ALL RIGHTS GO TO MARLENE KING
True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Chapter 14: Take me Back to the Start
Emily's POV:
I just texted Ali asking her if she was alright. She seemed really distant in school but what's really bothering me is how much she freaked out over the knife incident. Yeah, I wasn't exactly pleased with it either but we've seen worse, right?
I get up from my bed and grab my phone again, I need her to know that she can talk to me.
You can trust me Ali, I want to help you. - Emily.
I love you Alison, please tell me if you are alright. - Emily
You can't keep on ignoring me. - Emily.
Why isn't she answering, I know that she's going through a lot but I can help her, she can't just shut me out. After waiting ten minutes for a reply I give up.
I'm coming over. - Emily
I quickly grab my car keys and get into my car, driving off to her house. When I get there I notice her car is gone, did she go somewhere? The door was unlocked so I go inside but it's completely dark and abandoned.
"Alison?" I yell, hoping for a answer.
When there is no other reply than dead silence I feel nauseous. What if something happened to her? Last time I had this thought something bad did actually happen to her, so I'm not exactly feeling to joyful right now.
I walk into the dark kitchen and I notice the knife draw pulled out, a couple of the knifes were scattered on the floor. My heart beat quickens and I feel like passing out.
"Alison!" I yell out louder but still no reply. I quickly pull out my phone and text the girls.
SOS, Ali's house. - Emily
Ten minutes later the girls come rushing in.
"What's wrong?" Spencer asks.
"Where's Ali?" Aria says worriedly.
"Why SOS?" Hanna asks.
"I can't find Ali, her car is gone and it looks like she tried to get ahold of a knife." I manage to say, my breath quickening.
"Where could she have gone?" Spencer asks.
"I don't know!" I yell, sinking down to the floor, gripping the sides of my face with my hands.
"Hey, we'll find her." Aria comforts and pulls me into a tight hug. I lightly push her away and walk out of the door, the girls following me.
"Okay so if Ali had got a knife, then does that mean that she was going after someone?" Spencer asks, getting into her car.
"Where are you going!" I yell.
"We're going to find Ali." Spencer says and we all get into her car.
We've been driving around for an hour now, but still nothing.
"So if she went to meet with A, where would she go?" We were currently driving quickly around rosewood. We drive past rosewood cemetery and Spencer suddenly stops her car, making us all practically choke on our seat belts.
"Spencer what the hell!" Hanna yells.
"Remember when we met with A, with Caleb?" Spencer whispers. Oh my god.
"She's in the cemetery." I say, running out of the car.
The girls follow me as I run deeper and deeper into the cemetery. My heart clawing it's way out of my throat in anxiety. I turn left and into the woods, my feet thundering down on the ground as I bolt forward.
"ALISON!" I yell out, my voice clogging up my throat.
I continue running in every possible direction, my eyes bouncing back and forth between the trees. Please be okay, please be okay.
"ALISON WHERE ARE YOU!" I yell again, pushing my legs faster than I ever even thought was possible.
I run over to a bunch of trees and my heart stops. I grip the big tree standing next to me tightly for support, my legs giving up on me.
"ALISON!" I scream on the top of my lungs and weakly run over towards her limp body. I pick her up in my arms, holding her tightly to my chest. Her blood was paralyzing my body, running down my arms painfully. Each new drop of her blood felt like a drop of agonizing pain. Her cold skin was prickling into mine and i notice her head covered in blood.
NO NO NO!
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" I scream loudly, my voice broken. My vision has shattered and my eyes are giving up on me. A loud ringing erupted inside of my head and I could barely see anymore. I feel myself being carried away from Alison's lifeless body but I fight to keep a hold of her for as long as possible, i kick the people holding me, i scream, but eventually her cold hand leaves mine as the sound of paramedics swarmed around me.
My eyes flutter weakly open and I see the girls towering over me. Where am I? Before I could even answer the question myself I remember why I'm in a hospital. Alison.
"WHERE IS SHE!" I scream out and the girls immediately step back in shock.
"She's in surgery." Aria answers, rubbing my arm soothingly.
"Let me see her." I demand. The girls nod and I follow them towards a metal door.
I quickly push the door open and I see Ali's limp body lying on the hospital bed, the heart monitor beeping a steady stressful beat. I quickly rush over to her side and grab her hand, squeezing it tightly with every living cell in my body.
"Ali." I plead, tears running down my cheeks. Her angelic face was covered in cuts and bruises and I can still see the detect of blood that was gushing out of her head.
"Is she-" I couldn't even finish my sentence without bursting into tears, I've lost her once before and I'm not going through that again. Ever.
"She's alive, but she has a serious head injury." The doctor standing behind me says, giving me a sympathetic look but I don't want his pity.
I want Ali.
"We must warn you though, Ms. DiLaurentis wounds might be more servere than we expected, but we promise you that we will do the best we can." The doctor says and walks out of the room.
Servere wounds. Might be more servere than expected.
I grip the bed sheet tightly in between my knuckles and I let out a painful shriek. This isn't fair, this isn't what are life should be like!
The girls walk over and pull me into a tight hug and I burry my tears into their shirts, drowning myself in sorrow. Why us?
"You should get something to eat." Aria says but I quickly shake my head, I will not leave Alison again. I've done plenty of that already.
"Go. I want to be alone." My voice was broken, like a broken record player. If Ali doesn't make it through I don't see the point of carrying on, the pain will literally kill me. The girls leave the room and I grip Ali's hand tightly again, hovering over her.
"Alison Lauren DiLaurentis, I love you with every fiber in my being. I hate myself, I should have protected you! I should have been there for you when I realized that something was wrong! I'm a terrible person and you should hate me. I love you so much Ali and it kills me to see you like this, like yo- you're dead!" I let out a loud sob, letting my tears soak through the fabric of her hospital gown.
"If you don't want to pull through for me, do it for yourself and everyone out there. All those people out there are currently thinking what they will do with there life if you're gone, what will be left of there life?"
I look up in the celling of the hospital. There are a lot of motivation posters, like one with a cat trying to reach for a piece of yarn, a little boy running down the street, a little girl trying to catch the moon with her jar.
"You know the expression, 'I love you to the moon and back?' Well, it's not enough for me," I move my eyes over to her pale face again and squeeze her hands tighter, "Alison, my love for you is infinite, it has no end. If you asked me to I would search the world for you in a heartbeat, I would kill for you, I would die for you, I would do anything for you, even if it seems impossible. You are my life and I will be damed to live in a world without Alison DiLaurentis." I move a few lose locks of her hair away from her pale face.
I lean my head down on her chest, listening the the fain sound of her steady heart beat echo through my ears. After a good ten minutes of just lying there, enjoying her presence, I feel her intake a sharp breath and I immediately bolt up.
"Alison?" I ask, completely stunned.
Alison lets out the breath and she weakly opens her eyes, squinting at the bright light blasting down on her. I know the feeling.
"Alison!" I screech in surprise and hug her tightly but Ali just lays there, in complete shock. I pull back, smiling brightly at her but she just stares at me, completely confused.
"Emily?" She asks in a whisper, touching the tips of my hair in disbelief.
"Yes?" I ask her, grabbing her hand tightly.
"You look older." Older? It's only been a couple of hours.
"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously. Before Ali could finish her sentence the girls came rushing in.
"Ali!" Aria screams in joy and the girls tackle her in gentle hugs but Ali still doesn't respond back, she just sits there with the same confused expression.
"What's wrong?" Spencer asks, straightening out her hair.
"What happened to you guys!" Ali yells and we all look at each other with the same confusion. What the hell does she mean?
"Ali, what's wrong?" I ask.
"You- You look older!" Ali yells again and she places her shaking hands over her face, a gesture she always used to do when she didn't want anyone to see her discomfort.
"What?" Hanna asks, confused just like the rest of us.
"When did you get black hair? And what the hell happened to your pink streak Aria? And Emily your hair is lighter in the bottom." What is she talking about? Doesn't she reme-
Does she remember?
"Oh my god." Spencer says, covering her hand over her mouth.
"Does she really have?" Aria asks in disbelief.
"I- I don't know." I say, my voice shaking in fear.
"Would you mind filling me in?" Hanna says annoyed but we barely move. She doesn't remember.
She doesn't remember me, she doesn't remember us.
"I'm getting the doctor." Spencer says before running out of the room.
"Where the hell am i? What happened!" Ali shrieks, looking pleadingly at us for answers. I hate seeing her like this.
The doctor came in and grabbed his notepad and pen.
"You guys have to step outside for the moment." He ordered and we all slowly walked outside of the room. I kept my eyes on Ali for as long as possible but she just kept on giving me the same confused look.
"What the hell is with Ali?" Hanna asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I think she has amnesia." I whisper, looking down at my shaking fingers.
"WHAT!" Hanna screams in chock.
"But she clearly knows who we are, so that's a good thing." Aria says, trying to lighten the mood.
"I think she remembers the old us, the ones we were before she disappeared." Spencer says.
Just when I got her back, this happens. I feel to tired, to tired to talk, to tired to think, I just want it all to stop. The doctor comes out and gives us all apologetic looks.
"It seems that Ms. DiLaurentis has a case of amnesia." We already knew that but hearing him say it just made it so much more real. So much more terrifying.
"Do you know for how long?" Spencer asks, stroking my arm soothingly.
"Well, since she recovered from her incident surprisingly quickly, I'm guessing that her amnesia will stay for about one month, maybe even more." One month. I can handle that.
"But you can try to jog her memory, try to force her to remember but don't push her to much, she's been through a lot this poor girl." The doctor sadly shook his head and walked down the hall. We quickly ran into the room and stood next to Ali.
"Did he tell you what happened?" I ask carefully, placing my hand softly on hers.
"He-he said that I hit my head." Her usually steady voice was now shaky, broken.
"Did he tell you anything else?" Spencer asks.
"He said that I have temporarily amnesia." Ali whispers, staring down at my feet.
"What's the last thing you remember?" I ask, tracing small circles on her palm.
"I remember you and me," My heart lightens, maybe she does remember what we have, "You and me by pool." And my heart falls again.
"When was this?" Hanna asks.
"Yesterday." Ali says.
"It was a few days before.." I didn't want to say that she disappeared, because Ali clearly doesn't remember that and it might just cause her more stress.
I remember the memory, it was a good one. Me and Ali were sitting by the pool, our feet drenched in the water.
- Flashback -
Ali and I have just sneaked away from our houses, Ali and her mom had gotten into an ugly fight and she needed to take her mind of things. It was about midnight but the school was shockingly still open, i guess a teacher was there finishing something up. We were sitting down at the edge of the pool with our feet in the peaceful water, our pants pulled up so that they wouldn't get wet.
"Thank you for coming here with me." Ali says, leaning her head down on my shoulder. My body tingles at the heat coming from her but I manage to not do anything embarrassing.
"It's fun, I like coming here on my free time, it takes my mind of things." I say, looking over at the blue water.
"What kind of things?" Uh oh. My cheeks turn an embarrassing red color and I nervously laugh.
"Anything, test, grades, stuff like that." I half lie, usually when I'm here it's to take my mind away from Ali. Which is a pretty hard thing to do.
We stay quiet for a while, just enjoying the silence. Ali's bouncy curls tickle the back of my neck slightly, but in a good way. All of the sudden Ali's feet began moving rapidly and she splashes water on me so I splash back.
We continue splashing each other for a while, laughing at our wet clothes. My heart swooned at the sound of her bell like laugh.
"You want to race?" Ali asks, raising her perfect eyebrows.
"Now?" I ask stunned, we don't have any swimsuits or anything.
"Yeah, come on." Ali grabs my hand and we walk over to the deep end of the pool. Ali quickly takes of her shirt and pants, leaving her only in a bra and her panties. My breath catches in my throat but I force myself to swallow, trying to look away from her body. Ali smirks at me, she knows that my eyes were lingering a tad to long on her flawless body.
"Aren't you going to undress?" Ali asks, placing her small hands on her hips.
I nod and awkwardly shrug off my shirt and pants. Ali smiles at me and grabs my hands again, leading me over to the edge.
"On three." She laughs, looking down at the deep blue water.
"One." I say, intertwining our fingers.
"Two." Ali says, grinning at me adorably.
"Three!" We both yell and jump in the water.
"Let's race!" Ali says excitedly, swimming over to the end of the pool. I love this playful side of her, whenever she's around me she is the real Alison, the person that I fell in love with.
I quickly swim after her and we both placed our feet on the wall, ready to push out into the water.
"Go!" Ali yells as she shoots gracefully into the water, barely leaving a splash behind her. I'm completely in daze for a couple of seconds so I forget to move but when I hear her laughter bounce back on the walls I shoot forward like a missile.
I let her win this time, it's a nice feeling seeing her so happy over little things like winning a swim race.
"You let me win didn't you." Ali says, smirking at me.
"Only this time." I say, laughing at her. She's incredibly gorgeous like this, when she's not dolled up. Her wet curls were clinging to her back and the drops of water made her eyes sparkle even more.
Ali swims over towards me and puts her head on my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her waist, bringing her closer towards me.
"I love you, Em." Ali says, looking down into the water.
"I love you, Ali." I answer sincerely. I love her more than she could ever understand.
"Emily?" I was awoken by my daydream by Hanna's hand waving rapidly in front of my face.
"Sorry." I say sheepishly.
"The doctor said that we can take Ali home." Spencer says and I immediately snap my eyes over towards Ali who is now putting on her coat.
"How old are you- how old are we now?" Ali asks nervously. I see her hands reach over towards her finger where her old ring used to sit, she always used to fiddle with it whenever she got nervous about anything. I think Ali noticed that her ring no longer was there because she quickly shoved her hand away and placed them behind her back.
"We're seniors, we're all 18." Ali stares at us with wide eyes and looks herself over in the mirror. It must be confusing for her. I walk up behind her and pull her in for a tight hug. Ali didn't respond back, she just stood there like a statue.
Right, me and Ali never used to hug in front of the girls. I awkwardly let her go and she just looked down at the ground.
"Um, lets go." Spencer says, trying to ease up the awkward flow in this room.
"Yeah." I reply, stepping away from Ali.
We walk out of the door and out to the parking lot. Spencer and Aria are in the front while Ali, Hanna and I were in the back.
"What's happened these few years then? Except for Hanna getting skinny." Ali mocks and I clench my fist in anger. Even if it's just for less than a month I can't stand it if Ali's going to be cruel all over again.
"Hey!" Hanna yells, leaning towards Ali but I push her head slightly backwards, I don't need them fighting like two wild animals. Ali looks stunned that Hanna actually said something.
"Alison stop it." I say forcefully. God, I sound like a parent. I turn my gaze towards her and she stares at me like a fish out of water.
Instead of fighting like I thought she would she just leaned back in defeat, closing her eyes. I know this isn't her fault, she was a complete different person when we were 15. But if I have to, I'll teach her myself how to not be cruel to everyone around you.
But knowing me, even if I can't help her be less cruel during this month, I'll still love her like crazy.