Two days later, she was back. Still with perfectly brushed hair and a poised smile, armed with a satchel and a phone. Mrs Fields had the grace to disguise her surprise in seeing her. "Hello, Spencer." She smiled weakly. "Could you take this up to her?"

It was a simple, innocent, delicious slice of pie. Blueberry pie, Spencer noted, as she carefully took it from Mrs Fields' hands. "Did you make this? It looks great!" She burbled.

"No." Mrs Fields said blandly. "No. Do not eat it, by the way."

Spencer's eyes went wide. She knew exactly what Mrs Fields meant. She stared at the pie with horror and surprise. Mrs Fields didn't need to say, "It's for Emily alone." Spencer already knew.

"Right." She murmured. "Okay. I'll give it to her."

But she couldn't promise anything. Neither of them could. They shared a look of understanding between each other, and then Spencer blinked, and began climbing the stairs. Guilt gnawed away at her insides as she reached the top landing. Her hands were shaking.

She swung open the door without knocking and saw Emily, this time awake, still in her bed, with a gaze of first curiosity, then cynicism. "Hey." Spencer tried to smile. "Would you like some pie?"

"No." Emily said quickly, and turned her back.

Spencer set the plate down on the bedside table. "If you get hungry later, you can have that." She remarked.

"I won't."

Spencer nodded like she understood, when in fact, she had no idea. No idea of how hungry Emily actually was. Emily had gone without eating for three days now. She'd been surviving on water from the bathroom tap. Because her mom couldn't possibly have poisoned the water mains like she had poisoned every little snack that she'd offered Emily. If Spencer had looked, properly looked, around Emily's room, she would have noticed plates of untouched food. From porridge and cereal, to sandwiches and smoothies, and pasta and croissants, it was like the wreckage of a silently fought battle. Just looking at the pie made Emily's stomach rumble. She clasped her hands over it and looked away. I will not be the weak one here.

"So, Dr Sullivan is coming tomorrow." Spencer began. "She'll be doing a bit of counselling then. If you like, I can come too. But first I thought we could do some physical therapy."

Emily eyed her coldly. Spencer brushed it off. "We can go outside, and swim."

There was no response yet again. Spencer had been expecting this. "Come on." She said brightly. "Beautiful day outside, I bet you're itching to get back into the water. Here, I'll help you get changed and then we can go."

She went rifling through Emily's dresser until she found her swimsuit, shoved at the very bottom of the drawers, crumpled into a tiny ball. Her goggles and cap were also found in the same position- pushed right away from the rest of the other clothes, compressed into a heap, like Emily was trying to scrunch them away from everything. Spencer winced, her back to Emily, and then arranged her features into a smile and turned around. Emily's eyes were still on her. "Can you dress yourself, or do you want me to?"

Emily shook her head. "You're back so soon, Spencer. Aren't you sick of me yet?"

"No." Spencer retorted.

"My Mom is." Emily said, her mouth twisted in an imitation of a smile.

"Swimming." Spencer tried to bring the subject back on track. "Let's go swimming."

Emily picked up the goggles, cap and swimsuit, and chucked them wildly against the wall. "No." She said definitively, and sunk back into her bed.

Spencer patiently picked them up, and cradled them in her arms like a baby. "We can do something else. I thought maybe seeing a movie would be great. Or going bowling. Remember how much you love bowling?"

"I don't."

"Yeah, you do." Spencer finished. "We can go get something to eat after. I was thinking popcorn."

Emily's eyes closed. She was beginning to think. If she went with Spencer, and pretended to enjoy herself, she could get something to eat that would not be tainted with the red pills. But she had no wish to. She was listless. She was weak. She was drained and exhausted, even though she'd slept for a week. "I don't want to. I'm too tired." She moaned.

Spencer leapt upon the sign of emotion. "I know, Em." She crooned, and sat down beside her, rubbing her back. "I know. But trust me, this will make you feel better."

Emily didn't even respond. Spencer gently peeled the covers off her. "More than anything, I think you need a shower, Em. I can help you if you don't want to go swimming. It'll just do you good to feel the water on your skin."

She stood up, and it pained her to see how skinny Emily was as she lay on the white sheets. It had been two weeks since Maya's body had been found, and the bones were practically poking through Emily's wrists. Her hair, once lustrously wavy, was now like straw with grease. Her skin was suffering from little to no attention. Her eyes seemed permanently shadowed and swollen and her lips had cuts all around and through them. "So skinny." Spencer breathed, without realizing it.

Emily immediately flipped around, surprisingly fast for someone who barely moved now. "What?"

"You're really skinny." Spencer said again. "Do you want something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." Emily refused.

Spencer could have grinned, because she had one more card up her sleeve. "Okay." She said soothingly. "But I bought you some sushi."

Sushi was and always had been Emily's all time favourite food. And right then, there was nothing she desired more. She chomped down again on her thin lips to stop her from saying anything. Spencer slowly pulled a tray of assorted sushi out from her bag. "Here, there's teriyaki chicken, tuna, salmon, beef bolgoki, all of your favourites."

Emily watched her every move like a wounded dog. She was struggling to control herself. Spencer gently pushed the sushi across to her. "Go on. You need it."

"I'm not hungry!" Emily snapped. "Take it away."

"I don't care if you're not hungry. You really need it right now. You're suffering." Spencer said sincerely.

Emily was finding it hard to drag herself away from the delicious-looking sushi. Her stomach was rumbling louder than ever. She stared at Spencer with hounded eyes.

It's Spencer, a voice said in her head. Spencer. She's your best friend. She likes you. She wants what's best for you. Spencer would never hurt you. She's always had your back.

Emily cupped the sushi box in her trembling hands and raised it to her mouth, examining it. No pills, as far as I can see. Nothing. Maybe Spencer's just being nice. She doesn't know about the pills in the food. She's giving me food because she honestly doesn't want me to be hungry.

She tore her eyes away from the sushi to glare at Spencer, who was sitting on the bed watching her, looking tortured. But as Emily stared her down, she switched the expression to a simple smile. "Go on."

Emily picked one roll of sushi up, between her thumb and forefinger, and slowly raised it to her lips, inhaling the salty scent of the tuna. Spencer was on tenterhooks. She kept her eyes on Emily's the entire time. So, she didn't miss a thing when they turned the dark shade they had when she'd quoted Macbeth. She saw the flinty, cold, furious look cloak her eyes once again. And she watched in horror as Emily dropped the sushi roll and threw it away from her. "You're working with her." She hissed in an accusatory tone.

"What?" was Spencer's immediate response.

"You and my mom. You're both trying to force those pills down my throat!"

Spencer opened her mouth to plead her honesty but Emily continued in a sing-song voice. "Clever Spencer, not clever enough. You'll have to do better next time. It's not the A+ you were wanting, I'm afraid."

Spencer blanched yet again. "Em, I'm your friend." She pleaded.

"Friend!" Emily laughed, the sound catching in her throat, turning it into something raw and ugly. "Friend! I have no friends! No one wants to be friends with me, no sir! Trust me on that one, Spencer. Everyone's against me. No more happy Emily, no more happy world."

They had told her she was convinced of people hating her. That depression, especially crippling cases like hers, made people believe the whole world was against them. That everyone wished to hurt them. That they had to fend for themselves. But the therapists saying those things, and Emily saying those things, were two completely different scenarios. It felt like Spencer's heart had been wrenched from her chest.

"Can I tell you something?" Emily leaned forward, her eyes yet again dark with rage. "I used to have a friend. She was my best friend."

Oh, God thought Spencer. Please God. Don't let it be any worse. No.

"She was my best friend." Emily repeated. "She was clever, and funny, and always knew how to make me feel better no matter what. She was always there for me. She had my back. She defended me. She was the strong one. And she was so very pretty. And guess what?"

"I know, Em." Spencer whispered. "I know. We all know what happened."

"You do. I hear it's a famous story, a great comedy. Because, my best friend died, and happy Emily went bye-bye. The world turned black. A lightning bolt came down from the heavens and killed happy Emily. Isn't that a funny story? Emily Fields, the happiest girl in Rosewood High, was killed-"

Her sentence was cut off as Spencer latched her arms around Emily's skinny neck. "Stop, Em." She sobbed. "Please, stop."

"Get off." Emily snarled, and shoved Spencer away.

"I'm your friend, Em." She replied, choking. "I'm your friend, and nothing but."

Emily viewed Spencer with scarily vacant eyes. "You're not my best friend."

"I'm not." Spencer agreed. "I know I'm not. She's d-dead."

"A killed her."

"Yes." She nodded. "A killed her."

"I miss her." Emily said, seeming far away.

Spencer shook her head for a long time, slowly, wiping tears before saying "And I miss you.".

More depressing :/ next chapter will probably be Hanna, Spencer and Aria at school, which will be more cheerful. Completely open to suggestions- again, I just made this chapter up from an inspirational idea from a friend. Please review! :)