It's funny what people get attached to in life; a child with blanket, a teen with their status, an adult to their money. Some attachments are permanent while others are merely temporary, they can form over time or in an instant.
Personal attachment causes people to act in all sorts of ways; a child may spend the night crying unable to sleep because a piece of fabric wasn't next to them, the teenager might act out of character in order to keep or improve their status and adults….. well adults can say and do all types of things when they feel that what is theirs: what should be theirs is being taken away.
x.x.x.x
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much I love you so please don't take my sunshine away.
Pop Tate knew exactly what to fear; what it felt like to lose a family member; he had experienced it all before; when his dad died and again when his wife and his own daughter had died.
However, today was the single worse day in his life which was saying something seeing as he was a black man who lived in a predominantly white neighbour hood in 1950's USA; he had gone through it all and had come out the other side.
The death of his wife had broken a part of him, but they knew it was coming she had cancer, he had time to prepare to let her go with the comfort modern medicine could manage at the time.
Losing his wife was nothing compared to losing his daughter who had died in a hit and run, it had been violent but instant the doctor assured him, she wouldn't have felt any pain.
The only thing preventing the man who was known as Pop Tate from shattering completely when his Sharon had died was his granddaughter Isabelle Amelia Tate; she had become his sole reason for existence. Without that five year old girl Pop knew he would have found a way to follow his daughter off this earth.
The loss of his child had been the cruelest thing Noah Steven Tate had experienced; until that very morning when a gunman had walked in pointing a gun at his grandchild. It had only been for a few seconds as the man screamed that they stayed still that no one moved but in those seconds Pop Tate knew he would never be the same.
Pop knew that there was nothing he could do about his wife and daughter's death; one was taken away from him due to an illness whereas the other died due to an accident, but Pop vowed that no matter what may come Isabelle Amelia Tate would not die before him, he would not have to lose another loved one.
Pop would not lose that one ray of sunshine he still had left in his Life.
x.x.x.x
Izzy hadn't thought she would manage to sleep since she spent most of the night staring at the ceiling replaying the events of that day.
She must have fallen asleep sometime during the early morning as the sun was now in the middle of the sky although it didn't provide any actual heat as it was in the middle of winter.
She could hear her Pop's downstairs probably cooking and cleaning around the house, he had spent half the night coming into her bedroom making sure she was 'okay'.
Logically Izzy knew that she would eventually 'move on' from what happen yesterday morning but she wasn't exactly sure how to do that, what was the first step she needed to take.
Her all but catatonic reaction mostly came from the shock and violence of seeing Mr. Andrews being shot; the shock of what happened wasn't the issue, with time it would abate, she already felt calmer compare to yesterday. It was the violence of what occurred that she struggled to understand and move on from.
She spent the next twenty minutes laying in her queen size bed looking at the collection of random posters she had managed to gather over the years on her bedroom wall. Her eyes kept on being drawn back to a black and white Churchill quote "If you are going through hell, just keep going" a simple statement, a plan of action for Izzy to follow, in that moment the words by the war time British Prime Minister gave her the first glimmer of hope.
Pop walked into her room to tell her that Sheriff Keller had arrived to ask them some questions and get their statements for what happened yesterday.
After slowly dragging her self out of bed and into her en-suite bathroom to shower and get ready Izzy Tate arrived downstairs twenty minutes later to see the Sheriff taking down some notes on whatever her grandad had been talking about.
"Morning," Sheriff Keller greeted from the armchair next to the window overlooking the street. "As your grandad may have explained I am just here to get your statement of the events yesterday, anything you saw might help us find this guy"
Izzy went and sat down next to her grandad on the four person recliner sofa opposite the Sheriff wanting the comfort Pop's presence always provided her.
"I went in to convince Pop to take the day off a guy came in with a gun… he was wearing a black balaclava hood thing that covered his face , I know he was saying something but I couldn't hear, he didn't make an attempt to get any money, he just went straight for Mr. Andrews and just shot him and run straight back out."
"Did you see him stop, take anything, do anything else before or after" the Sheriff enquired.
"No, he came in, pointed the gun at me and Pop to begin with before turning around to shoot Mr. Andrews and then he just left, I'm sure Pop's gave you the CCTV recordings from the diner."
"Yeah those were extremely helpful but eye witnesses often spot something the camera may have missed. So this man, did he have any tattoos, any insignia on the jacket, anything that can help identify him?"
"Not that I know of, he had a black jacket, grey shirt and jeans, he was an average white guy -with a gun- about your height just a few inches shorter and he was a bit bulkier. I.. I" Izzy stopped herself from continuing her thought
"Any thing can help Izzy" Sheriff Keller gently encouraged, he had seen this many a times, witnesses would often leave out part of the event disregarding it as unimportant
"His knuckles… they were bloody like he punched something and I am not sure if this helps or anything but, I think the guy was rich"
"What do you mean" Sheriff gently prodded
"There was something about him that made me think he was well off… I know is silly… maybe it's the jacket or shirt but there was something about him that said he had money" Izzy couldn't really articulate what she meant but she had a gut feeling that the shooter wasn't poor.
Sheriff made a note in his little book before standing up thanking and informing both her and Pop that they were more than welcome to visit the station if they remembered anything else as he started making his way out of the living room towards the front door.
"Sheriff" Izzy called out halting the man's progress. "The shooter, he erm, he was surprised to see me."
x.x.x.x
The town of Riverdale had always been attached to their local diner which explained why so many residents had turned up on a Sunday morning all ready to clean the diner, trying to heal part their fracturing town; trying to erase the horror of what happen the previous day.
"We need to help her" Josie had said watching her friend leave the hospital in her arms of her Grandfather. "All those in favour of going to Pop's and helping to clean up?" She asked the gathered residents of Riverdale knowing that there will be at least some students eager to help out.
"-Josie" Mayor McCoy began, not wanting her daughter anywhere near a scene of a crime, wishing to protect and keep her as safe as possible.
"Mum, we can't let her go back there not like that, you saw her-" Josie struggle to describe the helplessness her best friend must have been feeling "If it was you today… Izzy would be the first one of us out there helping" she finished.
"Yeah Mrs McCoy,-" Reggie added liking the new plan of action "-we can wait till tomorrow so the cops can finish with the evidence and stuff but it isn't right to let Izzy or Pop Tate be the one to clean up" Reggie stated concerned about his ex clearly showing.
"Plus with the Bull Dogs and half the school there I am sure we will be safe" he added volunteering his boys to help out whether the wanted to or not and they will want to or Reggie would make their lives a living hell both on and off the pitch.
When Reggie Mantel had woken up to the news of a shooting at Pop's Chock'litt Shoppe yesterday morning his stomach felt like it had taken a free fall out of his body; images of the once idyllic restaurant and the violence of the crime described were flashing though his head.
Weren't crimes meant to happen in the cover of darkness; to allow time for the innocent to get to safety, to huddle under their blankets. But the crime committed that day happened in the light of day as if to give extra time and light to the horror of the event.
He couldn't help Mr. Andrews fight for his life, he couldn't help Archie beyond being in a hospital and he hadn't even seem to help Izzy by being there as she didn't even seem to be aware of anything except for the fact that Mr. Andrews had been shot in front of her and that her safe place, her family restaurant had been violated and tarnished never to hold that idyllic innocent image again.
So if Reggie wasn't able to help or fix people he could sure as hell help and fix things starting with Pop's Chock'litt shoppe by erasing all traces of the crime that occurred.
The image of Izzy Tate covered in blood breaking down in Jones' arm was seared into his brain as he saw a girl he grew up with- someone who had seem so indestructible- be destroyed.
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