Spencer, Emily, and Hanna all sat on Spencer's couch, thinking of ways to find Aria. They'd searched all day for her, and had come up with nothing. Spencer was white as a ghost, tears sliding down her cheeks. This was all too similar to Alison's disappearance. Only this time, it wasn't someone who'd gotten on their nerves often. This time, is was someone who did nothing but look out for her friends, refusing to take the selfish route that it seemed as though Alison strayed over to too often.

Hanna sighed. "We'll have to look for her tomorrow. It's too dark now. And it's too dangerous. A took Aria; we could be next, and we need to be here to save Aria." Emily nodded in agreement. Spencer did nothing. Emily and Hanna looked at the broken girl with pity in her eyes. But then, Spencer's head shot up.

"We need to search the east side of town."

"What?" Hanna said, taken aback.

"She's right," Emily put in to Hanna. "This was a setup. All those things we found- A sent us everywhere but the east side of town. A knew we'd second guess that message. A knew we'd search everywhere but there, and A knew that when we found evidence we wouldn't think to go to the east side of town."

Hanna groaned, understanding what they meant now, and buried her head in her hands. "We'll start in the morning then," she mumbled. Emily and Spencer nodded. Since that "hint" A gave them had been sent, none of the girls had heard anything from A. It was like A was waiting for them.

As the three girls fell back into to their meditative states, the lights flickered, and a downpour began. Sighing, the girls decided to get some sleep, making sure to lock all the doors and windows and make it impossible for A to get in.

Spencer closed her eyes and was engulfed in sleep, bringing on a dream.

Spencer walked down a wooden staircase in a clean, normal-looking house. She entered a stone cellar and saw none other than Aria lying on the cold floor, blood pooling around her stomach, soaking the dirty rag that had been placed to stop the bleeding.

"Aria," Spencer gasped, running over to the small girl. The little brunette trembled at her friend's touch. A whimper escaped her pale lips and, without opening her eyes, she whimpered, "Don't hurt me." Spencer pulled her hand away, her bottom lip trembling as tears filled her eyes.

"Aria it's me, it's Spencer." Aria stared at her. It felt so real; it couldn't possibly be a dream. Spencer put a hand on Aria's cheek and rubbed the soft skin, brushing away a tear. "I'm here for you, alright? We're looking for you. We're going to save you."

Aria took a weak breath in and then on the breath out, said in a shuddering voice, "Hurry Spencer. Please." Spencer nodded and hugged Aria, letting the small girl sob into her shoulder. Spencer stroked her hair and shushed her, before resorting to gently singing to her until her sobs died down.

Just then, footsteps came from the staircase. Aria looked at Spencer with wild eyes. "Get out of here, Spencer," she said quickly, seriously. "It's not safe. Get out!" Even though Spencer was aware that it was a dream, she still felt the sense of panic and ran behind a box, hiding. She saw a figure in a black hoodie with a mask come down with a whip.

"Hello Aria. Are you ready?" Aria looked to the side, away from Spencer and the figure. She said nothing. The figure raised the whip and brought it down on Aria, who let out a soft yelp. Spencer tried to call out, but her voice had no sound. She tried to move, but it was as though her limbs were bound.

The image began to fade, and Spencer woke up.

Breathing heavily, Spencer looked around wildly, only to find Hanna and Emily sleeping on either side of her. She ran a hand through her hair and took deep, calming breaths to relax her shaking body. The dream had felt so real; it was as though she was really there with Aria even though she wasn't.

She heard grumbles coming from the girls on either side of her as they woke up. Hanna stretched and got up, making them all coffee and handing Emily and Spencer their mugs. "Need to get all the energy we can," Hanna said, "we're headed to the east side of town."

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Aria woke up from a dream that had felt so real. She'd seen Spencer. Right before the dream, she'd been whipped. In the dream, Spencer had been there for her, and comforted her. That's when Aria caught sight of the wounds that were sure to scar, the wounds that told her that Spencer didn't care, and that she hated her.

She was beginning to believe it. Every time someone other than Ezra would come down, no matter what they were doing, be it torment or to replace her water with somewhat cleaner water, they would repeat to her that her friends didn't love her, that Spencer pitied her, and all of the things that would push her toward the breaking point.

Just then, Ezra came down with a cloth and a bucket of soapy water. The cloth, though, was covered in dirt, as it seemed like all the cloths were. Everything was dirty. Aria didn't trust the food enough to eat it, and only sipped at the water right after they replaced it.

He left the cloth and bucket there, mumbling at her to wash up, and went back upstairs. Sighing, Aria moved her hands as far as she could, just far enough to reach the cloth and dip it in the water before rubbing it over her face.

She also lightly drew it over her wounds before placing the blood-stained cloth in the water and cleaning it. She wrung it out on the stone ground and when it was only a little damp, wrapped it back around her stomach and buttoned her shirt.

Aria didn't want to imagine what kind of punishment was next. She'd thought this first one was bad enough, especially with the whipping that went with it. She tried to imagine that Spencer was looking for her, but she just couldn't. She didn't want to get her hopes up and then be let down.

The masked figure came down next to take the bucket away, and then Aria was left alone until her next punishment for not playing by the rules of A's game. She gently played with the chains, picking at the metal in boredom as there was really nothing else for her to do until they returned.

That's when her eyes fell upon the toothpick from the day before. It was slightly closer to her, but not by much. Someone must have kicked it. 'If I could just find a way to get it closer to me, maybe I could…' She glanced at the cup of water by her feet. Grinning, she kicked it, and the liquid flowed out toward the toothpick.

"Come on, come on," she muttered, and the water reached it, sending it afloat slightly. Filled with hope, Aria knelt down by the water and began to suck in breaths, to draw the toothpick closer to her through the spilled water. Finally, it was close enough for her to grab, which she did, and shoved it into her pocket. She'd use it when there was no one in the building she was in- if that's even what it was. It was too risky to try and break out knowing there were still people above her.

Gently, she ran her fingers over the thin piece of wood, her fingertips brushing delicately over the smooth toothpick, sticking slightly to the shard from the water that'd spilled on it. Happy to finally have some physical piece of hope, even if it was just a tiny sliver of wood, she rested her head on the hard wall, rolling her shoulders a couple time to crack her aching back.

With that, she let out a soft laugh, and awaited the second punishment with a hopeful attitude- because this second punishment just might be her last punishment.

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Spencer, Hanna, and Emily searched the east end of town all day, looking in every sketchy place they came upon as thoroughly as they possibly could. They stopped only once during the day at a café to grab a bite to eat. Hanna complained that Aria couldn't possibly be in this section, that they'd searched everywhere and still found no proof of her being here.

Spencer, however, kept them going. She refused to give up the search until dusk fell and it was too dark to search any longer. The evidence that they'd already gathered was enough to lead her to believe that Aria was here. It made too much sense for her not to be. However, darkness fell, and they still had not found their missing friend.

"We've been at this all day," Emily sighed, "and still nothing." She shook her head, looking at the ground sadly. "We're no closer to finding her now than we were at the very start of all this." Hanna placed a hand on the distraught girl's shoulder and said nothing. What could she say? Emily was right. None of them knew what was going to happen. So then, what reassurance could they give?

"We have school tomorrow," Spencer muttered. "We can't look again until after school. I don't know about you guys but I'm going to start looking as soon as I can." Her voice was hard and monotonous, as it had been all day, and had been hardening more and more the longer Aria was missing.

Hanna and Emily nodded in agreement with Spencer's idea to search as soon as possible, but they were a little more hesitant. Spencer knew they'd search, but could tell by their averted eyes that they were beginning to lose hope.

The three parted ways, disheartened from the day's failure. Spencer sighed, wondering if it'd be any different if Aria's parents were home. Unfortunately, they were on a trip to Paris for a month, and had left Aria and her brother alone, assuming they'd be safe. 'Safe, my ass,' Spencer thought as she went into her house and up to shower and go to bed.

Hanna and Emily split apart too to go home, but still texted each other.

'Hey, Emily; please… tell me that I'm not the only one that thinks Spencer's going a bit crazy looking for Aria.'

'Don't worry Hanna; I'm right with you on that one. Of course I want to find Aria, but we can't look for her every waking minute.'

'Exactly; I'm going to have homework to do tomorrow. We all are. And Spencer's going to expect us to search for her all afternoon.'

'Maybe we can make an excuse. Being alone might give Spencer some well-needed time to think too.'

'You're right. Good night, Emily.'

'Good night.'

With that, the two girls stopped texting each other and went to bed as well.

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Aria heard footsteps coming down the steps and braced herself. She saw the figure coming down the steps, the masked figure who spoke in a disguised voice so she never knew who it was. It was always a different gender, too. It was never the same person.

The figure walked up to her and put a hand on her face. Aria could picture the smirk of satisfaction the person wore under that mask at being able to hurt her so easily, and felt instantly irritated by the thought. Forcing it away, she glared at the person in front of her.

The black-hooded figure said, "Well Aria. This punishment will be significantly different from the first. I expect you won't struggle. You know it'll get you nowhere." When the person was met with silence, they took that as their cue to begin. They began to kick Aria with as much strength as possible, and hit every part of her body. Aria held her breath to keep from gasping or yelling out in pain.

Finally, the person stomped heavily on her arm. She couldn't keep in the scream when she heard a snap and felt pain rush through her. The person gave her one last look before going upstairs.

Now, bruised and literally broken, Aria curled up cradling her injured arm close to her body and wept, her hope gone as quickly as it'd come.

Here's chapter four! *o* I just love Sparia so much. You also get a little Hannily in this chapter and in the next :D

The next chapter and the chapter after, some serious stuff is going to happen. Be prepared ;D

Xoxo,

-England