Chapter Twenty-One - The Special Occasion

Aria's weekend was great, she and Noel seemed to have nothing but fun every minute of that weekend. They played pool together, and even though Aria won she had suspicions that Noel had let her win. They went swimming and Noel had taught her how to hold her breath longer, he had learned from swimming at school and now maybe Aria could hold her breath longer than Emily, probably not she had concluded in her head that same day. When the girls were in middle school they used to see who could hold their breath the longest under water and Allison was always angry because it seemed to be one of the only things she couldn't win at, Emily was always the victor and after a while the game was eliminated by Allison. The girls all knew why but Allison always claimed it was becoming a boring game. Aria had quickly pushed such memories out of her head so it wouldn't ruin her amazing weekend, but what Aria didn't know was her weekend was going to come to a stop and reality was going to hit fast.

Noel helped Aria unpack all of her stuff that Sunday afternoon. They had left the lake house and were now in her bedroom laughing at all the fun they had. Aria couldn't be happier, she was smiling and laughing and to make things better all of this had happened because of Noel. Once all of her stuff was unpacked they sat on her bed and talked a while longer. After about an hour Noel said he needed to get home and unpack his stuff before dark and before his parents made it home.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school" Noel said giving Aria a kiss before walking to his car.

"Okay" Aria smiled at him as he walked away.

"I love you Aria" he said to her and got in his car.

All Aria could do was stand there and smile as he left. Noel loved her and it was amazing, she loved him too. Aria was glad that she had found Noel and things were so much netter than with Ezra, she was glad all the Ezra drama was over also but is anything ever really over?

Aria's mom Ella came home a few minutes later. Aria was watching TV in the family den and her mom walked in with a lot of groceries in her hands. Aria looked up at her mom with a questioning look on her face. They usually ordered take-out tonight so why did her mom have all of this stuff Aria assumed she was going to use to cook for dinner.

"Can you help me with the rest of the bag so I can get dinner started?" he mom asked heading back towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure" Aria said jumping up to go to her mom's car to get the other bags.

"Thank you" Ella said when Aria set the bags down on the kitchen counter.

"Your Welcome" she told her mom "We usually order pizza tonight, what's the special occasion for you to cook?"

"Well, I'm going to cook my own pizza. I have a special guest coming tonight"

"Who?" Aria asked starting to take some of the things out of the bags.

"His name is Xavier" Was all her mom said before getting really angry "Ughhh, I forgot the pizza sauce"

"Do you want me to run to the store and pick up some more?" Aria offered, she would rather be anywhere else than in the kitchen right now hearing her mom talk about some guy she was going out of her way to make pizza for.

"That would be so helpful Aria" Ella said handing Aria some money for the sauce. Aria walked quickly to the car and drove out of the driveway. It took her a few minutes to get to the store and even longer to find the sauce her mom had asked for. After about 15 minutes she had found the sauce and was on her way out of the store. My mom is going to be so angry when I get back Aria thought, this took a lot longer than I thought.

That was the last thing Aria could think, because before she knew it or could even process what was happening she had been run off the road by a car behind her. Aria crashed into the trees in the ditch and everything went black.

Aria's head was hurting and she couldn't see anything but blackness. Then she saw someone she never expected to see again. Allison.

"Hey Aria" Alli smiled at her.

"Allison?" Aria questioned not being able to understand what was happening.

"Yes, it's me" she sighed.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just thought I would come and see how you were doing, It's been so long" she laughed.

"But, your dead" Aria spoke after a minute.

"Yeah well aren't we all a little dead inside" she smiled "How do you know your not dead?"

"I'm not dead" Aria said, what was Alli talking about she thought. I can't be dead she reminded herself, but then she noticed she only saw Allison. Everything else was black.

"What's wrong Aria?" Alli laughed again.

"Where am I?" Aria said wanting to scream as panic set in.

"Where do you think you are?"

"Allison this isn't funny! Where am I?" Aria screamed.

"Fine. Your not dead. Your just dreaming all of this, I guess is how to put it. You hit your head kinda hard and passed out so I came to warn you" Alli said but then she stopped and looked around. Aria wondered what she was looking at since everything around them was just blackness.

"What? What did you wanna warm me about?" Aria was yelling but Allison was just looking back and forth, he face beginning to fill with worry and fear.

"I... I..." Was all Alli could manage to say.

"What?" Aria screamed again, now in tears.

"Be careful, he's coming"

That was the last thing Aria could remember when she woke up, Allison had said "be careful, he's coming". Aria still couldn't see but she felt a blind fold or something covering her eyes so at least she knew she wasn't blind or dead. Wherever she was, was quiet. Allison words play in her head though and it broke the silence. Aria started to cry. What's going on she thought. Where am I? Why am I here? This is what Aria thought over and over until a familiar voice broke her thoughts. Aria wasn't sure if it was a dream but she hoped it was, there was no way this person had been responsible for the pain and fear she had gone through since the few minutes after she left the super market.