❝I don't know what you went through, and I know we aren't going to go back to where we were for a long time, maybe even ever. But if I knew that you were about to go through the worst time of your life, I wouldn't have left. I swear.❞
Catherine Bell...
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↳ Saturday
Jan. 14th↲
Welcome to Riverdale!
The town with PEP!
As soon as I passed the familiar sign, I let out a breath of relief.
I was careful driving on the winding road leading back to Riverdale. It felt strange coming back, as if I had been gone for years. In reality, it had only been about a month. I was blessed to have such a long winter break from the amount of snow this winter.
I had finally made it back and didn't have to worry about anyone being hurt anymore. I excitedly wondered about seeing my friends and my parents again, though seeing Jughead worried me. I needed to apologize repeatedly to make up for what I'd done, but even that probably wouldn't help my case.
I had gotten his texts at the beginning of the month, the first one telling me about how no one was hurt, then texts from every other day where he would ask me what happened, what went wrong, and if I was alive. I couldn't reply because there was barely any reception.
Upon leaving Riverdale, I found myself in a small town called Greendale just across Sweet-Water River. I ended up sleeping in my car since I was in a familiar safe town, and I didn't want to get a hotel quite yet.
After spending that first night in Greendale, I ended up driving down to a small beach town called Shellville.
I wandered around the town for the first week. No one was at the beach considering the nippy air. Astoundingly, there was barely any snow compared to Riverdale.
I found myself at another diner, the Shrimp Shack, not as good as Pop's of course, but it was my new hangout. I ate the food regularly until I found my money slipping away from me. After talking to the owner, Kyle, about my wild home life back in Riverdale, he gave me the opportunity to waitress for the shack. He knew it would only be temporary, but said: "I don't want to be the reason a sweet gal like you ends up on a wanted poster."
I loved working there. It allowed me to meet new acquaintances, customers, and finding that people aren't out to get me.
As fun as it was, it got lonely easily. I spent Christmas watching televised holiday movies on repeat in my room and spent New Years watching the ball drop alone. New Years happened only five days ago, and that night I realized I had nobody to kiss.
I missed Jughead, and regretted leaving Riverdale so abruptly instead of facing my problems head on.
I packed my bags, quit my job, bid my boss a farewell and a thank you hug before going homeward bound.
