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Chapter Eight
Too Many Questions
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     NEWS TRAVELED FAST IN A TOWN LIKE RIVERDALE. The case of Jason Blossom, the Black Hood attacks, the death of Midge Klump, and most recently, the case of Dilton Doiley and Ben Button. When Tori heard that they were found with blue lips in a place that was set up like some sort of ritual, it sent a shiver down her spine. Dilton was already pronounced dead on site and Ben later fell from a window in the hospital later that night. Unlike the case of Jason Blossom and Midge Klump, she didn't really know who Ben or Dilton were but it still shook her to the core that more kids were dead. In less than four years, four kids were dead and it made her wonder who could possibly be the next to die. As far as everyone knew, there wasn't much out of the ordinary surrounding their deaths and it was simply suicide with no strings attached.

     "I'm getting sick of this town," Tori said as she sunk into the sofa in the student lounge.

     "Do you still wanna leave after graduation?" Sweet Pea asked as he sat down next to her.

     Tori sighed deeply as she leaned her head back until she was looking at the ceiling. She remembered when she told Sweet Pea that she wanted to leave Riverdale and find a place where she could start over. That was when she felt unwanted, out of place, like she didn't belong anywhere. She wanted to find a place where she would be accepted, a place that wasn't Riverdale. That was when all she had was Cheryl and Reggie, the two people who nearly shattered every bit of light and trust she ever had. When Reggie broke up with her, she leaned on Cheryl but even the redhead started to accept her less and less. Then she met Fangs, Toni and Sweet Pea the day they transferred to Riverdale High. She got along with Toni and Fangs fairly quickly but she couldn't say the same about Sweet Pea and his hostility towards her. Even when she started to fall for him, she still felt unwanted and wished for time to pass quicker so she could leave sooner.

     She wondered how she and Sweet Pea were able to come such a long way from where they started. While he treated her with hostility and bitterness, she still treated him with grace and benevolence just like she treated the others. She still helped him, even when she was sure he hated her. She wondered when things changed for Sweet Pea, that moment in time where he stopped being so truculent.

     Now when she thought about leaving, she wasn't as sure as she was before. Her mother was in Riverdale and even after she was sure she lost the only two people who ever cared about her and accepted her, she found others who did and she found more than what she was expecting. She found friends who truly cared for her and someone who was willing to be with her, flaws and whatnot. So when she thought about leaving now, she wasn't so sure if it was her dream anymore. She looked at Sweet Pea who was staring back at her with such intensity that her words nearly got caught in her throat.

     "Now that I think about it, I'm not so sure leaving was the ultimate dream after all even though I've been wanting to do it for years," she said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "Why not?" Sweet Pea asked.

     "My mom is here and all I wanted was to find people who would accept me for everything, even if I had to find it somewhere else. I guess leaving was just part of it if I couldn't find it here," the pale girl replied and leaned her head on Sweet Pea's shoulder.

     "What about now?"

     Tori sighed. "As crazy as this town is, it's still my home and I still managed to find the people I love in it," she said as she looked at her folded hands that rested on top of her knees. "I now have people that are worth staying for."

     Sweet Pea smiled while Tori played with the ends of her sleeves, one her nervous habits along with fidgeting with her fingers.

     "What's going on inside of that little head of yours?" he asked as she checked the time on her phone.

     "I'm thinking that lunch is almost over and I have biology with Marissa in five minutes," she said as she stood up and pulled the hem of her grey shirt over the waist of her dark blue flare jeans.

     "You're something else," Sweet Pea said with his arms crossed.

     "Why do you say that?" Tori questioned as she picked up her bag off the floor.

     "Instead of distracting me with something else, why don't you just tell me what you're really thinking?"

     "You mean other than Ben and Dilton killing themselves in less than twenty-four hours?"

     "Careful. Remember what happened the last time you worried about the things you couldn't control?"

     Tori rolled her eyes as she adjusted her bag. "I'm not worrying, I'm just trying to understand what happened," she said.

     "Dilton ingested poison and Ben threw himself out a window. That's what happened," Sweet Pea said.

     "But why? Why poison? Why throw himself out a window?" Tori questioned.

     "You're starting to sound like Jones and his girlfriend," Sweet Pea said as he stood up and grabbed his bag as well.

     Tori paused for a moment when an idea came to her head. "Do you know where I can find Betty and Jughead by any chance?" she asked.

     "Why?" Sweet Pea asked.

     "They're literally the embodiment of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. They can do some digging and find out what really happened to Ben and Dilton," the dark haired girl said.

     "You're talking about investigating two suicides. For all we know, that's all it really was," Sweet Pea said.

     "You know what, you might be right. But I still have a bad feeling about this whole thing. If I talk to Betty and Jughead and there's nothing strange with this double suicide gone wrong, I'll let it be and we don't ever discuss this again," Tori said while looking at Sweet Pea who shifted uncomfortably.

     "And if there is something strange going on with their deaths?"

     "If there is something strange, then we might have some history coming back to bite us in the ass."

     Worst case scenario, everybody starts dropping like flies and bodies show up out of nowhere. But that didn't make Tori's curiosity about the two recent deaths any less concerning to Sweet Pea. She may not have realized how much her state of mind had changed over the months but he could tell that while she was more vigilant, there was still that one part of her that pushed her into something that never involved her to begin with. Some things just never changed.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

     AS SOON AS TORI WALKED OUT OF FOURTH PERIOD, SHE STARTED LOOKING FOR BETTY AND JUGHEAD. To be honest, she did think it sounded strange that she was suddenly curious about two teen suicides but she just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. If anyone knew how to dig deeper and find the root of the problem, she knew that all she had to do was ask the Serpent leader and his blonde girlfriend and she would have the answers she needed in no time.

     She stopped in front of The Blue & Gold headquarters and knocked on the open door. Betty and Jughead looked up and Tori could see the confusion on Betty's face although Jughead wasn't so surprised. She didn't really talk to Betty and she had a little bit more association with Jughead than his girlfriend.

     "Tori, we weren't expecting to see you here," Betty said with a tight smile.

     "Actually, Sweet Pea gave me a heads up that you would stop by," the boy said as he crossed his arms.

     "Why does that not surprise me?" Tori questioned.

     "He said you had questions about Ben and Dilton," Jughead pressed with his eyebrows raised.

     "Do you guys also get a bad feeling that it wasn't just a double teen suicide gone wrong?" Tori asked, hoping that she wasn't the only person harbouring that strange feeling.

     "Go on. Tell us what you know," Betty said as she leaned forward with her arms on the desk.

     "All I know is that they were found in the woods and Dilton was already dead at the scene and Ben was still alive but he died later that night. Dilton ingested some sort of poison and Ben jumped out a window," Tori said.

     "He didn't exactly jump," Jughead pointed out.

     "You two know something!"

     "No, we don't!"

     "You just said he didn't jump. That's what it said in The Register but if you're saying he didn't exactly jump, then how do you know that? And if you do know that, what else do you know?" Tori asked while pointing at the two teenagers in front of her and Betty sighed with her arms crossed.

     "Nice one, Jug," she said and Tori narrowed her eyes at the two while leaning forward onto the desk.

     "So, what do you know?" she asked and Jughead and Betty looked at each other before sighing heavily.

     "Ben and Dilton had some sort of ritual site set up where I found them. They had all these animal bones, runes and these two chalices. When we went to the hospital to talk to Ben, he said something about ascending before he just let himself fall out the window," Jughead said and Betty looked at her folded hands.

     "Is there anything else?" the dark haired girl questioned while looking at the two expectantly.

     "Dilton was trying to tell me about some board game called Gryphons and Gargoyles and something called the Gargoyle King. They had something that looked like the Gargoyle King from the game set up at the scene. The way they spoke about it, it was like they were talking about some sort of religion," the Serpent boy continued.

     "And you think this game might have something to do with their deaths," Tori stated and the other two nodded. Tori looked at Betty and another thought came to her head. "Your mother works for The Register, why wasn't any of this reported so people know not to mess with this game?"

     "My mom didn't think it was important to include any of those details. Besides, who would believe anything about a 'murderous board game?'" the blonde questioned.

     "Fair enough," Tori sighed as she put her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

     "Satisfied?" Jughead asked.

     In all honesty, after hearing everything Betty and Jughead knew about the death of Dilton Doiley and Ben Button, she had more questions than answers and she wasn't sure what to do anymore. In other words, she wasn't any more satisfied than before she spoke to Betty and Jughead. Whatever was going on in this town, it wasn't the first and it definitely wasn't going to be the last.