Say My Name

Chapter Seventeen

It was still dark out, and Betty awoke to the sheer pain of her throbbing abdomen. She didn't have the strength to move much, so she straightened her right arm out and dropped it onto the warm body next to her. Veronica jolted awake and immediately pushed Betty's arm off of her.

"Jesus," Veronica moaned and groaned before she sat up on the bed and looked over at Betty. "What is it?"

Betty tried to swallow to moisten her dry throat, but that didn't help much. She could tell by the excruciating headache she had and the lack of wetness in her mouth that she was severely dehydrated. She swallowed again and opened her mouth to try to speak, but nothing came out.

Veronica grew impatient due to her friend's lack of communication. She walked over to her side of the bed and turned the bedside lamp on.

"Are you in pain? Do you need pain killers?" She asked, looking down at her.

Betty nodded her head slightly and held her throat, signaling that she was parched.

Veronica nodded in acknowledgment. "Okay, I'm gonna go try to find you some pain killers and water. Just hold on tight, okay?"

Betty made a little noise with her mouth and nodded as Veronica walked away and headed down through the hole in the ground. She had the flashlight on her phone turned on and was shining it on each step as she headed down the metal staircase. The office was completely dark, and she wouldn't be able to see a thing if it weren't for the flashlight.

She walked off the bottom step and made her way to the door, which, for some odd reason, was locked. She turned the lock on the door, opened it slowly, and peaked her head out, noticing the Wyrm was completely empty and the lights were dim.

She stepped out of the office and closed the door behind her before she made her way over to the bar and searched for a water glass. None were in her direct line of vision, so she peeked inside the cabinets and under the bar top.

"Can I help you?" A woman interrupted from behind her, causing Veronica to jump up in fright.

"Oh! Gosh!" She grabbed her chest, quickly turning towards the startling voice.

The young woman looked to be in her early 20s or late teens. She had ocean eyes and wavy platinum blonde hair that came down past her shoulders. She was a little taller than Veronica but not by much.

As she held her heaving chest, waiting for her heart rate to go down, she peeped the small Serpent tattoo on the side of the girl's wrist.

"You're one of the girls staying up in Forsythe's loft upstairs, right? You and that injured blonde girl..."

Veronica looked at her skeptically, wondering how she knew about Betty's injury. Jughead didn't seem like the type to voice information like that around. "Yeah... How did you..."

"Oh, I was here whenever you guys walked in last night. I saw Forsythe carrying her to his office and you following behind. I figured he let you guys stay up there," she replied with a weak smile -- one that Veronica could tell right away was not very genuine.

The blonde walked over to the glasses hanging on a rack over the sink, and Veronica wanted to hit herself over the head for not noticing them sooner. "Did you need something?" She asked, grabbing one off the rack.

"Uh, yeah..." the dark-haired girl replied. "Do you know where he is?" She swallowed hesitantly, "Forsythe..."

"Oh, he had to go home. He should be back before sun up, though." She filled the glass with water and took a sip from it.

Veronica blinked a few times as her head shook with confusion. "Home? Isn't the loft upstairs his?"

"It is, but he has to go home a lot because of..." she paused momentarily and looked up at her. "...reasons."