𝓛𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓑𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭

𝓈𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃

The murder of Poppa Poutine shook the town with pep once more. Although the Black Hood was gone, the danger was not. It was close to everyone, unidentified and mysterious. It lurked in the woods, in the shadows, hid under cabinets and peeked from behind closed doors. No one was safe and no one could be trusted. Not even the toughest amongst them would be spared. 

Even the Serpents would go down with the rest of them.

+ + + + 

Nellie frowned when an unidentified number rang her phone as she walked to the bus stop from her work at the Five Seasons. 

"Hello?" she asked into the slightly broken device.

"Nellie?" she heard a female voice gasp in the speakers. Her first instinct was to immediately hang up when she recognized the voice. It had been days since Poppy had send her last text explaining that if Nellie didn't want help, she would no longer care to give it to her. It had hurt, Nellie would admit, but she also thought it would be better like this.

"Don't you dare hang up on me," Poppy hissed on the other side of the connection.

"Where are you?" the girl demanded.

Nellie squeezed her eyes shut. It should be easy to just click the conversation away. One click and her past would no longer follow her.

"I'm safe," she instead replied, feeling guilt nibble at her conscious. 

She heard Poppy huff through her phone. "What's going on, Nellie? Why'd you just leave? How is your mom?" the girl bombarded Nellie with questions. 

Her heart painfully winced at the mention of her ill mother. "We're both fine," Nellie lied. She did not know why it was so hard to talk to her once best friend. She just wanted the conversation to be over. But something made it hard to click the red button on her screen. 

For a few seconds she just stared at the sidewalk stones, her phone pressed against her ear. Poppy remained silent on the other side of the line.

"I am worried about you, Nellie," the girl finally whispered. Nellie could hear her voice cracking. 

"You don't need to be..." Nellie replied. Her eyes caught sight of a latino man dressed in a neat suit. Hiram Lodge left the building of the Register, Riverdale's independent newspaper. He turned back around and shook the hand of a man who seemed to be the owner. 

"I'm with my father," she heard herself say to Poppy who was still in New York. 

"You're with your father?" Poppy replied in disbelief but Nellie barely heard her friend. Her eyes followed Hiram walking towards his car. The driver held open the door for him. Before he entered the vehicle, his eyes caught Nellie standing on the other side of the road. A moment passed between the two. 

Nellie swallowed, rooted on her spot. Without further recognition, the man entered his car and speeded off. He didn't even care his daughter was still in Riverdale. He wasn't even the slightest bit curious in how she managed to survive around here. Where was she staying? Who was she staying with? What is she eating? Not a single question to bother his peaceful state of luxury. 

It hurt so bad, it made Nellie want to break the windows of his precious Pembrooke flat. Instead, she returned to the conversation that had stopped when she didn't answer. 

"Yes, he decided to take care of my mom and I, given her condition. It's not easy but we're working on it,"

Poppy remained silent on the other side of the line. "I can't be friends with you anymore, Poppy. I'm not coming back to New York. It's better if you move on."

Her friend let out a huff. Nellie could imagine her shaking her head, a grimace disgracing her otherwise almost angelic features. 

"You can't just quit your life here in New York," Poppy shot back "You can't expect me to give up on you. Hell, I've been trying to contact you for months! Is this what our friendship has come to?" 

Nellie could hear the heartbreak in Poppy's voice. "I'm afraid I can't be your friend right now," she said, lowering her gaze. Her feet started moving again, towards the busstop. 

"You're a coward, Nellie," Poppy bit back and with that hung up on her. 

Nellie took a shaky breath. Without thinking, her fingers tapped around the touchscreen. When the phone number was blocked, she dared to look up again. 

From behind the mirror of the Register, she saw the owner watching her. She could not read his expression. Although she didn't even know the man, disgust washed over his features as he watched her until the bus stopped in between them. 

Wanting to get away as soon as possible, Nellie mounted the bus. 

She shook off the creepy feeling she got from the man and thought about her plan of action. Tonight she would go to F.P. and finally ask him to help her bring down Hiram Lodge.