Black mixed with crimson, matted hair lay stiff against her pale forehead, a result of lengthy exposure to the outdoors. She could've been sleeping from her straightened legs and arms resting on her abdomen, but then there was the cuts and bruises. Her slender 5' 3" body laid in a pool of blood, dirt was smeared across her body with a few twigs and thorns every so often. No steady ticking of a heartbeat, nor the rising and falling of her chest that would indicate breathing. By all standards of life,
Radlee Vanessa Jones was dead.
Shouts echoed through the woods, panic and worry seeped into the tone as they searched for the girl mere feet away. A few on motorcycle's pulled in the lot, cars and trucks full of people following suit, not having any clue as to what was going on, just that it was bad. Heavy boots came to a stop in front of the body, the forty-nine-year-old man falling to his knee's in despair. "Oh, Radlee." FP Jones's words were filled with pain as he looked at his niece, his mind flashing back and forth from a grinning fourteen-year-old who just fell in love for the first time and reality, a dead girl. Slipping his arms under her frail and lifeless body, FP carried Rule silently towards a crowd of awaiting people, tears falling down when a pair of heartbroken eyes adjusted to the scene.
"Angel!" The scream of anguish felt as if it could be heard for miles, a seemingly strong and unfazeable young man crumbling apart before everyone's eyes. Sweet Pea crossed the gap in the blink of an eye, tears rolling freely from his cheeks as he scooped her into his arms. "No, no, please. I love you, Angel. Please!" He couldn't explain it, perhaps it happened when he begged or when he pressed his warm salty lips against a pair of stone cold ones, but the slightest thud could be felt underneath the hand cupping Rule's neck.
"Oh, oh god- somebody start a car!" Toni Topaz sprung into action, her tiny body moving at an unfathomable speed as she started her car, Cheryl Blossom and Jughead Jones helping Sweet Pea inside. Jughead shuddered when the unconscious body of his cousin rested her feet in his lap, gingerly laying a hand on her bare feet, her shoes having been stripped of her body by a greedy female Ghoulie, toes painted a dark purple.
FP had never driven as messily as he did that night, not even when he participated in street racing, the thought of his almost dead niece in the back pushing him a little farther. He thought of the first time he'd let Rule drive his bike, and how her laugh bellowed out when Jughead had crashed, after making sure he was okay first. FP Jones glanced at his non-biological daughter and thought it should've been him.
Cheryl Blossom's eyes snapped up, fishing out her phone as a thought hit her, fingers moving at lightning speed over and over again until someone finally answered. "Hel-hello? Is this Dr. Annie Green?" The unbreakable redhead cracked during her sentence, Toni squeezing her hand was the only reassurance she had to continue talking when she heard a groggy yes from the other line, not caring as the clock in front of her flashed a green 2:34 AM. "This is Cheryl Blossom, I'm a friend a Rule Jones's? She's hurt, badly, and she always told me to call you if- Yes? Well, we're on our- okay, we're driving faster now." Cheryl Bombshell felt as if her world had just exploded.
Sweet Pea tuned out the conversation happening beside him, instead, he stroked the bruised face of the love of his life, whose head rested on his lap. He couldn't help but replay what happened the last time he saw Rule, how he'd broken the only girl he'd ever truly loved. The look in her eyes when she slammed open their bedroom door, a mixture of pure fire and torment. It was the kind of look that held so much emotion it drew you in, but this time, it had been forcing him out by his own doing. Walls that he'd so tediously broken down inside of Rule rebuilt themselves in front of his eyes, blocking Sweet Pea from the pain he'd caused. Sweet Pea found himself toying with the snake necklace around Rule's neck, pulling her further into his chest so he could place a kiss on her forehead. A weak smile appeared on his lips when he breathed in, the scent of lavender, Rule's scent, filling his nostrils with a mixture of vanilla from the Shampoo set he'd gotten her on a whim. Sweet Pea had lost the love of his life, and she was right in front of him.
Jughead Jones couldn't breathe. A cousin by genetics, a sister by emotions, was motionless in both his, Cheryl's, and Sweet Pea's lap. They'd been inseparable as children, walking everywhere they went with their pinky's intertwined. Rule and Jughead had even had matching beanies at one point, but that was before she bought him his crown one. In return, he got her a golden crown bracelet, the Queen and the Prince is what they called each other, cause being the Queen and King was creepy as hell for cousins. The Queen was dying, and the Prince was right along with her.
Toni Topaz was Rule's sister by everything but blood, although they had tried to do something about that once. All they gained, in the end, was a rather impressive scar across each of their right palms. They told each other when they were being a bitch, they provided ice cream and alcohol on a rough night, and they were the first person to talk to when something good happened. Rule was Toni's person, the first one to die her hair purple to match hers when people thought it looked weird in the sixth grade. Toni Topaz was losing her soulmate.
But everything changed when Sweet Pea placed Rule's body on a stretcher.