Oh, little liars.
Season One; Episode One.
In loving memory of Alison DiLaurentis.
Claire stood in front of the town church; she was shocked that it had not gone up in smoke yet. In Claire's mind, Alison deserved exactly what she had gotten. It had been a year, and nobody knew what happened to her, not even Claire and her former friend group. She hated Alison for everything she was worth, and she didn't deserve the media attention she was getting. Not for a split second. "Careful, stare too long, and it will burn." She heard a familiar voice. "As if it's not already burning with Ali and her web of secrets," Claire said with a bit of snark and looked over at the other brunette, Spencer Hastings. "If only, still nobody." She said, a little skeptical of Claire. "Don't worry, Spencer. This won't touch any of us." Claire was brave, maybe it had to do with being the older sister, or she was tired of Alison. Probably both.
"Let's head in before all of the seats are taken," Spencer said with a tight smile; she was still nervous, they had done the ultimate crime, and nobody knew. Claire nodded and took her hand, "Breath, Spence." Claire told her as she knew it was just nerves; she headed into the church with Spencer, sitting in the front pew and her sister and the others. She sat between Aria and Hanna, "No more pink hair." Claire said a little teasingly to Aria, causing the petite girl to giggle a bit. "It's just hair," Aria said as they heard the church doors, causing the liars to look back, and in walked one of the town's bad boys Toby Cavanaugh along with his creepy blind step-sister Jenna, but that's another story. "What are they doing here?" Emily whispered, freaked out, "The same reason we are, to pay respects." Spencer said, trying to calm Emily, "Breath."
Breath? The kid is creepy." Emily said as she ran a hand through her long black hair, "Easy, Em." Hanna warned as she still felt guilty over the Jenna thing, they blinded the girl, and nobody could undo that. "Creepy or not, everyone in town is here," Aria said as the doors opened once again, and in walked none other than Jessica DiLaurentis, the mother of the missing and Jason, Ali's older brother. Claire felt her palms getting sweaty and quickly turned around; she had a crush on the blonde hair, blue-eyed DiLaurentis boy...she always had, even before she was friends with his sister. But everybody knew that he was trouble; he and his friends were bad boys with money. Lots of money.
"I thought Jason was in rehab..." Hanna whispered a bit, more in shock than anything else. She remembers how trashed he was the night of Alison's disappearance. It was not a pretty sight. "It's been a year, he's probably here for his mother." Spencer chimed in and looked over at Claire, "Earth to Claire." She said, waving a hand in front of her face. Claire snapped out of it and looked down as her phone went off.
Still crushing on my brother? -A
Claire rolled her eyes at the text, and she assumed it was some jackass messing with her; it wasn't the first time.
After about an hour, the memorial for Alison was over, and Claire stood up quickly as her skin was crawling as she was ready to run out of that church. "I'm going to say hey to Mrs. D.," Claire said as she knew she hated Alison, but she wasn't that cruel of a person. "Are you sure about that?" Hanna asked as she raised an eyebrow; Hanna looked like a carbon copy of Alison at that moment. "I'll be right back," Claire said before walking over to the grieving mother. "Ms. Marin," Jason said in a very professional voice; he had his hands behind his back. He looked clean, but Claire couldn't tell. "I just wanted to say that I am sorry for your loss, I know that it's hard." She said, looking at Jessica; she felt cold chills. It felt like the older woman could see through her, "Thank you, Claire. Alison talked so highly of you." She told her, causing Claire too a little surprised. "That is shocking, and we fought a lot." Claire started to say as she never imagined Alison saying anything nice about anyone. "You kept her on her toes, in her mind; she liked it," Jason said with a slight grin; he wasn't shy about checking out the older Marin girl. "I'm sure." Claire said with a smile, "I should find my mom, but I'll see you around."
Claire backed away before turning and heading back to her former friends. "Relax, he doesn't bite." She said as she chuckled at their slightly terrified expressions. "Could fool me," Aria said with a small smile. "Why don't we meet outside?" Spencer asked as they all needed some space. Claire nodded and started to head off with her sister.
Aria watched as they all dispersed before finding her way to the back of the church, walking up the stairs to find Ezra Fitz, her fling from the week before, also her new English teacher, "You should not be here."
Ezra looked down at the student, and he couldn't deny his feelings nor this opportunity to write his book about Alison. "I thought my students could use my support." He said before stepping closer to Aria and kissing her.
Claire walked over to her mother with Hanna, "You two look over it." Ashley said with a slight grin before hugging her girls, and she knew that this was hard for them, "Funerals suck." Hanna said as she pulled away a bit, "It's not a funeral, nobody." Claire said it felt surreal, one year, and nobody had thought to drag any of the rivers.
"It's still creepy," Hanna admitted as Alison's case creeped her out, more than a little bit. She still had the scars from that night, the scars from what Alison did. She shivered a bit, causing Claire to shimmy out of her leather jacket and wrap it around Hanna. Claire felt bad that somehow this could come back to haunt Hanna. But she was confident that it wouldn't; she prayed that it wouldn't.
Hanna looked at her sister, she had questions about that night still, but it was blurry, very blurry. She barely remembered Jason wasted out of his mind, and it was the last thing she indeed remembered that night. She looked up as they exited the church, letting out a breath of relief. She hated churches, and she always felt judged. "Come on, let's invite the others out to the grill." Claire suggested as she looked for the other three, "Ms. Marin." A man said as he walked up the church stairs, "Yes?" She asked, confused as to who he was, "I'm Detective Wilden, and I'm the new detective on your friend's case." He said, flashing his badge, "Oh, wow...they are finally reopening the case?" Claire asked, raising an eyebrow. "They are, and I want to ask you girls a few questions soon, slowly revisiting witnesses and everyone who saw Alison that night," Wilden told them with a smile. "Well, when you are ready, we are, but today, we have a friend to remember," Claire said as she took Hanna's hand and headed down, not giving Wilden more time.
"Reopening the case? When was it ever shut?" Hanna asked with a frown, causing Claire to shrug, "Cops are weird." Claire said to ease her mind; Wilden knew more than he was giving off.
"One hour, the grill," Spencer stated before they parted ways; she headed over to her car, trying to ease her mind. She started to look through her purse for her keys, and she could feel his eyes on her. She climbed into her car and leaned back, taking a deep breath.