'I love you, is that not real enough'
I don't own any of Riverdale, only my characters
"What are you doing here?" I said my voice tight and restricted, "I warned you Lillian" he said his voice calm yet startling. He took a step towards me "I told you not to see him" he continued taking another step closer to me, "I did it for Anna" I quickly spoke "you could've said no" he tsked his frame moving closer towards me. My heart thumped in my chest, my veins turning to ice from fear. "Vincent... I'm sorry" I said.
Then suddenly he grabbed me and pushed me backwards, my footing got caught and I slammed into the wall a large thump erupting from the meeting. "You should really learn to listen Lillian, you've been disobedient for the past few months. And in all honestly we need to fix that" tears pooled in my eyes as he shut the door behind him, I knew what he was going to do I could already feel the pain spreading over my body. "Please, please don't" I whimpered backing away from him only to hit the wall, he merely shook his head and gripped his belt undoing it and taking it off. I closed my eyes shielding my face with my arms small whimpers leaving me.
I heard the snap of the belt before I felt it, the way it slapped against my skin sounded like it burned and it truthfully did. My flesh whacked with the pain of leather against skin. But he didn't stop, one, two, three, four times he continued to hit me with the belt. The buckle was loud, my cries silent. I didn't want to wake Anna.
Then it stopped, pain radiating up my arms and over my body. I ducked my head out of its protection, Vincent stood above me wrapping his belt back around him. Tears had fallen out of my eyes, he shook his head once again before bending down and gripping my upper arms. I whimpered at the hard grip he had, squeezing my arms with every bit of strength he had. I could feel the bruises forming.
SMACK
I didn't feel pain, I didn't feel anything as I was dropped to the floor. The door was wide open and someone else was inside. I opened my closed eyes and saw Vincent pressed against the wall, my eyes widened at my rescuer. His blood hair uncannily similar to Vincent, the same strong build and height matching. He barked at his father his hands cutting deeper into Vincent's neck making his face turn bright red. I wanted him to stop, tell him to stop, but all I could feel was the searing pain over my body and the bubbling anger inside me. I attempted to speak but all that came from my throat was a croak followed by a loud sob, I ducked my head down and let my tears flow free. It then became quiet, an eery silence followed by a door closing with a loud bang it seemed to shake the house.
Arms wrapped around me gently, I moved my head to see who it was seeing Marcus hovering above me his face red. "Are you okay mom?" He asked his voice straining to sound soft, I nodded wiping under my eyes getting rid of the stray tears. "Why was he here mom?" He asked, "he saw me with FP" I whispered Marcus's eyes went wide "he knows?" Marcus panicked. "He only knows a part of the story, he doesn't know all of it" I sighed rubbing my arms painfully, "Vincent told me that if I saw FP, he'd do something. Something bad, this was only the beginning" I whimpered. Marcus pulled me in embracing me, his hand reaching up and rubbing my back gently, "it's going to be okay mom, we'll get FP and the serpents to help okay" he said still holding me. I pulled back "I don't want them involved, the serpents can't know about this. They'll tear him limb from limb" I said a spark of fear spreading throughout me, "mom he needs to pay for everything's he's done, not just what's he's done to you. But to me, Anna.....Lena"
My eyes met his when he spoke Lena's name, "what he did to her is unforgivable you know that" Marcus started "he needs to pay for he what he did, she almost died mom. Because he didn't want her to be happy".
"I know Marcus, but just let me think about okay"
He sighed before straightening up, he ran a hand through his hair. He turned around and grasped the door handle whipping it open "where are you going?" I asked, "I'm going for a drive" he answered before leaving.
Cheryl's P.O.V
Guilt is one word for how I'm feeling, I've been feeling guilty to much lately. With Jason, my parents, Marcus's downfall and Anna's secret being revealed. I shouldn't have gone to that party, and for what? To show Veronica that she can't beat me, to prove to Marcus that I'd be fine without him. To show everyone that I'm fine. But who am I kidding, I'm not fine, I've hurt so many people. Too many people.
I had no idea about Anna, she's never once given me a vibe that she wanted to do that to herself. It was something no one would think Anna would be capable of doing, let alone be thinking of it. Anna Underwood, the most popular girl in Riverdale high was finally shown off in the wrong way, Chuck shouldn't have said that no matter what she did to him. You don't tell the whole year about that sort of stuff, it would feel crushing, almost isolating. I hope someone is with her right now, making sure she's alright, I've called her a few times even went to pops to see if she was there. But she wasn't, Anna just disappeared.
Tap
Tap
Tap
My brows furrowed and I looked up to my window seeing a blonde head knocking on the window, slowly I stood and moved to the window. I opened it showing a snow covered Marcus, I wrapped my arms around me feeling the cold air seep in. We were quiet for a few moments, a deafening silence with only the wide blowing past us. I gestured for him to come in and he slowly stepped inside, I closed the window after him and turned to look at him. His back faced me, his height intimating even from here.
"Marcus why are you here?" I asked shifting from one foot to another, he didn't answer, he kept quiet not facing me. I took a step forward and reached out to him grasping his shoulder and slowly turning him around. "Marcus" I whispered my hand still on his shoulder, then I saw the tears building in his eyes. His nose red, a look of exhaustion and defeat in his eyes. My other hand outstretched and cupped his cheek, he turned his head and took a step back away from my touch.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Chuck" I said quietly looking at me feet ashamed, "I should've left you all alone, but I was just to stubborn to leave you alone" I continued my tone bitter. "If you wanna hate me that's fine, I hate myself right now" I said, I closed my eyes and waited for his words his sharp tongue spitting harsh words at me all aimed to hurt. But no words came from him, I heard shuffling and I was then engulfed in a embrace. I let my eyes open and my arms encircled around him burying my face in his neck. I felt tear drops fall onto my shoulder, his grip tightening on my body. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it felt like eternity. Usually it would be him holding me and letting me cry on his shoulder, I like it this way, I like helping him how he used to help me. I've only seen him like this once, and that was when Lena left, he was destroyed by it and the fact that she didn't say goodbye was just another blow to him. I didn't see him for weeks after she left, but one day he popped back up smiling and happy. But I know better, I knew what he was going through. I could see the signs the second we started dating, I knew his flaw and I knew he'd have it for the rest of his life even if he had a good doctor.
I felt him twitch, I slowly pulled away my hands reaching up and cupping his cheeks. My lip jerked upwards in an attempted smile but that didn't make any difference, his eyes were still bloodshot and as much as he tried to hide it, his bottom lip was trembling. "It's okay, it's going to be okay" I whispered pulling him back, only this time we didn't stay in embrace for long. "Tonight was a complete disaster" he said quietly after a few moments pulling away from me "first with Anna, the with my mom".
"What happened with your mom?"
He explained everything, how things were with his dad, what his dad did to him, to Anna....to Lena. I always thought that my family was the most dysfunctional but it was Marcus's. What I always thought was the perfect family was being revealed in front of my very eyes, the insider of the Underwood family peeling away the wallpaper and revealing everything about them. It terrified me knowing that the three siblings all lived in the same house with their father, what he did to not only them but Lillian makes my blood boil. I didn't know Lena very well, I didn't talk to her much either but I never found a reason to not like her, she may have been very intimating but that was how all the Underwoods were, intimating.
My hand was cupped over my mouth, tears pooling in my eyes my head shaking in disbelief. We were both sitting on my bed, my free hand grasping Marcus's tightly. I blinked away the tears my eyes connecting with his mix-matched ones, "how could he do that, to his own daughter" I whimpered swallowing the lump in my throat. "He's insane" I whispered wiping my tears away, "who else knows about this?" I asked my grip tightening his hand "just me and my mom" he said looking down at our conjoined hands. "What about the doctors?" I asked "he told them she fell down the stairs, even though he pushed her" he said quietly, "Marcus-I am so sorry" I replied. "It's okay, Lena wasn't the same after it happened though. Then everything just came crushing down on her, school, mom, dad...me" he trailed off sending a hand through his hair, I nodded in reply.
"I don't like talking about what he did, but I think it's for the best that I don't keep it all bottled up"
"You should talk to someone, preferably the police so they can arrest your dad for-"
"Please don't say it out loud, I can barely say it myself. And they can't, Lena wouldn't make a statement, no matter how far away she is she'll always be afraid of him...." He started before sniffing "we'll always be afraid of him" he let out a small sob a stray tear trimming his cheek. I leaned forward and embraced him once more, I stroked his hair softly. "You're not going to be afraid of him forever, one day he'll be gone from your mind and you won't be scared" I whispered, I moved my head and kissed his cheek delicately. I felt his hands run up and down my back softly, "can I stay the night" he hummed. I pulled away and nodded giving him a small smile, he kicked off his shoes and laid down. I moved next to him and cuddled into his side, his arm draping around me. "I'll help you through you Marcus, I promise. You're not going to be alone in this" I whispered closing my eyes, he didn't reply only tighten his grip on me. I reached over and turned off the light before closing my eyes and breathing him in.