Trigger warning for mentions of drug abuse and possible childhood sexual abuse.
Chapter 12: Absence makes the Heart get Ripped in Two:
The blue Honda circled around and slid in front of the station. The night obscured the car's color and the inhabitants from sight and hopefully from cameras. Alison looked at Maya as she spoke, "Remember, be careful of Wilden. And don't mention I'm alive or the Redcoats. We'll be right nearby if anything happens. We're going to check on Emily now and see if Lyndon's growing more aggressive. And we'll be right in touch in case anything happens, alright?" Alison looked at Shana and Margo for confirmation. Shana spoke up, "I need to make sure the costume store's in order tomorrow morning so no one gets suspicious. But I'll be right out here if anything goes wrong."
Margo nodded as well. "Yep. Same. After Shana goes, I'll take the wheel and drive back to the police station. I'll wait for you, Maya and drop you off at your place. I'm sure you miss your family." Maya's head perked up immediately when she heard that, a smile forming on her face. The thought of seeing her family again after what happened made her feel a lot safer. "Okay." She said happily, "That would be great. Thanks."
"Ali," Shana said gently, "I'll let Maya off here and then I'll let you off, you know." Shana nodded to Alison by the rear-view mirror and Alison nodded back, knowing that neither Shana or Margo trusted Maya yet. She felt bad for helping keeping things from Maya but she could see the other girls' point. She had told Maya the basics-who exactly was part of the A-Team and who the "good guys" were. But letting Maya know where Alison went and hid on Rosewood might be a little too much information. She knew that Shana and Margo already were cautious over the fact that while they were outside the factory, Alison requested they take their masks off so as not to spook Maya.
But Alison had wanted to do this the right way. Not intimidate Maya and make her cautious. If she wanted to change-wanted things to be right, they had to start trusting people.
"But you can't trust anyone, Ali."
Alison stiffened and whirled around, scanning the car and the back window, to each side window, stunned by what she just heard. Or thought she heard. "Ali?" Shana asked, "What is it?" "I…," Alison began, confused as she still looked around the car, seeing the other three occupants' concerned looks, "Did any of you say anything just now?" All three Shana, Maya and Margo shook their heads. "Are you alright?" Maya asked, lifting an eyebrow. "I'm fine…" Alison lied, a shard of guilt lodged in her stomach at finally lying flat out to someone she intended to trust, but how could she say that she thought she heard a girl's voice say something when no one in the car had spoken?
"Shana, could you let Maya off here?" Alison asked her friend and Shana nodded. Alison didn't have to see Shana's eyes in the mirror to know that her friend and sister was very worried about her. As they pulled up, Maya opened the door and looked back at them curiously. Despite what she just heard, Alison tried to appear optimistic at least, "Maya," She said, leaning out of her seat and looking up at the dark-haired girl, "Don't worry about it. We'll be in touch and nearby. And remember, be very careful of Darren Wilden when you see him and find out his name. Be very careful. And look out for the others too." Maya nodded, apprehension on her face, but still clearly going in determined. Alison smiled, unable to keep back the admiration she felt for the girl. "I promise you." She said, eyes locking with Maya's dark ones, "We won't let Lyndon get you. Go to the police and see what happens. And keep that phone close."
Maya nodded, smiling. "Thanks." She said and Alison could tell that the other girl meant her gratitude a thousand times over. Alison nodded and shut the door as she watched Maya turn and walk up the steps to the station. Shana started driving. As soon as they were blocks from the station, Alison heard Shana's concerned question, "Okay, Ali, what just happened?"
Alison sighed, looking at the two older girls in the front seats. Well, what else could she say except the truth, because honestly, she had no clue what happened. "I really don't know." She admitted, ignoring the impulse to lie-that it would be safer to lie, "I thought I heard something. Obviously I didn't." "What did you think you heard?" Margo asked, turning and glancing at her sister. Alison swallowed. Now she was really tempted to lie. How exactly did you say that you thought you heard a voice that you really didn't hear without sounding crazy? "I'd rather not say." She just answered, looking straight at Margo's eyes and glancing at Shana's eyes in the mirror. It wasn't a lie, certainly, but it wasn't admitting to something fairly spooky, not to mention disturbing when it came to her possible sanity.
As she looked out the window, she felt two pairs of eyes fixed on her, soon turning into one pair as Shana had to keep her eyes on the road. They were going to let this go, for now. But she knew there would be questions later. Questions she personally was afraid of. It was bad enough knowing that she was connected to a psychopath. Now she was hearing voices. She glanced at her backpack, holding Spencer's Radley file. And then there was that. The big white elephant in the car, at her back that only she seemed to be aware of but was terrified of talking about.
"So," Margo spoke up and Alison could tell how much the older girl was trying to hide her nervousness, "Should we drop you off at Hanna's house or Emily's?" Alison smiled, appreciatively. Occasionally, she checked on the girls to see how they were-besides the whole –A thing. Check on their home lives and their studies. Call it stalkerish and obsessive; Alison knew it was, but it brought her relief to check and see if they were okay every now and then. "Spencer's, thanks, you two." Both Shana and Margo nodded.
As they turned the corner and closed in on the Hastings property, Alison got her coat readied. No matter how much she wanted to see Spencer, she couldn't risk anyone seeing her own face.
Gearing up as the car slid past the Hastings house; they couldn't risk anyone, including the A-Team seeing someone with a Redcoat coming out of the car and sneaking around the neighborhood, Alison watched as they circled the area, and they drove till they were next to the Morgan house. Their backyard was almost completely obscured by woods. "Here." Alison confirmed as she had her mask on. Shana parked and Alison opened the door. "Ali," Shana said as both she and Margo looked at her worriedly, "Please be careful." Alison looked back at them and nodded. Though she had her mask on, she was sure they knew she was smiling as she jumped out, closed the door quickly and bolted through the various backyards till she reached the Hastings's backyard. Cloaked in blood red, face covered with the ghostly white mask, and her hair hidden underneath the coat, not to mention wearing boots that were completely unlike her once well known high heels, she suspected that no one, save for people who understood that almost nothing was what it seemed, might jump to the conclusion that it was Alison DiLaurentis under the hood.
In the pitch night, Alison scoped out the ghoulish looking trees and bent branches, twisting like snakes close to the garden floor. Alison wondered how many A-Team members were out here, if any at all. Maybe some of them were feeling lazy tonight. A bunch of them were high school students after all. Then again, considering they had decided that they had nothing better to do than terrorize girls that were just friends with the one that made their lives miserable, she could safely assume that they had no lives.
Alison looked up at the window where Spencer stood, pacing back and forth, book in her hands open as she read. Alison felt hard, painful fingers stretch out through her body. She almost whimpered at the sight of Spencer up there, hard at work like she always was. Alison sighed. She really hoped the other girl was getting sleep and eating.
She walked to the tree bent over the house's roof, beginning to climb it. She balanced her feet against two different boughs and heaved herself up the tree, grabbing a low branch and struggling up, till she sat down on a long, higher branch, just in front of Spencer's window, a canopy of leaves blocking her from Spencer's view as she looked in on the brunette. The pacing young woman eventually sat down at her computer, typing fast. After three minutes, Spencer was still worked over the computer, concentrating. Alison smiled, glad to see at least some things never changed. That thought gave her pause. Her mind wandered to the file in her backpack that she still hadn't torn from her person. The pills. The ones she had found with Spencer that night when her mother had almost buried her alive, or when she found Spencer sleeping on the couch that night. A cold tightness took hold of her stomach.
Her Spencer…was she high? She remembered that Summer when she had found Spencer in the dark, on the Hastings' house porch, dark circles under the girl's eyes, how completely…dead Spencer had looked. Like a different person. Like someone Alison just couldn't recognize. Alison swallowed as she thought about it, looking in on Spencer, heart hurting just seeing the brunette there. Spencer was so close. So close. Spencer lifted herself off the chair and went to her bed, picking up her science textbook and dropping down on her back on the bed, reading. Alison sighed as she watched this. So close, and Alison knew she couldn't reach out and touch the other girl, no matter how much she wanted to. Alison reached a gloved hand out and pressed it against the glass, inches from Spencer's face obscured by the book. At that moment, Alison didn't care how much like –A she was probably acting. She didn't care. She felt her heart slam against her chest. Seeing Spencer this close kept her frozen in the tree. She knew looking at Spencer this close was a risk. She couldn't move. She smiled behind her mask, feeling like the heart she had once been sure she didn't have felt like it was going to crack or explode at any given moment.
She squinted her eyes at Spencer. The brunette was acting normally. She didn't look high. At least she really hoped the brunette wasn't.
It had hurt. It had hurt when she learned that Spencer and Toby had slept together. It had hurt severely. But at the time, given what she knew about Toby, that he was innocent, a victim of Jenna, and regrettably, of herself as well, like Spencer was of –A, and that Toby seemed like a descent person, she accepted it. Was even happy about it. No matter how much Alison felt like Spencer could have aimed higher, found someone more suitable for her brilliance, someone as unique as the brainiac was, as long as Toby made Spencer happy, valued the girl's intelligence and strength, then how could she feel any resentment?
Accepting the relationship, and happy for Spencer…and surprisingly enough, happy for Toby too, she had praised their relationship to Noel and Cece, assuring her brother and sister that she was sure Toby was harmless to Spencer.
And then she heard what Shana, Cece and Noel had learned from Lucas Gottesman on the train.
Now it seemed the bloodlust for Toby was back in full. Toby had done nothing while Spencer had been attacked by the –A-Team creep dressed as the Queen of Hearts. He was now nothing but prey to Alison. Another target on the long –A list.
But what Alison knew she couldn't forgive, as she looked at Spencer, writing something down, was knowing that when Spencer found out, it would devastate the brainiac. She ground her teeth together. Toby would hurt Spencer, she knew. And she was going to kill him for it. She finally tore herself away from the window, backing up along the branch she was on and thought about what they could do. Spencer needed to know the danger she was in around Toby. But how? What proof did they have that Toby was working for –A? Would Spencer even believe it if she and the others found any?
Her mind traveled back against her will to what Noel had told her had happened on the train. Someone dressed as the Queen of Hearts had almost thrown Spencer from the train. She could feel a cold sweat breaking out all over her skin at the thought. There had been two people dressed as the Queen of Hearts. Cece, and whoever had attacked Spencer.
Alison shivered, anger roiling. Whoever it was, Toby, Mona or whoever had attacked Spencer, they were going to pay. She thought of Noel telling her that Paige McCullers had saved Spencer. According to Noel he had seen Spencer running from the end of the train with the Queen of Hearts person after her and just when he had been about to jump in, McCullers had interfered. Alison felt conflict stir in her mind. She wanted to hate Paige for dunking Emily underwater. At any mention of any harm against the girls, she could feel the burning impulse to lash out, but knowing that the same person that had attacked Emily was the person that had saved Spencer on the train made her feel torn. As much as a part of her wanted to stay angry at Paige, even though she knew she had no right considering her history with the redhead, she felt utter gratitude, almost tearful gratitude that Paige had been there when Spencer had been attacked.
She stared at the brunette, still looking at her notes and began climbing down at the tree, sight of Spencer, of her darling, the stab of pain in her entire being at having to hide her existence from the other girl strengthened. Even if –A and their minions weren't around, could she really show herself to Spencer? Could Spencer really forgive her for everything Alison had done? Alison smiled a watery smile as she thought of all the pain she had put her Spencer and the other girls through. She had given such a big, brave claim to Maya about not running away, but was she really one to talk? She couldn't even face herself and face the girls after everything.
She was reminded again of the burden in her backpack. Her left hand fingered the left strap of the bag. If Spencer had been in Radley, wouldn't she remember? How could she not remember being in some place like Radley? She bit her lower lip. Had Spencer been on drugs? Was that why Spencer had been sent there and why she couldn't remember it? Alison shivered; she really hoped that that was the reason. And what of Wren Kingston? What had he done to her there? Alison felt her rage come back in full force; her blood boiling till she suspected a blood vessel might burst. He had been alone with her when she was only eight and he was a teenager. If he hurt her…if he….molested her in that place…
Alison snapped her head away from looking at Spencer, glaring down at the grassy ground, gripping the branches, feeling the bile swim up again. She couldn't….no, she couldn't bear that thought. She couldn't. Her teeth ground together as she glanced back up at Spencer after she steadied herself, sure that she wasn't going to get sick just yet. She knew one thing for sure. She resigned herself to this knowledge, grim faced beneath her already frightening mask; she was going to kill Wren Kingston one day. One day, she was going to have his blood on her hands, just like she would have Toby's and Mona's.
She accepted that she had to change, but what Toby, Mona and Wren had done was unforgiveable. They were her prey now.
She was torn from her brutal thoughts when a vibration jolted on the side of her leg. It was from one of her throwaway phones. What a relief.
She pulled the phone out and checked her text, keeping it close to her so that if there was indeed anyone watching, they couldn't see her text. It was from Cece. She smiled a real smile, warmth flooding her.
"Come to the meadow by Noel's cabin in half an hour. We need to talk. About Lyndon and a bunch of other things, babe."
Alison nodded, quickly checking the time on the phone and deleting the text. It might be jumping to conclusions, but they couldn't risk any of their texts being seen by anyone outside of the group.
She took one last yearning look at Spencer before sliding down the tree and jumping onto the grass, looking around cautiously for any black hooded figures. In the night, they could blend in, but she would see them. She knew what to look for. She started running, occasionally looking back at the Hastings house.
She thought to herself sadly before she tore off into the woods towards the school, I love you, Spencer. I always will. Please be safe.
(Page break)
Alison slipped through the corridor of trees, taking note happily of the unlikely places where there probably weren't any cameras or recording devices. In the dark, standing between two large rocks, just besides the start of the meadow, smiling playfully was someone that Alison loved. Someone Alison adored the most only after Spencer. "Well look who it is." Cece chuckled, opening her arms up, smiling as Alison pulled her hood and mask off and walked into her older sister's embrace, soon wrapped in a warm, strong hug.
Alison wasn't threatened by the two of them being here. It was incredibly unlikely that any cameras or bugs had been left in any part of the woods out here. And if someone really was sneaking up on them, Noel's cameras would see them.
As they parted, Cece, ran her fingers through strands of Alison's mane, spilling out from the red cowl. "I have some bad news, sweetie," Cece began, voice tentative to Alison's surprise, "Mona's been released from Radley." Alison stiffened when she heard that, eyes feeling that cold feeling creep into her stomach again. Cece added, "They think that she just needs to be medicated. They don't realize how dangerous she actually is. I don't think they even know that she hit Hanna with that car. Everyone is so clueless with that psycho. They just think she's sick. This whole thing is sick." Cece clenched her teeth, eyes narrowed in fury. "You were a bully when you were what? Eleven to fourteen? Mona did the same. She's been a bully to other girls too. And she almost killed people. You only killed to protect Spencer!" Cece's eyes were narrowed in fury and Alison kept a sigh from escaping at how upset Cece was. In Cece's eyes of course, Alison could do no wrong. In fact, the more wrong Alison did, the more Cece adored the younger. Cece loved Alison as an individual and was disgusted when others couldn't appreciate the younger woman for exactly that.
"It can't be helped." Alison said, trying to keep the anger out of her breath, but failing, "It's hard to tell who's a bigger threat in this town, the psychos and pedophiles or the morons that turn the other way and don't realize how big a threat they are. Well, Vandernut is getting out soon. So we need to watch her and anything that happens around her."
Cece snorted, "I'll say. And you said that Nate is really Lyndon James?" Alison nodded, face grim. "Yeah. We showed Maya a picture of him. She freaked out. It's him." Cece sighed, "I think we need help." "Yeah, I figured that much," Alison said, getting up on one of the rocks jutting out of the side of the meadow, through the grass, sitting on the middle of it, feet perched on a smaller rock, "I contacted Sam and Kira. They should be coming soon." Cece's eyes widened. "Sam and Kira?" Cece repeated, smiling, "Okay, I suggested backup. Not overkill."
Alison tried not to laugh. To be honest, it might have been overkill, but it might just be what they needed. "I thought bringing in Natalie would have been overkill? But at least Kira will be efficient." Cece tilted her head, grinning, "You mean sadistic, don't you?" Alison shrugged, this time letting loose a soft laugh, "Okay, maybe sadistic. But if it hurts the A-Team, then I'm good with it." Cece smiled, walking over behind Alison and resting her head on her sister's shoulder, hugging the younger around the smaller's arms and waist. "So we're bringing in the big guns. I'm okay with this. It'll be good having them here. So, Maya was rescued?"
Alison nodded, leaning back against the older woman. "She decided to join us. After I told her what's at stake. I told her what –A did to Emily and the others. She reacted the way I was hoping she would. She's on our side. And she's dealing with the fact that I'm alive."
She felt Cece stiffen, her arms not moving and Alison realized she should have watched what she said. "You showed her your face?" Cece asked, voice nervous. She pulled her arms from around Alison and turned Alison around to face her, feet being pulled from the smaller rock. "Ali, did you show Maya your face?" Alison swallowed, shoulders sagging. "We needed to get her to trust us. She wasn't going to trust us if she only saw masks of creepy animals and people."
Cece smiled slightly. "Maybe, but it was a huge risk to show your face. We don't know if we can trust her yet. I want to say that we can, but we don't know that yet."
Alison felt annoyance lift in her, but restrained it. It was understandable. Cece was just being protective, as usual. And in her defense, Maya was a complete stranger. They only knew the basics about her and that she had been in a relationship with Emily, and that was about it. There wasn't much else they knew. But they needed more allies. And the closer allies they had to the girls, the better.
"As long as she looks out for the girls and reports back to us," Alison said, determined, "that's all that matters. We'll try to make sure she hasn't ratted us out to –A. But I don't think she would. Not if it endangered Emily. Now, Lyndon James, tell me whatever you can about him so far."
Cece looked hesitant, knowing that Alison wouldn't like the answer she was given. "He's tried to get into a relationship with Emily, in fact, I think they kissed once." Alison almost fell of the rock, eyes widening. "Wait," She said, laughter in her voice as she lifted an eyebrow, though she probably should have been more disturbed by the fact that a creepy stalker was taking a romantic interest in Emily, "I thought Emily was-"
"Yeah, I thought so too." Cece shrugged, "I guess she just wanted a connection to Maya or something. Who knows? Anyway, Nate or Lyndon, or whatever, tried to continue it with Emily but she refused him and he started talking nasty to her. I think his true colors showed there. So I think he might turn aggressive at any point."
Alison felt her teeth grind. If Lyndon hurt any of the girls, he was dead meat. "Maya is at the station." She began carefully, her voice turning cold, "The police should know about him by now. If not, I guess we'll have our answer about what happens with him." Her voice turned dark as she narrowed her eyes, "And with Maya." Cece smiled mischievously. Alison could be terrifying to pretty anyone else who saw the blonde like this, but never to Cece. She reached to Alison's hand and squeezed it gently. Her curious eyes then fell to the backpack that Alison was still wearing. She recalled Noel telling her about it the last time she had seen him.
"That backpack." She said quietly, leaning in and whispering to Alison in case the backpack was carrying anything important, "What's in it? Noel says you're really attached to it. He said that you gave him a file on Wren Kingston-showing that he was insane. But you still have the backpack on."
As soon as Alison stiffened and pulled away, eyes hardening for a second before the younger looked away, Cece knew immediately that whatever was in that backpack was indeed important and Alison was afraid of anyone finding out what it was. Cece sucked in a breath and nodded, accepting. "Alright." She said, "I won't ask about it. You can tell me, when you're ready. But right now, how about you tell me what you were doing in Radley and if you were planning on telling me if I hadn't heard it from Noel?"
Alison glanced at Cece who was giving her a scolding look and the younger blonde sighed. "I think –A might have a connection to Radley. I can't know for sure. But it's a possibility. And yes I would have. I mean I told Noel and I knew he'd tell you so of course I'd tell you at some point." Cece felt her chest tighten. "So you wouldn't have told me if you hadn't told Noel?" Alison winced. Cece started again, not wanting to make Alison feel bad, "-A being connected to Radley? That's not a weird possibility. But wouldn't there have been reports about it? Wouldn't there have been news stories warning Rosewood about an escaped psychopath that was running loose?"
Alison turned back to Cece, chuckling. "Yeah, that's probably true. But, we have to hold open any possibility. Any at all. I mean, I didn't find out until recently that Wren Kingston had been at Radley and yet he's allowed to be a doctor. Who knows what else the people at Radley are hiding?"
Cece thought about that. Considering how many creeps ran this town-how many were actively running around in it, who knew what went on in Radley and what was kept from the public? That was a good, really unsettling point.
"Agreed." She sighed. "So the question is now, what do we do first? Who do we worry about first? Lyndon James, I'm guessing?"
Alison nodded. "Yeah. Lets see if we can get him arrested. If not, well, we'll move to more…unconventional means later. But we have to monitor the –A-Team and Wren Kingston." She looked at Cece and the older girl nodded, winking at her little sister. "Hey, I'm ready for war if you are." Cece promised Alison. Alison grinned and hopped off the rock. "Lets go check what's happening with Lyndon." Alison felt the disgust out, "I'm going to contact Noel." She nodded to the circuit box attached to the pole of Noel's cabin. "But lets get rid of that footage before –A sees it, first." Cece nodded. "Good idea."
They quickly headed over to the box to use the code and get rid of the evidence that Alison and Cece had ever been there.
After that, it would be time to seal Lyndon James's fate. Whatever it was.
(Page Break)
A long black and blue bus stopped at the corner of Rosewood's sidewalk to the bus station. Several passengers got out, down the metal steps of the bus.
Two pairs of feet clad in thick, black boots emerged. As the owners of these black boots emerged, they were revealed to be two young women. One was shorter than the other. The shorter one had light brown skin, thick dark brown hair, a cool smile on her face, a skateboard under her right arm, dark brown eyes glancing around the area, an unimpressed look on her angular face. The taller girl, with a head of very short black hair, icy blue eyes, three silver earrings in her right ear and black baggy cargo pants and a tight black T-shirt and round face lifted her thick, black eyebrows at the sight of the town.
"Holy crap." The black-haired girl chuckled, "We really are in the burbs now, aren't we?"
The girl with the skateboard turned and pat her friend's back with her free hand. "Easy, Kira." Sam said, "We're here. Now time to kick some ass and take names, just like Dana asked." Kira rolled her eyes as she leaned in, whispering to her friend, "I'm pretty sure by now that her name isn't Dana." Sam shrugged, "She'll always be Dana to me. So lets go."
Kaoone-So, here is your update (Sorry, this one took me forever.) Hope you like it.
Awesome1: Ah, I know. Sorry, but angsty Alison is a big thing for this fic and always gets to me.
