Thank you so much to everyone who read the last chapter, dropped a follow, a favourite and especially a comment. THANK YOU!
P.S. Slight trigger warning in this chapter. It goes into very little detail of Betty's attack so it's still only at a 'T' rating, but I did add just a little of the where/how of that night, just to give some context.
CHAPTER TWO: Nightmares
Betty Cooper jolts upright in bed, her chest rasping as she pants breathlessly.
Every night since the attack she has woken up out of breath and in a sweat, forced to relieve the nightmare... Every. Single. Night.
After a few minutes, she begins to control her breathing, she starts to see clearer in the dark room and become assured that she is safe, sound and most importantly, alone, from where she is tucked up in her own room and her own bed.
Before it's even struck 5 AM, Betty crawls out of bed, turns her lamp on and wraps her dressing gown around her, knowing that she won't be getting anymore sleep tonight.
Ever since Jason Blossom's murder most of the residents of Riverdale have had night terrors for the unknown murderer, the unknown evil, whoever may be lurking in the shadows.
But, for Betty Cooper, her night terrors have been for Chuck Clayton. The evil she knows...
The night of her attack, she'd been upset, Archie had just rejected her. She was suffering a broken heart and the loss of her best friend all in one swift hit.
By just after midnight, she had had enough of trying to conceal and mute her sobs from in her room. Her mother had already paid her one visit that night to emphasise the fact that it was a good thing that nothing was to come of her and Archie, since Alice Cooper was not a fan of the boy-next-door. However, that is exactly not what any broken-hearted, rejected, teenage girl wants to hear at a time like that.
So, she'd snuck out and gone off for a walk, crying to herself through the dead of night until a voice in darkness alerted her to the fact that she wasn't so alone.
"Betty? Is that you?"
Chuck had been walking along the same street; one of Riverdale's most desolate, hearing the cries of his fair-haired classmate before he'd seen her.
Initially, he'd raced over, checking if it was Betty and asking what was wrong, just receiving an incoherent response from her.
So, he wrapped an arm around the girl who trusted the familiarity of her classmate far more than she should have.
He held her there in his arms for a few moments, before moving his arms and his head slightly, being quick and swift to change the course of the comfort before she knew what was happening.
The next thing she knew, she was being kissed, she was being grabbed and she was being restrained. The embrace was no longer a hug. Now it was a strangle -an attack- and the worst was not over yet...
At the resurgence of that awful, inerasable memory, Betty can feel the shivers shooting down her spine, coursing through her body.
She would not be getting any more sleep tonight...
#
Later that same morning, at a far more respectable hour, Betty is drifting her way through the school hallways, books and folders in hand, on the way to her next class.
Turning out of a classroom, Jughead spots his girlfriend further down the hallway, easily catching up to her and slinging an arm around her back from behind, with the idea for them to walk side-by-side.
However, from the second Jughead lays a gentle, loving hand on Betty, he can feel the intensity of her jolt and he can feel every muscle in her back and shoulders tensing up as she swings around to see who has touched her.
"Sorry" Jughead is quick to say and instantly feeling obliged to apologise, seeing as his intention for a sweet gesture feels as though it has backfired completely. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"Oh, it's okay. I just had a couple of other things on my mind. Wasn't expecting it" Betty says, desperately trying to settle her pounding heartbeat and the shaking of her hands after her boyfriend's unexpected greeting.
"You look like you barely slept last night, no offence."
"None taken" Betty just chuckles lightly. "I feel like I barely slept last night."
He presses a kiss to her temple affectionately as they walk through the hallway alongside each other. "What's your last lesson of the day today?"
"I have a free period. I'm planning to catch up on a bit of study before I meet up with you at the Blue & Gold after school."
"That's sounding a hell of a lot better than History is. Then again, you're the only student that uses free periods for actual study... By the way, after class, I might be a few minutes late. I'm going to the paper via the staff room to collect something for a piece."
From where she is being held close to his body as they stroll the hallway together, side-by-side, Betty looks to her boyfriend giving Jughead both a nod and a smile in response.
"No worries. I can hold the fort."
"I know you can" Jughead replies quickly, a little grin beginning to take form on his lips, before being suppressed into a small smirk.
#
At the end of the school day, Betty was quick to reach the newsroom for the Blue & Gold, busying herself with the mountain of work that she's grown to expect from the monumental task of reinstating the newspaper.
She's currently laying out her paperwork from her folders, aligning her tasks for the afternoon with what has already been done with what still needs to be done.
As she's handing an assortment of papers, she hears the door of the newsroom click open for long enough to someone to walk through, before closing shut again.
She's distracted from her surprise at just how fast her boyfriend had been with his own after-class errands. She hadn't really expected him to join her for at least another ten minutes or so, at least.
"Well that was quick" Betty grins, looking over her shoulder to where she expects to see her boyfriend.
But, instead, the smile is wiped off her face in an instant, her blood running cold and her heart beginning to pound inside her chest.
"Chuck..."
What's the only thing that's worse than reliving your night terrors... the most horrific night of your life in what is supposed to be the safety and comfort of your own room and your own bed...?
... Being stuck on the other side of a closed room with your nightmare...
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, as well as if you'd like me to continue with it. If I do, the chapters will get longer and longer.
Next chapter: Chuck confronts Betty, but why? Will she be okay?
