Since You've Been Gone
I do not own any of Sara Shepard's characters.
Chapter 1: What Is Going On?
Here was the girl in the pictures on the news. The girl on the screen saver of Emily's phone. The girl in the photo that had blown through the woods just moments before. The one who'd been seen wearing the Von Dutch T-Shirt in that photo, laughing as if nothing bad would ever happen to her.
This can't be happening, Emily thought. There is no way this can be happening.
It was…Ali.
Spencer was the first to talk. Well, squeak really. "Ali? Is that you?"
Ali looked up at her, those crystal blue eyes sparkling with a thousand answers that we had questions to. "Yes." She whispered. The whole group gasped, instant questions forming their minds.
Emily had to say something. "But you're supposed to be dead."
"Gee, sorry to be a disappointment." She smiled the smile that the group had missed for almost four years now.
Hanna whispered, "But how? They found your body in that hole in your yard."
Ali sighed. "Jason and Wilden and some other girl. They threatened me. So they put a hoax in. Guys, they're evil. You've got to believe me." She begged.
"We believe you. But come on, we've got to get out of here before we roast to pieces." Spencer said wisely. They helped Ali up and Aria and Emily put their arms around Ali to support her. They ran inside the Hastings' house and got to the phone. Spencer dialed 911 and Aria and Emily placed Ali on the couch. Aria sat in the chair across from the couch and Emily sat down next to Ali. Hanna stayed with Spencer, none of the girls wanting to be alone even if another was in the other room. Aria and Emily pestered Ali with questions, but Ali kept telling them that she didn't remember much. All she knew was that Jason and Wilden kidnapped her and made a cover-up story saying Ali was dead so no one would suspect anything from her "grieving" brother and a policeman. That was the whole point of Wilden becoming a policeman; so that he could kidnap Ali without anyone expecting a cop to do anything bad. And no one would question the brother of a dead girl, for he had enough to go through. That's what made it the perfect plan.
Spencer was done with the phone, so all they had to do now was to wait. The firemen would be coming soon with a police escort. The news would probably be running a national story on this. Emily suddenly remembered all those notes from A. "Ali?" Ali looked up at Emily. "Are you…A?"
Ali's eyes widened. "Yes." She whispered. Aria jumped up.
"Did you guys hear that?" She whispered. Emily heard a crack outside the living room window. All the girls jumped up and huddled around each other. Another crack. Wait…was that… Emily never got to finish the thought because just then, the Hastings' roof collapsed. Aria and Hanna got trapped under it. "No!" Emily screamed out. Spencer and Emily started pushing away the pieces of the roof to reveal first a coughing Aria, but they couldn't find Hanna. They searched everywhere, but they couldn't find her. The girls all looked at each other with wide eyes. What could've happened to her?
When the group looked around them, they noticed that Ali was gone as well. "What the hell is going on?" Aria screamed. The bushes that surrounded the house shook, revealing two figures. A flash of blonde hair blurred past the window. Emily stared at it. Ali? Jason? Or the other girl? She didn't know what she was doing, but she ran out the front door of the Hastings' and into the dark.
"Ali!" She screamed. Ali was struggling against Jason, who duct taped her mouth. How could her own brother do this to Ali? Spencer and Aria emerged from the house and ran up to Emily.
"Emily, don't do it. They'll get you." Spencer whispered. Emily knew that she couldn't rescue Ali. Just then, Hanna came out from behind a tree on the right side of Spencer's lawn. Someone was drugging her. Oh. My. God. It was Kate, Hanna's stepsister. Hanna claimed her to be totally evil, but now we knew it was true. Kate jammed Hanna into Jason's car that was parked on the street. So that was why Jason freaked out on Emily when he thought that she had rear-ended his car-because in it was Ali. If Emily really had crashed into Jason's car, the alarm would've gone off, possibly opening the trunk with the kind of car he had. It would've ruined the whole plan.
And now the car was speeding away with not one, but two hostages. How on earth were Emily, Aria, and Spencer going to get them back? They couldn't tell the police; they had already gone down that road and they wouldn't believe them. They would need the only other person who knew that Jason and Wilden were up to no good. They would need…Ian.