AN: So I know haven't done this in a long time - a double update, I usually cycle through the stories - but those of you who commented/reviewed (from both and wattpad) on the last chapter which I just put up Monday have left such great and encouraging responses that wanted to write this chapter and give it to you as soon as I could.
Thank you all for the continued support, it means beyond what even I can put into words, you love this story almost as much as me and way more than I expected anyone ever to, so enjoy this surprise, it was all your doing.
xo Lina
Emily's POV
I had asked Caleb what he meant and I had gotten the answer I know I wanted to hear but something about actually hearing it, actually believing and thinking about what was to come, scared me. This was the goal after all, to get everyone back home and safe and take Charles down, but I couldn't wrap my damaged head around that idea, because until it was actually done and over with, that's all it was, just an idea.
Caleb held his hand out for me to take and I realized how stuck I must look in the doorway, thinking how we were actually going to pull this off. So we found a location, but what would we do; show up and ask nicely that he give everyone back as though they really were our dolls to begin with and he developed an elaborate scheme to steal them from the sandbox when our heads were turned? No, I didn't think so.
But what did I know? Practically nothing. So I willingly grabbed Caleb's hand and let him lead me to the living room where the rest of our group was, frantically shuffling around, Mona with the laptop at her fingers, Toby and Ezra talking in the corner and Alison leaning against the wall near the couch, eyes down. One look at her I could tell she was in deep thought. I didn't know how, but I just did. It was like my subconscious remembered things I was supposed to know and feel without telling me about them first.
Sensing our presence, Alison looked up and immediately our eyes connected. She could've looked anywhere else, but somehow the magnetism I had always felt towards her seemed to have been in effect, taking a hold of my gaze in hers.
There was that look again. I could recognize it on her face now from anywhere. She was worried, she was upset, but not at me. This look, I could tell she was beating herself up. I know she has been blaming herself for this, every little thing that she deems has gone wrong since...well ever, she has been putting herself on trial - convicting her actions, her words, her feelings, everything that makes her her - guilty on all accounts.
So I did my best to smile, hoping it didn't look as forced as it felt and I watched her eyes emit a minuscule amount of light as she forced a smile back. I wanted her to know that I was okay.
I was okay; it was partly a lie, but it was also the truth. What I said to Wren back there, Wren who was now pushed, knees up against a wall, still bound and muted with strips of duct tape over his mouth, was everything I had been repressing. It was the anger, the frustration and pain that I had been trying to put off since I woke up and since I heard what this was all about.
The person I became was like I said, pain's servant. I was hurting, I am hurting, and being so close to easing the pain by getting back the people who were so closely and intimately involved in my life made me feel like I would do anything to have that. It felt like he was just another obstacle in my way - although easier to deal with than the actual obstacles I've been battling - and I just wanted him to know what it felt like for every moment that I have taken a breath after actually dying on that gurney on the side of a road.
I had hoped he'd have a change a heart after hearing what it was he had a hand in doing to me, even if it was implicit. But he didn't, I could see the good in him, but he was in his own world of pain, and who was I to say his pain was less damaging to him than mine was to me. There is no scale that we throw our hearts on, our souls, and compare the suffering.
His pain was his own, as is mine. He didn't want to talk because to do so would risk the well-being of someone he cared for. So he suffered the physical pain to avoid the pain in his heart he would have to deal with if his cooperation lead to us hurting CeCe somehow.
In that sense, I couldn't hate him for that.
"Emily?" Mona was the first to speak my name after Caleb helped pry me from the bathroom.
"Yeah?" It seemed like she had been waiting for me, like she had spent the last 40-some minutes that I was locked away rehearsing what she wanted to say to me.
She scooted over on the couch and patted the space next to her. Reluctantly, I pulled away from Caleb and made my way towards Mona on the couch. Something about Caleb had comforted me since he came to talk to me that first night in the hospital. He's been so protective and I can't ignore the fact that he feels just like a brother should. And not just to me, I see the way he's been taking care of Ali and looking after her. I can tell they had some differences in the past, though not as big and Mona and Ali, but still big on their own accord.
Not to mention the way he works with Mona...the people I'm with now are great and they're not even the people I'm closest with. I can only imagine what having them all back will feel like. Somewhere, I'm hoping that they will fill in the blanks.
"Emily," Mona started, "Wren was able to give us the name of the road he overheard Charles talking about. We've crossed referenced that with any roads in Pennsylvania. What we wound up finding was one River Road in Weedville. The main forest we assumed Charles would be in is Wapiti but the problem is that there are over 8 state parks and forests in that entire area with trails and roads snaked all through the place, so it could be any one of those."
I was confused, "okay, but Caleb said it was time, why say that when we're not that much closer to getting them back."
Mona looked at Ali and tried to avert her eyes before I caught her but she wasn't quick enough.
"You, Ali, this was your," I paused ever so slightly, "doing?" I avoided using the word 'fault' and waited for her explanation.
"We all wanted you back out here."
"Why? I'm useless, I just feel like I'm in the way, I don't have a role, not a job, I just s-sit here a-an-and I cry and," the word vomit was starting to come up, "sh-sh-shit!"
I turned around so my back was facing everyone else, my knees firm against the side of the couch.
I could tell they were behind me, exchanging with their eyes what to do, probably wondering whose turn it was to comfort me.
"I-I-I'll be f-f-fi - I'll b-be okay." I took a deep breath and repeated my mantra, "I like the color blue, my eyes are brown...," whispering to myself while I thought consciously about how to breathe - inhale, exhale, in, out, "I live in Rosewood...,"
I don't know when it happened, but I finally opened my eyes after closing them sometime earlier and when I faced everyone again, they were all sitting around me: on the couch, the love seat, the floor, in a chair, all waiting, watching me with that slight furrow in their brows and a thin pressed line for lips.
"Em," it was Ali this time and I could hear her making her way towards me, feeling the dip beside me where Mona was sitting lessen and vanish, replaced by a new weight. My eyes had dropped to the space between my feet and I didn't want to look Ali in the face.
I didn't really know what I was supposed to do in the situations Dr. Pearson said I would have with my seizures, so I made this up and it helped calm me down. I had to spend more of my energy remembering what to say that I guess my body ignored the state of panic it was about to go into.
I never told Ali that I was having these frequent episodes, in fact, I kept it all to myself, so I can imagine the way she must feel, to watch me, someone who just a few weeks prior was her girlfriend, and her best friend, go through all of this and be utterly useless. My imagination didn't work that hard to evoke what uselessness felt like, I knew that one.
However, the strong connection I feel towards her was just enough to let my imagination conjure images of myself watching Ali writhe in pain, just like the times I know she's watched me. I let my heart fake that I'm deeply in love with her and then imagine what the pain of blaming myself must feel like.
This whole time I had been upset that she has been treating me like fragile glass, stop watching what she says or does because to her it's like walking on eggshells. It was the first moment that I acknowledged the immense torment she has been going through everyday. I decided it was the worst kind of agony: self-inflicting. My pain, though I could feel it in every inch of my body was her pain...she could feel it seeping in all the cracks in her soul. Cracks and fissures made throughout her life that she had just begun to fill with love and the people she loved.
"Guys," my voice was hoarse and my hands slightly shaking, "do you think I can take a walk?"
Ali looked like she was about to get up and give me some space when I reached out and held onto her wrist, "wait," she looked at me with wide, searching eyes, "come with me," I asked but I was afraid it didn't sound like much of a question, so I added softly, "please?"
She nodded gently and looked up at the men and Mona while I heard someone clear their throat. It was Caleb.
"I'm going to walk at least 30 paces behind you. I know this town better than you all do, and while I respect your need of privacy and you want to talk, I can't take any more risks with anyone."
He didn't give the impression that what he was suggesting was up for compromise, so instead I nodded in agreement and stood up, walking towards the door.
Caleb grabbed some things and shoved them into his pockets and Ali followed behind me, silently.
Before leaving, I turned to Mona, "Hey Mona," I had time to think while I was alone and I was tired of feeling like I couldn't contribute anything, what I found myself doing was trying to stand in Charles' shoes, "I was thinking, and you said something about the woods and Ali mentioned that the last two hideouts Charles had were somewhere deep in them: the first dollhouse, his lair, where me and Ali were taken," I shivered at the thought, "so maybe you should riffle through Alison's mother's things again and look for any connections to any nearby woods, or forests, you know," I shrugged, "stuff like that, their has to be a reason for each one, like an emotional attachment, they mean something to Charles or else why would he go."
It was quiet and as an after thought I added, "I mean it could just be the isolation, no one would hear or see what he was up to, I don't know, maybe I was just over thinking-,"
"No no no," she said, suddenly standing and walking over to grab something from her bag, she had this...weird, if nothing else, smile on her face and she kept nodding.
What I said must have really surprised her, like I showed her something she turned a blind eye to, and I felt proud in myself, smiling when she blinked out of her thoughts and offered me a "you're a genius Em."
The last thing I seen before I walked out was the gears in her head turning.
x-x-x-x
Caleb told us about a nice 'scenic' path that lead through a park near the high school, but it was kind of far and it was already on the edge of being dark out so he suggested that we take a walk through town, where it was as heavily populated as Ravenswood could get and pretty well lit.
I would've reminded him that Hanna and everyone else were still taken, regardless of the fact that they were in broad daylight in an airport, but that would've helped no one. If it comforted more to do it this way then I would only agree.
I shoved my hands into my pockets as Alison and I walked in silence, her arms folded across her chest. I was the one who wanted her to walk with me yet I felt like I was waiting for her to speak first.
"Ali?"
Alison turned to look at me, her arms still crossed and she hummed a soft, "yeah Em?"
"Thank you." Great, that's not at all what I wanted to say.
"For?" She kind of laughed nervously and I felt less tense about this, this...whatever the purpose of this walk I wanted with her was.
"Coming with me on this stupid walk, I guess I just wanted some fresh air."
Alison's POV
Emily and I had begun walking a while ago, but in silence. I thought she would want to talk about something, although the topic of our potential conversation was unclear. Even now when she thanked me, I could tell she didn't really know what she was thanking me for either.
She jammed her hands into her pockets a little bit harder and she answered me with "coming with me on this stupid walk, I guess I just wanted some fresh air."
Emily really just thanked me for going on a simple walk with her. I laughed inwardly...we used to take walks after dinner almost every night, I would curl into her side, our arm and hand intertwined and smashed between us, or her arm would be draped across my shoulders and mine wrapped around her torso.
But she didn't know, she couldn't remember, so here she was, thanking me for walking with her, completely unaware that this is what I would do every time.
Of course, I wanted to tell her that would never want to lead her, and that I would love to follow behind her because after all, home was wherever she was, but no mater what, I would always want to be right here -right beside her.
She was thanking me for the few blocks we were walking together, not knowing that there was literally no where she could go that I wouldn't go too.
"Oh," was all I said, "you're welcome."
In reality I should be thanking her too.
I wondered if she remembered me telling her that she was the one to come after me, she followed me to the west coast and this is what happened. I wasn't leading but she followed, and we were in this mess because we didn't walk together on this one.
"Alison, I don't know why I wanted you to come with me," Em started, which caused a strange mix of relief and disappointment in me, "but I just know I wanted your company. I was expecting, as I'm sure you were that I would have something to say, and I thought I did, but now we're here, and I don't. So..."
She just trailed off and tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth and I couldn't help but smile at her for it.
"It's okay, honestly, it's just nice to walk and try not to think about...all of this." I uncrossed my arms and gestured around me at nothing in particular.
"Yeah, I guess," her voice was low and still kind of scratchy from earlier, and she took a deep heavy breath.
"Em, we're going to find out where Charles is, I'm sure the clue you just gave Mona is going to be the reason why."
She just shrugged and looked straight ahead, "what are we going to do if we find where he is?"
She looked worried and I hadn't really thought about an answer to her question before.
"I- I don't know yet," I answered truthfully, "but when we do find out where they are, we'll figure something out."
"I just don't know what to expect. Are we just going to walk in empty handed and ask to let them go? Do we threaten him? But that won't make us any better than him, and what if it's a trap, all a rouse to just get us, then what?"
"Em," I barely said above a whisper, I stopped where we were and pointed to a green bench across the street, and while she followed me I continued, "Charles wants me. That much is clear, the only reason he hurt anyone else, was to get me to come to him. I hid from him the first time and he took it out on you, and Hanna, Aria and Spencer. The second time around, I came to him, but-," we reached the bench and I didn't know if I could remind her that she came after me, saving me while this happened to her, "either way, I'm his endgame."
The seat beneath me was cold from the first chill of night settling in and I could feel it starting to creep into my bones.
"Endgame? And what does that mean? You can't think that you're going to trade yourself for everyone else do you, you can't do that, we won't let you." I could hear the concern and worry but I didn't confirm what she was saying with anything.
"Emily, we don't always do what is easy, sometimes doing the right thing is never the easy thing, but if it's still the right thing to do, someone has to make that choice."
The wind had started to pick up and the branches hanging overhead from the old tree behind us started to sway and make cracking noises. Maybe it was just me, or this town, but something spooky always seemed to live in the air here.
"But that's not a choice only you can make, this concerns all of us, no one is going to let you go through with this." She had started to get louder, more worked up and I began thinking of a way to calm her before she started to experience another seizure or go into epileptic shock, or choke on her words...one of the many things I can thank my 'brother' and myself for gifting her with.
"Toby will call for back up, they'll be nearby, I can make a deal with Charles and if he doesn't take it, police will be there, there's no way he can outrun a gun."
"No," Em agreed, "but he can outsmart them. What makes you think he won't have cameras all over the place and monitors to watch everything, the moment anyone gets close enough soon turns into the moment they start all over."
I was close to having the fabled and dreamed about happy ending with Emily but I was close to getting rid of Charles and then I woke up in hell, so I knew exactly what she meant.
"Charles won't see us coming until it's too late. He may be a genius with tech stuff, but with Caleb and now Mona, he won't stand a chance."
"I hope you're right." Emily lifted her legs and tucked her hands under her thighs to keep them warm.
I hoped I was right too. "I will be."
When the silence returned, I started to think about after. After this was over, after we got Em's parents and the girls back, after...what would I do? What would Emily do? Would there be something for us?"
I started to think about after and suddenly the necklace I wore and the bracelet in my pocket seemed very heavy with uncertainty.
I opened my mouth but the next few seconds turned from calm to chaos.
One moment Caleb was approaching us, shouting something about Mona and then a loud cracking sounds were coming from the tree above us as and the next, Emily was shaking before she got up to run down the street.
My first instinct was to chase after her, which I did, and I'm sure that Caleb was right on our heels, confused as all hell but still right behind us. There were a few people on the sidewalk who Em ran right through, who I would apologize to as I passed them.
I called to her but she was fast and she had those long legs, carrying her farther from me with each stride. My calls to her went unheard or lost to the air, she didn't even turn around, and I could hear Caleb, getting closer to me, call her name too.
I was starting to think Em was going to just keep running until she crossed the street and just narrowly missed getting hit by a car. My view was temporarily obstructed but I seen her eyes widen in horror and in a way that looked like she just woke up from sleepwalking...in her case, sleeprunning. That was the last thing I seen before she tripped over the curb and onto the sidewalk.
Running as fast as I could to get to her before anyone else did, I found myself pushing through the man who was driving, ignoring the way he began to yell about paying attention and his insurance and what not. Caleb was closer than I thought because I could hear him talking the man down, explaining a bit about what just happened.
There was a small group of people gathered around Em and I elbowed through them, "back off, give her some space, please just back away, thank you."
There were some murmurs thrown in Emily's direction, who now sat, curled against the brick wall of the building in front of me, her knees brought up to her chest with her head in between them and her arms holding them together.
It was just another thing I could add to the list of things that broke my heart, however fragile and tainted it already was.
Approaching Emily, I took a few deep breaths, assuring the few people around us that I had her, she was okay, when I was actually unsure of both of those statements.
I didn't say anything else, I just curled up beside her and when I spoke her name, "Em," it was like I was calling to the Emily that I knew was inside of her still, the one who I know was even stronger than she is now.
She started to rock back and forth, the trembling in her hands evident when she gripped her jeans harder to steady them.
And I could barely hear her, but I recognized more of the mumbling as the same thing she started to say earlier. I moved closer and strained my ear to hear her say it all, "I l-like the color bl-blue, my eyes are brow-brown, I want to-to go to P-Paris, I have a bracelet with the Eiffel Tower on it, I live in R-Rosewood, I like swi-ssswimming, I live on Birch St., my first kiss wa-was in a library, mu-mu-my name is Emily F-Fieldsss."
I could feel it, the cramping in my chest, my heart tightening, making it painful to breathe. I was afraid to touch her and when I finally put my arm on hers, she flinched, gasped in fear and rocked faster, repeating over, the same thing over, "I-I,"
"You," I said with conviction, "are Emily Fields," she paused when she heard me, but kept her head down, continuing to rock herself, trying to talk over me, stuttering harder with the added movements, "you remind me of a mermaid," I continued, "you like to sleep with one light on in a tank top and shorts, regardless of the weather, you are strong, you are loyal, you love hard, you would never hurt anyone, you are kind, your parents' names are Pam and Wayne and they love you more than I have ever seen parents love their child. You are Emily Fields and you are my best friend and you are safe. Em you're safe."
She had gotten quiet, choosing to sit and rock in silence. She began to slow down and that's when I could hear the sobs ripping through her chest as she tried to calm herself down. I could see Caleb from the corner of my eye and he was keeping people away from us.
I looked back at Em and she was clenching her already closed fists in her jeans even harder, her knuckles turning an obscene white shade which should have been impossible on her olive skin.
She took a shaking deep breath and whispered, "I remembered."
I wasn't even sure that I heard her correct, "you what?"
"It wa-was the tree," she said in a louder whisper.
"What about the tree Emily?"
"It was w-win-windy that-that night too, I could hear the br-branches in the trees that night."
"That night? Em-,"
But she cut me off, "the night we escaped," she whispered as the words got muffled into her knees.
No One's POV
Emily's impediment with her speech was waning and the episode she was having began to subside. All she told Ali was that she remembered...she said she remembered when they both escaped.
But that was all she said, thinking about it caused her to go into shock again, repeating the same mantra but to Alison's surprise, Emily added bits of what she said, "I am strong, I am safe, I am loved."
Even hearing it, Ali could tell Em was trying her best not to make it seem forced, she could see that Emily was trying to believe it too.
So Ali joined her.
"I am strong," Em whispered.
"You are strong."
"I am safe." Emily's voice wavered
"You're safe Emily."
"I-I," Em was no longer having trouble with her words, she was instead fighting the tears from making it hard to talk, "I-I am...I'm-," she lifted her head and looked to Ali for help, tears burning hot and red down her soaked cheeks.
Ali's lip trembled at the sight and she willed herself not to cry, not yet, "you are so loved Emily," she burst out, both women leaning towards each other in a hug that was beyond needed.
"You're loved Em, your parents love you, Caleb loves you, everyone we are going to save loves you, Em," Ali squeezed Em harder into her chest, "I love you. I love you Emily, I love you and you're safe, you are strong, but you're safe, you're safe."
Ali held fast onto Emily, her arm in the reverse position she was used to, her arm draped protectively across Em's shoulders, her other hand on top of her head that was buried into her chest, moisture seeping through Ali's clothes until her chest was wet and warm.
Emily's grip was tight, her arms circled around Ali's waist, "I remember that day. I remember that day. The gun, the chair, the glass, the dark, the trees, you left me."
Ali tensed. A chill courses through her veins.
"No, no Em," Ali's brow knitted together and she knew she had to tell Emily why.
"Em, no, I didn't leave you, I went to get help, you took those bullets for me, you, you-,"
"I saved you," Em lifted her head and suddenly moved away from Ali's body. She realized that she saved the blonde for one reason - she loved her that much - and all of that lead to how she was now: practically immobile because of one memory, choking on words, shaking uncontrollably, sleep ridden with nightmares, voices, fuzzy pictures, jumbled thoughts, lacking an identity.
She wasn't upset, or mad, or sad, she was just...she just needed some time, thinking back to Dr. Pearson's words, "time Emily, time heals everything, even if not completely, it still heals."
She moved further from a hurt and guilty feeling Alison and stood up on shaky knees, ignoring the eyes of the last of the bystanders, and walked over towards Caleb, "please take us back."
He didn't speak a word, just nodded, and looked at Ali, waiting for her to get up and follow them before stepping a single foot forward.
Emily's POV
I don't know why I felt the urge to get away from Ali that quickly, I just felt I had to. I had saved her that night, she told me so before...when she told me everything that night in my room I had pretended to be sleeping, but I didn't make the connection that I really did save her at the cost and risk of my own life.
I know it was because I lov - it was because of what I felt for her then. But if not a new person, I am a different Emily. At least I think I'm not the same Emily who took two bullets for Alison. I know just a few weeks ago, I might have said I would do it again, that it was worth it, but ask the me right now.
Ask me.
I don't know that I can give the same answer. The images, the memory, every little thing about that day is now etched into my mind, fresh, like it just happened. And because of my condition, to me, it did just happen.
...the night we escaped
-A had us locked away in a room together. It was the first time since I tracked Ali's location and sneaked into the place that we were actually alone together. -A wasn't too surprised when I showed up. And I should've had a plan, I should've told someone else, maybe if I called the police just before I got here, then maybe we would've been out by now.
Maybe if I was smarter I wouldn't be laying in a pool of my own blood now. Whoever was helping -A turned off the camera, brought my feet back to the ground, untied me and caught me before I slumped to the floor.
From there, a bag was thrown over my eyes and I was mainly dragged - because I couldn't walk - into a room where I was thrown, meeting the cold and dank slab of concrete that was the floor.
"Emily!" It was Ali's voice and then next thing I heard was the slamming of the door and then I felt the bag being ripped from my head, my eyes meeting Ali's.
Her eyes could easily burn my heart to ashes and turn my universe upside down and inside out. Her eyes made my soul fall in love with her with no turning back. And even in my weakened state, I managed a wink and playful, "hey good lookin.'"
She half cry, half laughed and lunged to hug me, backing away quickly when I screamed in pain.
"What? What is it Em, what did he do?"
We were still on the floor and I was trying to get up but it was too painful, "my ribs, I think they're broken."
I winced when I tried to move from the floor, hearing her voice tell me "stop, stay still."
Then I could feel her hands just barely ghosting over my face, then down my neck, moving across my battered arms and bruised legs, flexing her nimble fingers hesitantly over my sore ribs, the tears in her eyes just seconds from spilling over.
"I'm okay," I lied, the talking causing me to cough abruptly, not too shocked to see the speckles of blood leave my lips and then trickle down the side of my mouth.
"Don't you dare lie to me. You shouldn't have come Emily, this is my fault." Her voice was distressed and I could see her hating herself for this. But this was -A, not her.
I shook my head at her, no way in hell was I ever going to blame her, let alone allow her to blame herself for this. i came after her, I followed her, I did. That was my choice. And I wasn't regretting it, not now, not ever.
"No, Ali, it's not. I wasn't going to let you leave me. You know where I belong."
She smiled and tilted her head towards mine, her lips centimeters from my cracked ones. She brushed a thumb carefully over the broken and swollen skin and wiped away the blood as best she could. Her touch gentle and soft, eyes on mine, exuding every ounce of love and apology for the situation we were in.
"By my side," she confirmed before leaning in to kiss me.
It hurt like all hell when she applied that delicious pressure to my mouth, but I masked my uncomfort in a soft groan.
"Ali," I said as I pulled away and touched our foreheads, "we're going to get out of here."
"Yeah," she said, without sounding like she really meant it.
"We've been here too long. If anyone was going to find us, they would've done that by now. This isn't the dollhouse, this is different Ali."
"Em, we already tried, the windows are boarded, there are cameras everywhere, the doors are always locked from the outside, there's no way Em."
"Do you trust me," I asked truthfully.
"Of course I do."
"Then trust me babe, I'm going to get us the hell out of here today."
She met my eyes and lifted her hands to very softly hold my face, "that's my killer," she whispered softly.
x-x-x-x
The images begin to blur after that but the next thing I can recall vividly was the final minutes we spent in that place, right before we were outside in the fresh air for the first time in the weeks since we had been taken.
Ali had managed to lock -A's accomplices in the room we were just in and I had just managed to stab -A with a shard of broken glass, stalling him so we could make a run for it.
Every door we assumed lead to the outside world was locked and there was only one corridor Ali knew we hadn't been before. We ran together, down the dark hall to stop in front of the last door. Of course it was locked but I lifted my leg despite the sharp pain radiating throughout and kicked at the doorknob just the way my dad taught me.
I did that once, twice, and the third time the pain should've knocked me out but the hinges creaked and the door fell open just a crack.
Ali reached to push it open but a strangled voice called her name and we both turned.
"Ali," -A groaned groggily, "you can't leave. I won't let you." He was clutching his bleeding side with one hand while the other was holding...a gun.
Ali turned away and started to ram her shoulder into opening the door the rest of the way and it started to give, I could hear it, but I could also hear the sound of -A cocking the hammer of the gun back, a bullet sitting in chamber ready to fire.
"Last chance Ali," he ignored me the whole time I was there. But now he was about 20 feet away, stopped in his tracks, slightly towered over towards the side where I stabbed him gun still pointed on his target's back.
Ali was working at the door while I stared into the mask which I started to assume was for the very last time.
One more loud squeak and the door was wide open.
"Dammit Alison, no!" -A yelled and before he squeezed the trigger, I threw my battered and weakened body in front of hers, arms spread, blocking the doorway with my body.
Two shots were fired. I could feel my body falling, slow like through a vat of honey and there was one blood curdling scream that pierced the air, I didn't even know who it came from.
I stumbled through the doorway, tripping until I crashed into the dirt. Hearing Ali grunting, bullets flying and getting caught into the thick door before it was slammed shut, loud banging sounding from the other side.
"Emily!" Ali shouted and rushed to my side, hysteria in her face and voice, "no no no, Em, Em, you have to get up, we have to go."
The agonizing, excruciating pain, like white heat was everywhere, now it was just intensified in my abdomen. I tried to move and just ended up rolling to the side, realizing that the puddle I thought I splashed my face in on the way down was actual more blood coming from the deep gash I had on the side of my head. I must have fell on a rock.
I couldn't move anything more than my lips, lifting my head just barely towards the door.
"The door is broken, that'll stop him, but only for a little while, we have to go Em." My eyelids were beginning to feel heavy and I struggled to stay looking at her face.
"You...go." My voice was weak and I coughed again, this time spitting on the warm, iron tasting liquid in my mouth.
"No, not without you, we have to go."
I had my hands pressed hard into my side where I was shot and I pulled them away to show her. I was losing blood and fast, no way I would be able to stand and run away.
"Go, go for help and come back."
Her eyes searched mine and I knew then she knew it was what she had to do, that I would not be able to run beside her on this one.
"I-I-,"
"You can do it. Leave me here, he doesn't know how bad I am. Hide me over in those bushes."
"Emily," she struggled.
"Do it, and you run, fast and hard, don't stop, don't," I began to cough, the talking making more blood move into my mouth, "don't look back, don't let him catch you.
"Em, I can't."
"You can, and you will, you have to save us now, you Ali."
She started to shake and the look in her eyes told me she was accepting the fact that she would have to leave me and trust herself and me that help would come for me...and in time.
She began to nod wiping at her face like it would give her even more courage.
"Help me get up, if I crawl, he'll see all the blood."
Ali was quiet for this. Or maybe I was screaming so loud I could no longer hear her.
When I was finally where I said, I moved to sit up against a dying tree and I waved at her, "go. Go!"
She kissed me on the head before standing and running. I watched her go, her golden hair whipping around her as she forced her way through the thicket.
She would find help. She would get to the road safely. It comforted me to repeat that to myself, while I lay there, the pain and loss of blood making my vision around the edges begin to blur and my head feel lighter than the air around me.
"She'll be safe. She'll find help. She'll come for me. She'll find help...she'll...be...safe." That was all that mattered.
It was the decision I was determined to make, to let her leave me, it was beyond hard, but it was the one I had to make to save her. I loved her and I would make the same decision each time.
I remembered even those last moments hidden in those bushes pressed up against a dying tree. I remember the strange peace wash over me, at least I wasn't dying alone. I closed my eyes and focused on what I could hear. Ali's steps gone, just the trees. The leaves rustling. The branches whining in the wind. Like they were crying with me.
I remember the life falling away slowly, each breath pulling it further and further away from me.
I remember. It all came back to me then; not thinking before jumping in front of Ali. I remember the way my insides felt. Not the vast pain in particular, just something stronger possessed me in those last moments: love.
Alison's POV
Em was disconnected from my body and standing up before I could blink, I was stuck in whatever feeling it was I had now. Something in the way she said it, I couldn't help but think she wished she hadn't.
"I saved you," she said in a deadpan voice.
She was gone before I could repeat to her this time, "you saved me."
But what was I supposed to say after that? Thank you? No.
Should I have told her why? Should I have told her she shouldn't have? I didn't know.
I just sat there, on the concrete, only remembering to move when Caleb looked at me with worried eyes, waiting for me to follow them back.
And when I shook the heavy feeling in my chest just enough to get up, I walked a few steps behind them, occasionally staring at the back of Emily's head, imagining that I could read her thoughts.
I wanted to know the things she faced. I wanted to see what she did when she got the glimpses of her life before this. I wanted to feel what she was feeling so I could tell her it was okay. Even with all of us around, I know she feels alone.
I like to think I know her better than I know myself...I know what each face she makes mean, I know most of the time what the look in her eyes is saying when her words can't.
But that didn't matter when she realized she really did save me. She saved me from the dreaded nightmare that she was now living in. I know that I would take it back if I could. And deep down, I think she was thinking the same thing.
But we both would either way right? If I had been the one who -A shot, Emily would be wishing she had protected me. That's who we are. She just didn't remember.
So with me contemplating what I would say to her the next time I had the chance, the walk back seemed to take shorter than the first time. Before I knew it, we were making our way up the stairs towards Wren's apartment.
Mona was the one to open the door, even before anyone knocked and before anyone said anything, she carefully grabbed Em's shoulders and led her inside, "I made some tea, come on, you can lay down over here."
I bit my lip because that should be me, taking care of Emily.
"Ali?" It was Caleb.
"Hm?" I sounded as tired as I felt.
"You okay?"
And I had been asked that so much these last few weeks, I was just over it.
"Are we ever okay? There's always something wrong, someone we know is always hurting, and we say okay so we don't have to talk about it," I looked at him and I could tell he was tired, "I'm not okay, none of here are. And we're not going to talk about it."
He seemed to have let the words sink in before closing the door behind us. He looked up and around and then back down at his shoes, "we'll be better when we get everyone back home."
"Yeah, then we'll just be a better version of okay."
Caleb shrugged and looked into the living room, "and you know what, I'll be fine with that."
"Fine is an okay word," I narrowed my eyes towards Em's direction who now lay silently on the couch, facing the back.
Tracing my line of sight with his, he sighed behind me and guided me to the kitchen, which was in the small apartment, a few steps to the right.
"C'mon," he coaxed, "one day Emily is going to wake up feeling better than okay, and you'll have to be there for her, stop blaming yourself.
I just nodded and followed his lead, sitting at the table that Toby and Ezra were cramped around. They looked at me sympathetically, knowing from Caleb what had happened.
"Where's Wren?" I asked, noting that the man was no where in sight.
"We put him in his room, don't worry, he's in his closet, we made sure there was no way he was going to get out."
"Why'd you move him," I asked.
"Um," Toby said in a low voice, "we just figured...that with Em, you know, maybe she wouldn't want to see or hear him, not after..." he trailed and I nodded.
"Thank you."
He shrugged at me with a small smile and when I looked up from the table, Mona was joining us with her laptop in hand and a few papers in the other.
No One's POV
Mona did as Emily suggested and she was able to pinpoint Charles' location within 30 minutes of them being gone.
She sat down between Caleb and Ali with a huff, "Toby and Ezra heard most of this already guys, so this is mainly for the two of you," she pointed at the both with her thumbs and continued, "I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but Emily was right. The places Charles' goes for his hideouts aren't random. We already established he likes being in the woods or whatever and know we know why.
"Okay so the first thing I did was pull up any information I could on the places where he had his lair, the dollhouse, where you were found near the Wash-Oregon border and then the area near River Road."
"Okay," Ali asked, "then what?"
"Well I looked back through you mom's things, her emails, her paperwork, and when I found nothing, I went back a security level through the Carassimi Group's financial records. Some where encrypted pretty heavily and some where damaged beyond hacking, but I was able to bypass the firewall and pull up the expenditures that your mom made specifically."
"Wait, how do you know Mrs. D. made those? Didn't Charles have access to those as well, unlimited might I add?" Caleb was staring at the screen for an answer and Mona smiled.
"Easy, if we're right and only Mrs. D and Charles had access to this account, then it would have had to just been one of them. The expenditures I cracked into were for big down payments, and they were all made years before Charles or even CeCe were 'let out' of Radley."
"So it had to be my mom." Ali said as a realization more than an actual question.
"Exactly, Wren admitted to never have been able to touch that money. He was getting paid through it, to a secret account of his own, but never allowed access. He also admitted that that was how your mom paid off the oh-so-fine cops of Rosewood PD. Nothing would trace back to them. What Caleb's new software did, that he just wrote, found a way to rebuild that connection. I don't know how your mom or Charles did it but that group of hers only made a one was transaction, and the trail was erased after the money was transferred, like the code just fizzled away."
"Ah," Caleb amused, "but like we all know, nothing on the internet is ever really gone. May I?" He asked Mona, with his hands perched inches above the keyboard.
"Be my guest."
Caleb pounded away at the keys for a few moments, "when this is all said and done, we have enough evidence to take down, anyone who ever helped Charles and Mrs. D."
"We're not just taking down the puppeteer," Ezra mused, "we're taking down all his dolls too."
"And cutting the strings," Toby added.
"No more," Ali demanded, "Em's parents, the girls...that was the last time he had anyone to manipulate. We're not his dolls to play with, and neither are they."
"Alison," it was Toby, looking her hard in the eyes, "we're going to end this, once and for all."
Ali lifted her chin, "then you had better make sure your gun shoots straight."
"Even if it doesn't...I do."
Everyone shared a look, "Ali," Mona added, "we're not walking in empty handed," she looked behind her towards a black duffel bag and Ali understood.
"Good, now what else did you find?"
Mona cleared her throat, "your mom made four purchases around the same time that Wren said she was thinking about taking Charles out of Radley. She made one just on the outskirts of Rosewood, in Michigan, another in Oregon, and the last one, Weedville, Pennsylvania. What they all had in common? They were all down payments on some run down cabins for sale."
"You think she was buying his lairs?"
"Yes, exactly, and the reason he loved the woods so much...it was the only time he got to see his family. We were able to beat it out of Wren that when Mrs. D would have her secret meetings with him, it was always somewhere nearby in the nearby woods around Radley.
"Wren said after the first few visits with your mom...ones where you and Jason went with her, Charles became obsessed with going up to the roof and looking out over the treetops, waiting for your mom to show up."
"Okay, but why so many different places? It doesn't make sense."
Mona sighed, "this is where I'm not too sure."
"Did Wren know anything," Ali questioned anxiously.
"All he said was something about CeCe saying it was for vacations."
"Psychopaths take vacations?"
"Charles does. I don't know why Ali but that was what I found."
"Tell her about Wapiti." Toby suggested.
"What did you find," Caleb was looking into the screen, bringing up the bookmarked map of the entire Weedville area.
"Okay, so when I was able to recover the paper trail of money leading to a purchase here, I ran that through the sort of real estate they have out there and it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but I was able to trace some of the money to a lodge on River Road, they have cabins for sale and rent for vacations. I asked about a Jessica and a Charles, but they couldn't give out any information, you know, didn't want to violate visitor's privacy."
Ali scoffed, "we have you two geniuses, just hack into their computer system, should be a cinch compared to tracking self vanishing money trails from a nonexistent company."
Mona laughed lightly and shared a look with Caleb, "we can't, even if we wanted to Ali, they book keep. There's no way to hack that, I even tried to look at their cameras, but they're so outdated that the screenshots I try to blow up turn into a blurry mess of nonsensical pixels, and that was at the lowest resolution and .5 times zoom."
Caleb laughed, "yup, they keep it all old school."
"So then..." Ali trailed.
"If we want to find them," Toby started.
"We're going to have to rent a real cabin in the woods," Ezra finished for him.
"This will be my first paper hack, I don't know how I'll decipher all the code."
"Oh no Caleb," Mona teased, "you mean all those complicated letters."
He chuckled and sighed, "my point exactly, you know I didn't finish school."
It was fine that they were keeping the mood light but the one person at the table who couldn't bring it upon herself to laugh was Alison.
She turned in her seat and look at the now sleeping brunette. Curled onto the couch and Ali wondered what battles she was fighting in her mind tonight.
"Okay, so I say we get some food and rest and tomorrow morning we head out. I would like to go now, but I don't think we can storm the castle like this."
"Yeah, Caleb's right, we need to recuperate and get our heads straight, tomorrow is going to happen fast," Mona concluded.
"It's just the beginning of the end of Charles' reign." Ali stood, "I hate to make that moment and the girls wait, maybe we should-,"
"Ali," Caleb was shaking his head, "look at Em, she needs to rest, we'll go first thing in the morning."
Alison did look at Emily and that made it clear what she would have to do: choose to leave like she had before, or finally let Em walk next to her on this one...if she even wanted to by the time she woke up.
Decisions, Ali thought, why do some of them have to be so hard?
AN: So what do you think? You know what to do, leave those comments...What should Ali do? Does Em remember more than just that night? Answers coming soon! xoxo Lina