Chapter Text
The gusts of wind blew harder with each passing second. The moonless night overwhelmed over the town, its surreal yet beautiful houses arranged in blocks. Under normal circumstances, this town of Riverdale would be a beautiful one, the houses there built with classic architecture. Anyone who would come here would surely appreciate the streets and blocks. Until one would start noticing the surreal details as well as hear about the mysterious happenings around. This place had its share of murders, mysteries, and crimes, all shrouded in a darkened environment of neglect by the authorities.
There at the end of this grim street, there was a house. Under normal circumstances, the act of leaving a window opened at this hour of the night would be considered foolish and downright dangerous. However, the oblivious girl there had no idea about anything.
She was a teenager in her fourteenth year of age. Her blonde hair was all tied up in form of a ponytail, the pink cardigan fitting her brightly over her sleeping suit. She needed to relax above all wearing only a cardigan and relaxing sleeping suit.
She would have gotten up and closed the window from which howls of the wind could be heard. However, the small fight with her parents still rung in her ears. Her mother was especially controlling, not giving her an easy life.
It was a simple crush. She told her mother multiple times. However, her mother raised hell when she found out that her younger daughter was interested in some boy from the street.
“If you are doing it at this age, I wonder what you will do when you are older!” her mother said to her.
She was surprised. Only this morning, her mother had asked her to share everything and she did. However, little did she know that her mother was manipulating it all, to get the information out of her. Who had she been texting that entire morning?
And she never felt more embarrassed than ever, feeling angry that she ever trusted her mother. She knew the moment she would tell her mother that she was being rude and aggressive, her mother would drop the bomb on her instead, saying her one of the most common sentences,
“What did I ever do to deserve this?!”
She could still feel those statements ringing in her ears. No wonder the opened window of the TV lounge didn’t bother her currently. The TV was on but there was nothing interesting. She had turned the lights off, wanting to watch television in a dark environment. Her parents were surely going to be late.
That was when she pressed the remote buttons, changing the channel. The horror icon on the corner of the TV screen got her attention. This was a horror channel. She realized that she needed to watch a movie that would knock her socks off. She needed to do whatever it took for her to get her mind off the argument in the morning and it seemed, the horror movie at night in a darkened TV lounge with the opened window was what would be her thing.
She finally put the remote to the side. To her delight, the movie had just started. She could follow it now! It was the black and white horror film, “Night of the Living Dead”. She loved watching those types of horror movies.
She ran to the kitchen quickly, grabbing popcorns and sitting with her attention fully focused on that movie. That was when she realized the movie was about living dead. That was one of her favorite genres. She loved watching movies about zombies and vampires, probably because she was most scared of them too. For now, her attention was glued to the TV.
Time passed quicker than ever, and she soon found her heart nearly jumping out of her chest. This was indeed a horror film so scary that it was making her stomach turn. She loved a good horror movie, but this was some next level film. That was when she heard a strange sound. It seemed to be coming from the corner of the TV lounge. She quickly looked it up, trying to see past that timber table and embroidered couches. There was no one there. Before she had the time to react, something emerged from behind her couch. A shadow that felt like overwhelming her entire senses. All she heard was its breath…
“BOO!” the shadow spoke. For a moment or two, she felt as if her heart was going to fail. Dropping the popcorn there, she ran as fast as she could towards the kitchen. That was when she heard the crackle of her elder sister. Damn it, Polly!
“Not fair Polly! I was watching a horror movie and you scared me!” Elizabeth spoke, coming back to the couch while picking up her popcorn.
“Whenever you have an argument with mother or you have some other issue, you become a couch potato. You start binge watching horror movies and TV shows. I have told you a million times that this approach is unhealthy! Get out more. Do some outdoor activities!” Polly spoke. She was slightly bulkier than the sleek Elizabeth. Their hair color was the same blonde, resting on her shoulders. Elizabeth was quiet, knowing that her sister was speaking the truth. This was not the way to live life. Besides, she had been feeling a headache ever since she binge watched the movies.
That was when a strange gust of wind blew through the window, knocking a vase. A strange chill went through Polly’s spine as she observed three people on the street through the opened window. From the looks of them, they looked like a couple and a teenager.
“Are they artists or diplomats?” Polly spoke with surprise as she saw them, dressed in black from head to toe. They moved in a strange manner, almost creeping.
“Maybe they are just wearing black because they are goths!” Elizabeth spoke with a smile on her face. That was when they realized that the three people had suddenly stopped, glaring at them through the window. It creeped her out. They seemed to be looking at their souls and beyond. Both sisters quickly went to the window, shutting it and letting the curtain fall, blocking the view.
“Let's ignore them!” Polly suggested to which Elizabeth heartily agreed.
A few days had passed ever since Polly Cooper and Elizabeth Cooper had encountered that strange family in black clothes. Polly had asked multiple times who could be there at the night. The streets were often empty and given the notorious reputation of Riverdale, it was a frightening aspect that three people were there at night, all dressed in black. In fact, Polly and Elizabeth had suspected that there would be something like a spree of crime series in their street. However, nothing had happened since. Still, Polly wanted to find out.
One morning, Polly Cooper and Elizabeth Cooper went out in the street. They hadn’t come out of their house for a few days and staying at home was getting very boring. Both sisters came out, walking through the road.
“Polly look! The house which was on sale has now been bought!” Elizabeth pointed towards the last house in their lane as she pointed.
Polly could see that freshly painted house at the distance. The board that displayed, “For Sale” had been removed and the house owners had settled in.
“I wonder who could be the one living there!” Polly whispered to herself. The house had a very strange vibe now, not anything like a bright environment it gave off. That was when Polly noticed someone dragging a seven feet crate on the road. The worker was wearing a nonlocal uniform, cursing the weight of the crate as he dragged it on the wheeled trolly.
“Greetings. Are you out of the city?” Polly asked as she spoke to the worker. He was clearly frustrated for having to drag this heavy crate all this way.
“Curses! Yes, I am out of the city. I was dragging this heavy crate only to find out there are two more crates to be brought here. There is a second crate and a third one. And the family is not at home! You must have seen them all dressed in black?” the worker asked her.
“A family in black? That last house is theirs? And they are not at their home?” Polly asked.
“Do you know them?” the worker asked, taking out a few papers.
“Not at all. We just came to say hi to the new family. Who are they?” Polly asked, beckoning Elizabeth to stay with her. Elizabeth was going to check out that new house all by herself.
“Well, they are Romanian family, calling themselves Vlads. White European in ethnicity if you may ask And their names are a man named Elijah Vlad, a woman named Esther Vlad, and their teenage son named Finn Vlad. I am supposed to leave this on the driveaway since they are not responding to bells” he explained in a tired accent.
Polly then looked at that house. The garage was opened, and the car was parked there. This was a clear indication that the house owners were at home. She wondered why they weren’t coming out then. Her imagination ran wild then, seeing how she had seen that family moving in a suspicious manner that late night.
“Elizabeth, they are possibly KGB agents who fled after the Soviet Union was disintegrated! No wonder they aren’t showing themselves to the people around!” Polly explained her accent all frightened.
“They might also be the gypsies who are looking towards starting a new life in a new home. They might be shy due to this reason” Elizabeth added.
Whatever was the reason, both sisters found it best to return to their home. This new family called Vlad family was quite odd.
They both walked right to the front door of their house when suddenly, the door opened by itself. A flash quickly emerged out of the front door, bumping into the two teenagers and knocking them right there. Polly got up, rubbing her eyes to find her mother Alice Susiana Copper. How did she move so fast?!
“Sorry honey, I am late for work. We have to go to the office!” her mother explained. Under normal circumstances, Polly would have ignored. However, her mother had moved with strangely demonic speed. The next moment Polly and Elizabeth saw their father approaching the scene.
“Ah, we are both late for work! We should go now!” her father named Harold Hal Copper spoke as he emerged out of the front door next. He too moved fast albeit not faster than their mother.
The sisters were too surprised to say anything. Their parents got in the car and left shortly afterward.
“Weird…our parents have never behaved like that!” Elizabeth spoke. The next moment, she found Polly staring at the famous couple. The girl with black hair and fair skin was Veronica Cecilia Lodge the local mail person, famous for her romantic relationship with her boyfriend Archibald Archie Andrew.
Both moved slow and in a sluggish manner. Elizabeth was reminded of the movie she was watching that night, watching the living dead drag their feet on the ground like that.
“I heard that the Vlad family arranged a movie night with a couple of Veronica and Archibald, watching the twilight movie a few nights ago…” Elizabeth remembered something that was discussed by her parents.
Polly took a closer look, seeing those strange bandages on the neck of both Veronica and Archibald.
“Hey, how are you!” Elizabeth asked Archibald who was quite sluggish. He rubbed his neck, looking at Polly with strange eyes.
“I am fine. Just feeling sick for two nights!” he replied.
“Have you met the VLAD family?” Polly asked Veronica.
“Two nights ago, we invited them to our house to watch twilight movies. We had great fun on that night!” Veronica explained.
“Huh…the same night when you started feeling sick!” Polly made a conclusion.