Aria

I couldn't believe it. I was trapped in my "bedroom." Again. But this time hooked up to a machine.

"Choose one or they all suffer!" The calm, overly-enthusiastic voice commanded.

"Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . ." I squeezed my eyes shut and threw my hand forward, pulling at a random lever. I heard Emily's piercing scream echo from afar as she was electrocuted. I was released from the machine. I stumbled over to my bed and screamed into my pillow. Tears soaked through the fabric and ran down my face.

I was just forced to hurt my best friend.

I threw myself down on the bed and sobbed into my hands. I ended up crying myself to sleep that night.

I was woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of running feet and my rattling door. The door burst open.

"Aria!" he screamed, barreling into my "room." He gathered me into his arms, nuzzling his face into my hair.

"E-Ezra . . ." I said weakly. He quickly pulled away, reaching for my face frantically as if to see if I was real. His ocean-blue eyes swam with tears as he cupped my face.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered.

The door opened. I lifted my head from Ezra's arms. A was standing there with a gun. They lunged forward and held it to Ezra's head.

"No!"

My eyes snapped open and I bolted up, taking in my surroundings.

"Just a dream, it was just a dream . . ." I whispered to myself. I continued to cry, my eyes stinging as I did so. What if my dream became a reality? What if, upon some miracle, Ezra were to show up? What if A hurt him? What if A trapped him down here and tortured him?

I made my way over to my door where a plate of food was set.

I get to eat today, I thought. For the past three weeks after our escape attempt, we had been locked in our rooms and never let out. I had been given one meal every other day. But nothing would satisfy my hunger for long, as my vegetarian diet-accustomed body rejected the meat.

I fumbled with a piece of bacon until finally consuming it. I finished the breakfast and set the plate down on the desk. I gulped down the glass of water, feeling the cold liquid soothe my dry throat.

I slipped back down under the covers, my sore eyes shutting immediately.

I was awoken by two chimes echoing through the room. I looked around to find a bottle of pink hair dye and a DVD with a note attached to it.

Want to know how thing's are going back at home? Play me. -A

I inserted the disc into the DVD player and played it.

My mom was laying in bed, crying softly. She was flipping through a photo album and eating Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey, which she knew was my favorite. I looked away; I couldn't watch my mother in so much pain.

It then switched over to Mike. He was throwing things around the house, screaming at my father.

"She's gone, Dad! Aria was kidnapped, and you act like nothing has happened! Do you even care?" he screamed, breaking down into tears.

The most heartbreaking image of Ezra flashed across the screen. He was full-on sobbing into my favorite sweater. The door to his apartment swung open to reveal Toby and Caleb. They ran over to him, helping him stand up.

"Ezra . . . we'll find them. She's going to be okay. We'll find Aria. Now come on, we're going to my apartment," Toby said as he and Caleb helped him stand. The sweater fell from his lap.

"Is that Aria's?" Caleb asked sympathetically.

"Yes," he answered meekly, burying his face deeper into the wool. Tears welled in my eyes. I had never in my life seen someone in so much pain.

The video stopped and the DVD came out of the player. I took the disc and snapped it in two.

"I will kill you for what you are doing to our families!" I screamed, jabbing my index finger in the direction of the camera. Fuming, I stalked over and picked up the hair dye.

Use it or you'll get a SURPRISE! -A

"I am not your doll!" I threw the dye against the wall and pushed everything off of the desk. The sudden yet familiar feeling of claustrophobia washed over me. I began to hyperventilate, inhaling huge gulps of oxygen and exhaling harshly. I collapsed onto my bed, my whole body shaking as bile rose in my throat, expelling the meat I ate for breakfast. It wasn't long before the hazy spots appeared before my eyes and everything went black.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was another message scrawled on the TV screen.

Use the dye or you lose it all. -A

Confused, I moved my hand to my hair, only to realize it had been raggedly chopped to right below my chin. The dark brown locks of hair that used to fall to the middle of my back were in a pile on my pillow.

All I could think about was that A had a pair of scissors close to my neck.

The door creaked open, and an annoying, jovial voice came through the speakers.

"Please proceed to Ali's room and prepare for arrival!"

I growled in annoyance. The overly-joyful voice preparing us for our next form of torture was the equivalent to Effie Trinket announcing the Hunger Games.

I hesitantly walked out of the room, looking around the hallways. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily were also emerging from their rooms, empty, lifeless expressions on their faces. Without words, we ran over to each other, gathering in a tight hug.

"I-I don't want to talk about what we just went through," Hanna mumbled.

"Yeah, me neither," Emily agreed. We all entered the room decorated to look exactly like Alison's. Boxes were everywhere, filled with her personal belongings.

"I'm guessing we have to help unpack," Emily sighed as she began to dig around in one of the boxes. We began to comb through all of the stuff. Our things were in the boxes, too. I picked up Pigtunia, my beloved stuffed pig puppet my dad had given me when I was a child, and squeezed it tight to my chest. It smelled like home.

"Hey, guys, did you know I won an Etch-A-Sketch contest when I was in the third grade?" Spencer said, smiling a little as she picked up the toy from the box.

"Of course you did," Hanna said sarcastically.

"Yeah, some kids made some really pretty pictures!" she quickly twisted the knobs as she began to draw something. She held up the Etch-A-Sketch for us to see.

Charles is a DiLaurentis.

A/N: Okay, so I feel like absolute shit for not updating this. I have six more chapters that I need to upload . . . hang in there.