You've come to pay your respects." Mother looked well, and happy despite the circumstances. You would have thought that given the fact we were at a wake, more negative emotions would be flowing from the woman.
"Well, Uncle Claudius was family." I stated, looking at all the family around me, most of which I hadn't seen since Clifford Blossom's funeral.
"Mourn with us, cousin, sister." Cheryl turned in her seat from the front and said. Even she didn't seem that upset at the death of a loved one. Maybe it was because none of the Blossoms were particularly emotionally involved with any others.

We took a seat behind Cheryl, and I saw Toni sat by her girlfriend at the front.
"Tragically, this ungrateful town never welcomed Claudius to its bosom." Penelope continued as she went on to say to Betty that the town's welcome, if you could call it that, was the reason why he ultimately committed the most cardinal of sins. It was then that mother began to let tears form in her eyes. Grandmother turned to both Betty and I, drawing our attention.
"Crocodile tears," She hissed, commenting on mother's sudden flow of emotion.

It was as every other Blossom left that Cheryl came over to us, clearly knowing that by no means was Claudius' passing the true and only reason as to why we chose to come here.
"What are you two doing here, at our uncle's funeral no less?" She asked as she waited in front of us. After Betty said that we wished to speak to her, I simply moved away, saying that I came for the fun.

I left the two to talk as I looked around the room, and at every relative that was there. It was when I reached Grandmother Blossom that I bent down to her wheelchair to speak to her. She was someone I missed very much in my time away from the Blossom life.
"I trust that you are still romantically attached to that boy." She asked, smiling at me as she saw who had come to speak to her. I nodded, telling her a simple yes.
"Good. In him you will find happiness and a home. I just hope I'm still around for the wedding." She placed her hand on my cheek, and I put her comment about a wedding down to her old age and confusion.
"You will have a front row seat." I told her, as Betty approached, nodding to the door, signally that our time among the higher class was over; midnight had struck and it was time to retreat back to the simple way of life.

That was why when I got back to the trailer I was quick to change out of the fancy clothes, putting on leggings, a red checked shirt and some boots, pulling my hair into a bun and ridding myself of the aristocracy. I looked like me again. I was a princess who was raised in a palace, who became a queen in a trailer park.