Veronica Lodge and Reggie Mantle were getting ready for their date night at the Cheesecake Factory in Greenwood. They were eager to escape the eerie tension that had taken root in their new apartment in Columbus, Indiana. It had been two days of unsettling occurrences, and they desperately needed a distraction.
Veronica slipped into a black dress while Reggie adjusted his cufflinks. "Maybe getting out for a bit will clear our heads," Reggie said, trying to sound hopeful.
"I hope so," Veronica replied, her voice tense. "We've barely settled in, and it feels like something's been watching us since we got here."
They left the apartment, the cool night air providing temporary relief from their unease. For a few hours, they enjoyed their meal, reminiscing about life in Riverdale, the tangled mess with Hiram Lodge, and how they hoped for a fresh start in Indiana. But as soon as they returned to their apartment, the strange occurrences returned.
The moment they walked through the door, the light in Veronica's office flickered. She sighed, exhausted. "Here we go again," she muttered.
Then, her laptop, sitting on the desk, suddenly began flashing on and off, casting an eerie glow across the room. Veronica's frustration quickly turned into alarm.
"What the hell is wrong with this thing?" she snapped, marching over to the desk. She slammed the laptop shut with a hard thud, silencing the flickering screen.
Reggie looked at her, concerned. "That's not normal, Ronnie."
Veronica nodded. "We need to start writing down all these weird things. There's too much happening." She grabbed her phone and began documenting the paranormal activities they'd experienced so far—the cold spots, the strange sounds, and now the malfunctioning electronics. Reggie chimed in, detailing the odd sensations they had both felt in the apartment.
Once they finished, they sent the updates to Betty, Jughead, Archie, and Kevin, hoping their friends might offer advice or at least give them some sense of comfort.
The apartment felt unnaturally quiet after they hit send. The air was thick with an odd, oppressive stillness.
"Let's just try to get some sleep," Reggie suggested, sensing the tension.
As they lay in bed, Veronica found herself restless. Reggie had drifted off, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, she finally gave in to her curiosity. Quietly slipping out of bed, she padded down the hallway toward her office.
Her heart raced as she opened the laptop once more. Nothing. The screen lit up normally, no flashing, no strange activity. It was as though the earlier incident had never happened.
"That's so strange," she whispered to herself, staring at the screen, hoping for an explanation that would make sense.
Just as she turned to leave, the office door slammed shut behind her with a deafening bang. Veronica jumped, her pulse skyrocketing. Her eyes darted to the door, wide with fear. "Reggie?" she called out instinctively, but there was no response. The apartment was silent.
Trying to calm herself, she turned the handle and cautiously pulled the door open. The hall was empty, no sign of Reggie. She exhaled, her breath shaky.
Veronica glanced toward the office bathroom. It seemed like the obvious place to check. She walked over and pulled the door open, half-expecting something to jump out at her. But the bathroom was empty, as it had been when they first moved in. Everything seemed ordinary—yet the apartment felt anything but.
As she stood in the doorway, trying to gather her thoughts, Reggie appeared at the doorframe of the office. "I heard the door slam," he said, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Are you okay?"
Veronica nodded, though she was far from feeling calm. "Yeah, but it's... weird. I checked the bathroom, but there's nothing in here. I don't know why the door slammed like that."
Reggie frowned and stepped closer. "I heard it too. It sounded pretty violent."
They both stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Finally, Reggie suggested they head back to bed.
As they walked through the living room, something caught Veronica's eye. The silver locket—the one she had found in the office bathroom the day before—was lying on the floor in the middle of the living room. She and Reggie had placed it on the window sill earlier, next to the urn of Diana D'Ambrosio, but now it had inexplicably moved.
"Reggie..." Veronica whispered, pointing to the locket.
Reggie's face drained of color. "That was on the window sill earlier. We didn't touch it, did we?"
"No," Veronica replied, her voice shaky. "We didn't."
The locket lay open, the faint outline of a bloody fingerprint visible on its surface, just like the first time Veronica had found it.
They stared at it, both stunned and terrified. The apartment was not just haunted—it was trying to communicate. Something, or someone, was reaching out to them, and it wasn't friendly.