The lost twin

Chapter 25

Betty had never understood it when people said that all of their problems disappear while sleeping. They didn't actually disappear, they were just pushed down and your mind was shut off. So when she woke up in the early morning next day, her eyes adjusting to the light coming from outside, snowing again, she understood whose room she was in. And all her problems came flooding back in, a choking sound leaving her throat once she sat up quickly. She needed to go to the hospital.

"Hey," Jughead said tiredly, his arm that had been around her stretching out to wipe away the new tear from her face.

"We need to go to the hospital," she cried.

"We will," he said softly, tugging her back down on the bed gently. "But not just yet."

"Jughead," she said strictly. "My sister is in the hospital. And I don't know if she's even alive."

"She's okay. She's breathing by herself already," he said quietly, his hand gently starting to stroke her hair, moving close to her body again. "The others were taken there too," he informed her. "They had gotten what heroin. But it wasn't even pure, there was something mixed in the pill. They pulled the powder in by their noses. Toni ended up taking too along with Archie who was in the same situation when he got home. Fred took him to the hospital as well."

Betty's eyes were wide in horror, but she moved closes to his body to get comfort. He wrapped his arms around the girl, allowing her head to rest on his biceps near his shoulder. "Where do you know all of that?" she sniffled, his thumb brushing over her cheeks to wipe the tears away.

"My dad texted me. He's there with the other parents, Jellybean is sleeping in your mom's room, so I need to watch over her," he sighed.

Betty frowned. "He's there?"

"Yeah, your mom wasn't doing well... My dad managed to convince her to not get you to the hospital and let you be at home."

"What?" Betty asked in confusion.

"You were having a panic attack, she was worried and wanted to be with you, but she couldn't leave Toni," he said with another words, her brains taking these ones in, head nodding a little.

"And. How's Toni? Are the others okay?"

"She had it the worst. She's lucky you found her when you did, or else it could've ended up in choking on her vomit or not able to breathe anymore. Her and Archie needed help with the breathing, but I don't know much more," he murmured, knowing they had cannulas with medicine in as well, but not wanting to tell her.

"Can we go?" she asked, her voice breaking halfway through the short sentence.

"They're all asleep in a massive ward with like ten beds. They had to stay overnight. I'm pretty sure they're still sleeping."

"I want to go," she pleaded.

"Baby you had a panic attack," he said quietly with a soft and sad tone. "You need to rest. It's only 7."

"I can't sleep," she cried.

Jughead sighed, moving his lips to her forehead, her eyes falling shut at that automatically, but opening again when he pulled his lips away. "Okay. Can you tell me why you panicked like this? I know you found her like that and all, but if I would've found her, I would've cried and called the ambulance. Panicking is normal, but you can't hurt yourself like that."

These words brought her memory back to last night, remembering her dad, the way she squeezed her nails into her palms, the way she hit her own head against the wall, wanting to lose consciousness too.

Jughead looked at how her face filled with tears, her bloodshot red eyes accompanied by the red cheeks and aching throat. "I don't know," she whispered in a few moments, breaking the eye contact and snuggling herself even closer to him, her head moving onto his bare chest where she could hear the quiet but consistent thumping of his heart.