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Not Over Yet
"No, no, no," Quinn shook her head furiously in her sleep, tossing and turning as she attempted to fight off the attacker in her dream. "Stop!"
"Quinn!" Mike said, shaking her awake.
Quinn jumped, her eyes popping open as she quickly sat up at surveyed her surroundings. She was home, in her bedroom at the house where she had grown up. She had been staying there for two days now, her mother having returned home from Iceland with her younger brother. With everything that was going on, some things Ella knew about and some things she didn't, Aria and Quinn both had started moving their things from the apartment back to the house.
"Are you all right?" Mike asked, concern in his blue eyes. He had his backpack on as he sat on the edge of her bed, so Quinn knew he must be getting ready for his first day back at school.
"Fine," Quinn promised quickly. She felt bad, seeing him so worried about her. After all, he had just turned fifteen, he shouldn't have to be worried about stuff like this. "Just a bad dream." She gave him a half smile for reassurance. "What time is it?"
"Almost seven thirty," Mike answered.
"God, I'm late," Quinn said, tossing the blankets to the side.
"Mom wants you to skip class today," Mike stopped her. "She's downstairs, Jason already left for work." While Ella wasn't crazy about Jason staying at the house, having a rule about boyfriends sleeping over, she knew after what happened that Quinn felt safer having him there. Truth be told, while it was very old fashioned thinking, she felt better too having a man in the house for now.
"Ok," Quinn nodded.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Mike asked, looking her over. Her lip wasn't swollen anymore, but it was still split from where she had been hit; there were also butterfly stitches for the cut she had near her hair line. Her clothes, sweatpants and one of Jason's old t-shirts for now, were enough to cover up any bruises.
"Promise," Quinn assured him. "Go catch up with Aria, you'll be late." Aria was already waiting downstairs where Hanna was going to give her and Mike a ride to school.
"K," Mike said, kissing her cheek before getting up to leave her room.
"Tell mom I'll be down in a minute!" Quinn called after him as he left her room.
Quinn sighed, falling back against her pillows for a moment, gathering her thoughts. For the past two days since the founder's festival everyone had been treating her like she was about to shatter any minute. All that was doing was make her feel more on edge. Sighing again, she rolled herself out of bed, heading over to her mirror to look herself over.
Weren't injuries supposed to heal? She felt like with each passing day she was actually starting to look worse, bags forming under her eyes from a lack of sleep. Make up wouldn't help, so she didn't bother. Remaining in the clothes she slept in, she piled her hair up in a messy bun before going downstairs to see her mother. She could hear her from the stairs at the front door, arguing with someone. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she realized that it was Darren.
"I need to speak with her again about the incident from Saturday night," Darren was explaining.
"You can look at the police report Garrett already filled out with her," Ella snapped at him, her maternal instincts in overdrive. Quinn had gone over what happened enough times with enough people, she didn't need to be forced to tell it again.
"Mrs. Montgomery," Darren said, trying to take a step into the house. Ella blocked the doorway, pulling the door closer to being shut.
"Do you have a warrant?" Ella asked him.
"No-"
"Then you'll get off my porch before I have some of your co-workers do it for me," Ella threatened, slamming the door on him and locking it. Turning, she saw her daughter standing at the bottom of the stairs, smiling at her. "Honey..."
"Thanks mom," Quinn told her before going over to sit on the couch. There were still a few boxes around the house that needed unpacked, but they had left the furniture when they moved to Iceland, making it easier for when they decided to come back.
"He always was a little sleazy," Ella said, joining Quinn and making her smile a little at the comment. Ella reached over and brushed a stray piece of hair out of Quinn's face. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Quinn shrugged. "About the same." Ella nodded.
"Mike tells me you were having a nightmare?" Ella asked, her brown eyes flashing the same concern Mike had given her before.
"It's fine mom," Quinn groaned. "I don't want to talk about it anymore, all right?"
"All right," Ella said, backing off just a little. "I spoke with your father this morning."
"You two are speaking?" Quinn asked. She had already apologized a million times over about keeping the secret from her mother, but Ella understood. She was more angry at Byron for putting their daughter in the position to keep such a secret.
"Mhmm," Ella nodded, though it wasn't what Quinn thought. "He has a few things to finish up over there, but he'll be back in Rosewood within the week."
"You guys made up?" Quinn asked with raised eye brows. While she hated that her parents were currently separated, she thought that was awfully fast for them to make up.
"That's not really our main concern right now," Ella started to explain and Quinn picked up on what she was hinting at; he was coming home because of her.
"God, mom," Quinn complained, getting up from the couch. "I really wish people would stop walking on egg shells around me. I'm fine!"
Two Days Ago
Quinn had run out of the apartment after finding out what A had done to her parents, planning on getting help. She couldn't believe that she was about to do this, but he was the only person that she knew that could really help, someone that she still trusted in spite of everything. As she was running out of the apartment building, feeling like she couldn't get there fast enough, she ran right into someone at the door to her building. It wasn't just someone though, it was three someones; Spencer, Hanna, and Emily.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Hanna asked as she and Quinn both regained their balance after Quinn had nearly taken her out.
"Going to Garrett's, what are you doing?" Quinn asked, wondering why Aria's friends were coming over so early.
"No, wait," Spencer said as Quinn tried to walk by the three of them. "You and Aria both need to see this."
The girls had brought over a flash drive, one that Emily had recovered the night before after finding a key Alison had hid in her things. She had called her friends that morning to tell them about it, unable to reach Aria so the three of them just showed up at the apartment to reveal what they had found. They were mostly videos of the girls, filmed in secret while they were changing. They were all shocked and disgusted by it, since they were only fourteen or fifteen in most of them. There were other videos too, ones that completely shocked Quinn; they were of her and Jason.
"Oh my God," Quinn gasped when she realized what it was, slamming the laptop shut; there wasn't a need to watch what was left. "How did you get these?"
"Alison had them," Spencer explained. "We think...that this might be why she was killed."
"Ian made them," Quinn concluded, remembering how Ian always had his video camera at parties, driving people crazy with it. She never imagined he would take it this far though. She went to leave the apartment again, taking the time now to actually grab her bag and keys.
"Quinn, where are you going?" Aria got to ask this time.
"I'm taking care of this," Quinn told her. "Make copies, do whatever you have to with those videos. Keep them safe for now, all right? Let me handle this."
Quinn's protective instincts for her sister as well as the other three girls were in high gear right now. This was the reason Alison was killed, it had to be. Alison had probably started blackmailing the wrong person, someone who decided to take care of their problem rather than keep quiet about it. Knowing that this would be Garrett's Saturday off, she went over to his apartment. He was staying in the apartment above the garage at his parents' while he saved up to move out on his own. Knowing that turning to Jason would expose them, putting them at risk, she decided to go to Garrett instead. Garrett was a cop, someone who cared about her, someone who she had always trusted. As she knocked on the door to his apartment though, crossing her arms as she stood outside in the cool autumn air, she began to wonder if this was such a good idea.
"Quinn?" Garrett asked in confusion as he opened the door. His eyes were sleepy, his hair messy like she had just woke him up. His wrinkled white t-shirt and jeans he just pulled on reflected that as well. "Is everything ok?" She was the last person he expected to turn up outside his door that morning, since all she did since they split up was dodge his phone calls.
"I, um, need to talk to you about something," Quinn tried to explain. From where she stood, she could see into the apartment and noticed someone, though she couldn't see who, laying on his bed. "Oh God, I'm sorry, you're with someone," Quinn said in embarrassment, turning to leave in a rush down the stairs with her face flushed.
"Wait, Quinn," Garrett said, shutting the door and hurrying after her. Whatever it was that happened, it was obviously important enough for her to show up at his apartment. As he caught up to her, he reached for her arm to stop her. "What's going on?"
"Garrett, you have a girl upstairs. I can't just-"
"Well, I'm more worried about you right now," Garrett stopped her. "What's wrong?"
Quinn opened up to him about what had been going on, not so much about A but more about Ian. She explained what she had seen the night Alison had been killed and what happened between her and Ian at the dance. Finally, she confessed to him about the videos. After explaining what they were and who she was sure had filmed them, it was obvious to her what Ian's motive had been.
"Have you told anyone else about these videos?" Garrett asked, lowering his voice.
"No," Quinn shook her head. "You're the first person I've told."
"Let's keep it that way for now," Garrett told her. "There still isn't any hard evidence linking Ian to Alison, and if he finds out you have those videos-"
"Ok," Quinn nodded quickly, not wanting him to finish that statement. "Ok, I'll keep it between us."
"Good," Garrett nodded. "Let me figure out the best way to go about this and I'll call you. All right?" Quinn seemed hesitant. "Look, Quinn, I know we don't have the best history between us right now, but I hope you know you can trust me." He took her hand. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
"I trust you," Quinn promised, though she withdrew her hand gently. Right now, he was the only person in a position of power that she could trust. There was no way she was going to Wilden with the videos, knowing somehow it would get turned around on her and she didn't know who else in the department he had on his side. After Garrett promised to help her out once more, Quinn left him to go talk to the girls again. Garrett watched her leave in her car, climbing the stairs back up to his apartment. Inside, Jenna had started to get ready on her own.
"What did she want?" Jenna asked, slipping on her sunglasses.
"She has the videos," Garrett answered. Jenna was the one that Garrett had been seeing that summer when Alison had disappeared.
"You know what will happen if those videos get out," Jenna said, knowing that Garrett still cared a lot about Quinn, more than he probably cared about her. She wasn't really bothered by it though, since she was only using him anyway. "We'll all be exposed." Ian wasn't the only one that had been making videos that summer.
"I know," Garrett agreed. "But that doesn't mean we have to-"
"Just let me take care of this," Jenna said. Though Garrett wouldn't like it, she didn't care as she was more concerned about what would happen to her if those videos got out. She didn't care what happened to Quinn in the process, calling Ian to tell him as soon as she arrived home and could make the call privately. Ian assured her that he was going to take care of it and that she didn't have anything to worry about.
Quinn promised the girls that they could trust her, that she was going to take care of the situation and that they had nothing to worry about. Still not sure if it was safe to call Jason and tell him about what happened, she decided that she would still meet him that night at the festival. It wouldn't be the romantic kind of sneaking around they had pictured, but she knew that she had to tell him about what they had found and what it meant for their suspicions about Ian.
Claiming that she couldn't explain why, Quinn sent Aria alone with her car to pick up her mom and Mike from the airport. She couldn't just blow off Jason, she had to see him that night, especially after what she had seen that morning. Her nerves getting the better of her, she got to the fair earlier than they had planned to meet. Feeling on edge, she headed into the fun house, their intended meeting place. There were so many halls and passages within it, it was unlikely that anyone would find them in there. Jason hadn't arrived yet, but Ian had spotted her at the festival, going into the fun house alone. He followed her at enough distance so she wouldn't know until she turned off into a darker section of the fun house alone. With all the noise inside, it wasn't hard for him to sneak up on her.
"Ian!" Quinn shouted as she attempted to jerk away from him as he gripped her arm tightly. With all the music and other noises being made in the fun house, it was almost impossible for anyone to hear her screaming for help. "Let go of me!"
"Where are they?" Ian demanded, shoving her over and causing her to hit her head on the wall nearby. She felt the warmth of blood trickling on her forehead, feeling a bit dizzy but the adrenaline pulsing through her kept her mind clear enough as she got back up to her feet.
"Where's what?" Quinn asked sarcastically, earning herself a hit in the mouth.
"You have no idea what you've found," Ian warned her.
"I'm guessing Alison didn't either," Quinn confronted him. She was cornered, having reached a dead end in the fun house maze while Ian was blocking her only escape route. "Is that why you killed her?"
"Or maybe that's why Jason killed her," Ian offered, taking a step towards her and causing her to back against the wall. "And, when you found out, he killed you too." He smirked a little. "At least, that's what the police are going to think."
"Ian, STOP!" Quinn screamed as he grabbed for her, though it wasn't any use as she continued to struggle against him. This was his plan, to set Jason up for both Alison's and her murder, getting away with everything himself. Using everything in her, Quinn fought against Ian, eventually kicking back into his shin to get him to let go of her, stumbling forward a little as she tried to run out of the fun house. In the dark though, with flashing lights around her, it was hard to navigate.
"Someone help!" Quinn shouted, running through the maze. "Help me!"
Ian had snuck around another way, managing to block off her next way out, causing her to scream again when she saw him. He lunged for her, wrestling with her on the ground as he attempted to cover her mouth to keep her from screaming. By now, someone had heard Quinn scream for help and called the police. Without any immediate assistance though, Quinn continued to fight with Ian as he attempted to keep her quiet for good. That was when Quinn remembered the pocket knife she had kept in her jacket since the dance.
Jason showed up at the festival, later than he had intended to. He would have called Quinn to tell her, but she had her weird thing about phones now. In any case, he started to make his way across the festival to the other side where the fun house was. As he approached it, he noticed that there was a crowd gathered around it. There was no way that the fun house had attracted that much attention on it's own, it was always pretty lame as he remembered it. Getting closer though, he could see lights of from police cars flashing behind it.
"Excuse me," he stopped the first person he saw. It was Mrs. Ackard, the reverend's wife. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Oh, Jason," Mrs. Ackard said with immediate sympathy. Since the police had been called, the rumor mill at the festival had immediately started up. All it took was for someone to overhear what Quinn had said to the police when they showed up for the news about Ian to spread like wildfire. First Jason had lost his sister, now one of his best friends, who turned out to have a darker side than anyone had imagined.
"What?" Jason asked in concern.
"No one knows exactly what happened," Mrs. Ackard said gently. "But...Ian Thomas is dead."
"What?" Jason asked with shock in his voice, raising his eye brows.
"I guess he attacked one of the Montgomery girls, I didn't see which," Mrs. Ackard went on, unable to tell Quinn from Aria at a distance. "She fought back, but I think I saw an ambu-"
She didn't get to finish the word ambulance as Jason had already taken off, knowing which of the Montgomery girls was waiting in the fun house that night. As he got closer to the fun house, the group around it was even more crowded with people trying to find out what was going on, what had exactly happened. He saw the lights from the ambulance and police cars coming from behind the fun house which was blocked off with yellow police tape.
"Quinn!" Jason shouted, pushing his way past all the people to get up to where she was. There were police dotted along the yellow tape to keep people away while they investigated; Garrett was one of them. As Jason marched up closer than anyone else to the tape as he tried to get to the ambulance, Garrett was the one to stop him.
"I can't let you back there Jason," Garrett explained to him.
"That is such bull-" Quinn could hear Jason's voice from where she was sitting on the back of the ambulance, getting the last butterfly stitch put in place on her head. She hopped up, running over to where she heard them arguing.
"Jason!" she called back, ducking under the yellow tape.
"Thank God," he hugged her tight as she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest as she started crying, her entire body shaking. "It's all right baby," he promised, smoothing a hand over her hair, trying to calm her. He knew that she was about to go into a full out panic, though he didn't blame her, piecing together what probably happened on his own. "You're all right."
"Quinn-" This was the first anyone had seen Jason and Quinn together since they had started seeing each other again.
"Just give her a minute Reynolds," Jason snapped at him. How could he try to question her at a time like this?
"We already got her statement," Garrett said, lowering his voice. "But, they're going to want to take her to the hospital to make sure she doesn't have a concussion." He nodded his head back towards where the ambulance and police cars were parked. "There's more privacy back here, if you want it."
Jason let Quinn go only to take her back behind the fun house where she wouldn't be subject to everyone in Rosewood watching her. As they got back there, with better light from the street lamp, he got a better look at her. Her lip was swollen and there was a cut on her forehead from where she had fallen. He figured that was why they were concerned about the concussion. While the ambulance had given her alcohol to wipe off her hands, there were still faint red stains from blood, as well as the stains that were all over her jacket and top.
"What did I do Jay?" she asked, her voice shaking as she looked down at her hands.
"What you had to," Jason promised, wiping the tears off her face. "Come on, I'll drive you to the hospital. All right?"
"Not just yet," they heard Darren saying as he came out of the fun house with a few other officers. "Do you think this is funny Quinn?"
"Yeah, she's laughing hysterically about it," Jason snapped at him, instinctively stepping in front of her.
"Before you start defending her, maybe you should take a look inside," Darren offered to Jason. "There's no one in there."
"What?" Jason asked, yelling at him. "You seriously think that she just made all of this up?!"
"There's not any blood, any signs of a struggle-"
"There's blood all over her!" Jason shouted. "What, do you think she just beat the hell out of herself?"
"Maybe she had some help with that," Darren smirked, insinuating this wasn't the first Jason had been there that night. Jason took an immediate step towards him but Quinn grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Jay, don't," she warned. She'd love nothing more than to see Jason fight Darren again, but there were way too many people around and they had been through enough that night.
"Yeah, Jay," Darren mocked, earning only a glare for now. "Get her to the hospital for her head. I'll follow to finish up questioning there."
"Fine," Jason said through his teeth, taking Quinn by the hand.
Quinn was mostly calm by the time they reached the hospital, glad they let Jason come back with her while she got checked to make sure she didn't have a concussion. While she had been banged up pretty badly, there weren't any serious injuries. Unfortunately, once Darren got there, he made Jason leave as he questioned Quinn alone in the exam room, though she gave him the same story that she told Garrett. He told her to stay in town, since right now she was a person of interest in a potential murder investigation. While she knew what happened, that Ian was dead, there wasn't any proof other than her clothing that she had hurt anyone. Once Darren was done with her, she was allowed to leave to go home. Out in the waiting room, she saw Jason right away and noticed that he was on the phone.
"No, no, no, she's ok Ella," Jason promised quickly. She had left her phone with him and, since Quinn hadn't been at the house with Aria got back with Ella and Mike, Ella was immediately worried. "They just released her, I can bring her home right now. Do you want to talk to her?" He held the phone out for Quinn to take and she began to walk with him as she talked on the phone.
"Mom?" Quinn asked, her voice immediately starting to shake again as the reality of what happened officially set in. She had killed someone.
Present Day
Quinn laid in her bed still, the house empty except for her mother who she could hear unpacking downstairs. Jason had texted her a few times to check on her and she gave back short answers, exhausted over the whole situation. She had started to doze off again when her phone starting ringing. Picking it up, she noticed that it was her dad calling her. Instinctively, since it was her dad and they weren't on great terms, she rolled her eyes a bit but answered anyway.
"Hello?" she answered, her voice conveying how tired she really was.
"Hi sweetheart," Byron said to her, his voice filled with a mix of concern and sympathy. "I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing."
"Tired," Quinn answered in a monotone.
"Mmm," Byron nodded. "Did your mother tell you I'll be home soon?"
"Yep," Quinn responded. "This week." Byron sighed.
"I don't want you to worry about anything," Byron told her, having gotten the full story from Ella. "I'll take care of it, all right?"
"There's nothing for you to take care of dad," Quinn grumbled. "I'm fine." Byron was silent on the other end. "I'll see you this week, ok?"
"All right," Byron nodded. "I love you Quinn."
"You too dad," Quinn said, her voice flat as she hung up. Soon after she hung up, her phone buzzed with a new text message. She rolled her eyes again, having gotten so many messages from nosy neighbors and people she barely knew from high school trying to get in her business. There was a picture attached to it and, when she opened it, she saw that it was a picture of her pocket knife covered in blood.
It's not over yet - A
thanks for reading! hope you liked it! please please let me know what you thought! :)
