Hello, thank you so much for your kind words, you've no idea what it meant for me, thank you and I'm here for you too, if some day you need it.
Now, this chapter was already done, some days ago so don't need to keep it to myself... this chapter will be very intense but be patient, it's always dark before the day light…
Chapter 67 – Death and all his friends
*** Alison's narrative ***
The human life is made up of choices. Yes or no. In or out. And then there are the choices that matter. To love or hate. To be a hero or to be a coward. To fight or to give in. To LIVE OR DIE…. LIVE OR DIE… that's the important choice… but it's not always in our hands and all we can do is hope we've the strength to cope with the hand fate deals us…
(In front of an old house in the middle of the forest, at night)
Emily grips on Alison's hand, they just arrived where the coordinates guided them and she can't stop the chills in her body, her six sense was telling her to leave, to run away of there as far as she could…
Alison caresses Emily's hand and says with a soft voice. – "Em, love… breath… it will be okay…"
Emily says with a trembling voice. – "No… none of this feels right…"
Hanna. – "Off course, it doesn't! We're walking towards a horror house, who knows, maybe Hannibal Lecter is waiting for us in there…"
Alison scolds. – "Hanna!"
Hanna shrugs. – "What?! It can be truth!"
Spencer. – "Shut up Hanna! Let me remind you who brought us to this situation…"
Hanna. – "Don't look at me like that Hastings! Yes I tried to handle Jenna by my own but the one who brought us to this situation, it's YOU! You put us in this hell the moment you asked us to come for Melissa's hearing…"
Spencer gulps hard and silence was between them until Hanna notices the watery-eyes of Spencer…
Hanna. – "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that…"
Spencer chuckles with sadness. – "No, you're right… I put us in this situation…."
Alison softly pats Spencer's arm and says. – "Spence, this is not your fault; this is AD's fault… not yours…"
Spencer looks at her blonde friend and the warm blue eyes, it makes her smile. The brunette takes a deep breath and stares at the old terrifying house…
Spencer. – "Ok… we're doing this…"
Hanna gulps. – "Remind me the plan, here?"
Alison. – "We go in, we get the camera, we rescue Aria and we leave…"
Hanna nods. – "Yeah… that easy, right…" (Hard gulps)
Emily was with erratic breathing, she can't stop feeling it was a trap; she just relaxes a little when Alison softly kisses her cheek. The brunette looks at her and she smiles when their eyes meet…
Alison. – "I love you, don't worry Em, I'll not let anyone hurt you…"
Emily smiles. – "I love you too and I'll protect you too…"
They interlace hands and hand by hand, they get inside the house.
Hanna. – "The door was unlocked…"
Spencer. – "Off course it was…. Who would wanna break in here?"
All the girls jump when they feel something running between their feet…
Alison gasps. – "OMG! I hate rats!"
Emily chuckles, she finds very cute Alison's reaction so she hugs the blonde and puts a soft kiss on her front-head, Alison calms down and smiles, feeling the soft kiss of the brunette on her…
Spencer sighs. – "I hate not knowing what this place is…"
Hanna. – "Look there is something over there…" (The girls follow her and Hanna reads some old mail envelops) "JLK… school for the blind…"
Emily. – "Did Jenna study here?"
Alison. – "I visited Jenna in a blind school in Philly but not this place…"
Spencer looks at the papers and says. – "The school operated until 2008 and then it was relocated, so, Jenna could have come here when she 1st lost her eyesight…"
The girls jump when someone emerges between the shadows, with a gun in her hands…
Jenna. – "I didn't lose my sight! You took it from me!"
The girls gasp. – "OMG!"
Alison demands with a Queen Bee's voice. – "Where is Aria?!"
Jenna doesn't reply, she just grins with a devious smile, when she hears Alison's voice, she points out the gun in direction of the blonde, Emily's eyes got bigger of fear and she quickly puts herself in front of the blonde, trying to protect her from any danger…
Spencer pleads. – "Jenna, put the gun down… you're not a murderer… you can still walk away from this… just give us the camera and Aria and we will walk away, pretending like none of this happened…"
The girls were staring at the blind girl and just focus in her until they hear wood creaking and door shuts….
Hanna. – "What was that?!"
Jenna smirks. – "We're not alone…"
The girls. – "What?!"
Spencer. – "Is AD, here?"
Once again the blind girl doesn't reply; she just smiles with a devious smile…
Hanna. – "Someone is upstairs…"
Emily. – "Maybe is Aria…"
The girls try to move but then Jenna fires into the air. The girls freeze and gasp of shook…
Jenna. – "You can't move! Not until you tell me where Wren is…?"
Alison slowly steps forward, Emily grips on her…
Emily pleads. – "Ali… don't…"
The blonde sees the fear on her wife's eyes; she smiles at her and says….
Alison. – "It'll be okay, Em… trust me…"
The brunette hesitates for a second but then, she decides to trust her and she releases Alison's arm. The blonde stays face to face with Jenna.
Alison says as she shows off her phone. – "Take my phone and it will guide you directly to Wren…" (She notices Jenna stretches her hand and then she says) "I'm not giving it to you, at least not until we get Aria and the camera back…"
They stay in silence until the blind girl decides to talk…
Jenna. – "I could shoot you right now… you know…"
Alison grabs Jenna's gun and nails it into her chest…
Emily gulps hard. – "Ali! Don't!"
Spencer and Hanna grab Emily, trying to keep her calm…
Alison says without hesitation. – "You wanna shoot me… then shoot!"
Emily cries. – "Ali… NO!"
Jenna smirks. – "You're not afraid of dying?"
Alison. – "I came here for Aria and I'm not leaving without my friend…"
Jena smirks. – "You're putting your life at risk for her?!" (Laughs) "Oh, Alison… you will regret it… you know, she's not worthy…"
Spencer. – "Why you say that?"
They were looking at Jenna, until all the lights got shut down…
(Gasps)
Hanna. – "What the hell…?"
They can't see anything; they just jump and gasp as they hear shooting in the air, around them and then the lights are turned on again but Jenna just disappeared from the picture…
Emily yells with fear on her voice. – "OMG! There's a black hoodie over there!"
Hanna points out in the contrary direction and says. – "No, he's over there!"
Alison gulps. – "We are really not alone…"
Spencer looks at the hoodies and says to her friends. – "They brought us here to kill us… I'm calling the police…" (She looks at her phone and huffs) "Damn it! I don't have service…"
The girls look at their phones and say. – "We neither…"
The girls grip on their arms, they hug each other and stares at their surroundings, trying to keep the eyes well open in sight of any danger…
Jenna. – "They thought me a lot of stuffs when I got blind but the one thing I learnt by myself… it was how to smell fear…"
Alison yells. – "We're not scared of you! Jenna!"
Spencer looks at Alison and says. – "Really, Ali! I don't think provoking her; it will make it better…"
Alison rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest…
Jenna. – "Alison! You've been the bitch… the missing girl… the dead girl…" (Devious chuckles) "Tonight, you get to be me…"
The lights power gets completely off and everything become dark… very dark…
Jenna. – "Now you see what I see…"
*** Music background: Out of shadow by Boris Nonte ft. Keeley Bumford***
Hanna whispers. – "What are we gonna do…? I can't see anything…"
Alison. – "I'll be the bait…"
Emily. – "What?! NO! Hell NO!"
Alison pleads. – "Em…"
Emily. – "NO, Ali…"
They were looking at each other when they hear some footsteps thumping behind them and then they hear a very close gunshot…
Spencer yells. – "Run!"
Alison. – "What about Aria?!"
Emily. – "We can't do anything for her, if we die in here…"
The brunette grabs Alison's hand and she forces the blonde to run behind her. The four girls found their way out of the house, they rushes inside the dark forest and because of the dark, they drift in separate ways…
Spencer was running, she yells the names of her friends, but she only hears devious laughs around her… she sees shadows following her and she panics, she's afraid… not for her life… but for the life she's carrying on her belly. Afraid, without really seeing anything, she doesn't notice she was running in circles and for her bad luck, she runs back at the old house…
Spencer sighs. – "Fuck!"
The brunette was running a hand through her hair and then she stops any motion, even breathing, when she sees the person standing in front of her… with a gun…
Jenna. – "Is that you, Spencer?! Is you isn't…?!" (Devious smirk) "I smell your fear…"
Spencer gulps hard, everything happened in slow motion in front of her eyes from the moment Jenna fires the gun in her direction…
*** Alison's narrative***
Yes or no… in or out… up or down… live or die… hero or coward… fight or give in. I'll say it again to make sure you hear me. The human life is made up of choices. Live or die. That's the important choice… and like I said it before… it's not always in our hands…
(In the middle of the dark forest)
Alison. – "Em… you're hurting me…"
Emily stops running, she notices how hard she was holding Alison's hand and she gulps…
Emily. – "I'm sorry, I just…."
Alison caresses Emily's cheek and says. – "I know…"
Even in the dark, Emily was able to see her blue eyes, those blue eyes she loves so much, and Emily was smiling, just staring at those blue eyes when they heard a gunshot and Spencer's scream…
Alison. – "OMG! That was Spencer! We need to find her!"
The blonde starts running trying to follow the resonance of the scream…
Emily. – "Ali! No! Wait!"
Alison's gets out of Emily's sight and the brunette can feel how her heart is pending in a cliff, just fearing the worse…
(In front of the old house)
Jenna drops the gun on the ground and her legs get weak, forcing her to sit on the ground. The blind girl is with her hands shaking… tears overwhelming her eyes as she can't believe what she just did…
Jenna cries. – "No… Toby… please don't…."
Spencer says as she presses her hands against Toby's chest, trying to control the bleeding…
Spencer says with watery eyes and heart wrenching voice. – "You followed me…?"
Toby chuckles, showing the blood coming out of his mouth. – "You didn't look okay in the hospital… I follow you… I lost you in the way back here but in the end I just arrived in time…" (Hard gulp) "I'm glad that I arrived in time…"
Spencer sobs, feeling the tears falling from her eyes…
Spencer cries. – "You shouldn't have put yourself in front of me… what kind of person put himself in front of a bullet…?!"
Toby chuckles. – "Nothing can happen to you… no on my watch…"
Spencer smiles, they smile at each other and they were staring at each other with lovely eyes until Toby coughs blood and his breathing becomes more erratic…
Spencer pleads. – "Toby, you're not dying! Do you hear me! You're not dying!"
Toby whispers. – "It doesn't hurt anymore… pain is gone… that's a bad sign, isn't it?" (Sad chuckles) "Yes, it is…"
Spencer presses harder her hands against Toby's chest, she gulps hard looking at all the blood…
Toby. – "Can I kiss you? Just one last time? Just to say goodbye?"
Spencer shakes her head in tears. – "No… please don't say that… you can't die… you will not die… don't you dare to die! You hear me! You can't!" (Tears) "You can't die… especially now…"
Toby raises his eye brow, he looks clueless and Spencer leans towards him and she softly kisses him in the lips. It was a brief kiss but it was all Toby wanted to feel right now. He smiles and Spencer takes a deep breath and reveals something to him…
Spencer. – "I'm pregnant… it's yours…" (She caresses his face and says) "You can't die Toby… you're gonna be a dad… so, you can't die…"
Toby smiles, he happily smiles…
Toby. – "I'm gonna be a Dad… a Dad…?!"
He keeps mumbles that sentence over and over, and each time, his smile gets bigger and bigger…
Toby whispers with a big smile. – "A Dad…" (He slowly closes his eyes but he keep smiling) "A Dad…"
He looked so happy… even when he closed his eyes…
Spencer shakes him. – "No! Toby! Don't! You can't die! NOOO! Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" (Crying and sobs) "Please don't die… please…"
A broken brunette curls over the body of her 1st love, crying without stop, griping on him, even if he was already gone…
(In the dark forest)
Walking with blind steps, Emily doesn't stop looking for her wife…
Emily yells. – "Ali! Ali! Where are you?!"
She was so worried for her wife, she doesn't sense the imminent danger around her. She steps over something and she looks down…
Emily says as she grabs the phone from the ground. – "This is Ali's phone… Wren location is in here…"
As soon as she said that, a black hoodie got out from nowhere and tries to take the phone out of Emily's hands. The brunette refuses to let it go, Emily starts struggling with the black hoodie over the phone because Wren's location was in it…
Emily. – "Don't! You're not getting this…"
*** Music background: War of Hearts by Ruelle ***
The brunette was struggling with the black masked hoodie until someone emerged from nowhere…
Alison yells. – "Don't you dare to hurt my Emily!"
The blonde throws herself towards the hoodie and she tackles the black hoodie, both of them, they just fall down, rolling over and over a steep hillside…
Emily. – "Ali!"
The brunette was planning to follow them but someone stops her, grabbing her from the waist…
Emily kicks. – "Get off, me!"
Hanna. – "Easy, Em, it's me!"
Emily. – "Hann?!" (She points out towards the steep hillside and says) "Ali fell down there with a black hoodie, I need to follow her…"
Hanna looks at the steep hillside and says. – "It's dangerous if we go through that rode…" (She looks around and says) "I think I know another way to reach them faster…"
Hanna tries to drag the brunette with her but the brunette doesn't move, Emily keeps looking at the steep hillside…
Hanna. – "Em, trust me… I was down there just minutes ago… I know how we can go there… it's close to a cliff…"
Emily hesitates for a second but at the end, she nods and follows Hanna. As Emily was on her way toward Alison; the blonde kept rolling with the hoodie, the entire steep hillside until they got in flat ground. Lying down on the ground, Alison slowly moves, feeling her entire body aching; she looks around and she gulps hard when she notices how close they're from a very dangerous cliff…
Alison sighs. – "Well, that was close…" (She touches her head) "Augh…"
The blonde looks at her fingertips and notices the blood; it looks like she hit her head but not badly. She looks up and she squint her eyes when she stares at the black hoodie who was lying down too over the ground. The blonde steps up with weak legs, she rushes over the hoodie and grabs him from the collar of the neck; she pulls off the hoodie… the mask and when the identity of the hoodie is revealed in front of her eyes, Alison's mouth stays open of shock… of disbelief…
Alison says with a broken voice as she makes some steps back. – "Aria?!"
Aria gulps hard, she puts her hands over her ribs, it looks she is hurt, after rolling over that steep hillside…
Alison says with watery-eyes. – "We came to rescue you and you're working with them?!"
Aria gulps. – "Ali, I can explain it…" (Her eyes got bigger of shock when she notices something and she yells) "Ali! Watch out!"
The blonde was so hurt by the situation; finding out Aria was working for AD was such a shock for her that she didn't notice AD's presence, standing behind her, until it was too late.
Aria screams. – "Don't hurt her! Please!"
The little brunette takes off the black hoodie she was wearing and throws it at the yawning chasm of the cliff. She tries to help Alison but AD was stronger than her and AD just punches Aria very hard and the little brunette lies down on the ground unconscious…
Alison gets angry, she struggles with the masked hoodie but she was out of strength after rolling so much over the steep hillside. AD pushes her and the blonde loses balance, she trips and she almost falls from the cliff. With all her strength she's gripping on the edge of the cliff, trying to don't fall, she looks down and she gulps hard, staring at the yawning chasm below her…
(Very close to the cliff)
*** Music background: Breath by Fleurie ***
Emily was turning her head from one side to another. – "I don't see them, Hann…"
Hanna stops walking as her eyes notice something; she points out towards the cliff and says with fear…
Hanna. – "Em! Look! Over there!"
Emiy looks at the same direction and she can feel the chills, she can feel how her heart quivers as she's watching the love of her life, hanging on the edge of a cliff. The brunette starts running towards the blonde and her friend just tries to keep her pace but Emily is faster than her, Hanna just looks at her friend who is getting far away from her…
Hanna yells. – "Em! Careful! There's a hoodie out there!"
The brunette doesn't care, she just runs towards her wife, as fast as she can… just praying to get in time and as Emily was rushing towards Alison, the blonde was struggling up the incline cliff, trying to climb. Just beneath, AD is looking down at her. He smiles with a devious smile as he sees the blonde clinging for her life…
Alison's efforts are useless when AD holds her from the neck, Alison struggles with AD's arm as she can feel the knot in her throat, the strong squeezing of AD, it was suffocating her breathing. AD takes off its mask and pulls her closer; face to face, without masks, Alison's eyes got bigger of shock when AD reveals its identity to her…
Alison gasps. – "OMG! You're AD!"
AD smirks with a devious smile and says. – "Long live the Queen…"
Emily was running towards the cliff and she was just 1 meter of distance when she saw AD, releasing Alison from its grip and pushing her… making the blonde to slide down the yawning chasm of the cliff…
Emily screams. – "NOOOOO!"
AD walks away and Emily trips, she crawls towards the edge of the cliff, she looks down at it and she stretches her arms, trying to catch Alison but she can't reach her… the blonde is too far from her… they are just able to see at each other with fear…
Alison screams. – "Em!"
Emily screams. – "Ali!"
The blonde falls, she disappears into the thundering mist of the yawning chasm, just in front of Emily's eyes… and Emily feels like dying, just watching the love of her life falling from that cliff…
Emily cries screaming. – "NOOOO!"
The brunette tries to jump from the cliff, trying to follow the blonde but Hanna stops her…
Hanna. – "Em, don't!"
Emily struggles with Hanna, she kicks, she pushes but Hanna hugs her tight, refusing to let her go too…
Hanna says with tears. – "Please, Em… don't…"
Emily curls on the ground; she cries with a huge sorrow in her chest, tears don't stop to flow from her eyes. The loud crying of the brunette was hearing in the entire forest… an inconsolable sorrow. Hanna gulps hard looking at the broken brunette, she sighs hard and she just hugs Emily, trying to comfort her, but it didn't work, it couldn't work because there is no biggest pain like lose your heart… lose your love…
*** AD's narrative***
Hero… monster… transgressions of tonight, shape actions to come; as friends turns into adversary. Tonight's loss leads to madness and they will become outcast… become dust. As factions dissolve and form, and lost for power enslaves us all… such folly and futility in the grand design. Curious how lines once cleanly defined become blurred. Perhaps it's time for them to be… redrawn… because this… this should hurt them like hell…
Next: Chapter 68 – Hurts like hell
