Friday evening, Lauren sat on her humongous king-sized bed and looked over at the window as the light orange and yellowish lights peeked through the window. She was upset, more than upset, she was devastated after what happened that one night, and she promised herself she would never think about it ever again. The door opened as her sister, Haley, came into the room.

"Hey.. Lauren, I know it was tough losing Ali, but what happened with you, Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily? You guys were like the girls of seventh-grade!" Haley exclaimed, trying to start a conversation... but she started it in the absolute wrong way.

"Haley, go away." Lauren let out a little growl as annoyance etched her beautiful features. Her straight dirty-blonde hair flew onto her shoulder as she stood up and her hazel eyes twinkled in the orange and yellow lights flickering outside her window.

"Ugh, fine Lauren! Mom wants to see you, though." Haley said as her dark brown hair flipped behind her and she walked right out of Lauren's room.

Lauren sat back on the bed and finally rested her head on her fluffy pillow, her hazel eyes staring right at the white ceiling, what does she want now? She thought as she used some strength to haul herself off of the comfy bed. Standing up on her feet she walked out of her white door and made her way down the steps, using the railing as some balance as her feet quickly went down the carpeted stairs. "Yes, mom?" Lauren said as she walked into the living room and sat down on the chair, staring at her mom.

Mrs. McDaniel's dark forest green eyes shimmered and her perfectly cut brown hair lay down on her shoulders. "Lauren, I decided to get your mind off of Alison, I signed you up for a sport," she said to Lauren as she paused, "a sport you actually like. Softball!"

A smile formed onto Lauren's face, but sadness roamed around on the inside—she loved her mom and dad, but to try and get her mind off of Ali? Impossible. "Mom... are you sure? I-"

"Lauren! You'll be fine," a grin plastered on her mom's face, "you've always loved softball, and plus, you're the greatest player I've ever known."

Lauren let out a snort, "okay, okay. I'm not the best player, and I'm not-"

"Okay! Then it's settled Lauren," interrupted her mom as she raised herself off of the chair and walked over to the kitchen. "Dinner is soon, I'll call you both down once it's done."

Lauren rushed upstairs, tears pricking her eyes. She was so upset, there was no way her mom could take her mind off of Ali, she just disappeared like that. She was just like a grain of sand that accidentally was taken off by the wind. What if she was still out there, just trying to find a way back? She mentally kicked herself, that isn't possible! She told herself as she fell back on her bed, why did Ali even leave? Burying herself under her covers she closed her eyes and dozed off into a deep sleep, that was the only way she could seem to save herself from reality. Sleep.

Lauren stood up and she stood in front of the DiLaurentis household, the summer grass was tall and the tips were turning to a yellow type of color. She walked even farther into the DiLaurentises' "territory", a small smile forming at the edge of her lips.

They were all laughing together in the yard, music turned up almost to the max and Alison dancing on the porch, trying to make Hanna, Emily, Spencer, Aria and Lauren all dance with her too. But that was when they were all friends, Lauren's mind seemed to fast forward everything in quick moments to where the five girls were in the police station, being questioned about Alison's disappearance.

Forcing herself to wake up, she did and wiped her forehead, which was drenched in cold sweat. It was just a nightmare, Lauren... calm yourself. She told herself in her head and got up slowly to walk into her bathroom. She opened her door and walked into the bathroom, switching on the light, she turned on the water on the bathroom sink and cupped her hands and put the water on her face, washing it slowly. Why did her and her friends have to separate after Ali's disappearance.. it would be nice to cry on one of their shoulders right now. But Lauren also wondered if Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer were thinking the same things right now.

Hearing a loud voice echo upstairs she shut the water off and tiny droplets fell from the brass faucet. That's not mom or dad... or Haley, or Shane... so who was it? Lauren asked herself as she rushed downstairs. Haley and Shane had left the house, all that were there was her mom—as her dad went to her brothers baseball game. Stopping at the middle of the steps, she peeked to see a man standing there (one she didn't recognize) taking stuff from drawers to cabinets, cabinets to boxes. Her mother lay on the floor in a ball, scared to death at what the man was going to do.

She had no choice, she came down the stairs quietly and charged full speed and pushed the man into the wall and punched him in the face, his mouth bleeding a little bit. She then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him onto the wooden floor, straddling him and punching his face once again. Before she could do anything the man kicked her off of him and dropped all of the stuff and ran out of the house in horror?

Mrs. McDaniel got up and rushed towards Lauren. "My sweet little Lo! Are you okay?" She said, worry and concern lacing her tone.

"Mom.. I'm fine, but who was that?" She barely whispered as you gasped for air. That son of a bitch must have knocked the air out of her with that land on the wall, or she would've surely went after him and gave him even more of a lesson—not that he was a good robber or anything, because he surely was bad at defending himself. Him and his gun was not his pal today, that was for sure.

"I'm not sure," said Mrs. McDaniel lifting Lauren off of the ground. "I'll call the police," she said and you interrupted her with a silent cough.

"No, I'm not injured or anything... he didn't even take anything. Can we just leave the police out of it?" Lauren asked, her voice loud and firm as she got air back in her lungs.

"No." Mrs. McDaniel said, firmly, "I'm not going to let that person away with it. I'm sure the police will just take the fingerprints off of the things and analyze the things he or even she took. But he looked to petite to be a she." Ms. McDaniel then walked over to the phone sitting on the counter, the beeping of the phone made you know she was calling the police. There was only three beeps, and then there was one more before she had raised the phone to her ear.

Lauren stood up and regained balance before she walked over to the steps and walked up them and went over to her desk. She sat on the desk and opened up her lime-green DELL laptop, opening up the internet browser, she moved the mouse pointer onto the e-mail icon that was bookmarked on her bookmarks. Clicking the icon, she noticed she had mail. It said the subject was 'Softball Tryouts', and the sender was anonymous. Clicking the e-mail it read this:

Lauren,

Isn't it a bad thing to do something like that?! Fighting like that could get you in real big trouble. What if someone told the police about this. Oops! I already did! —A

What. The. Actual. Hell. How did someone even know about this?! It was only between, her, her mom and that guy. Her eyes widened as she slammed the laptop shut and rushed out of her room, heading down the steps and spotted the police investigating the house.

What was this A going to do to her? And school was only in a few days, who was this A? Resting her head in her hands, she sighed. This was just a silly back to school prank, but who would've sent it? Just relax! She told herself. It's all going to be okay... it's just a stupid prank Lauren.