Chances ▻ Riverdale

18

Eliza stood in front of the tombstone at the plot of land where Victoria was buried. Tears streaked her cheeks as she looked down at the small tombstone she ordered to have been made. She used all of her savings to buy it, which meant she could only afford a small one.

Johnny stood right beside Eliza as she silently cried, She was holding his hand for comfort, which Johnny, of course, was fine with. Whatever made her feel better was fine for him.

"She was only twenty-three," Eliza spoke up quietly, breaking the silence between them, "She should've lived a long life and had kids. When we were younger, Tori told me she wanted to name her daughter, if she had one, Eliza, after me. But I guess will never happen now," She paused, taking a deep breath as she tried to keep calm, "When I'm older, I'm going to name my daughter Victoria, in honor of her."

Wanting to change the subject, Eliza turned to Johnny, "When you're older, do you want kids?" She asked him curiously.

Johnny smiled slightly, nodding his head, "I want three kids. One boy, one girl, and the third one can be either or." He informed her, "But I do know I want to name the boy Crash."

"Crash?" Eliza questioned curiously, raising a brow at him, "That's a very original name."

"Well, I like original. No one will have the same name as him," Johnny replied, "Plus, if he's anything like me, he'll drive a motorcycle and be a bit reckless, which he means, he'll probably crash it a couple times."

Eliza smiled, "That oddly fits somehow." She commented before letting go of Johnny's hand.

She went into her pocket, taking out a folded piece of paper, "While you were working on your poem for English, I was working on a poem in honor of Victoria," She paused, looking up at Johnny as she nervously bit her lip, "Should I read it?"

"Of course, you should," Johnny told her, nodding his head in agreement.

Eliza took a deep breath before opening up the folded piece of paper. She glanced between Johnny and Victoria's grave, then looked back at the paper, "My Sister," She started off the poem with its title before she began to read it, "Victoria. As kids, we lived together, we fought, we laughed, we cried. We didn't always show love, that we both knew we had inside. We shared our dreams and plans for the future, and some deep, dark secrets too. All the memories we share is what bonds me to you now in your untimely absence. We grew to find we have a love stronger than any we had with a significant other. It's a love shared by family, you are my sister not by choice, but by the nature of our births. I could not have chosen a better one. You are the best one on earth. Love always, Eliza."

Johnny gave Eliza a sympathetic look as she began to cry, "That was beautiful, Eliza." He complimented before and Eliza immediately looked up at him.

"You really think so?" She asked him and Johnny smiled slightly, nodding his head in confirmation.

  _______

Once arriving back home, Eliza gave Johnny a small smile, hugging him tightly, "Thank you for everything, Johnny. I really appreciate it." She thanked him before pulling away from the hug.

"It's no problem, really," Johnny assured her before starting his bike back up, "I better get back home before my old man flips, but I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

Eliza smiled and nodded her head, "Definitely." She replied, giving him a small eave.

Once Johnny drove off, Eliza walked closer to her trailer, immediately noticing her father's bike out front. He was back from wherever he had gone to for the past three days or so.

She entered the trailer to find her father in the kitchen, opening up a beer. She slammed the door closed, causing her father to instantly turned to her, "Did you kill her?" Eliza asked her father, referring to her older sister.

"Kill who?" James asked her, a confused look on his face as he frowned at her, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Victoria!" Eliza screamed angrily, "You know, my older sister, the one you despise oh so much? Does she ring a bell?"

James' eyes widened at the revelation that his eldest daughter was now dead, "Victoria's dead?" He asked, a shocked expression on his face.

"I just got back from burying her ashes at the cemetery with Johnny. She died in my arms the night you picked me up from the police station. So I'm going to ask you one last time," Eliza paused, going into her pocket as she pulled out her pocket knife and flicked it open, "Did you kill my sister because she came back to town?"

Before Eliza could even think about stabbing him, James roughly gripped onto her arm, forcing her to let go of the knife. He then roughly pushed her against the kitchen wall. Eliza didn't give him a reaction though, she barely even flinched. She continued to give him an emotionless expression, looking up into his dark eyes.

"I said, I didn't kill her! What don't you understand, Eliza?" James shouted at his daughter angrily, loosening his grip on her a bit, "I may be a really shitty father, but I would never--never--take the life of my own daughter, someone of my own flesh and blood." He told her, beginning to calm down.

Eliza couldn't hold back the tears anymore and she began to cry, James surprisingly beginning to feel bad for her, "Then, who killed her then, huh? She was a good person! She had no enemies, but you and the Serpents." She said, nearly screaming hysterically.

James sighed, pulling Eliza into a tight hug. Eliza was shocked at first, taken aback by her father hugging her. Finally, she wrapped her arms around her father, beginning to hug him, "I don't know, Eliza. I don't know who would do this," He told her quietly, "But I'll get the Serpents on it. We'll find out who did this, okay? And we'll make them pay."

AN: The first somewhat good scene between Eliza and her father. I was going to wait one more chapter to do the flashback episode, but I've decided to start it next chapter.

Any ideas on what Johnny's secret for secrets and sins could be?