AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a fanfiction of a fanfiction. I've been wanting to write something about the NAT club for a while because I found it interesting. The show introduced it but then it went nowhere and I haven't found many fanfics on it, so again, I have been wanting to write one myself. However, I couldn't really find an angle for it. I was actually going to try and connect it with my Dark Dollhouse and I still might do that, but then I read a fanfiction called Home by ItsLisey (7087567). It's a really great fanfiction with more to do with Emily and Maya and I highly recommend it. In her story, there was such a great set up for delving into the NAT club that I couldn't resist borrowing heavily from her story to write my own. You should read her story because it's awesome, but it's not necessary to understand mine. The story takes place shortly after Ian and the bell tower, right after Jason DiLaurentis returned and was acting sketchy. But anyways, several chapters of my story are complete so if people are interested, I will post regularly.
WARNINGS: Cussing, excessive violence, sexual violence, rape, talk of drug use, underage drinking, pedophilia, character death, drug abuse.
CHAPTER ONE
"I should have made it out. It should have been me." Emily slinked down into the firm hospital chair. Her eyes were lacking any light and her cheeks still had thin splotches of dirt on them. A thin cut, almost like an elongated paper cut, ran down her forearm. She rested her head in her hands and took in three slow, long breaths."This is all my fault,"
"It's not," Aria, just as dirty and worn looking as Emily, knelt down next to the chair and placed her head on Emily's shoulder. Emily jumped, just slightly, but then relaxed and let Aria's thin arms wrap around her own body. She felt even smaller than usual. Hanna crossed from the other side of the room and slid down onto the arm of the chair, letting her body rest casually into Emily's. "We were all there. It could have been any one of us."
Hanna, her eyes just as dead as Emily's and Aria's, only raised her voice just above a whisper. "Aria is right. Don't blame yourself." The door to the hospital room slammed open startling all three girls right out of their seats. Toby, looking harried and sleepless, tore in. Aria had called him on the way to the hospital. His eyes stopped at the hospital bed where Spencer laid, her eyes shut and quivering just slightly with REM and the beeping hospital screen with all her vitals. Toby wasn't crying but everyone in the room could tell that he was holding it back with everything he had in him.
"She's sleeping, right?" asked Toby, his voice strained. "Emily, she's sleeping?" Emily took her hands away from Hanna and Aria's and replaced them with Toby's. Her eyes were beginning to brim with the start of fresh tears. She shook her head, just enough that the first tear fell and dropped on Emily's and Toby's connected hands.
9 hours earlier
Aria's closet was the logical choice for their all black clothing they would need for what they would be doing that night. Hanna hummed the mission impossible theme song as they dug through Aria's closet and changed into different clothes but none of the other girls found much humor behind it. They were all swallowing nerves and trying to push away the sick feeling in the bottom of their stomachs. Hanna squeezed into a pair of black skinny jeans that were a size too small and a black sweater. It was too risky for Hanna to run home and get any of her own things; her mother could be home and stop her from leaving again. The Montgomery's wouldn't be home for another few hours at least. Aria slipped on a pair of boot cut black pants and a black turtleneck that made it unbearably hot but covered her smooth, milky, moon pale skin nicely. Emily had it the easiest; her skin was so tan and her hair so dark that she would blend in with the night much better than any of the girls. She kept her hair down to frame her face and pulled on a pair of black jeans she had left over during a sleepover at Aria's. She slipped on a plain, short sleeved black t-shirt. Spencer wore the same outfit as Emily and kept her hair down as well, figuring her dark brown hair could be just as valuable as Aria and Emily's almost black hair. Hanna was the only one who tied her hair up into a messy bun and grabbed a black hooded sweatshirt to wear.
Spencer grabbed an old travel on sized black duffel bag from Aria's closet. It wasn't too big to be noticeable walking down the street, but the inside had enough room to carry what they needed. Aria found three flash lights in the downstairs closet. Two were small and reminded Emily of the flashlights that they used on shows like CSI. Their lights were bright and white, not yellow, and they were small enough to slip in a pocket. The other flashlight, big, brown and bulky, looked like it hadn't been used in years. It was something you would use in camping or a weather emergency and emitted a bright yellow light. The flashlight was heavy and clunky but Aria slipped it into the bag. There were four of them, but three flashlights would have to do. Aria found a hammer and two screwdrivers that they could use to pry anything open that they might need to. Emily shot an apprehensive look at the bag and sighed. This was criminal. They were breaking into a house.
"I don't have my phone," Hanna dug through her pockets. "I forgot. I left it at the house."
"Mine is dead too," said Spencer poking at her black screen.
"Just stick with me or Em." Aria muttered, checking her battery life. "One of us will have our phones. As long as we stick together, we're fine. Let's hope we don't need them, anyway." She slipped her phone in her pocket. Spencer zipped up the bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"It's still light out," she pointed out the window. "How are we supposed to do this?"
"Let's just go through the trees and come out behind Spencer's house. We'll be able to see when Jason leaves and then we can go in through the back." Aria fidgeted nervously with locks of her hair. "We should have a plan, though. We can't just go walking in that house. We don't know what we're even looking for,"
"We know what we're looking for. We don't know where to look." corrected Emily.
Spencer collapsed back onto the floor. They couldn't leave for a while anyway and they certainly couldn't go barging into a house without any clue of what to do afterwards, especially not when they didn't know how much time they would have. "So where would Ali hide them?"
"Jason thinks that they are in the house." Emily played with a broken thread from her shirt. "Maybe in Ali's room?"
Hanna shook her head. "That would be the first place Jason looked,"
"You're sure Maya never found any videos when she was moving in?" Spencer asked Emily.
"Positive. She said that all the stuff in those boxes were old medals and notebooks. If she had found a flash drive, she would have told the DiLaurentis'. They came back for those boxes later, she said. So if they were in there, Jason would already have them. I thought the boxes were gone gone, but Maya found a note on her door the day we first met. I guess Ali's mom came right as we went in the house and took all the boxes back. She let Maya know if there were any more things of Ali's to call."
"Where else in the house would Ali hide a flash drive?"
"Guys, I think we're just going to have to go in blind." Hanna said seriously. "I mean, we have no idea where Ali could have hidden it. We don't even know if she hid anything. Sitting here and trying to figure out some of Ali's hiding spots are stupid. For all we know, Jason is just tearing up the house for fun."
"So we just go in?" Emily's eyes fell. "This is such a bad idea."
"If you don't want to come-" snapped Spencer.
"I didn't say that." her eyes narrowed at Spencer. "I just think this is a bad idea. I mean, if we had more time-"
"We don't have any more time. We barely have the time that we have."
Flashback
The sound of a drill awoke her from her gazing idly at the phone and Spencer drug her tired body over to the window. She couldn't see, but Spencer knew that the sound was coming from the DiLaurentis property. Jason had been performing "household tasks" since he moved in. Most of his days were ripping apart boards and digging holes in the yard. When asked, he said he was remodeling. Spencer didn't buy it. Jason was hiding something and she was determined to find out what it was.
She took the stairs two at a time until she reached her bedroom. From her own window, she had a decent view of the DiLaurentis yard. Jason was ripping apart the back patio board plank by board plank. He had a determined look laced across his face. She couldn't hear it, but Jason reached down into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Spencer saw him answer it. Her heart dropped into her stomach when, not too far from her door, Melissa's voice spoke very clearly into her own cell phone.
"Ian wants to know if you did it," Spencer heard Melissa say clearly. Across the yards, Spencer could only see Jason's mouth forming words. Carefully, she tried cracking her window and hoped the wind would carry his voice over. The window squeaked and, biting her lip, Spencer didn't risk opening it any further. Melissa was somewhere in the hallway and clearly didn't know that Spencer was awake. "Well why not?" Melissa asked next. "Look, I don't know what it is he wants from you but he wants it and he wants it soon."
Spencer dug her nails into her side. So Melissa was in contact with Ian. She had already known this, but hearing Melissa say it made it so much more real.
"Jason, please. I just want my husband back. You know just as well as I do that we never meant to hurt her. It was all a mistake. We don't deserve this."
Her hand flew up and Spencer clamped it over her mouth; she couldn't comprehend what she had just heard. Melissa basically just confessed to Alison's murder. She didn't say her name, though. Fumbling in her pockets, Spencer searched for her phone, hoping to record some of the conversation. She was defeated when she remembered that it was still downstairs on the kitchen counter. Melissa had lowered her voice now so much that Spencer had to press her ear firmly against the door.
"My parents aren't home this weekend," she said. "Ian is coming over tonight. I can get rid of Spencer. Why don't you come over? We can talk."
Spencer felt as though she were being suffocated. Ian would be coming here tonight. Her immediate thought was to tell the police. But really, would they believe the youngest Hasting? It was becoming like the girl who cried wolf. Spencer heard Melissa tell Jason that she would see him tonight and hang up the phone. Hearing Melissa walk towards her bedroom door, Spencer dove into her bed and flung herself under the covers so quickly she might have given herself whiplash. The door creaked open and Melissa poked her head in.
End Flashback
"I don't even know when Jason is going to my house tonight, or when Ian is arriving, or where he is arriving from. For all I know, Ian is next door. We don't have time, Emily." Spencer grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder, careful to make sure that it was zipped properly. "I'm going. If you don't want to go, you don't have to."
"Spence-"
"Seriously."
"Okay, stop." Aria stood up and went between Emily and Spencer. "Em is right, Spencer. But Spencer is right too." Hanna took the moment of silence to stand. She looked at every one of her friends, her eyes lingering especially long on Emily, and spoke.
"To be honest," she said. "I think we're in just as much danger sitting in Aria's room all night. Maybe the danger isn't instant, but..." Hanna looked at Spencer. "Spence is right. Ian is dangerous, and he'll be dangerous until the day he, Jason and Melissa are behind bars for Alison's murder. We need to find whatever Ian wants Jason to find. If we don't, this is never going to end."
"A little dramatic, Han." drawled Aria.
"No, she's right." Everyone was surprised to hear Emily say that. "It's never going to get better." Spencer didn't wait for anyone else to talk. She looked out the window, saw the sun beginning to set somewhere in the distance, and broke away towards the door. Spencer peeked out first to make sure Mike wasn't in the hallway and she dashed down the stairs, nearly tripping on the last one. Hanna went next and then Emily. Aria tip toed over to Mike's door and knocked. With a grumpy 'what?', Aria shouted that they were going out and didn't wait for a response. She took the stairs two at a time to reach the other girls who were already sliding out the back door and making a run for tree cover. None of them looked back.
It felt like needles were poking at the back of Emily's neck hundreds of times as the girls made their way into the trees. They had a few hours at least, but none of them wanted to still be making their way through the forest when it was dark out. The dank, moldy smell of moss and worms wafted up into their nostrils. It had rained so much lately that the trees, even days later, were still dripping tiny pellets of water onto their heads. Emily could smell the unforgettable stench of worms and she tried not to visualize them squishing underneath her converse. Hanna, grimacing the entire time, pulled the hood up on her sweater and yanked at the drawstrings so it shielded most of her face. Pesky mosquitos silently flew around them, narrowly dodging their flailing hands and trying their hardest to get a taste of their sweet blood.
We're prey for everything tonight, Emily thought darkly. The phrase made her think of Alison and the reason they were on this mission in the first place.
FLASHBACK
"Guys, Jason isn't remodeling. He's looking for something." Spencer said. "Alison had hiding places all over that house. None of us knew where any of them were, we just knew that they were there. Don't you remember?"
"I guess," Aria shrugged. "but what could Alison hide that Ian and Jason want? And what does it have to do with her murder?"
"Alison used to say that our secrets were safe with her because if she didn't want them found, they weren't. She took some of Jason's things all the time. She hid them. Jason would tear apart her room looking and he never got his stuff back."
"Okay, we believe you. They're probably looking for something. But honestly, what could be that important? How could Alison hide something to incriminate them after her murder?" Aria said, who looked over at Hanna who looked at Spencer. Emily's eyes were wild.
"The videos."
"Were destroyed..." said Spencer slowly.
"Alison wasn't stupid." Emily folded her arms across her stomach and looked at all of them accusingly. "You can't honestly believe she would have been stupid enough to have one copy of those videos. She was smart enough to give me the key in a place where I'd never even think to look. If she was smart enough to figure all that out and to rent some storage locker, who is to say that she wasn't smart enough to make another copy?"
Hanna cocked an eyebrow. "And then dumb enough to leave it in the house?"
"But Alison had lots of hiding places in that house," Emily countered. "Places Jason never found. Guys, Alison knew everything about us but we knew absolutely nothing about her. I bet that's what they're looking for."
"No, stop." Spencer pressed the palm of her head to her forehead. "This doesn't make sense. Why would Jason help Ian? Those videos were of his little sister,"
"Jason was a creep." Emily crawled to where Spencer had sat down on Emily's bed. "Remember that sleepover? She was the only girl in that house, Spence. She came over and she was really upset. What if-"
"-don't go there-"
"-Spencer-"
"-no way-"
"Could someone fill us in?" Hanna snapped.
"Me and Spencer had a sleepover," Emily explained. "It was when Ali was still alive. Jason was throwing this party at his house. Well, to be honest, I don't think it was a party so much as an outright rave. Alison came over really upset. I mean, she tried not to act upset, but she looked like she was about to cry. She was the only girl in that house, and..." she bit her lip. "The way she was talking worried me then, and the more I think about it now..."
"Spit it out," urged Aria.
"Emily thinks Jason abused Ali." Spencer finished for Emily. "Sexually, I'm assuming." All their heads turned to Emily.
"I don't know, Em."
"Jason was high and drunk that entire summer." Emily pointed out. "And the way Ali would talk about him always worried me. We never saw much of him but when we did he was a massive creep. He was friends with Ian."
Hanna took the time to work it out in her head. "Maybe,"
"None of the videos had Jason in them," Aria said.
"What if there are more videos?" Spencer shot out. "That actually makes sense. I mean, really, why would Ian still be sticking close to home? He wants something from Jason. Jason moves back into that house and starts ripping it apart. Looking for something makes sense. Him abusing Ali makes sense, even. Hold on," she began muttering under her breath with her eyes tightly closed. "Think about it. Jason is abusing Ali," Spencer hardly got out the word abusing. "He makes videos. Him and Ian, that is. They're high and drunk half the time. Ali always went into his room and took stuff just to piss him off. She finally finds out that Jason has been taping her and all of us. Ali takes the videos. First she stashes the ones of all of us girls at the storage unit. She hides the other ones separate."
"Why?" asked Hanna. "Why not keep them all together?"
"That was Ali's secret," whispered Emily. "We weren't allowed to know hers. If Jason was," she swallowed hard. "hurting," For a second, Emily paused. "Ali on those tapes, she wouldn't want anyone to find out. Ali didn't like to be shown as weak. She could risk the tapes of all of us but there was no way Ali would have let anyone know if Jason was hurting her."
"So Ali puts the tapes in the storage unit and then hides the ones of her and Jason at home." Hanna looked at the other girls. "I guess that makes sense."
"Jason doesn't realize his tapes are missing, but Ali starts blackmailing Ian because Ian took some of the videos of all of us. Ian was obviously the older boy," Spencer said. "Melissa couldn't find out and that was the best part for Ali. The secrecy of it all. She was always looking at Ian. I should have figured it out. The night that we had that sleepover, Jason finds all of his videos missing. He's completely stoned out of his mind and comes to my house to find Ali and bring her home,"
Aria interrupted. "But he runs into Melissa who is already following Ali into the woods."
"So they go together?" Emily asked.
"To find Ali," nodded Spencer. "They find her with Ian. Melissa is outraged that Ali is still blackmailing Ian, and Ian is shitting his pants that Melissa is there. Jason is still high. He's pissed that Ali is there with Ian and that she took the tapes."
"Jason struggles with Ali," muttered Hanna.
"Ali gets away from him." Emily whispered.
Aria frowned. "Melissa grabs a hold of her because she still wants to talk."
"Melissa holds her so tightly it cuts off her circulation." finished Spencer.
"So Ali falls," Emily was mentally trying to put puzzle pieces together. "-they think she just hit her head, but she really suffocated. That's why Ian got it wrong that night in the church tower. Maybe it was an accident, but they killed her. Jason thought that he was safe for whatever reason and that the videos didn't matter anymore so he had no problem leaving. He only came back when Ian almost killed me. That night that I talked to him, he was so determined to hear exactly what Ian said to me in that bell tower. It was almost like he wanted to make sure he didn't say anything bad. I know too much. Or, I knew too much. Ian knew that I distrusted him way too much and that I was determined to find out who killed Ali. I was a threat. We're all a threat," said Spencer. "That's why Ian wanted those videos. He thought they were the only incriminating evidence that there was but they didn't realize Ali split the tapes in two. Now Jason is looking for them. That's why he moved back and that's why he's tearing it apart. He thinks they're in that house."
"And are they?"
Spencer didn't say anything right away. The glint in her eyes was almost frightening. She stood up and walked to the window, looking out across suburban Rosewood.
"We could find out," Spencer turned back around and faced the girls. "Tonight."
"Are you nuts?" Aria hissed. "You want to go break into Jason's?"
"He's not going to be there," reasoned Spencer. "Him, Melissa and Ian will be at my house."
"And what exactly do you think we're going to find that Jason hasn't?"
"We knew Ali better." she said.
"Did we really?" asked Emily.
"Better than the guy who was probably raping her every drunken night," Spencer snapped. "We need to get inside that house and see what he's doing."
"I don't know." Aria said hesitantly. "You guys, this is really dangerous."
"The cops won't do anything." yelled Spencer. "They're not going to go in that house without reasonable cause and they would need a search warrant. Let's go in and try and find the videos and get out. Once we have them we can go into the station and say we found them in that storage locker. Em, you still have the key?" Emily nodded. "This might be our only chance."
They all looked around waiting for one of the others to say something. Emily was the first to speak.
"I'm in," she said quietly. Aria nodded.
"Me too."
They all turned to Hanna, who just rolled her eyes.
"This is such a bad idea. Whatever. I'm in."
END FLASHBACK
Like she swatted the mosquitos, she swatted the memory right out of her head. It wouldn't do any good to focus on anything but the here and now. Spencer was still leading the other three through the trees. Though they had taken these paths many times before, it had never seemed so lonely or quiet. None of them wanted to speak and they were all trying their best not to crunch too many branches or crackle too many leaves. It was darker in the trees than it was outside. The overly large green leaves and the tall pines gave them more than enough cover from the sun. A squirrel, chattering and running up a tree with an acorn, startled them all. Aria tripped but grabbed a branch just in time; unfortunately for Aria, the tree wasn't thick enough to hold her wait and she tumbled onto her back. Emily lent a hand and pulled her up. Aria winced just slightly. Her hand had a thin scratch running down the back of it.
"Does it hurt?" asked Emily. "I think we have bandaids,"
"I'm fine." she shook her head.
"Hey, look." Spencer pointed to the clearing up ahead. From a distance, they could see the back of Spencer's old barn turned loft. Even further to the right, the girls had a perfect view of Jason's house. He was outside with a long shovel. A huge mound of dirt was stacked behind him and he seemed to be disappearing into a hole.
"Oh come on," whispered Hanna. "He really thinks Ali would bury something that deep? Someone would notice."
"Jason is getting desperate," Spencer whispered back. "Ian wants whatever Jason can't find."
"Then shouldn't he be practical about it? Look in places Ali would have access to?"
"It's not as though Ali was never left home alone,"
"So she what, dug holes in her free time?" Hanna rolled her eyes. "Ali didn't like getting dirty."
Jason stabbed the shovel into the dirt. He looked frustrated.
"Maybe he's tearing up the yard for different reasons," Aria stood on her toes to get a better look at what Jason was doing. "He could be trying to hide something instead of finding something. Maybe he already found the drive and now he's just trying to find a good place to hide it,"
"That's stupid. He might as well keep it hidden." Jason threw the shovel down on the ground and wiped his forehead. Beads of sweat had been gathering there. He took a long swig out of the coffee mug that was resting on the porch and wiped his mouth. When he looked at his watch, surprise ran across his face and he hurried inside. The girls sat down on the dirt and watched as the sky grew darker.
After a half hour, somewhere amidst the dark, tangling trees and the dark shadows of the looming house, Spencer saw Jason's muscly, tall frame hunched over making his way over to the Hasting's household. He kept glancing over his shoulder with feverish glances, almost as if he was scared of leaving his home for too long. His clambering feet made loud echoes against the hard, cold ground and even though they were far enough away Spencer felt as though she could feel his vibrations. It was an odd, distant feeling. The moment he rapped on the Hasting door with his large, calloused fist, Spencer broke away from the rest of the group and took off at a fast, but quiet, run. Aria was right behind her, followed by Hanna. It was Emily who breathlessly collapsed on the dirt next to the girls last. Huddled behind the largest bush, and the only bush left, in the yard, Spencer slipped through the broken window to the basement. Jason hadn't fixed it yet, much to the surprise and pleasure of everyone else. Soon Spencer was unlocking the back door to allow the rest of the girls into the house.
Emily was caught off guard and how different the home was. It was no longer Ali or Maya's house. In fact, it was hardly a house at all. They stepped into the kitchen first. None of them could understand how Jason was living here. The marble countertops that had once gleamed shiny and clean were ripped from their places and left gaping holes in the countertops. Some slabs were broken and cracked in different places. The floor was so dusty that small puffs of dirt were dancing around their ankles as they walked. In the middle of the room where the island once sat was only bare, stripped down countertops and a whole mess of broken marble. Cupboards that once lined the walls filled with healthy snacks and kitchen supplies were bare; every single door was opened and some were falling off its hinges. The beautiful chandelier that hung above the island in the middle of the kitchen had no light bulbs. It was only their immense knowledge of the house that helped them navigate. Aria slipped the flashlights from her bag and handed one to Emily and one to Spencer. She held the biggest flashlight for herself and stayed close to Hanna.
There was garbage littering the floor. It used to be beautifully tiled but you could barely see the shiny blue beneath the chinese food cartons, paper plates, broken marble and heaps of dust. Emily kicked at an empty carton of milk and shuddered as a spider wobbled from its hiding spot to find another.
"Where do we look?" whispered Spencer, her eyes now scanning the living room. One couch seemed very untouched but the others had their cushions ripped open with what looked like knife slashes. Stuffing spilled out onto the floor like snow. Even the backs of the couches had deep, violent cuts in them. The wooden panels of the floor were ripped up and bent in different places. There were even holes in the walls that looked like Jason had thrown a punch to make them. Carpet that covered the stairs was torn up and shredded in the corner. The banister attached to the wall just four steps from the ground was pulled off and laying hopelessly against one wall. An old, rickety card table was in the corner far enough from the window that it couldn't be seen from the outside. Two bottles of whiskey sat on it along with an empty case of beer. A couple bags of chips were on the floor, and an old fold up chair that looked like it had been soaked in water and left to rust was home to an empty bag of dove chocolate. A garbage can was on the floor next to it looking sad and unused.
"Let's split up," muttered Aria, looking around. "It'll be faster."
"I'm not going anywhere alone." huffed Hanna.
"We'll go in twos." Emily walked to Hanna. "Hanna and I will go upstairs and you and Spencer stay downstairs. Look any place Jason hasn't,"
"You guys can have the big flashlight then." Aria switched flashlights with Emily. "If we don't find anything in thirty minutes, we leave, okay?"
"Deal." Emily and Hanna went upstairs to the bedrooms. It was difficult, mostly because Jason had put holes in the floorboards. They maneuvered their way around them and pointed their flashlight down at the ground before they walked. Together, Hanna and Emily went into the family bathroom first. It seemed to be the only room Jason hadn't completely destroyed. The shower curtain was still up and Hanna tried flicking on a light. When it worked, she immediately shut it off. The tiles seemed to be in place and other than a broken off medicine cabinet door it looked relatively normal. "I'll check the vents," said Emily. "I wouldn't put it past Ali to hide something in a vent."
"Too obvious, but still check." As Emily balanced herself on the edge of the tub and unscrewed screws from the wall vent, Hanna began digging underneath the sink trying not to disturb anything. None of them wanted Jason to realize someone had been snooping through the house. The vent cover fell off with an annoyingly loud clatter, startling Hanna and making her drop an improperly capped bottle of rubbing alcohol. She quickly grabbed a towel from the rack and mopped it up the best she could. "Anything?"
"Just dust." frowned Emily.
"Nothing here either. I guess Jason didn't see it as much of a hiding place either," Hanna rubbed her wet hands on her jeans. "Let's go into Ali's room."
By far, Alison's room was the biggest disaster. There wasn't any furniture except a mattress covered in a fitted blue sheet. The hardwood floors had been turned up. The walls had more holes in them than anything they had seen downstairs. Even the ceiling looked crackled and tampered with. The closet doors had been taken off and were thrown onto the floor near the door. All the old shelves that Mr. DiLaurentis had put up for his daughter were sitting on the floor in a pile and they were no longer boxy shelves but tiny slabs of painted wood. Emily went to the vents and started unscrewing them.
"Do you really think-" began Hanna.
"-yes."
"Hey, look at this." Hanna was across the room staring at the floor. She had come across a floorboard that Jason hadn't yet ripped up or hadn't planned to. There was a tiny nick in the corner of the wood and when Hanna pressed her foot against it, it wobbled as though it had already once been opened. "Give me that screwdriver." Wedging it between the floorboards, with barely any effort at all the wood slipped up and showed the insulation underneath. Hanna and Emily began digging through, pulling all of the yellow foam up and onto the rest of the floor. "Hey, hey, hey!"
"What?" Emily dropped her foam.
"A key. Look, a key!" Hanna was ripping apart the foam and Emily could see the faint outline of a metal key.
"How did Ali-"
"Her parents redid the floors in here just a few days before Ali went missing," Hanna said. "She would have had time to hide the key in here."
"Why didn't Jason find it?"
"Look at his pattern," Hanna turned around and slouched against the wall, taking a few deep breaths to calm her excitement. "He only ripped up every other panel. See, you can see what's underneath another board that wasn't ripped up if you put your head down here like this. He probably didn't want to do that much work. That's why he left some. He just thought whatever she hid the videos on was a flashdrive. He wouldn't think Ali smart enough to hide it in the foam."
"So what is the key for? Another storage facility?"
"No," Hanna examined the key. "This looks like a diary."
"So we find Ali's diary," said Emily dully. "That's not the flashdrive."
"No, but I'd love to get my hands on that diary."
"Hanna, we're not here for some diary."
"You're not curious?"
"Of course I'm curious," Emily blushed. She wondered if Ali had wrote anything in her diary about the kiss they shared. "But Ali's dead and we should respect her. Would you want us to read your diary if you died?"
"I give you full permission," Hanna rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go." Opting to leave the master bedroom for last, Emily and Hanna pushed open the door to Jason's room. The windows were covered by thick layers of newspaper, making it even harder to see despite having a flashlight. There was a small twin mattress with no sheets lying in the corner. A pillow was on the floor next to it. This room was just as undisturbed as the bathroom.
"Han," Emily looked around. "This is perfect."
"What is perfect?"
"Jason hasn't touched this room."
"Well it's his room," Hanna whispered. "Let's go. This is stupid."
"No, this is perfect."
"What?"
"It's here. It's in here. The flashdrive."
"Ali isn't that stupid."
"No, Ali wasn't stupid at all. Of course she would hide it in the one place Jason would never think to look. Honestly, think about it. Why would Ali hide anything in her own room? Like she said, if she didn't want something found or found out, it wouldn't be. Hiding it in her own room would be incriminating herself. Hiding it in her own room would risk it being found if looked for. Jason would never even think that she took something from his room only to hide it in there." Neither she or Hanna moved their bodies; only their eyes moved, scanning the room up and down. It was almost as if they were afraid of setting off some sort of bomb. Hanna knew that Emily was probably right. Alison wasn't stupid. Hiding the flash drive in Jason's room made perfect sense. Realization hit Hanna.
"There is a problem though."
"What?"
"Jason probably searched all of Ali's things that the DiLaurentis' brought with them to their new home. But he probably didn't look through any of his own things," Emily's heart sunk, knowing where Hanna was going. "Look around. There isn't anything in here but an old mattress, a duffle bag and a dresser. If Ali hid it somewhere in the furniture, the flash drive or disc is hundreds and hundreds of miles away from us."
"And from Jason,"
"Which is good and bad, because without the flashdrive we don't have a motive to give the police. But Jason also can't destroy it,"
"It's as good as destroyed if it's somewhere in Jason's old things."
"We need to still look."
"We can't go digging up floorboards, Hanna." Emily kicked at the ground. "No one can know we were in here."
"Then we don't dig up floorboards. Look, if Ali did hide it in Jason's room she would have never had the time to dig up his floor. Hers is a different story. That was her room. But Jason lived in this bedroom. All he ever did was drink and smoke and party. Usually the parties were here. It would have had to be a time that Jason left, and the chance that Ali had the house to herself are slim. She would have hid it in a place that he wouldn't guess but didn't take work." Hanna began circling the room. She ran her finger across the pale blue walls. "Check the vents," she ordered, stopping at the closet. It opened with strain. The creak along probably made Spencer and Aria downstairs jump. It was fuller than Hanna expected. All the boxes that they had seen Jason moving into the house were in here. All the girls thought that they were filled with items for the house, but Hanna pushed them away easily. Nothing was in them but air. Jason had been fooling everyone.
She felt around on the floor for any loose floor boards. She could hear Emily behind her fumbling clumsily with the vent cover. None of the floor boars were moving though, and Hanna made her way to stand up and look through the shelves. At the last second though, Hanna caught her eye on something. In the very far corner of the closet a tiny outline of paint looked heavier and thicker than the rest of it. With a single finger, Hanna ran across the line and pushed slightly. It didn't move, but all too curious, Hanna reached into her pocket and pulled out the pocket knife she had taken from Caleb's bag once when he was staying over. Poking the line carefully, she waited until it finally gave way. She smiled at her own skills. Carefully, not wanting to cut anywhere that the globbed paint wasn't, Hanna sliced away and finally a tiny square of wall popped out. It wasn't big enough to even fit Hanna's whole fist inside. She poked two fingers and snapped around like a crab until she felt something hard against her fingers. Praying it wasn't a dead bug or rat, Hanna pulled and out came a tiny Sandisk flash drive. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Hey!" It was louder than she wanted it to be but Hanna scrambled from the inside of the closet and waved the flash drive in Emily's face. She was dancing and smiling and Emily was waiting for Hanna to pat herself on the back.
"I can't believe you found it." said Emily, tucking it into her pocket. "Let's go tell the others." Hanna frowned.
"Can't we find her diary, too?"
"Come on," Emily yanked Hanna's arm and dragged her down the steps. Aria and Spencer were in the dining room looking confused and dejected. Neither one of them looked very happy. "We got it," Emily's voice came out strained and breathless, but Spencer and Aria jumped up from where they were seated on the dirty floor and ran to their friends. "Let's go."
"Please." Aria shivered. They began going back into the living room to make their way out the door. Instead of going out the back like they came the first time, they decided to leave through the front and walk that way. Not only was it quicker, but Jason left through the back and most likely was coming home through the back. They didn't want to run into them.
"I always loved this room." said Hanna sadly. They all stopped.
"Me too," Emily admitted. "Remember that winter that Ali's parents went away, and we told our moms that we were staying at each other's houses but we all really stayed at Ali's?"
"First time we drank," muttered Aria, feeling a bit ashamed. They had only been thirteen. "Ali was so pleased with herself that she knew where the key was to the liquor cabinet."
"That was horrible," Spencer laughed. "It took us maybe two or three drinks to feel tipsy and we threw up the rest of the night."
Emily nodded but walked over to the fireplace. "But when we stopped, we all laid here. There was a fire going and we talked about how we would drink again when we were fourteen, because fourteen seemed like such a better age." she rolled her eyes. "We were so stupid."
"Alison made us do it," offered Spencer.
"But we did it. We were such mindless drones."
"We really were." Hanna said, nodding and sighing. All the girls were quiet for a moment, basking in their own memories of that weekend. It was also the first weekend that the girls really became the group that they did. "Come on, let's go get a drink." All their heads snapped to Hanna. "Joking," she smiled weakly.
"Hey," Spencer walked to the fireplace and stared at it. She poked a single brick with her finger. It pushed in a little. Without waiting for the other girls to say something, Spencer dug her fingernails into the sides of the brick and tugged. She couldn't manage to pull it out. Her fingers were too big. "This brick comes out."
"We already have the flashdrive," Aria said nervously. "What else did Ali hide?"
"I don't know. But if Ali hid it, I don't want Ian or Jason to have it."
"My pocket knife," Hanna dug through her pockets but couldn't find it. "I left it upstairs."
"I'll get it." said Emily.
"We'll all go," Aria looked around. "I really don't like being here you guys. Come on, let's make it quick." They all found themselves upstairs in Jason's room. Aria and Spencer, seeing it for the first time, looking around at how bare and empty it was. Emily got to the closet before Hanna and found the pocket knife lying unceremoniously behind the stack of boxes that Hanna had put back in their place. She moved them around in order to grab the knife, and just as she was shifting the very last of the boxes back into their place, a noise from downstairs had her stomach dropping to her feet. They all stopped. Emily could feel her heart beating against her chest as she stuffed Hanna's knife into her back jean pocket. Downstairs, the footsteps stopped. It was entirely all too quiet in the house.
"Guys," she whimpered.
"Split up," Spencer hissed. "Now." Spencer and Aria took off before Emily and Hanna could protest. Emily saw them flee into Ali's room. Hanna looked desperately at Emily before running from the room as well. Emily watched as Hanna peered carefully down the stairs to see if she could see Jason. Hanna scrambled back and slammed herself against the wall, pressing herself so tightly against it that Emily was afraid she would melt into it. Hanna mouths Jason to Emily, and although she wasn't surprised in the slightest, a dead feeling crawled up her throat. Emily flattened herself against a wall as well, trying to snake her way into the master bedroom. She was barely breathing.
Hanna kept glancing down the steps just enough to see if Jason had moved yet. He had his back to her, but he was looking curiously around the living room as though he knew someone had been there. Emily looked at the clock on the wall. Their meeting with Ian had lasted forty minutes. How had the girls not realized they had been there for too long? At the end of the long hallway was a door that led to a tight, spiral staircase that went into the kitchen. The girls had used it too many times to count in order to sneak back upstairs. It was right by Ali's room and was much too small for a full grown adult to fit through. Emily, Hanna, Aria and Spencer were all still quite small. They could probably fit as long as they kept their heads down. If Jason stayed exactly where he was, they could sneak through the kitchen and out the back door without him even noticing.
Emily crouched down as low as she could and slithered across the floor to Hanna. She whispered so low that Hanna could only make every other word.
"The stairs," Emily pointed to the door at the very end of the hallway. "We need to go there and down through the kitchen." Hanna caught the gist of what Emily was saying, but she shook her head.
"How? Jason will hear us. That door squeaks."
"I'm a faster runner than any of you," Emily leaned over and glanced down the stairs. Jason was slowly circling the living room now. "Get Spencer and Aria. Go down the stairs and wait at the bottom. I'll through something down the stairs,"
"No."
"Come on," hissed Emily. "I can run faster and the second I throw it he's going to run up the stairs. By the time he does, I'll already be half way down the steps. I promise."
"Fine, but we're not leaving without you."
"You won't have to." Emily tugged at Hanna's shirt and pushed her towards the door. She watched her as she crept into Ali's old bedroom and found Aria and Spencer, and watched as the three of them disappeared behind the old rickety door. Fumbling in the dark for something heavy enough to throw, Emily finally settled on a piece of marble from the kitchen that had somehow made its way up the stairs and onto the floor. She scooted back as far as she could and waited until she could see Jason. He was still looking away from her but his hand was scratching the back of his head. With a deep breath and a quick look at the door, Emily crouched onto her knees and readied herself to run. The marble felt cool and smooth in her hand, even though the edges were jagged and sharp. Finally summoning the courage, Emily chucked the marble so hard it cracked the glass panel in the door. Jason whipped around but Emily was too quick; he didn't see her jump and run to the door at the end of the hall. Her hand was on the door when she looked back. The flash drive that had been in her back pocket had fallen out sometime between her scooting over to Hanna and back. Emily dove across the hallway and clutched it in her hand, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid Jason. His hand squeezed her arm so tightly Emily was sure it would fall off; the other hand had her by the hair, pulling her down to the ground with such an intense, blinding pain that Emily surrendered completely. She had just enough time to stuff the drive in her pocket and pray that Jason didn't see her.
"Emily Fields," he was talking through gritted teeth. He didn't sound angry though. Jason sounded pleased, which above all scared Emily the most. Emily let out a tiny squeak but Jason's hand caught her mouth before she could yell for her friends. He dragged her into his bedroom and locked the door with one quick flick of his finger. His fingers still clutching Emily's hair, he flung her to the mattress on the other side of the room. Emily's shoulder hit the hard wall and she groaned in pain. She had already injured that spot in swimming just a few weeks before. "What do I owe this pleasure? No, don't answer that." He walked to the dresser Emily and Hanna had examined only twenty minutes ago. He pulled out several pairs of old stretched socks and walked back to Emily. She had found the strength to struggle now, and she had curled herself up into a tiny protective ball on the corner of the mattress. Jason struggled to pull her straight so he could tie her hands behind her back with one of the socks, but much sooner than Emily had hoped, her hands were helpless. He double knotted the sock so tightly that the circulation was being cut off from Emily's wrists. She wriggled. Her phone was pressed against her leg in her jean pocket. "Are your friends here, too?" he asked, a smile creeping on his face. "That's okay, though. Ian will be over in a few minutes. He'll be really excited to see his sister-in-law." Jason stuffed another sock in Emily's mouth. The smell and the bulk both made her choke. Tears brimmed her eyes. "You know Ali laid there once," Jason was looking out the window. He had pulled back some of the newspaper in order to look out at a dark Rosewood. "A couple times, actually. I brought that mattress back here for a reason. Sentimental value, you know."
Emily struggled against her bindings and tried rolling herself off the bed. Jason only walked over and picked her back up, not caring how hard he thrust her against the bed.
"You know, of course. That's why you're here. You've figured it out. Congratulations," he knelt down next to her on the bed. He wasn't on the mattress, but his legs were pushed up against it and Emily could feel his breath against her cheek as he knelt down to whisper in her ear. "She was twelve when I first got her into bed," he husked. "Mom and dad had gone on a trip to Hawaii for their anniversary. Left me home to watch little perfect Allison." Emily was sucking in as much air as she could through her nose. She felt like she could hyperventilate at any moment. "The little bitch got everything. She got the biggest room because she was a girl. She had our dad wrapped around her little finger." He let his voice imitate Ali's; whiney and girly. "Daddy, I need a new purse. Daddy, I need new slutty clothes that show off my perfect little stomach and my perfect little boobs. Daddy, daddy, daddy." His voice went back to normal. "But I got what I wanted in the end. I got her," He stood up and dug through his drawer again. Somewhere downstairs, Emily knew the girls were standing around waiting for her. They had to know by now that something bad was happening. Ian would be here any minute if Jason was telling the truth. Get out of here, Emily thought desperately. Just go get help.
Jason came back to her side with a sly grin on his face. He wiped his hair back behind his ear; it was very long now, and as he leaned across her again to pull something from behind the mattress, it swiped across Emily's face. Emily shut her eyes tightly, hoping that it was all a nightmare. Her eyes flung open though when she felt Jason straddle her legs. He was sitting on top of her now, leaning up and staring straight into her terrified brown eyes.
"Yeah, she looked like that the first time too." he whispered, his tongue coming down and licking the side of her face. "So did you find my videos, Emily? Do you have them? I really miss watching them. I didn't want to kill her. None of us did. She was such a good lay," he groaned as he pressed himself against Emily. She could feel something hard against her leg and she shuttered. Emily whimpered and struggled away, but he pressed his hands firmly against her shoulders. "I couldn't find it. I tore this house apart. Do you have it? Do you have my videos, Emily Fields?" Emily shook her head. Jason laughed and looked away for a moment. Then, he brought his hand to her face. It traveled down and tickled her neck, then dove down the front of her shirt and his fingers wiggled between her breasts. Emily squirmed more. "Did you hide it there? No, I don't feel it. You're soft, though. Just as soft as she was..." His hand reappeared and traced down her arms. He let them slip under her shirt and press against Emily's firm stomach. Jason traced against the outline of her bra, too. "Nope, not there." He kissed her cheek again. Emily tore her face away. "Play with me, Emily. Don't fight." Jason wasn't smiling anymore as he unbuttoned Emily's pants. "Maybe the flash drive is here," He stuck his hand down her pants and down her underwear, feeling around. Emily kicked and screamed through the sock stuck in her mouth, tears pouring down her eyes. Emily bucked against him and tried rolling to the side but he had her so tightly pushed down that she barely budged. He brought his hand back out and smiled at her. "So where is it, Emily?" He began unzipping his own pants. "Where is it?" Emily cried more. Jason grabbed her shirt and yanked her up holding her as close to his face as he could. The shirt ripped and stretched. When he threw her back down onto the mattress, her head smacking hard against the wall, Jason stood and walked to his dresser. He pulled out a laptop and sat down on the floor. Emily was relieved that he chose to sit away from her. Downstairs, Emily heard the door open. She wasn't sure if it was the girls or Ian. While Jason was preoccupied with his laptop, Emily tried looping her fingers through the sock to untie it. It was difficult without alerting Jason of what she was doing. He stood up too quickly though and she abandoned her efforts. Jason took the sock from her mouth and Emily began gulping in fresh air. He looked down to examine her, and his eyes seemed to smile. His hand dove into her pocket and pulled out the flash drive.
"Now why didn't you just tell me?" he laughed.
"You're scum," Emily spat. "You raped and killed your own sister."
"No, I never killed her." he stuck the flash drive into his computer. "That was Melissa or Ian. I was just there," Jason shrugged.
"So why come back to Rosewood?" she asked. "You could have gotten away with it. No one would have suspected you. We definitely wouldn't have," Emily thought of the girls who were possibly still in the house. "We suspected Ian."
"And if Ian got arrested he could rat me out." Jason looked at her as though she were stupid. "He was there all summer. We sat exactly where you lay right now watching those stupid videos he took of you all changing and prancing around." He looked away as though remembering something in his past. "And he recorded all of you. I didn't do that. He thought I would, ah, appreciate it. Followed me around like a fucking puppy."
"Then why did Ian come back?"
"Your friend's god damn sister," he spat. "I have to protect Melissa, he whined. All a bunch of bullcrap if you ask me. Knocked her up and decided he wanted to be a daddy. Your stupid friend got in the way of all that and fucked everything up for the both of us."
"Spencer was protecting Melissa. She knew Ian was dangerous."
Jason laughed out loud. "Melissa is a jealous bitch who got angry that Ian was screwing Ali. She went off in a rage and killed her," The screen flashed a couple times. "Want to see my home movies?" He crawled over to her with the laptop. Just as he hit play, Emily heard a loud scream from downstairs. It was no doubt Spencer's. Fear crept up into her throat and Emily screamed out Spencer's name, but Jason shoved her face into the mattress. There were noises downstairs, a struggle, and the sound of glass breaking. Jason hustled out of the room and ran down the steps. Emily took the time to mess with the binding on her hands. She finally felt it loosen a bit as Ian and Jason came sulking back into the room, their hands clutching Hanna, Spencer and Aria. Their eyes fell to Emily on the mattress and Hanna tried tugging away from Ian to run to Emily. Ian pushed Hanna so hard to the ground that for a second all she could see was the room spinning. Jason locked the door and they were all in the small bedroom now.
"Come here, sis." Ian took Spencer and dragged her to the bed with Emily. He pushed Emily to the side to make room for Spencer as well. Ian held them both down. It didn't take much, as Ian was so big and both the girls were much smaller. "You got the flash drive?" he looked at Jason. Jason nodded and pointed to the laptop. Ian smiled. "I win, Spencer. This time tomorrow me and Melissa will be on our way out of here. We'll send a letter to your parents apologizing for not being able to attend your funeral, but don't worry, we'll send flowers."
"You can't kill us," Aria said from across the room. Jason had both her and Hanna by the arms. "You can't kill us without getting caught. There are four of us," she looked to her friends. "That's four bodies to hide. Four people to kill without anyone hearing," Hanna, looking nervous but trying desperately to look brave, nodded.
"Yeah. What she said."
"We'll be on a plane by the time your bodies are found," Ian hissed. He looked down at Spencer. "Our baby will know all about how it's aunt murdered her best friend. How all her friends covered it up because they didn't want to get in trouble too,"
"No one will believe it," Spencer spit in Ian's eye. He hissed, covering his eye with one hand and smacking Spencer across the face with the other. His nail scraped across her cheek when it ran across and a small trickle of blood slipped down to her chin. She didn't cry though.
"I don't care if they believe it," Ian lowered himself to Spencer's face. "As long as I get Melissa and my child out of here, I could care less about what people think of you." Jason stretched one hand to grab the laptop while Ian held down Spencer. Jason was scrolling through the files as if checking to make sure they were what they were supposed to be. The girls heard a little bit of audio and knew he was watching one, just to make sure, and even though they knew exactly what was on the flash drive none of them could stop themselves from twitching when they heard Ali's voice through the speakers. It was unlike anything they ever heard come from her mouth; it was weak, it was quiet, it was tired. Nothing about it was Ali, but it was her voice. Emily closed her eyes but opened them when she was greeted by Alison's soft, sad face. She couldn't see the video from where she laid, but any time Emily blinked she saw Ali's scared, small face. She was only twelve when it started. Emily shuddered.
"Cinema at its finest," Jason smiled. "I have to thank you, Spencer. I'm sure this was all your idea. Without you, I never would have gotten this back." He unlinked the flash drive and wiggled it between his fingers in front of Spencer's face.
"Just explain something, Ian." Spencer said. "Before you kill us,"
"What more do you need to know?"
"What happened the night Ali died?"
"Ali got exactly what was coming to her," Jason seethed. "She took my videos and was blackmailing Ian."
"But I don't get it," Spencer tried sitting up but Ian pushed her back down, holding her by the throat. "If Ali was being used by you," her eyes narrowed at Jason. "Why blackmail Ian into a relationship? She didn't even need to. She had the tapes already, she could have told at any point."
"She wasn't just blackmailing me over the tapes." Ian's hold on Spencer's neck tightened. "She was blackmailing me over what happened with you!"
"N-no." Spencer choked out. "She kept telling me to tell Melissa about that. She didn't need to start a relationship with you."
"Look, it wasn't a 'relationship.' I never loved that slut," Ian said. "I love Melissa. I mean, Ali was hot. But I love Melissa. When she found those tapes I took of all of you, I didn't want Melissa to find out. But I definitely didn't want her to find out that I kissed you. So I did her. Big deal."
"But why would she want a relationship with you?" Ian's hold on Spencer's neck tightened even more.
"Why wouldn't she?"
"Because." Spencer gagged. "Ali knew what she was doing. She was trying to protect me. She knew what sickos you and Jason were and when she saw you kiss me, she was afraid that you would start forcing me just like Jason was forcing her. She didn't want you, Ian. She wanted to protect her friend from you. That drives you crazy, doesn't it.?" She coughed, trying to find some fresh air.
"Stop!" Hanna yelled. "Stop, you're choking her!" Spencer's face was turning red now and she was having trouble breathing. Ian let go a bit, but didn't let his eyes wander. Spencer looked right at him as well.
"As usual you think you're smarter than you are baby sis." Ian seethed. He then turned to look at Jason. "You sure that's the last copy?"
"Gotta be. We're fine." Jason turned to Hanna and Aria, both of whom were at some point pushed to the ground and forgotten. They sat huddled together, Hanna nursing her throbbing head and Aria looking as though she was going to vomit any second. Ian was still hovering over Spencer, whose color hadn't returned to her cheeks. Emily had dry tear stains on her cheeks but her eyes were no longer wet; no, in fact, hidden behind her eyes was a look of pure determination that Hanna recognized even from across the room. Ian and Jason were far too lost in their own worlds to notice. There were four girls here now, not just one, and Ian was so focused on terrifying Spencer that he seemed to completely forget Emily was even there on the bed as well. Jason was hurrying around the room collecting items and putting them in his bag. They all watched, all but Ian and Spencer who were too engrossed in their stare off, as Jason collected the laptop, the flash drive, an old notebook and a box that looked heavy. He stuffed them all in a ratty old backpack. "Fuckin' Ali," he muttered as he pulled a small handgun from his bag and hooked it in his front pocket. "Still screwing up my life even after she's dead."
Aria and Hanna both had their eyes fastened on the gun sticking from his pocket. Emily, still tied with hands behind her back, hadn't noticed it.
"How could you do it?" Aria had tears in her eyes. "Rape your own sister? Kill her?" Jason turned to look at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.
"Ali stuck her nose in things that she shouldn't have,"
"It seems you stuck some things in places you shouldn't have," Hanna said coolly. Jason smiled, not put off by the comment. He knelt down in front of Hanna and toyed with the gun in his pocket.
"I remember," Jason put the head of the gun to his lips and pretended to think. "Hefty Hanna, right? Isn't that what Ali used to call you? Yeah, you always had a mouth on you." He let the gun trace Hanna's frame. "You all should know just as well as I do that Ali was a little bitch." he sneered, looking from Aria back to Hanna. "She was always taking my stuff. Trying to get in with my friends," Jason stood up and put the gun back in his pocket, much to the relief of Hanna and Aria. "That night that you all had the sleepover was supposed to be my night," he went back to his dresser and was pulling things into his bags. Socks, shirts, a couple pairs of jeans – Spencer finally tore her eyes away from Ian to look at her friends across the room, their arms tied around their backs completely helpless. Ian stood off her and began helping Jason. "Melissa called telling me Ali went stalking off into the woods. It was the perfect opportunity, you know. I'd always wanted to, ah, be adventurous. But I found Ian there waiting to make a movie, just like Melissa. Little shit has a temper," he laughed, nodding at Ian. Ian didn't smile. In fact, his face hardly broke at all. "Went all piss angry on Ali. Kind of funny, really. We were all drunk as fuck."
"So it was an accident?"
"Probably," Jason shrugged. "I don't know who did it. We all started fucking around with her. It just got too out of control. Ali said some cock-and-bull story about how her and Ian were fucking around every night and Melissa lost it. Grabbed her by the throat and didn't let go." It didn't even phase Jason that he was talking so nonchalantly about his sisters murder.
"So Melissa killed Ali?" Spencer struggled to sit up. Jason just nodded. Ian, however, tore from where he was standing and picked Spencer up by the front of her shirt. Her feet dangled just ever so slightly about the ground.
"You finally figured it out. Don't you feel smart?" he spat. "But guess what baby sis? I'm not letting you ruin her life. That's what I've been trying to do all along is protect her. We could have been a family, you know. If you and your goddamn friends would have stopped meddling. If you would have just sat back like a good little girl and moved on with your life," Ian threw Spencer onto the hardwood floor face down. Aria, Emily and Hanna all shrieked in protest, but Ian continued his tirade against his sister-in-law. His foot collided with one giant thrust against Spencer's ribs, and when he bent down to pick her up under her armpits, he gave her one sharp smack across the face. "My kid could have had an aunt. But no, you had to find out what happened to your stupid slut of a friend. You almost ruined everything!"
Spencer, through blood trickling from her mouth, hissed out: "Ali didn't deserve to die. She didn't deserve to be raped by her own brother or murdered by her best friend's sister. She was just a kid." Just as Ian got ready to deliver a blow to Spencer, Jason stopped him. He pushed Ian's fist away and Spencer dropped to the floor like some doll, her breathing slow and uneven.
"Don't kill her," his eyes narrowed, looking at the other girls. "Not yet. I don't want to leave that mess in the house." Ian looked back at Spencer. "Besides, we could have a little fun while they're still here and alive." Jason's eyes looked over to where Emily still lay, her entire body shaking. "You know, Ali told me a lot about you." He sat down on the bed again. "Your kisses. Your touches. Did she ever touch you like this?"
"Stop," Hanna hissed from across the room. Jason's head snapped to the blonde, but his hand wasn't moved from Emily's thigh.
"Jealous, are we?" He then winked. "Don't worry, there's enough of me to go around."
Emily couldn't think of anything but Maya as Jason turned back to her and once again climbed above her. His fingers felt like hard, sharp metal nails scraping against her skin. The way his calloused hands rubbed against her fine, smooth cinnamon skin should have been illegal; it felt so wrong and disgusting. All Emily wanted to do was hide in a shower for days, maybe months, and scrub herself clean until she was pink and raw. Hanna and Aria shouted from across the room but Emily couldn't hear them; Ian was busy with Spencer doing very similar, if not identical, things to her as Jason was doing to Emily. Emily saw from the corner of her eye Hanna scoot her bottom across the floor towards Ian ready to kick as hard as she could with her feet but Ian was much quicker. He slammed her hard against the wall.
Jason, unbuckling his belt now, gave a tiny, haughty groan as the belt sagged to the side of his jeans. Emily took the opportunity that she had been waiting for since the attention had been pulled away from her. She looked to the girls on the floor and saw how loosely tied their hands were. If they tried hard enough, it wouldn't be too difficult to pull away. Emily knew they were too frightened by the gun still strapped at Jason's side to do anything serious. Spencer was crying now under the weight of Ian. He hadn't yet rolled down his jeans, but his quick, messy kisses against her bruised throat where his hands had just minutes ago been strangling her seemed to send her spiraling into hysterics. Emily wasn't very religious, but in her final moments of weighing the pros and cons of her decision, she prayed to whatever God there was that she would succeed. With all the energy she could muster, Emily whipped her knee up and kicked Jason as hard as she possibly could in the groin.
Aria, who had only seconds to realize what was going on, dove forward before Ian could put a handle on the situation and kicked the small handgun from Jason's waist band. It had gone too far for any of the girls to grab, but Spencer hoisted Ian off of her and struggled to stand up straight. Their hands – Hanna, Aria and Spencer's – were still tied behind their back and although their balance was slightly off they had no problem running, even if it was in small stumbles.
"Run," Emily yelled. They didn't wait for any more directions. Aria and Hanna ran towards the door in seconds. Spencer was right behind them, struggling a bit more than the other girls. Her pants were hanging loosely at her hips. But opening the door proved a problem with each of their hands tied behind their back. Hanna somehow managed but it cost them precious time. Ian was right on their heels when the trio stumbled out of the now unlocked door.
They only made it a few feet before one shove from Ian sent Spencer crashing into Aria who then crashed into Hannah sending them all to the ground. Fear and adrenaline didn't keep them down long as Hannah simply rolled into the bedroom next to the one they had been trapped in. Aria and Spencer followed. As soon as they were able to get inside they tried pressing their bodies up against the door to keep it closed as Ian furiously pushed on it from the otherside.
It was no use, without having their arms for support, Ian overpowered the teenagers. They fell to the ground as Ian charged through the door. Ian wasted no time grabbing Spencer by her hair and dragging her back out of the room as she kicked and screamed.
"Lock the other two in with this." Jason said from the doorway of the room they had previously been. He then walked over to a wooden chair that was taken from the kitchen and put underneath the door to the attic when Jason had been searching up there. He kicked it towards Ian and Spencer.
With one foot on Spencer's stomach keeping her in place, Ian then wedged the chair under the door handle trapping Aria and Hannah inside.
"You good, bro?" Jason asked.
"Yep, just gonna go finish what I started." Ian smirked before grabbing Spencer up by her arm and then dragging her to Allison's old room.
"Have fun." Jason called. "I know I will." He said before moving back into the room with Emily.
Emily was shaking on the bed in panic at the commotion she could hear outside the room, but throughout the whole time, the pocket knife she had previously stuffed in her back pocket had been cutting through the sock knot against her wrist, knicking the skin on her back several times, for however long it had been since Ian and her friends had left the room.
She stilled when Jason re-entered and waited for him to come back to the bed. Even though everything in her told her to run as soon as possible she knew she needed him close if she had any chance of escaping. She braced herself for his unwanted touch as his body covered hers again. Then without warning she brought her freshly freed hands forward and stabbed him straight in the stomach.
Emily then dove for the backpack that the laptop was in and ripped the flash drive from its socket as Jason doubled over in pain. Just as she turned to run from the room and find the other girls, a cold, moist hand grabbed her ankle and tore her back on the ground. Jason, still gasping for breath, looked more deadly than she had seen him that entire night. The small pocket knife that Emily had stabbed him with was held unsteadily in his hand. Though he was weak, he still managed to hold her arm down against the ground. The knife cut into her arm. A long, searing pain rolled through Emily. She cried out hoping and praying that someone in the outside world could hear her. Emily rolled the best she could and pushed Jason off her. Ignoring the pain and blood gushing from her shoulder, she stood and kicked Jason square in the jaw before running to the door.
She immediately heard Aria and Hannah yelling and kicking on the door in the room next door. "Where's Spencer?" she asked them after moving the chair that trapped them.
"Not sure." Hannah answered as Emily untied their hands. "Where's Jason?"
"Hopefully dead or at least unconscious." Emily stated coldly. "Either way, we need to hurry, find Spencer, and get the hell out of here."
The best friends peeked out the door cautiously in case Jason was waiting and to listen for any signs of where Spencer and Ian could be.
"Shhh." Aria said even though nobody had spoken. "I heard something coming from down there." She whispered and pointed in the direction of Allison's room.
They held their breaths and listened, each hearing it too. It was the unmistakable sound of a mattress squeaking.
Hannah didn't hesitate to sprint towards Allison's room. Her only thought, saving her best friend. For this reason the others were spared the sight that would haunt Hannah for years to come. Ian's bare ass pounding into her skewered and defenseless friend.
Right after Hannah burst in, Ian jumped off of Spencer. "Great the powerpuff girls are back." He said out of breath from his previous activities. He didn't bother to zip back up until police sirens could be heard fast approaching.
"Shit." Ian cursed when suddenly the room they were in was bathed in flashing blue and red lights. He plowed through the girls blocking his way before they even thought to stop him.
"Do we go after him?" Aria asked.
"No, let the police handle it." Hannah replied.
"Oh Spencer." Emily whispered. The only one not looking after Ian but instead focused inside the room on their friend crumpled and shaking on the mattress.
The three friends slowly made their way towards her and sank down next to her. Emily immediately untied her hands. Hannah gingerly pulled her pants back up while Aria gathered her head into her arms and stroked her hair.
Downstairs, they could hear running, shouting, the slamming of a door and someone scream "Rosewood Police!" but the three remained unmoving from their vigil by their fallen friend.
Author's Note 2: This chapter and the next chapter are mostly from the story "Home" by It'sLisey. The KEY differences are, in my story, the girls do not get away before Ian rapes Spencer and Toby's presence.