𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘
BRING ME CLOSE
; ♡⋆.ೃ࿔*

The blinding light of a flashlight shone in Chris's eye as his bruised face make him cringe. His face slouched and laid uncomfortably on the steering wheel as he could feel a hand on his shoulder, but no voice belonging to it. He could hear the yells, but they were distant and weren't what Chris was thinking about. Every bone in his body ached as he was trying to register in his mind what had happened before. It was kinda funny, hadn't even opened his eyes and he was trying to remember what happened.

But his thoughts soon removed the desperate need for answers when he noticed the fact that his body was pinned. His entire left side of his body pressed against the little console between the seats. Every time he moved just a little, some stabbing pain licked around his side. Causing him to groan every single time which had his eyes threatening to shed tears.

Squinting, his eyes slowly flickered open to see a dark figure with their phone light shining into his eyes. The person leaning in from the passenger side door gave his shoulder a squeeze. But as he tried to open his eyes wider, one was just black with blood running from the brim. Causing him to quickly figure out that there was damage to it. "Chris. Chris, can you hear me?" A panicked voice shook him, causing him to groan loudly from the pain. "Oh, Jesus. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck." The person muttered as glanced over their shoulder outside at the sounds of the sirens.

"Hello?" Chris muttered, licking his dry lips as the person's attention shifted to him quickly. "Hey, hey, hey. Hey, man." The light from the phone was removed from Chris's eyes, allowing him to see it was Jughead. "Jug." Chris chuckled only to shut up and bite his tongue from the pain.

"What the fuck happened?" He asked, his swollen eyes blinking tiredly. "Don't worry about that. The ambulance is on its way." Chris let his eyes flicker around to see a few more bystanders watching in worry. A tiny smile formed on Chris's lips as he looked back at Jughead. "Tough crowd, huh?" He quipped, seeing only a weak smile from his brother. "Yeah, sure." He said.

In an attempt to figure out what had happened, Chris tried sitting up. That was a big mistake as his eyes widened a painful yell ripped through his lungs. Causing him to fall back on his steering wheel. "Chris, don't move!" Jughead exclaimed, not meaning to sound angry, but he was on the verge of having a panic attack at this point. "What- What the fuck happened, Jug?" Chris questioned.

"I don't know. You must've lost control and crashed. Luckily I was a block away when I heard." Jughead explained as Chris swallowed thickly. Biting his bottom lip as he felt a cold shiver run down his back.  He knew that he definitely broke something if he could move, but he also knew he was losing blood. From the warm liquid dripping down his face was enough, as well as some of it going down his arms.

Tilting his head, Roland looked to his lower left and felt the panic that he hadn't acknowledged was now emerging to the surface at the sight that was given to him. His blood stained the metal and dropped onto his leather seats with a distinct dripping sound. A fragment of the pole he had crashed into had pierced through the door and stabbed him into the sound. Causing his ability of being able to move practically impossible as he felt like his entire abdomen would split right open by the metal. Well, that and because he crashed the driver's side of the vehicle into the pole and created a massive dent in the side that could've folded the car if it was hit any faster than it was. Only now he had a pice of metal stabbed into his stomach with his body pressed against the centre console by the pole.

"Oh, that's not good." Chris muttered gaining Jughead's attention as he looked at his older brother. "What?" Moving to get a better look, Jughead's eyes widened as he muttered curses under his breath. "Jug, if you start panicking, I start," Chris told him. "So, how about I don't pass out before the ambulance gets here." He explained, trying to keep the conversation light, but was failing dramatically.

"How can I not panic when you have a pole sticking into the side of you?" Jughead exclaimed as Chris lifted a shaky hand and placed it on his brother's leg. "Just call Veronica, Betty, Olivia, or anyone. Just something to calm you down." Just as those words left his lips, the vibrating in his pocket got his attention. "Someone's calling. Reach into my pocket." Chris told his brother.

"What if it hurts you?"

"Jughead, just do it."

"No."

"Jughead, if I die here, I'm going to rise from the dead and kill you," Chris promised with squinted eyes towards his brother. "Grab my phone and answer the call." After a silent moment, Jughead carefully reached into Chris's pocket and pulled the phone out. Quickly pressing the green answer button and putting the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Jughead, where is Chris?" Veronica questioned, standing inside her bedroom at the Pembrooke. "Ronnie right now isn't the best time. I'll have to call you back." As if he was a dog, Chris's eyes brightened at the sound of the girl's name. "Put her on speaker." He told his brother before letting out a cough.

Jughead stopped for a moment as Chris coughed into his hand. Slowly pulling it away and seeing it stained in dried blood, but now coated in new. Looking at his younger brother, Chris could taste the crimson liquid plaguing his mouth. But brushing it off, Chris motioned with a hand for his brother to put the phone on speaker.

A second past and Jughead put the phone on speaker. "Okay, he's here," Jughead announced to the girl who stopped pacing in her bedroom. "Chris?" She called out shakily. "Hey, beautiful." Chris smiled, coughing a little bit. "Where are you? You don't sound okay?" She quizzed and Chris glanced at his brother. "Would you believe me if I told you I was in a crash?" He questioned and the gasp from Veronica filtered through the phone.

"What happened? Where are you?" Veronica questioned, quickly walking out of her bedroom into the living room where Hermione was sitting on the couch. About to take a sip of her wine when her daughter stormed through the living room and began getting her coat on. "Don't worry about it, alright? I'll talk to you in the morning." He assured before giving his brother a nod of permission to hang up. "Chris! Chris, where the fuck-"

The sirens from an ambulance had gotten louder and closer. Seeing the headlights belonging to the cars begin to appear in his vision. Only causing the two cars he nearly hit before he crashed to flicker into his mind. God, he definitely would've preferred flipping the car or something else at least.

Chris watched as his brother hopped out of the vehicle, which was a horrible decision. With the shift of the vehicle, the pole in Chris's side shifted, causing him to let out a scream of agony. His hands clenched around the steering wheel as a white flash took over his vision. "Chris, hey, man. Chris!" Jughead's voice became distant the further unconsciousness crept up onto the older Jones brother. And soon, that same darkness welcomed him once more with open arms.

Veronica, on the other hand, was panicking as she had been texting and calling Chris for minutes now since he hung up. She swore that when she saw him, she was going to put him six feet under for putting her in such a state that she was in. Only pacing back and forth to try and piece together everything that was happening. Originally, she was calling to ask to talk to Chris, but when Jughead answered there was something bad going on. Especially if Jughead said Chris couldn't talk, since the boy always had made time for her.

Taking a seat on her bed, the girl opened her phone to her contacts and slid down the row just barely before stopping at Betty. Pressing call and placing the phone to her ear as she had her coat and heels on, ready to go out hunting for the boy she loved. Her leg bouncing as she glanced at her purse for a moment as the rings from the phone were all she could hear.

Just as she was about to give up, Betty picked up. "Veronica, have you heard?" The blonde asked, only raising more panic to flood the girl as she felt her body stiffen. "What?" She asked, unsure if she even wanted the answer. Truthfully, she didn't because it would only cause her to spiral out of control.

"Chris got into a car crash. Jughead just called me and said they got him to the hospital." Veronica inhaled sharply as he placed a hand on her chest. Leaning forward before placing her hand on her eyes. "Oh my god." She muttered, the damn holding her emotions crumbling as a sob escaped her lips.

"Veronica, Archie and a few others are already there. You should make your way over." Betty suggested as the girl nodded, wiping her eyes. "I'm on my way." She promised, quickly hanging up and standing up from her spot and exiting her bedroom. Again, interrupting Hermione from taking a sip of her wine.

"Ronnie, what's wrong?" She asked, noticing the girl's slight red eyes. "It's nothing. I need to go out. I won't be home until tomorrow." Veronica explained briefly, not leaving any room for her mom to respond as she shut the apartment door right when Hermione opened her mouth to speak.

After telling Smither's the location she needed, they were on their way. She was very thankful that the old man had sped up, clearly guessing the urgency in the girl's voice. But her eyes always flickered to her phone, wanting to call Chris only to remember he wouldn't answer. It hurt her knowing that the boy was in a state of pain and agony. She wanted to absorb it all and place it all on herself, but she couldn't. All she could do was hope for him to get better and hope he made it out alive.

Veronica's attention shifted to the flashing orange lights hitting her face. Looking out the window, she places her hand over her mouth. Seeing Chris's Mustang destroyed by the pole he crashed into. The whole driver side of the vehicle smashed in with all the glass shattered and all over the road. Workers were discussing amongst one another while some bystanders took pictures, some even being people from school.

Sitting back in her seat, Veronica tried to calm herself down. And by the time she did, they were at the hospital. Veronica didn't say thanks or goodbye to Smithers as she had hopped out of the car and made a beeline to the sliding doors of the hospital. The cold winter wind washing away as she entered the hospital. A few doctors talking quietly to each other as they had their scrubs on.

Continuing down the dim hallway, she rounded a corner and found the waiting area where Archie, Betty, FP, Olivia, Jughead, Cheryl, Kevin, and many others were sitting. Her feet picked up the pace, getting the attention of Jughead as he stood up at the girl's entrance. Not even able to get a word out as she quickly asked, "What happened?"

Wringing her hands together, Betty turned to the girl. "From what we've been told and what Jughead found out at the crash was Chris lost control of the vehicle." The blonde began as Veronica quickly took a seat beside her. "When he crashed into the light pole, a piece of the metal had punctured his internal oblique. Thankfully the paramedics were able to get him out and rush him here. That was when Jughead called us and we all rushed over."

Abruptly, Archie stood up from his spot and stormed off towards one of the hallways. All of them glanced at each other and both Jughead and FP went after him. But Veronica stayed glued to the seat as she tried to process the information given to her. Opening her mouth to speak, Veronica fell ill of words for a moment. When she gathered all the information, a stray tear slid down her cheek as she looked up at the blonde.

"Is he in surgery at the moment?" The blonde nodded in confirmation. "Jughead and Archie plan on staying here for the rest of the night. The doctors said they would set up beds for them when Chris was put into a room." Betty explained as Veronica nodded, wiping the tears away. "Okay, um, I guess I'll just have to ask them to set up another." She stated as she stood up, but was stopped. "Ronnie, there's more."

With a frown, Veronica sat back down with her hands resting on her thighs. "What is it?" She questioned, seeing the hesitance in the blonde's expression. "I think Olivia should tell you." Veronica's eyes flickered to the Blossom who bit the inside of her cheek. "When we went to the tree tapping, he seemed off..."

In a vacant hallway of the hospital, Archie paced back in forth. His hands resting on his hips as he tried to control his breathing while tears streamed down his cheeks. "Goddamnit." He muttered, rubbing his eyes as FP and Jughead stood by. "This can't be happening." Jughead glanced at his dad before walking towards Archie. Placing a hand on the ginger's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Arch, he's going to be okay," Jughead assured as FP nodded. "Jug's right, Red. Chris, he's a warrior." He added, but Archie shook his head, looking at Jughead. "I can't-" Biting his bottom lip, struggling to get the confession out, Archie pursed his lips. "He can't die, Jug. There's so much I need to tell him."

A frown formed on Jughead's features as he stared at the boy. "What do you mean, Archie?" He asked as the ginger lowered his head. Trying to wipe his tears away that just continued to fall despite him blinking them away. Licking his lips as he felt his face scrunch up with conflicting. Both Jones stepped closer to the boy, trying to meet his eyes that were clamped shut. There was something that wanted to slip right off the tip of his tongue, but what it was was a mystery to the pair.

When Archie met Jughead's eyes, slowly things were beginning to piece together. The right puzzle pieces falling into their correct spots and making the image that Archie was trying to show them. It caused Jughead to let out an exhale as he brought his friend into a hug. Sobs immediately escaping Archie as he balled a handful of Jughead's shirt in his hands.

"You can tell him when he wakes up, Archie," Jughead told the ginger as he rubbed his back. "And trust me when I say this. Things will be okay between you two. You just have to believe that."