3 chapters in 1 DAY?! You guys better love me for this and start reviewing like CRAZY! I love this chapter. A lot goes down, and it leads to something HUGE! I say that every time, but something is about to go down possibly next chapter, and I am SO EXCITED for it!
I added in a little Haleb in this chapter, because I felt bad that we haven't really had any couple moments in this story yet. Also, Caleb is the perfect boyfriend, so...
Caleb sat down at a table outside of the Brew with a coffee in each hand and passed one over to Hanna while he planted a kiss on her cheek. Hanna smiled in response, but that smile was gone in an instant.
Catching on to this, Caleb spoke up. "Hanna what's wrong?"
Retracted from her daze, Hanna sat up abruptly. "Nothing! I'm just… tired."
"How could you be tired?" Caleb laughed. "You've been absent from school all week. I doubt you spent all this time staying up late studying."
"Well, you know, being caught in a fire takes a lot out of you," Hanna said sarcastically while holding up her arm, which was still littered in scratches and burns.
Caleb suddenly softened, and took Hanna's hands in his. "When I found out about that, I was so scared that something had happened to you. I'm so glad you made it out okay."
"Yeah, okay physically," Hanna muttered. This was not intended for Caleb's ears, but he heard it anyway.
"Hanna, when are you going to tell me about what happened in that fire? Did it have to do with A? Did A do this to you?"
Hanna just looked out into the street. Caleb already knew so much, and he had already paid the consequences when he got shot a few months ago. She didn't want him knowing anymore than he needed for the moment, and she would tell him everything when she was simply ready to.
"I already told you," she said simply, "it was just a kitchen fire."
"That spread all the way around the building?" Caleb retorted in disbelief.
"Are you forgetting that it's a building filled with psychopaths?" Hanna asked bluntly. "One of them probably freaked out and managed to spread it."
Caleb clearly still didn't believe Hanna, but he let it slide. "Well, I got your favorite. Hazelnut. So drink up so you can pull yourself out of this downer state and be back to your usual snarky self."
Hanna punched him playfully on the arm in defense, and Caleb just laughed. She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee, which, she admitted, was pretty good. She let the warmth of it spread throughout her entire body before leaning over the table and kissing Caleb lovingly on the mouth. "Thank you."
He tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear so he got a full view of her face. Her flawless fair skin glowed under the sunlight, and as he took in her beauty, he couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her, here, in front of him. If she were to disappear, he didn't know what he would do.
"I love you, Hanna, and I want to do whatever I can to keep you safe. I hope you realize that."
Hanna just averted her gaze once again. She couldn't bear to keep looking into Caleb's soft, loving brown eyes, or she would crack. She knew she would.
"I know you are," she said honestly, "but I'm trying to do the same to you, and that's why you need to stay out of it. Okay?"
Caleb just sighed and leaned back into his chair, knowing he wasn't going to win this one. Before he could come up with a clever way to argue, Hanna's phone chimed. She pulled it out of her bag nonchalantly, but as soon as she opened the text, her mouth dropped open and her face paled.
This caught Caleb's attention. "Hanna, what's wrong? Did A send you a text?"
But she didn't hear him. She was up from the table and down the street, gone in an instant, with her coffee still on the table, forgotten. Caleb stood up from his chair and repeatedly called her name, but she was immune to his calls.
Once she got to her car, she got in the driver's seat and sat there, taking deep breaths, as she continued to stare at the message. And stare and stare some more.
Look who's paying for your mistakes!
-A
Attached was a photo of Emily, in a hospital bed, seemingly asleep, with wires crossing every which-way all around her.
Byron had managed to convince Aria to sit on the couch, so she sat on the far end as she prepared herself for what she was about to say.
"I know about how you raped Alison."
Byron's mouth simply dropped open, and she noticed a kind of fury in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time. "What would make you say that?"
"Because… she told me."
The fury in Byron's eyes just continued to get stronger and stronger, and Aria could feel herself becoming weaker and weaker under his fixed stare. At that moment, Mike started to trot down the stairs, causing Aria and Byron to turn their heads in his direction. Mike caught on to the tension immediately, so he attempted to smooth the waters. "Oh... hey, Aria's back."
"Mike, can you go back upstairs, please?" Byron asked curtly.
Mike narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "No… I haven't eaten all day; I need a snack. Why? What's going on?"
Aria decided she shouldn't leave her brother out of this, as it was his father, too, so she whipped her head back toward her father as she spoke to Mike. "No, Mike, go ahead. Stay if you want. We were just talking about how Dad molested my best friend."
"WHAT?!"
"ARIA!" Her dad growled warningly.
"What, Dad? WHAT?" Aria shouted. "He has every right to know! This affects him, too!"
"What affects me?" Mike asked shrilly as he walked briskly toward the couch. "What's going on?"
"Go ahead, Dad," Aria said, coldly, "go ahead and tell your son about how you cornered Alison and raped her."
"Alison?" Mike squeaked. But Aria ignored him as she continued to pound her father. "Tell him, Dad. Is this true or not?"
Byron darted his eyes between his furious daughter and his frightened son, and finally, he stood up from the couch and shouted the last thing that they both wanted to hear.
"She was provoking me!"
Aria's heart stopped. All this time, although she knew that it was the only option that seemed to make sense, there was a small part of her that was denying that it could be real. But here her father stood, admitting to it.
It was true.
Aria's vision blurred with tears. "How could you do that to her? She was a child. She didn't deserve it!"
"Alison DiLaurentis did some pretty shady stuff down at Hollis, so don't go around defending her."
"I'll defend her if I want!" Aria snapped. "She was my friend, and I know she did some stuff that I didn't necessarily like, but no one deserves that, Dad. No one!"
"She tried to ruin my family, Aria!" Byron shouted back.
"SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO!" Aria screamed, now in full hysterics. "YOU ALREADY DID!"
All of a sudden, Aria couldn't take it. She needed to get out of the house. She no longer wanted to go through with her plans of telling her father everything. He didn't deserve the truth. With that, Aria started toward the door.
But Byron was quick. He grabbed Aria forcefully by the arm, causing Aria to yelp in pain. He ignored this, however, as he forced her to look him in the eyes.
"You said Alison told you this," he growled into her face, "but that's impossible. She's dead."
"Dad-"
"Is she alive?" he said, his voice cracking. "Has she really just been missing this entire time? How could she have told you this?"
Aria noticed the terror and distress in her father's eyes, and wanted more than anything to tell him everything right then and there. About how Alison was holding this entire thing over Aria's head and wanted to get back at her for everything that he did. About how she was still out there somewhere. About how Byron himself had a child with a 17-year-old. About how everything that Aria had to endure was all his fault.
But she needed to be strong and hold off on revealing this information. If he was so desperate to know, what if he went off on his own search and hurt Alison again, as thought to finish the job? What if he found out about her child and did something to it? What if he just made the situation worse?
That was the last thing Aria needed.
"Don't touch me!" She screamed, but that just made him pull harder, until Aria was practically hovering above the ground.
"Dad, my arm!"
"Aria, tell me now, is Alison DiLaurentis alive!?!"
Suddenly, the grip on her arm was released as Mike, using all the strength he could muster, threw his father against the wall.
"She said don't touch her!"
And with that, he grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her out the door, not once looking back to see the heartbroken, yet also infuriated, expression on his father's face.
Once they were outside, Aria released Mike's grip and ran to her car, where she launched herself into the driver's seat. Mike followed suit and sat in the passenger seat, keeping a close eye on his sister. Aria looked over and took in the sight of Mike. She felt horrible for dragging him into this, but it was too late. She put the keys into the ignition and bolted out of the driveway.
She drove at roughly 50mph all the way over to the Rear Window Brew, before completely losing it. She broke down into tears while her little brother reached over and wrapped his strong arms around her. They sat like this for a minute before Aria managed to catch her breath and release herself from Mike's grip. She looked at his face and saw that he had been crying as well.
She reached over and wiped the tears from his eyes lovingly. "Oh, Mike," she said apologetically, "I can't believe I brought you into this. I'm so, so sorry."
"No," he croaked, "don't be. I'm glad you did. It's better that I know so that I can get out of there."
Aria affectionately rubbed Mike's shoulder. "I don't want you to have to stay there with him. But Spencer is already staying at the apartment. I don't know if there's enough room…"
"I can just stay at a friend's house then," Mike said with a shrug, "and I can sneak back into the house to get my stuff with no trouble."
Aria lowered her head as more tears spilled out of her eyes. "It shouldn't have to be this way."
"But it is," Mike said, and he tilted Aria's head up so that she was fully facing him, her hazel eyes meeting his identical ones, "and I can handle it. Whatever it is, it'll be hard, but I'll be fine."
As Aria looked at Mike up and down appraisingly, she began to realize that he was more than just her little brother now. He had grown up into a charming young man who would do anything to protect her, and she would do the same for him. She pulled her brother in for one more hug, lingering in longer this time, until he finally pulled away. He then looked at her carefully.
"What was that you said about Alison being alive?"
Aria's blood went cold. "I… made that up. It was just to get him to tell the truth."
It was a pretty reasonable lie, but Mike had known Aria all his life, and he was able to easily detect when she was spinning something. However, he didn't push it.
"You'll tell me when you're ready," he said with a knowing glance as he placed his hand on the door handle. Just as he was about to get out of the car, Aria stopped him.
"Wait! You said you were hungry; let me buy you something while you're here. My treat."
"Are you sure?"
"It's the least I can do," she said insistently as she got out of the car with him.
"Okay, but on one condition," he said, turning to face her, "you get something, too! I swear, you've gotten smaller since I last saw you."
Aria just rolled her eyes as she started to walk toward the Brew. "That was a week ago, Mike."
"Still, I missed you."
And with that, Aria halted in the middle of the street to face her brother. His cheeks were tear-stained, and there was a certain sadness to his features, now that he was fully corrupted, but there was also a small speck of light in his eyes at the sight of his sister in front of him.
"I missed you too," she answered honestly with a smile. There bonding moment was interrupted, however, by Aria's phone ringing. She shot Mike an apologetic glance before pulling it out of her pocket. It was Hanna.
Confused, she answered it. "Hey, Hanna. What's up?"
"Aria, where are you? Are you at your mom's apartment?"
"No…" Aria answered warily, "I'm at the Brew with my brother. I was just about to buy us lunch and then go back there. Why?"
"Aria, whatever you do, do NOT go back there!"
Aria was now getting frustrated. She held up her finger to Mike as she walked away from where he was standing on the street. "Why, Hanna? Is this just about Spencer again? She is chewing her hair off because you guys refuse to trust her. She just wants you back in her life again!"
"No she doesn't! That's all just an ACT!" Hanna shouted, and Aria could tell by the tone of her voice that she had been crying.
"Hanna, what's wrong?" Aria asked, now concerned.
There was silence on the other end, probably from Hanna pulling herself together. But then she managed to swallow and tell Aria, "I'll explain later. Just come to the hospital. Emily's hurt." And then she hung up.
Aria nearly dropped her phone in the middle of the street. What happened? She looked back to her brother, who was shooting her a worried glance. Conflicted, Aria walked over to her brother while simultaneously pulling a 20-dollar-bill out of her wallet.
"Here, buy something with this," she said hurriedly.
"Wait, Aria! What's going on?"
"Nothing for you to worry about," she trembled, "something just came up, and I… I have to go."
And with that, she left her brother in his confused state as she walked to her car and drove away, tears threatening to escape from the back of her throat the entire drive.