This is something that's been floating around in my head for a while now. I've always loved "dark Spencer" and I wish that they'd done more with her storyline of being on the "A" team. So here we are. Unlike my other story, I'm writing this as I upload, so updates may be a little more sporadic. But reviews are always welcome - please let me know what you think so far!

Prologue

"Hey! This conversation isn't over."

Everything felt strange. Colors were brighter, even though it was dark and stormy, and black was edging in on her vision. Her words sounded faint to her own ears, even though she was sure that she was shouting, but the sound of the leaves crackling under her shoes was amplified.

Something was wrong. She had felt weird for a few months, ever since her addiction had started to spiral out of control, yes. But this was different.

But even so, Spencer plowed on, her eyes focused on the bright yellow shirt in front of her.

"It is over, Spencer." Alison whirled around, her curly blond hair whipping out of her face. She had never looked so angry. "And so are we."

But Spencer was positive that she had never felt so angry, either. Alison had been trailing her around for months, keeping her on an increasingly short leash while whispering threats in her ear. Threats to expose Spencer's short-lived relationship with her older sister's boyfriend.

Jump, it was like Alison was saying, every time she and Spencer were alone together, or even when the other girls were around, only then she had to talk cryptically. And Spencer would jump, every time, because Ali just had that kind of power over her and everyone else.

But not anymore. Spencer was done.

"Don't you walk away from me," she shouted, barely aware of the words spilling from her mouth. She felt oddly detached, her voice toneless aside from a twinge of anger that had nothing on what she was really feeling.

But Alison didn't slow down, turning her back and continuing her long, cool stride. And that was when Spencer felt herself snap, the fury beginning to seep through her daze. "Dammit, Ali!"

A shovel sat in a wheelbarrow of dirt nearby, only a few yards from the plot of land that was to become the DiLaurentis' new gazebo. For months now, Spencer had laid awake at night, listening to the workers finish up, clanking, crashing, digging…

It. Drove. Her. Crazy.

And for some senseless reason she blamed Alison for that, too, in that moment. Everything was Ali's fault. It was always Ali's fault.

She grabbed the shovel. Her knuckles whitened against it. She held it above her head. "I said stop!"

Now Alison turned. Her expression changed when she caught sight of Spencer, brandishing the shovel like a weapon. Not fear, exactly, but perhaps…wariness? "You're way out of your league, Spencer," she said, a warning tone to her voice that only served to make her former-friend angrier.

"Really? You sure about that?"

There was silence as Alison stared at her, but Spencer could only hear the buzzing that filled her ears. There was no doubt in her mind now. Something had happened to her before she had fallen asleep earlier that night. There was something going on with her mind, something that went way beyond the several pills she had taken before joining the others for the sleepover.

And she couldn't shake the thought that Alison was behind it.

"Why don't you put that thing down before you hurt yourself?" Ali snapped, and there was no mistaking it now. She was afraid. Freaked out, probably, that finally, finally, someone was standing up to her.

Spencer only wished that she could properly enjoy it. But her rage was too fierce, controlling her actions as she stepped forward, swinging the shovel down toward the blonde.

And then the blackness momentarily took over and she tripped, her vision tilting as the ground came toward her. The shovel flew from her hands and she landed hard on her the ground.

Then her vision steadied, her heart settling back into the too-fast buzz that she had gotten used to over the past few weeks, and she rose back to her feet, locking her eyes on Alison's.

But something orange and glittering caught her eye, and she glanced down.

A small pill canister, laying innocently on the dirt. Spencer's pill bottle. It had fallen out of her pocket when she'd tripped.

She could do nothing but stare for a long moment, barely able to comprehend how it could possibly have gotten here. She didn't even remember bringing it with her to the sleepover…but then again, she barely left her house without it these days.

She needed those pills. Those pills were the only things that kept her teetering on the edge of despair and stress instead of plunging right into it.

Alison's glittering blue eyes locked in on the pills, and Spencer felt her breath catch in her throat. She would not let Ali hold another secret over her head. She refused to be powerless anymore.

She acted quickly, stooping down, her hand outstretched, but Alison was faster. She scooped up the bottle and straightened back up, jumping back as Spencer lurched toward her, desperate. She had to get that canister…she had to, before Alison realized what they…

"Are you speeding?" Alison stared at her, her face twisted in disgust and disbelief.

Dammit.

"Oh my God," Ali said, shaking her head and letting out a cruel laugh. "I can't believe it. You're speeding."

Spencer's vision had started to tunnel again. She could barely make out Alison around the black fuzziness, which was growing worse by the second. The work of the pills, or a panic attack, she couldn't tell which, but she could still make out the sneer on Ali's face, clear as day.

Alison was going to ruin her life with this. Spencer would be forever at her mercy, constantly trailing her around and afraid to speak for fear of setting her off, of saying the one wrong thing that would anger Alison enough to spill her secret.

Her heartbeat increased, growing more panicked as the weight of this sunk in. Alison knew all of their secrets. She had all of the power, and she always had, since the day she met them and took them in as her new friends.

Her new projects.

Spencer's hand curled around the handle of the shovel. This was it. She was done letting Ali treat them all like dirt, like her own little puppets. She wasn't going to let her control them anymore.

Ali looked up from examining the pill bottle, the smirk freezing on her face. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

It was too late, anyway.

Spencer finally gave into her anger, and in one fast, solid motion, raised the shovel and smashed it into the side of her best friend's head.