"What happened?"
"I found her. At the boathouse. She was mumbling something about Maya and then she passed out."
You can hear things, but it is really hard to open your eyes. After a few seconds you force them open and see yourself in a hospital. The feeling is all too familiar. You see your mom at the foot of the bed and Nate standing next to her with his arms crossed.
You sit up quickly, remembering what happened before you passed out. "Where is she?" you demand of Nate.
He gives you a look of confusion. To you, it seems too exaggerated to be true. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," you throw the blankets off of you and try to get out of the bed. Your mom is pulling you back down into the bed.
"Emily stop it," your mom pulls the blankets back up your torso.
"No," your eyes are fixed on Nate who now looks more scared than anything. "Tell me where she is!"
"Emily what's going on?" you hear Spencer ask as she, Hanna, and Aria run into the room, heels clicking on the tile.
You ignore them and keep trying to get out of the bed, this time escaping your mother's grasp and getting off of the bed on the opposite side of her. "Where is Maya?!" You scream at him in frustration. He knows and he's playing dumb. You need to know.
"Emily?" Hanna places a soft hand on your elbow, "What are you talking about?"
"I saw them," you point to Nate, knowing that your friends will believe you. "I saw Nate talking to Maya at the boathouse. She's alive! And he won't tell me where she is!"
Aria looks you over and you can see it in her eyes. She doesn't believe you. Her eyes stop on your head. You reach up and touch your head. There's a large bandage on your head.
"I'm not crazy," you look around the room. You see your pants on the end of the bed and pull them on.
"Emily stop," your mom pleads with you.
"Yeah remember when you thought you saw Alison?" Spencer asks gently. She tries to subtly block your exit.
You know you're not crazy. You're going to the boathouse. You're going to find Paige and ask her what Maya said. Then you're going to find her. With or without Nate's help.
"Emily c'mon," Nate moves behind Spencer in front of the door as you shuck off your hospital gown, readjust your bra and pull on your shirt.
"Don't talk to me," you glare at him as you pull your sneakers on. "I saw her and you're making everyone think I'm crazy. I saw her. She almost hit me with your car. She said my name. Maya's alive and I'm going to find her."
You shove him out of the way and storm out of the hospital with everyone you know following you, trying to get you to stop. You run across the street and glance behind you. Nate's gaining on you. You start moving to a trot and then spot someone who you think will help you.
In her car, at a stoplight, Cece is fixing her lip-gloss. You run up to her car and open the passenger's door. As you sit down she looks over at you.
"Angry mob chasing you?" she asks, gesturing to the crowd that followed you.
"Can you just drive?" you ask her, locking the door as Nate gets closer.
Cece grins and steps on the gas, running the red light. "You're fun. So where to?
You close your eyes and you can see Maya. You can see her eyes in more detail now that you have time to stop and think about it. She looks tired. She looked scared, but she looked so, so tired. You have to find her.
You give Cece directions to Paige's house and instructions to keep the car running and to call you if she sees Nate or your mom. You feel like you can reason with your friends or they're humor your even if they think you're crazy. Nate and your mom are the only ones that will outright stop you.
You run up to the front door and knock. When you take a step back, you see the curtain move and know that Paige is in there. Her parents are gone for a weekend and she's the only one with her house key. You bang on the door and call through it, "Paige, open the door!"
When nothing happens you bang on the door again, "I saw her too! Open the door!"
After a moment, the locks click back and the door slowly opens until just Paige's face is visible. "You saw who?"
"I saw Maya," you cross your arms.
Paige's eyes grow wide and she swallows. But she doesn't say anything so you go on. "What did she say to you?"
"She just told me that if I ever did anything to you...like that again, I'd be sorry. Then she told me to run," Paige opens the door wider and sputters out, "So - I - I thought I saw a ghost or it was... I'm so sorry."
You don't have time for Paige's apologies anymore. You wave it off and ask, "Did she say anything else? Like where she was going or where she was staying?"
Paige shakes her head. Then she steps outside, "Look Emily, I'm sorry I lost my temper."
You just shake your head and turn around, hopping down the stairs two at a time and hustle back to Cece's car. You have to stay moving so no one can catch you. They all think you're nuts so you'll probably end up with a room right next to Mona's at the sanitarium.
"So, what's going on?" Cece asks as you weave through the neighborhoods of Rosewood.
You've been staring out the window and thinking, not even paying attention to Cece. You've been trying to figure out where Maya could be. You take a deep breath, "You know Nate's cousin? Maya? The one who... died?"
"The one you dated?" she asks.
You don't remember telling her that so you look at her.
"It's a small town," Cece shrugs.
You should have known. You sigh. "Yeah. Well, I saw her. Nate was talking to her at the boathouse. Paige saw her too so I'm not crazy. I just... I need to know where she went and why she left."
"Well everyone in town knows her face right?" Cece asks as she turns down a less than friendly road. "So she's probably somewhere where no one else goes. And Nate has to take her food and stuff."
"But Nate asked her why she was here which means he didn't know." you explain. It is getting eerie how easy it is to talk to Cece. Just like Alison. "Maybe we could try the boathouse?"
"Just show me where."