If We Had 5 More Minutes

"The Fall Of The House Of Usher"

Three days and two nights had passed until the people of Riverdale could leave their snow enclosed homes. Everyone was ecstatic about being freed from isolation. That is, everyone except Cheryl. The last two mornings when she'd awaken with her arms around Toni, she would peer through the windows without waking her. She'd see the snow outside and smiled to herself because she'd get to have Toni in her arms for one more night. However yesterday the snow had cleared, and her heart hurt because she knew Toni would go back to Fangs. Even though Toni had reassured her that it was temporary, and only until they settled the divorce and custody, Cheryl couldn't help but be consumed with doubt. She was a Blossom after all, nothing ever went her way, and no Blossom had ever achieved true happiness. She couldn't help but let her mind wander about all the simple things; what if Fangs convinced her to stay? What if she had a change of heart? Would she fall asleep in his arms, the same and as easy as she did in hers? The questions continued to flood in nonstop, as she stared at one of the fissures in the wall. Has that always been there? She then heard her phone ring on the coffee table. Her thoughts were interrupted and she scrambled to her phone to pick it up.

"Blossom residency." Cheryl answered with a little too much optimism, smiling ear to ear. However her smile slowly dropped when all she was met with on the other end was heavy breathing. There was a loud knock at the door that startled Cheryl, and whoever was on the other side of the phone had hung up. The rhythmic knocking continued, it was slow and heavy, and it grew louder as the grandfather clock ticked. Cheryl watched in anticipation, as an uneasy feeling slowly started to bubble, and her throat swelled up. The knocking had come to a stop, and Thistlehouse grew quite once more, however Cheryl's panic continued to rise. Then as if on cue, a knocking at the back door began, and Cheryl quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the back. She grabbed a kitchen knife as she creeped around the corner to see the back door wide open, and the cold breeze seeped in, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand. She noticed a shadow and slowly took her heels off watching the shadow come to a stop and stand tall against the staircase noticing yet another fissure in the wall cutting right through the shadow itself. They waited anticipating Cheryl's entrance. She tiptoed close enough to pull out her compact mirror to look through. A man in a trenchcoat and fedora hat stood covering his face, with a hand tucked away in his jacket. She started to silently back away till she made it to the other entryway from the kitchen. Two entryways to the kitchen, both leading to the living room. Once she made it to the threshold she threw her heels towards the other entryway, and watched as the man lunged for them. She quickly ran into the living room to the other doorway and ran up from behind the man, stabbing him in the back. Without hesitation she stabbed him once more, and another just to be sure. She left the knife sticking out of his back as the man slowly fell to his knees, and the body hit the ground face down with an empty thud that echoed throughout the grim halls of Thistlehouse, and as the body fell the Great Blossom grandfather clock had stopped ticking. She looked over to see the pendulum as it came to a stop, and the hat had fallen off and revealed the man's pale white skin and red hair. Thistlehouse had become still, as if time had stopped completely. Cheryl's breath hitched in the back of her throat as she drug her feet towards the body, she pulled the knife from his back and used her foot to roll the body over. The pool of blood continued to grow, and while she should have gasped at who the man was, she didn't. It was simple really, he was a blossom. The last known living Blossom other than Cheryl herself. Cousin Fester. It should have been tragic, however it was almost, in a twisted Blossom way, poetic. Both their Father's killed by their own cynical ways, and their mothers rotting away over time. She reached into Cousin Fester's pocket to see what he was reaching for to find a folded card.

You Win
Thanks for playing.

The card fell out of her hand and into the pool of blood and she watched as it soaked it all in. The words written on the card staring back at, mockingly, taunting her almost. She had noticed another fissure in the kitchen floor, the blood draining into the crack on the floor, as if the house was absorbing it, feeding off of it, like a vampire. She continued to stare at the fissure in the floor, wondering if the crack had gotten bigger, or if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. Still, she stood in silence, listening to the house creak, as if it was screaming, or crying maybe. She felt dust fall on her face and she looked up to see more fissures along the ceiling, originating from the grand chandelier that stood directly above Cousin Fester's cold body. She smiled cynically, chucking to herself. The Blossom name had been tainted in blood, longer than she could remember, dating back to when her ancestors slaughtered the Uktena. Hell, this house was built on land soaked in Uktena blood. After all these years they were fighting back, the land was swallowing Thistlehouse whole. The house screeched louder as the fissures grew larger, screaming out in pain as its infrastructure was being pulled apart limb by limb. The house began to shake, and she heard her name being called quietly, she almost thought it was all in the head, until she looked up the staircase. Tears started to form, as she stared at her other half, her twin brother stood at the top of the staircase smiling down at her, as the house they grew up in crumbled away around them.

"Jason." She muttered under her breath. He didn't say anything back, he just stood there looking down at her, smiling with a glow that swaddled him, and the cold that seeped in through the back door was replaced with a sudden warmth that filled her hurting heart. She felt at peace as she smiled back at him as his presence faded, but the warmth stayed, and so did Cheryl's smile. The house was being swallowed up by the Earth and all the evil in this house, from their family, would be swallowed with it. Her family will have atoned for their sins, and the Blossom name wiped from the face. Juniper and Dagwood carried the Blossom Blood, but their hearts were not stained from the burden of carrying the name. They carried innocence, a new name could be built in its place, with a new reputation, with a clean slate. Cheryl looked around Thistle House once more as the lights flickered and everything around her began to fall as the walls crumbled. Jason had escaped before the house had the chance to swallow him along with it, as wicked as it may be, there are times where she thinks that perhaps he was the lucky one. Cheryl wasn't innocent though, not like Juniper and Dagwood, not like her twin brother. She could leave Thistlehouse and survive but then again the blossom curse would live on in her. Perchance, this was her calling, this was how she would atone for her family's sins, by dying and being buried with the blood soaked name. Yes. She thought she was tired, maybe she would be with Jason, but probably not. She closed her eyes just as a fire had started, most likely an electrical one. Death by fire, a poetic ending to the tragedy of a Blossom.

"Cheryl." She heard her name being called in the distance, had she passed already?
"Cheryl." It grew closer, and as it did the smoke began to fill her lungs, and a burning sensation ripped through her throat. She didn't dare fight back though, she accepted her fate.

"Cheryl!" She felt her consciousness slip, and her body grew weak just as it did when she faced the comet. She let herself fall to the ground anticipating her back to hit the hard ground, but instead she was met with a warm embrace, she felt slender hands slip beneath her arms and held her up.

"Jason?" She muttered as she fluttered her eyes open, but she wasn't met with Jason's face, she was met with soft warm brown eyes. Her lips curled up into a smile, as a sense of relief washed over her, her very own savior.

"Toni." She sighed, contently, and she let her head fall to the side. Her vision grew fuzzy as she looked out the back door to see her Brother once again smiling out at her, but this time he was outside of Thistlehouse. He had escaped, and it appeared that Cheryl would too. She had been cleansed of the Blossom family curse. All her doubt had washed away. Toni came back to her, and that was all the reassurance she needed. She looked up at Toni once more before she allowed herself to slip away.