-I-
There were four officers left at the precinct. It was 9:57 PM, and the downpour was Herculean. Zeus had never been more angry with the town of Rosewood.
Spencer's eyes were fighting to stay open, and beside her, Caleb reclined on the waiting room chair. Both were exhausted, but were jolted out of any potential slumber as their phone alerted them about everything regarding Ezra.
At 10:03 PM, Veronica walked out of the back room alone. Her stride was composed, but her brows were furrowed, and her gaze spoke concern, as she appeared to be transfixed on something in the distance.
Spencer jolted upright when Caleb nudged her, gesturing at her mother. Veronica approached them, and looked around her.
"We'd best have this discussion in the car. Let's go, you two."
-II-
Aria exited the resting room, her face once again flushed with tears waiting to be shed. Ezra had stopped coding, and had resumed his quasi-vegetative state. The last hours had been fraught with worry, but deep down, she knew that staying at the police station with Spencer and Caleb would have made things worse.
She saw the three girls, Hanna, Emily, and Alison in the waiting room where they'd been for the last hours, talking to a man whose face she couldn't see. He looked up.
"Aria!" Mike ran towards her, his face streaked in tears. "I heard everything this afternoon, I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you. Please—"
Aria started to cry. She accepted her brother's tenuous embrace.
"Thank you for being here, Mike," she managed to say, before collapsing in his arms.
The temporary silence was shattered by the pounding footsteps of one of the OR nurses, who burst into the lobby.
"Who was in the hallway?" She bellowed. It seemed as if the glass pane vibrated from the sonic impact of her voice.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Aria turned to her friends. Mike and the girls looked panicked.
Hanna instantly rose at command. "What are you talking about?" She asked bluntly.
"Listen, young lady, don't you even think about getting smart with me." The woman was beet red. "Someone went into 104 and tampered with the equipment. That's why Mr. Fitz was coding. They left through the fire escape. Which one of you was it?"
Alison, Emily, and Hanna went pale at the same time.
Aria let herself go from Mike's embrace.
"Guys? What is she talking about?" Her voice was sharp and intense, and would shatter at any minute.
"I… I don't know, Aria." Emily stuttered.
Aria's face turned a deep scarlet. Mike shook his head.
"You said you'd watch him. You said you'd tell me if anything happened to my husband."
Tears of nerves started to bud in Alison's eyes.
"Aria, we—"
That was enough. Aria's hazel eyes were blazing with fury.
"Get out. Get out of my sight."
The girls stood transfixed, in front of the chairs. Tentatively, Mike reached for his sister, knowing she would explode.
"NOW!"
-III-
Veronica's hands were tightly folded over her skirt as she sat in the driver's seat of her Volvo. She had visibly learned nerve-wracking information. Spencer sat in the back, Caleb at the opposite side.
"Mom, tell us what happened. Now."
Veronica inhaled sharply.
"It's best that Aria left when she did."
She turned to face her daughter and her friend behind her.
"Spencer, Lieutenant Tanner told me that Ezra was bludgeoned in the chest at least 15 times with the blade of a curved, 20 inch, 2 pound weapon."
She gulped. Spencer's mouth gaped and Caleb clutched her arm tentatively. Veronica waited for the information to sink in before continuing.
"Ezra was reportedly alone in his cellblock when this happened. He was attacked while he was lying down. According to the Philly PD, there weren't any signs of forced entry into his cellblock. The assailant must have had a key of some kind, or Ezra must have let them in deliberately. The inmates and any correctional staff have been formally cleared of any suspicion."
Spencer couldn't fight the tears welling up in her eyes. Veronica was facing the same struggle. Caleb's face turned white.
"Spencer, the attack on Aria's husband was both deliberate and premeditated."
-IV-
Alex alternated between twirling the suspension string of her jumpsuit shirt and the curled brown strand of her hair. She was nervous, but more thankful for her sheer genius than she'd ever been before. Hacking the visitation system had been no easy task, but it was the only way she'd be able to ensure that she'd get what she needed.
As if on cue, the female guard emerged from the dark, standing at the door of her cellblock.
"You have a visitor."
Expressionlessly, Alex let herself be cuffed and guided to the visitation room, where her mouth slightly dropped at seeing who had come. Not who she had expected. In a matter of seconds, she regained her snark.
"Well, well, well… I have to say that Rosewood posh suits you better than Ethiopian highlands, brother."
Jason seemed equally as nervous. He wasn't sure how to respond to Alex's immediate verbal assault.
"Hello, Alex."
Alex folded her hands as if she were preparing for a job interview.
"How can I help you?" She asked, her tone as sweet as England's finest Cadbury.
Jason inhaled pointedly. "I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided that I want to get to know you." Jason looked to the side as if he were being watched before sighing. "I know how damaged our family is. Alex, I'm not here to attack you."
Alex snorted, amused. "My favorite color is black, I possess an affection for wild canids, I sleep with my socks on, I pour milk in the bowl before the cereal, I'm allergic to poinsettias, and I taught myself the fiddle and the bassoon."
Jason stared at her.
Alex burst out laughing at her own wit.
"Alex, I'm serious. I want to be your bridge. I want to help you get what you ultimately want. You're my sister, and I—" Jason was getting emotional. This didn't happen often. "I know how it feels to be ostracized. All I want to do Alex, is… is give you the chance Charlotte never got."
At this, Alex stopped smiling. Hearing the name of her late sister caused her to tense. She looked down. Back up. Jason's eyes seemed to be pleading. She gulped, hoping he couldn't see.
She made eye contact with her brother.
"That's right, Jason. You don't know anything about me. I already have friends on the other side." Alex snapped her fingers for the guard. "There is absolutely nothing I want from you."
"Alex, please—"
Alex sniffled. Jason had rattled her cage. "You can tell Spencer that you're one shitty messenger. Don't come back here."
"Alex, that's not why I came—"
Alex had already turned, and the guard was leading her out.
Jason jolted up from his seat in a last attempt to get his sister's attention.
"Alex, you aren't safe. Someone's after you and I'm trying… I'm trying to stop them."
Alex spun around. Jason rose from his seat, casting her a final meaningful glance before slipping out into the night.
-V-
It was 7:02 AM of the following morning. Spencer, Emily, Alison, and Caleb were in the DiLaurentis living room.
Alison was making herself busy in the kitchen.
"I'm not even going to ask who got sleep last night and who didn't. The coffee's going to be black for everyone."
Spencer looked up from her hands.
"Thank me later, Spencer." Ali said, throwing a halfhearted wink at her cousin.
Emily started. "Ezra being in the hospital means we have to find out who's after us. Ali… Spencer, you haven't told us what Mary told you."
Alison turned around from the kettle, and looked anxiously at Spencer. Just then, the door burst open, and Hanna pounded in.
"Aria's not responding to—" She stopped dead in her tracks at seeing Caleb seated at the kitchen counter.
"Caleb, what are you doing here?"
Caleb looked up. "Wondering why my own wife is incapable of telling me what's going on in her life, when her best friend is."
Hanna looked down, and then at Spencer.
"Hanna, I—"
Emily wasn't going to let herself be interrupted. "Guys, we can argue about this later. Aria and Ezra come first right now. Hanna, sit. Spencer, talk."
*** Two days prior… ***
Mary looked down nervously at her hands. Her sense of shame was palpable. It wasn't going to deter Alison.
"Mary, Spencer's getting billed for utility from the Lost Woods. Could you explain why that is?"
Mary looked up.
"Well, have you rented it out?" She asked expectantly.
Spencer looked up, her face cold as ice. "No, Mary. We haven't been there since you wrote the deed in our name."
Mary looked down. Spencer's tone cut. Alison nudged her cousin.
"Mary, someone's been squatting in one of the rooms. Do you know who it could be?"
Mary gulped, alarmed.
"Girls, I have no idea. Have… have you reported this?"
Spencer snorted again. Alison kicked her in the shin.
As if Mary realized how unsatisfying her response was, she continued. "I have no idea who could be using those rooms. I certainly didn't grant anyone access."
Alison and Spencer looked at one another.
Mary looked into the distance pensively. "One thing does strike me as odd, though." Spencer jerked up, now paying her biological mother more heed. "A matter of months before I gave you girls the deed, I was getting calls at least every two days. Someone was willing to offer a massive sum of money to be able to rent those rooms."
"And?"
"Well, the place was being renovated, so of course I politely declined. It struck me as very strange. Every time I asked them to identify themselves, they would hang the phone. But they called back each time. It was the same caller, I'm sure of it."
"Who was the caller?"
"I wouldn't know. The voice was very affected."
Spencer scoffed, angry. "Like hell you wouldn't."
Alison elbowed her cousin. "Spencer, stop."
Spencer looked down.
"We have other questions, Mary. I don't know if you know that Aria's husband has been arrested."
Mary tilted her head innocently.
"We don't think it's a coincidence."
Mary shook her head mournfully before responding. "I am so sorry for Aria, I really am, but I wouldn't know anything about her husband besides his unfortunate encounter with… Alexandra."
Spencer's eyes were still rooted to the floor.
"Mary, do you think Alex worked with someone when she was after us?"
Spencer stole an admiring glance at her cousin. She. Had. Nerve.
At this, Mary gulped. Spencer looked up. Were they onto something?
"Girls, there were many odd interactions I had with Alexandra. I tried convincing her so many times. To just cease her quest for revenge. To get closure in a healthy way that would help her move on like her beautiful sister would have wanted." Mary gulped. "Sometimes it seemed that she agreed with me. She would embrace me and tell me how much she wished it were that easy." Mary shook her head. "But whenever I tried taking things a step further, when I suggested she come to Rosewood, she would become angry, and tell me to get out of her life. She would tell me she couldn't do it, and that it wasn't part of the plan. She… she never used the words 'my plan' or said she 'wouldn't' do it."
Spencer and Alison exchanged a glance.
"But I only considered the possibility in earnest one night when I was visiting her in London."
*** 4 years prior ***
On a morose and windy October evening in 2015, Mary entered the London flat she had been staying at with her daughter, in her hand a bag of freshly made crumpets. Her daughter who she didn't know existed until days prior. She didn't know how she'd even begin to tell her other daughter in Rosewood.
"Alex? I'm back."
No response.
"I have to say, dear, London's jam-filled crumpets top Lima's flan. Come out and share some with me, would you?"
Silence. Suddenly, Mary heard sobbing, and the distinct, gentle sound of her daughter crying.
She gingerly approached her daughter's bedroom, to see her sprawled out on the floor, on the phone, weeping.
"I won't screw things up again, I promise you." "No! Please, please don't! I promise I'll do everything you ask me to, just don't—"
Mary tapped lightly on the door hinge.
Alex spun around, fear in her eyes.
"Sweetie? What's the matter?"
Alex mouthed. "Leave." Still on the phone, saying "yes," "yes of course," and "I'll do anything you want," she grabbed a notebook on the nightstand, on which she wrote, in scrawled black ink:
Leave now or I'll be in trouble.
"Whenever I asked her about that night, she would tell me she didn't know what I was talking about. But it brought me to think that someone was telling her what to do. And deep down I hoped that she wasn't cut from the same cloth as my sister."
Alison looked to the floor, lost in thought.
Hesitantly, Mary resumed. "Of course, the choices Alexandra made are something she must bear responsibility for by herself. But… if it were true… that she was being forced to hurt you and your friends… would you be capable of forgiving her?"
Alison and Spencer exchanged an uneasy glance.
Mary swallowed nervously. "After all, Spencer, she's not the only one of your sisters capable of atrocities."
Spencer jerked up. "What do you mean?"
Mary gulped again. She had said too much.
"Girls, I am awfully exhausted. I'd like to retreat now."
Spencer opened her mouth in protest, at which Alison lay her hand on Spencer's arm.
Mary rose, signaling for the guard. "I do hope I was of assistance to you both. Good night… and be careful."
***Present-day***
"So… Mary didn't know who that could be in the Lost Woods?" Emily asked.
Spencer and Alison shook their heads.
"Whoever it is, they're long gone."
"So is this confirmation? That Alex isn't A? That there's some bigger, badder bitch out there?" Hanna replied.
Emily shot Hanna a perturbed look.
Hanna continued. "Wait… wait, Spencer, I know that attacks happen in prison, but you don't think A—"
Emily kicked Hanna in the shin. Hard. "Don't, Hanna. Don't go there yet. Please."
Spencer wasn't having it. "Isn't this what we're all thinking?"
The anxiety was written over everyones' visages.
Caleb shook his head, reinitiating.
"You guys should keep in mind that Mary could be saying anything to help herself and Alex."
Alison set down her mug. "I get where you're coming from, Caleb, but she seemed penitent. I don't understand what she'd get out of saying things like this now. She had the opportunity to get herself out ages ago."
"But who would Alex have been taking orders from…" Emily's expression indicated that she was lost in space.
Alison shot a glance at Spencer. "Spence?"
Spencer didn't look up. "Hmm?"
Alison looked around at everyone. "What did Mary mean when she said that Alex wasn't the only one of your sisters capable of atrocities?"
Spencer looked up. "Well, she must've been talking about Charlotte."
Hanna caught on quickly. "Why would she be talking about Charlotte? She's a corpse."
Alison looked to the side, uncomfortable.
Emily was the second to catch on. "Spencer, you said Melissa just disappeared out of nowhere. No calls or texts, right?"
"She's not there to criticize my stuff at the office either," Hanna interjected.
"I don't know." Spencer sat, staring at the wood of the table.
"If Melissa could have something to do with this, anything at all, I say we find her. That's the first step."
Spencer scoffed at Alison, annoyed. "You say that like finding Melissa's as easy as multiplication tables."
"Hey, I still don't know my twelves."
Caleb joined in, giving Hanna, who shrugged pragmatically, a glance. "Well, Mary said what she said for a reason."
Alison looked at Spencer. "We have to go visit Alex."
Spencer looked down at her knees. Change of subject.
"Didn't Mrs. H say that Ezra was bludgeoned in the chest?"
"Yes, Hanna."
"Does Aria know?"
Spencer gulped.
Emily looked at Alison. "Spencer, you have to tell her. We can't bring that news to her. She's extremely angry with us right now."
"Why?"
Alison sighed. "Ezra coded and we didn't tell Aria in time."
The door to the DiLaurentis house crashed open with a dramatic bang. All five heads wheeled around. Hands on his hips, dirty blonde hair drenched from the rain, and ice blue eyes burning contempt was none other than Toby.
"Well, it's great to see the posse together again."
-VI-
"I told you I didn't want you involved in this, Toby. You have enough going on."
"Yeah. And now I have even more thanks to you not telling me anything about anything."
Toby aggressively opened the passengers' side door to his truck. "Get in. I'll drop you off in Philly."
Spencer nodded, getting in as Toby made his way to the other side of the vehicle.
"How could you do that? How could you visit Mary and go to the police station after everything that's happened and not tell me anything?"
"Toby, you don't understand—"
"You're right, I don't. But I want you to try me."
The only time Toby drove over the limit was when his blood pressure was higher than it should be. This was the case.
Spencer sniffled.
"I cannot afford to lose you again, Toby."
Toby shook his head. "That's a crap excuse, Spencer. We've been through hell and high water. If you think I can't handle this, you've got to look at the big picture."
Spencer put her head in her hands.
"Okay, I just want to live for four years without having to live in fear. Just four years. Just four years of not having to worry about anyone coming after the people I love. Is that incomprehensible to you?"
Silence.
"So you're admitting it? Someone's after you again?"
Spencer shook her head. "We don't know that!"
"Yes, we do. Please don't tell me that Ezra being arrested and being almost killed is a coincidence, and that you making secret jail and precinct visits while having me tail your family is a coincidence either."
Toby slammed the brakes a matter of minutes away from the firm. Spencer jumped in her seat.
"Is A back in our lives? Yes, or no?"
"Toby, I—"
"Yes. Or no."
"Yes, Toby. Yes, they are."
"That's all I needed to hear."
With a look of disdain, Toby parked the car outside of Spencer's firm. Spencer got out, not wanting to look at her boyfriend. Toby grabbed her by the arm.
"Hey. Hell and high water, you heard me?"
Spencer nodded, giving her boyfriend a final glance, fighting the tears in her eyes as she walked towards her office.
-VII-
Aria stroked her comatose husband's arm. She sighed, leaning forward in her chair. Her back ached. Mike had given her a pillow to support herself, which was a godsend. She thumbed the frayed pages of the book she had held closely for the last days. In a quiet, fragile voice, she began.
"Upon the half decayed veranda of a small frame house that stood near the edge of a ravine near the town of Winesburg, Ohio, a fat little old man walked nervously up and down. Across a long field that had been seeded for clover but that had produced only a dense crop of yellow mustard weeds, he could see the public highway along which went a wagon filled with berry pickers returning from the fields." Aria sniffled. "The berry pickers, youths and maidens, laughed and shouted boisterously. A boy clad in a blue shirt leaped from the wagon and attempted to drag after him one of the maidens, who screamed and protested shrilly. The feet of the boy in the road kicked up a cloud of dust that floated across the face of the departing sun. Over the long field came a—"
Ezra's hand clutched hers. Aria froze.
"…Ezra?"
Ezra's blue eyes opened. Aria was frozen in fear, paralyzed with regard to what to do.
"Ezra, can you hear me?"
A loud thud made its presence known from behind her. She whipped around. The distinct outline of a hooded figure was visible, mask pressed against the glass pane of the outer hall. Massive, ice cold hands were mulling around her insides.
"Oh my God…"
Then she did something she thought she'd regret forever.
"NURSE!"
That had done it. The hooded figure sprinted in her direction towards the hall. Aria shrieked, clutching her hand over her mouth when she saw the figure deftly lift itself over the edge, and run down the fire escape onto the crowded Philadelphia avenue.
By the time she turned around, Ezra was gone again.
-VIII-
Hanna and Caleb were en route to campaign headquarters.
"So why did Spencer tell you to come with her to the police station?"
Caleb scoffed. "Because you wouldn't. And I know when stuff is up."
Hanna shook her head. "It wasn't her place to do that. I would never tell Toby to come with me without her knowing about it."
Caleb was annoyed at this point, his hands clutching the steering wheel. "Let's not do saint, Hanna. We both know that keeping secrets only gives A more time to light a fire under our unknowing asses."
Hanna shrugged. She had no response.
They pulled into the parking lot. Rapidly, Caleb seized her hand.
"I don't want you keeping secrets from me anymore. Not about Mona, not about A, not about anything. Not with what's at stake right now. It's more than just us. Think about Lindy. Do you understand me?"
Under all the bluster, Hanna knew he was right. "Even if it makes you a target?"
Caleb bestowed her with a death stare. What an idiotic question.
"You're right, Caleb. We're in this together now."
Out of the rearview of the mirror, a bulky man and his team were moving cartloads of boxes into a U-Haul.
Hanna released herself from Caleb's grip. They watched, inquisitive. What was going on?
-IX-
Mona lay on the green silk sheets of her queen-sized bed, Sue Grafton's S is for Silence in one hand, her laptop in the other. She was surrounded by all the things she loved, in the home that she cherished. But she hadn't felt this unease in a long, long time.
Mona had not slept a wink last night. Her hair was disheveled, her blouse was wrinkled, and her lack of makeup exposed the imperfections she otherwise worked so tirelessly to conceal. Her breath reeked. Her nails were uneven from her having bitten them.
"Knock, knock."
Mona was unceremoniously jolted out of her stupor.
"Mike! What are you doing here?"
"I haven't heard from you all day."
Mike's eyes were visibly bloodshot as well. He had been crying for his sister.
Mona shut her computer and the book. She tightly squinted her eyes.
"Oh, um… I haven't been doing much."
"This may be off-script, but… you look like crap."
Mona nodded solemnly. "You don't look much better."
Mike nodded. Silence.
"Let's go take a walk at Fairmount Park before I go see Aria again. Time for coffee and a change in shirt."
Mona chuckled apprehensively. "Yeah. That sounds… that sounds lovely." She came to it. "I'll meet you downstairs in a second, okay?"
Mike nodded, smiling, and made his way to the first story of the Vanderwaal house.
Making sure Mike had rounded the stairs, Mona pulled out her cell phone.
"I need your help. And I need it now."
-X-
4:15 PM. It was darkening. It was just Alison and Emily. The two-story DiLaurentis house was quieter than it had been in a long time. The couple leaned on each other.
"We have to go back to school tomorrow, Em. It's barely the second week of class."
Emily grappled herself up.
"You're right. There's no way I'm going to get things done with varsity at this rate."
Alison reached out for her wife. "Relax. I didn't say that so you'd worry."
Emily nodded, her expression lightyears away. "You're right. I guess Paige has it under control."
Alison nodded, her gaze zoning out at something behind Emily, beyond the kitchen window. "Speak of the devil…"
Emily honed back in. She grabbed Alison, who was storming to the entrance. "Alison, stop. Now. She came to check on us." Alison stood still.
The doorbell rang. Paige stood with four containers of soup, two adult-sized, two child-sized. Emily opened.
"Paige, you really did not have to do all this."
Emily motioned for Paige to enter.
"It was nothing. You know me, I'm not the chef. Meg cooks all the time. Besides, I was worried when I didn't see you for two days in a row. What's going on?"
Alison's arms were crossed, and her expression stiff.
Paige looked at her. "Hi, Alison. I hope you like tomato basil."
Alison didn't make eye contact. "Thanks, Paige."
Emily took Paige by the arm. "We've really needed to be here for Aria. I don't know if you know, but Ezra was arrested."
Alison shot her wife a withering glare.
"Oh my God… how? Why?"
"We really don't know. But, he's been hospitalized because he was attacked in jail."
Paige shook her head, her eyes focused intently on the floor. "I can't believe things like this can go down in prison and no one does anything about it. It's like you're not safe anywhere."
It had been a harrowing seven-hour work day. Spencer's client had breached several rules of discretional conduct and she was not equipped to reprimand them. Spencer had been drafted to lead yet another intern committee. There wasn't enough coffee in Costa Rica to fuel her. Her mind was eons away.
Like so many years before, Spencer stared at herself in the mirror, hoping it would somehow resolve one of the many conflicts she found herself immersed in. She had decided to Uber her way home. She needed to find ways to reconcile with Toby. But to do that, she'd need to think.
She lowered herself onto her bed.
There was a loud thud from the stables.
Spencer jolted upright, making her way to the kitchen window. She positioned herself at an angle where she couldn't be seen.
Her half-brother was on the phone. Jason looked around himself as if he were being watched. He had clearly made his way out of his home to avoid Alison or Emily seeing him.
"The deal is off. You and I clearly aren't in agreement and there's too much at stake. You're on your own."
-XI-
Caleb was alone at the Grille. He needed time to think about everything that was happening. To analytically dissect it and logically analyze the solution to all these problems, and generate the methods necessary to protect his wife and his daughter.
His cocktail didn't appetize him. He was too occupied stewing and brewing.
"Was it three days ago that you were in my apartment telling me how pissed you were that Hanna was keeping things from you?"
Caleb whipped around. Toby stood, a menacing grimace taking over his face.
"And now you're doing the same."
Caleb looked down.
"I thought we were in the same boat, Caleb."
Caleb shook his head. "We are."
"Really? Then why did you just go along with Spencer when she dragged you to the precinct? You didn't think it'd be a better idea to call me first?"
Caleb looked remorseful. But he had to emphasize the key point—sticking together.
"It was a matter of time, Toby. I don't know why Spencer contacted me first, but we had to do it then. We couldn't wait."
"I didn't expect this from you, Caleb."
"Well—"
"Don't, man."
Toby turned around. Caleb wasn't having it. He got up to his feet, and grabbed his friend by the arm.
"I didn't expect it from me either. Toby, we aren't helping anyone by keeping this going. I've already come to an agreement with Hanna. I'm hoping maybe you reached an agreement with Spencer, too?"
Toby stopped. Silence. He turned.
"Yeah. Yeah, we did."
"Then, let's have us make an agreement right now. I won't keep things hidden anymore."
Toby nodded, a sliver of a smile spreading over his typically stern face.
"Let's go to Alison's. They said they'd be going to the hospital soon."
The men made their way to their respective vehicles and drove off.
-XII-
No sharp objects of any kind. Deaths via sharp objects were not an unheard of phenomena here. Especially in a nuthouse like this.
Alex loathed the wooden knitting needles provided by the staff. They were blunt and ineffective, and the scarf she was making looked more like a distended skirt.
"Damn it."
"Try slip-stitching. It makes the edges neater."
Alex looked up. Her mother stood over the common room bench.
Alex rolled her eyes and kept knitting.
"Why have you been avoiding me?" Mary asked, occupying the empty space next to her daughter.
"Probably because I'm just yearning for you to drool like a hound dog about Spencie and Ali. I know you wish they came out of your jacked up womb and that I came out of Dear Aunt Jessie's."
Mary took the needle from her daughter's hand. "Don't you speak that way."
"You told them, didn't you? About Mona?"
Mary shook her head, solemnly staring into the distance.
"You asked me not to. I respected your wish."
Alex took the needle back.
"Alex, sweetie… what does Mona want from you?"
Alex scoffed, and in a swift motion, rose from the bench, towering in front of her mother. "Really, Mom? No. No, this is between me and her. There's a lot riding on this for me. And maybe even you. So you just shut your mouth. And don't say anything to anyone unless I tell you to. You'll see it'll just make things better."
Alex stomped to her cellblock, leaving her mother shocked by her irreverence.
-XIII-
Alison, Emily, Hanna, Spencer, Toby and Caleb were congregated in the DiLaurentis living room. It was 7:02 PM.
"It's decided. This group of people right here, Aria included, can't keep things from each other anymore." Alison started.
Everyone seemed to nod in agreement.
Hanna was next. "Spence, have you or your mom heard from Melissa?"
Spencer rolled her eyes, and shook her head, her exasperation palpable. "God, not this again. No, Hanna."
Hanna looked at Caleb. "Today at HQ there was a moving van with boxes. They're taking Melissa's office apart."
Spencer lurched. "What?"
Caleb corrected her. "The receptionist told us Melissa's leaving her post as your mom's economic advisor. I asked her where she was and she didn't know."
"Wait, no, this doesn't make sense. Why would she stop working for my mom after all this time?"
"And why have you or her not heard from Melissa?"
Spencer shook her head. "My mom has to have heard something, but she's in Bradford and I can't talk to her right now."
"Something doesn't add up here. I know Melissa likes to leave town sometimes, but, like you said, Spence, this doesn't make sense." Toby replied.
"Spencer, we have to go visit Alex." Alison repeated herself for the second time that day.
No comment.
"Wait, hang on a minute, is that tomato basil?" Hanna nudged the unopened container of soup on the kitchen counter.
Alison rolled her eyes. "Eat up, Hanna. Parmigiano is in the fridge." Looking at Emily pointedly, she said, "I hate tomato soup."
Emily avoided her wife's gaze. "Spencer, you're stewing."
"Yeah… yeah, I am. When I arrived back at the barn after work, I saw Jason taking a call by the stables in between our houses. He was talking about some kind of deal. Ali, do you know who he could be talking to?"
Alison shook her head, clearly apathetic. "No. It's probably just some real estate thing though."
For the second time that day, the door to the DiLaurentis house opened with a bang.
Sopping wet from the rain, and clad in a down parka, stood Aria. No one had expected to see her.
"Aria? Come inside."
Trancelike, Aria moved slowly into the warm, snugly lit DiLaurentis kitchen.
"You look like you could use soup," started Hanna.
"Thanks, Han. It's fine."
A awkward, stiff silence ensued.
"You guys, I'm here to apologize. I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did. You guys have been nothing but there for us in our worst and… it was out of place to have flown off the handle like that."
Emily got out of her seat and placed a hand on Aria's shoulder. Aria continued.
"I also came to tell you that you were right. I…" Aria inhaled sharply. "I saw A at the hospital today while I was reading to Ezra. That's why I wouldn't leave until I could get Mike to watch over him."
"What do you mean you 'saw A'?"
"Someone in a hoodie lurking behind the glass pane was watching me. I screamed for the nurse and they escaped through the fire escape, like the nurse said happened yesterday. You guys, Ezra coded yesterday because of A."
And punctually, right on cue, five phones sounded off.
The looks exchanged spoke years of pent up dread and fear.
"Together."
In unison, the five girls pulled their phone out.
In unison, the five girls read the message they had received.
This isn't a board game to me anymore. It's not a dollhouse, and it's not a hidden lair.
It's life or deAth.
And your tombstones are marked.
Just for you.
- A
"Oh my God…"
The door to the DiLaurentis house opened with another bang. At a speed no one would anticipate him being capable of, Mike sprinted into the house.
"Everyone, we have to get to the hospital now. It's code blue."
In an instant, the crew rose from their chairs and bolted outside into the blue Honda Odyssey of none other than Mona Vanderwaal, who was at the steering wheel.
"Mona?" Hanna was incredulous. Everyone exchanged glances that were a mix of weary and panic.
Mike turned around, Aria sobbing next to him.
"Mona's driving." He glared at the crowd of people stopped outside the car. "GET YOUR ASSES INSIDE."
They piled in. It was dreadfully silent except for the nervous drumming of fingers on the windowsill and steering wheel. Mona broke it.
"I'm sorry, Aria."
-XIV-
A hooded figure was dutifully at work on a wooden desk that had been lovingly handcrafted.
The discount at the flower shop had been worth seeking out, indeed.
A hatchet cut the stems off of several bouquets.
Petals adorned a circular wreath.
It was beautiful.
A mesmerizing cornucopia of fauna.
A white banner with blue lettering.
My deepest, deepest condolences.
