Two people are able to experience the same event and manage to process it in a completely different way; case in point on the cold November morning when Fred Andrews was shot; his life hanging in the balance, two teenagers Isabelle Amelia Tate and Archibald Oscar Andrew having been tasked with getting him to the hospital proceeded to handle the aftermath in two separate fashion
Despite doing all she could to help Fred like applying pressure to the wound, pushing him into the recovery position when she heard his struggle to breathe, shouting at Pop's to call an ambulance and dragging Archie's attention away from the maniac who had just shot his dad in order to get him to help her move him.
Hindsight is always twenty-twenty as they say, but Izzy sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair berating herself for all the mistakes she had made that morning that could result in the death of her friends dad.
Firstly Izzy Tate the teen who had recently passed her driving test had dove into the backseat of an Andrews construction truck instead letting Archie drive through town, side swapping and and every parked car in his vicinity as the untrained and unlicensed teen rushed to save his dad life.
Secondly, she forgot to apply any pressure to any of the exit wounds, both entry wounds had been covered by her ill equipped hands, however the exit wounds had been forgotten about and was left to bleed out all over her and the backseat of the truck.
Finally, Izzy had scrambled out of the truck to get a doctor leaving Archie to struggle with the weight of a nearly unconscious man, sure it made sense for her to run ahead to call for a doctor but she had left Archie and Mr. Andrews to stagger into the hospital each movement no doubt pulling and pushing the bullet around his body making an all ready unpleasant situation worse.
x.x.x.x
Jughead Jones had just finished breakfast and was been getting ready to make his way to Pop's; hoping that Izzy was working sometime in the afternoon as the girl usually gave him a free meal while sitting with him during her break.
He could use the company of someone who hadn't been in the thick of it investigating the murder of Jason Blossom, an 'unaffected' third party who hadn't been there to discover the video of father killing son or had spent half the night saving a teenager from committing suicide.
His thoughts about finishing and editing his manuscript on the Blossom Murder now that the mystery had been solved was interrupted with ring of his cellphone as the news of Fred Andrews shooting was delivered.
Jughead's, Betty's and Veronica's arrival had gone completely unnoticed by the caramel skinned girl seated under the window in the waiting room, in fact the latter arrival of half the town would eventually go unnoticed by her as well, although her presence would not be unnoticed by them.
"Oh My God!" Betty exclaimed, startled by sight of Izzy sitting in the corner of the hospital waiting room looking identical to Archie yet somehow the sight of Izzy covered in blood seemed to be much worse than Archie; maybe it was the fact the girl was wearing her white work uniform making the bright blood red stain stand to attention or it might just have been the haunted looked within her eyes.
Izzy had also managed to be the picture opposite of Archie in a way, where Archie was animated with movement not able to keep still pacing the corridors of the hospital waiting for vital news, Izzy sat as dormant and immovable as a statue hardly moving, hardly blinking as if her next movement was capable of shattering her already fragile existence.
"Should someone-" Betty began asking before getting interrupted by her boyfriend.
"I can take care of her" Jughead announced leaving one friend in need of help for another. Up close Jughead could tell Izzy may actually be more shaken by the events of that morning than he initially guessed; there seemed to be minute quake and shivers running through a body.
In all the years knowing her Jughead had never known for Izzy 'The Hurricane" Tate to be so still and quite, even when she was sleeping she managed to give off a restless energy as if the act of rest was too bothersome for her to partake in fully and she was just about ready to quit.
He hadn't thought that she was ready to talk let alone move to get cleaned up but as time passed by she slowly started to relax and had even gone as far as reaching out and entwining their fingers together.
He watched as Josie and the rest of the 'Pussycats' arrived immediately spotting one of their own sitting with him and making their way toward them.
"Iz-" Josie whispered trying and failing to reach out to her best friend.
"I think she is in shock" Jughead replied as he saw Izzy ignoring Josie only moving her eyes to stare back at her friend.
As more people arrived to keep Archie company and create more distraction Jughead quietly led Izzy away to the mens bathroom and switched on the faucet and gently placed her hands underneath it trying to get rid on some of the blood staining her hands.
"Do- do you want to change your shirt" he questioned her softly, trying to rid her of her bloodstain shirt without making her aware just how smothered in another person's blood she currently was. Seeing the slow nod of her consent Jug quickly removed the plaid shirt he normally carried around his waist and passed it over before turning around to give her some privacy.
Jughead briefly wondered what he and Izzy looked like as silence had once again fallen over the waiting room when they returned; on any other day the sight of a pussycat wearing what might kindly be described as 'mismatched' clothes' while clutching a bloody shirt would have made front page news but today was all about the attempted murder of Fred Andrews.
x.x.x.x
Izzy watched as half the town stood up and moved closer to Archie Andrews as the doctor marched towards the ginger haired boy to deliver the outcome of this morning shooting.
Unlike the other she couldn't bring herself to get closer to hear the news, she couldn't even bring herself to let go of Jughead's hands… she hadn't realised that she had still been holding onto him after walking out of the bathroom even with half the school staring at her, she felt like if she let go she might break.
Jughead was here, he was solid, he felt warm, he….. she was safe…. as long as she held on she was safe.
He was her anchor to the present, without him she would unravel, the images would keep coming back, the gun… the noise…. The blood seeping and seeping into her skin… going everywhere, touching everything.
x.x.x.x
Archie Andrews watched across the crowded waiting room as Jughead pulled Isabelle into his chest wrapping his arms around her in a hug, either trying to protect her from the horror of the world or from the horror of her own mind.
The actions of the Tate family that morning had made Archie feel an immense amount of gratitude.
He had been sitting here for the last two hours listening to Betty and Veronica attempts to make him feel better; calling him a hero as the rage and anger built inside him.
The mounting pressure had started that very morning as he walked out of the mens' washroom to see a man pointing a gun at his dad, the hours after that had only lead to the rage increasing.
Archie Andrews knew without a shadow of a doubt that the man had come into Pop's with the intention of killing his dad, of taking Fred Andrews' life and leaving him dead on the cold wooden floor of the restaurant.
Archie already knew that without Isabelle Tate assistance that morning that one Fredrick Henry Andrews would be dead right now, a knowledge which Doctor Masters had just confirmed.
"Applying pressure to the wound help stop some of the internal bleeding and getting your dad to stay up right may have just save his life, he still has a little trouble breathing on his own right now but it could have been a whole lot worse if you hadn't helped him. We will continue to monitor his condition but your father is in a better position thanks to you" the doctor explained.
"That- it wasn't me, I just drove the car… Izzy, Izzy is the one who did all that, she saved him" Archie stated watching from afar as the youngest Tate broke down in Jughead's arm.
x.x.x.x
Jughead felt the change in Izzy happening with each step the doctor took towards the waiting room; he felt as her muscles stiffened, he saw as struggled to keep calm, heard how her breathing climbed back up to a fast breathy unstable pace as if she had just run a marathon.
"Is okay Hurricane, is okay" he whispered loudly enough for her to hear it but not so loud that it sent her into a full blown panic attack. "He's alive, Fred's alive you saved him."