𝐀𝐌𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐀, 𝐣𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬. [1]

09

CHAPTER NINE
IN A LONELY PLACE
PART TWO
+
THE OUTSIDERS
TRIGGER WARNING: MILD VIOLENCE
∘∘∘

LAYING IN BED, LISTENING TO MUSIC, imagining possible outcomes of decisions she might have made differently. Sloane does this a lot.

She remembers school today. Jughead was walked out like some criminal. She remembers staring at him with astonishment and worry, despite her anger from before. The way he looked at her with fear. In that moment, she realized Keller thought Jughead killed Jason.

But Jughead didn't kill Jason.

Call it intuition or common sense, Sloane knows Jughead would never hurt someone. He's too good. He's also too interested in other things to bother killing someone. Like writing, taking care of his friends and his dad, and actually investigating Jason's murder. It doesn't add up.

She doesn't bother with pants before heading downstairs to raid the fridge. Her feet patter on the tile floor of the kitchen. The refrigerator is easily a foot taller than she is but Sloane manages to reach the top shelf. She finds some pizza, Coke, and a chocolate muffin.

She holds the pizza in her mouth, Coke and phone in one hand, and the muffin in another. She shuts the fridge door with her foot and walks back upstairs.

∘

She dreams that she's in the woods by Sweet Water River. She's wearing the green dress. Walking up the hill, she turns around to wave to Jason one last time from across the river. A voice echoes in her head: You're going to stop them, or there will be consequences.

He's wearing all white. He looks healthy and happy. Relieved. She takes a deep breath. Everything's fine. I'm gonna see him again.

Just then, right before her eyes, someone appears behind Jason. Sloane's too far away to see his face and she doesn't recognize his build, but she does recognize his jacket. A Serpent.

Sloane screams, "Jason!" Her cousin is too slow to react before the Serpent throws him to the ground, delivering a hard punch to the redhead's skull. Jason goes limp and Sloane hasn't stopped screaming. The Serpent slides a bag over Jason's head before he searches the trees near her, trying to find the source of the screams.

Sloane darts behind a tree, and covers her mouth with her hand. Tears streak her face and her breathing is heavy and panicked. It takes every piece of her will to stop herself from swimming across the river and beating the shit out of the Serpent because, realistically, there is no way she would win that fight, even if she survived the current of the river that was picking up with every second she spent behind that tree.

She dares a peek around the trunk and sees that the biker has dragged Jason away, as they're both gone. Sloane breaks into a run, climbing the hill with as much speed as she can muster. She's wearing the wrong shoes for such an activity, a pair of black Jimmy Choo's. Sloane stops and slips them off, opting to carry them as she runs in the direction she believes her car to be.

She shrieks and skids to a stop, falling back on the ground as another Serpent appears before her, this one with a blonde beard and blue eyes, his hair hidden under a beanie.

Sloane can feel her heart in her throat as he advances, choked sobs escaping her. "Please . . . " She whispers, crawling back to the best of her ability.

The Serpent grins. "Sorry, sweetheart. You did this to yourself." And with that, he's grabbed her leg and dragged her to him. When she tries to scramble away, his fingers catch her dress and yank, ripping it. His gloved hands close around her throat and Sloane tries to pry his fingers off but to no avail.