"She's gone."

Alison sat up on her sleeping bag, eyes narrowing at Spencer. "What do you mean, 'she's gone?'"

"She's not here. Emily," Spencer embellished to Aria and Hanna, who were slowly getting up, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. "I woke up and she wasn't here, so then I started looking around. I checked everywhere- my house, Ali's house, her house. She's not here."

Alison felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She ran her beautifully painted nails through her hair, twisting it around and around.

"Where could she have gone?" Aria asked. "Why would she just wake up in the middle of the night and leave like that?"

"I'm sure she's fine," Alison told the other girls with a shrug of her shoulders, making an attempt at being nonchalant. "She'll show up."

The other girls looked at Ali, forever amazed by her ability to act completely unruffled in the face of danger. "C'mon, girls, we better get back to sleep," she advised. "We have a big day tomorrow. I wanna go through Jason's stash and replace his pills with gas pills. Hopefully that'll teach him to get his head out of his ass and stop being such a crackhead."

The girls all nodded their heads, obediently rolling over on their sleeping bags and going back to sleep. But they didn't sleep well. Every single one of them dreamed of Emily that night, all lost and alone in the woods for some unexplainable reason, calling for them to come save her.

The next morning was one they would never forget. Emily never came back to the barn to let them know she was okay. They sat around that morning, staring down at their legs. Occasionally one of them would attempt to make conversation with the others, but their efforts died pretty quickly. Eventually when they couldn't put it off any longer, they gathered their stuff, leaving the barn and heading to the Fields.'

They hoped desperately that Emily would be the one to answer the door, smiling in her sweet way that only Emily could do, explaining why she had left them.

But luck was not on their side. Mrs. Fields answered the door, smiling at the four girls, inviting them inside. But her smile faltered when she noticed the grim looks on their faces. Counted the girls, finding out that there were only four girls standing on her doorstep instead of five.

"Hello, girls. Where's Emily?" She asked as the girls filed into the house one by one.

Aria, Hanna, and Spencer all looked to Alison. Of course. She was their leader. It was only natural that they'd expect her to figure out a way to break the news to Mrs. Fields. But how does one go about doing that? How do you explain to somebody's mother that their daughter's just... gone?

"Emily- she's gone," Alison said softly. "She disappeared last night. Spencer looked for her everywhere, but she couldn't find her."

Mrs. Fields' eyes widened, the weight of what they were saying fully sinking in. "Well, then- I'm sure she'll turn up eventually. I'm sure she's fine. I mean, where would she go? Emily loves her life here, she loves me and her father, she loves you girls. She has no reason to just disappear into thin air."

But Alison could think of one.

When she got home that day, tired and defeated, she headed upstairs to her room, taking out the letter from under her pillow. The letter that Emily had sent to Alison just days before. The letter where she simultaneously declared her love for Alison and expressed her hurt over Alison playing with her feelings at the same time. The letter that Ali had never told Emily she had received, but she was sure the girl just knew. There was a different current in the air ever since she had received it- a sense of anger, a sense of detachment.

She knew it was narcissistic to assume that Emily had run away from home because Alison had told her that she didn't feel the same way about her, but really, what else could she really think in this situation? Mrs. Fields had been right. Emily loved her life here. She really had no other reason to leave.

If she was sure of one thing, it was that she could under no circumstances tell the other girls about this. Which wouldn't be a problem, anyways, since she was the queen of secrets. What if they ditched her completely if they found out that Emily had left because of Alison? A queen was nothing without her faithful lackeys. She couldn't afford that.

And besides, deep down inside, a part of her didn't want to out Emily by revealing Emily's crush on Alison. Sure, she had had no problem spilling other people's secrets in the past, but she felt different about this. It just didn't seem right.

The next year was a blur. It seemed like people just couldn't keep their eyes off of Alison, Spencer, Aria, and Hanna at school. Alison always glared at them until they turned their heads and minded their own business, but she knew they always turned to look again after her back was turned. Really, were they that interesting to look at? Yes, they were gorgeous, and yes, they had been best friends with the missing girl, the girl whom had caused a wave of panic to wash over Rosewood after her disappearance, but what were people expecting to figure out by looking at her old friends? Did they think they'd look at them, and then suddenly have a wave of brilliance, figuring out what had happened to her?

Life in Rosewood had changed drastically ever since Emily went missing. Everyone except Alison thought that Emily had been kidnapped, not run away; people had assumed stuff like that didn't happen in Rosewood. And that was true, for the most part. Everyone in Rosewood knew each other. You couldn't go to the local drugstore to buy condoms without five people spotting you at once and then calling your mother to inquire whether she knew where you were and what you were doing.

But now, parents were being more careful about where their children were. You couldn't go to a friend's house without agreeing to text your mom every hour to let her know that you were safe and not kidnapped like that poor Emily Fields girl. And good luck trying to stay out until nine at night without your parents placing a frantic call to the police, making them start a manhunt throughout town until they found you, sitting on your boyfriend's couch, lips plastered to his with his hand halfway up your skirt.

Alison did her best to act normal on the outside, but she was a mess of emotions on the inside. She just wanted Emily to come home, back to Alison. Where she belonged. How could she be so stupid to just up and leave like that? It was a cold, cruel world out there. She'd never make it on her own.

Although a nagging part of Alison's brain wasn't even sure Emily had left town of her own free will. A distraught Mrs. Fields had reported to the police that day that Emily's room was still in the neat shape it was always in, was in the exact same condition it had been when she left for Spencer's that day. Nothing had been messed up or taken. Her clothes were still hanging up in the closet, untouched. The room still looked like somebody lived there. Mrs. Fields went in every week to dust and remake the bed, even though it was still as perfectly neat as it had been the last time she had gone in to do it.

"Hey, DiLaurentis! Wait up!"

Alison spun around, eyes rolling when she saw Ben Coogan making his way towards her. What did he want? If he was gonna bring up Emily, she was fully prepared to smack him. There was an unspoken rule between the girls that Emily was a forbidden topic, but other people hadn't seemed to grasp that concept yet. They insisted on asking Alison if Emily had magically showed up at home again in the past twenty four hours, as if they wouldn't know that information already if Emily was back. "What do you want?" She snapped.

"So touchy. I just wanted to tell you how nice I think you look today," he said suggestively, running an arm lightly over her bare arm. She smacked his hand away.

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." She adjusted the straps of her dress.

"Modest, too." Ben smirked.

"It's hard to be modest when you look this good."

"I wouldn't be one to disagree with that." The way he looked at her gave her goosebumps. He was such a perv. I don't know how Emily could stand dating him, the blonde thought to herself, but then mentally told herself to shut up. She had just broken her own rule by thinking of Emily. The feeling of pain that she experienced whenever she thought of her best friend washed over her, taking her by surprise and completely capsizing her the way it always did.

"Always the flatterer. I'd say the same of you, but my mom always tells me not to tell a lie."

"Playing hard to get. Just my type. Whaddya say we hang out sometime? Get to know each other a little better?"

"And why exactly do you want to hang out with me?"

"You're hot. You're a girl, I'm a guy. You do the math." He winked at her. "And Emily-"

"What about her?"

"I know she always wanted us to be friends while she was still here. I was her boyfriend, you were her best friend, it killed her that we couldn't have a conversation for ten seconds without you telling me to go jump off a bridge. I'm sure it would make her happy to know that we're getting to know each other now that she's gone, at least."

Alison stood there, glaring at him for a moment, trying to ease the lump in her throat before she started crying. "You're making it sound like she's dead or something. She's not dead. She's just- gone. But fine. Pick me up at my house at six. Don't be late."

She spun around, blonde hair flying into his face as she flounced off without another word.

"I had a good time."

Alison nodded her head noncommittally at him as he walked her up to his front door. "Well, I'm always in for free food."

"How about we go out tomorrow night?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, why not? Sounds better than listening to Spencer moan on about how hot her sister's latest fiance is, at least."

"Perfect."

And then he did something that he really shouldn't have done, considering the fact that this wasn't even an actual date (at least, it hadn't been one from Alison's perspective,) and who had brought them together in the first place. He leaned in, gently kissing her cheek once before his lips moved to hers.

And badly enough, Alison liked it.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed her gently once more, hand squeezing her arm before he left.

Alison headed into the house, heading to her bathroom to shower and change into her pajamas. She felt her phone go off, and she grabbed it, expecting it to be Aria complaining about her latest family issues, or Hanna asking her to come over and help throw away all the food in the house so she wouldn't be tempted to binge and purge anymore. Which never lasted very long, of course. But it wasn't either of them.

Unknown Number: Oh, no, you're replacing me already! And with BEN of all people, too. I thought what we had was special, Ali! -E

She felt her heart stop. What the hell? Who would play some kind of cruel joke on her like this? But then again, what if it wasn't a joke? What if Emily was really still around Rosewood, watching Alison at this very moment? It couldn't be a joke. Nobody but her knew about Emily's feelings for Alison.

But the thought of having someone watch her, even if that person was Emily, creeped her out.

She headed out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, locking her windows and tightly shutting the curtains.

"I wonder what's going on at your house, Ali," Spencer said, nodding towards Alison's house. It seemed like the whole town of Rosewood was parked in front of it, including an ambulance and two police cars.

Alison shrugged. "Jason's probably collapsed from all the drugs again and my mom called 911. No biggie."

"Um... A-Alison... I don't think it's that," Hanna whispered.

"God, don't be so over dramatic, Hanna," Alison snapped, but when she looked over at Hanna and saw her looking down at her phone, face white as a ghost, it seemed as if Hanna wasn't just guessing.

"What? What does it say?" Hanna didn't move as she stared down at the message, didn't even blink. She snatched the phone from her, reading the text message.

Unknown Number: I can't believe you bitches thought I was that little hoe Emily. She's dead, silly! She's been behind Alison's house the entire time, buried by some crazie. RIP, Emily Fields. -E

"You guys have been getting the texts, too?" Ali asked quietly, looking around at her friends. They all nodded their heads silently.

"NO!" She screamed, throwing Hanna's phone to the ground. She bounded away, pushing people mercilessly out of her way without hesitation, making her way to her house, just in time to see two paramedics wheeling a stretcher away from the backyard and into the ambulance.

Alison didn't even have to ask anyone what was going on. She could hear them whispering, talking about what a shame it was for such a young, beautiful, athletic girl like Emily to die. She could see Mr. Fields wrapping his arms around Mrs. Fields, letting her cry into his chest. Their daughter was dead. Gone. No longer here. And they'd never get to say goodbye.

Alison hadn't been able to say goodbye, either.

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