Hey everyone! So i wrote (and published) a few chapters of this story in the past, but i felt like it was too soon for it to see the light of day so i deleted it. I wasn't sure where i wanted to take the story, and how the characters can be developed, but now I'm a lot more confident in everything. Obviously, if this story gets views (and comments please) I'll continue, and maybe even take some y'alls suggestions. I mean, what's a good story without giving the people a bit of what they want, right?

Well I am terrible sorry for this incredibly long intro, I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know what you think!

*THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED*

Smileymee163

Chapter 1: Home

Everything seemed and felt like a nightmare. A terrible and vivid nightmare that wasn't going to end no matter how hard I tried to wake up. I kept trying to escape but my body was fastened down. My arms kept flinching towards the handle, but something kept them right on my lap. I didn't want to go back, I never chose to come back... I left this dead-beat cursed town close to 4 years ago, I shouldn't be back.

Yet, there I was, hiding from a life I didn't want to claim as my own. But I was good at hiding things. Riverdale taught me just that.

As I crossed the county lines, I felt my heart beat faster and faster. I had so many questions running through my head, I wasn't sure which one of them was making the most noise.

I knew people were expecting me to return. How long can one stay away from this godforsaken town? No one ever goes away from Riverdale … not for too long, anyway.

"You look thin." I heard a voice outside of the internal hell that was my mind. I turned to look at her besides me as she drove us home from the airport.

Her blonde hair just brushed her shoulders, and her blue eyes seemed lighter and clearer, despite the thick blanket of sadness hiding around them. Her lips seemed stiff and the creases around them seemed more prominent than before. She smiled, seeming to pretend that everything was okay, but I knew it wasn't. Alice Cooper was hiding something behind that smile. A part of me wanted to figure out what was going on, why she dragged me back to that place.

Pushing all intruding thoughts to the back of my mind, I smiled at my mother as I met her eyes for just a second. She quickly averted her eyes back to the road and continued her driving. I turned my head back to the window as I saw the scenery quickly pass by. I saw as the scenery changed every few minutes, as if taunting me, and guiding me towards insanity.

I haven't seen anyone since graduating from Riverdale High. I was nervous to see who stayed, who came back, and who stayed away. A part of me knew I was going to run into one person in particular, but I didn't get myself to think about that too much. I was sure he never gave me a though too.

My life completely fell a part after the Black Hood. The guilt of having your father be the sole cause of all the trauma and murder haunted me for weeks. My friendships fell apart, my relationship imploded, and my family ceased to live the same since. The one person who kept me sane, and kept the nightmares away, I pushed out of my life, afraid that I'll drag him even further down with me.

As we pulled up the driveway, I glanced over the entire house in agony and pain and just a hint of joy from the many memories created within it's walls.

When I stepped out of the car, I glanced up to the second floor and immediately stared up at the window next door. The window didn't hold sheer white curtains that peaked from the house next door. The window didn't reveal pink walls and white furniture. That window didn't belong to a girl who would smile in the morning and believe life was wonderful.

No.

That window held beige curtains and dark blue walls. That window revealed posters covering any surface of those walls, and pictures lying to its viewer that the world was safe. That window peeked into a room with dark furniture and an empty guitar stand. That window belonged to a memory. A red-headed, and joyful memory.

My body failed to realize the temperature of day and allowed itself to be consumed by goosebumps. My palms began to sweat and all the air in my lungs seemed to have escaped. I feared that someone would notice, so I quickly shook my head and turned back to unload the car. Memory after memory raced through my mind and tugged at my heart, my mind wandering to the memory of the boy next door.

After unpacking and organizing my belongings, I stood in my empty house feeling like a stranger. Alice ran to the Register to finish her workday, and I was left alone to my thoughts. I heard a faint knock on my door as I unpacked the last suitcase. I headed downstairs completely unaware of who the visitor might have been. To my surprise, the figure that was once sealed as just a memory, leaped from my past and stared at me with dark honey eyes and a crooked smile.

"Hey, Betty." He said. Every letter escaped his lips as if for the very first time. His breath was shaky, and his cheeks were painted with a faded pink.

His shoulders were broad and the light grey t-shirt he had on revealed just enough of how much he's taken care of himself these past few years. His dark pants were washed, but he definitely didn't remember when. His arms were as chiseled as ever but seemed ever so soft. His cheeks were burnt, and his skin was touched by a hint of gold. His hair was just how I remembered it, and the stubble on his chin seemed as if it had never been touched. His almond eyes reflected ever so softly what light refused to say goodnight, and the faint shadow under his eyes told me that they kept him from falling asleep one too many nights. The wrinkles on his forehead conspired with the creases around his lips from revealing his dark and twisted secrets. The memory was broken, but it was real again.

Archie Andrews was the most perfect broken boy. A broken boy who unknowingly broke me. Even with the history and the regrets we both shared with each other, I couldn't help but smile at my old friend and ignore whatever my heart was trying to whisper.

"Hey, Arch." I replied, tucking any stray hairs behind my ear. I cleared my throat, trying to break any silence twilight was bringing us. "Um, what are you doing here?"

He seemed surprised at my response, which was quickly taken over by acceptance, and then what I assumed was … regret? He shuffled his feet as he stood in my doorway and gave the back of his head a scratch before replying.

"Um, I heard you were coming back today so I guess … I guess I just wanted to come to say hi. Is that okay? If I say hi?" his plead was as broken as his eyes were, and once again I felt like I was in High School. Only this time, I was brought back to senior year, and I was more broken than I was in that moment, and I was scared, and vulnerable, and all I needed was my best friend. I smiled at him with assurance, and stepped aside as to invite him in. His eyes widened in shock, and wrinkles formed at each corner of his lips.

"So, how are you?" he began as we stood awkwardly in my living room.

I shrugged my shoulders unable to find the right response. "Fine I guess." I decided to reply.

"How have you been? How was college?" it felt strange to be talking so casually with someone who knew absolutely everything about me.

"It was … quiet, compared to everything here, college was quiet. What about you? How's life?"

"Good, good. I stayed home and did college courses online. It was easier anyway, got to help my dad out with the company. Um, how's uh, anything new?" I stared at the stranger before me, and for the first time in my entire life, was unable to read him.

We were once two people who couldn't bear the thought of losing one another. We were best friends who walked to school every day, solved murder mysteries, and drank milkshakes at Pop's. For the first time in my life, I didn't know Archie Andrews, and he didn't know me.

"Archie, what are we doing? Small talk conversation? Asking how our lives are? This isn't us. This has never been us." I felt the tears begin to form in my eyes as I confronted my former best friend. I felt my heart begin to race for the umpteenth time that day, and my head was unclear as ever.

"Betty…" he sighed as he interlocked his hands-on top of his head and paced around the room.

"No Archie, tell me, what are we doing? What are you doing? Coming to say hi, after all these years, you want to come by and just say hi?" I felt my cheeks begin to warm and the palms of my hands begin to sweat. I had no idea what I was saying to the stranger in front of me, and I had no idea what needed to be said. All I knew is that in that particular moment, I was overcome with fury, hurt, and betrayal.

"What do you want me to say, Betty? Sorry? Well, I am. I am so incredibly sorry for being such a shitty friend. You deserved so much more than what everyone gave you, especially from me."

His red eyes weren't able to hold the tears together and let them flow down his cheeks so desperately to reach the bottom. My heart ached, as if it had ever stopped, and I looked at the broken memory in-front of me.

"Arch…" I began. My throat hitched and everything I wanted to say suddenly vanished. He stared into my eyes with desperation searching for an answer to my silence.

"I'm glad you're back." He wiped the tears from his face and walked past me. The silence in the house once again deafening, and the sound of my heartbeat competing against it. I laid in bed that night, and listened to the stranger strum his guitar, a familiar rythem singing me to sleep, and memories kissing me goodnight.

You hate it? You love it? Let me know! Comments are highly encouraged! Next chapter, I'll do what I previous did in my other works and "shout out" a follower/commenter of the chapter to show my appreciation for your feedback.

Also, I will be posting "Song of the Chapter" to give you guys some insight into how i was feeling while writing this.

Song of the Chapter: These Days. Song By: Rudimental. Cover By: Bailey Jehl

Smileymee163