Thank you to the people who were sounding boards to me, and a special thank you to Maeve of Winter, who helped me in the early stages of this story.
~A~O~O~O~F~
"Alright, everyone, clear out, the alarms are going to go off in four hours, and, if we are lucky, we can be in Toronto by the time everyone gets here." FP Jones, clad in biker boots, jeans, and an a-shirt; struggles against his binds, the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but everything is kind of hazy.
"And from Toronto to St. Kitts."
After ushering Kevin and Archie out, Jughead leaves the trailer for the last time and moves to lock the door, but Kevin stops him. "We shouldn't lock it."
***I lie awake and dread the lonely nights, I'm not alone***
Fred Andrews groans, as he becomes aware that the song isn't coming from a nightmare. He cracks open an eye to see that the clock says 5:15 AM, taunting him that he could sleep for another hour and a half. Fred gets up, and stumbles down the hall, wishing he had worn something warmer to bed other than his red plaid pajama set. "Archie, it is 5:15 in the morning, why in the name of creation are you blasting Dokken at… full…"
***When I close my eyes, I realize, you'll come my way***
Sierra McCoy, wearing an old campaign shirt and pink slippers, marches toward her daughter's room. "Josephine, I told you last night at dinner, I have a very busy day today. I need you to take responsibility and be a mature a…du…lt…"
***We're the dream warriors. Don't wanna dream no more***
"Kevin Keller, you have two tests this morning, why, precisely are you blasting that damn Dokken crap, at 5:15 in the morn... ing… Oh my God." Tom, still in his sheriff's uniform, clutches at the door frame as his mind tries to absorb what it is seeing; something he swore to never mention in high school, coming back to taunt him like a living nightmare.
*** I feel the touch coming over me, I can't explain***
Alice Cooper, wearing a blue nightgown is on her knees, "No, no, this can't be happening…. No..." She reaches up to touch the red Gryphons and Gargoyles logo has been painted onto her younger daughter's comforter. It's dry, so it can't have been recent. But, Betty… Betty couldn't know about G&G, they made a pact, to the grave. Was her entire family going to be torn away from her?
***It's the same desire, to feel the fire. That's coming your way****
"Holy God, please let her be alright." Hermione Lodge, wearing a black silk pajama set, races back to her daughter's room, after searching for her in every room in the Pembroke. Could the Gargoyle King have taken her daughter? She looked at the mirror over Veronica's Chippendale dresser and sees an address, no, FP Jones' address written on the mirror, in lipstick.
***We're the dream warriors. Maybe tonight you'll be gone***
Marty Mantle, clad in New York Giants pajama pants, tries to force the key into his car, after having to run back up to his bedroom because he had forgotten his keys on the bedside table. Why was this happening now? He bets that it has something to do with Hermoine moving back to town. If she had hurt Reggie, he would make it his life's mission to find everything that she and Hiram had, and destroy it.
***Sweet Revenge. The bitter end***
Darryl Doiley, having thrown on a Riverdale High hoodie and the dress pants he wore to work yesterday to supplement the fact he had only worn briefs to bed, races through a red light, ignoring the car who has to slam to a stop at the last second. What had happened to his son? Could someone have kidnapped his son as revenge? Could the G&G symbol be a cover? He needed to save Dilton.
***Break the spell of illusion. Bound together waiting for you***
As she pulls into the so-called Sunnyside Trailer Park, Penelope cannot stop the sneer forming on her perfectly painted face. "If I find out you were compliant in this, Cheryl Blossom, I swear, I will sign you over to Sister Woodhouse." Penelope sees that there are seven other cars on the street, so she pulls over. This doesn't bode well. She had introduced G&G into Saturday detention because she wanted to get closer to them. As expected, her cohorts had gotten sucked into the game, and the library copy had meant that even more people had been drawn into the web of the Gargoyle King. On Accession Night, Featherhead had died… she had wanted someone to die… she wanted there to be chaos. If any of them had tried to help her, escape from the Blossoms, she never would have unleased the Gargoyle King on Riverdale High. She couldn't believe this was coming back to haunt her, especially so soon after Jason.
~A~O~O~O~F~
Approaching to the trailer, she walked right in, as the door to this decrepit hovel was already open. The floor is littered with liquor bottles and beer cans, with broken brown glass, presumably from cheap beer bottles. As expected, aside from Hiram, she is the last Midnight Club member to arrive. Everyone is talking at once. Tom and Fred seem to be working on undoing wire that had been tied around FP. Penelope whistles, calling everyone's attention to her. "What the hell is going on here?" Alice scoffs, "the alcoholic here is having trouble remembering."
FP flips her off; "all I know for sure is that a couple of figures in white bedsheets jumped me as I came into the trailer, and tied me up. But I think I heard something about Toronto, and maybe St. Croix?"
Hermione sighs, and turns, "what the?" She walks toward the kitchen, "FP, is there any reason why you have a photo of Featherhead on your fridge?" "Hermione, I might be an alcoholic, but there is no way I would do that."
Tom grunts, "And how can you be sure of that?" as he works through a knot that allows FP to stand up.
A sharp intake of breath comes from the kitchen, "I think he's right." Hermione walks back into the living area, holding an envelope with the words, 'Midnight Club. From: Daylight Kids.' "This is Veronica's handwriting." She opens the envelope and looks at the paper inside.
"There could be fingerprints on that…" Tom began, but Darryl cuts him off. "If that has a demand in it, we need to know now. Besides, if we go to the rest of the police, we will all be arrested."
"Oh, my… Screw you, Hiram …" Hermione screams. Everyone looks at her, as she sinks to the floor. "Hiriam's journals… daughter... everything…." Sierra grabs the letter and starts to read aloud.
Dear Frederick Andrews, Penelope Blossom, Darryl Doiley, Hermione Gomez, Hiram Lodge, Thomas Keller, Forsyth Pendleton Jones, Jr, Martin Mantle, Sierra Samuels, and Alice Smith;
We know what happened on Ascension Night and everything else. While only one of you is guilty of murder, each of you are guilty of conspiracy after the fact. But all of you have done other terrible things
Radiant Knight, you should have gone to the police and told them everything; and you didn't keep track of your friends.
Game Master, after introducing Gryphons and Gargoyles into Riverdale from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy; you became a pawn for your adoptive family. The true backbone of Blossom Maple Farms, are the Sugarmen, the ones responsible for bringing methamphetamines into Riverdale.
Game Master, you have terrorized and abused your son, keeping him from getting the help he needs.
Thief, you chose compromised your integrity, your morals for comfort, money, power. All the good works you preach about doing is done with dirty money that doesn't balance out the bad deeds our family has done.
Nisse, you are an incompetent Sheriff, who is still in mooning over the Siren.
Cleaver, aside from breaking all kinds of laws, you have kept tabs on everyone in the Midnight Club, to have something to barter with, when you got caught. You also hid away your illegitimate daughter, even after her mother died.
Deadeye, you are the Serpent King. You might be trying to protect your people, but you shouldn't do it at the expense of your family. Your drinking has ruined your loved ones' lives.
Hellcaster, you have become a shady cliché used car dealer, but you also failed as a father.
Siren, you haven't done good for Riverdale, you work for your profit, and to continue your power and your donors.
Sorceress, you are a self-righteous, Southside Serpent hypocrite, who gave up the child you were pregnant with on Ascension Night without telling Deadeye about his son.
We will never be like you. We are running away from this hideous and cruel place, and we will never return to this twisted and cursed town. This is our goodbye letter, because as of right now; we are not your children.
Sincerely yours;
The Daylight Kids
A moment of silence descended onto the trailer, but then the trailer erupted into pandemonium. Among the exchanges were
"Alice … from Homecoming… he was mine?"
"Penelope, you planted the manual in the library?"
"FP, if you couldn't figure it out"
"Tommy, are you still in love with me?"
"Typical Hiram, doesn't do the dirty work himself"
"All I did was prepare Dilton for the real world"
"How the mighty have fallen"
"I asked you to wait for me, didn't I?"
"Hermoine screams, "QUIET! This… this is why they ran away… We failed, we failed as parents, as guardians of Riverdale… We have lost our kids. Our families are gone."
Later that day, Tom finds a note taped inside his laptop. "Dad, I will never thank you enough for being so accepting of me. For protecting me. But I can't stay here. Goodbye, Kevin"
Alice finds a note inside of her jewelry box, "Mom; Jason and Polly run away because they wanted to raise their baby in a safe place. Congratulations Granny."
Penelope gets a letter that has the return address of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, stamped in Greendale, "Mumsy, because Hiram Lodge only suspected that you were the one behind Accession Night, setting up the poisoned chalices that killed Featherhead, Veronica convinced me not to include it. In reality, you probably wanted all of the Midnight Club members to die. But I know the truth."
The next day, Fred gets an email from his ex-wife's account. "Dad, I love you so much. You gave up your dreams for Mom and me. But there is a darkness that has permeated every corner of a little town called Riverdale. After Veronica told us the whole truth, we decided that we needed to save ourselves. It only would have been a matter of time before me and the other Daylight Kids were consumed by the darkness. Goodbye, Archie."
~A~O~O~O~F~
I haven't been able to find what Martin Mantle's Gryphon and Gargoyle's character was, so I went with the one that I thought the teenage Marty would like the most.
If anyone has any suggestions or reviews, I would greatly appreciate the feedback. My email is sonofshadyclyde88