Part 10
Toni opened her eyes having heard shuffling in her half asleep state. Once her eyes focused, she realized it was Olivia and quickly turned to Cheryl who was also asleep right next to her on the couch.
“Cher…Cher, she’s up,”
Olivia’s face twisted in pain as she tried to sit up by pushing up onto her hands.
“Hey, hey, hey, relax Liv, watch your wrist.” She said as she ran over.
She cried out slightly, having felt the pain from pushing down on her wrist. She blinked her eyes opens slowly looking uncomfortable and confused.
Cheryl made her way to the other side of the bed.
“It’s okay, we’re here,” Cheryl tried to comfort her. She tried to get her to settle down and pulled Olivia’s arm away from trying to touch the stitched wound on her forehead.
Toni hit the nurses button before returning back to Olivia and watching Cheryl brush the hair from her daughters face and speaking soothing words.
-
“Thank god,” Cheryl whispered while laying on her side next to Olivia and combing her fingers through her hair.
“Thank god you’re okay,”
“How do you feel? About what the doctor said?” Toni asks sitting in a chair on the other side.
“O-okay,” Olivia whispered quietly.
“And what about the police wanting to ask you questions?” She followed up.
“It’s okay, they can come in,”
“Are you sure? Because you don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for,” Cheryl added.
“Yes. What happened afterwards anyway?”
“I’m not sure,” Toni hummed,
“We’ve been here with you,”
“Oh, so you don’t know about the guy-“
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Just relax,”
-
Eventually her moms relented and let the police come in to question Olivia, they had been waiting a while but were very courteous.
“We just want to understand what happened between you and this…person of interest leading up to the event,” the officer said notebook and pen at the ready.
“Um, well I saw him run off and I followed him. When we neared the end of the hall I called to him. I wanted to know what he was doing, why he was there. That’s when he opened his jacket and showed me the bomb strapped to his chest. I don’t know why I was so surprised, I had seen this all before in my head. A few seconds later he took out the button and set it off. That’s the last thing I remember.”
“And what about the gun?”
“GUN?!” Toni shouted in shock.
-Flashback-
They’d finally made it to the end of the night and the crowd had dwindled down to just their close group of friends and family. The band and staff were packing and finishing up their duties but laughter and chatter still swirled through the room as everyone was finally able to relax now that all the spectacle was over.
Olivia was looking around cautiously from her spot leaning against the stair rail when someone passed by, practically knocking into her. They continued going towards the hall before turning to look back to make sure nobody was watching. Her heart stopped when she recognized that face. This was it. That was him.
She trailed behind him trying to keep her distance. She’d figured this would happen, just like her dream. Only now she was prepared. Olivia stopped and quickly pulled a gun out from the holster under her dress. After her moms left she went into the safe in Toni’s office to retrieve it. After all, it was for emergencies.
Closing in on the dead end, the mysterious man turned around having realized he was being followed. They were now face to face.
Olivia held up the gun, standing about 15 feet away from him. She tried her best to look threatening.
“Who are you and why are you here?!”
The man flashed her a wicked grin before opening his jacket to reveal the contraption harnessed onto him. The bomb, she realized.
“What do you want?!” She doubled down.
He continued to stare at her as he slowly pulled out the detonator.
She pulled the safety back. And when she saw him go for the button she pulled the trigger.
-End Flashback-
“Was that yours?”
“It’s my moms,” She said looking towards Toni,
“I brought it because I was scared this would happen. I wanted to be able to protect everyone.”
“I assume you have a license for the firearm?” The officer said with a glance towards her.
“Yes, sir,” Toni replied.
He turned back to his pad to take note.
“Is he hurt? Did I hit him?” Olivia questioned hoping to get some information.
Cheryl looked at her somberly, knowing what was coming next.
“We’re not sure ma’m, he died upon impact of the bomb, there were only his remains left at the scene,”
Olivia let out a shaky breath realizing the gravity of the situation.
The officer gave her a moment to take it in.
“You all were pretty lucky though, someone turned off the gas, otherwise the fire could have spread,”
It was the first thing she did when she arrived at the party. Just incase.
“If you remember anything else that could be of use, this is my card, you can call me directly,” he said handing it to Toni.
“Thank you,” she said softly before following him to the door and closing it behind him.
She remained there for a moment staring at the door, hand still on the door knob. The room was silent.
“Mama?” Olivia questioned,
“Are you crazy?! You could have gotten yourself killed?!” Toni shouted after turning to her quickly. She was seething, jaw clenched, eyes wide.
“Toni-“
“No Cheryl, this is not okay! First you’re running around trying to diffuse a bomb and then you’re breaking into our safe and using our gun?! We have that for emergencies, for safety!”
“This was an emergency Mama! You heard what the officer said! If I wouldn’t have turned off the gas it would have been so much worse! You all could have been hurt too!”
“And what if HE had a gun? Did you think about that?”
“He didn’t have one in my dream,” she murmured.
“It’s not worth you risking your life!”
“I’m a Serpent Mom! I was protecting my own!”
Toni stopped at that. She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice as she slowly moved in towards the bed.
“You -“ she paused
“- will never be a Serpent,”
“Ma-“ Olivia tried to speak while choking up again.
“Yes, a Serpent protects their own but a Serpent also uses their head! You didn’t think!”
“ENOUGH!” Cheryl interrupts with a shout.
“Toni, why don’t you go take a walk, blow off some steam,” she followed up calmly.
Toni pursed her lips and shook her head before grabbing her jacket on her way out of the room.
-
Toni stomped down the hall, past the waiting room, and out the building.
Jughead caught a glimpse of her walking by and grabbed his bag before running after her.
“Hey, hey, slow down!”
“What’s going on?” He asked once he finally caught up to her.
“A gun, Jug. My daughter thought it was smart to bring a gun.” She said as she reached into Jughead’s bag where she knew he kept a pack of cigarettes.
“What?”
She picked one out, put it between her lips, and lit it using one hand to cover the flame from the wind.
“She went into our safe and took it with her. She actually thought that she was gonna kill this guy and save the day. Meanwhile she could have been killed,” Toni scoffed before taking a puff.
Jughead stayed silent and just looked at Toni with amusement.
“What?!”
“What would you have done?” He asks.
“I-I…I…”
“Exactly. You would have done the same thing.”
“That doesn’t make it okay! She’s my daughter! And she’s only 16! She should not be handling a weapon and trying to stop bad guys.”
“You’re right there, but she is YOUR daughter. You know why she did it. It may not have been right but that’s a conversation that you need to have with her. Calmly.”
“Ugh, I hate it when you’re right.”
“And I always love hearing it.”
Jughead smiled before pulling the cigarette from between her lips and stomping it into the ground.
-
Toni returned to the room shortly after. Only stopping at the gift shop to grab a small stuffed animal as an apology for her outburst.
She entered quietly to see Cheryl and Olivia still in the same position she had left them in.
“Hey,” Toni whispered.
Cheryl stayed silent and let Toni do the talking as Jughead had texted her that she was headed back in to apologize.
“I got you this,” she continued holding up her gift. “It’s a panda…your favorite” she flashed her sorry eyes and a shy smile,”
“Thanks,” Olivia replied reaching out to accept it.
“Listen,” Toni started before making her way to sit on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry for the way I reacted earlier, but what you did…what you did was reckless, careless, and irresponsible.”Cheryl nodded along in agreement.
“You scared the hell out of me, out of the both of us,” Both moms were trying to keep their emotions in control but tears were pricking at both of their eyes.
“I’m sorry your mom and I didn’t do more when you told us. We shouldn’t have waited to address it, we should have stayed home with you. I’m sorry we failed you,” she said grabbing into her hand.
Toni looked to Cheryl who gave her a small smile encouraging her to continue.
“We understand that you were just trying to protect us and that was very brave of you, sweetheart, but you really put yourself in danger. You could have been really hurt, or even…worse,” she couldn’t even speak the thought into existence.
“Guns are a serious thing, Olivia. Not knowing how to use one properly is dangerous. We trusted you to be able to access the safe but this is not what it’s for. Next time, if you’re that serious about something, you should call the police. Okay?” Cheryl finished off.
“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry mom,” Olivia cried.
Toni and Cheryl closed in on Olivia in her bed holding on tight for risk of losing her.