Deadline ((Jughead Jones)) 4

2

Archie woke myself and Jughead, who were conveniently sleeping in the room next door that night. I hadn't been sleeping at all, and Jughead, despite snoring heavily, had become accustomed to suddenly waking in the night to help me, so waking him was no trouble. We called Betty and together, the five of us met with Reggie to pick up a hearse that no one had bought.

This led to the five of us travelling to Cherry Creek in order to bring him back.

While he went in to talk to the officers in the area for any new leads, I waited in the hearse. I found it strange that Jughead, Betty and I were sitting in a hearse. In any other car we wouldn't have had an issue, but something about being in this car made me uncomfortable.

By the time we got to the funeral home the sun had risen and we were the first people in the funeral home and Veronica was the person who spoke first, introducing herself and our small party of teenagers.
"I want to be the one who brings him home, today," Archie finished, explaining to the funeral director that it wasn't right that our dad wasn't home.
"I understand. But I'm afraid that's not possible." The director said and we all turned to each other. If he wasn't going to be giving us dad, then we would have to think of a different plan. Knowing dad, he probably wouldn't agree to us breaking and entering in order to steal his body and transport it home, but if it came down to it, I would be willing.

I turned to Archie, and we exchanged desperate looks as we tried to think of what to do next. Then it hit me, we had an attorney on speed dial, and one that would be very passionate about the case.
"Can your mom help us?" I asked him and Archie stepped away from the group to call his mom. While Betty and Veronica were talking to the director in attempts to talk him round, I was looking at Archie, watching him talk to his mom and waiting for him to turn around and give us some kind of idea whether this would work or not. It wasn't long before Archie turned, a small smile on his face as he approached the director.
"My mom wants to talk to you," Archie says, handing the man the phone before coming to stand beside me, whispering to me what a great idea I had.

"I'll just go get your father's personal effects, then." The man told us, a nervous wobble to his voice. Whatever Mary had threatened him with had rattled him to his core, because he was quick to disappear through a door to collect everything, telling us he would need until noon to get dad ready.

Before the man could fully leave, Archie asked to see him, wanting to make sure it was dad. I knew that no mistake was made, and Archie was just praying for a miracle. So, I left and sat outside one the stone step, watching the cars drive down the road, wondering if any driving past had been the ones to hit an innocent man and drive off.

When we eventually made it to dad's truck, Archie was quick to sit inside. I decided to step out of Jughead's hold and sit in the passenger's seat. Sitting in this truck I thought of all the times we had 'borrowed' it to aid one of our slightly illegal escapades or provide the getaway vehicle. Either way, dad had never told us off, or stopped us, even though I was almost certain he knew what we were doing.

Archie opened the glove compartment next to me as I ran my hand over dad's work belt and hard hat, listening to the tool hit together in an almost perfect sound. My brother pulled out dad's insurance documents, pulling out two pictures that were tucked inside.
"He added one of you," Archie stated, handing me the photo. It was one of me in my Serpent jacket, just smiling at the camera. The background was dark, me being the only focus. I knew dad had taken the photo. Archie was holding one of him and his mom. That one looked more worn, as if it had been in there for a few years, whereas mine looked freshly printed and I was glad to be included, it showed that I wasn't his other child, I was his daughter.

A car pulled up behind us and a woman got out of it. Both myself and my brother watched as she held a bunch of flowers in her hand, approaching the car. Archie was out of the car and questioning her before I could tell him to stop. I jumped from my seat and walked over to them, the group following close behind me.
"How do you know what happened here?" Archie asked her, his eyes on the flowers she was about to put down. I walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and calm my brother down. This woman clearly meant no harm.
"Wait are- are you Archie? And Cynthia?" She replied.
"How do you know me and my sister?"