Alison still wasn't quite sure if she had made the right choice, her heart agreed with her decision but it was taking a bit longer to get the same message to her head. She was sat with her head in her hands, her eyes sore from all the crying she had done for the past hour. Her emotions that she had managed to keep behind a wall for so long all pouring out at once. She hadn't spoken a word since she said her last sentence to Elliot - "I can't do this".
She had ran from the church as fast as her feet could carry her, trying her hardest to ignore Elliot's pleas for her to reconsider. The devastated look on his face would be etched in her memory for a long time to come. She'd had tunnel vision as she headed down the aisle, everything was a blur apart from her escape. She legged it towards the church doors as fast as she could in heels, throwing them wide open before her as she made it outside and stopped for two seconds to collect her breath before running off once again.
Hanna's cheer that had rang throughout the entire building when she had told Elliot she couldn't go through with the wedding had almost brought a smile to Alison's face. She knew that the other blonde only had her best interests at heart even if that had meant lying to her face multiple times. At least she had been honest enough to try and persuade her not to go through with the wedding. When she had finally managed to calm down she would be straight round to Hanna's demanding to know Emilys last location but right now she just needed to be alone and to collect all her thoughts before doing anything else rash.
She had also caught Aria and Spencer's eye as she had turned around to leave the church and they both had given her a silent nod of approval. They had always allowed her to make her own decisions and to learn from any mistakes but they were always there to offer much needed advice when she asked for it or to pick up the pieces if not all had gone according to plan. She could count on all three of her friends to be there for her after this major decision had truly settled in.
Alison hadn't realised where her feet were taking her until she entered the clearing. The old giant rock still stood proudly in the centre of the trees, hers and Emilys initials catching her eye immediately. A.D + E.F written inside of a love heart. The red sprayed on letters meant more to her than anyone else knew, her and Emily had kissed as they sat atop the hard surface and Alison could still remember the fluttering feeling she felt in the depths of her stomach. The feeling she had pushed even deeper down and tried for so long to ignore.
She had walked closer to the rock and ran her trembling fingers across the jagged surface as she traced the outline of the letters before taking a seat which is where she still currently sat. The only person who would have ever thought to look for her there wasn't in town so she knew she had the place to herself for as long as she needed so she could gather her thoughts together and make a plan of action.
She couldn't quite decide what running out of her own wedding meant for her next. Sure she had done it because deep down she knew she couldn't make a lifetime commitment to anyone other than her mermaid. But that very person had been gone from her life for five years, were they both even the same people from before? Alison knew that she herself had grown up considerably in that amount of time, she was no longer the selfish little girl she used to be. There was a possibility however that the woman she had grown to be wasn't who Emily wanted anymore, maybe the brunette had finally fallen out of love with her.
And was Emily still the same kindhearted and loving girl she had been before she had left for college or had the past five years changed her beyond recognition. Alison believed that no matter who Emily had grown up into she would still love the brunette as much, if not more, as she had done previously.
As Alison sat running through a million different possibilities as to why Emily had cut all contact with her she felt as if somebody was watching her. It was an eerie feeling and a slight shiver ran through her body as she quickly looked up from the ground and scanned her surroundings. She couldn't see anybody or hear anything that would give away that she was in fact being watched however she couldn't shake the feeling at all.
As her mind finally went back to thinking about Emily the tears began to slowly fall down her face once more. Alison was sure she had cried more today than she had in the entire past five years. She suddenly realised that she would have to return home at some point and that there was a very strong chance she would find Elliot there, he did currently live with her after all.
She definitely wasn't ready to face he man she had just jilted however the sooner she spoke to him the sooner they could both move on with their lives. Elliot needed to pack up all of his belongings and she guessed he would move back to Philadelphia where he had originally lived. She was going to have to explain why she had done what she did and that was going to be the hardest part, in fact she was realising that running out of the church was easy in comparison with what she still had to do.
Unbeknownst to Alison she was in fact being watched. A figure stood close to one of the surrounding trees dressed all in black so as to go undetected. They didn't make a sound or make any movement for the entire time they watched the blonde break down. When Alison had peered carefully around the area the figures heart had leapt to their throat and they watched on cautiously hoping that they were in fact hidden well enough.
Once Alison had looked back down to the ground the figure let out a silent sigh of relief before deciding it was too risky for them to stay all be it the decision to leave was a hard one they carefully backed away from the clearing before leaving the vicinity entirely. They had been watching Alison since she stepped foot outside the church and took off in a blur. The figure had been sat outside casually on a bench in the distance waiting to see if the blonde would in fact go through with the ceremony. When they had seen that she hadn't they felt an incessant need to follow and make sure the blonde didn't do anything stupid. However upon seeing which direction Alison was heading they were slightly stunned and then curiosity soon became the reason for following.
They had looked on as Alison let out her emotions and there was nothing they could do to comfort the clearly distraught woman, not without causing more hurt than was necessary at that particular moment. Or so they thought. There was nothing more that they wanted than to envelope Alison in a tight embrace and never let go.
The lone figure was long gone by the time Alison heaved herself off of the rock and reluctantly headed in the direction of home. She had no tears left in her body, she ached from sobbing so hard and knew she had to face Elliot sooner or later, if he was in fact at their house. Alison had received a lift to the church with the girls which meant she was now faced with walking home, luckily for her she knew the paths through the woods like the back of her hand so it would take no time at all.
The front door was unlocked when she arrived and she gathered up as much bravado as she could muster before entering the hallway. There was no sign of Elliot and after she called his name and received no response she presumed he wasn't there. She wasn't about to search every room for him if he was in fact just ignoring her. Heading into the kitchen she looked down at her once spotless white dress, it was now covered in dirt from her slight adventure through the woods and she had kicked off her heels before she had even walked into the house. Her shoes were caked in mud and she knew that they were beyond saving.
Alison had left her phone at home in the kitchen before she headed to the ceremony and was going to collect it before they all attended the reception. She picked it up from the counter upon which it lay and wasn't surprised to see several missed calls from Hanna, Spencer and Aria. They had all left numerous messages telling her to get in contact when she felt ready to talk. There was no messages or miss calls from Elliot or anyone else for that matter. Not that she really had expected any.
She made herself a strong cup of coffee and headed up the stairs, determined to rid herself of the dress that clung tightly to her body. A reminder of what she had just done to a seemingly innocent man. Entering the master bathroom she began to run a bath, adding a mixture of bath salts to help her relax after such an eventful day. She fumbled slightly as she tried to get out of the dress but eventually managed it and left it in a pile on the bathroom floor before sinking slowly into the hot water.
Alison led there, a victim to her own thoughts until the water got too cool to be enjoyable any longer and she removed the plug before climbing out and wrapping herself in one of the big fluffy white towels that had hung previously on the back of the door.
She didn't rush as she got dressed into her cosiest pyjamas and made her way to the living room upon where she slouched on the sofa and wrapped a blanket around her before turning on the television. She was tempted to pour herself a glass of wine but all her energy drained as soon as her body hit the couch and so she decided against it. The television was already on a channel she enjoyed seeing as she had been the last person watching it having kicked Elliot out of the house the previous night so he couldn't see her get ready that morning for their wedding. Binge watching reality programmes required no thinking and that was exactly what she needed right now.
The slamming of the door a few hours later gained her attention as she jolted awake from the apparent sleep she had fallen in to and she heard Elliot growl out her name. His voice sounded a lot more menacing than usual and as he walked into the front room her eyes focused on his dishevelled form, he was still in his suit from earlier although now it was covered in several stains that Alison was pretty sure was alcohol and possibly some food.
As she stood from the couch, removing the blanket from her shoulders, he stomped over to her, a glint in his eye that she had never seen before. He looked angry, no he looked furious. As he stepped unnervingly close to her she could smell the alcohol on his breath, it was so strong and disgusting. She really didn't want to have any sort of conversation with him in this state, she knew no good would come of it. Alison decided she would tell him to go to sleep and they would talk in the morning however before she got a chance to he spoke to her.
"Do you think what you did was funny? Humiliating me in front of all those people!" He yelled at her, spit flying from his mouth with the harshness of his voice.
"Elliot calm down. I didn't mean to hurt you, I never meant for it to happen like this" Alison tried to reason with the clearly drunk man.
"Calm down?" He said with a creepy chuckle before bringing his hand up to her throat and tightening his grip.
Alison struggled for breath and her eyes went wide with fear. She had wanted to try and contain the situation quickly when she had realised he was not in the right frame of mind and instead it had escalated in seconds. She was turning red and her fingers clawed at his hand as she frantically tried to pry him off of her. She drew blood from his hands with her nails but his grip didn't loosen.
Elliot was sweating profusely but that was due to the excessive amount of alcohol he had consumed rather than the effort he was putting in to holding Alison where she was. He was a lot taller and stronger than the blonde and if he was in fact going to kill her then she didn't stand a chance however he suddenly let go of her throat and began to pace back and forth.
Alison heaved several times as she tried to get her breath back, it resulted in a coughing fit that she tried her hardest to control. She needed to try and talk to Elliot, try and reason with the drunken man because it was the only way she was going to get out of this alive. Once she finally felt able to speak she kept her distance from him as she tried to formulate her words.
"Elliot I'm sorry, really I am. But I couldn't lie to you any longer" she begged him to believe her, to accept what she was saying and walk back out of the house.
He looked up and stopped his pacing, the glint in his eye was still there as he glared in her direction. They locked eyes and for the first time since she had met him Alison was physically scared of the man that stood before her. Maybe this was what Jason and Charlotte had seen in him, had she really been that blinded by her sheer determination to push a certain brunette out of her mind that she didn't notice what type of man she had gotten involved with?
"What did I do wrong?" Elliot asked, his whole demeanour doing a complete one eighty and the glint in his eye seemed to disappear. The heartbroken man she had left at the altar in the church was suddenly back in front of her.
Alison raised an eyebrow as she studied him, was this an act or did he really want to know?She decided it would be easier to talk this side of Elliot into leaving or at least letting her leave so she took as deep of a breath as she could without causing too much pain to her swollen throat and tried to keep her voice calm as she spoke.
"I couldn't marry you when I'm in love with someone else" Alison decided honesty would be the best policy and she hoped that Elliot's anger didn't resurface.
"Who is he?" Elliot questioned, his voice a lot quieter than before, he almost looked pathetic as his eyes filled with unshed tears and he couldn't quite keep eye contact with her.
"They're from my past and I thought I could get over them but I finally realised I never will and it wasn't fair to stay with you let alone marry you knowing that" Alison replied sincerely, she honestly hadn't wanted to hurt Elliot but it was inevitable that someone between the two of them was going to be.
"What is his name Alison?" Elliot asked again but the edge to his voice coming back and he took a step closer to her.
"That doesn't matter Elliot" Alison said as she tried to control the situation once again but she was starting to panic as she didn't know how she was going to get out of this.
"Who the fuck is it?!" Elliot screamed at her, his rage filling his body once again and his voice bouncing off all four walls.
Alison couldn't believe that his anger had come back that quickly, it was almost as if he had two different personalities. This personality she didn't like at all and she didn't trust that he could keep it under control. He looked up from the floor and made two more steps towards her. She made two steps back but as she felt her back hit one of the walls she knew she was in trouble.
Elliot's fist hit the wall beside her head and she flinched away from the impact, a small yelp escaping from her lips. He smiled slightly at the sound of her fear and the sight of her trembling in front of him before lunging forward once more and his hand returning to its previous position around her neck. He held her up against the wall as if she weighed nothing, the anger that ran through his body fuelling his strength.
"I'll ask once more nicely" Elliot stated but his grip got tighter around her neck and she felt as if she was going to pass out any second.
Elliot was red in the face, his veins popping in frustration. The man in front of her no longer resembling the man she had agreed to marry. His eyes had a wild look to them and she wasn't sure if all of this was down to the alcohol he had consumed or because he had finally let his walls down and this is what had been hidden behind them.
"Tell me his name." He backhanded Alison across the face as he asked, her lip splitting open and blood instantly pouring out. How that was asking nicely Alison would never know. He then pulled her towards him before smashing her head back into the wall with such force tears fell from her eyes upon the impact.
As the words left his lips and he went to hurt Alison again he was suddenly hit around the head by something heavy. Alison couldn't tell what he had been hit with or by who but she was grateful none the less and as she slid down the wall she felt strangely safe. She brought a hand to her own neck as she tried to feel how swollen it was, but the lack of oxygen she had received over the past couple of minutes made her woozy and she struggled to stay conscious. She then ran her fingers along her lip and she was pretty sure it had split open badly from where Elliot had hit her. It felt like the blood was pouring out at an incredibly fast rate but she couldn't get her mind to focus due to pain she felt in the back of her head.
In fact she felt like she had passed out and must have been dreaming when she heard who she guessed was the person who had hit Elliot speak. She must be hallucinating due to the trauma she had just suffered, she definitely had a concussion. Surely?
"Her name is Emily. And she should have never left" the voice stated.
Alison tried to focus on the figure who was hovering above Elliot's presumedly unconscious body but she couldn't figure out who it was for definite. She was dazed from the blow to her head and a pounding headache had formed almost instantly making concentration for long than a couple of seconds impossible. She had been rendered completely useless and that feeling alone was killing her. She wanted to help, in some way, any way.
The figure moved over to where Alison sat and ran a hand gently down the side of her face before lifting her chin slightly and inspecting her split lip. The gentle touch felt familiar and she thought she could smell an unforgettable scent. The figure knew that Alison was pretty badly banged up and they left their hand lingering on the side the blondes face in reassurance. Alison felt oddly calm in their presence by that could have been due to the fact this person had just saved her life.
They both heard Elliot grunt and as they looked in his direction they saw him push himself off of the floor. Alison could only see blurs but she knew Elliot wasn't going down without a fight. He lunged at the figure who was now standing defensively in front of Alison and he threw out a fist as he attempted to fight her saviour once more.
Alison leaned her head back against the wall, suddenly feeling nauseous. She wanted to help but she had suffered too much and so she just had to sit there and watch the two blurred figures fight. She heard their fists connect but she couldn't tell where the punches had landed and she could hear the grunts of pain coming from both sides yet she couldn't tell who was winning.
"Walk away Elliot" Alison's saviour demanded, the tone of the voice not leaving room for argument.
That voice that sounded so familiar and had it not been for the constant ringing inside of her head and the lack of ability to concentrate then Alison would have known one hundred percent who had rescued her. As it was in that moment she put hearing that particular voice down to the trauma she had just suffered and nothing more. It must have been her mind playing tricks on her as a way to comfort herself and prevent her from injuring herself further.
Elliot may have been book smart and ahead of many others when it came to academics but in situations like this he was a complete idiot. He was being given a way out, a chance to escape without further injury but instead he just kept attacking. His fists seemed to be connecting hard and fast and yet her saviour was still standing. They must be injured but hopefully not too badly Alison thought as she helplessly watched on.
There was no way her saviour could keep up the attack either, after suffering several heavy blows due to Elliot's unrelenting desire to seemingly fight the death. They had been able to match him pretty well and had hit him several times but they were beginning to tire and it was just a matter of who landed the final punch.
Elliot was winning now and Alison saw the blurred figure of her saviour slow down their punches and go on the defensive instead. Alison shuddered with every sound of a punch landing and she fought with her own body to stay conscious. Willing her saviour to get the better of Elliot over and over in her head, Alison was afraid both her and her saviour were not going to survive this if they did not.
All of a sudden the room fell into a silence that was deeply troubling for Alison, all she could hear was her own laboured breathing. She blinked several times as she tried to focus on the disaster zone she now sat in. The blurred vision was finally fading and her eyes were beginning to readjust. She saw Elliot led unconscious on the floor in front of her sofa, blood splatters covered her living room. Elliot was severely beaten, his face swollen almost beyond recognition and one of his arms was clearly broken.
Alison was relieved to hear the sound of sirens approaching her house, however she had no idea how to explain what had just happened. She had no idea where the other person had gone, the only evidence that there had been another person at all was Elliot's beaten and unconscious body.
Toby was the first officer through the door and he ignored Elliot's unconscious body and instead made his way straight over to Alison. Kneeling beside her he checked her visible injuries which included her split lip and swollen neck. He couldn't hide the look of disgust on his face as surveyed the damage she had been subject to.
"Did he do this to you?" Toby questioned, his voices laced with concern.
Alison nodded in response, feeling smaller and weaker than she ever had before in her life. She then looked up at Toby and caught his eye, they were full of sympathy and compassion. He was so loyal to those he cared for and although Alison and Toby hadn't exactly seem eye to eye back in high school they had grown a lot closer in recent years. His engagement to her best friend definitely helping them to become understanding of one other if not friends.
Alison was still confused and although she thought she had heard Emilys voice she still couldn't be one hundred percent certain it was the brunette who rescued her. The scent she had smelled was definitely Emily but there was no evidence to back her up and until she spoke to Hanna she wouldn't know if there was the slightest possibility the brunette could be in the area.
"I didn't do that to him, someone saved me. He was trying to kill me" Alison rushed to get out her words.
Several other officers had now entered the house and they were surrounding Elliot. An ambulance had been called for the both of them. Before Alison had been led outside away from the scene she had glanced over at Elliot and was slightly disappointed to see that he was still breathing. She may have done a bad thing by leaving him at the altar but that was no where near a reason for him to flip out like he had done.
Toby had managed to get hold of Spencer and the taller brunette was on her way, Alison wasn't sure if that meant Aria and Hanna were on the way over as well but she really needed to speak to the blonde. She needed to have her thoughts confirmed, she didn't like the possibility that she had imagined Emily being there.
"Alison?" Spencer called softly as she approached her friend who was now sat in the back of an ambulance, the paramedics checking her over and deciding if she needed to go to the hospital or if they could just patch her up there.
It was decided that she did in fact need to go to the hospital due to the blow to the head she suffered when Elliot thrust her head into the wall. She had told them of her lack of ability to concentrate and the dizziness she had felt so to be safe she was to be admitted to the hospital overnight for observation.
"She was here Spence, she saved me" Alison replied sincerely.
"Who was here?" Spencer questioned as she climbed in the back of the ambulance, Toby had made sure that the paramedics allowed her to travel with Alison to the hospital.
"Emily" Alison said as if it was obvious who she was talking about.
"That's impossible. No one has heard from her in five years, why would she come back now?" Spencer couldn't get her head around it, the only reason would be to stop the wedding however Emily hadn't shown up then and how did she even know about the ceremony in the first place.
"Pam told her. I don't know why she waited until now to show up but she did and she saved my life" it was as if Alison could read Spencer's mind but the truth was it was obvious what was going through the brunettes head, anyone else would be asking the exact same questions.
"That doesn't make sense Alison, you've suffered so much today and the blow to your head might have confused you" Spencer tried to reason with the blonde, in typical Hastings fashion she was going with logic rather than believe Alison's words.
"I know it was her" Alison said before she succumbed to the painkillers that she had received and drifted off into a much needed sleep. Thoughts of Emily plaguing her mind as her dreams were influenced by the drugs in her system.
Alison had been placed in a private room where she was being kept under close observation. She had been admitted two hours ago and was still sleeping, her body needed the rest so that it could begin to repair itself. Spencer had stayed with her up until ten minutes ago but now she paced the hallway outside of Alison's room as she spoke to Hanna on the phone.
"You've been in contact this entire time? How could you not tell us?" Spencer questioned, the irritation in her voice clearly evident.
"Spencer you know I would have done the same if it had been you in that situation. I'm on my way to the hospital so I will talk to you then" Hanna said calmly, knowing the youngest Hastings was only mad because she cared about Emily and had been stunned when the other brunette had cut contact with her as well as everyone else.
Spencer returned to Alison's room after Hanna had hung up and took a seat beside the blondes bed. She had phoned Jason to let him know what had happened and he promised to be on the next available flight out. He had wanted to get his hands on Elliot after hearing about what the man had done to his sister but after being told how badly beaten he know just wanted to shake hands with the person who had done it.
Next Spencer had called Aria and the smallest of the five had voiced her concern over Alison's injuries and her revelation but told Spencer they would discuss it all as soon as she got to the hospital which should be in the next few minutes.
So Spencer just waited as patiently as she could for her friends to arrive, she drank a coffee that she had purchased before making the phone calls and it had gone slightly colder than she would have liked but she needed the caffeine fix because she knew they needed to get answers from Hanna if they wanted to make any sense of the situation.
A/N
So I had several requests to continue this and that made up my mind. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter.
Let me know any thoughts you had about it and any ideas you have for the future.
Don't forget to review if you're enjoying it :)
