A/N: A friend of mine was bitching about "The Lady Killer" episode of PLL because we didn't get to see what actually went down in the lighthouse after Caleb got there…and to be honest it never really made sense to me that we didn't see how Caleb got shot given that Nate was unconscious on the floor dying. My friend and I speculated that Nate got one burst of final energy, got the gun, and shot Caleb, and then Emily stabbed him again to protect Caleb.
Then we started talking about what a hell of a finale it could have been had Nate caused more damage, and how much more intense it could have been. My friend begged me to write that scenario. Being that I am always terrified to write characters I love because I'm afraid I'll screw them up I said no. Then, as all good friends do, she totally guilted me into it. So long story short…if this story sucks you can blame her. Not me. I just wanted to be like Wine Mom Ashley Marin sitting in my PJs and sippin' my booze while all my other drunk friends got into shenanigans while I chilled and watched. But instead…I'm writing dark and angsty shit because my friends are obsessed with this show...because of me. I deserve this fate. This is my fault.
Enjoy.
Chapter 1:
She was dreaming of her. The last time she'd heard her voice:
You were my first, but it won't be our last. Time travels til it's in the past. You'd think our love was some thickening plot. They don't know that it's all we've got.
It wasn't the same as being with her, but just seeing her in that video and hearing her voice was enough to make Emily feel like Maya was still with her.
And now here she was…standing right in front of her. She felt her touch. She could smell her aroma. And suddenly the nightmare of Maya's death was gone. Emily's heart started racing as Maya touched her face and pressed her lips against Emily's. Emily closed her eyes and got lost in the moment. She was falling into a state of oblivion she never wanted to come back from.
A loud noise screamed into the air. Emily's eyes shot open and she was no longer looking into her beloved's eyes. The room was dark, but not so dark that she couldn't see the antique table in front of her.
The noise interrupted the silence at the lighthouse inn. It was the phone. Emily sat up. She wasn't with Maya. She was alone in the middle of nowhere. Well, not completely alone. She looked around for Nate. She reached for the phone.
"Hello?"
There was nothing on the other end at first. Just static.
"Hello?"
"You have one minute." A distorted voice warned. "Get. Out."
Emily's eyes widened in fear and she slammed the phone down. It had to be a hoax. It was someone messing with her. Someone who knew she was hiding out to stay away from Garrett Reynolds' trial.
"Nate?" She called out.
When he didn't respond she got up and looked around the cabin for him. She glanced out the window to see if maybe he had gone out to look at the stars. Maya loved looking at the stars, and Maya and Nate had a lot in common. Or so she thought.
She saw Nate's bag out of the corner of her eye. Something about it was calling her to it. It was strange…an inanimate object calling to her. It was an odd sensation, as if Maya was in the room with her. She flipped through Nate's bag and spotted a familiar envelope. It was the letter she had written to Maya's family. Nate had promised to mail it. Something wasn't adding up.
Her instincts were telling her, Girl, kick off your shoes and run, but in her heart she had the sinking feeling that it was too late.
She heard him approaching. She had just enough time to put the letter back in Nate's bag before he waltzed through the front door hauling firewood.
"Looks like a storm is on the way." He smiled as he closed the door and walked over to the fireplace. "Went for a great hike…" But Emily didn't hear anything else he said. There was a stain on his hiking boots. A stain she recognized. A stain that connected Nate to Maya…but not in the way that he'd claimed to be connected to her. She'd seen the fluorescent yellow paint on those shoes in a photo of Maya at Tru North.
Emily knew she was in trouble. She knew she had to get out. The phone call hadn't been a hoax.
"Did you call your mom?" Nate asked.
Lie. Her instincts screamed at her. Lying was second nature to her, though she had never been very good at it. She tried to pretend she was playing cards. That was the only time she knew how to bluff.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Everything is fine."
He turned around and smiled at her.
"I'll make us some tea." He walked to the stove.
She glanced at the door. Could she make it? And even if she did, where would she go? She was in the middle of nowhere. She was kicking herself for not staying in Rosewood with her friends. She'd gladly take reporters hounding her and Garrett's trial over becoming the next victim in a bad horror movie. She tried to play it cool. She looked around the cabin to see if she could spot any potential weapons.
"I brought some DVDs. We should watch a movie," he suggested as he poured steaming hot water over two teabags.
Her heart was fluttering in her chest.
"I'm not really feeling that great." That wasn't a lie. She felt sick to her stomach. "I…uh…I think I'm going to get some fresh air."
If she could just get out of the cabin and away from him she could find a place where her phone got a signal and call for help.
"I'll go with you." He jumped on it almost immediately.
She tensed up.
"It's really dark out…" he added.
"I'll find my way," she said with more confidence than she realized she had.
He walked her to the door and she thought, He's going to kill me…I'm never going to get out of here alive.
He smiled at her, "You better wear your jacket. It's cold out there."
She had a chill, but not because of the cold air. The ice-water running through her veins was because of the dangers inside. She put her jacket on and tried to smile at him as she walked out the door. She walked into the woods and breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced down at her phone and dialed a number so that when she got a signal all she'd have to do would be hit 'send'.
Then there he was standing in front of her with a malicious look on his face. She screamed internally, but tried not to panic.
Act normal. Her inner voice wanted her to survive.
"You scared me half to death," she faked a smile.
But he knew. She could tell that he knew.
"Not really." He glared at her, no hint of emotion on his face. "But I will."
He grabbed her arm and dragged her back to the cabin, despite her protests.
"Stop it, Nate!" Emily exclaimed, hoping at someone…anyone was around to hear her pleas.
"You need to see something." Nate ignored her.
"Why are you doing this?" Emily asked.
He didn't answer as he shoved her through the door and locked it behind them. He pushed her over to the couch. He pulled out a knife and simply pointed to the remote control. Emily's hands were shaking as she reached for it.
Maybe she could hit him hard enough to knock him out.
"Don't even think about it." He brandished the knife in her face. "Play it." He pointed to the TV.
Emily pressed play. The screen was blank for a few seconds, but then…there she was…Maya. And Emily felt like she was in a dream again…only this dream had morphed into a nightmare.
Maya spoke to Emily as if she was standing in front of her:
"I wanted to give you this in person because I want to be there when you watch it. I've said so many wrong things to you."
A tear slid down Emily's cheek. It hurt to see Maya like this…in front of him. It wasn't right.
"Emily, this is me taking the time to get it right…"
Emily could hear Nate fiddling with the knife behind her and she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on Maya's words. But then something registered…
"…I think that stalker from Tru North found me."
Nate jammed the knife into the table and smiled sadistically.
"…I'm coming home. If you still want to be with me…"
Emily's eyes welled up with tears. Maya hadn't left her. On some level she'd always known that Maya would find her way back to her.
Nate chuckled and paused the video.
"How could you not fall in love with her smile?" He sounded miles away.
"Why do you have this?" Emily asked.
"You know why." He walked around in front of her. "I loved her." Emily swallowed a knot in her throat. "Don't look at me like that."
Emily was too afraid to look anywhere else, so she continued to stare at him. It enraged him. He leaped forward and held the knife up against her windpipe. She felt the cool steel blade pressing against her skin and she cried out.
"You took her away from me." His voice was shaking. "And it's ironic, but you've also given me a piece of her back."
"Did you bring me here to kill me?" Emily questioned.
Of course he did, you idiot, she mentally answered her own question. She'd dealt with psychopaths enough to know the answer.
Nate laughed.
"I'm going to do to you what you did to me." He walked over to the closet. "I'm going to take something from you, and you are going to watch me do it."
Emily glanced towards the door again. She wanted to run, but her feet weren't getting the message from her brain. Nate changed that fight or flight response the instant he opened the closet door. Paige was sitting in the closet gagged and bound and she looked terrified. Emily's mind immediately went to work. She had to get him away from Paige. This was her mess and she didn't want anyone she cared about to end up as collateral damage.
Nate sauntered over to the couch and leaned forward. He ran his hands gingerly through Emily's hair. Emily cringed.
"When we kissed I thought 'maybe I don't have to hurt her.'" He was so close that she could taste his breath. "I thought, 'maybe I can move on with Emily.'"
He is out of his damn mind. She thought to herself. She glanced at her cell phone on the table.
"But just like Maya, you were playing me!" He grabbed the back of her neck roughly.
"That's not true." She tried to stay calm.
"I gave you a choice and you picked her." He looked at Paige with disdain. He walked over to Paige, leaving his back turned for a split second. Emily took that opportunity to grab her phone. He picked Paige up and tossed her on the couch next to Emily. Emily could see the terror in her eyes. And in an instant she could see what happened to Maya happening to Paige. Her stomach curled into knots.
"I want you to see this." Nate pressed the blade against Paige's neck.
"Nate, no, please…" Emily begged.
He didn't stop.
Stop him! She screamed at herself.
"My friends know I'm here!" She tried to distract him. "My mom knows! They'll find you."
She thought at the very least that would cause him to pause. Instead, it seemed to amuse him.
"You underestimate me, Emily." He smiled…that poisonous smile. "They think you're here with Nate St. Germain. And he doesn't exist."
"Who are you?" Emily knew, but she had to keep him talking…to keep him from hurting Paige.
"Lyndon," he said. "Lyndon James."
The knife. The initials. It all made sense. Maya wasn't afraid of going back to Tru North. Emily looked at Nate. Maya was afraid of going back to him.
Maya had always played off that her stalker wasn't that big of a deal, but Emily knew she was afraid of him. If her parents had forced her to go back to Tru North they would have been hand-delivering her to him. That's why Maya had run away.
"I've waited as long as I could." Nate played with his knife. "But Jenna saw me with Maya…"
Jenna warned me. She warned me! Why didn't I listen?
"Maya's parents are in town for the trial, so…time's up." He shrugged. He drew the knife back and got ready for the kill.
Paige screamed and Emily panicked.
Oh, God. This is happening. You have to do something! Her brain was screaming at her.
Her breathing increased. She felt her adrenaline going into overdrive. Her hand curled into a fist, ready to make contact with his smug face. She didn't care if he attacked her. She just wanted to get him away from Paige. She drew back and got ready to throw a punch, but something stopped him in his tracks.
A noise outside startled him away from the girls. He scurried off the couch to see if he'd been caught. Paige whimpered. Emily looked at her.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Emily whispered. "He can't hurt you if he's after me." She knew he would come after her. She just had to outrun him.
Paige furiously shook her head, but Emily was determined…and nothing could stop her when she was determined. She made a beeline for the front door and started racing through the woods. She couldn't get a signal on her phone, so she kept going. Nate ran after her. She followed the light from the lighthouse. If she could get a signal anywhere, that would be the place. She was at the top of the lighthouse when she heard her phone beep.
"Thank God." She dialed 9-1-1 and breathed a sigh of relief.
But her nightmare wasn't over yet. The instant the call connected, Nate leaped out of the shadows and tackled her. She dropped her phone. He raised his knife above her chest and plunged it forward, but she rolled out from under him. She tried to get to her feet, but he grabbed her again. She saw the knife gleaming in the light. This time it made contact. She felt the knife pierce her skin. He twisted the blade into her stomach. She inhaled a shocked gasp and let out a pained cry.
"You're mine now, bitch," Nate pulled the knife out and plunged it towards her again.
She saw the eyes of Maya's killer fixed on hers, and she found herself wondering if this was what Maya saw moments before her death.
