"We're all on the edge of madness; deep down, darkness is within all of us and we're on guard constantly trying to avoid losing control."
In which Mickey Lodge has a few skeletons in her closet.
{COMPLETED WITH ALL SEASONS + epilogue}
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"How are the divorce proceedings?"
Veronica huffs, but she keeps her hands still so her manicurist can work her magic. "He wants everything, including my apartment."
Mickey makes a disgusted face, "He doesn't even like Riverdale."
"But he likes to rub me the wrong way. And you know what? I don't care. At first, I thought, he can have whatever house and apartment he wants as long as I'm free from him. I even agreed to alimony. Then he tried to...harm," she's discreet with her words in public, "Archie. The idiot left his fingerprints on the—" she makes a gun with her free hand.
"So I'm guessing you'll be able to blackmail him now and get everything."
"Exactly. I'll be leaving that little bitch with nothing."
Mickey laughs softly. "I don't think we'll be seeing Chad for a long time."
Veronica's tone drops an octave when she asks the next question, "How are things with Jughead?"
"All I know is he's on administrative leave from the school and, apparently, his editor has dropped him."
"I'm talking about on a more personal level. How are things with him...and you?"
Mickey watches her manicurist apply the first coat of the black polish on her nails as she answers. "We are moving forward. We can't change the past. We can try to deal with its impact on us personally and on our relationship, but that's all. We had a really intense conversation, and I really don't know what's next."
Veronica tries to mask her grin, but fails. "You said relationship, you know?"
"I meant in a platonic way." Mickey changes gears, "So! Are we going to celebrate your new found freedom at an expensive restaurant or with drinks at the Wyrm?"
"Actually, all this pampering is because I'm going to see my Archiekins. We have some celebrating of our own to do."
"Ew!"
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Mickey's grip on the television remote tightens when Alice appears on the screen. It's a live press conference about the Lonely Highway Killer.
"...whoever is terrorizing our town, committing these inhumane murders, you have to stop. Every time the phone rings, I pray it's about my daughter. I pray for closure. Just today, another victim was found. Their dismembered body is down at the Riverdale morgue. What does it say about me that I want it to be my daughter...so that this nightmare will end?" Alice's voice cracks as she says the next part, "So that I can wake up." She begs, "Please."
