1.22 – Confessions

Aria reluctantly picked up her phone. It had been a few days since she had last spoken with Stefan. She still wasn't completely over their last little encounter, but as she scrolled through her phone looking for his number, she glanced the same - A message glowing through her tiny phone screen that had told her and Hanna to break up with Stefan and Damon. She knew she had to do it, but each time she inched her finger closer to Stefan's number, she felt a surge go through her entire her body, she'd had to do it, she just had to hear his voice for the last time...

-Ring Ring -

Aria held the phone up to her ear, biting the corner of her mouth nervously.

She heard a sound like someone rifling through their pocket. All of a sudden, she heard a deep, familiar voice, "Aria?"

"Stefan, hi," Aria spoke - she couldn't even force the words out of her mouth, too many emotions were overflowing her brain and she couldn't make sense of them all... She had so many things to tell Stefan but because of -A she couldn't.

Stefan took a deep breath, "Aria, I'm... I'm sorry. I wanted to call you so many times, I just..."

Aria cut him off, "I asked you not too, I know," her words were beginning to bubble over each other. Her throat was beginning to get all choked up from the news that she was about to tell Stefan, "Stefan, I don't think that I can do this anymore-"

Stefan interrupted her, "Aria. I know about -A," he said bluntly.

Aria's eyes widened, "What? How?"

"It's a long story," Stefan said reassuringly, "Damon and I are working on it."

Aria sat up urgently, "Stefan, you don't know what you're getting yourself into," she replied, "I don't think you understand. This person is the most twisted, demented psycho you'll ever meet I-" Aria's voice suddenly got even more nervous, her hands gripped both her phone and her duvet cover. She couldn't even think of Stefan going after this, she didn't even know what "it"or -A was.

Stefan looked down at his feet and then stared outwards with a serious glance as he held on to his phone. Even though he couldn't see Aria, he could tell what she was feeling, "Aria, I promise. We're more connected to this -A monster more than you'll ever know," he furrowed his brow and bit his bottom lip slightly - trying to express some kind of concern or comfort to Aria over the phone, "I promise. I'll protect you. Whatever it takes."

Aria leaned back on her bed frame as she tried to make sense of this entire conversation. She brushed her raven-black hair backward in frustration. She couldn't have predicted the next words that would come out of her mouth, but they did.

"Stefan, I love you."

Stefan smiled slightly at the sound of this statement. Even though they had only been together for a while, and now they were apart. He wanted so badly to rush to her house to see her but he knew that he couldn't. Then with a deep breath, Stefan replied, "I love you Aria."

"And that's why I can't be with you right now," Aria said as she wiped a single tear from her cheek, "Even though I've wanted to say that to you for a while, with -A out on the loose, I can't afford to lose anymore people that I really care about," She paused, thinking about her next few words very carefully, "Even Damon, maybe one day. There's a possibility I'll forgive him. But for now, I can't be near any of you, trust me," - Aria closed her eyes and imagined the ominous -A text that flashed over her mind.

Stefan closed his mouth tightly and squinted his eyes - he was on the verge of crying, not because he was sad but because he understood what Aria was doing and he couldn't stand to hear or see her hurt, "I understand."

Aria, "Just hold on to that, Stefan, please?"

Stefan nodded his head - even though she couldn't see him, Aria nodded her head as if she were agreeing with him, "Don't let that go, okay?" she whispered.

Aria put her phone down from her ear and pressed end. As she wiped the tears which were pouring down her face with her hands, she looked up defiantly: she was proud of what she had just done.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. This time when Aria looked down, she rolled her eyes slightly: Right on schedule, -A

Hey Aria- The course of true love never did run smooth. You can tell Stefan to save me the last dance. If not, it could be his last. ;) Kisses -A


Rosewood Falls: Early Evening

"Guys. This is serious. I've had it. We need a plan to take down -A once and for all," Spencer whispered to the rest of the group, trying to keep her voice down so that the whole Grill wouldn't hear about their -A plans.

"Well what're we supposed to do," Emily replied worriedly as she tried to avoid eye contact with Spencer.

Spencer glared at Emily but then quickly retreated back into 'leader' mode, "We need to find Alison and get her to help us."

"Yeah and how are we supposed to do that," Hanna replied sarcastically, "It's not like we can just leave a block of cheese and wait for her to come out of her hole, or something. She's not a mouse," Hanna snapped - she was trying to pay attention to this conversation but her mind was somewhere between stressing over her breakup with Damon and wanting to kill this bitch -A who was making their lives a living hell at the moment.

Spencer rolled her eyes at Hanna, "We need a scapegoat. Someone to be our Trojan horse, or a double agent. Like Benedict Arnold to go undercover for us," she cleared her throat, "I also know that she's been hiding out somewhere in the woods. I know, because one of the surveyors at the historical society thought he saw a blonde figure rush past him while he was walking, but he just thought it was a coincidence, clearly he doesn't know Ali.."

Hanna and Aria exchanged nervous glances. Could Ali be a vamp-? No. That would be impossible...

Hanna spoke up, "I'll do it."

All the girls stared directly at Hanna.

"You'll what?" Emily spoke up, shocked at Hanna's response.

Spencer cut her off and whispered back in a forceful tone, "Listen, we can get close to Alison. Pretend to be friends with her, -A will know. Go after her, then, at the halloween "masked" dance, there will be a lot of people. Hanna will switch places with Alison.

Aria furrowed her brow and crossed her arms in confusion, "And what? Just leave Hanna there so that -A can kill her?"

Spencer looked over at Hanna and then back at Aria, "She won't. I read about this secret mining tunnel that runs through the bottom of the school that's been around for centuries. I saw it once when I looking at the old plans of the town. Hanna will chase -A down to the bottom of the school, we'll trap -A throw "it" down there and then wait for our next move."

Hanna's widened her eyes and took a nervous gulp, "I guess, maybe that'll work."

"It's true, I saw something about it on the computer yesterday, I didn't think they were real." Aria replied, looking anxiously over at Hanna.

Hanna nodded in silent agreement - trying to keep Aria, Damon and Stefan's secrets under wraps.

Emily stared at her hands in front of her, "Are you sure that'll work?"

Spencer pursed her lips, "It's the only chance we have to trap -A and take it, whatever "it" is down for good.

The four girls exchanged anxious glances. They were so close to catching -A. They just wanted it out of their lives for good so they could move and get on with their lives. Suddenly, breaking the silence, the waitress walked by and placed their check on the table. "Have a good day ladies," she said with a smile.

Spencer slowly looked down. Then, her eyes widened when she saw the contents of the check, which wasn't a check at all, "Guys," she spoke - everyone looked towards her, "Looks like we'll see -A there," she whispered as she held up one of the cream invitation with emboldened orangish-gold cursive lettering:

You are Cordially Invited To This Year's Halloween Festivities

It's Going to Be a Night to Die For

Where: Rosewood High Falls

Dress: Costume masquerade

RSVP: ASAP

Sincerely, -A