CHAPTER #12: Like A Thief In The Night.
Italics means thoughts, emphasized word or action. Bolded is a flashback. (….) is an indication that time has passed.
"I'm sure they took your feelings into consideration." Veronica walks over to her kitchen island with her cup of coffee, standing next to Spencer who is trying to comprehend the bomb being dropped, "And, yes, it sucks but it came from up high."
"What? The police?" Spencer rolls her eyes as she walks away from the island towards her ready toast in the toaster.
Veronica tightens her lip as she gave her daughter an unamused look, "The school board."
"What?" Emily asks as she takes a seat at her dining room table, baffled at the sudden news.
"They think your attendance could endanger the other students' safety." Pam places down Emily's glass down in front of her as she sets up breakfast, "And with the amount of things this masked bandit has done to you girls, I don't completely disagree."
"I do." Hanna pours herself a glass of orange juice, "They can't punish us."
"It's not a punishment." Ashley sighs out a disagreement.
"Really? Being disinvited to your own prom? What would you call it?" Hanna's voice raises a note higher out of irritation at her mother defending the school board instead of her own daughter.
"A blessing." Ella places Aria's school textbook into Aria's purse, "If Charles, A, whatever he calls himself can do all these elaborate schemes just to taunt you guys, he's not gonna be scared to crash a school party."
"Well then, fill the ballroom with police!" Aria actively suggests as she takes her bag from her mother, "It's a fairy-tale theme, they can come as the village idiots."
"You can still celebrate that night in a quiet, more intimate way." Ella counters Aria's proposal with another proposal, "Veronica's offered to host a small gathering in the backyard barn."
"You're kidding me."
"Seriously?" Spencer shoves her reading material into her bag.
"Why not?" Veronica shrugs at the idea with a concentrated look on Spencer, not understanding what's wrong with having a prom in her barn.
"Because it's filled with Melissa's stuff!" Spencer defies with aggravation as she walks past her mother towards the fridge. "How is that a banquet hall?"
"You can roll up a rug." Veronica returns back the attitude, not budging from her plan.
"And what?" Spencer opens the fridge doors as she searches for some spread for her toast, "Take our prom picture on top of a washer-dryer?"
"This…this isn't fair!" Hanna puts her glass into the sink as she slings her purse over her shoulder, "We get stripped of what's supposed to be the best night of our lives just because of this obsessed freak?"
"Hanna, you don't have a choice." Ashley crosses her arms.
"That barn is not big enough for us, our dates and our poufy dresses." Spencer pushes back in an attempt to sway her mother away from her decision.
"You'll open a window." Veronica shuts Spencer down with her motherly look.
"That's what she said?" Emily asks Spencer as all five girls sit in the lounge area of The Brew after their recent news.
"Oh, no. There was more." Spencer replies as she cupped her hot coffee in her hands, "She said something about hanging twinkly lights on Melissa's shower curtain. But by that time, I was already halfway up the stairs."
"I guess it could be worse." Aria's eyes find Spencer as Spencer nuzzle her lips around the brim of her cup.
Hanna pinches her eyebrows together at Aria's attempt at being optimistic, "Really? How?"
Aria eyes goes from Hanna's then drifts off to the side as she taps her own cup of coffee in contemplation, "….I'm thinking!"
Spencer shakes her head as she turns in Alison's direction, catching her gloomy, distant expression, "Ali, are you okay?"
Alison snaps out of thought as she raises her head, "Yeah, I'm fine." She looks outwards for a few more moments before she speaks up again, "Even if we went to the real prom, who would we hang out with besides each other?"
"That's true…." Hanna agrees as she slides her hand to the back of her neck with her elbow resting on top of her chair's armrest, "Everyone would just stare at us like we were in some fishbowl."
"And we wouldn't be safe." Aria adds in her opinion as she sides with Hanna, "We already know that Charles has some twisted thing for formals. We've already been to one psycho-prom that he hosted."
Everyone wanders off into their own silent thoughts as they exchange looks with one another. Emily's eyes make their way towards Alison but, as expected, Alison looks down at her cup of coffee, excluding Emily out.
…..
An older woman emerges from the back door of the shop, walking towards Emily and Aubrey, "Can I help you two young ladies to anything?"
"Uhm, if you can give us a minute to decide, please?" Aubrey respectfully asks the older employee.
"Sure can. Just ring this here bell to let me know when you guys are ready, okay?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Aubrey smiles at the woman, sending her back through the back doors.
"So, as you can tell with the amount of money I'm carrying," Aubrey pulls out a ten and a five dollar bill out of her wallet, turning to face Emily "I'm kind of a big deal right now." She flashes a smile as she stretches the bills in between her hands, "So, choose your pickings. It's on me."
Emily returns the smile as she waves her hand, "Nothing, honestly. You don't have to get me anything."
"What about this one?" Aubrey ignores Emily's request as she looks at the glass display of the freshly baked goods, filling the store with a sweet, mouthwatering scent. "You like Banana bread scones with brown sugar glaze?"
"I don't wa-'
"Or what about hazel nut butter muffins?" Aubrey bites her lip as she places her hand on the warm glass, "Mmmm. Ay Dios." She tilts her head in Emily's direction, "You can never go wrong with muffins smelling like that."
"Will you stop?" Emily giggles as she turns away from Aubrey and her persuading antics.
"Will you let me do something?" Aubrey whines, leaning towards Emily with sad puppy eyes.
"Will you go to prom with me?" Emily turns back around with a hopeful smile.
"Uhmm…" With her mouth hung open in a surprised smile, Aubrey looks down at the fifteen dollars in her hands, "I think that's a little over my budget…"
"Sorry, that's..." Emily looks away with her smile slowly fading with the awkwardness of her forward question, "Not how I wanted to ask you. I…" She narrows her eyes at Aubrey's speechless expression to see if she completely screwed up her chances, "I...did wanna ask you, but...If-if you think it's weird…"
Aubrey goes to say something but just opts for a smile instead.
"Yeah, it's weird." Emily drops her eyes to the floor as she shoves her hands in her back pocket, "I get it."
"Prom was never really my thing…" Aubrey begins to explain, "The whole spending $400 dollars on a dress you'll only wear once, just standing around to school approved music in an open space, it's…it's kind of overrated." Aubrey lightly tip toes over her words, trying not to insult Emily while she's already down.
"But this one's different." Emily perks up, "We're not going to be in an open space with the rest of the school. It's just going to be us with my friends and their dates-"
"Emily," Aubrey politely cuts her off as she grabs Emily's hand, gazing into her brown eyes with a small smile, "Your friends don't know me. Now, that's not an assertion to get me to meet the whole gang but….I don't think it's the best idea."
Emily shakes her head, frowning with her eyebrows, "I'm not embarrassed of you if that's where you're getting at."
"I'm not saying you are but look at me." Aubrey and Emily both look down at Aubrey's current overall appearance. Wearing a red tank with a design of the Monopoly game square, Luxury Tax. Pay $100, Aubrey finishes off with black skinnies, red low tops converses, and accessories from her neck to her wrists to complete her simple but cute look. "I am a 21 year old girl that has more than enough tattoos that could make any parent uncomfortable. And with others being uncomfortable, I'm going to be uncomfortable and then I'll be the ultimate blame as to why your prom sucked."
"It's already going to suck but it doesn't matter." Emily tightens her grasp of Aubrey's hand within their hand-holding. "You don't have to worry about anybody else. It'll be just me and you for the night. Besides…" Emily's smile returns once again but more of the sly kind as she lightly swings their hands side to side, "I think you'll look absolutely gorgeous in a slim formal dress."
Aubrey raises a curious eyebrow, "Oh, really?"
"Mhmm." Emily nods, "Even if you wanted to wear long sleeves, I could see you in a tight and sexy red dress. You know, the one that has a slit up the side to show off your nice tan legs?"
"Yeah?"
"And with your long, thick black hair, you can put it up in sexy high ponytail. Adding a couple stands coming down on the sides." Emily softly traces the side of Aubrey's face with her finger, "Do a little sultry look with your makeup to bring out your hazel eyes-"
"What about underneath the dress?" Aubrey whispers, cutting Emily off mid-sentence.
Emily smirks with a head nod, "I think a little secret from Victoria would be nice."
"But that would be for a post-prom occasion."
"That would be for a post-prom occasion." Emily repeats as she sucks in her bottom lip.
Aubrey steps in closer and cups Emily's face, gazing back and forth into her eyes. She slowly pulls her face into hers as she lets out a soft whisper, "….I'm sorry, babe. Still not going."
Emily suggestive smirk quickly changes into a disappointed pout. Her hands overlap over Aubrey's as she releases Emily's face and brings them back down. "With everything I just described you weren't even a little bit interested?"
"It's tempting but," Aubrey shakes her head, twisting her mouth to the side, "I think I'll sit this one out, princess."
Emily sadly nods as she lets out a sigh. She turns her gazes from Aubrey back to the bakery display as Aubrey decides to ring the bell for assistance.
…..
Only going to class for the official "half the school day", Emily continues on with her afternoon making sure she has everything she needs for the prom the next day. In the middle of her last minute shopping, Emily gets a text from Ezra, something she sees rarely. After her purchases, she takes off to The Brew to where Ezra mentioned that she had a visitor.
Emily opens the shop's entrance doors and looks through the crowd for a familiar face.
"Nicole?"
Looking up from her conversation with Ezra, Nicole sees Emily for the first time in a long time, "Hi!" She gets up and rushes Emily for a warm embrace, "Well, at least you still look like Emily," She gives out a chuckle through her Australian accent.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, we finished the project. So, I came back to see my dad and thought I'd make a little detour."
"Hey, do, either of you want coffee?" Ezra politely interjects between the two's reunion.
"Yeah."
"I-I'll do it." Emily jumps at the job, getting ready to go back work.
"No, no, no. I will get it." Ezra stops Emily with a hand on her shoulder. He points his hand at the open table next to them, "Sit. Visit."
Nicole and Emily take their seat at the small table ready to catch up. However, with a strain in Nicole's smile, Emily picks up her uncomfort. "Ezra... told you, didn't he?"
"Don't be mad at him, please." Nicole gives a sad smile as she leans forward into the table.
"No. I-it's okay." Emily assures her, "I'd rather you find out the story from him than me having to tell it again."
Nicole gives an understanding nod while the silence yet again makes things a little tense around them.
"Um," Emily speaks up to break the silence, "Doesn't your dad live in Florida?
"Yeah…." Nicole laughs as she wrings her hands underneath the table, "Alright, so you were more than just a little detour but, um, I didn't want to do this over the phone." A worker walks over and places down their coffees in front of them, Nicole thanking him but Emily's eyes still stuck on Nicole.
"What's going on?" She asks worriedly.
"I'm a supervisor now and I have been asked to put together a team for an eight week project in Thailand. And I have this crazy idea of reuniting our Caribbean crew." Nicole smiles in hopes of Emily's approval, "Is that crazy?"
"Uh, when does it start?" Emily gives a small smile back.
"Mid-June. So basically, you could just fly there in your cap and gown. But I'd... I would want you to change before you pick up a power tool." Nicole giggles as Emily nods her head in understanding. Her smile fades as she leans back into her chair.
Nicole picks up on Emily's lack of enthusiasm and brings down her excitement level, "You already made summer plans…?"
Emily shakes her head, softly smiling, "No."
"You-you think it's a bit far from home?"
"No."
"You heard they have bugs down there the size of your head?"
"No…Yeah-yes." Emily quickly corrects herself, "It's not that, it's just... I'm still adjusting to being back. And my mom has me in intensive therapy..."
"You know what, I... I shouldn't be throwing this at you right now." Nicole swiftly apologizes, I only brought it up because I remember when you got off that plane... you were a mess. But within weeks, you had that... light in your eyes. Helping other people really seemed to..."
"It did. And it-it will again. I…" Emily adjusts her sitting position to sit straight up, "I just need some time to think about it."
"No problem!" Nicole lifts her hands up in understanding, "I prefer you to talk about it with your parents and all instead of making a rushed decision."
Emily gives her an appreciative smile before changing the subject, "So! How was your last project?"
…
"I gotta stop allowing you to come over here." A voice ruminates from inside the bathroom, "Shouldn't you be with your friends tonight?"
"Well, everyone is cuddled up with their dates. Coordinating and making sure everything is ready for tomorrow night. Unlike I who has nobody to coordinate with because my date rejected me." Emily responds as she throws herself into Aubrey's bed on her back, looking up at the white ceiling.
Aubrey turns off the lights as she exits her bathroom, "You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?"
"Red dress and a high ponytail, that's all I'm asking." Emily flips to her stomach in a desperation plea, "It's not even going to be that long!"
Aubrey does a small jog and jumps on her bed next to Emily as she ignores her begging, "What dress are you wearing?" The brunette begins tapping on Emily's back in attempt to change the direction of the conversation.
"I have a couple dresses chosen out." Emily rests her chin on her hands as Aubrey continues to do a rhythmic tapping pattern on her back, "Probably going with my black choice since prom is actually set up to be a funeral. Death of the last days of senior year."
Buzz! Buzz!
"You should have brought it over!" Aubrey playfully slaps Emily's back with a pout, "I'm not going to be able to see you in it when you put it on."
"Well guess whose fault is that?" Emily props herself up and lunges towards Aubrey, pinning her down as she hovered on top of her, "If you would be coming like I politely asked you to, you'd be able to see it, now would you?"
Aubrey tries to contain her smile by pressing her lips together, "I think you'll still have a good time even if I'm not there." She looks down at Emily's necklace dangling above her and tugs on it lightly, "Besides don't feel bad, last prom I went to was in 2008 and that was my junior year."
"Woah…" Emily's face took on a measured look as her eyebrow shot up, "I was 14 in 2008."
"Please, don't remind me right when I'm about to kiss you." Aubrey groans as she placed her hands on the sides of Emily's face, pulling her Emily down into her. The two share a few small closed mouth pecks before Aubrey brings it a step farther and softly grazes her tongue over Emily's lips.
Buzz! Buzz!
"Nope," Emily stops the kiss and pushes off of Aubrey, sitting up straight at the edge of the bed, "You don't get any more kisses from me since you're making me do this solo."
"Yes, I do." Aubrey lowers her voice as she crawls over to Emily, sitting up right behind her, moving Emily's hair to the side to expose her neck, "I deserve more kisses because we won't get to have our prom night." She places soft kiss on the base of Emily's side neck, "But I say…" She works her way up to the bottom of her ear, "we just recreate it right here…" Tugging on her ear lobe with mouth, Aubrey quietly moans into Emily's ear, causing a shiver to run up her spine, "right now." Aubrey wraps her arms and legs around Emily, sliding her hands up and down her chest as she kisses her elsewhere on several places on the brunette's neck, varying between kisses, licks, and soft biting.
Buzz! Buzz!
"Are you going to answer that?" Aubrey whispers as she nuzzles into the crook of Emily's neck.
Emily swallows down as she tries to reach for her phone placed on the night stand beside Aubrey's bed. However, every time she goes stretch out and reach for her phone Aubrey pulls her farther back. Almost contemplating on just ignoring the texts or notifications and jumping on Aubrey at that very second, Emily uses her strength to bypass Aubrey's opposite pull and grab her phone. As Aubrey continues to work on making Emily weak, Emily unlocks her phone to see that she has three new messages.
Today 5:50pm
Mom: Are you over at Hanna's?
Today 5:55pm
Hanna: EMILY WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?
Hanna: Your mom called my mom and long story short she knows you're not over my house so I quickly covered and said you were over Aria's. You better dash your ass over there right now!
Today 5:59pm
Unknown number: 1 Thessalonians 5:2&6 "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
Emily's heart drops down to her toes as she reads the back to back horror in her text messages. However, seeing the message from the unknown number quoting Bible verses, she is scared stiff-less in confusion. Just before she had any time to react, her phone buzzes again with another message.
Today 6:00pm
Unknown number: The clocks ticks after Anno Domin. Or should I say, a different kind of A.D. … -A
Her eyes tracing the text over and over again, Emily tries to understand the riddle thrown at her.
Anno Domin?
A.D.?
What the hell is an A.D.?
A.D….A.D….A.D….
Emily's eyes enlarge as her mouth drops down in panic, "Fuck!" Emily exclaims to herself as she rips Aubrey's arms off of her and jumps out of bed.
Being utterly surprised at this sudden change in action, Aubrey moves her hair out of her face as her whole demeanor changes. "Emily, what's wrong?"
"I-I-I have to go." Emily fumbles out of her words as she pockets her phone, her keys off the night stand and darts out of the room door. Aubrey immediately hops out of bed to follow after the rickety brunette.
"Is everything ok?" Aubrey nervously asks as Emily runs toward the front of the apartment, "Was it your parents or something?"
"N-No. No." Emily rushes to the foyer closet door and yanks out her shoes.
"Do you need me to come with you?"
"No!" Emily replies a little louder than expected. She closes her eyes in attempt to calms herself down, "I'm sorry…You stay here and I'll explain later." Emily shuffles around with her shoes as she leans with one hand against the wall, trying to slip on her shoes and but keeps getting stuck.
"Emily, you're scaring me." Aubrey cautiously approaches Emily with crossed arms and a sunken, anxious look, "Whatever it is, please be careful on the road. Please."
"I will." Finally getting both shoes on, Emily slams the closet door, quickly turns around to the front door and begins unlocking the locks with her trembling hands getting in the way again.
"Call me, okay?" Aubrey steps closer towards Emily.
When Emily swings the front door open, she turns around to face Aubrey one last time, "Okay. Bye."
Leaning in for a goodbye kiss, Emily's mind warps into overtime as she ignores Aubrey's gesture and immediately flies out the door.
…..
Skipping several steps doing down the apartment stairs, Emily gets to the first floor and bursts through the exit doors leading to the parking garage. With her heartbeat going as fast as her feet, she sprints as fast as she can to her car, unlocking it with the press of a button, and jumps into the driver's seat. Emily hurries to put her keys in the ignition and instantaneously puts her car in reverse, pulling out faster than recommended as if she was an extra in the Fast & Furious series. Once out, she pulls her car gear down to drive and speeds out of the parking garage onto the city street. Thanking God Aubrey lived a couple minutes from the highway, Emily pulls out her phone and opens the dial screen. Seeing that she deleted Alison's number after their fallout, Emily speedily graces her fingers over the keypad, frantically exchanging looks from her phone to the road as she types in Alison's number that she remembers from memory.
Ring….
"Hi, this Is Alison DiLaurentis. I'm not at my-"
Emily anxiously hangs up and redials her again.
Ring….
"Hi, this Is Alison-"
Redial.
Ring….
"Hi, this-"
"Fuck!" Emily hits her steering wheel out of frustration, "She fucking blocked my number!"
Leaving I-676 West, Emily merges onto Interstate 76 West, signals into the fast lane and pushes the gas, hopping that no police would be on duty nearby. Although through average highway speed of 70 mph would get Emily to Rosewood in 20 minutes, Emily is determined to make it within 10 minutes pushing about 90.
Still with her phone in her hand, Emily tries a different approach to get to Alison.
…
Finishing her small plate of a microwavable TV dinner, as she is yet again all alone at home, Alison throws away the tray and cleans her off silverware.
Ding! Dong!
Putting her spoon away in the appropriate location, Alison leaves the kitchen and head towards the front door, wondering who would be at her door at this time. Unlocking the door, Alison opens it and is greeted by two fairly young middle schoolers.
"Hi! Would you like a free flag sticker?" One of the younger boys asks as he extends his hand with a flag sticker on the end of his fingertip.
"Uhm, sure." Alison smiles and politely takes the sticker from the child.
After Alison accept the sticker, the boy's pal speaks up and point to his collection of small flag pins, "Would you like to buy a U.S. Flag pin for $10 to help fund flags for Veterans Graves? There are many veterans that have died with no kind of support left for them after death. With this donation, we at Flags4Vets will be able to buy flags and put them on every grave of our fallen soldiers. Starting here at Rosewood!"
"I'm sorry," Alison sadly cringes at her bad news as she leans against her door, "I don't have anything on me right now. Maybe come back later?"
"Ok!" The boys happily agree, still baring a smile, "Thank you for your time!"
"Thank you." Alison watches the boys jog off her porch before she closes and locks her door behind them.
Heading out of the living room and towards the stairs to go and lay down in her room, Alison hits the base of the stairs before she stops moving. Feeling oddly different then how she felt 20 seconds prior, Alison narrows her eyes and takes a look around her surrounded out of precaution. She stays extremely still to hear if maybe she heard her father or Jason pulling up in the driveway. Unable to hear anything, Alison moves from the stairs and walks over to her living room window, peeking behind the blinds.
Nobody in sight.
Hmmm.
Scratching her head as she leaves the window, Alison shuffles back to the stairs in continuation of going to her room.
Ok, with the heels, which would look better? The gold heels goes with the dress but the silver ones-
Only 3 steps up the stairs, there is a sudden and heavy squeeze on her carotid artery causing Alison to buckle her legs and fold her arms outward, rendering complete consciousness as her body drops down heavy like a stone. Catching her before she hits the ground, Alison is lifted up and tossed over the shoulder of the silent home intruder.
…..
Weaving in and out of lanes and pushing her lucks at yellow lights, Emily finally gets onto Alison's street and pulls into her driveway with no regards of how she's parked. Before flying out the car, Emily reaches over to her glove compartment and rips out her Sig Sauer. She makes sure it's cocked and loaded before putting it in her holster and jumping out of her door. She frantically sprints up the porch stairs and tries the door handle.
Locked.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Emily relentlessly slams her fist onto the door to get someone's attention in the house. Waiting for a few seconds with so signs of movement from inside, Emily begins banging even harder.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Alison!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Still with no signs of life, Emily ditches the door and runs to the side of Alison's house to see if she can get in through the backdoor.
Pushing herself to get to the back of Alison's house, Emily spots out of the corner of her eye what seemed like someone walking into the woods with some kind of cargo. Squinting her eyes farther as the sunlight races against her, Emily makes out the blonde strands of hair falling from behind the stranger's shoulders.
Alison!
Having to think quickly, Emily quietly jogs in the direction of the bandit, making sure she's a good set of feet away to be undetected. She creeps up behind the person under their hoodie and mirrors their steps so it doesn't sound like extra feet behind them. Getting close enough to see Alison, Emily heartbeat quickens more than before noticing her unconscious. When the adrenaline finally hits Emily enough to attack, Emily aims her sights at the intruder and strikes a strong kick at the back of their leg. The sudden swift attack causes the mysterious person to groan out in pain, dropping Alison's unconscious body to the ground. Recovering faster than Emily anticipated, Emily lunges for the masked bandit just to get a quick jab shot to her side. The strong unexpected hit makes Emily cry out, staggering back as she holds her side in pain. At that exact moment clutching her side, Emily remembers her weapon hosted on her hip. With literally milliseconds to come to a decision, Emily swiftly lifts up her shirt-
"Emily?!"
Emily snaps her neck in the direction of the voice, seeing Hanna calling her in the distance towards the front of the house.
"Hanna!"
Letting her guards down by the surprise of Hanna, before Emily got the chance to take out her gun, she's hit in her face with a powerful spray blast.
"ARGHHH!" Emily screams out on the top of her lungs out as she covers her face. She immediately drops to the floor as the pepper spray seeps into her eyes. "AHHHH! MOTHER….FUCKER!"
Upon seeing Emily hit the floor in agonizing pain, Hanna sprints towards the trio, making the bandit to take off in the woods, leaving Alison on unconscious and Emily screaming out.
"Emily! Emily!" Hanna rushes to the brunette's side, dropping onto the grass trying to calm her. "I'm calling 911!" She wildly unlocks her phone and opens to the dial screen.
"IT FUCKING-IT FUCKING BURNS!" Emily's face turns beat red as she wildly kicks and flops her body around. Straining her face out of sheer discomfort, a vein pops out on the side of her neck, looking ready to burst at any moment. "FUCKING HELP ME!"
"This is Hanna Marin! I need paramedics immediately over at the DiLaurentis house! NOW!"
"I NEED WATER!" Emily cries out as her hand reaches out to Hanna right beside her, madly searching for something to grab on before she catches the fabric of Hanna's blouse, yanking her down to her level. "GET ME INSIDE! GET ME INSIDE! THIS IS BURNING MY FUCKING FACE, HANNA! GET ME INSIDE THE MOTHERFUCKING HOUSE!"
...…
"There is a pulse but it's weak! Prepare for CPR!"
…
"Emily! Emily! Please stop kicking, I am trying to help you!"
"GIVE ME SOME FUCKING WATER, PLEASE!"
…
"Please stand behind the barrier! We cannot answer any questions at this time!"
…
"Sir, please stand back!"
"That is my daughter over there! You let me through, right now!"
….
"She's seizing! I need extra hands over here!"
…
"Alison! Stay with me, honey! Stay with me!"
…
"What the hell happened, Hanna?!"
"It was Charles! He attacked Emily!"
…
"ICAN'TBREATHE! ICAN'TBREATHE!"
….
Within a matter of five minutes, Alison's home goes from being silent and secluded to loud and crowded with Rosewood PD, EMTs, all the girls and boyfriends, along with everyone's parents stuffed inside the living room of the DiLaurentis' house. With the sound of urgency at the DiLaurentis', reporters came out the woodworks trying to cover the breaking news of Rosewood Teens Alison DiLaurentis and Emily Field attacked by "A". With no need of rushing Alison to the hospital, she lays on her couch dipping in and out of consciousness while Emily's screams are being heard in the kitchen next door.
"SON OF A…BITCH!"
"Hold still, baby! Hold still!" Wayne holds Emily's face up over the sink as he pours milk over her still burning eyes. Emily strong arms her father as she holds a death grip on his shoulder, clenching tightly as the pain continues to seep into her eyes with the sensation traveling to her nose, mouth and skin. With the milk dripping down her face and onto her shirt, Emily repeatedly stomps, jumping up and down with no avail of the milk solving the agony quick enough.
Watching from the back, Pam cries to herself as she watches her daughter go through immense pain without any quick and instant relief. "Emily, please hold still!"
Raising her hand to the affected area, Wayne quickly grabs her wrists. "Nonono! Don't touch your face! You're going to make it worse and spread it!"
Feeling the sting of her tears along with the sting of the spray, Emily hacks up a round of coughs before she begins to uncontrollably cry out. "It still burns! Somebody please help me!"
"Emmy! Listen to me!" Wayne grabs Emily by her arms as she faces him with her shut tightly with the remaining of the milk still on her face, "You have to stay calm!"
Rushing in to help, Ella enters the kitchen with a container she was giving to by an EMT, "I have these medicated wipes that will help with the burning."
"Thank you, Ella." Wayne grabs the wipes and rips it open, "Emily, follow my lead, you need to sit down."
Having her father lead her, Emily frantically waves her hands behind to find a chair to sit on.
Hearing the commotion all around her fade from the background to the foreground, Alison slowly opens her eyes, having everyone rush to her side at the sight of her waking up.
"Where….where am I?" Alison groggily asks as she squints her eyes from the bright ceiling lights.
"You're in your house," Lorenzo answers first as he squats down next to the blonde, "Alison, do you remember anything that happened to you?"
"Kids…..They…..they were going door to door…..selling flags." The words mumbles out of Alison's mouth as she tries to understand what is going on around her.
"Do you remember seeing anyone in the house?" Toby asks as he stands beside Lorenzo.
"No, I….I was alone-"
"STOP! STOP! STOP! IT HURTS!" A loud clang rings as something rather large falls to the floor followed by Emily's struggling catches the attention of everyone in the house. Especially Alison.
"What was that? What's going on?" Alison shoots up with her alertness being more potent than before.
"Shhh! Lay down, lay down." Lorenzo puts a hand on Alison's shoulder, easing her back onto the couch.
"Toby, what's going on?" Alison reiterates her question more firmly with her eyes staring intently into his.
"According to what we got so far and what we can assume so far, Charles was attempting to kidnap you when Emily came to your rescue and attacked him. Unfortunately, what you hear right now is the retaliation of Charles pepper spraying her."
Hearing the excruciating mixture sounds of Emily bawling and hyperventilating in the background, Alison cringes as she pushes against Lorenzo's hand and tries to rise off the couch, "I have to see her."
"Alison, no!" Lorenzo pushes her back down, "You can't be moving around! You need to rest!"
"No, get off of me!" Alison fights back, "I need to see her! I need to see Emily!"
Seeing that Alison is being uncooperative against her orders, other officers and EMTs rushes to Alison to keep her from moving. There is a small battle between Alison's aggression and the extra force as everyone tries to keep the teen stable.
"ALISON! STOP MOVING!" A voice booms from behind the enforcers. Everyone turns around as they see Kenneth walking towards them with a face scrunched up in anger that nobody dared to tango with. "You were unconscious, seizing, and now you will lay down and listen to what the officers tell you! Do you understand?!"
The room falls silent as everyone else's eyes drift back to Alison and her calmed down expression. She slowly swallows as she lays back down onto the couch, listening to her father's orders. "Yes, sir."
…
After 30 minutes of everything dying down, the EMTs leaving and the reporters being ushered away from the property, Emily's intense pain decreases as she is now able to open her eyes and blink without any extra burning. After her and Hanna are done taking their statements, she joins everyone in the living room for the first time.
Alison's eyes catches Emily slowly making her way into the room. Seeing her eyes swollen, hair ruffled, shirt drenched wet and a towel around her neck, Alison head hangs as she desperately tries to remember something from the incident. Anything.
"Starting tonight again, everyone will be assigned another police vehicle outside their homes just in case Charles feels a little bold." Detective Tanner announces to the room.
"I'm staying here with, Ali." Spencer speaks out as she caresses Alison's hand.
"Me too." Aria pitches in.
"Same." Hanna adds to the duo, "I'm not leaving."
"No," Kenneth cuts off the kumbaya camp squad with a shake of his hand, "No, I'm not going to be liable for another child if something else happens. Everyone needs to leave and go home."
With their faces falling with the decline of help, the girls put their sights back on Alison as Emily leans against the wall watching on as her mother rubbed her back.
"He's right," Veronica agrees with Kenneth's demand, "I know you girls want to help but it's best if we all go home. You can see Ali in the morning."
"Speaking of child, where is Jason?" Ashley leans into Ella with a whisper.
Right on cue, Jason bursts through the front doors, immediately greeted by everyone's gloomy faces. "What happened?"
"Where the hell have you been?!" Kenneth turns to Jason as his yelling takes over the silent room again. "I've been calling you and you haven't picked up your fucking phone not once!"
"Wh-what happened?!" Quickly being cornered, Jason looks out into the living room to see Alison watching him with her face sagged with sadness. "Alison! Are you okay?!"
"Alison could have died and you would have had no idea because you are running around the streets giving absolutely zero fucks about what happens to your sister!" Kenneth continues to step into Jason, causing him to get stuck against a wall as his father screamed and pointed in his face. At that moment of hostility, a few officers and all the guys in the room stand up, "I'm the only one bringing income to uphold this house, to keep us from living in the streets! You were supposed to be here! You are always supposed to be here when I go to work! That is your fucking job, Jason! And because of your negligence, she was almost fucking killed and Emily almost went blind!"
Jason's eyes dart towards Emily on the far wall, with her wretched facial expression accompanied by her swollen, red eyes. "I'm….I'm so sorry…"
Kenneth's rage takes over him, shoving Jason hard against the wall as he grabs him by his shirt collar. "You bet your fucking ass you're sorry, you piece of shit!" Before anything could take off, the officers, Ezra, Toby, and Caleb jump into action, however, Wayne gets to Kenneth first and grabs Kenneth's arms, fighting him as he resists. "That is your baby sister! The only person we have left and you left her to die! You fucking left her to die! What would you have done then, you son of a bitch!" Wayne finally gets the upper hand and rips Kenneth away from Jason, causing both men to stumble backwards.
"Get off of me!" Kenneth pushes his way out of Wayne's hold. Agreeing to let go, Kenneth stares at Jason with murdering capabilities in his eyes as his chest heaves up and down with deep breaths.
With the room being one hundred times more uncomfortable then it was two minutes ago, everyone stays silent, not wanting to say anything.
"…Ok, It's time for us to go." Veronica speaks up for everyone once again as she places her hand on Spencer's shoulder. With all in agreeance, everyone begins to get their things together, say their last goodbyes to Alison and head for the door with their parents.
Not saying anything to Alison, Emily looks on to her through her sore eyes as she passes the couch. With Alison quiet as well, both girls exchange silent looks before Emily walks out the door with her father's hand over her shoulders.
"Mom, do you think it's okay if I stay with Emily tonight?" Hanna pleas to her mother in a whisper as they walk outside to their respectable cars.
"Hanna, I don't know…"
"Please, mom. She almost burned her eyes out of her sockets. I'm not leaving her alone."
Ashley sighs as she looks onto her daughter then up at Emily as her and her parents walk out of the house. "Fine. Only if her parents allow it. But I want you home immediately in the morning. No excuses."
Agreeing to the terms and conditions, Hanna gives her mom a hug and a kiss before she walks over to Pam who is trailing behind Wayne and Emily.
"Mrs. Fields?" Hanna approaches the still shaken up mother, "My mom said I can stay with Emily for the night? Is it okay with you?"
Pam gives a small smile as she reaches out and touches Hanna's hand, "Of course, Hanna. Thank you."
…
Walking through their front door into quiet home, Wayne leads everyone into the living room. Before Emily and Hanna had the chance to say their goodnights and run upstairs, Wayne stops the girls, "Emily, how are you feeling now?"
"A lot better…" Emily mutters with the hoarse remainder of what's left of her voice. "It doesn't hurt anymore, it's just pretty sore."
Wayne approvingly nods at her lack of pain then turns to Hanna, "Thank you, Hanna, for your help but I think it's best for you to go home for tonight."
"Oh, I said she can stay over with Emily tonight," Pam speaks up on the behalf of Hanna's appearance.
Turning back to glance at Pam with an unhesitating look, Wayne returns back to Hanna, "Again, I'm sorry Hanna but I don't think this is the best time. We have to talk to Emily about a few things and the last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable as we have our discussion." Wayne tries to break down as nicely and friendly as he can.
"Family business," Hanna gives a light smile as she surrenders a hand, "I totally understand, Mr. Fields. I'll just say bye to Em and I'll be on my way."
"Yes, thank you for understanding, Hanna. Be sure to pass my appreciation for tonight to your mother."
"Of course." Hanna walks over to Emily and gives her a tight hug whilst whispering in her ear, "I'll pray for you. Call me asap, okay?" Pulling away from the embrace, the two friends exchange their "looks"- Hanna assuring, Emily worried- before Hanna walks towards the exit of the house.
"I'll walk you to your car, Han." Pam softly says as she walks with the blonde across the hall and outside to their driveway. With the moment of the door closing behind them, Wayne turns to Emily with a stern look.
A look that Emily knows all too well.
"Seeing the pain that you've endured today, I figured on the way here that I would…take it easy on you. I've told myself that I would refrain from lashing out on you, from cursing at you or anything that would mimic short of how Kenneth dealt with Jason earlier. But I don't how the hell I'm going to manage to do that when I have a daughter that lies to me and goes out of her way to put herself in danger."
"You saw how Charles-"
"Emily. Sit." Wayne orders, not even trying to hear what Emily has to say at this moment in time. Doing as she has been told, Emily takes a seat on the couch as her mind runs rampant onto what could her father possibly bring up. Half of her wishes she was still in pain so she could avoid this chew-out.
"Where were you?" Wayne voice drops with seriousness as he crosses his arms, standing in front of her. Emily opens her mouth but gets an instant shut down before she has an opportunity to speak. "And don't tell me you were over at Hanna's because we called Ashley and she said she's never seen you over the house today."
Emily's body hunches down subtly as she waits her father to finish. Remembering the text Hanna sent her, Emily decides to test her luck, hopefully if anything does happen, maybe Aria can help cover for her. "I decided to go over Aria's house instead."
Wayne cocks his head slightly to one side as the skin around his eyes drew tight, "Okay…" He bows his head down as he looked at his shoes, "I'm going to give you one more chance to give me the truth or you can try to run that lie by me one more time. Just to see if I believe it this time around."
Shiiiiiit.
Emily avoids her father's intimating eye contact as she takes a small breath out, "I….went over to Spencer's lake house."
"The lake house."
"Yes. I needed a safe getaway for me to clear my head and for me to….unclutter myself from all this mess. To clear my head."
"Clear your head? Clear your head?" Wayne mocks, scrunches up his face in disbelief, "You have Dr. Sullivan to clear your head."
"Dr. Sullivan is just another adult." Emily whines as she defends herself, "Someone to look down on me. Someone to judge me. Someone to critic and pick me apart. That's not a "safe place". I'm not comfortable there."
"Why did you not answer your phone?"
Emily's bows her head in shame as her voice softens, not able to look into his father's eyes, "I had my phone in my pocket. It must have been on silent. I'm sorry."
Wayne cocks his head to the side with cleft formed between his eyebrows, "Sorry? You're sorry?!" His voice raises in anger, "You think sorry is going to take you outta this?! You think sorry is going to save you from all the punishment you're about to get?! When my daughter tells me that she's at one place, if I just so happen to roll by, I expect to see her ass at that exact location! You know why? So it prevents the entire Rosewood PD and probably Pennsylvania as a state from going on a munhunt on your ass!" Emily swallows down hard at the exact moment the front door opened and Pam entered with a pained expression on her face. Probably from being able to hear Wayne's voice roar from outside the house and down the street. "Every time you leave the house, you have your mother and I worried sick that something, someone, will try something stupid and harm you again. But we have to let you out because not only are you a survivor that needs to get back on the swing of things, you're also a teenager. So imagine my surprise when our worst nightmare came true and we get a frantic call that you've been attacked. But how could you have been attacked if you were supposedly at Hanna's? Or Aria's? Or the lake house, as you put it?" Wayne shakes his hands out in front of him as his neck strains with every syllable flying out of his mouth. "How are you out on the DiLaurentis' lawn attacked?! But oh, all you have to say is you're sorry."
"I…..I had to protect, Alison…" Emily's face sags as she debates to raise her hand to rub her eye. At a moment like this, her father becomes a wild beast, waiting for one sudden movement to attack. Her eyes drift to her mother in the background who carries the looks of disappointment and troubled.
Wayne looks at Emily for a brief moment and waves his hand to motion at his daughter. "Stand up. Just-just humor me. Stand up and come here."
Slowly raising her feet, the forceful jab landed by Charles begins to throb as her body moves, causing Emily to grasp her side. With the clutching, she feels the iron metal pressed against her skin. Emily heartbeat starts uncontrollably pumping inside of her chest as she feels her legs weaken all over again. However, she stands her ground and hesitates moving closer to her father.
Wayne takes the initiative and takes his steps towards Emily who grows terrified with every step, "Because as I was trying to salvage your vision and prevent you from being 100% blind, I-" Getting to closer, Emily takes a few steps back from her approaching father. This little dance makes everyone pause. Wayne furring his eyebrows, Emily trying to control the size of her eyes to not give away anything and Pam standing confused at this whole situation. With his eyes falling down, Wayne forcibly grabs Emily's left arm, making Emily cry out in pain and Pam to yell her husband's name startled. In one fluid motion, Wayne pulls Emily to the side and lifts up her shirt.
"Wayne, stop!" Pam shrieks out again, rushing to Emily's side. However, the damage has already been done with both parents eyes widen at the sight of what's attached to Emily's hip. Still having her arm in the air and her pain aching on her side, Emily yanks out of her father's grasp and seizes herself. Her eyes avoid her parent's gawks as she feels her hands begin to tremble.
"Why is my gun on your hip?" Wayne's voice lowers as his eyes are still glued to Emily's side.
Emily hesitates for a moment, "I….I needed something to-to p-p-protect myself."
"To protect yourself?!" The lowered voice raises up once again as Wayne is being bombarded with Emily's sudden antics. "You have qualified Rosewood PD who is following you around!" Wayne throws his hand out and points to the window behind Emily, "That is enough protect you need! You're going to go ahead and take one of my weapons and walk around with it for protection?! Without telling me?!" Wayne stomps into Emily's face, pushes Emily's hand to the side, forcibly rips the gun out of the holster, and checks the weapon, seeing the magazine is fully loaded. His eyes stares at her then to the gun, then to Emily again.
"Where did you get this gun from?" He shakes the gun in front of his face.
"Fr-from the vault in…in the attic." Emily fumbles out with her father's gaze making her physically weak.
"How did you get it?"
"I-I figured it out. The passcode."
Wayne leaned his head back to look down the ridge of his nose at her, "Unless you want to continue practice lying to me, I suggest you tell me the truth where you got this gun because if you were smart enough to come up with a lie like that then you're smart enough to know that all my weapons are branded with the my initials, 'W.F.'" Wayne forces the gun handle into Emily's face so she can see the weapon up close, "There is not a single initial on this gun so, Emily CatherineFields, if you don't tell me where you got this from, I swear on everything! I brought you into this world I can DAMN WELL TAKE YOU OUT OF IT!"
Her shaking becoming more visible than just in her hands, Emily's breathing came in short, irregular gasps with her voice quavering, "I…I-I….I brought it."
"You brought it?!"
Pam clutches her chest as her mouth hangs open is distress at this revelation that she knew nothing about.
"Emily! What….what the fuck are you doing?!" All of Wayne's inhibitions leave him as he stares down his frightened daughter, "A-a-are you trying to get yourself locked up?! Wh-what was your plan with this, huh?! You're walking around with an unlicensed weapon as a minor! What were your plans with this?! What were you gonna do?! Someone was gonna come and approach you and you were gonna take this gun out, point it at them and pull the trigger?! You-a-gr-a-" Wayne stops and bows his head to recollect himself before he raises his sights back on Emily, "All it takes is for you to mess up, put your hands up too high and your shirt lifts up to reveal your gun. All it takes is one of those policemen out there to get a little too close and feel that weapon. Do you know what would happen to you if they found out you were walking around with a gun?! You would get locked up for illegal handgun possession! That's a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both!" He yells out walking closer to Emily as Emily retreats backwards, getting more and more terrified by her father, "And let's say you would have used it on someone. You would get locked up for murder or attempted murder! Not only would you have gotten locked up, your mother would have gotten locked up! Whoever sold this to you would have gotten locked up! And I would not only get kicked out the military, I would get locked up! And not doing regular time like you guys! I would be doing federal time! FEDERAL TIME IN A FEDERAL PRISON BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"I-I-I don't see why you guys would get a-arrested." Emily stutters out in complete fear.
"You don't see?! We are responsible for you!" Wayne extends his hands at Emily, "If a child is walking around with a gun, the house must be unsafe. CPS will be called and there will be an investigation. And they will do everything and anything to find something wrong. It wouldn't hurt that we already had the police called on us because of you wanting to rebel against your mother at school months ago. Not only would we all be questioned, I will be investigated by my 1st shirt who will personally kick me out the military and straight into federal prison because I'm not a civilian! None of us are! When civilians get in trouble, they deal with the state. When military members get in trouble, we get in trouble with the damn government!" With his last push on his given statement, a sharp pain stabs Wayne's heart prompting him to clutch his chest. With the sudden agony, he staggers back with Pam rushing to his side.
"Wayne, your heart!"
With his pain not being an emergency, he pushes Pam to the side and comes up to Emily in her face once again, "You are so grounded, Emily! Indefinitely! No prom, no nothing!"
Emily's face drops along with her mouth in utter shock, "Dad!"
"And you will begoing on that trip with Nicole. You have no say in this anymore. You gave it up when you decided to be untrustworthy!"
"Wait! Please I-"
"This is final!"
"What about Alison?!"
"What about Alison?!"
"I-I can't just leave!" Emily picks up her voice seeing this is her only chance of fighting back, "Who's going to watch over her to prevent what happened tonight from happening again?!"
"She has a father and a brother more than capable of doing their job!" Wayne stands his ground, "You are not her family, Emily!"
"And we see just how much of a superb job their doing! If anything, I'm the only one giving a damn about her! If it wasn't for me, she would be God knows where right now!"
"Emily, you will not-"
"I'm not leaving Alison behind! She needs me!"
"Who sold you this gun?!" Wayne waves the weapon back and forth frantically, shutting down his daughter's attempt to one up him in an argument, "You tell me right now who sold you this gun. Emily! If you open your mouth and you say anything else but a name, so help me God!"
Translator:
"Or what about hazel nut butter muffins?" Aubrey bites her lip as she places her hand on the warm glass, "Mmmm. Ay Dios."
"Ay Dios" = "Oh god"
"Ay Dios Mio" being the full term for "Oh my god."
Which basically is the statement of this entire chapter.
