If We Had 5 More Minutes

And Then There Were None

Exactly a week had passed since Cheryl escaped the clutches of death breathing down her neck. Riverdale had resumed its sleepy town tendencies that the people would enjoy until the next big bad wolf came along to challenge the town's peace once more. Betty and Archie had settled into the Andrew's house, avoiding the elephant in the room, perhaps the big question was only popped because of the thick tension residing within the walls at the time. Perhaps the pressure levels dropped and the adrenaline rush subsided, and now instead of the question being when, it was more of an if. Veronica had made preparations to move back to New York and reclaim her title as the She-wolf of Wall Street, stating this time around she would focus on herself rather than pursuing another business to serve as a distraction while searching for a reason not to leave. Reggie was given full rights to the Babylonium as a departing gift from Ronnie, and Tabitha called Xandra to confirm the partnership that would further her dream in franchising pops, with Jughead Jones at her side in full support. Meanwhile Cheryl had once again isolated her within the walls of Thistlehouse, not wanting to confront what lay waiting for her outside the doors. Heather had finally left for Greendale yesterday, after spending the majority of the week making sure Cheryl was going to be okay. Cheryl appreciated everything she had done for her and for healing a part of her that had been broken for what seemed like forever. She truly was sad to see her go, but she realized what Heather had meant by her and Toni being soulmates. Even though Heather had healed Cheryl, it only took one look from Antionette Topaz to bring the damn crumbling down. No matter what Heather did for her, no matter how much she cared for her, it would never be enough. Toni would always be her breaking point, her kryptonite one might say. Cheryl turned her attention to the knock at the door as her thoughts were interrupted. She didn’t answer, instead she waited a while to see if the knocking would continue, when It didn’t she got up to peer outside her window from the curtains. Whoever it was, their presence was no longer accounted for, still she waited a few more minutes before opening the door to find a red box tied with a black ribbon. She picked the box up, the color catching her attention, and scanned the front lawn of Thistlehouse wondering who would leave such a thing. When she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary she closed the door and brought the box in, when she opened it , she found a beat up copy of an Agatha Christie novel. She flipped through the copy but all the words had been blacked out, from the very first page to the last, or at least so she thought. She flipped through a couple more times before realizing there was one line that hadn’t been blacked out. Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; a bumblebee stung one and then there were five. She continued to flip through a couple more times, just to be sure she didn’t miss anything. She reread the line multiple times to try and make something out of it, but nothing came to mind. She let out a sign and placed the book back in the box and placed the box on a shelf, settling on it being a insignificant. 

    Toni was currently drowned in paperwork, considering she had been putting aside her job at Riverdale high due to the Percival situation, and the custody trial. Now that everything was seemingly back to normal, she returned to the real world, where students' lives were in shambles and the school was still short of funding. She had two fingers placed on the side of each of her temples, in an attempt to ease the pain of the migraine she was currently suffering from. Then there was a knock at the door, Toni groaned in response as she straightened up making herself presentable for whoever was at the door. 

“Come in.” Toni stated, trying her best to make her voice seem welcoming, and professional.

“Woah, I come in peace.” Fangs smiled shyly, obvious to the fact that Toni was in distress. Toni let out a sigh of relief, she was thankful for the fact that it wasn’t principal Weartherbee stopping by her office to drop off more paperwork. 

“Hey you alright?” Fangs said, closing the door behind him, now concerned. 

“Yeah i’m fine, just a lot of paperwork, was there a reason you stopped by, and where’s baby Anthony?” Toni replied, a little aggravated by her husband's unannounced visit.