Bang…
It's crazy how quickly a life can be changed in a matter of seconds. Archie Andrews, sat anxiously in the waiting room of Riverdale's local hospital. He was sleep deprived and knowing that his father was battling between life and death didn't make the wait even better. They arrived 3 hours ago and each second that passed meant another second his father might already be on his way…
Deciding to take his mind off the recent tragedy Archie started to re think what went wrong.
FlashBack:
After getting a serious message off his father he silently got changed and left his girlfriend's , Veronica Lodge, home. Once he arrived at Pops Chock Diner his father had already ordered his usual and was getting ready. "I'm gonna wash my hands" said Archie moments before his life changed.
He smiled, a proper smile, and generally felt happy and enjoyed his life. After a moment or two he heard all this noise and decided to investigate. Outside, in the diner Pops was in the middle of being 'robbed'. Fred Andrews, Archie's father, tried to tell him to keep his distance. Not listening Archie sped into action and had to witness the eventful 'fate' of his father. Fred was shot and not before Archie had a gun up to his head and stole Fred's wallet.
An ambulance never came so it was a shock how Archie managed to get his father to the hospital without totally wrecking the truck.
End of FlashBack:
"Arch…" a soft, gentle voice brought Archie out of his trance and immediately he recognised the voice. It belonged to Veronica, he stood up and just hugged her. Tears formed in her eyes as she saw the vulnerability in his features. Betty and JugHead arrived moments later and just stared, shocked as to how messed up he was. They all heard muffled sobs and knew that Archie just broke down. JugHead and Betty both joined in and after a couple of minutes Archie managed to control his breathing and they all sat down. Betty, Veronica and JugHead all joined into small conversations whilst Archie looked forward and was silent.
"Arch, what happened?" Betty asked gently,
"Yeah what happened Archikins?" Veronica asked, JugHead sat there and just understood why he was acting the way he was.
"Archie, you don't have to tell us. Just say it when you're ready." JugHead added, he nodded in reply and took a deep breath.
In a shaky tone Archie said "So after staying the night round V's my father messaged me and asked me to meet him at Pop's for breakfast. After I arrived I went to go wash my hands and suddenly heard all this racket outside and that's when it happened..." Everyone stared at him praying that he would continue, after a minute of silence he took another deep breath and continued, "I walked outside and saw this masked man standing on the counter pointing a gun to Pop's head, my dad was sitting in one of the booths and was trying to tell me not to get involved. I didn't fucking listen and now look where we ended up!" Tears started sliding down his face and he didn't let anyone comfort him. Instead he just sat there, balling his eyes out and no one could understand nor help him. He was alone and that was how it was gonna be. Sheriff Keller walked into the hospital and just saw how this 'incident' had ruined a life and shattered another.
JugHead noticed Sheriff Keller and explained the current situation. After a while he finally calmed down and went to go speak about the shooting.
JugHead joined them and they went into the cafeteria,
"Alright, I know that this is a crucial time but I need your statement in order to get the justice nessacery." Keller tried to get Archie to open up but instead he kept shutting down, going further away from his help needed. He was slowly shutting down and no one could help him.
Everyone knew he would do this, especially Jug and Betty, so they had to act fast before they lost him forever. 20 minutes later, Betty's, Veronica's and JugHead's parents all arrived.
Failing to give any information to Sheriff Keller, Archie and Jug were both sitting in the waiting room to get information from his fathers condition.
"Archie, hunny. Have you called your mother yet? She would like to know." Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mother, reasoned. Yet again he stayed quiet and never lifted his gaze from his trainers.
"Hermione, let me try." FP, JugHeads father, asked. She nodded and backed away. Instead of trying to talk to him, FP pulled him into a hug and they stayed like that for a while.
"He's crying…" FP said as if he was stating the obvious, which he was, everyone stared at him.
"I'm going to go call his mother," Alice Cooper, Betty's mum, said. The others nodded and just prayed that she could help.
10 minutes later,
"Well?" Hermione asked Alice when she returned.
"Her cell must be off, it went straight to voice mail," Alice explained,"how is he?" She asked, motioning to Archie who just sat there. Emotionless.
"He's stopped talking, he's blocking out the world." Hermione said.
"He looks exhausted, he needs sleep." Alice mentioned
"We try to talk to him but instead he just sits there and does nothing." Hermione explained.
"Get FP to take him home, get Jug to go with him. He needs them in his life and they are most likely going to be able to speak to him." Alice said.
"Alright, let me go speak to him." Hermione said as she walked away.
"FP," she whispered, "can you please take Archie home with JugHead in order to get him cleaned up."
"Of course, we will try our best." FP agreed.
They both walked over to Archie and FP crouched down and said,
"Arch, we're gonna take you home to get you cleaned up. Okay?"
"no, i'm not leaving…" Archie mumbled. JugHead smiled instantly and brought him closer to his chest. He could feel Archie's trembling breath against his chest, he was rubbing Archie's back and was whispering comforting things into his ear.
"Please, you need sleep. That's better then staying here and not doing anything." FP reasoned.
As Archie was about to answer he yawned and that made everyone laugh. He leaned into Jug more and his eye lids started to droop. FP gently shook him awake and took him home.
At Archie's,
"Hey, get some sleep."
"no…"
"Why not?"
"i can't rest knowing that my fathers shooter is out there and might come back…"
"I'm here, you're safe."
And with that Archie plopped himself onto the couch and let sleep take over. FP sighed and finally managed to get a good look at Archie. Archie's eyes had bags underneath them, they were so big that you could fit 2 full sized cartons of milk in there! His skin was a pale almost completely a white shade and his clothes were covered in crimson red. His breathing was dangerously shaky as he couldn't get the proper amount of oxygen he needed. It eventually calmed and FP managed to smile, this teen was in desperate need of help but he was still going.
The silence in the air was long overdue but they still couldn't get it for long enough because Alice Cooper called.
"Alice, can't you text me? He's finally asleep!" FP whispered angrily, thankfully it didn't wake Archie.
"Sorry, his mother just called asking why we called her and she's on her way. Her phone was off earlier."
"Where is she now then?"
"She's in Albuquerque, New Mexico and her flight isn't until tomorrow morning."
"Okay, call when you have an update on Fred please."
"Will do," They ended the call and FP frantically looked over at Archie who still laid there asleep. FP walked upstairs quietly and found some new clothes for both Archie and Fred.
When he arrived back in the living room he noticed Archie shaking, he thought 'is he cold?' So he grabbed a blanket and covered Archie. Once he thought Archie was fine that's when he used his brain, Archie was having a nightmare about what happened, instantly he shook Archie awake. Archie's breathing increased and when he woke up the terror on his face was enough to make people scared about him!
Archie was on the brink of tears and so FP comforted him until he was fine. "Archie, you want something to eat?" FP asked the now calm Archie, all he did was shake his head. "You need to eat buddy, everyone wants you to." He tried to get Archie to eat for a while but each time Archie was getting further away from help.
"Wanna go back to the hospital?" And finally a small grin appeared on Archie's face and for that moment he was happy.
Back at the hospital,
"How do you think Archie's doing?" Betty asked no one in particular.
"I think he's a strong guy and just needs to hear his dad's okay for him to be fine." Veronica answered. The pair smiled at each other before Archie walked through the double doors looking better then he did earlier.
Veronica got up, followed by Betty and JugHead, and hugged him.
"Hey, are you feeling better?" Veronica whispered to him whilst everyone else was talking to FP.
"I'm better then I was…" Archie responded in the same tone. A light, gentle smile formed on both of their lips and for once they saw the real Archie not the scared Archie.
"Archie, we have an update. We tried to call you both but it went straight to voice mail." Hermione said gently, both Archie and FP shared a scared look.
"Is it good or bad?" FP asked for Archie, he looked paralysed with fear.
"It's a bit of both" Alice said, she generally felt for Archie.
"Let's start with the bad news then," FP answered again, each time looking at Archie praying that he wouldn't shut down.
"He's in a coma, and the good news is, is that he has a 99% chance of waking up." Alice put down gently. At that point Archie didn't know what to do, he was shaking and could barely stand on his own.
"h-h-he's what?" Archie stuttered, he truly zoned out as soon as they said his dad was in a coma. Everyone looked sympathetically at him, Archie needed to get some air so he walked out and stayed outside for a minute.
"I can't believe it…" was all FP could say before going after Archie. He fount him outside and stared sympathetically at him as well.
"Archie…" FP quietly said,
"w-what?" Archie stuttered again.
"Come here,"FP ordered gently. So with that Archie slowly stood up, faced FP and hugged him.
He felt the tears that shed from Archie's eyes and made a promise to look after Archie as if he was his own, JugHead would help. They would stay in Archie's House and make sure he survived this terror.
"Shhhhhh…" FP cooed, he wanted to make Archie as calm as possible before going back inside. He heard footsteps behind him but didn't turn, he was too focused on Archie to care who it was. It was everyone else.
"How is he taking it?" Alice asked, she had tears slowly falling down her face. "He won't survive this alone, he needs his mother." FP said. The tears were flowing freely from Archie's face when he moved out of FP's embrace.
He wiped the tears away from his face and said "I don't need anyone, I'll be fine on my own!" His face was beet red from anger. Then he walked away and straight out of the hospital.
JugHead then shouted, "Guys! His parents are pretty much divorced, his father is battling between life and death and you all think you know what's best for him! Well you don't and so if you don't mind me I'm gonna go find him and help him!" And with that he went straight after Archie.
They all stood there, shocked. They might have just ruined Archie's life.
"We've messed up…" Hermione said.
"I know Archie, when he's upset or distraught or even both he WILL do something he WILL regret." Betty said sadly.
With Archie and JugHead,
"ARCHIE! WAIT!" JugHead shouted rapidly.
They were at Sweet-water river and Archie needed to clear his head.
"Archie please!" JugHead pleaded, yet again he kept on ignoring JugHead.
"FUCK OFF JUGHEAD! IM FINE!" Archie shouted, pissed off with why he was getting followed.
Archie was nearing the waters edge and stared out. He was shaking madly and knew that if he walked further he would regret it. "Archie, please back away from the water." JugHead pleaded again. Tears were streaming down his face, he got closer to the water and instead of walking into the water he went to the nearest tree and punched it with such a force you could hear the bones breaking. He slid down the tree and cried, Archie Andrews had just broken down completely.
Archie brought his knees to his chest and rocked himself back and forth. JugHead sprinted over to Archie and tried to comfort him, it wasn't working so he called his father immediately.
"DAD!" JugHead shouted when his father answered the phone.
"What is it?"
"Dad, we're at Sweet-water river. Archie isn't calming down and he's freezing."
It was freezing out and Archie was only in shorts and a t-shirt. He leaned back and started taking short spurges of breath. His eyes started shutting and JugHead was freaking out. "Archie! Stay with me!" He noticed how cold Archie was and gave him his jacket, seeing as JugHead had a coat on as-well Archie would be warmer then this. JugHead completely forgot that he was on call to his dad until,
"JUGHEAD! WHATS HAPPENING?!" His father demanded. "Dad, Archie is ice cold! Get over here as soon as possible!" His voice was etched with fear and then his father said:
"JugHead, take Archie to the trailer. It's a small walk, you can warm him up and we'll meet you there." The call ended and he hurried Archie to the trailer.
In the Trailer,
Archie had passed out from the temperature and pain he was feeling.
JugHead allowed Archie to lean against him for body heat, he turned the heating on and there was a small fire they were in front of. Archie woke up 10 minutes later and said in a croaky voice, "jug… what happened?" He had truly forgotten. Archie had just started to feel the heat and started getting warmer.
After explaining what happened to Archie, Jug asked "Archie, why did you do this? This could have been put down as suicide. You knew how cold it was out there…" he wanted to know this change, although he knew the answer he dreaded to think what might come out his 'brothers' mouth.
"I was angry," Archie started, he took a shaky breath and continued, "I was scared and upset about…" he led off knowing that JugHead now understood. "And I never actually wanted you to think I would do that to myself…" Archie's voice was so quiet and croaky that you could barely understand what was being said.
JugHead noticed how tired Archie was and pretty much let him fall asleep on him, tomorrow though would be the test if he was actually fine or not. Moments later FP, Betty and Veronica arrived and smiled sympathetically at the two teens on the floor.
"Hey," was all JugHead said before returning his attention to the teen in his arms. Archie's temperature had returned to a safe level and was feeling better. "What exactly happened JugHead?" FP asked once he took Archie out of his son's arms and took him to the couch.
"As you know I went after him and he went to Sweet-water river and was getting closer to the waters edge, I told him not to and so when he went closer he ran to the nearest tree and punched it. He then slid down the tree and that's when I called you." JugHead filled them in a bit more and they agreed that Archie would stay the night there for his safety.
"Alright, do you two wanna stay the night? I'll sleep on the couch, you guys can sleep in JugHeads room and mine." FP offered.
"Thank you for the offer but this is your home and we think that it's better if it's just you three, you need to keep your attention on Archie and anyway our parents most likely wouldn't allow it." Veronica said politely.
"Okay, I'll go call your parents."
"Actually we will do that, we don't want you to disturb Archie." Betty said motioning to the sleeping figure in FP's arms. He smiled and they smiled back before calling their parents.
The Next Day,
It was 7am and Archie managed to last the night, although there were a couple of times he needed calming down he was fine. FP and JugHead were in the kitchen debating what to do next. "Jug, how was he?"
"Actually he was better then I thought."
"I bet he'll wanna go down to the hospital tonight won't he?"
"Yep and I won't be there because I have school."
"I wish I could let you stay home but…"
"But my attendance is bad enough…" sighed JugHead. FP nodded and then Archie walked into the Kitchen in his favourite black hoodie.
"Hey, how did you sleep?" FP asked causally. Archie shrugged his shoulders and walked closer. He had his head hung low and didn't care. "Hey, go back to sleep you need it man." JugHead added. Archie could care less about himself and continued to stay in the Kitchen with them. "what were you guys talking about?" Archie mumbled. "We were on about today, Jug's got school and that you would probably want to go back to the hospital…" FP said getting quieter with the last couple of words.
"Actually I wouldn't mind going to school myself," Archie said, "I know it's a stupid idea but I would like to try and anyway I need to go forward right?"
"I mean we could talk to the principal and get you half days for awhile." FP agreed meanwhile JugHead looked astonished at what was happening. His father was being NICE! WHAT?!?!?!
"Alright so it's settled, we will keep an eye on you during class and then you would go home at lunch." JugHead reminded, they all nodded then Archie said "what about basketball and football practise? Basketball is at Free period and Football is after school."
"When we talk to the principal we will work it all out don't worry Archie, everything will be fine." FP reassured.
"Dude it's not like you can do them though cause of your hand." JugHead mentioned. "I don't care, I'm still gonna do what I love." Archie said.
"Let's get your hand checked out first, sorry but I don't wanna get in trouble with your father." FP joked and completely forgot about what happened. He suddenly gasped and apologised about the wording "it's cool don't apologise, that was actually a joke that was decent and didn't offend me."Archie smiled at FP and went to go get ready.
"He's gonna be fine dad, we will make sure to keep an eye on him." JugHead reassured his father.
"That's not what I'm worried about." FP said.
"What are you worried about then?"
"About what the other kids at your school are gonna say to him."
JugHead completely forgot that only him, Betty and Veronica were the only other people who knew about Mr Andrews current condition.
15 minutes later,
Both JugHead and Archie were ready for the day so they left for the hospital and got Archie's hand checked out. Whilst there they stopped by Fred's room and everything was stable luckily.
Archie's hand was indeed broken but somehow not as bad as they thought. He got a cast that covered his wrist and they left like that.
At RiverDale High,
When they both arrived everyone and I mean everyone was shocked when they saw Archie's hand. In defence he said that he was using a punching bag and missed it completely. The only people who were too shocked were Veronica and Betty.
Veronica and Betty quickly grabbed Archie and JugHead by the arm and dragged them into an empty classroom.
"Archie! What are you doing here?" Betty exclaimed.
"I'm trying to keep a bit of my life normal."
"Archikins, you should go home." Veronica said.
"I have got half days for awhile until my dad's better." Archie said with a small smile.
"My dad spoke to Principal Whether-by and he now knows the situation and agreed to give him half days." JugHead explained.
"But still, you almost died yesterday Arch. I don't think it's a good idea to be here." Betty tried to reason with him but it didn't work.
"When did I nearly die?" Archie asked, still utterly confused about the woods last night.
"You don't remember?" Veronica asked confused.
"His mind still hasn't caught up with what happened last night in the woods." JugHead reassured them.
"Oh okay, well either way we still don't think he should be here." Betty said to JugHead.
"I'm just trying to turn my life around. Is it illegal for me to do that?" Archie questioned. JugHead motioned for them to leave so they did and went to inform the Basketball and Football team that he wouldn't be playing.
Both Betty and Veronica sighed and knew that today would be the ultimate test for Archie.
In the men locker room,
"Alright, guys I'm sure you've seen my hand. And if you haven't well it's broken." Archie said cheerfully.
"Why are you so happy about that?" One of the older boys asked.
"Well I can't be depressed about it can I?" Archie joked.
"True" another boy answered.
A smile played on Archie's face as he delivered the rest of the news.
"Well, are you gonna explain what happened at Pops or not?"
"ummmm…" Archie stared at JugHead and gave him a look saying 'was it on the news?'
JugHead shrugged his shoulders and decided that he would deliver this part.
"How did you guys here about that?..." JugHead asked uneasily.
"It was all over the news that someone was shot! Is that true?" Moose explained.
"Well, why are you asking Archie?" JugHead replied coldly.
"Because it said that he was present at the time." Moose answered.
"Why do you think someone was shot?" JugHead asked yet again.
"because it said that someone was and hasn't said who." Moose knew everything except what had actually happened there.
Archie took a deep breath and just as JugHead was gonna answer for him he said, "well, someone did get shot there and I was there." He answered quickly.
"Dude, you gotta tell us who got shot man!" Moose exclaimed.
Archie and JugHead shared the same look of terror.
"t-the person who was shot was…" Archie had started stuttering and was at a loss for words.
"was Mr Andrews." JugHead finished and grew quieter with each word.
They heard what he said and gasped.
"Dude, we had no idea. We are so sorry." Moose apologised whilst the others were too shocked to breath.
"It's fine. You guys didn't know and I never told you so this was on me." Archie replied quietly.
"We shouldn't have pressured you into telling us sorry man." Moose was feeling really guilty for pressuring him into telling them.
They both shared a small smile then Moose asked "how is he?"
"Could be better. He's in a crucial stage." Archie replied slowly. He looked at JugHead begging for him to help.
"His dad is in a coma, and has a 97% chance of waking up." JugHead explained.
"Wait, it went down. Did the doctor tell you when I was getting my hand X-rayed?" Archie questioned. JugHead nodded an apology for not telling him earlier.
"It hasn't even been a full day and he's already got a lower chance of waking up." Archie joked to himself and sighed. "Dude, who are you staying with?" Moose asked, getting worried for Archie's well-being.
"He's staying with me and my dad but we are actually staying at his from now on." JugHead explained.
The rest of the team left so it was just Archie, JugHead and Moose all in the locker room.
"Dude, I'll stop by later k?" Moose checked, Archie nodded then explained the rest to Moose. "So let me get this straight, you technically tried to 'Kill' yourself?" Moose asked getting almost silent at the word kill.
"Apparently, I mean it's all kind of a blur. I still don't remember it fully but Jug filled in the gaps for me." Archie added.
"Aren't we supposed to be in class?" Moose asked.
"Fuck it. Let's chill in the Gym for a bit and talk." Archie laughed and walked towards the Gym followed by Moose.
"Wait where's JugHead, Arch?" Moose asked, curious as to where JugHead vanished to.
"He's in class cause his attendance is shit as it is" Archie joked and fount a basketball and passed it to Moose.
"I thought you weren't able to play?"
"I'm not" Archie grinned and watched Moose score a 3-pointer.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Moose asked. Archie changed and he wandered if it was to do with his dad.
"Dunno." Archie shrugged, although he knew the exact reason why.
"Is it to do with your dad?" Moose asked himself, it caught Archie's attention and that's what gave him the answer he wanted.
"After everything that's happened with my dad I guess there's a lot of things I haven't done so I want to live life to the extreme and act as if each day is my last." Archie prayed that made sense, hopefully it did.
"If you're hoping that made sense, it did. I understand why you'd say that."
"Thanks for not being one of those people that doesn't care. I hope that made sense." Archie said, grateful that Moose was there for him today. "It's fine and that made sense." They shared a smile and joked with each other.
In class,
Betty, Veronica and JugHead were all talking until Veronica said "Where's Archie?"
"Jug, you've been with him all day where is he?"Betty asked, now worried about Archie's whereabouts.
"He's with Moose, they are talking about 'things' " JugHead said, empathising over the word 'things'.
"JugHead, Betty and Veronica stop chatting and get on!" Their teacher bellowed.
"God I freaking hate her…" JugHead grumbled.
Moments later Archie and Moose came barging in and had to apologise for being 20 minutes late.
"Sorry Miss, he got lost cause he's a retard." Moose said, unfazed by his comment.
"Says you! You're the one who walked into 5 different classrooms looking for this one!" Archie came back with a smug expression.
The class clapped at the insults flying back and fourth between the pair.
"BOTH OF YOU! Sit down before I have the pair of you sent to another classroom!" The teacher squealed.
The teacher sighed and gave up teaching them so she just did her emails and let her students waste their learning time by talking.
On the way to Gym,
Archie, Moose, Veronica, JugHead, Reggie, Betty and Chuck all walked to the Gym together for a while school assembly. Of course Archie, JugHead, Betty, Veronica and Moose all thought it was related to the recent 'shooting' at Pops diner.
Kevin Keller, Sheriff Keller's son, appeared and asked, "word on the street is that there was a shooting at Pops and you were present Archie!"
"So what if I was? Doesn't mean it was me"
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Reggie asked, utterly confused with the nonsense coming out of Kevin's mouth.
"Apparently there was a robbery at Pops and this guy got shot" Chuck added and Kevin nodded.
"Is that what this 'emergency' assembly is about?" Reggie asked wanting to know what was going on.
"Yeah, my dad still needs your statement Arch." Kevin reminded Archie. Archie sighed and re told the entire story to Chuck, Reggie and Kevin, praying that they would leave him alone about it.
"Dude, if you ever need help with it let me know. I'm sorry I pressured you into it." Kevin apologised.
"It's cool, I mean eventually I was gonna have to tell you so oh well and anyway Moose did it as well." Archie replied eyeing Moose.
"SORRY! OKAY!!" Moose said defensively, whilst everyone else laughed at his expression.
"Guys I really don't wanna be late so I'm gonna go ahead," JugHead moaned and left.
"I'll meet you guys in there, I'm gonna go with him." Archie kissed Veronica goodbye and ran off towards JugHead.
"Guys, is it just me or is Archie acting different. I mean I expected him to but he really looks as if it's eating inside him. Like he's carrying something on his shoulders like guilt." Betty suggested smartly.
"Yeah and the real reason why we were late first lesson was because he didn't want to really go to lesson so we went to the Gym and chilled for a bit before heading back to class." Moose admitted.
"Did he say anything else?" Veronica asked curiously, but before Moose could say anymore they were at the doors to the Gym.
During the Assembly,
"Alright, So I brought in Sheriff Keller to ease all of your minds that had heard what happened at Pops diner last night." Principal Whether-By said. Most of the student body stared at Archie because they had heard he was around.
"Hi everyone, I've been called in as traumatic events that have happened. Now I advise if you can't handle what I say I apologise in advance." Sheriff Keller warned. Archie knew he had every eye in that room gazed on him but chose to ignore it.
As Keller was talking Archie zoned out and re lived that whole day again.
FlashBack:
"Archie, where are you going?" Veronica asked quietly
"Oh, I didn't want to wake you, my dad called and asked me to meet him at Pops for breakfast." Archie replied softly.
"Oh okay, it's probably why you stayed the night." Veronica kissed Archie good bye and fell back to sleep.
Archie left 10 minutes later and arrived at Pops 15 minutes later.
He waltzed in with a massive grin on his face and found his dad ordering his usual from Pops.
"I'm just gonna wash my hands okay?" Archie casually said to his father before leaving the room.
He washed his hands and had the brightest smile on his face since forever. Suddenly he heard all this commotion outside and rushed to see what it was about. It was this guy in a black hood pointing a gun to a very petrified Pop Tate. His father was urging him not to run out yet he did.
End Of FlashBack:
The assembly ended before Archie had the chance to re live his father getting shot again. It was now break so him, Veronica, Moose, Betty, JugHead, Reggie, Chuck, Midge, Melody, Josie, Cheryl and Kevin all headed towards the playground to watch the football team shout at each other like melons.
Once they reached the grassy area in front of the cage Archie laid his head on the metal and sighed. He had his eyes shut and was relaxing, thinking of how he could have stopped his father from getting shot. He got pushed forward and Reggie sat there like a melt.
"What are you doing Mantle?" Archie asked, paranoid by his sudden move.
"Remember what we used to do in 7th grade when we used to chill in an area like this?" Reggie asked cheekily.
"Are you seriously doing that?" Archie laughed and let Reggie grab him round the waist and hold him. Chuck realised what they were doing and joined in followed by Moose, Kevin and JugHead. Eventually Veronica, Josie, Betty, Midge, Melody and Cheryl noticed and stole this opportunity to take a picture. Suddenly Archie's phone stared ringing like mental and almost immediately he answered.
He pulled his phone away from his ear and covered the mouth piece saying "one second" then rushed off.
"hey…" Archie's voice trailed off.
"Honey, where are you? You weren't at the hospital like I thought you were!" His mother, Mary, demanded.
"I'm at school, FP managed to get me half days and anyway I need to keep going strong right?"Archie responded smartly.
"Well fair enough, how are you coping?" His mother asked, now concerned.
"I'm fine, hey any updates on dad?" Archie prayed that a miracle had happened but it was quite the opposite.
"Yes…" his mother sounded dreadful.
"What is it?" Archie asked, hope escaping his mouth.
"I'm sorry honey, they had to take him to ICU…"
"w-what's that?" Archie stuttered.
"It's the intensive care unit…" His mother started sobbing over the phone and Archie had just stopped breathing.
"I-I've got to go mom, bye."
The call ended before she even had a chance to reply.
Archie took a shaky, deep breath and returned to the group. Reggie noticed how quiet Archie was being and asked him about it.
"Dude, was that about your dad?"
Archie nodded then proceeded to tell Reggie what he got told.
Reggie sighed and put his arm around Archie's shoulders and let Archie lean his head against his shoulder. Veronica noticed what Reggie was doing and got concerned. She walked over and asked "is he okay?".
Reggie sighed again and told Veronica the update. She gasped and rubbed Archie's arm to show support. Veronica sighed and realised the severity of the situation.
"Archikins that's terrible!" Veronica said calmly.
"It's whatever, I guess" Archie mumbled in response. Veronica's Mouth was gaping open. Sensing Archie was needing some time to think Reggie and Veronica walked away to talk for a bit. Archie sighed and laid down on the ground. His eyes were shut and he was just taking in the recent news. His father might not live and he hasn't even been admitted for a whole day. They had to go to lesson 15 minutes later and during that time Archie had pretty much re thought his entire existence.
In English,
Archie, Veronica, Moose and Chuck had the same teacher and they sat at the back. The row went Archie, Chuck, Moose then Veronica. Seeing as their teacher hired a sub Archie kept his head on the desk for the entire time, he didn't even answer when asked by the teacher. The whole class looked at him but stopped when Chuck and Moose gave them dirty looks. The teacher eventually got Principal Whether-By to speak to him. Outside the classroom Principal Whether-By said "Archie, what's on your mind?" Archie shrugged his shoulders and kept his head low.
"Archie, please tell me what's going on. I can't help you otherwise," Whether-By said gently, "Do you want me to get Moose or Chuck or Veronica to tell me?"
Archie stayed quiet and let Principal Whether-By bring out Moose first. As soon as Moose saw Archie he hugged him.
"Do you know what's up with Archie?" Whether-By asked Moose. Moose shrugged then said "I think Reggie knows because before lesson Archie got a call then when he went back Reggie let Archie lean on him after talking about stuff."
"Okay, I'll go talk to him. Stay with him outside until you both want to go back inside." And with that Principal Whether-By left and went to find Reggie's class.
Back in class,
"Chuck, is he okay?" Veronica asked exceedingly concerned for Archie's well-being. "I don't know what happened." Chuck answered truthfully. She sighed and remembered what Reggie had told her beforehand.
Archie and Moose came back inside moments later and sat down. All eyes were fixed on the pair until Chuck said "do you guys not have anything better to do with your lives than stare at Archie and Moose, wouldn't it be better if you all stayed out of it?"
Archie and Moose both flashed a smile towards Chuck and continued to stay quiet. The rest of the day dragged for Archie and the gang. It was eventually time for him to go home so although his class had to stay behind he walked straight out of class and left.
At Archie's,
As soon as Archie walked through his front door he sprinted upstairs and slammed his door, he was slowly followed by FP. Archie managed to lock his door and backed away until he fell onto his bed. A knock on the door broke the eminent silence that surrounded his room. "Archie…" FP said gently, he tried knocking again but realised that Archie wouldn't be coming out any time soon. FP sighed and slid down Archie's door hoping that he would be able to talk to him before he lost him. Archie sat on his bed and let his emotions take over.
Suddenly the front door went again and JugHead walked in, hesitant once he reached the top of the stairs and noticed his father outside Archie's room. "Dad?" JugHead questioned.
"Archie…" was all FP said and almost instantly JugHead called Reggie.
"Dude, are you okay?" Reggie asked. "It's about Archie, now whatever he told you please tell us!" JugHead begged. "It's bad enough Whether-By knows and now you? Wait is Archie okay?" Reggie asked, concerned about Archie. "That's the thing, we don't know what's made him be upset!" Jughead said impatiently. Reggie sighed and explained to Jughead what happened. When Jughead fount out he told his dad straight away.
Inside Archie's room, Archie was laying on his bed and saw something shiny in the light of the sun. He didn't think much of it until he walked over to it. Archie stared at it until he picked it up and realised what it was, it was a sharpener. He then noticed that the blade had been taken out and found it on the floor. He picked it up and slid it across his finger giving it a red mark. Archie smiled and this time did it multiple times on his left wrist. Soon the sharpener was smeared in fresh blood and Archie's wrist was a crimson color. The satisfaction of cutting was enough to get Archie through his fathers absence. Of all the things he's done to himself this has got to be the worse.
•He punished himself by getting injured playing football.
•He's drank alcohol after a phone call with his father.
And now this, he knew everyone around him would be disappointed but he couldn't help this feeling of worthless and shake this feeling of being helpless.
"Shit" Archie groaned as he cut deeper then he expected. He washed the blade and washed his wrist until the water went from orangish to clear. He sighed contently then sat back down on his bed until he decided to show his face again.
"Archie, We know what happened. Reggie just told us, let's talk about it" JugHead begged, instead of listening he hid the blade then waited for them to ask a second time to then answer the door. When JugHead and FP we're finally allowed in FP pulled Archie into a hug and held him whilst being joined by JugHead. Archie's breathing had increased and they both noticed it, he had begun to shake as well so they both occasionally whispered something in his ear whilst rubbing his back.
"Archie, we are so sorry…" JugHead whispered once they sat down. Archie shrugged his shoulders and considered showing them the cuts and retreated for a minute before showing them. When they saw his wrist they both gasped, although not shocked that he had done it, they never thought that he would actually do it seeing as they had no proof.
"archie…" JugHead whispered, Archie was so satisfied that he kept quiet. To FP and JugHead Archie was disappointed but Archie knew he felt pleased, satisfied, dare I say it? Happy. A couple of cuts had made an impact in Archie's life that meant if anything ever happened there was a place for him to escape to. "Dad, can me and Archie have minute?" JugHead asked quietly, FP then left and went downstairs.
"Archie, w-why did you cut?" JugHead asked gently, Archie shrugged his shoulders and leaned back until his head hit the wall. His eyes were shut and he pretended as if he couldn't hear the world as it came shouting back at him.
"Archie, please stop. Although I know that this is the first time but please never do it again!" JugHead begged, this time Archie nodded and his breathing decreased showing JugHead that he had calmed down. JugHead smiled and rubbed Archie's arm up and down before wanting another look at his wrist. Instead of backing his arm away Archie let JugHead have a full on look at them then winced in pain from his throbbing wrist. JugHead grabbed a paper towel and wiped the blood around the cuts until it was clear. Archie finally felt comfortable enough to open his eyes and explain why he did what he did.
JugHead sighed and hugged Archie until he knew that Archie was happy and safe. All of a sudden Archie's phone started buzzing and that's when JugHead knew that something had happened. Archie took a glance at his phone then realised that he got tagged in a post, he checked it and it was a picture of a bullet and a black hood. Archie froze and then read the comments. They said 'Archie Andrews the pussy'
'He could have just tackled the guy'
'Why didn't he go help his dad instead of being a dick and just standing there!'
Archie then showed JugHead and then they both commented.
'Why would you do this?!' JugHead's comment said then Archie's said 'How about you try and tackle a guy with a fucking gun or maybe you go help your father when a guy points a gun at your head!'
Betty and Veronica then commented,
'You sickos, none of you realise that if this happened to you then you would act the exact same way!'
'Leave him alone, you guys have no idea what went on and so what if he did it was either get killed or get shot as well. Either way he could have ended up dead so leave him alone!'
Archie sighed and then both him and JugHead walked downstairs and showed FP. FP was appalled by the fact that someone thought that this would be a good idea. After he saw that he called the Principal and reported the issue whilst it stayed up, no one daring to try and get it taken down. The police were never notified to get it taken down until Kevin showed up at his house. "Dude, I saw what happened. Everyone who don't like it have reported it and I have as well, this isn't right." Kevin said, he spoke with sincere and apologised on behalf of the students who weren't involved.
Archie smiled and knew that the Bulldogs will be having his back at school tomorrow. He accepted the apology and him and JugHead spoke to Kevin upstairs before he had to leave. During that time Archie had shown Kevin his cuts and explained to him why, luckily Kevin was an understanding person. "I thought you were meant to be at school?" JugHead asked confused, "it's lunch, you left 10 minutes before lunch so I had time to stop by." Kevin smiled and then Archie smiled as well followed by JugHead. Kevin then eventually left and JugHead and Archie sat in a comfortable silence.
"Want something to eat?" JugHead asked, starting up a conversation. "No thanks, I'm not hungry." Archie replied solemnly. "Arch, you haven't eaten in the past day. You need to eat."
"Each time I eat something I remember that my dad had ordered my usual before getting shot." Archie mumbled quietly.
JugHead sighed then asked if he wanted to go see his dad in the hospital. Archie smiled, later that day they all went down and saw Fred. When Archie saw his mother in his father's room he instantly sat in the chair next to her and spoke to her about school, not even mentioning the cuts.
After a while Archie fell asleep and his mom promised to drop Archie off at home later, thankfully she let FP and JugHead stay round theirs. FP and JugHead left so that it would just be his mom and him.
His mother got curious as she saw that his hoodie was bloodstained. She gently lifted it up and noticed all the cuts that were scattered across her son's arm. She gasped and when she started to notice Archie was stirring she stroked his hair to calm him down and eventually he was fine. Mary then called FP and asked about the cuts masked on his arm.
"Mary?," FP asked cautiously, "is everything okay?"
"What happened? Why has Archie got cuts all around his left wrist!" She demanded.
"Here's the thing, it's when you called him explaining about his father's condition and then when he arrived here he did it."
"Oh… my… god…"
After that she ended the call and stared at the sleeping figure curled up in the hospital chair, knowing that her son had hurt himself from one phone call gave her anxiety as she wandered when they were getting a divorce what went wrong. Mary kissed him on the forehead before calling her boyfriend. (Her and Fred had gotten the divorce)
"hey…" she whispered,
"Are you okay?" Hal Cooper asked, "why are you whispering?"
"Archie's asleep, listen. Fred got moved to ICU, the Intensive Care unit and I don't have a car to take Archie home and seeing as you're their next door neighbor maybe you could take Archie home for me?"
"Of course, I'd do anything for you…" those words melted into Mary's heart as she ended the call. Although she knew that Hal and Alice were no longer together it bothered her that she might destroy two birds with one stone. She sighed and remembered the exact words that were said when Alice found out.
Archie groaned and sat up rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?" He yawned, "it's 9:30pm Archie," Mary answered, "why? Want to go home?" Archie sleepily nodded before laying back down trying to not go back to sleep. After not being connected to the WIFI for hours Mary had finally been able to check her social media only to find a picture being shared all across the Internet. It was the picture of a black hood and a gun with bullets, she then noticed that Archie was tagged and read all the 8,000 comments surrounding it. Amid all those comments were all of Archie's true friends, mainly Moose, Reggie and the Bulldogs, telling everyone to report it before this gets out of hand. She smiled as she read Veronica's, JugHead's, Betty's and Archie's. Mary looked up and noticed that Archie had fell back asleep and was thankful that he had, although she knew that he had seen the picture she wished that he would have
mentioned it sooner.
Mary then reported it before calling Hal to come pick Archie up. 10 minutes later he arrived and saw that Archie was still asleep. They both gently shook Archie awake and then left moments later. "Hey, your dad will be fine," Hal reassured once they left. Archie sighed and focused his gaze on outside the window. "Betty saw you…" Hal led off, Archie had completely forgot that Betty went home at lunch as well and knew he was upset. "What did she say?" Archie asked in a quiet voice. "She said how worried she was about you and how she wished she could help." Archie had tears building up in his eyes, he didn't mean to cause pain to those around him he only meant it to himself. "You want to talk to her about it? It will make you both feel better" Archie considered it before agreeing it. "She will be pleased to know that we managed to get your side of the story from you."
30 minutes of complete silence later, Archie and Hal went to speak to Betty first before Archie returned home. He approached Betty's door and knocked cautiously, she opened it and had tears shed from her eyes as she saw Archie.
Archie and Betty hugged for seemed like an eternity but in reality it was the longest 5 minutes of their lives. He could feel Betty's tears as they leaked onto his top, Archie just held her until she calmed down. "So, why did you do it?" She asked quietly. "Because, for all the pain that happened to my dad and my family I needed to feel the same pain that I caused!" Archie whispered so that Betty could barely hear him. Little did he know that she had heard him and felt him starting to shake himself so they sat on her bed and calmed each other down before continuing their conversation.
"Archie, can I please see them…" Betty asked, choking on her held back tears. Archie nodded and showed her his wrist. She covered her mouth and was at a loss for words so she brought up the picture. "You saw the picture." She said as more of a statement then a question. He nodded and then proceeded to stay quiet. "Archie, talk to me please! I hate seeing you like this!" Betty pleaded. He sighed then said "what can I say? My dad's in fucking intensive care and people are being dick heads!" He stood up and was prepared to walk out but Betty grabbed his hand and pulled him closer before they hugged.
"I don't know what to fucking do Betty! Each time I do something it makes a mess of everyone else's lives!" Archie cried, he couldn't hold himself together anymore. Betty had seen through his shield before he had even started talking and knew something happened. Her parents had heard everything and walked in to see Archie in Betty's arms shaking. Hal and Alice walked over and hugged the pair before Archie pulled himself away, cleaned his face up and left. Hal left with him to explain to FP why he was being dropped off by himself.
With Betty and Alice,
"What happened Betty?"
"He explained why he cut himself…" Betty mentioned quietly.
"He cut himself?"
"Yeah, then we spoke about this picture and he got really angry and upset. Mom if this has taught Archie anything it's that he's lost without his dad."
Alice sighed and continued to listen to Betty's and Archie's conversation.
"Honey, can you please show me the picture?"
"Here," Betty said as she showed her mother the photo. Alice was so shocked as she read the comments which kept on growing, to her surprise no one else had reposted it. "Betty, why would people do this?"
"That's the thing mom, we don't know who did."
"Have you reported it?"
"Archie and FP spoke to Principal Whether-By about it."
"Poor Archie, he has the whole school except his friends, turned against him."
"But mom, half the people who commented are his friends…"
At Archie's,
"Hey, are you okay?" FP asked as he saw Archie's tear stained face. Archie walked straight past him and up the stairs. Hal then walked in and explained everything to FP before leaving.
Archie sighed as he reached his room. He looked outside his window and noticed Betty staring out and smiling at him, he smiled and waved back before calling her and they spent the rest of the night talking to each other. Archie and FP had decided that as long as no one was cruel towards him he could continue to have his half days.
"Arch, are you sure you want to go to school tomorrow?"
"Of course."
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on you when I can then." Betty giggled. Archie had missed this precious time, they hadn't been able to act like this over summer seeing as Betty was in LA for an internship whilst Archie had been working for his father. Archie and Betty both eventually fell asleep on call and JugHead walked in on it. He laughed at the expression on both of their faces as they slept unaware that JugHead had just taken a picture. He loved them both to bits, Betty as his girlfriend and Archie as his brother so seeing them both so happy made his heart ache with happiness.
"Archie, Archie?" JugHead whispered to Archie as he had fallen asleep on his desk. He woke up and then realised that him and Betty were still on call so JugHead suggested that he end the call and get some sleep. Archie fell straight back to sleep moments later but didn't realise that he had a new notification. JugHead was thankful that he hadn't seen it because it was another picture one, but this time him, Archie, Betty, Veronica, Moose, Reggie and the others had also been tagged. This time it was a picture of someone shot and all the comments said 'Ahhhhhh, you could have helped us ARCHIE!' JugHead then commented 'he could help you get a life' and then ignored it until Archie woke up again because his phone kept on vibrating telling him that someone was trying to get to him. Archie looked at his phone and then at JugHead, his face was filled with nausea as he looked through all the graphic pictures before running into his bathroom and throwing up. Although he had nothing to actually throw up he managed too, JugHead slowly followed and rubbed Archie's back as he threw up. He got Archie to lay against the wall as he got some water for him then stayed with him until he was strong enough to walk. Before Archie even had a chance to stand up FP had heard all the commotion and came upstairs to check what happened. "Archie! JugHead what happened?" FP asked as he perched down to Archie's level and checked his temperature. "Look at this picture…" JugHead said simply. FP took one glance and then realised why Archie had threw up. Archie was shaking and had his eyes closed against the wall, he needed to cool down before he threw up nothing. "Archie, relax a minute. You need to calm down before you move." JugHead said as he rubbed Archie's back. His mouth tasted of this acidic substance and his throat was burning with each breath he took. Archie opened his eyes and swallowed hard as he sat up, he was trying not to throw up again but couldn't help it. FP then decided that neither one of them would be going to school as JugHead could be useful to help Archie. Once Archie was more stable FP picked him up whilst JugHead cleaned the bathroom and brought Archie some water and a plastic tub incase he threw up again. They both stayed with him until he eventually fell asleep from lack of energy. They both sighed contently now that Archie was more calm. "JugHead when did they post that picture?"
"20 minutes ago."
FP sighed and knew that Archie might cut again and he needed to prevent that.
"His body has been through too much stress these past days, it's not healthy."
"Dad, I'll keep an eye on him if you need to call him mom."
"Thanks."
FP left and went to go call Mary but he never actually did, instead he called Hermione Lodge.
"FP? Is Archie okay?" She asked as soon as she answered. "That's the thing, someone thought it would be funny to post a picture of someone shot and commented stuff like 'Oh Archie why didn't you save us?!' And shit like that."
"Oh my god! Has he seen it?"
"Yep, he just spent the past 10 minutes emptying his already empty stomach."
"That's the exact same thing with Veronica. I told her that she isn't going to school tomorrow."
"Neither's Archie or JugHead. Tomorrow feel free to pop by with Veronica I think it would do Archie some good seeing her."
"Thanks, I think you should call Alice as well asking if Betty's seen it as well."
"Will do, see you tomorrow then."
"Yup."
They both ended the call then he heard a knock on the front door. FP opened it with ease and saw Alice, Hal and Betty all standing outside. Betty paler then Hal and Alice, FP let them in and went to speak upstairs.
"Has Archie seen this monstrosity of a picture?" Alice asked.
"Yes he has, he's been emptying his stomach quite a bit." JugHead added. Alice and Hal nodded before letting Betty speak.
"FP, I know that this is messed up and the fact that someone would do this worries me the most."
"Veronica's coming over later because neither me or Archie are going school, my dad's at work so I'm going to keep an eye on him."
"Okay, FP, Betty's not going to school either so would it be okay if she came over as well?" Hal asked cautiously.
"That's perfectly fine with me, the more the merrier!" FP exclaimed, totally forgetting that Archie's asleep. He quickly went quiet as Archie began to stir but calmed when he realised that he hadn't woken the teen.
"Do you want to talk downstairs so these two can talk?"
"Sure." Both Hal and Alice agreed.
"Hey, sorry that this was the circumstances that we technically get some alone time." JugHead joked.
"It's fine," Betty replied, "how is Archie? He seems paler then a ghost."
"He's getting there, the most we are worried about is that he might cut again."
Betty sighed and rubbed Archie's arm as his breathing started to increase. JugHead rubbed his shoulder before playing tickle wars with Betty.
"Archie's a good kid, he doesn't deserve this." Betty said as she said her goodbyes. The coopers left and knew that this was being dealt with in the correct way.
Archie managed to last the whole night without being sick and when he woke up messaged Moose, Reggie, Chuck and the Bulldogs that he wouldn't be at school. Their first reaction was that he was seeing his dad but then they realised that he had seen the pictures spread across the entire internet. Archie sighed as he read that they wouldn't be at school either because of a picture. He invited them over and knew it would do them all some good to talk to each other about it. Archie then proceeded to text Veronica until she was on her way. JugHead woke up and sat next to Archie on his bed before grabbing a selfie of the pair and posting it. He put as the caption: 'You mess with one of us, you get all of us' and tagged Archie and the rest.
Later that day everyone arrived and Archie, Reggie, Moose, Chuck, Veronica, Betty, Cheryl, Toni, Kevin and JugHead all sat upstairs and spoke about the picture. Archie looked around at the people in front of him, he truly felt sorry that they got dragged into this. "Guys, I'm sorry you all got put into this." Archie said quickly. They all nodded and then Moose said "It's not your fault man, it's the sickos fault for messing with the Bulldogs." Archie smiled, pleased that even though they got dragged into it they were still his family.
"So, Archie you need to show them." JugHead said randomly, Archie sighed and looked at their confused expressions. "Jones, what are you on about?" Archie sighed and then showed them his wrist. They all gasped and looked at each other, shocked that he had done it. "Archie, why would you do this?" Moose asked seeing as he was the only one who could talk. "Because, if I had stayed where the fuck I was in the diner then maybe that guy would have just taken my dad's wallet and he would be here talking to me like always!" Archie moaned, they all felt sorry for Archie as he had to see his own father get shot then have a gun at his head. Veronica rubbed his arm and the group stayed quiet until Archie asked, "Veronica, do you think that someone wants revenge for something that happened a week ago?"
"Archie, you might be right and that might be him behind the photos."
"Wait, Archie didn't you give him a broken nose?" Cheryl asked. "That was a month ago and I got it worse."
"Maybe this is because of what we did!" Veronica suddenly clicked everything together and realised that this could all be Nick St Claire.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Betty and JugHead asked.
"Nick St Claire." Cheryl, Veronica and Archie said all in unison.
"And a week ago he failed at trying to kill me!" Archie said cheerfully. Everyone except Veronica stared at Archie as they had no idea what had truly happened. "If he tried to kill you a week ago then surely it can't be him." Moose said confused. "Well we kind of held him for ransom and got a cool million for our troubles. Well Veronica did and now her dad put that in a trust fund for her."
"Wow…" was all JugHead said. No one else was too shocked to speak.
Archie then explained the entire story from his point of view. Veronica got Nick to send her the picture so she could show everyone, they all didn't talk after seeing the state of Archie. He shrugged off all the looks they gave him and grabbed his phone. He looked at his phone and realised that they had struck again, he warned the others then proceeded to look at the picture. Everyone else held their breath as they also looked at the picture. To everyone's dismay it was a picture of them all but as they read the comments they realised that this was shaming them all. Archie fount a comment and read it out loud as it stood out to him. ' look at these pussys, they are all too shook to even leave their house XD. If you can't deal with the truth then KILL YOURSELVES OR REMOVE YOURSELVES FROM RIVERDALE! Can't you tell we don't want you here?!' he then said "That comment has over 100,000 likes and 5 dislikes."
The room went into an eerie silence as they read through the rest of the comments. Veronica fount one and said "look at Veronica, she's still the slut she was back in New York and she must have played most of the guys in this picture."
Betty then read one that said "Everyone wonders why the Sheriff should resign I mean he keeps getting out smarted by high school students."
She then apologised to Kevin because his father is the Sheriff. He accepted then read one. "Guys, before I read this. This is all about Archie…," Archie went dead silent and nodded at Kevin to start reading," Veronica could do so much better, he hurt himself because he couldn't deal with the fact that his dad was shot! I mean it's not like he's dying? I think it's attention seeking because all eyes are on his father and how he's doing instead of on him. If he truly wants to hurt those around him why don't he just kill himself and show how weak he really is, I hope he sees this and actually does because then there wouldn't be a waste of space on here! We could make room for those that are actually important."
Archie couldn't look any of them in the eyes so he walked downstairs to clear his head. Veronica slowly went after him as she got worried about him. "Why are people so cruel?!" Moose shouted, he was angry as to why people had to say this to their peers. He then went after Archie as well followed by everyone else, they fount Veronica and Archie speaking to Hermione and she stared at them with a grim expression. Moose was in front and sighed as she eased them all to calm down. "What exactly happened?" Hermione asked once they were all seated in the living room.
"Here, that's everything you need to know." Archie said coldly as he passed her his phone and walked upstairs and slammed his door. Hermione sighed as she read the comment that was said against Archie.
"So the comment I'm about to read out loud was the one that got to Archie?," Hermione checked, Veronica nodded and then stayed quiet as her mother read the comment out loud for the Coopers, FP and Archie's mother to hear," Veronica could do so much better, he hurt himself because he couldn't deal with the fact that his dad was shot! I mean it's not like he's dying? I think it's attention seeking because all eyes are on his father and how he's doing instead of on him. If he truly wants to hurt those around him why don't he just kill himself and show how weak he really is, I hope he sees this and actually does because then there wouldn't be a waste of space on here! We could make room for those that are actually important." Mary immediately went straight upstairs and straight towards Archie once Hermione had finished reading it out loud. "Why are people so fucking cruel?" Moose asked no one in particular, "Moose! Language!" Midge corrected. Moose sighed then apologised for his language. "It's okay Moose, mom we need to get someone other then Principal Whether-By involved!" Betty said sadly. Alice nodded then said "I'm going to go see if Archie's okay." And then walked upstairs. The sight she saw when she reached the top of the stairs made her cry, they boy she could call her son was broken into two pieces. His dignity one piece and his emotions another piece. Mary was clutching her son as if it was her life line as he cried into her, he was shaking and couldn't stand on his own.
Downstairs Kevin had called his dad and Sheriff Keller had arrived 5 minutes later. Archie walked downstairs with both his hands in his pockets and stared at Sheriff Keller once he approached the kitchen. "Archie, as well as I need your opinion on this I need your statement on what happened at Pops." Archie sighed painfully as he trudged over to the kitchen table. Everyone except Mary left so it was her, Archie and Sheriff Keller in the kitchen. The longest interview of Archie's life had begun and all the dark secrets around his fathers shooting were about to be released to the public. The interrogation you could call it at this point had finished and Mary had left to go see Fred. Archie was sitting in his room digesting all this new information, Sheriff Keller had mentioned that Clifford Blossom had recently committed suicide so that made Archie worried about Cheryl whilst he hadn't made an effort to find his father's 'killer'.
(This next bit when Archie 'breaks' his hand is when he has the cast on and makes it worse)
Cheryl was about to leave when Hermione stopped her, "Cheryl if you ever need to talk, me and Veronica are here for you." Cheryl smiled and nodded her head before walking back to ThornHill. Although everyone thought Cheryl was okay she was about to make a life altering decision so once she arrived back at Thornhill she put some things in order. Cheryl put on the outfit she wore when Jason supposedly drowned and headed to that sacred spot where Jason's body was found. She messaged Veronica thanking her for her care then set off to join Jason.
When Veronica got the message she instantly told Archie, Betty and JugHead that they had to go find her. Archie knew where she was so they sped over to Sweet-Water river and spotted her breaking the ice that sandwiched the water between mankind and civilisation. They started yelling rapidly as she turned around and Veronica then shouted "Cheryl please, come to the shore and we'll figure this out together okay?" Those were the last words that Cheryl heard before she plummeted towards the darkness that engulfed her senses. Archie immediately went sprinting onto the ice which was prone to shattering at any given moment.
Archie rapidly starting breaking the ice as Cheryl was put in a prison cell of rage and fear and she had just given God the keys. Blood started to smear all across the ice as Archie's hand was fighting to save Cheryl's life, in that moment of time Archie had no control over his emotions or self consciousness as he repeatedly struck the ice that was failing to show any signs of breaking. He stopped for minute as the pain finally caught up with his brain and he couldn't continue until he resumed control of his body. Eventually he managed to shatter the ice as a mirror would and dragged Cheryl's frozen body out of the water as if it were a rag doll. Whilst Archie was reviving the dead Betty, JugHead and Veronica had started praying for a miracle as with each breath Archie took meant less time to save Cheryl's life. Cheryl finally took a deep breath and all the water that had found its home in her mouth came spewing out.
Archie sighed gratefully and told JugHead to take her back to the shore. He leaned his head back and took a deep breath because of the pain radiating in his hand. Archie stood up and tried ignoring the pain buzzing in his hand but it gave him a wave of nausea. Betty had left with JugHead so Veronica helped him across the ice. Once they reached the shore as well Archie slid down the tree and checked his hand out, Veronica came and rubbed his arm as Archie's head started focusing again. Cheryl had started to regain consciousness and was leaning against the opposite tree. "Dude, hows your hand?" JugHead asked Archie calmly, " dunno, I can't feel the pain anyway." Archie responded in the same matter. "Archie, did your face go under? because your face and hair look soaked." Veronica whispered to Archie. He nodded as his breathing returned to normal. "How's Cheryl?" Archie asked, he noticed Cheryl slowly regaining consciousness and knew that she would be freezing. Veronica looked Archie over and realised that he was shivering and his voice was quieter then usual. "My dad's trailer isn't that far from here, we'll take her there until she's strong enough to go home." JugHead mentioned. They all nodded and Archie picked Cheryl up and carried her all the way to FP's trailer. The whole way Veronica was concerned about Archie, although he didn't properly go under he was shaking quite a bit and his voice was going. Whilst they were walking to FP's trailer Archie said, "JugHead, the tables have turned. But you saved/helped me not Cheryl. And I'm helping Cheryl instead." JugHead smiled and rubbed Archie's back before they reached FP's trailer. The Serpents had invaded the whole trailer so there wasn't as much room as they wanted but they managed to live with it. Archie walked into FP's bedroom and pulled something out of his pocket. He had kept the blade even though he promised to never touch it again, seeing as it did more harm then good on Archie's behalf. Archie carefully brought it up to his left wrist and applied pressure so the layers of skin sliced like an apple when you cut it into multiple pieces. His right hand had begun aching again and he took the cast off as best as he could to realise that he made his hand even worse. Archie didn't think of it too much and continued to cut his wrist, every now and again he would stop and check his hand. Little did he know that Veronica had watched him intently, she had been previously worried about him so she had to check if he was alright. She had planned on walking in as soon as Archie had finished but decided to wait so he could put the blade away before walking inside and talking to Archie. She softly knocked on the door then walked in, Archie thankfully didn't look startled. Veronica then asked Archie "How bad is your hand?" He shrugged his shoulders and continued to look at it, there was a massive lump of white which only the assumed was bone. "Here, let me have a look." Veronica said as she bent down to Archie's level. She gently started touching his hand, seeing if there was anymore damage. To no ones surprise there was an incredible amount of injuries sustained on his right hand. When he was breaking the ice he had cut his entire fist open which put all the blood on the ice. Veronica sighed as she watched Archie hiss in pain.
After a while Cheryl was strong enough to go home and so did everyone else. The Serpents, however, stayed in the trailer doing Serpent Jobs. JugHead guessed that they were waiting for his father to arrive but then they would be there a while. Once they arrived back at Archie's they all were surprised to see that the house was completely empty, Archie started calling for FP and so had JugHead yet he never came. Veronica and Archie checked upstairs whilst Betty and JugHead checked downstairs. Neither one of the pairs fount anyone so Archie called him, that's when Archie Life spiraled out of proportion. FP answered and he sounded frantic as he explained everything to them. They were all extremely surprised to hear that Fred had gone into cardiac arrest when he was in a coma but then FP said that he had woken up. FP then said "Archie, I suggest you come down here. Just incase…" Archie immediately dropped his phone and ran straight towards the hospital. Veronica and Betty had stayed at Archie's incase, something would happen, and they sent their wishes. JugHead was fairly quick and was gaining on him but knew he would never overtake Archie. Once they arrived Archie walked straight into the hospital and saw everyone looking mortified and it made both him and JugHead extremely worried. Alice saw that Archie was a bit distraught and reassured him by saying "he's not dead, he's out of the coma."
Archie nodded and took a seat not focusing on anything over then what might happen to his dad. JugHead could tell that Archie was shaking and was terrified about maybe loosing his dad so he decided to sit behind him and rub his back. Archie's breathing had started to decrease and he managed to stop shaking. "Dude, do you want to call Reggie? Or Moose?" JugHead asked quietly, Archie nodded and remembered that he left his phone with Betty and Veronica. Reading Archie's thoughts JugHead said "you can use my phone if you know his number off by heart." Archie kindly accepted then called Reggie and Moose explaining to get everyone and meet at his. They did what he asked and eventually he and JugHead went back to a house full of his friends. Veronica instantly ran straight towards him and asked if everything's fine. "Archie! Is he okay?"
"For once in my crap life he's fine. He woke up, they told us that when people wake up from Coma's and shit like that sometimes they go into cardiac arrest because of the stress from waking up." Archie said, JugHead had a massive grin spread across his face and so did Archie. Veronica kissed him on the lips and hugged him, she was surprised to find him trembling a little bit but then he reassured her that they ran back. For once since this happened Archie had truly felt a bit of happiness but he didn't let it stick seeing as the last time he was happy his dad got shot.