CALAMITY
rho
17.
( drunk words, sober thoughts )
HOW DID EVERYTHING get to this point? There they sat, six teenagers with tears on their cheeks and cracks in their hearts, clinging on to each other like lifelines - like they too would suffer a fate similar to Jason's if they let go. The air was rife with tension, shock and heartache.
How did it get to this point?
Here they were, six teenagers; old enough to be wasted at some party out of town, young enough that they shouldn't be worrying about a murder of all things. But they weren't teenagers anymore, not really. Their innocence had died the moment one of their own was killed in cold blood, their life drained away along with his when they saw the foul man commit the crime.
No one should have to suffer that.
Yet here they were.
"W-we need to take this to the Sheriff," Jughead whispered, breaking the silence. And it was as if those words set a fire alight inside the others.
"I should call Cheryl," Betty said, fumbling for her phone. Thankfully Cheryl picked up almost immediately, and Betty explained their findings to the redhead on the other end of the line. Then she added, "You need to get out of the house, now!" Hopefully that was enough to make Cheryl see sense and act on what Betty had told her. That Clifford had killed Jason, and that she might be next.
They leapt off the couch, drying their tears, steadying their heartbeats, and ran out of Archie's garage at full speed, Betty with the hard drive in hand.
"Wait!" Betty yelled, "I have a better idea."
"What is it B?" Veronica asked urgently. "We need to hurry."
"The Sheriff isn't going to believe a group of kids - we need someone to give this to him who he'll trust."
"And who exactly did you have in mind?"
"My mom."
So it was Alice who stormed into Sheriff Keller's office, waving the hard drive at the man whilst declaring with a voice like steel. "You need to see this."
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In the next few hours the town went into uproar as police cars sped to Thornhill to arrest the murderer once and for all, and it looked like Jason was going to finally get justice.
Well, maybe if it had been any other town. But this was Riverdale after all, and no sooner had the policemen arrived at the Blossom residence did they find Clifford Blossom hanging from a rope in his own barn.
Very much dead, and very much unable to answer for his crimes.
Back in the police station, Jughead confronted Sheriff Keller, demanding that his father be released - but, like Delilah had feared, FP was going to stay locked up for a whole long list of reasons, starting with the fact he covered up a murder and hid valuable information from the police. When Sheriff Keller began actually listing the other things, Jughead blew up (not literally, but he looked close to it) roaring in his face about the unfairness of it all. The injustice. Delilah had to step in and pull the furious boy off the unamused Keller, putting her hands firmly on his shoulders to stop him from committing a murder of his own.
He shrugged her off and stormed out of the station, and Delilah knew better than to follow him.
Soon after that she arrived back home, where Betty, Polly and Alice were already waiting.
"Where's Hal?" Delilah asked the moment she entered the living room. If this was a family gathering they were missing an important member, or perhaps Alice was still pissed off at her husband.
Alice shrugged, and for a moment the mask fell, and Delilah saw the tiredness, the stress that was usually hidden by perfect pearly smiles and bouffant hair. For a second she saw the real Alice Cooper. But then the mask was back on, she had to put a brave face on for her children - that was her duty (or so she told herself constantly) she could not fail them now. Especially Delilah, who'd already been through too much.
"So, is this a family meeting or something?" Delilah asked hesitantly, the atmosphere tense enough for her to want to step outside. "Because I can totally go upstairs and leave you to it."
Alice shook her head slowly. "No, we're just..." she looked around hopelessly. "Waiting? Wondering? Living? Which is more than I can say for a lot of the people in this town," she shuddered, and a sadness took over her. "Come here," she said then, opening her arms, and it wasn't a command. Delilah could've walked away if she wanted to. But she stepped forwards, walking into Alice's embrace. Alice had finally come to terms with the fact that the bubble she had been living in just wasn't safe anymore. Riverdale wasn't safe anymore. And Alice was scared. Scared for her children, scared for her husband, scared for the girl in her arms who just needed to be loved.
Jason Blossom was dead. Murdered by his own father, who had killed himself on his property in the dead of night. Usually this would make Alice eager to start writing a fantastical, dramatic front page headline for her newspaper, and commencing tomorrow morning, she would write it. But for now she was content to be Delilah's guardian, keeping her safe from harm in the comfort of home. For now, that was all she could do.
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She stood on a hill overlooking a river, a nightgown wrapped around her like a death sentence, the wind howling - overcoming all other senses until all she heard was the murderous cry of the air around her, calling for her to die die die. She pressed her hands to her ears to silence the roars, but to no avail.
Another noise reached her then, the distant but heart wrenching cry for someone to save them. "Juggy!" she yelled, and this time she had no qualms about the water. She raced down the rocks, ignoring the scratches she got as she slipped down them. When she made it to the shore she took off running, not stopping even when the waves hollered at her, pulling her down into the dark dark depths below. "Juggy!" she called out again, fighting against the water, reaching out with her hands to grasp the drowning boy. She wouldn't fail him this time. She saw a figure floating on their back, upturned, no longer breathing. "No!" she reached for the body but she was too late. The river pushed her back, dragged her down, all the while the air screamed its haunting death song, cursing her as the waves choked her. Die Die Die. She screamed as she went under, the bubbles rising, the air leaving her lungs. Her arms stretched out towards the last glimpse of light, calling for someone, anyone, to save her. But alas no one could hear her, nobody except the wind. And its reply came loud and menacing, a warning that reached her even beneath the waves. DIE DIE DIE—
Delilah woke up gasping for air, clawing at her neck, crying silent tears that painted her cheeks with salt. Shaking, she peeled her sweat drenched duvet off of her and tentatively opened her bedroom door to see light spilling from the living room downstairs.
She crept across the landing and began to descent the stairs, but she wasn't careful enough, and her foot stepped on a squeaky floorboard.
"Alice, is that you?" Hal's called. Delilah sighed and decided to make herself known.
"No, it's just me." She walked into the living room and found Hal sunk low in the armchair, a blank expression on his face. His eyes lit up when he saw her.
"Ah, my favourite daughter!" She glanced at the beer bottle in his hand, then the half a dozen others littering the floor. She frowned, Hal wasn't usually one to drink so much. But then again, a lot of what she thought she knew had been turned on its head recently.
Delilah made her way over to the side of the sofa closest to Hal, stepping over an empty pizza box. If she hadn't known any better, she would've thought she'd stepped into Mr Jones' house.
"Want to tell me why you're so drunk?" She turned to face her uncle, but was met with a dazed smile. "Okay then," she reached for a bottle of beer on the coffee table. Hal frowned but didn't protest. "I need it more than you," she said, popping open the cap. "Besides," she added, lifting the bottle up to her lips. "You won't even remember this in the morning."
Though they spent the next few minutes in silence, Delilah found it odly comforting, just to sit, knowing Hal was there (though not really all there) that she had someone, that she wasn't alone. Despite her companion being her drunk uncle.
She finished the bottle with one last swig, moving to put it back on the table when he finally spoke.
"You look so much like her," he said at last, startling her. She grabbed the bottle with two hands as to stop it falling and crashing onto the table. She didn't have to guess who he was talking about. "I miss her you know, more than I can ever say," he sighed, and if she wasn't mistaken, tears formed in his eyes. "She was my best friend...they both were. I think about them every day," and then he started sobbing, loud, heaving and uncontrollable sobs that caused his shoulders to shake. Delilah say, frozen, unable to do anything but stare. Never had she seen Hal Cooper so vulnerable. It was all she could do not to run back upstairs and bury herself back in her bed, but there the dreams were waiting for her - and she could hardly leave Hal alone like this.
She tried to move forward and snap him out of the worked up state he'd gotten himself into, but he started talking again. "It's my fault," he cried and Delilah winced at the volume. The Coopers were supposedly all heavy sleepers, but she feared any one of them would come rushing down if Hal continued. The noise broke Delilah's heart, and she leaned forwards to try and shake him.
"Uncle Hal, please-"
"Don't call me that!" he yelled and Delilah recoiled. "He was my friend! He was my friend! I loved her, and it's my fault! It'smyfaultit'smyfaultit's-" at a loss of what else to do, Delilah slapped him. He immediately sobered up, becoming a different man entirely. He looked at her - right at her - and her spine crawled. "Olivia?" She froze at the sound of her mother's name spoken through trembling lips. He kept looking at her, kept staring right at her. "I'm so sorry Olivia, I never meant it, I never meant any of it. He was my friend. I loved Peter. I loved you." The room was silent but Delilah could've sworn her heartbeat echoed thunder.
Then, a voice shattered the eerie stillness. "Delilah? What on earth is going on?" Delilah whirled round to see Alice standing against the doorframe, a weariness upon her face that hasn't disappeared from earlier. It seemed sleeping hasn't helped her, either. When she noticed her intoxicated husband and the mess in her lounge she let out a gasp. "Hal? What the heck happened?" She asked her husband but he was clearly too out of it to reply, so Delilah did her best to explain.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came downstairs and found him here. I swear I have no idea how he got like this." Alice walked over to Hal, whose eyes were closing as he began to fade in and out of conciousness.
"You foolish, foolish man," Alice muttered, moving to pick up the empty bottles. Delilah moved to help her clear up the mess. "You should go to bed," Alice said, but Delilah continued to tidy up, and Alice made no further attempts to dissuade her. When the living room was eventually cleared Delilah finally started to make her way back upstairs. Alice stopped her before she exited the room. "I think it's best if you pretend this never happened. Don't mention it to the girls, please?" Delilah nodded and Alice sighed, an invisible weight lifted off her shoulders. "You're such a good girl, Del, I'm so sorry..." she trailed off, as if forgetting the thought. "Anything that Hal said-"
"He's drunk, he didn't know what he was talking about," Delilah said, more to assure herself than Alice, who nodded along anyway.
"Yes, yes, I doubt he'll remember it in the morning." She looked upon on her sleeping husband sadly, then back to Delilah. "Goodnight, Delilah," she smiled tiredly, and Delilah took that as her cue to leave.
"Sweet dreams," Alice called up when Delilah was halfway up the stairs. But as she crawled into bed, her mind whirring with the events of the past twenty four hours, Deliah's dreams were anything but sweet.
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N O T E
wOW this chapter is A Mess™
I've planned out the last chapters already, and I'm confident in the ending I have prepared (though a lot of people might hate me👀).
as for what's going to happen in the next few chapters, well; we've yet to find out about that mysterious conversation with alice, and what was hal talking about???
don't be afraid to comment your thoughts and predictions, I'd like to hear your theories😊