Cigarette Burns // FP Jones

Chapter Twenty

"Tell me, why did you do it?!" I could hear FP shouting from the basement, and took a drag of my cigarette, watching the grey cloud leave my mouth, wondering what it was doing to my lungs. It had been four days of him questioning Malachai. And what had he given away? Next to nothing. FP hadn't wanted to use too much violence against him, but when he left, I had planned on doing so. I'd been filling the stairway with smoke, and thoughts. Why were we even trying, when Malachai wouldn't give us what we wanted. It had only been for safety to begin with, but paranoia overcame us, and we began to think of all the things the Gholies might know. After a while, I could hear my boyfriend hitting our kidnapped boy, blatantly through anger, then leaving the room, careful to shut the soundproofed door behind him. 
"Not talking?" I asked, already knowing the answer. He sighed angrily, continuing past me up the stairs. I sat for a while, listening to the doors to the Wyrm closing before standing up myself, putting out the cigarette and going around the corner to see my enemy. 

There he sat, shirtless, head hung. He had a black eye, bloody lip. That was from myself yesterday, before FP had found me. And I planned to do the same thing today. 
"Hey M." I said, chirpily. I'd given him a cute nickname through boredom, and it suited him. M for Malachai, massacre, macabre, but also mad and moron. I laughed at the name. His eyes darted up from the floor to me, and he moved his arms under the ropes, trying to escape. 
"Not so fast, baby." I said, placing a finger over my lip, and bringing a chair over to I could sit in front of him. I brought over surgical instruments for good measure, though I didn't plan on using them. I wasn't that sadistic. 
"Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Why did you hurt me, Malacai?" I picked up the scalpel, turning my head to the side. He flinched, breathing heavily. 
"Because I wanted to!" He shouted. "I'm sorry, okay!" He was begging for me to punch him at this point. But I remained calm, staring at him, keeping my breathing light and consistent, not giving away the fact I too was scared. 
"Were you hired, Malachai?" I questioned again. 
He hesitated. "No!" 

I would have believed him, if he weren't so slow to answer, and his eyes didn't dart around the room as he did. Raising an eyebrow, and standing up from my seat, holding the blade to his freshly shaven cheek, I asked again. 
"Were you hired, Malachai?" 
He closed his eyes, letting tears roll down his cheeks. "Yes."
I inhaled, closing my own eyes too. Someone had wanted me dead, or in critical condition. 
"Who?" I'd kept my voice stern, and my stance dominant. I wouldn't give up now. 
"Hiram Lodge. He wanted to devalue the White Wyrm, I don't know why. P-please." He cried, and I obliged. Stepping away, I placed the instrument down, and took my chair back into the corner. I contemplated rewarding Malachai, but I knew he didn't deserve it. Instead, I turned out the light, walking out of the basement and up the stairs. 

"What were you doing down there?" FP asked, as I walked out of the Wyrm. I paused, unsure of whether to tell him what I'd known, or whether to keep it to myself. 
"I was finishing my smoke." I replied, half truthfully. FP rolled his eyes, walking over to the car and getting in. The engine revved and we left the car park, going home. 
"You know, Jasmine, you're not going to get anything out of him that I can't." FP stated. The ordeal seemed to bring us to a point where we couldn't trust one another anymore. The stress was too much for an eighteen year old girl, he knew that. But he knew I loved him too much to let him do this alone; he'd learned that. I wouldn't leave no matter what. Especially after I learned FP wasn't using violence, he was bribing Malachai with freedom. 

We got home before 7am, and I'd decided it was probably best I went to school. I didn't want to bring any attention to myself in case I uncovered the fact I'd kidnapped a boy, and hurt him. Plus, I wanted to talk to Veronica about the news I'd learned about the scum that was Hiram Lodge. As I got changed, I thought about why Hiram would want to devalue the Wyrm. What was he up to? He'd already purchased Southside High, so the likelihood was he would want to purchase the Wyrm too. It just didn't make much sense, why would he want to own Serpent territory? I brushed my hair, ripping half of it out due to the fact it had become to matted over the past couple of days, and also due to the anger I'd built up. I wanted to cause as much pain as I'd been feeling internally.

For the entirety of the morning at school, it was all I was trying to work out. The question of why was consuming my thoughts. In fact, I hadn't focused on Jughead at all today, and trying to win him around again, which is what I was usually putting majority of my energy into. I couldn't remember the topics we'd covered in English, Maths or Biology, all because of the one unanswered statement. But, I was no Nancy Drew, and I doubted I had the whits in me to figure it out. I'd never been intelligent, sadly, and I didn't make the expectation for myself to actually get further that Malachai ever could.

At lunch, I knew what I was going to do. In the school's yard, Betty, Veronica, Archie and Co. would get their little packed lunches out, and chat about all the nonsense that is taking up their dull lives. I could get her there, sending a message to Hiram. Across the field is where the Serpents sit, where Jughead would watch, and I hope he would stop me. If I could kill two birds with one stone today, I would. 

Running, I attempted to catch Veronica before she sat down. And, I'd been right. There she was, with her posse, walking toward her perfect table, head filled with obnoxious thoughts. I watched as her legs carried her around as if she was a member of the royal family, and her disciples mindlessly followed. She had a hold over them, and they had no idea.
"Veronica Lodge." I shouted, smiling at her. I watched as her purple lips turned into a frown, brown eyes boring into my skull. 
"What do you want, Jasmine." She questioned. I walked closer to her, trying to assert superiority, trying to make her fear me. 
"Hiram Lodge hired the Gholies to go and have a little stabbing spree outside the Wyrm. Did you know that?" I shouted. I glanced to my right to see Toni, Fangs and Jug watching, Pea taking a stand and beginning to walk over. 
"Bullshit. I bet the Serpents fed that to you." She replied, and I lost my cool.

Immediately, I lunged on her, her frail little frame crumbling beneath me. I punched her jaw, her nose, red blood on my hands, covering her cheeks. I lost control. It was impossible to stop as I continued to throw hits, and let out the anger that I'd bottled up the past couple of days. The past couple of months; years. I let it out on her. And she let me. Nothing else had mattered in the few seconds I'd let myself go, apart from her, and me. She was a Lodge. Snide, evil, selfish. She was walking around, veins cold and filled with the DNA which screamed murder. 

It wasn't long before I felt Pea's arms wrap around me, picking me up. My somewhat tiny figure was no match for his, yet I scrambled around anyway, screaming, hitting, crying. Sobs escaped my mouth, and I fell limp, finally allowing him to place me onto the ground. I watched as Jughead ran and held Betty, giving me an utterly shocked facial expression, and Archie sitting Veronica up. Many of the students nearby were swarming around us, chattering, mumbling and taking photos. 

"It's your fault!" I screamed at her. For the first time, I saw Veronica Lodge show some sort of empathy, behind ruffled clothes and a bloody face. "It's all your fault!" I shouted again, crying harder. Pea turned me around, so I was facing his torso, and held me into his chest. I sobbed, holding him, wondering where everything had all started to go so wrong. I had no mother, father, siblings, for they'd all left me. I had lost a child. I'd lost Jughead, and now his friends. I prayed to whatever God their may or may not be that I wouldn't lose the Serpents too. 

"Jasmine Cole, my office!" The principle shouted, and students around started to break up, evacuating the crime scene. I complied with his order, walking past the destruction and following the teacher back to his office. 

I was met with the same oak table that I'd been with before, the same dull walls and set up. It was all the same, yet I had changed so much from the first time I'd sat here. I'd lost, but I'd become stronger. Though, I had practically tortured a boy to find out what I knew now, and what had gotten me here today. 
"I hope you realise this behavior, induced by the Southside no doubt, means you're suspended until further notice. I recommend going on an anger management course, because this behavior will not be tolerated at Riverdale High, Miss Cole." He continued, writing down a phone number for me to call, but I ignored him. All I could think about was Hiram Lodge, and how much I wanted my revenge on him. It wasn't just about the Gholies, they didn't have the mental capacity to extract the truth from Pinocchio, let alone Hiram. I'd have to do it myself.