You Got Me || Jughead Jones

Tales from the Darkside // Part Two

I blinked a few times. "I um, I didn't mean-"

Daddy's hand slammed on the table, making me jump. "He was in here? How could you hide that from us?"

I shook my head quickly. "I don't even know if it was him! I assumed with the spray paint and the pictures that he-"

"There were pictures?" Mom repeated.

"I was scared okay?" I yelled, making the room go silent. I looked up at them. "I was absolutely terrified. I was walking home from Pop's and one of his friends tripped me, hence the wrist. He gave me an envelope of pictures."

I reached down into my bag and pulled it out, sliding it over to Mom. She looked at me, concerned, before pulling the pictures out. She shuffled them around as Daddy looked over her shoulders. I stretched my arm across the table to flip a photo over, revealing the red letters. Mom followed my action as they rearranged the photos to spell out the message.

"My God, Savanna," Mom whispered, her eyes not leaving the letters.

My arms crossed as I wrapped them around myself tightly, curling in. Veronica turned the pictures to face her, jaw dropping at the sight. She turned towards me as I quickly looked away, ashamed of my secrets.

"Savanna, this is a threat on your life!" Daddy persisted, "You have to take this seriously!"

I bit my lip and nodded as I looked down at my lap. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes as I pulled my legs up on the chair, burying my face into my knees. You don't know how bad I wanted to tell you but he always wins. Always.

I heard Ronnie sigh, "Stop yelling for a second and listen. Vanna and I ran into him a few days ago."

"Is there anything else you wanna tell us about?" Daddy raged, his hand clenching into a fist.

Veronica glared at him. "We didn't mean to. It was a quick run in and then we were gone. We haven't seen him since."

Daddy sighed angrily. "I'll get this handled accordingly. But mijas, if there's even a little sign of something, anything, you need to tell us immediately. Understood?" Ronnie and I nodded in response. My father took a sip of his drink before looking at me. "Princesa, I don't want you worrying about this. You're part of the family now. Don't ever think you're not."

I gave him a small smile as he and Mom excused themselves and headed into the study. Veronica sat back down beside me, turning to face me fully.

She smiled at me sadly as she rubbed my shoulder lightly. "Want me to get Jug?"

I didn't say anything but nodded, making her get up to grab her phone. She returned soon, a mug of hot chocolate in her hand.

"Here." She lifted it towards me. "I added some peppermint, just how you like it."

I took it from her hands. "Thanks, Ron."

"Vanna, it's going to be okay. Your parents didn't deserve you. They still don't. I'm not saying this just because you're my sister but because it's true." Veronica leaned forward on her elbows. "You're a light to so many people, me included. We're going to make sure you don't have to go back to him."

The hot chocolate burned my tongue as I took a sip. "I don't wanna leave, Ron. He's so mean and I can't....I just can't go back to that." My voice cracked as tears filled my eyes. "I love you guys too much to leave."

Ronnie wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I buried my head into her shoulder, letting out a deep breath as I relaxed into her embrace.

I knew this wasn't the end of Paul's attempts to get me back. This was just the beginning. He wouldn't go down easily. He never did.

"You know, I remember meeting you for the first time like it was yesterday," Veronica mumbled into my hair. "You were so shy and reserved."