Which Aria Is It Anyway?

Chapter 1.

Her eyes fluttered open, and adjusted to the light in the room. It seemed different; the room she was in wasn't her bedroom. It wasn't the dark color she had chosen for the walls, and it didn't have the personalized touches she remembered. The room she had wokened up in was light, and seemed so clinical. It definitely wasn't her room!

The bed she woke in was standing in the center of the room, and not with its side up against the wall as it normally would be. She sat up straight, and she let her eyes wander through the room. It seemed oddly familiar in a way, but not quite like this.

To the right of the bed stood a bedside table with a drawer, and a small cabinet. To left a modest sink was screwed into the wall, and not too far from there stood a trashcan. A desk was placed next to the trashcan. It had three drawers, and a lamp was placed on top of it. A chair stood neatly placed, halfway underneath the table top as if it had never been used.

Across from the bed, slightly to the side of it, stood another chair, but this one appeared to be more comfortable than the wooded chair by the desk. In the far left of the room, straightly across from the desk, the humblest of wardrobes was placed, and she knew that a certain friend would have been offended at the sight.

The room was made up strictly of white, or the nearest substite of it. Even the bed sheets were all white, and they didn't resemble the ones she used to sleep in one bit. They seemed cold and impersonal, and she didn't like the uncomfortable feeling that came with them.

She removed the covers, and got out of the bed, and surely enough; the single bed had been built with the lightest colored tree she'd ever seen, and it matched the rest of the room. She tossed the covers onto the bed so they landed in a jumbled mess, but she didn't care. Under ordinary circumstances she would have made the bed, but this wasn't her room, and she didn't care if it looked a mess.

She made her way to the window in left side of the room that was in an even distance between the desk and the wardrobe. She wanted to know exactly where she was, and she hoped that by glancing out of the window, she'd have confirmation if she really was where she suspected.

She reached the window, and grabbed onto the bars covering it, and stuck her head in between them so she could get as close to the window as possible. The view was nothing out of the ordinary, but it creeped her out. She saw what she assumed was some of the very building she was in, and what it looked like on the outside. Other than that, the only thing she saw was pavement, some grass, a few bushes, and a couple of trees placed randomly, but behind the trees she thought she was able to catch a glimpse of a gate of sorts.

The panic struck, and she whipped away from the window, and hasted away from it. She raced to the door in the other end of the room, but when she tried to pull down the knob, she realized that someone had locked her in the room. She looked up, and saw that the door had the tiniest of windows at a head level, but she had to stand on her toes to look through it.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me?" She called out as she began banging rapidly on the door to catch someone's, anyone's, attention. "Is there anybody out there? I need help! Hello!?"

She kept it up for a good few minutes, until she accepted the thought that no-one could hear her. If they could, it was quite evident that they were using their best efforts to ignore her, but she was getting out of there one way or the other. She didn't belong there, she wasn't crazy... And wasn't Radley an asylum for the mentally unstable?

As far as she knew, she was as sane as the next person if you looked past the fact that she couldn't remember how she actually ended up there. The last thing she remembered was that they had convinced their friend, Alison, to come back home, and they had made a clever plan to smoke A out. To catch the person.

She couldn't even remember if they had brought the plan into motion, or if they had caught A. Maybe their plan had failed, and A had drugged her, and locked her in at Radley? That seemed as the most likely answer to her memory loss, but that sadly raised the question; what had A done to her friends? Perhaps the same? Maybe they were in four other, different rooms at Radley? But how had A managed to convince the staff here that they were all insane? Did the person work with someone at Radley.

It was so confusing. Defeated, she turned away from the door, and sat down in the 'comfortable' chair across from the bed, and began staring aimlessly at the lamp in the ceiling until her eyes started to burn from the light. After that she stared at the white brick wall ahead of her instead, and watched as various, colorful figures started dancing across it, almost like a theater.

The dancing figures hypnotized her, and brought her to a place where her previous thoughts weren't a concern. Growing up, they had always made her dizy, but now they seemed soothing in a way.

After awhile they disappeared, and she was brought back to reality. She became aware that she was still very much locked in at Radley. Sadly, that hadn't been one of the many nightmares that had haunted her ever since A started tormenting the girls.

She moved out of the chair to take a seat on the bed, and managed to find a clear spot in the mess that she had made on it. She came to the frustrating conclusion that she'd have to do that for awhile, moving around to keep busy, until she came to the bottom of the situation, and figured out a way to get the hell out of there.

For a brief second the thought accured to her that she should try her phone, but soon realized that it had probably been confiscated before she was locked in there. She had visited Mona once while she was there, and they weren't keen on giving the patients things that could mess with their sanity. How that applied to her, she didn't know because she surely wasn't insane. This was all a big mistake, and she was gonna beat A, and find a way out. Someone would soon figure out that she didn't belong at Radley.

She heard the door unlock, and rested her thoughts as she looked at the door hopefully. Someone would figure out that she was in there now, and whether it be A or someone else, she was gonna make a run for it. She knew A was fast, but she could be faster if she used the anger she felt as adrenaline.

The plan failed to be put in motion; she was stunned when she saw who walked through the door. It was the last person she had expected, but probably the first one she should.

"Hello, Aria." The person said, closing the door behind her. She walked halfway through the room, and sat down in the chair that had been occupied earlier. "I'm sad to see you here. How are you feeling?"

"Dr. Sullivan..." Aria said, acknowledging the presence of her visitor. "I'm a little confused as to why I'm here, but other than that I feel fine. Why shouldn't I?"

Dr. Sullivan ignored the pleading question she'd been asked, and carried on with her agenda. "I'm here to fill you in on what's going on... as much as I'm allowed to, that is. So you're here because..."

"I know why I'm here!" Aria stated, an action that clearly took Dr. Sullivan by surprise, but she quickly recovered into her calm nature again. "I'm just surprised that you'd be in on it. The last time A made you disappear by threatening your son, so whoever has taken over the game must have done something similar, but you don't have to go through with this, Dr. Sullivan. You don't have to help out A! Help me instead, and we can bring down A together."

Dr. Sullivan sighed tiredly as she realized what she'd been informed earlier had been true. "Aria, A didn't put you in here. Your parents did." She explained as Aria gaped at her. It was quite clear that it would take some effort to get through to her. "As for A, the person was caught yesterday. That isn't an issue anymore."

"Who was it then?" Aria wanted to know as she scooted to the edge of the bed, now eagerly interested in the conversation. She'd finally know who it was. That her friends hadn't been by to inform her confused her, but maybe they were at Radley after the shock as well.

"I'm not at liberty to say, I'm sorry." Dr. Sullivan said solemnly, and Aria could tell that the restriction pained her former therapist, but frankly, she didn't care. Whatever protocol Dr. Sullivan had to follow, Aria wanted answers. "They want you to be fully stabilized before we deliver news to you of such shocking value."

"Don't I seem stabilized to you?" Aria argued, feeling herself getting worked up, and she knew that would by no means help her case. "I don't know what you've been told, but I don't need to be in here. I'm not crazy, okay? So just tell me who the frick A is."

"I already told you that I'm not allowed to say, not until you're stable." Dr. Sullivan tried to explain again, but Aria was growing tired of hearing it. "Let us put A to rest for now, and I'll explain to you why you're here. Some unusual behavior was brought to your parents' attention, and they found substance in the allegation, and they admitted you here."

"What unusual behavior? I haven't been acting any differently. Sure, I've been a little sadder lately, but that's because of a break up which clearly isn't Radley worthy." Aria looked expectantly at Dr. Sullivan, but somehow knew the explanation before it was told.

"I'm not in a position to discuss your condition at this point, but you will be filled in fully once you're stable." Dr. Sullivan said, and watched as the girl before her began rubbing her temples, clearly out of frustration. "They think revealing your diagnosis, and the identity of A would throw you off, and delay the situation."

"So I can't be told anything?" Aria questioned incredulously, and tried to the best of her abilities to contain her voice from yelling. "You won't tell me who A is, and you won't tell me why I'm here? I mean, is the sky still blue? Are you allowed to tell me that?"

"I get that you're frustrated, but you were admitted just yesterday, and it's been decided that it's too early in your treatment to tell you these things." Dr. Sullivan explained, looking sympathetically at Aria. The petite girl couldn't contain an eyeroll, she heard this before. "I've been assigned to you because you could really benefit from a familiar face in your situation."

Aria head was hurting. If something was wrong with her, why wouldn't they tell her exactly what it was? And if A really had been caught, why weren't she allowed to know the identity? Why did people believe that she was too unstable to handle such knowledge? She wasn't unstable at all!

Her mind wandered to her friends. Were they, in some other room at Radley, dealing with this, too? Were they all believed to be unstable now that A had been caught? She understood why outsiders could make that assumption if it had been brought to light the kind of torment they had been through, but she really was fine, and she was sure that her friends were as well. She just wanted to see them, speak to them. They didn't need Radley help. They could get through this together.

"Where are my friends?" Aria changed the subject, determined to see her friend. Dr. Sullivan smiled at her weirdly, almost with pity, but Aria chose to ignore it. "Are they here? Can I see them? Can I talk to them?"

Dr. Sullivan's smile of pity gained magnitude as Aria had finished her sentence. "Your friends aren't at Radley, but you're here because they were the ones who allerted your parents." Dr. Sullivan said, her voice full of the pity that could also be seen in her smile. Aria raised her eyebrows, and stared at her former therapist with disbelief. Nothing she'd been told so far made any sense. "When you were brought here, I suggested that they'd be allowed visitation rights because I'm aware of your history with them, and everything you have been through together. The staff here felt that it was too early to allow you visitors, but I changed their minds. We offered your friends visitation rights, but they declined. They didn't wish to see or talk to you."

Aria simply gaped at Dr. Sullivan. The words confused her; there were no sense in them at all. Why wouldn't her friends want to see her? Then it dawned on her... "Ezra is A." She muttered under a breath of shock, but it made sense now. "That's why I've been brought here, that's why my friends won't see me. I thought he was writing a book about Alison... He convinced me, but Spencer was right; he really is A." She stared expectantly at Dr. Sullivan, but for the first time the therapist mentioned nothing of Aria's stability. "So I'm right? Ezra is A. Look, I know Spencer went off the rails when Toby was helping Mona, but I'm not her. I'm stronger than that, okay? Ezra might be A, but I'm fine. I'll get through this, I'll be fine. Really, I'm fine."

Dr. Sullivan sighed, and looked at Aria with pity once again. It was a look that the petite girl, too, was growing tired of. "I'm not allowed to say anything about the identity of A..."

"Until I'm fully stabilized, I'm aware." Aria finished the sentence as she knew it would end, but something in Dr. Sullivan's tone told her that Ezra wasn't A, and now she was back at the beginning; not knowing why she was there or who A was. "Can't you give me something at least? I swear I won't tell anyone!"

"All I can tell you is that you were brought here yesterday, and were put under observation. You were still at a fragile state when you were brought in, and therefore it was easy giving you a diagnosis, and also realize the severity of it. It was figured out what kind of medication that was needed to treat you, and you were given a pill before you were brought to this room. You went straight to bed." Dr. Sullivan explained, but none of her words seemed familiar to Aria. None of it rang any bell. "You woke up early this morning, and were given another pill after which you fell asleep again. Your condition, and the severity of it, requires that you have to take your medication three times a day. Once in the morning, once in the middle of the day, and the last one before you go to sleep at night."

Aria couldn't tell if she was meant to respond, but at that point she had forgotten how her lips functioned, and couldn't get a sound out. The same thought kept echoing in her mind; why couldn't she remember any of this?

"One of the many side effects of the kind of medication you've been prescribed is drowsiness, and that seems to be the one that you've caught. The only thing that means is that you'll be sleeping more than usual, but it will change back to normal once the pills have settled into your system." Dr. Sullivan continued her explanation. Aria looked away from Dr. Sullivan for brief second, willing everything to go away, and when she looked back the therapist sat with a small pill jar in one hand. "When I heard you were up, I came here immediately to brief you as much as I'm allowed, and also to explain the medication to you. It so happens to be time for your afternoon pill."

Dr. Sullivan stood up from the chair, moved over to the bed, and sat down next to Aria. She popped one of the pills into her free hand, extended it for Aria to take the content. However, the petite girl seemed hesitant to do so.

"Why should I take it when you won't even tell me what I'd be taking it for?" She questioned, and the therapist knew it was a valid question, but her hands remained tied.

"I care about you, Aria, and that's why I've been assigned to you. I know you, I have an insight to your life, and I want what's best for you, but if I violate any of the conditions that have been presented to me, someone else will be assigned to you." Dr. Sullivan said, and for the first time Aria could hear a hint of desperation in the voice of someone who was usually calm and collected. "It is vital that you cooperate because I can't guarantee how the next person will be. Also, the sooner the medication settle into your system, the sooner you'll know what's going on."

Aria was still sceptical. "But why should I take some medication that I don't even know what's for? When I don't even know what symptoms it's supposed to suppress? How can I trust someone who tells me to take some pill, when the same person won't even tell me what it's for? Or what it will do to me?"

"Aria, I care about you, and I wanna stay on as your psychologist, but if you don't cooperate; they'll assign someone else to you who won't care. To this person you'll just be a job, but you're more than that to me. I care about what happens to you. I care about you getting better." Dr. Sullivan insisted, and attempted once again to hand the pill to Aria. "Please, trust me on this, and take the pill. It's for the best."

Aria glared at the pill as if it would then tell her its secrets. Should she take the leap of faith, and trust Dr. Sullivan on this? Should she take the pill? Dr. Sullivan did seem certain in a way that the medication would help, and she did do a lot to help them before the game was stolen from Mona. Did she really have a valid reason not to trust Dr. Sullivan?

Dr. Sullivan looked expectantly at Aria, and the petite girl finally took the pill from her hand. She eyes flickered from the pill to Dr. Sullivan, and then back. The pill was in her hand, but she wasn't any closer to taking it.

"I don't remember anything from yesterday." She revealed in an attempt to stall, and not because she felt an urge to confide in the psychologist. "I don't remember any of what you've told me, and I don't remember how I got here. The last thing I remember is that I made plans with my friends to catch A, but I don't remember if we did."

Dr. Sullivan nodded knowingly, and spoke calmly; "That is very common in your condition. You can go into stages where certain things happen, and you don't remember anything when you snap out of it." Her words were cryptic, but it was the only way she could think to explain it without getting into trouble, and for the first time Aria seemed to accept one of her explanations. "Paranoia is also quite common when you aren't in one of those stages."

Aria knew that Dr. Sullivan meant her untrusting ways when she referred to paranoia, and apparently it was common in 'those stages', but she didn't know what that meant. There was still so much she didn't get. There were so many questions that needed to be answered, but if she asked too much, she knew what Dr. Sullivan would say; she wasn't allowed to say until Aria was fully stabilized.

"What do you mean when you say 'those stages'?" Aria dared to ask, not bothering to look at Dr. Sullivan. Her eyes were very much focussed on the pill in her hand, still hoping, that if she stared at it long enough, it would reveal its secrets.

"I've said more than I needed to, Aria." Dr. Sullivan said, once again brushing off Aria's questions. "Please, just trust me. Take the pill so I can help you get better."

"When can I get out of here?" Aria questioned, trying to prolong things as much as possible so she wouldn't have to take the pill. "Mona was here once, and so was Spencer, and they weren't locked into their rooms like this. They were allowed out of their rooms."

Dr. Sullivan nodded because the small girl beside her was right about that, but this situation was very different. "Because they cooperated, and took their medication." She said, and managed to turn the conversation back on the undesired pill. "At this moment you're in a very fragile state. So much so that the staff here finds it unwise to let you interact with the other patients, and allow access to the common area. Once the medication is properly in your system, and you've become more stable, you'll be allowed outside of this room."

That explanation seemed to anger Aria. "I am not a hamster, okay?" She yelled furiously as she stood up from the bed, and threw the pill in her hand across the room. "Do you think I'd run off if I was let out of here?"

Dr. Sullivan shook her head as calmly as ever. Aria's outburst hadn't startled her. "No, Aria, I don't think that. The reality of your diagnosis still remain; it is very new, and we still don't know what triggers it, and what has triggered it in the past, and that is why the medication is so important. You'll be allowed out of here eventually, I promise."

Aria's mood swung, and she was now in tears instead. "So I'll have to stay in here all alone without any company? I don't believe I'm unstable, but I certainly will be if you exclude me from the world."

"You won't be excluded from the world." Dr. Sullivan promised sincerely, but it wasn't convincing to Aria. "I will be in here three times a day to give you your medication, and make sure that you take it, and we'll have a little chat every time I'm in here."

"But I won't have any visitors." Aria cried – pathetically in her own opinion. She felt so defeated that she didn't bother fighting Dr. Sullivan anymore, and walked back to the bed, sitting down in her old position.

"Not in the beginning, no." Dr. Sullivan confirmed, and Aria whimpered beside her at the thought. She knew it hurt the girl, but it wouldn't do her any good to give her false expectations – that would only depress her, and not help her. "But the more you cooperate, the quicker that will change."

"But not until I begin taking the pills myself?" Aria said solemnly, and Dr. Sullivan nodded as a reply. This wasn't a situation that Aria cared the least bit for, but this time she accepted the pill that was handed to her without any objection, and swallowed it with a loud gulp.

Satisfied with the events, Dr. Sullivan stood up from the bed, and prepared to leave the room. "I'll be back again tonight with your next pill." She said, and looked down at Aria, waiting for the petite girl to respond. She remained quiet, but acknowledged Dr. Sullivan's words with a subtle nod.

Dr. Sullivan opened the door and left, and as the door closed, Aria stood up from the bed. She walked over to the door, and watched Dr. Sullivan walk away through the small window in the door. She turned a corner, and disappeared out of eyesight, but Aria hesitated a few minutes before she moved away from there.

She walked straight over to the sink, and opened for the water, watching as it poured out the tap. She glanced over her shoulder to check that the sound of the sink didn't alarm anyone, and then she spat out the pill she had pretended to swallow.

She didn't close for the water until she was sure that the pill, the evidence of her lie, was completely gone. She placed her hands on each side of the sink, and rested her weight on it while she stared directly into the wall, and allowed her mind to start racing again.

While Dr. Sullivan had been in there, she had attempted to find the right balance between sceptism and cooperation, and believed that she'd managed to convince the therapist that her act had been sincere – because Dr. Sullivan certainly hadn't been.

A lot of things had tipped Aria off; firstly, her friends would never refuse to visit her, and surely not if she had legitimately been admitted to a place like Radley. Secondly, the secrecy about her 'condition', and why she was here. If any of it was true, they wouldn't hide those things from her. Thirdly, the way that Dr. Sullivan had insisted that she should take that mysterious pill, claiming that it was 'medication' for her 'condition', but still refused to explain either one because she didn't want to get into trouble. Aria wasn't buying it.

She was there because of A. She was sure of that, now more than ever. She didn't remember anything that had happened yesterday, and A had once made Emily forget an entire night where they had all wound up at Alison's fake grave, and in this situation Aria had wound up at Radley.

This reaked of A, and she would figure out how whoever it was had managed to convince an entire staff that she was insane, and belonged at this aylum. She would find a way to get the hell out of there, and she'd talk to her friends, and together they'd nail A's ass to the wall.

Dr. Sullivan was working with A as well, she was sure of it. The psychologist may have helped her in the past, but had told all lies when she'd been in there earlier. If Aria was there because she really was mentally unstable, then why keep her locked up? The answer was simple; if they let her out of this room, she'd be able to run for help. She'd be able to tell people how she'd been wrongfully placed at Radley, and that they'd kept her locked in, and tried to drug her with God knows what...

She had figured the situation out, and the identity of A would be next. She hadn't quite formalized a plan; she couldn't even recall the plan she'd made with her friends the other day. She just knew they had made one, but there was one thing she was certain of;

Look out, A, I'm coming for you!

Which Aria Is It Anyway?

Disclaimer; Sadly, I do not own Pretty Little Liars. I do own the first three seasons on dvd, but somehow I don't think that qualifies.

Dedication; This won't be dedicated to a specific person, but I will use it to announce this; in the previous fandoms I have written for, it has been a habit of mine to dedicate each chapter of a story to different people. I haven't fully brought it with me to the PLL world, but I will be doing so from now on. How does one get a dedication? Simple; in my other works of fiction I've experienced some of the kindest readers, and some amazing reviews along with that. Out of the reviews I get for a chapter, I pick the best review (the one that touches me the most), and dedicate the next chapter to that person. This is by no way a bribe to get you to review, or change the way you'd normally write a review, it simply spring from the fact that I've been blessed with some great reviews in the past. I'm not denying that I wouldn't appreciate reviews either. I sincerely hope you've read my rambling note at the dedication section, and I'd like to kick the dedications off by dedicating this to my first reviewer; First reviewer, this one is for you ;).

Now onto my actual author's note; the idea for this fiction came to me after the season 4 finale, and a theory that I've heard more times that I care for – simply because I don't believe it to be true. Then I started thinking; if it was true, how do you think it could be possible? And voila; Which Aria Is It Anyway?

Let's talk about the chapter. I hope it raised some questions that I welcome you to leave your thoughts on in a review:

How did Aria end up at Radley?

Is she mentally unstable, or is it really A's doing as she suspects?

If she really is mentally unstable, what could possibly be wrong with her? (Hint: the title!)

Can Dr. Sullivan be trusted? Should Aria trust her?

Is it true that her friends won't see her or talk to her? And if so, why?

If you have anymore questions that I haven't mentioned, or you have theories about this story (as I'm sure you have with the actual show), feel free to voice them in a review.

I hope this story has intrigued you enough to review, favorite, and whatever else you may desire. If my writing has intrigued you as well, and you wonder; hmm, I wonder what else she may have written – feel free to pop by my profile. It may say that I have left , and that is to some extend true. I did leave fanfiction to pursue writing original works, but I find myself in a period of time that allows me to write a little bit of fiction. I will focus that time mainly on this story, but maybe also other works in the PLL fandom. However, in the future; look out for the book series Queen Mercury, or the book series The Lost Children... The day will come, I hope.

I think I've bothered you guys enough with this long author's note (that I hope you've still read), and I'll finish it off by saying this; THANK YOU so much for reading the first chapter of Which Aria Is It Anyway?, and I innerly hope that you'll leave me a review because I would very much appreciate your feedback :).

Laters,

AK-tutti :)