Triplets

Chapter 7- In A Lonely Place

What makes a place feel like home? Is it warmth and familiarity? Some idealized, make-believe version of the American Dream? Is it love and acceptance? Or is it simple safety? Or it's none of those things. And it's a place where the captain of the football team is murdered. Or maybe it's just a forgotten closet under a well-trod staircase,where it's just you and the mice and the spiders,like an extra in a Wes Craven movie.

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Cheryl and I walked through the halls as one of her minions ran up, "Cheryl. Cheryl!" I raised an eyebrow as she stopped and told us about how she heard about Polly escaped from the loony bin the same night Jason's car was set aflame. Cheryl and I looked at each other. "Go on." I told her and she smiled before leaving my side.

I smiled and then made my way to my locker. My phone buzzed and I grabbed it raising an eyebrow at the words 'Private Caller'. I slid to accept and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?" Then a voice called back, "Hope?" I gasped as I looked around before mumbling, "Polly?" I then rushed out the door as she says "Yes! It's me. I need your help."

I nodded and said "What's up P?" Polly hesitated before she said "Where are you right now?" I just say "School. Where are you?" She sighed. "I need you to come over. I'm at my house in the attic the spare key is where it always has been." I nodded and said "Alright. I'm on my way." I cleared my throat and turned walking off campus.

I walked all the way to the Cooper's and snuck in. I made my way in to the attic and she smiled widely, before she pulled me into a hug tightly. "Hope. I missed you so much" she mumbled and I smiled. "I missed you to Polly." Polly took my hands and sighed, "I'm so sorry Hope. I know how much you loved Jason." I nodded and gulped.

"I'm just glad he isn't gone entirely," I told her and she smiled. "My baby niece or nephew who I'll spoil rotten." I smiled back and we sat down as I told her what has happened so far, and what they think Polly did.

"Polly? It's okay. I'm alone. Mom and Dad aren't here." We heard and I stayed back where we were as Polly walked forward. "Shh. Betty, you have to help me. Please." Polly lead Betty back to where I was and Betty raised an eyebrow, "Hope?" she asked and I nodded, "How did you get up here without anyone seeing you?" Betty asked Polly, who said "I wrote the book on getting in and out of this house. And Dad still hasn't fixed the cellar door."

Betty then asked. "Polly, everyone's worried sick, why did you leave the home? You could have really hurt yourself, and what does Hope have to do with any of this?"

"I knew about everything Betty," I told her and she looked at me. Polly and I smiled at each other. "The engagement, running away, the baby" Betty nodded, and Polly took over, "I couldn't just stay there, waiting for someone who was never gonna show. Jason and I, we had a plan to go to this farm, upstate, and raise the baby. It's where I still want to go, but I don't have any money, I don't have anything."

"Why don't you just stay here?" Betty asked, "Mom and Dad want me to give the baby up for adoption, they made that very clear. And that's not what I want." Polly told her. "Well, this is their grandchild, Polly. Everyone knows you're pregnant now. There's no more stigma. You don't know what they'll do. And I won't have my baby raised in a home that doesn't want it." Betty told her,

"Polly..." Betty started and the door downstairs opened. "Give me a few days. I'll find you someplace safe, here in Riverdale. Please, Polly, I cannot lose you again." Betty told her and then turned to me, before turning and went downstairs.

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Cheryl and I walked into Pop's to warn Polly. "Cheryl..." Polly called out as we walked in. Cheryl was shocked to see Polly and even more awestruck as she looks at Polly's baby bump.

"I'm so sorry about Jason, I know how much you loved him. And he always talked about how much he loved you." Polly said before smiling at me, "How he loved both of you." Betty then turned and asked, "Cheryl, where are your mom and dad?" Cheryl and I shared a look as she said "You have to leave. Now. My parents, I don't think they want to help you."

Polly then asked, "What are you talking about?" I then called out "They want you out of the picture, Polly. It's not safe for you with them. It's not safe for JayJay's baby." Polly then turned to Betty and Veronica, "Where am I supposed to go? I can't go back to the attic." Veronica then said, "No. You don't have to, Polly. And don't worry about my mom, Betty, she'll want to help."

Later that night...

Jughead and I walked down the street in the middle of the night. "What do you think is going to happen now?" I asked and Jughead turned to me. "Polly is pregnant with Jason's baby. My parents only want the baby, they don't care what Cheryl and I want for her and the baby. Just... I don't know I feel like something big is going to happen."

Jughead placed a hand on my back. "Jason always talked about their future together, and how Cheryl and I will be there somehow, but I.. I don't know. I'm getting weird vibes at home." I told him and Jughead just let me rant and rave.

"What's wrong at home?" he asked and I sighed, "I don't know." I lied, "I just.. I'm getting these weird vibes anytime my father smiles at me, or when my mother sulks and glares at anything." Jughead nodded. I walked him to Archie's before I made my way back home.

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Hope. A word so close to home, and as tricky. As much as we wanted Jason's killer caught, and the town, our home, to feel safe again, with every day that passed, our hopes dimmed more and more. There's that old, cliched saying,"It's darkest before the dawn." But sometimes... There's just darkness.