As the days went by, Veronica and I started to become closer. It was nice, she was nice. We would meet each other for lunch, do our homework together, everyday we would make it a routine to spend time together. There were times when I thought I was wrong about her, the more time we spent together, the less of a "failed Hollywood starlet" she became, she was just my friend Veronica.
Just friends, though. Honest.
The more I spent time with her, the more I stopped thinking about the Riverdale Vampire and the chaos it had caused in our town. Riverdale was becoming boring, sleepy Riverdale once again, and it was all thanks to her.
She was caring, supportive, and may I say, old Hollywood beautiful, she just had an otherworldly gorgeousness. Of course, that wasn't the only reason she had broken down my defences, right? I was above that. Right?
The break from worrying about our town was nice, but it didn't last forever.
Remember the homeless man?
Well, it turns out that would not be a sole occurrence. Archie had told me that he saw a dreadful looking man scouring the street of the shopping centre, he was panicked, uncontrollable, bothering everybody he met with questions about the Riverdale Vampire. Archie said the man got arrested.
Naturally I assumed we were talking about the same man, and I was thankful that the man who had ran into Veronica was arrested. I when my dad did a small write up about the incident in the shopping centre, he had included a mugshot of the guy, it was different homeless man, another person I didn't recognise. Two homeless men raving about the vampire confused me, but it didn't end there.
As time went on, more and more homeless looking men and women swept through Riverdale. By the end it was happening almost every day, and it was all different people. I started asking around the homeless shelters to see if anybody, workers or the homeless themselves, had recognised any of these strange new invaders. Nobody did. They were not the homeless of Riverdale.
Thanks to dads article, Riverdale was becoming a tourist hotspot, a lot of townsfolk were actually happy about it, these tourists were bringing in a lot of money to the town, helping out the many small businesses we had. Dad started running tours, they were quite popular but there was something strange about the tourists it attracted.
Common sense would dictate that the people who would go to a vampire tour would be fans of vampires. People dressed as Dracula, fans of old horror movies, even fans of cheesy teen vampire romance books, but those were not the people who were coming to dad's tours.
It was all normal people. Quiet, nervous, they didn't ask many questions, or even speak much at all. They all listened intently to dad's made up vampire facts and seemed terrified whenever Dad would joke that the vampire was still loose in the town.
When I tried to question some of the people on the tour they would ignore me, like I wasn't even there. Something was going on, but I just couldn't figure it out.
While dad's tourist weren't talking, I knew of some people that would. I vowed that when I ran into one of the crazed homeless men I would get my answers.
I didn't have to wait long.
One day, as I was walking home from school, I stopped off at the bank to draw out some money, Veronica's birthday was coming up and I wanted to get her something nice. As I was queueing up at the cash machine, a man raced up to the line. He absolutely stunk, he clearly hadn't showered, he was gaunt, he mustn't have eaten in days, he was not looking good at all.
He was scaring some of the older ladies in line, he was frantic, shouting in people's faces, asking he continuous questions about the vampire.
I stepped up to the man before he could assault anybody else, he grabbed me by the shoulders, just the the first man had done to Veronica. "Have you seen him? Have you seen the Vampire?"
I tried to shove him off but he was grasping tight. I thought I would have answers prepare but looking into his gaunt face had threw me for a loop. I couldn't answer his questions, but I could ask my one. I scoffed at him, "No, of course I haven't seen him, he's a hoax, a lie, how can you not see that?"
"No, no, no, the vampire is real, he's in Riverdale and I need to find him before it's too late."
There was desperation in his eyes, he looked so sad, like his life depended on finding this vampire, he was almost crying. It felt unsettling just to look at him. "Look, I can help. Let me buy you some food and a drink, we can sort all of this out."
"No, I don't have time, I have to find him." Then he ran away.
I had thought the Riverdale Vampire had turned my life upside down, but that was nothing compared to what it had done to this man.
"Are you ok, dear?" The old lady in front of me asked.
"Yeah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Mr Blossom isn't looking very fine, is he?"
"Mr Blossom?" It took me a second but then it all fell into place. That man was Clifford Blossom, Cheryl Blossom's father, the richest man in Riverdale.
Clifford Blossom was a titan of industry, a former mayor and a respected member of the community. He certainly wasn't homeless.
The mystery was becoming stranger and stranger. A high school prank may have brought in a few crazy people to Riverdale, but it certainly wouldn't turn one of our best and brightest into a crazed lunatic. There was something more going on here, none of this felt right.
This was no high school prank. Something strange was going on in Riverdale, stranger than I had ever thought possible before. More and more questions were circling Riverdale, and one way or another I was finally about to get the answers I needed.