Emily had just come back from spending her day with Maya. Among the highlights of the day, she had lost her virginity. It was nice but she didn't tell Maya that it felt like something was missing. She couldn't help but wonder if Maya was the person that she truly wanted to be with for her first time. Maybe she wanted to be with Paige first or Samara or possibly…Alison. She didn't know what to believe about Ali. She was sure that she had seen her and she had been saved by her but she never saw Ali again after that. She may have just been dreaming.
Her mother was going to be out late so she would have the house to herself. She walked up to her room and couldn't believe her eyes.
"Hi." The figure greeted. What was she doing here? How did she get in? How was she alive?
"Ali?" Emily asked as she ran over and hugged the girl, proving that she was tangible. "You're alive!"
"I never died Emily." Ali replied.
"But they found your body." Emily argued. "You were missing for a year before that. Where have you been if you were not dead?"
"The better question is where haven't I been?" Ali asked. "And as for the body, are you familiar with the term doppelganger?"
"No." Emily answered.
"It's an identical stranger that it very similar to someone else." Ali explained. "The truth is I wasn't with you that night. I had a feeling that someone would try to kill me, so I had her take my place."
"I have to tell the others." Emily replied frantically.
"Em, I would really appreciate if you didn't." Ali responded. "I've already visited Hanna when she was in the hospital but I really want as few people as possible to know about this. Anyway why don't we talk about this girlfriend of yours?"
Emily blushed as soon as Ali brought up Maya.
"You know Emily, probably the only good thing about my time on the run is I've had some time to find myself and truly understand myself. I guess I wasn't just kissing you for practice."
"You're saying that you like me?" Emily asked in shock.
"I always have." Ali told her. "I can be with you tonight and we can do whatever you want as long as no one finds out that I was here. Maybe you can show me how sexy in the sheets you really are."
"Ali, I'm with Maya." Emily argued. "I can't cheat on her."
"She doesn't have to find out." Alison responded. "I'm here spilling my heart out to you. Isn't this what you always wanted? But I suppose that we can just watch a movie if you want."
"Can we talk about what happened?" Emily pleaded. "Who is A?"
"Emily I can't tell you because if I tell you, she'll find out that I told you and you'll tell the others." Ali explained. "A doesn't just want to ruin my life like the rest of you, she wants to end it."
"You should go to the police." Emily suggested.
"That wouldn't do me any good." Ali pointed out. "If I felt I could trust them I would have done that in the first place. There's a reason I want people to think that I'm dead. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you."
Emily noticed the tears running down Ali's cheeks and hugged her. "Why are you telling me now?" Emily asked in confusion.
"Because I saw you with Maya today and I felt really upset. I just had to let you know how I felt." Ali explained, still crying. "I know it probably doesn't make a difference but I love you Emily."
This time it was Emily that gave Ali a peck on the lips before she kissed her under the eyes.
"Emily, please don't tell anyone that you saw me." Ali begged. This was not the Alison that she was used to. She looked so afraid and vulnerable. She knew that she had to keep this meeting a secret.
"I won't." Emily promised.
"I wish I could stay but A is still trying to kill me." Ali replied.
"Can you at least tell me how you know A?" Emily asked.
"It happened the summer before high school when I went to camp." Ali explained. "That's all I can tell you. So when is your mom going to be back?"
"Why?" Emily asked.
"Duh you can't let her see me." Ali responded slightly harsher than she wanted to. "I'm only to be seen by you."
"Why did you choose me and not Hanna, Spencer, or Aria?" Emily asked.
"Well apart from being the one that I love, you're the safest one that I can be around." Ali explained. "Hanna is A's favor target because she's the weakest of you. Spencer probably liked me the least out of the four of you and Aria is having an affair with that teacher guy while pretending to go out with her friend."
"Wait I thought Aria and Ezra broke up." Emily remarked.
"Damn it I wasn't supposed to tell you that." Alison cursed. "You can't let her know."
"How did you about it?" Emily asked. "How did Aria not see you?"
"I was in Philadelphia a few days ago." Ali told her. "I'm not surprised that she didn't notice me because when she's with him, she's oblivious to the rest of the world."
"Ali, I have an idea for how you can stay." Emily said. Ali would at least listen because maybe it was a good idea. "What if I try to hide you from everyone else? We have a few clues who A is and if we can find her, you can reveal yourself and things can go back to the ways that things were."
"If you're going to do that you need to continue dating Maya." Ali replied. "You have to act like nothing has changed. And you have to make sure that absolutely no one finds out about me. Can you promise me that?"
"I can try my best." Emily vowed.
"Then I guess I can try to stay." Ali remarked. "But if this goes bad at any point, I'll have to run again. I might not be able to say goodbye."
So you can say that I'm of the faction that believes Ali is still alive. I think her having a doppelganger is better than having a twin. Ali is actually pretty jealous of Maya. So will be Emily be able to successfully keep Ali off the radar or will she have to run away again? The only way to find out to review.
