chapter 25 - Solution

I woke to a soft but insistent barking. I was laid on something soft and something kept barking in my ears and licking my face, I tried to open my eyes but it felt as if they were superglued together. I could hear voices float by me and tried harder to open them.

Jason. he was sitting near me looking from me to the floor.

"am I dead?"

on cue he looked at me and ran over. I was engulfed in hugs immediately.

"Easy there killer"

"Bella how are you feeling? you want some water?"

a straw was pushed between my lips. instinctively I drank. Juice. Banana with sour berries. yum. I drank a few gulps before it was pulled back. I blinked a few times and saw that I was in a basement, laying on an old sofa near the darkroom.

"Bella what happened?"

"How did I get here?"

Jason and i asked at the same time. huffing in a matter identical to his sisters he replied

"I was cleaning up in here when i heard barking coming from the floor. I opened the trapdoor and zoe was there. she led me to you. You were buried underneath some wood chunks. I brought you here and was ready to call an ambulance if you slept any longer"

"when was that?"

"three hours ago. what were you doing down there?"

"i had a hunch and decided to check it out. I was right too"

"what was it"

I bit my lip. Ali is his sister and he should know but if I manage to stop her then no one will have to know and no wounds will have to be reopened.

"Someone has been terrorising the girls and I finally figured out who."

"who?"

"I can't tell you that"

"fine"

he huffed and for a moment I thought he'd stomp his foot but instead he laid next to me handing me the juice again. Zoe was in a state of different browns and was barking happily and snuggling up to Jason I let my eyes close. When I woke up again it was early afternoon and I knew I had to go. After this morning I knew I - we had to act fast. I left Zoe with Jason, kissed him on the cheek and went home to shower and change. I had a message from dad saying he'd be here tonight along with mom and I sent him a voice mail of my own explaining everything that had happened here. Including Alison's rape, the N.A.T. club, the proof that the dead girl in Alison's house wasn't Alison, the copy of the Membership Book of N.A.T., all the videos I had proving Alison was still alive and responsible for the sudden deaths and last but not least my plans for the evening. I told him where to find the evidence needed and what to do incase Hanna, Aria, Spencer, Emily and I went missing as well.

A phonecall later and the four Liars were sitting in my living room. Time to come clean. Sorta.

"I know who A is"

they all looked stunned.

"who"

they asked in one voice

"Alison"

they went chalk pale.

"are you sure?"

Spencer asked. I smiled and nodded

"she broke into my house today but the alarm scared her off. I followed her."

A white lie sometimes is better than the truth. I raised a hand to stop Hanna from interrupting

"she came in through the basement hatch. The same basement hatch all of our houses have. i decided to follow and confront her. she admitted to killing Ian and the girl that posed as her as well as Jenna and was behind Garrett's suicide"

they were stunned, scared and angry all at the same time.

"What do we do?"

the usually soft Emily asked in a hard voice.

"We lure her to us"

Spencer said in a dead voice.

"how?"

Hanna asked

"a sleepover. Identical to the last one"

"a sleepover? as in Spencer's barn and all that?"

aria asked following my train of thought.

"and when she shows up..."

"... we get our answers"

"how do we do this?"

Hanna asked in a business like tone

"Hanna call moan. ask something trivial and then tell her we're having a sleepover at Spencer's barn. her big mouth will broadcast it fast enough. Aria, you and Emily go get supplies. Spencer ask Melissa for the barn. you and I will decorate it exactly the same"

I gave them orders and two hours later we were changed into working out clothes that could pass for pjs with running shoes on out feet, all in different colours. I was pink, aria was green, Emily had orange, Hanna was yellow and Spencer red, sitting on pillows around the coffee table in the barn. Melissa had returned from Philadelphia today and complained but Spencer told her we needed to do this to let Alison go.

"who was that girl?"

I shrugged

"no idea. my dad got hold on the coroner's report. The full report. According to it the girl died of blunt force trauma to the back of the head, had marks of strangulation and was buried alive. Also had no tattoo"

"what tattoo?"

emily asked. I smirked and pulled my pant waist down. on the left side, near my hip was an array of small stars around the letter 'B'. Then I turned around and lowered the waist of my pants and pulled the tape. 4 gasps were heard as soon as my N.A.T. tatoo was visible - minus the coloured eye. That was just to piss Ali off

"Alison has the same, only it's around the letter 'A'. We had them the day we turned fourteen. Something had happened the previous day and was the main reason we left phoenix and moved here."

"And the other one?"

Spanker asked me in a hard voice

"I'm N.A.T. Spence. Its not an evil organization and it shouldn't be used to torment you. Alison was a member as well, but her actions caused her to be kicked out. In retaliation she stole the member's list book and Jenna took it from her. When Ali visited her in the hospital she took it back and the day of your sleepover the head of the N.A.T. of that time sent a recruit to retrieve it but Ali got to it first and killed the girl"

I gave them the abbreviated version and felt so good to actually tell someone that was still alive. The only alive members of NAT were Jason and myself and that alone was really creepy. the clock ticked 10. a strong breath of air hit the slightly open barn door. the soft lights went off. foot steps were heard.

"It's time"

aria whispered and we all huddled closer. Spencer and aria moved closer to the front door. Emily and Hanna grabbed the covers from the floor. I took a step closer to the shadows.

the door was suddenly pushed open. a girl with while pants and a yellow top stood there, her long blond hair flowing around her. She walked inside in long confident stride.

"Now"

I shouted. Spencer and aria closed the door. Emily and Hanna jumped on Ali with the covers pining her down. I turned the lights on.

"hello Alison"

Hanna said in her new queen Bee tone. Ali blinked.

"you!"

"i don't die that easily Ali. you should know that by now"

"what do you mean Bella?"

"Ali attacked you"

Aria's brain put two and two together answering Spencer's question. I nodded. Alison threw the covers off her and stood up.

"I'm sorry"

"for what? trying to kill us or for making us look crazy?

Spencer said in a hard tone.

"I didn't mean for it to go this far"

"what does that mean?"

Hanna asked

"i didn't mean to kill anyone. it was an acident but then everthing changed."

"you mean the girl in your house?"

"yes aria. I mean the girl in my house. I ..."

"left the sleepover to sleep with Ian. we already know that"

Spencer stopped the excuses forcing Ali to focus. I remained quiet.

"I went home to change because I was dirty"

she shivered in disgust and I had to bite back a smile. Ali hated being dirty

"but she was there. she was searching my house. I shouted and she ran. I scared her downstairs and she fell down the stairs. It was an accident, I swear"

"why did you run then?"

Spencer kept questioning her but didn't expect the cold laughter coming from Alison. she had a gleam in her eyes that was scary.

"aren't you going to ask me about Ian. you know you want to. Well if you must know he found out about me being alive and threatened to expose me."

"why did you mess with us"

"at first I wanted to help you. Hanna with her weight and Emily with liking girls only to find out that you stomped on my memory and changed the rules. no dolls leave my dollhouse until I say so."

"How could you? we were your friends"

Emily asked hurt

"you were never my friends. you were nobodies. I made you what you are. and I will say when the game's over"

Spencer lost it then. she attacked Alison throwing her on the ground punching her. Alison fought back and ran out the door. We ran after her inside the Hastings house, down the basement, down the trapdoor, through the sewers, to the openings, down the old central plaza, left to the old cemetery and church. Ali stopped to catch her breath but froze when she saw we were right behind her. the gleam in her eyes darkened. she threw her head back laughing a cold laughter that stopped by Spencer attacking her again. this time all the girls joined in a huge catfight. I pulled the gun dad gave me from it's holder around my ankle and shot at the ground to stop them.

It worked until Alison saw the gun and tried to fight me over it. She was fierce and we were rolling around the ground both grabbing the gun. Aria grabbed something and hit Ali from behind. she fell down. I crouched next to her looking for a pulse.

"she's dead"

"for real?"

Emily asked and I nodded. Hanna still quiet knelt to where my gun had fallen. she picked it up and fired straight to Alison's heart.

"for blackmailing my mother"

Aria stood and went to her, took the gun and fired also at Alison's chest.

"for making my brother to break into all those houses"

Emily mimicked her

"for ruining my college plans"

Spencer did the same

"for forcing Melissa to raise her baby alone"

I looked at them. They all had tears flowing down their cheeks. i extended my palm silently asking for my gun back. Spencer handed it over. It had only one more bullet in. I shot Alison in the head

"for making me wish you were dead"

we stood there looking at Alison's dead body for a minute. Emily cleared her throat

"what do we do now?"

"I don't know about you but I want to be able to see her body"

Hanna said.

"we cover it up"

Aria and Spencer said at the same time.

"right above us is the cemetery. why don't we place her in her grave?"

they girls agreed and Spencer left to fetch Toby's yard cart. Emily took off her goodie and covered Alison's face while Hanna and aria searched in the buildings around us for anything that might belong to Alison. Following the only instruction the NAT oldest member that given me I knelt next to Alison's lifeless body and cut the skin around the tattoo on her bag and placed it in one of Zoë's poopbag in my pocket. Then I searched for the casings of my gun.

Spencer came back then and we loaded Alison with everything of hers we found and slowly pushed the cart to the sewer system. I had memorised the blueprints and guided them to the sewer exits at the cemetery. Hanna broke into the building and stole 5 shovels. Breaking and entering has seriously become a pastime for the Liars. we dug up Alison's grave till we found her coffin and placed her over it. we put the soil back and returned the shovels. after sending up a silent prayer we walked slowly back to town and the Hastings barn. We took turns showering and wearing actual pj's.

In the candlelight, over the junk food we had brought I told them the story of Alison.

"when Jessica DiLaurentis was pregnant she had twins. they were born prematurely when one's umbilical cord was wrapped around the other's neck killing it. they were named Alison and Courtney. the doctors saved only one. Alison. I met her when we were a little older than toddlers. she was my first best friend, always there to either push me forward or hug me till the bad things were over. a day before her thirteen bday something happened and she changed. She was raped. That changed her. She became the snippy, bitcy girl you met. the Alison I grew up with wouldn't do all the stuff -A- did. Sure she would push you Em to come out of the closet but she wouldn't run Hanna over with a car just because she wanted out. Our first summer here Ali befriended Jenna. We all know how that turned out"

I finished softly finally letting go of Ali and saying goodbye. for the first time since moving back we all fell into a deep, peaceful sleep