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— AFTER WHAT HAD FELT LIKE A LIFETIME SPENT IN DARKNESS, Jonathan King could hardly keep his eyes open as they took minutes to adjust to the harsh white lighting in the room.
He'd never liked hospitals. Not when little eight year old him fell on his new scooter and slammed his chin against the pavement- making stitches a necessity. Or when Vincent burned his arm on a stove top and Johnny had to sit with him for hours while they fixed it. Even when Jonathan had accidentally tripped down a flight of stairs and broke his arm, the hospital had never been his favourite place.
Then again, Johnny thought maybe a simple broken bone or split chin would be better than the reality.
Anything could be better than this.
It had only been about three hours since they'd found the boy and the nurses were ever worried about him, not for his injuries but for his crazed muttering. The glances over his shoulder and long hard stares at certain places in the room.
He wasn't stable. Mentally, it was just the fact.
And when Kevin Keller, eager to see his old friend again, arrived at the hospital, he rushed to find Jonathan's room, Sheriff Keller not far behind.
"Johnny?" Kevin peeked in nervously, seeing the boy, weakly starring at a corner of the room.
He looked up when he heard Kevin's voice, and smiled slightly, "Hey, Skittles."
Kevin let out a small burst of laughter and stepped up next to the bed, "I've missed you so much. God- you have no idea."
Jonathan chuckled. "I missed you too."
Then a glint caught Kevin's eye near the blankets.
"They handcuffed you?" Kevin paused, uncertainty latched onto his voice and tugged it to a waver. It shook ever so slightly.
The metal clinked against the plastic bed as Jonathan held up the arm that was cuffed. He definitely couldn't lift it even a foot in the air.
Kevin sighed, noticing that Jonathan wasn't talking and was instead starring darkly at the metal around his wrist.
"They think you had something to do with Jason Blossom." Kevin explained.
"Blossom?" Jonathan muttered quietly. It seemed like he wasn't even listening anymore, as his stare moved to that same corner of the room.
"Yeah, Johnny, he's dead." Kevin glanced down, sitting on one of the unoccupied chairs. It was hard and wooden but not too unbearable. "It's just a coincidence that you showed up a week later with... well, with a boat load of blood on you."
Jonathan still didn't say anything, as his arm fell back to the sheets heavily.
"They think..." Kevin trailed off, reaching forward and placing a hand on his old friend's arm. "They think you killed him."
Jonathan's eyes flickered to the door, where Sheriff Keller was stood, talking with one of the nurses.
"He's dead." He said, certainly.
"Yeah." Kevin sighed. He was quiet for a moment before he let out a small, dry laugh. "But it's not like we were Jason's biggest fans."
Jonathan shook his head, looking at the sheets and squeezing them between his fingers.
"No." He said. "Not him." His breathing became a bit laboured and his hands shook.
"He's dead." Jonathan glanced from the corner of the room, to a space next to his bed. "He's dead because of me."
Kevin's blood ran cold.
"Who, Johnny?" Kevin pressed. His hand melted more against Jonathan's arm, leaning forward in his chair.
Jonathan still didn't look at him, it seemed like he couldn't even hear Kevin's voice.
"I did this." He sobbed. "I did this." It became a chant as he threw his head back against his pillows.
"Jonathan, what do you mean?" Kevin let go of his old friend's arm, sitting stiff.
Jonathan shook and cried. He sat up as much as he could with his hand cuffed to the bed and his chest wound still fresh, beginning to yell at the corner of the room.
"No!" He whimpered. "No, you can't just say that!"
Kevin stood from his seat as a nurse, the same nurse who was talking with his father, came in and tried to calm Jonathan down from his hysteria.
"No- it was our fault! He shouldn't have died!" Jonathan cried.
Sheriff Keller held an arm across his son's chest and beckoned him away to no avail.
"Who, Johnny? Who shouldn't have died?"
Jonathan continued to ignore him, still spiralling and spasming as another nurse came in to help hold him against the mattress.
"Then how did we make it out, huh? What makes us so special?" Jonathan yelled- almost screamed at that same corner, staring as if someone was really standing there.
Kevin glanced over to see just the blank wall, and his hope sunk even further into his chest.
"Stop saying that!" Jonathan kept arguing. "Stop it!"
He was like a child trying to put his hands to his ears.
Kevin felt fear seep into his bones gripping them in cold, clammy, uncomfortable hands and making them shake in the freezing temperature.
He was terrified.
It was a common feeling for him. He'd lived most of his life in terror.
Terror that he would never see Jonathan King ever again.
But now it was a new kind of terror. Because now that Jonathan was back, he was terrified that his old friend would never be the same.
So he fell silent, allowing his father to drag him out of the room as he watched one of the nurses inject a needle into Jonathan's bloodstream, instantly making him relax into the pillows with a soft groan.
"God, Vincent... Vincent..." Were his final whispered words as he fell unconscious, allowing whatever drug they pumped him with to pull him deeper into his own mind.
Maybe it was for the better.
Maybe it was for the worse.
author's note
is this good? maybe idk 🤷🏻♀️😖
So first three chapters were just going scene by scene, I think we'll be getting into the actual storyline now And tbh it'll probably only loosely follow season one- because it's the only season of riverdale I can stand watching 😂😂
