When Spencer woke one dreary morning, she knew something to be very wrong. It wasn't just the bitter smell of this morning's breakfast, or the way she had slept peacefully for the first night in ages. Nor was it the constant fear of A which always plague her.
It was the pain.
Her eyes snapped open to the dimly lit room around her, slowly adjusting so that the nightstand beside her queen sized bed focused into view. Involuntarily she rolled out of bed, only to be hit with vertigo and fall back into her cloud like duvet. She felt light-headed and could hear her heart racing, almost having the appeal that it was attempting to burst out of its bony prison.
It had been around seven months since she'd felt this way, the last time being when Ian tried to push her off the bell tower. As she attempted to stand once more the sharpness doubled, the hammering action increasing its tempo as she fought to sustain a large breath.
Spencer concentrated in pulling in the much-needed oxygen. Silence was what she prayed for in that moment; afraid the staggering gasps he made would bring attention from her family towards herself. After Ian went missing, they hadn't believed that he killed Allie, or the he tried to kill her. They had tried to seem unnerved by Spencer's so called, hysteria, but she knew they gave her scrutinizing, distasteful looks.
The battle raged on within her, the nausea is her stomach becoming stronger as she gripped the post on her bed as if it were a life line. And she knew it was all because of the stupid flu. It had gone around the school, plus Hanna and Aria had it a few weeks prior. Recognition of the sharp shooting pain fluttering inside her only brought back unwarranted memories, and it terrified her.
She remembered Ian chasing her, and a stern promise that Melissa would understand why he would have killed her. This chilled her to the very bone. What was worst were the looks she was given around town. Because his body mysteriously went missing, the entire town thought she had lied, which shot her strait to the top of the Rosewood Police Departments list of Allie's potential killers. No one understood how hard this was, how stressed and completely overwhelmed she was. No one but Toby. She'd had boyfriends before, but had never felt such a way with another boy. They had both been framed, and were each others support, knowing what it was like to be framed for something heinous. He'd made her forget about the stares and whispers, and brought back her confidence.
Getting dressed and making her way downstairs slowly Spencer heard the sound of clanging pots and pans. Every so often she'd hear another clang. It was as though someone was sifting through all the iron palates of metal, unable to find that particular one in need. Blinking back the heavy vestiges of wonderful dreamscape, Spencer achingly made her way to the kitchen
The clanging continued, making her already aching head hurt with all the noise, until she heard a very faint "shit!" She immediately recognized the usage and the tone. It was her sister Melissa trying desperately to make breakfast once again.
Her body tensed tentatively for a second, unsure of weather today was a good day or not. After their car accident Melissa had lost the baby. The following weeks were filled with mass hysteria, weeping, and silence. Melissa hadn't spoken a word to her, which was agonizing. Spencer had wanted her to scream in her face, or even hit her! She blamed herself for Melissa losing the baby, and so did everyone else in her family.
Her body had all the will to move, but her mind refused to give into its need, the need to say anything to her. That was until Melissa had called out very loud and very rudely, "Mom, I can't find the omelet pan. Please tell me you didn't break, sell, or lose the stupid thing!"
"It's in the bottom draw to the right." Spencer pointed out with no emotion while grabbing orange juice from the refrigerator. Her sister straightened up giving her a small, forced smile before retreating out of the room. Spencer let out a sigh before her phone rang, informing her of a text message. For a moment she held her breath in fear of A, she reluctantly reach for her phone only to find it was Aria.
Watch out, officer Garrett is 'hanging out' around school
Spencer felt relief for a brief second, before resting her head in her hands. When had things become so complicated? When had they all have to watch out for killers, rather then go to parties, drink, have fun?
Eyeing her Orange juice distastefully she pushed it aside and made her way out towards her car. Looking back at her broken household she spotted her mother watching her leave with what seemed to be a sympathetic stare due to the slumped shoulders, the disappointed facial expression; it was a no-brainer that her mom didn't know just yet to deal with her 'psychotic' daughter. But Spencer didn't care. She wasn't in the mood to be walking on eggshells either.
With that thought she pealed out of her garage to her next hell.
Sitting at the lunch table Spencer had begun to think why she even went to school. It turns out she was wrong. Yes, there was whispering, but no one would come near her. It was as if she were poisonous.
"Oh Spencer, im sorry." Mona yelled mockingly across the room. Hanna watched as Spencer jolted out of her seat and ran out of the cafeteria. Mona was being malicious, sharing what rumors there were of Spencer to her. "You can be such a bitch." Hanna stood up calling her friend. Spencer could hear her words plain as day replaying over, and over again in her head. The overly-exuberant attitude and the sarcastic remarks kept on repeating as if they were an old broken record player. Running towards the bathroom in her ballet flats Spencer slammed into the door, opening it as she pasts the mirror and crouched in front of the small, disgusting porcelain toilet.
Upon releasing what little food she had into the bowl, her head snapped up to the sound of an opening down. Looking up she was relieved at seeing Hanna's friendly face. "Hey, what's up? Are you okay?" She crouched down to Spencer's height handing over a hair tie to make sure she kept her hair clean.
"I think so." Spencer cringed at the sound of her own voice, rough and out of breath. But she didn't want to go home; actually she wanted to go anywhere but home. Hanna raised a questionable eyebrow. Spencer shook her head, answering the unspoken question. "Maybe you should go to the nurse." Hanna suggested casually.
"No!" The reply was to quick, and definitely questionable. Spencer shook her head, "No, please. I can't go home." Spencer bit her lip, so hard she might have drawn blood. Swiftly she flushed the toilet and brushed past Hannah, leaving her dumbstruck.
"Come on Toby, pick up." Spencer mumbled impatiently into the phone.
"Hello?" came Toby's roughly sweet voice. Spencer gave an anxious smile with hearing his voice while sitting on the curb, "Can you please come pick me up?" Her voice was shaky, without its usual determination behind it. This immediately signaled Toby that something was wrong. "Yeah, yeah… where are you?" He questioned walking past his parents and grabbing his car keys. "I um- I'm in front of the school." She sniffed.
Twenty minutes later Spencer saw his car pull up. Toby smiled as he watched her spring up quickly, only to watch her fall back to the pavement with a destinctive thud.