TONI POV:
I open the front door to Cheryl. "What's wrong?" I ask concerned. She never shows up unannounced unless something is wrong. "I um... I need you to drive me to the hospital." She says quietly. I nod. I quickly grab my keys, jacket and shoes. I throw my shoes and jacket on and we go to my truck. I quickly drive off as we head to the hospital. "Why didn't you just go yourself Cher?" I ask her. "Because I couldn't make myself go, but I knew coming to you was an easy thing for me to do." I nod. "That makes sense." I whisper. "Can I ask what triggered this?" I ask her. "My Father killed himself 2 years ago this week." She tells me. I nod. "Ok. You hate him though." I whisper. "I know but he was the reason Jason died and that's already a hard thing to deal with." She tells me. I nod. "That makes sense then." I say quietly. "I'm sorry." She whispers. "I didn't know what I was gonna do but I knew it wasn't going to be good." I nod. "Did you do anything physically to yourself?" I ask her. She doesn't say anything for a while probably contemplating what to say. "Cher, it's ok! I'm not mad nor will I judge." I tell her reaching over and taking her hand. I squeeze it gently. "Yeah, I did. I haven't kept any food down... on purpose." She whispers. I sigh. "Cher..." I whisper sadly as I rub my thumb against her hand. "I'm sorry." She whispers. "Don't be! There's nothing to be sorry about!" I tell her. "I feel like a burden." She says quietly. "You could never be a burden to me Cher, this sucks, for both of us! But it's not your fault, and I would tell you if this all became to much for me." I explain to her. "Even then I still would be by your side! Because I love you and I can't Imagine my life without you in it!" I tell her. "You're just saying that." She whispers, her voice shaking. "Cher, why would I lie about this?" I ask her. "To keep me alive." She tells me. "That's true, but I'm not Cheryl. I'd never lie to you about my love for you!" I tell her. "Really?" I nod. "Of course." I whisper.
I look at Cheryl as she signs the paperwork. She takes a deep breath as she hands me her phone, keys, wallet and just all of her personal items. "I'll be here tomorrow afternoon to see you." I tell her. She nods. I kiss her forehead. "I love you and this is gonna suck but it's gonna be ok!" I tell her. She nods. "I love you." I say again. "I love you." She whispers. "Can you make sure my car gets driven and still runs?" I nod. "Yeah! I'll keep it at my place!" I tell her. "And can you call-." I stop her. "Yes! Of course! I will talk to Betty and explain what's going on and why you won't be in." I tell her. "Cheryl, just focus on getting better, I will make sure everything is arranged." I explain. "Can you bring Pops tomorrow?" She asks quietly. I smile a little bit. "Anything for you Cher." I whisper. "Cheryl Blossom?" A nurse says quietly. "Here!" She whispers. "Come back here." He says. Cheryl looks at me for reassurance. I nod as she starts to walk in. I watch her go into the psychiatric ward and wait for her to be out of site. I wipe my tears.
I walk up to the counter at Pop's and sit down. I run my hands through my hair as I let out a big sigh. "You look like you've been through hell!" Veronica says putting a mug in front me and pouring some coffee. "Yeah." I whisper. I take a deep breath. "What happened?" She asks concerned. "I just got back from ah... from dropping Cheryl off at the hospital. Since the anniversary of Cliffords death is coming up she's been really, really depressed." I explain. Her eyes widen. "Oh my god!" I nod. "Ah! So I brought her to the hospital to get some help, hopefully she'll be ok." I explain. "How do you do this?" She asks quietly. "What do you mean?" I ask her. "You blindly take care of Cheryl like this! Are you ok?" She asks concerned. I look at her. "It's what you do when you love someone!" I tell her. "Yeah! But at what cost?" I take a deep breath. "I love her." I say quietly. "I can't- I won't leave her like this!" She nods. "You should probably go talk to a therapist yourself Toni, you're not going to be ok." She tells me. "Never hurts to see one anyways." She whispers. I look at her. "I can send you mine." I nod. "Thank you." She smiles. "Of course." She whispers. "Besides that what else is going on?" She asks quietly. "What? Nothing!" I tell her sitting up. "Toni!" I take a deep breath. "Serpents, the ghoulies have been getting further and further into Serpent territory. And we might lose the Wyrm." I explain. "Which is something I needed to talk to you about." I say quietly. "The Speakeasy downstairs, what's going on about that?" I ask her. "Not drawing in as much business as we'd like." She tells me. "Could I buy it off of you and make it into a new Wyrm if need be?" I ask her. "Yeah! Call me and we'll negotiate a deal!" I nod. "Thank you V!" I tell her.
I look at Cheryl as she walks out of her room and into the visiting room. She sees me and smiles a little bit. She comes over to me and hugs me. "How are you feeling?" I ask her. "They have me on some heavy meds right now, I kinda freaked out when I first got here and reality set in." She tells me as we sit down. I nod. "I'm sorry." I whisper. "How are you?" She asks quietly. "I've been better." I whisper. "Yesterday was pretty crazy, even before we came here!" I tell her. "Do I want to know?" I shake my head. "No! I don't think you're in the right headspace for that and they told me to keep conversation light." She nods. "Serpents?" She asks quietly. "Complete and utter shit show right now!" I tell her. "I'll tell you about it soon." She nods. "Any good news?" She asks quietly. "I might be buying the speakeasy downstairs at Pop's and turning it into the Wyrm." I tell her. "Why?" She asks quietly. I look at her. "That bad?" I nod. "Wouldn't hurt to move somewhere anyways! It'll be closer to my place, in a more central location! Be closer to you!" I say quietly. She nods. "That's true." I tell her.
90 days later
I look at Cheryl as she walks out of the psych ward. She smiles as she walks over to me and hugs me. "Let's head to Pops, I have something to show you." I tell her. We go to the car and get in. I pull out of the parking lot and we drive in the direction of Pops. "How do you feel?" I ask breaking the silence. "Not great still but I feel a lot better than I did before." I nod. "Do you think they pinpointed a diagnosis yet?" I ask her. "Bipolar." I nod. "That makes sense." I tell her. "Um... I understand if that is gonna be hard to deal with." She says quietly. "Given your past." She tells me. I nod. "It is." I tell her. "So if you want to leave me-." I stop her. "No! I'm not gonna leave you! That's stupid!" I explain. "I'm gonna stay!" I tell her.
I uncover Cheryl's eyes. "I am now the co owner of the new and improved Whyte Wyrm." I tell her. She looks around. "Co owner?" She asks confused. "Veronica has ownership still!" I explain. "Oh! Fair enough." I nod. "Still remodeling obviously but we'll be up and running by Christmas." I tell her.
I look at Cheryl as we eat our food. I noticed she's barely touched her food. "Cher. You're still not ok are you?" She shakes her head. "No, but I do feel a lot better than I did before I went in." She tells me. I nod. "That's fair." I whisper. "Can you stay over for a few days?" She asks quietly. "So I can get back to normal?" I nod.
I wake up when I feel the bed weight shift enough for me to notice. I roll over to see Cheryl sitting up on the side of her bed. "Cher, what's wrong?" I ask her. "I don't think I'm ok still." She tells me. I nod. "I could tell." I whisper. It has been a few days since she's come home and she isn't at all ok. It's like the progress she made was gone the moment she got in the car.nI know what she's thinking and I don't like it. "Cheryl, we can go back." I tell her. "I can't spend another night in that hell hole!" She tells me. "Intensive outpatient program." I say quietly. She turns around and looks at me. "It's like a psych ward but you go home at the end of the meeting. My mom went a few times to get help!" explain. "Not in a not working way, just her meds would stop working and she'd go back while they were being adjusted to keep her sane." I explain to her. "Wouldn't hurt babe!" I say sitting up. "I don't like this!" I nod. "I know Cher. This is unfortunately your life!" I say sadly. "Cheryl, I know you don't want to go back but if you're having thoughts... I can't let you sit here and have them." She shakes her head. "I'm ok!" She whispers. I take a deep breath. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom before I piss myself!" I say getting out of bed. "We can stay up and talk all you need when I get back." I tell her.
"Cher! I'm home!" I announce. Nothing. I walk into the bedroom assuming she's sleeping off the meds. She's not in here but there's an envelope on top of a box on the bed. My heart drops. "Cher..." I whisper. I slowly open the envelope knowing what it's going to say. It reads:
"Mon Cher Toni,
If you're reading this that means I've committed suicide. I'm sorry to do this to you, and I really did try but I just can't go on! I love you! You don't deserve to deal with this anymore and I don't want to become someone else's problem. I have left everything to you and Betty and I request I am cremated and put in Sweetwater with Jason. Left in the box is a few of my personal belongings along with a list of passwords and usernames to various things, and bank accounts. Everything else in the box I would like you to not give away or let people take. I love you more than anything in the world but I can't be this burden and I know you were never going to leave me. I also didn't have to heart to break things off with you so I figured I would just make things easier for everyone involved. I'm in the bathroom and if you don't want to see me like this I recommend just calling the police.
-Cheryl Marjorie Blossom"
I take a deep breath as I wipe my tears. I slowly walk to the bathroom and open the door. I walk over to the bathtub where she is, with her wrist slit open. I kneel down next to it and kiss her forehead. "I love you." I whisper.
I walk into my house, I put my jacket on the hanger, take my shoes off and sit down on the couch. I look at the box that Cheryl left me. She's been gone a week and I haven't opened it. I know what's going to be in there. At least a few things. There's a knock on the door. I get up and open the door to Veronica. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask her. She holds up a backing dish covered with aluminum foil. "I know this is not a tradition in either of our cultures! But in Judaism there's a thing called Sitting Shiva, and it's when people come to your house to deliver food and stuff so you're not alone while in mourning. I know that no one is going to do this, but I know after a funeral it's like you're left alone and it's like everyone moves on and especially with someone like Cheryl that's simply not the case. So I am delivering one of your favorite meals my mom ever made, Tortilla Espanola! Pop it in the microwave for about 2 minutes and it's like it's fresh out of the oven. Also a card with a gift card for Pops so you don't have to pay for it at least not every time." She explains to me. I hold back tears. "Thank you V." I whisper taking the dish. I look at her. "Thank you." I say again. "Um... tomorrow I'm gonna start cleaning stuff and organizing with Betty and the day after we're letting people close to her come by and pick stuff out if they want anything! Um... you're free to come by then." I tell her. She nods understanding I probably want to be alone right now. "Ok! When is a good time?" She asks quietly. "Ah! I'll text you and tell you."
I look at the donate, throw away and keep boxes. "How is it possible we're going to pack someone's entire life into 3 boxes?" I ask looking at Betty. "Well, can pick the stuff we want to keep and go from there." She says quietly. "We shouldn't be doing this!" I whisper. She wipes her tears. "Well we have to." She says her voice breaking. "We were supposed to get married and grow old together." I whisper. "I was planning on proposing before everything went down!" I say quietly. "This isn't the first time she's been like this." I look at her. "Cheryl tried to kill herself in the river when we were in high school after her dad died and was discovered to have killed Jason." She tells me. "I thought she was ok." She whispers. I shake my head. "You guys kinda abandoned her and only used her when needed in high school." I tell her honestly. She nods. "I know." She tells me. "I feel horrible about that." She whispers. "You blackmailed her so she would help FP! God! Why did she ever talk to you guys?" I ask her. "I don't know." She tells me.