Hi, how are you doing? It's the holiday and I wish you a merry christmas even though I don't personally celebrate it. I hope you will like this new chapter.

NOT GIVING UP

Previous Chapter: Who knows, maybe I'll die in a week. Today I discovered something in me I thought was gone for good: Hope.

External POV The Lake House (Hell week over)

Exhausted by a long drive Ezra decides to lay down in the couch. Emily immediately ran to her phone. She had missed five calls and a voice message. She calls her voice mail and sits on the floor waiting to hear what the message was about. Aria was still deep into her reading of the microdots. They were all quite in the house when Emily jumped from the floor and ended up standing on her feet her face lightened with joy. She shouted and screamed.

"Paige woke up! She is awake!" She yells out of excitement

Ezra sits up and a little smile appears on his face. Finally! A good news in this crappy situation.

"Don't be so loud!" Complains a weak raspy voice. They all turned around to see Toby's face pop out the door.

Emily jumps even more and dashes to her friend hugging him with all her heart.

"Happy to see you too." He says with a genuine smile on his face. The first smile in a long time.

Aria came second and hug him too, less abruptly than Emily "So nice to see you back with us"

Ezra couldn't believe the strength Toby had. They didn't watch him in Hell because they knew it would be too hard for them to see their friend go through such horrible treatments. Toby lived what they couldn't stand watching. Toby grew in Ezra as an example of courage. Toby would never know how much his teacher respected him. Ezra gets up and shakes Toby's hand. This handshake was a pure demonstration of the pride, respect and admiration Ezra was feeling at this moment.

"I better go see Paige, I'll see you later. I am really loving this day so far" said Emily smiling from ear to ear.

She leaves the house and Toby looks around him. "Where are Caleb and Hanna?"

Aria looks at the floor; sorry to be the one to tell him what happened. She takes a deep breath and decides to let it out as it came. "Hanna disappeared, she fell in one of A's trap. Caleb went looking for her. We stayed here answering an enigma. It's been a few days. They still didn't come back."

Toby puts his hand on his face and tries to keep his head clear even if the lightening of the room was too bright for his tired eyes. "Did you check out the website to stay tuned on what was going on?"

Arai shakes her head feeling guilty. There were their friend and they never even thought of seeing how they were doing. Toby realises how scared they were to discover what their friends might have been going through.

"Okay, I can get why you chose not to watch. But we still need to check the site. It'll be very useful for us." He grabs the PC and turns it on " we'll use Aria's access or mine to see what is up in the community."

Aria takes the computer from his hands and he looks at her confused. "You should rest, we'll do it. You are going to need all your strength to save Spencer."

Toby nods his head and slowly gets up from the armchair he was in. He went back to the room and just lied back to sleep.

External POV The Hospital

Emily went inside the room to see Paige. She had a bunch of flowers in her hands. She felt ecstatic because she knew that there were two less worries in Emily's Worry Land.

"Paige, it's so sweet to see you." She says in a calm and resting voice. She put the flowers in a vase then sat in the chair beside the bed. She took Paige's hand and looked at her in the eyes.

"I wish you'd never let go of my hand again" said Paige in a little voice.

Emily could feel her heart beat faster, she felt good being close to Paige again.

"There was no more soda so I brought you some juice." Stacy comes inside the room and politely smiles at Emily.

Emily's eyes lower down as she remembers the last time she saw Paige's cousin. "Hi" she says in a very low voice.

"Oh, Emily, let me introduce you my cousin. Stacy, her face is the first thing I saw when I woke up."

"We've met before. She came to see you several times. We even had coffee a few times" Answered Stacy in a wide joyful smile.

You forgot to mention the ridiculously good ice cream tasting which ended with a kiss and me running away like a thief. Emily thought, she felt out of place once again. Maybe she should tell Paige what happened. And this especially when she wanted her back.

"Well, I must get going. Aria needs me; she still didn't find her perfect shoes." Emily had to get out of there. The situation was too awkward.

Once out of the Hospital she checked her phone. "Tell the truth or things could blow A"

What truth? About the reason why she took her pills? Emily didn't understand what A was referring to in that text.

External POV Dezo

"You gotta stop calling me this early. I'm a human too. I need sleep." Said Jason pissed off.

"And I have a girlfriend, which is why I need the whole day free. She needs to choose her prom dress and wants our outfits to match." He answers very serious.

"Wow, you really do love her don't you?" He chuckles, Noel nods and let Jason know that they were there for a reason. "Right, well I don't think we should be looking into Ezra anymore. I mean, he knows you're double agent status. If he was with A you would be dead by now wouldn't you?"

"You're making a point. I never looked at it that way. But then why would he know Lee? Do you think he just knows a side of Lee? That the Lee I know isn't the one he sees? It might be true but I still need to keep him under my radar. I can't shake the idea of him being a part of it."

"Maybe we should focus on Emily a little, she had some psychiatric issues the year Alison went missing." Noel looks at Jason thinking about an explanation and when it came, it seemed believable.

"Yes but, her friend was missing, maybe she was just depressed. It doesn't seem too alarming."

"I know that's what I first thought too but then I watched a video of Emily in a crisis at night with her mother. She was talking about Alison and Mona and Maya. You should watch it. It's a really strong moment."

"Ok, I'll look it up. But, just so we're clear. You're not speaking about me in your vlogs right?"

Jason looks at him shocked "Hello, I'm not stupid!"

Spencer POV The Dilemma Room

I hold my breath and try to think of something to say. I can't tell them the whole truth. Who knows maybe they'll kill me once I told everything.

"The night Alison died, we were having a girls night. We all slept at my house right after watching some comic movies and painting each other's nails. I don't know what you want me to say. I killed her, I did. There is nothing else to say." I keep up this lying game hoping it would keep A far from the truth.

The clock is ticking. Your mouth remains shut. Tic, tic. You better speak.

External POV

Caleb and Hanna were determined to get out of this place. Now that they were together again. They were convinced that nothing could ever stop them.

I said five ordeals, you only completed four.

"Let's end this. Hit me with your best shot." Said Caleb, Hanna was grabbing his arm nervously.

How many seasons of the Freaky Games are there?

"Oh my god, I know it! I just need to remember. Ok so there's Clearfield, the Californian…. Oh gosh why can't I remember?" Said Hanna pissed off.

"There was one in Nashville, I do remember that so for now it makes four, if you count us in it."

"Oh! The first time we looked at the list of the seasons we saw that it started back in 2003. And each time it takes about three years to end the season. So I think that's it." She says completely sure of her answer. She looks in Caleb's eyes and he decides to give it a shot.

"Four seasons, that's our answer" He shouts with conviction.

Good answer you might go. If you run fast enough.

Caleb takes Hanna's hand and they rush to the door with was wide open, it was very far from the place they were in and just like before, it closed a little each time. They could see the light and were afraid not to be able to catch the freedom it represented. The door was almost closed when Hanna fell on the floor. She wrenched her ankle and can't get up. Caleb doesn't notice her falling until he gets to the door. He turns around and starts running back towards her.

"No, go! You'll get me out! Now go. We can't stay here forever! We have to be smarter than them. Please Caleb. Just go!" She screams begging.

"Hanna. No! Don't make me do this. Don't make me give up on you." He says sobbing as he talked.

"You're not, I'll be fine. I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt me. Trust me on this one. You won't be rid of me for at least a thousand years. Now just leave and figure out the way to reunite the Epic couple again. I love you!" She says holding the pain in her ankle and the burning of her heartache.

"I love you even more."

He turns around and slips through the open part of the door. She watches him disappear in a bright light and hopes it's not the last time she gets to see him. Caleb got out of this cave with a thicker skin. He'd get her back soon, no one could doubt that.

Toby POV

It's crazy how much they got used to not having me around. I've been gone for at least two hours and I'm sure they still didn't notice I was missing. Well at least it gives me the time to do what I have to do. I have to spot A's building. For now I only have a few details and the surrounding area of Rosewood is much diversified but I just can't sleep when Spencer is still there. Not after what they've done to me. I'll be prepared for a fight. I'll bring my heart and soul and put them in my faith in Spencer. This nightmare will end and I am designing its destruction. A, creepy A. You've started a war without measuring the opponent. I'll put my creeps off my sleeves, and give my rage total control. Be prepared to a bloody battle.

I would like to say that some SPOBY scenes are coming. I have to settle the context first. Please be patient. And I don't want to seem mad or too needy. But I would really love more feedback. It really is hard to come up with fresh ideas and good chapters. I would appreciate it if you just told me what you liked in the chapter or didn't like. For example what did you think of the Haleb scenes. I've had no comments on them when a lot of you were asking for them. Please don't take it the wrong way. I just want to know if you like what I do.

HUGE KISSES AND PLEASE REVIEW.