Ok so a lot of people voted for this story to be continued so I am going to and I think I'll just add onto this story since you all are already following it. I'm going to start this next part with the night that they find Maya's body and that will take a few chapter at least so enjoy and let me know if there is anything you all like or want to see. Thanks again for everyone's support.
Ashley Marin wasn't expecting to have an exciting evening: Hanna was at the dance with the girls and she figured that they would end up having a slumber party at someone's house. She was half asleep on the couch when her cell phone alerted her to Hanna calling her so she quickly answered it9.
"I thought you had forgotten all about me. Where are you guys?"
"Emily's house." Hanna sounded tired and Ashley could tell something was wrong immediately.
"Hanna, what's wrong? You sound like you're crying." Ashley sat up and threw the blanket off her lap. She searched for her shoes and jacket as she waited for Hanna to answer.
"Can you come meet us here?"
"I'm on my way, but you need to tell me what's wrong." Ashley was running out the door with slippers on and was trying to getting her arms into her jacket and still talk to Hanna. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"Yes, no…we are all physically fine."
"Hanna what happened?" Ashley was desperate as she started up her car.
"Please don't make me say it over the phone. I'll tell you when you get here."
"I'll be there in five minutes." She wasn't positive, but Ashley was pretty sure she broke all kinds of traffic laws getting to the Fields house. She saw the police cars surrounding the cal de sac and her mind went to the worst case scenario. She threw her car into park and rushed toward the house only to be stopped by a police officer. Before she could even explain that she belonged there and that her daughter was inside she heard Toby yell over to let her through. The officer let Ashley under the tape and she met Toby who was standing on the porch.
"What the hell happened? Why are all the cops here?"
"Mrs. Fields heard a noise outside about an hour or so ago. She came outside to check it out and she found a body on the lawn around the side of the house." He pointed at the coroner van that was pulling away as they stood there.
"Are the girls alright?"
"They're shaken up and upset. They're trying to hold it together for Emily." Toby leaned against the banister and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and not start crying as well.
"Wait, what about Emily?" Toby looked like someone had just hit him in the gut. He took a deep breath and in an almost reverent voice he responded. "They can't say for sure until they run dental records, but the body they found…they think it's Maya." Ashley was certain that she stopped breathing for a moment and she was only brought back to reality when she felt tears roll down her face. She brushed them away and focused back on Toby.
"Where are the girls now?"
"Inside trying to get Emily to talk to them and open her door. Maybe you can try, no one else has been able to get her to say much other than leave me alone followed by more crying." Toby opened the front door and followed Ashley back into the house. Ashley looked to the staircase where Pam was leaning against the banister looking more than a little shocked. Pam turned around when she heard the door open and she looked relieved to see another adult.
"Hanna called me, I hope it's alright that I came over." Pam waved off Ashley's explanation. "Please, I'm sorry I didn't call you, but everything happened so fast and when the girls showed up and then Emily…I should have called you, but I had no clue what to do." Pam seemed to be teetering on the brink of tears, but she was trying to be the one in the house that wasn't falling apart, she had to be the adult in this situation.
"Pam, none of us would know how to handle this, don't stress about calling us, just tell me what I can do." Before Pam could say anything Hanna walked down the staircase and started crying all over again as soon as she was wrapped up in her other's arms. When she had calmed down again Ashley brushed away the tears that clung to her face and waited for Hanna to say something.
"She still won't open the door, Spence is still trying through." Ashley looked to Pam, "mind if I give it a go?"
"Be my guest, just don't be surprised if she shuts you down too." Pam led Hanna into the kitchen where Toby was patiently waiting. Ashley made it up the stairs and when she turned the corner she say Spencer sitting on the floor leaning against the door of Emily's room with Aria standing right behind her looking completely lost.
"Em, please unlock the door, you don't have to deal with this alone." Ashley heard Emily crying through the door and heard her say something back to Spencer. Spencer shook her head and kept talking.
"Emily we aren't going to leave you alone. I can't make this hurt any less, but you don't have to push us away." Spencer got no response that time and she looked to Aria as if to see if she had any ideas about where to go from there. She finally saw Ashley standing there and stood up to greet her best friend's mother. Ashley gave them both a hug because while Maya was Emily's girlfriend, all the girls were found of the young woman who made Emily so happy. "Why don't you guys let me try?"
Spencer looked to Aria with a worried expression. "I don't want her to think we left her."
"She won't, I'll make sure she knows that you guys are just downstairs. Aria started down the stairs and after a moment of hesitation Spencer followed suit. Ashley sat down in the spot that Spencer had just vacated and softly knocked on the door.
"Emily, honey, I sent the girls downstairs to get something to eat, it's just me. Do you think you can open the door for me?"
"Mrs. Marin, no offense, but can you please leave me alone."
"Emily, I would be a pretty bad mother if I left a teenager alone in her room crying. I know you heart is broken and I wish more than anything that I could fix it, but even though I can't do that I can make sure you're safe and support you."
"My girlfriend was killed and was then dumped on my front lawn. I just want to be alone with my grief."
"Well then I'm going to sit out here and wait until you want to open the door."
"It's safer if you just leave. Look at my track record, everyone who I love gets killed and buried in someone's yard."
"Honey this wasn't your fault, loving someone is never a mistake. The girls love you, we all love you and you aren't going to be very successful in pushing us away. Friends are there for you no matter what, through good times and bad."
"How about in murder, what do friends do then?"
"They hold tight to each other and keep each other safe."
"I can't keep them safe unless they stay away from me. I just want some time alone; I want to be allowed to be sad and angry without people looking at me like I'm pitiful."
"Emily no one is telling you that you can't be sad, we just want you to know that it's ok to let people in to help you through this." It got dead quiet for a while, but eventually Emily started talking again.
"I hate this. I'm sick of going to funerals, hell I'm sick of planning funerals. It's like the universe is testing me to see how much I can take before I just give up on happiness."
"Please don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"Give up on happiness." Ashley rested her head against the cold wood of the door and waited for any response from Emily.
"There's a key underneath the area rug in the hallway." Ashley was stunned by the frank confession, but looked around and saw that the area rug was about three feet from her. She lifted it up and quickly found the key that Emily was talking about. "Emily, I'm going to open the door, is that ok?"
"I wouldn't have told you where the key was if it wasn't ok." Ashley unlocked the door and slowly opened the door. The room was pitch black save for the light coming in from the window. Ashley looked at the bed expecting to find Emily there, but she soon realized that the distraught teenager was lying on her floor still dressed in her ball gown. At first glance she didn't appear to be hurt so Ashley just assumed that she just collapsed on the floor and decided it was as good of a place to mourn as any. Ashley sat down next to Emily and the two stayed in an uncomfortable silence for a while. Ashley was caught a little off guard when the silence got broken, but not by words, but by more crying. Emily went from being practically catatonic to sobbing hard enough that her whole upper body shook as she did. Ashley did what most mothers would have done: she lifted Emily up from the floor and managed to move her so that she was sitting. Emily made eye contact with Ashley for a second and stopped crying for a brief moment.
"She isn't coming back this time." Ashley's heart broke for Emily as she shook her head. "No honey she's not coming back this time. I'm so sorry Emily." Emily returned to crying, but this time she allowed Ashley to hold her close while she did it. After a few minutes Ashley looked up to see Toby standing in the hallway. Without saying anything Toby stepped into the room and lifted Emily out of Ashley lap and gently placed her on the bed. He kissed the top of Emily head before walking out of the room. As Ashley stood up from the floor she could see the girls waiting in the hallway.
"Emily, do you think it would be ok for the girls to stay with you for a while?" Emily didn't say anything, but she nodded her head. Before she left the room Ashley felt Emily grab her hand and squeeze it as if to convey some kind of thank you that the girl just couldn't say out loud. Ashley smiled and kissed her briefly on the crown of her head before she left the room and allowed the girls to enter the room and take care of Emily. She walked downstairs to find Pam and Toby sitting in the kitchen and she sat down at the table with them.
"Thank you for getting her to open the door."
"She finally just told me where the key was, I didn't really do much."
"You did what the rest of us couldn't, don't sell yourself short. I called Veronica and Ella while you were upstairs, they'll be over in a few minutes."
"Did you tell them what happened?" Pam shook her head, "I just told them that something happened and that the girls were all here, but they should probably come check on their daughters." Ashley stood up from the table, "I'll go wait for them outside." Ashley closed the front door behind her and once she was alone she allowed herself to cry. She was trying to be strong and put together for Emily and for the girls, but she would be lying if she said it didn't upset her that another teenager was going to be buried in Rosewood Cemetery. She never knew Maya that well, but she knew how much she meant to Emily and that was enough to make any adult in this situation cry. When she was able to collect herself she looked up to see Ella and Veronica walking up to the house, both wearing worried expressions.
"Are they alright?" Ella cut straight to the question on everyone's mind.
"Physically yes they're all fine."
"If they're ok, then why did one of the officers tell me that the coroner was out here?" Veronica had been let through the tape based on the fact that every cop in Rosewood knew who she was. Ashley took a deep breath and answered, "they won't know for sure until tomorrow morning, but they're pretty sure the body…that its…Maya." Ella and Veronica both looked shell shocked and stood in place absolutely horrified by the gravity of the situation.
"Who found her?" Veronica was the first to say anything.
"Pam did, but the girls showed up as they were loading her body into the van."
"Emily saw them take her away?" Ashley nodded and Ella shook her head trying to make something make sense in this nightmare. "The girls are upstairs with her now." All three of them entered the house and Pam greeted them all with as much good hostess manners as she could manage in the situation. Toby said that he was going to leave and that he would call and check in on them in the morning. As he left they all went upstairs to check on their daughters. The door was still open and the lights were all still off, but it was easy to see that all four of the girls had settled into Emily's bed. Emily was passed out with her head buried into Spencer chest, still clutching at her best friend's dress. Hanna and Aria were on the opposite side of the bed also asleep; it seemed like they had all cried themselves out and the exhaustion took its toll. Their mothers all looked at the four of them fast asleep and while none of them said a word they were all thinking the same thing. How were they going to get their children through this again?