Chapter 2
" What the hell are you doing?"
Mike groaned. It was Spencer's cop boyfriend Toby. He should have known getting out of here wouldn't be that simple. As soon as Alison saw Mike she threw herself into his arms and started crying.
That was awkward to say the least. For starters, this was the girl his girlfriend hated the most. He knew Mona hated Alison more than anyone else for a fact. Mona told him herself many times. In fact, every time Alison's name comes into a conversation, he has to listen to a half hour rant about how much she hates the bitch.
When Mona finds out about this . . . . .. . .. .. . he didn't want to think about it. Hundreds of scenarios ran through his head at the speed of light. None of those scenarios would end pleasantly.
That was only one of the problems he already dealt with.
Getting Alison outside the jail and to the car was a big problem. It took him about half an hour to get her to calm down and stop hugging him. Even then, she still had one arm around him.
She was broken. That was the only thing going through his mind at that point. Well, that and what he was going to do about this situation. After taking her home, he didn't have to do anything else unless he wanted to.
Could he really abandon Alison at this point? He couldn't. Doing so would be like throwing her to all the wolves that she put a silver bullet in. They were all waiting for an opportunity to bring Ali down once and for all. They would rip her apart and it would be brutal.
There was two different kinds of cruelty in this situation. One type of cruelty is the cruelty shown by Alison DiLaurentis over the years. Mike knew all about Alison for years and personally saw the damage that this girl could cause. She ruined his relationship with Hanna Marin for reasons only Ali knows.
Also, you had the damage she caused Mona over the years. He didn't dwell on that though. If he did, he might change his mind about helping her. However, he also realized that during the later parts of this rivalry, feud, or whatever it was that Mona brought a lot of Ali's wrath on herself.
He tried to tell her to let the feud die. It was going on for too long and everyone had A bigger enemy to deal with. Did Mona listen to him? He thought she did at first.
Now he was positive that Mona never really agreed to tone it down even a little. If anything him talking to her made things worse for Alison. Mona did accuse him of sleeping with her about three times. The last time she accused him of this was when they fought about her plan.
Mona sent Ali to jail after that. That act made Mr. Montgomery realize two things.
One, Mona took things too far this time. Sure both of them had done horrible things to each other, but at least Alison kept most of it at Rosewood High. Mona on the other hand took her rage towards Alison everywhere she went. He was lucky that she agreed not to talk about the bitch when they were on a date. This agreement gave him a reason to take her out on more dates.
Two, this feud was never going to end. He thought that when Mona "listened" to him, it would be the end of it. They could put the past behind them and move on with there lives. That was Mike's goal. With this latest blow, any chance of this ending without bloodshed flew out the window never to return.
Mona put her in prison. She put Ali in the place where she was beaten, raped, and broken. His goal was to bring the old Ali back. Once he succeeded, Alison would realize that if she hadn't already. After that, Alison would be looking for revenge. He wanted to protect Mona as he is her boyfriend.
However, he couldn't protect her this time. Mona brought what was coming to her in the future on herself. She should have listened to him. The only thing that would save her would be Mona capitalizing on Alison in her broken state. That brings us to the other kind of cruelty : the cruelty of opportunism.
Michael Montgomery was many things, a fool was not one of them. Alison being broken would not remain a secret for long. After all, Toby the cop was here. He was dating his sister's friend. On top of that , Toby's girlfriend was one of the people responsible for putting Alison in jail.
Once Toby told Spencer, everyone would know. All of Alison's enemies would know she is broken. Some of them would believe that what happened to her was punishment enough. His sister's friend Emily would be one of those people. After all, he saw her during Ali's first murder trial.
She was torn between helping Ali and helping her friends. In the end, she helped no one which showed the jury that she was disgusted with this whole mess. Unfortunately, the inaction seemed to hurt Alison. The jury took her inaction as someone who didn't want to even look at Ali after what she supposedly did.
Anyway, the point is Emily would not hurt Alison further. She would probably help protect her.
The problem is that Emily would probably be the only one willing to help. The others would not be as kind as her. They would smell the blood in the water. Ali's enemies, who were once submissive and resentful, would turn into an army of sharks aiming to rip Alison DiLaurentis apart until all that was left were the bitter memories of her existence.
His sister Aria would be part of that gang of sharks which really surprised him. Mike knew about the history between his sister and his girlfriend's worst enemy. Mona wasn't the only one who liked to rant about Ali.
Aria was the same way. In fact, Aria was worse. He had to hear her talk about all the time. She was unbearable before today and now she'd be worse if it was possible. Aria would kick Ali when she was down. She would probably get Mona to help her which again shocked him.
She had bad history with Mona. In fact, he was surprised Aria was able to put the past behind her. Mona and Aria could and probably would be working against a severely weakened Alison. Poor Ali wouldn't stand a chance. In her current state, she wouldn't be able to defend herself until it was too late.
You also had the majority of Rosewood after her for some reason or another. There were teachers, police, and married women just to name a few of the groups that were after her. Once anyone got her, it would be all over for Ali. If it got to that point, death would be a mercy compared to what they all have planned for her.
What about school? Alison told him that she would be going back. She had told him she was going back there because she wasn't going to run away this time. Her pride is going to get her killed. If she sets one foot near the school in that state . . . . .. . . . the thought of what would happen made him sick to his stomach.
Then he became angry. These people threw an innocent girl in jail because of what happened to them in the past. Mike realized innocent wasn't a word anyone would use to describe Alison DiLaurentis. Still, the vultures of Rosewood threw a girl who didn't kill anyone in jail for murder.
The people of Rosewood were nothing but hypocrites. They claimed they did this so justice could be served, but the crime was Alison DiLaurentis being put in jail. That wasn't the worst thing that happened to Ali. She was beaten on a daily basis. They tried to kill this girl.
He had a bad feeling that Mona knew what would happen to Ali in prison. After all, when she mentioned coming back she said nothing about getting Ali out of prison. However, he was going to give Mona the benefit of the doubt. She may have known they would scare Ali.
Everyone would know that. However, not everyone would know the next part. Ali was raped in jail. A, that . . .. . . .. . .. . thing sent him a video showing what was happening to her. It ate him up that until today he had to sit there and take it. She was raped by the prisoners and the guards didn't stop it.
That wasn't the only time that Alison DiLaurentis was raped in jail. The warden had a shot at her as well. This man abused his position and worse violated a teenage girl so he could fulfill his sick, perverse fantasies. After that rape, she was broken. Gone was the Ali that would have stabbed the warden in the back for even thinking about doing such a thing to her.
The new Ali couldn't stand the torture anymore. She lost her faith in him. Ali believed the only way out was death. So in her cell she had written a suicide note and got the sheet off her bed. Luckily, there was one guard who cared about her. There was one person inside that hell hole that didn't want to see the life extinguished from her eyes.
The guard had rescued her and she never tried it again. Of course, that could be because she was released from jail after that thanks to his efforts. Normally, him working with her or someone like her meant he would be charging money. However, he didn't do that this time.
The monsters of Rosewood already took too much from her. Now that she is out, they will try to get rid of her by any means necessary. They were not going to get away with this. Mike wasn't going to let them harm Ali anymore. She has suffered things that no one should ever experience.
These events took her spirit. These events had taken everything from her that made her her. The good news is that these things weren't gone forever. That would mean there was no hope. Mike knew that it wasn't a hopeless cause. Mike knew that the things that made Alison Alison were stolen from her.
Having those things stolen is a good thing in this case. Stolen means they can be taken back. Alison would be her old self again. Once she was back to her old self, no one would take revenge on her.
" What the hell are you doing?"
Mike forgot about Toby. He had to pay more attention than he had been if he wants to help Alison. He heard Toby's question and decided how he was going to answer.
Mike realized this was a chance to see if the old Ali was in there at the moment.
" What does it look like?"
Toby was momentarily shocked. He wasn't used to people talking to him this way. Most of the time people treated him with the respect that he rightfully deserves. Now, you have his girlfriend's friend's brother disrespecting him.
They never had words before. Toby has never done anything that would cause Mike to behave in this manner. In fact today was the first day he would interact with this kid.
He was patrolling Rosewood like he did everyday that he was on duty. It was a normal day for him. Well if he was being honest with himself, it was more of a quiet day. A hadn't done anything lately, which was good. That meant he had one less thing to worry about for now.
Spencer and her friends weren't in any trouble for once. Alison DiLaurentis was in jail and wasn't getting out anytime soon. It felt so good to put that bitch behind bars. With her gone and A under the radar things should be okay for a while. Unfortunately, it looked like he was wrong.
During his patrol he saw Mike run out of his house like it was on fire. He should have known that A would target him as well. After all, he was guilty by association in A's eyes. His first instinct was to stop him from running to his car. However, he didn't do that.
Running out of your own house wasn't exactly a crime. This could be A's work at hand. A has been known to make people run in terror. A has destroyed houses before.
He thought it was A blowing up the house, but then he had second thoughts. Mike ran to his car and sped away. That part wasn't unusual. It was strange that Mike took a long time to open the door to his car when the keys are already in the door lock. Mike was looking for something.
However, he couldn't find it and then sped off. He didn't bother going after him because he knew A. If A was involved, this was something that Mike would have to take care of all by himself. A would kill anyone who tried to assist him on this project in any way, shape or form.
Toby was about to leave the scene when he spotted something on the ground. This must have been what Mike was searching for. The paper on the ground would give him some clue what Mike was doing if him searching for the paper was any indication. He picked up the paper, which turned out to be a picture and looked at it.
Toby quickly turned as pale as a ghost. This was a picture of Alison DiLaurentis. The picture he had in his hands was a picture of the girl who made his life, his girlfriends life, and there friends lives hell.
Alison deserved what she got. Why did Mike run out of his house with a picture of that monster? Then the horrifying truth popped into his mind. Mike was going to get Alison out of jail.
With her connections in Rosewood, she could be out of there tonight. This was bad. Toby knew for a fact that Alison didn't do the two crimes she was sent to jail for. He could claim that he believed Alison killed her. After all, she did hit Bethany Young with a shovel. Whose to say the hit wasn't intentional?
It was the one where she "killed" Mona that would bring him some trouble. He looked over the reports of what happened. He even saw the "body" in the back of Alison's car. He knew she couldn't have done that.
After all, she may be evil but she was smart enough not to do this herself. Also, she couldn't stand the blood. It was obvious to anyone that wasn't biased that Alison couldn't have done it.
Also, Mike running to his car so he could free Alison proved one thing. Mona Vanderwaal was alive. Honestly that didn't surprise him in the least. He has known Mona for a long time.
She was incredibly intelligent. That is why it was so shocking when A " killed" her. In fact it looked like it was too easy. Mona was the type of girl who prepared for situations like that. There was no way that Mona would let A get the jump on her.
Then it dawned on him. Mike knew Mona was alive. He didn't know how Mike knew. However, he was certain that Mike knew his girlfriend was indeed among the living. After all, Mike was going to save the girl his girlfriend hated the most. He had to be sure that Alison was innocent.
Once she got out, she would start plotting her revenge. The only girl that maybe safe from retribution was Emily. She didn't stop the others from putting Ali in jail, but she didn't help them either. In fact, when she was asked to help with this she stormed off in disgust.
Toby knew that he definitely wasn't safe from her revenge. He was a part of the team put together to bring down Alison DiLaurentis. Toby knew Alison already knew that little piece of information. Mike must have told her that. It was true that it was in the newspaper, but she never got the paper.
She never read it even when she wasn't in jail. Mike must have told her that he was a part of the team that brought her down. Mike must have talked to Tanner as well since Alison is already free.
This was bad. This was very bad. To start off, Alison is out. The girl who was worse than A is once again free to do as she pleases. It was bad enough when they were all friends.
Now that Alison sees him and the rest of the gang as enemies it was about to get a hell of a lot worse. That wasn't the only thing bothering him. Mike had talked to Tanner and that was why the bitch is free.
This means that Tanner knows or at least suspects that he was lying to her. He even filed the report that says Mona was murdered by Alison. How was he supposed to know the body in Ali's car was just a doll?
Things were going to spin out of control if they continued down this path. Toby worked too hard to let that happen so he rushed over to the jail in order to convince Mike not to do this.
Unfortunately, he was too late. Alison was already out of jail. Mike has no idea what he has just unleashed. That wasn't exactly true. After all, he visited Ali in jail a number of times.
Ali must have told him something about what she had done. This means Mike at least had an idea of what would happen once she was free. Mike would now have to be watched.
He should have been watched for a while now. I mean he was dating Mona for gods sakes. Toby did believe that Mona changed, but still she was incredibly dangerous. Toby still didn't trust her that much unlike his girlfriend who completely trusted her.
To be fair, she was helping them to bring down A. That was a good thing no doubt about that. However, he knew Mona had been A at one point. She almost killed the girls more than once.
She also ruined the marriage of her boyfriends parents. Now he knew for sure that Mike should be watched. He has proven that he doesn't care about anyone but himself and Mona.
Speaking of Mona, Toby wondered what Mona would think once she realizes what her boyfriend has done. He knew she wouldn't like it. She would get mad, she may even get violent. That might be a good thing in this case. Alison appeared to be broken. She might be a good actress, but she couldn't hide the pain she had endured. Her eyes and the way she clung to Mike gave it away.
The point is Alison is almost out of the picture once and for all. Mona would soon realize this. Knowing Mona like he did, he would say that Mona would capitalize on this extremely rare opportunity. All she had to know was Mike was involved and all hell would break loose.
Ali wouldn't survive even if she was the old Ali. In her current state, a child could bring her down. Mona being the one to take her down would be so much better. She would do horrible things to Ali.
Eventually, Mona would get bored of torture. At that point she would kill Alison. Then Mona would end up in jail and they would both be out of there lives forever. Speaking of Alison, she is hiding behind Mike at this point.
" It looks like you freed a bitch from jail."
Mike at this point wasn't happy. The name calling, really? Is Toby serious right now? He is going to resort to juvenile tactics in order to get whatever the hell it is he wants at this point.
O How the mighty have fallen, Mike thinks to himself. How could this guy be a police offer? This guy was a complete dumbass. Did he know who he was dealing with? It was cops like him that made him keep a gun under his bed. So Toby wants to be immature, does he? Two can play at that game.
" Did you figure that out all by yourself or did someone help you?"
Toby was red in the face. First this kid lets the bitch from hell out of jail. He obviously knew what was going to happen. He may even be part of what was about to happen. That all depended on his involvement with Alison after this.
" You cant talk to me that way." Toby was trying not to lose his temper, but this kid was pissing him off. Mike had no right to talk to him in such a manner.
" I can talk to you anyway I choose. Now what did you come over here to talk about?"
" I came to stop you from getting Ali out of jail." Well at least he was honest about what he wanted. However, he had a few questions about that. There were a few holes in the explanation, but there was a very good chance that Toby was telling him the truth.
"You're too late for that. Anyway, I think your lying. There is a few holes in that short excuse for an explanation."
" Name one." Toby challenged Mike to find a hole in his story.
" Okay. First off I want to ask a question. When did you learn that I was visiting Ali in jail?"
" I found out months ago."
" So you knew for months that I was visiting her in prison?"
" That's what I just said."
" This means that you had months to stop me from doing this and chose to do nothing." Toby knew he was losing this argument but still he wasn't about to just give up.
" I had no idea that you were going to get Alison out of jail."
Mike noticed that Toby was glaring at Alison. Alison was behind him and her eyes were down to the ground. She was so close to him he could actually feel her shaking from fear.
Suddenly a wave of anger coursed through his entire body. At first he believed Toby's story, but now he doesn't. His inaction already proved his claims false. That isn't what angered him.
He was angered by what Toby was doing now. This guy was trying to get Ali killed. He then realized how it was supposed to go down. He was going to bring in Mona to do the deed.
The plan was brilliant. He had to admit that. However, he just made a very big mistake. Toby made the mistake of bringing the people he loved into this. He tolerated A because A was consistent. A never flip flopped.
A was the enemy. A is the enemy. A will always be the enemy. Those statements are the truth. A never acted like a friend, or if he or she did he couldn't recall those times. Then you had Toby and the rest of them.
His sister pretended to be Ali's friend only to stab her in the back afterwards. They, along with Toby and his girlfriend Mona put Alison in jail for a crime she didn't do, and for a crime that she couldn't have done.
Now he was trying to get Ali killed and Mona sent away for life. He wasn't going to get away with this. Mike wouldn't deal with liars, he would fucking bury them.
" Your a fucking liar."
Toby then got in Mike's face. They were nose to nose now. Mike was a bit nervous at this point. He wasn't afraid of what Toby might do to him. Mike was afraid of what would happen to Alison. On the one hand, he should leave now. Toby was a corrupt cop. There is no telling what he would do now that the plan to keep Ali in jail has officially failed. Toby could claim that Mike and Ali were going for a gun and he killed them in self defense.
On the other hand, he was thinking about staying a few more minutes. The old Ali never ran away from a confrontation. Mike's goal was to bring back the old Ali. Running away could send the wrong message to her. If they were into her recovery then he could use the excuse that he wasn't worth there time. However, he couldn't use that excuse this time.
They haven't even started on the road to recovery. On top of that, he knew that Ali knew that he was worried. Mike didn't know how he knew this, but he knew. Alison could always read a person. Visiting her all those times in jail helped her read him. They weren't really friends yet, but Ali knew enough about him to know he was nervous at this point.
Finally, memories of A popped into his mind. He has seen some of A's victims. Mike has seen with his own eyes what happened to people who ran from and unfortunately for them got caught by A. You thought what happens to Aria and her friends was bad? Try looking at the ones who unsuccessfully attempted to run away from A. It was not a pretty sight.
The sight of some of them made him sick to his stomach. The mere memories of suck sights still haunt him. That is when panic set in. Would Alison be one of those sights? If running away made things worse than he was done with running.
" Say it again, I dare you."
" YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR." Mike's shouting caused Ali to almost go into hysterics. He wanted to make a stand now, but Ali was more important. There would be plenty of time for making a stand later.
Toby grabbed him by the collar. You would think at this point Mike would defend himself, but he didn't need to. Ali's eyes became as hard as steel and she managed to yank Mike away from Toby.
Mike was shocked. The old Ali was back. He looked into her eyes. Well she was back to her old self briefly anyway. Now her eyes are back on the ground and now she looks terrified at what she had done.
" This isn't over."
" Really? I would say that it is over."
Mike and Ali took the opportunity to leave. However, Toby wasn't as lucky because it was Tanner who told him it was over.
Once Mike managed to gently pry Alison off of him he started the car. During the drive, he tried to get Ali to talk about what happened. She didn't say anything about it. In fact she didn't say a word at all. He thought she would say something, but she didn't. He couldn't get her to say anything. He was trying so hard because it was obvious that she wanted to say something.
It was written all over her face that she had something on her mind. Also, with her looking at him every few seconds it was obvious to anyone she wanted to talk.
They had just pulled up to her house. Alison actually started to speak.
" Do you think they're waiting for me in there?"
Mike hit his head on the steering wheel. How could he have forgotten them? They were Aria and her friends. It was true that Toby was currently occupied with Tanner, but that meant nothing.
After all, Toby could have told his girlfriend where he was going before he confronted him at the jail. Spencer could have called his sister and the others and told them to ambush Ali here.
That means Jason was helping them. Alison was right about her brother. Mike didn't believe her at first. It was true that Alison had no reason to lie to him when she was in jail, but he still didn't believe her initially.
He had a sister. Aria and him didn't always get along. In fact, they weren't getting along at the moment. She has the wrong idea about this whole situation. However, in his heart he knew Aria would never hurt him.
She would hurt Alison and he wouldn't stand for that. He noticed Ali was looking at him waiting for an answer.
" I don't know."
Alison was freaking out a bit. Her former friends were in there waiting to kill her, she just knew it.
" but I am going to find out." He should have thought of this already. Mike really needed to think ahead if he was going to help Ali. He hesitantly knocked on the front door bracing himself for the absolute worst.
Mike realized that at any moment the absolute worst could happen. That is why he handed Ali the keys to the car. If she was right about them waiting for her, they would probably ambush her as soon as they got in the house.
The door was unlocking. That proves it wasn't Aria or one of her friends. They would never have answered the front door. Jason would. He could be answering the door in order to trap both him and Alison.
" What do you want?"
Mike sighed in relief. It was Alison's father Kenneth DiLaurentis. This was the best thing that could have happened. Alison told him all about her father. Kenneth wouldn't let Jason or Aria anywhere near his daughter.
" It's about Alison."
That got Kenneth's attention. He has been so busy trying to stop Jason from making stupid mistakes that he almost forgot about Alison for a second.
" She is out of jail. I talked to Tanner and they dropped the charges. Mona might not get charged with anything."
" Why not?"
" She might not get charged because they think someone kidnapped her and put her up to this."
" We'll worry about that later. Where is my daughter?"
" In the car."
" Is she okay?" There was no hiding the concern in his voice. Mike was glad Kenneth cared about her. I mean Alison told him that, but he stopped visiting her in order to stop Jason from screwing things up.
" Okay isn't exactly the word." He could tell that wasn't the answer he was looking for. Mike really didn't know how to answer the question though.
" I mean physically she is okay now."
" Then why hasn't she gotten out of the car yet?"
" She is worried that Jason, my sister Aria, and her friends are in there waiting to ambush her."
The prison time really did a number on his daughter. At first, he thought that Mike had something to do with his daughter's problem. After all, he was dating the girl that put his little girl in that place. However, seeing him bring his daughter made him realize that he had no part in what Mona did to his little girl.
As soon as Kenneth went outside Alison got out of the car. Kenneth tried to walk over to her, but Ali moved back at first. He looked at Mike for an explanation.
" I'm not really sure why she did that. If I had to guess, id say that she might be in shock." Mike offered that as an explanation, but he was confused. Why did she shy away from her own father?
This time Mike walked over to her and touched her. That seemed to snap her out of it. Alison hugged her dad, but she still didn't say anything.
" Why don't you go inside while me and Mike talk?"
Alison obeyed without saying a word. However, she still looked out the window.
" What happened to her?"
Mike hesitated for a moment before telling him what happened. Mike saw the look in Kenneth's eyes. The people that did this to Alison would have hell to pay.
" Did Mona know this was going to happen?"
" Mona isn't behind this."
" How can you be sure. You said she planned to put my daughter in prison."
" I did say that, but the letter Mona sent me was off. It proved she was alive, but someone else helped her write it."
Kenneth was getting angrier by the second. His daughter nearly died in prison and the person who put her there may not get charged with anything. Mike mentioning this letter Mona wrote intrigued him.
" This letter you talked about proves my daughter didn't kill Mona. When did you get it?"
" A few hours ago. Someone left in on my doorstep."
" Do you have any idea who put that letter there?"
" No, but I don't think I can trust whoever put the letter there."
" What makes you think that?"
" I checked the letter. It had a date on it. Assuming the date on the letter is correct, this person had at least a month to hand it over. The fact that there is a date on the letter at all is a problem. Mona never put a date on any letter she wrote to me."
" Is it possible that Mona changed her mind?"
" Mona never put a date on any letter. That is the one thing she never changed. Your daughter cant get arrested for her murder, but there may be a kidnapping and attempted murder charge. Like I said the letter proved she was alive, but she didn't write it."
" Did the letter say where she would be?"
" It said she would be at the docks. That line proved to me the letter was a fake. Mona would never meet with me after this in such an open spot. The police wont be able to find her with the letter."
Someone went by the house and shouted death threats at both of them.
" That might be Mona's fault."
" Finding Mona should be a top priority."
Kenneth was right. Mona needed to be found and soon. Today was the first day Alison was out of jail and they were already receiving death threats. They might try to follow through on the death threats tomorrow.
As soon as they got back in the house Alison was at Mike's side. Now she had an arm around him like she did before. Kenneth noticed this. There was no way his daughter was going to get any sort of sleep tonight unless he was here. She might not get any sleep for a long time unless he was here.
" You should tell your parents where you are."
Mike called his parents and told them. He hung up the phone after a few minutes of shouting.
" They said not to come home tonight."
" Its better this way." Mike realized Kenneth was right. With Ali out of jail and A running around, this was probably the only place A wouldn't be.
After this, Kenneth went to bed as it was close to midnight. Alison turned on the television as she just couldn't go to sleep just yet. Alison also sat next to Mike on the couch.
About thirty minutes later Alison was drifting away. She fell asleep on Mike. Mike tried to fight it at first but he succumbed to slumber. He wrapped an arm around Alison so she wouldn't fall off the couch.
Neither of them noticed they were being watched.