A/N: Thanks so much for the follows/favourites/reviews (especially the reviews ;) You guys are seriously awesome!
Warning remains for language.
"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." - Dr. Seuss.
It had been a few minutes and Emily hadn't said a word to her. Alison would look over at her occasionally, but Emily would have her head down, her thick dark locks hiding her face. She was wearing some spare clothes that Alison had stashed at Jonah's house, a simple black long sleeved shirt with ripped denim shorts. It was a good thing they had found some clothes for her to wear, because walking down the street in a bright blue dress would draw way more attention than Alison was comfortable with. But, she figured, Emily hadn't been gone from Rosewood for very long and probably wouldn't be recognized a town over. Alison, however, was currently wearing her Vivian Darkbloom disguise, something that she could see made Emily slightly uncomfortable.
She could always tell whenever Emily was angry at her. She never yelled, screamed or sent angry text messages, that just wasn't the kind of person she was. She hated hurting people's feelings, and would silently steam until her angry slowly faded away and she was able to think rationally. Alison was the complete opposite; she would let people know exactly what she thought of them and how beneath her they were. She would tear people down with words specifically tailored to destroy them. She liked to think that maybe they balanced each other out in a way, Alison didn't let Emily be a push-over and Emily wouldn't let her lose herself to her anger.
Alison found it a minor annoyance that she and Emily didn't get a chance to talk before Jonah had returned and kicked them out. He had always been extremely skittish of Alison being in his apartment, and finally asked them to leave before he started to check under his bed and behind his doors for the police, who he felt were always onto him. She was also slightly thankful that Emily seemed to be distracted by her thoughts, and didn't yet have the opportunity to tear into her about forcing her away from Rosewood for her own selfish reasons.
Her relief was short lived however, when Emily was finally broken from her thoughts and turned her head to look at her. The expression on her face was like she still didn't believe she wasn't dreaming or dead, and that Alison was going to disappear into thin air at any moment. Alison always liked attention, but the way Emily was gazing at her was so intense that she nearly felt like blushing and turning her head away. But, she was Alison DiLaurentis and she wasn't intimidated or embarrassed by anybody, and so she met Emily's stare with one of her own (albeit with a little difficulty).
"Em-"
"What did you mean when you said I couldn't go back?" Emily quickly asked, cutting her off. Alison mentally cursed. So that's what she was thinking so hard about. For some insane reason she had hoped that Emily would have forgotten all about their conversation, and they would have ridden off into the sunset together. But nothing was ever that simple.
"I meant what I said. I've been keeping in touch with a friend in Rosewood, and the situation there is bad Em, really bad," Alison replied. She strategically left out the fact that the friend in Rosewood was Noel Kahn. She figured that would be a little too much information for Emily to handle.
"Wait, so this friend of yours knew you were alive and we didn't?" Emily asked, sounding like a kicked puppy.
"He didn't know that it was me, he just knew me as Vivian," Alison responded, feeling a little disturbed at how easily the lie came to her; Emily seemed to accept her answer anyway, but Alison knew that there would be other questions later.
"Alright, fine. But what makes the situation so bad that I can't go back? My parents are going to be hysterical."
"Listen," Alison started, feeling agitated, "Rosewood is crawling with police, and people are already putting up missing posters. You can't just waltz back into town and pretend that everything is okay!" Emily's eyes widened, and her face was taught with fear and worry.
"No way. This is insane! I've only been gone a day..." she trailed off, breath quickening, and Alison quickly jumped in before Emily talked herself into a breakdown.
"You can't just reappear out of thin air. People are going to ask questions about where you were and how you got there, and you've always been a terrible liar. Please Em, just stay for a while, I promise everything will be alright," she said, trying to make herself sound as convincing as possible. Emily was having none of it.
"What, so I have more time to think up a more convincing lie? Ali, I can't stay, it isn't just my parents who are going to be worried, it's everyone! Don't you understand that?"
"I'm probably the only one who does understand," Alison sighed. "Do you think I liked having to leave my family and friends behind? That I liked leaving you behind? I did what I had to do. Maybe this is what you have to do." Emily looked entirely unconvinced. As the two of them continued to walk, Alison spotted a motel at the end of the block. It was a little shady looking, but it would have to do.
"Come on, we can talk in there," she said. Emily pursed her lips, but offered little resistance as Alison led her to the motel. As they entered, Alison was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't as dirty as it looked on the outside. It wasn't exactly the Hilton, but she doubted they would catch any diseases from staying there. She quickly checked in with the receptionist, a young woman who looked utterly bored, fiddling around on her phone. Making their way down the dimly lit hallway was an awkward affair, Alison made a pathetic attempt at small talk but Emily wasn't in a chatty mood. Alison had gotten used to the musky smell of dust, so she wasn't bothered by the less than up to code state of the motel. Emily however, couldn't resist wrinkling her nose.
As they entered the small room, Alison immediately closed the door behind them and locked it. She turned to see Emily collapsed on the bed, hands covering her face, seemingly overwhelmed. Alison tentatively sat down beside her, and gave a small smile as Emily looked over at her, feeling the dip in the bed. Alison was nervous, incredibly nervous in fact. She had no idea how Emily felt about her, but she was secure in her own feelings. She didn't know if Emily was lucid enough during their kiss to remember it, but a part of her hoped that she didn't remember. Maybe it would give her a chance to kiss her again.
Emily was sure she was still in shock. She allowed Alison to lead her over the forest green carpeting of the hallway into the room, before she felt like her legs couldn't hold her up anymore. She knew that she should be angry that Alison took her without her permission, and that because of it she had caused a lot of people distress. But all she felt was a cool numbness that swelled out from her chest and eventually covered her entire body. The overwhelming happiness and surprise she had felt from seeing Alison again had seemingly placated her anger for now. She looked up as she felt Alison sit down beside her on the bed, and watched her lean against the headboard, releasing a deep breath. She had to resist the urge to lay down beside her.
In all of the shock and confusion however, there was one question burning a hole in her mind.
"Ali, is this where you've been staying? There's no way you've been hiding away in a motel this entire time," she said. If Alison had really been this close for over a year, Emily would honestly lose it.
"No. I've jumped from place to place, I couldn't stay in one area for too long," Alison answered, a little surprised that Emily was even talking to her at all. "Jonah helped me when he could, but I mostly stayed in places like this and then bailed before I had to pay up. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a warrant out for me somewhere," Alison continued, chuckling. Emily however, didn't find it very amusing.
"How do you even know him? I've never heard you mention him before," she asked.
"I met him after I ran away. I initially just used him for information, but he's actually been pretty helpful," Alison admitted.
"I find it hard to believe that you've only been talking to two people this entire time, Ali," Emily said doubtfully. The Alison she knew had friends everywhere, and was very rarely on her own. Alison looked conflicted, opening her mouth to answer and then closing it as if she was struggling to find the words. After a few moments, she decided to be truthful.
"You're right. I have another friend, her name's CeCe. We've kept in contact," Emily's brow furrowed, she had never heard the name 'CeCe' before, and she couldn't recall Alison ever mentioning another friend outside of the four of them.
"CeCe? How come you've never mentioned her before?" Alison stood up from the uncomfortably bumpy bed, gathering her thoughts for an explanation.
"Because I was... I was scared, alright? CeCe scared me. She wasn't the kind of person I wanted you guys to know." Emily sat up, her gaze quickly turning into one of concern.
"You were scared of her? Why? Did she hurt you?" She asked, her voice tinted with anger.
"No, she never physically hurt me," Alison muttered, a little darkly. She looked away from Emily's face guiltily, unable to handle the amount of caring she saw in her eyes.
"I've known CeCe for a while, since I was thirteen," Alison began.
"Why haven't I ever seen her? Did she go to our school?" Emily asked.
"No. She's the same age as Jason, dated him for a while. That's how we met." Emily nodded slowly, still processing this new information.
"Okay... why are you scared of her then?"
"Scared is maybe the wrong word. My mom said that she always thought our friendship was toxic, and after getting a chance to look at it objectively, I kind of agree with her. I feel like I grew up way too fast because of CeCe, she was older and more mature than I was and I felt like a kid next to her." Alison sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Emily crawled across the bed and sat next to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Ali, you don't have to talk about her if you don't want to," she said. Alison shook her head, giving Emily a shaky smile.
"It's alright. No more secrets. I'm tired of keeping so many of them to myself," she said truthfully. She shivered as she felt the pressure of Emily's hand on her shoulder lighten, and then disappear as the other girl returned her hand to her lap.
"Imagine me, except a few years older and twice as bad. That's CeCe," Alison smiled wryly, the memories of the older woman quickly coming back to her.
"Every single good and bad thing about me are traits that I learned from her. I was just a kid playing childish games until I met CeCe, and then the games changed. She knows all of my secrets, and I was scared of what she would do with them if she thought I was dead."
"Why do you trust her so much then?" Emily asked.
"It's not a matter of trust. CeCe is just as manipulative and vindictive as I was, and she might have spilled to the nearest person about everything just because she thought it would be funny. But I know things about her too, and I figured that as long as she knew that I was alive and kicking, she'd stay quiet," Emily mulled that information over in her head for a moment, before tentatively answering.
"Don't take this the wrong way Ali, but... you guys sound exactly alike." Alison snorted, feelings of self disgust welling briefly inside of her.
"You sound like my mother. She tried to get me to stop seeing her, but I did anyway. She was too coked up on sleeping pills to notice when I was gone."
"She doesn't sound like much of a friend. Why spend any time with her?" Emily asked, still feeling scandalized that Alison would put her trust in this horrible sounding person instead of her.
"Don't get me wrong, I loved CeCe like she was my sister. As twisted as she is, I knew that she would do anything for me." Emily felt jealousy well inside of her, tinged with a little sadness.
"I would have done anything for you," she replied, in a broken whisper. Alison shook her head, smiling sadly.
"I know you would have, Em. That's what scared me. I could never have asked you to do the things I asked of CeCe; they would have ruined you. I wouldn't be able to look at myself if I did something like that." She had felt momentarily soothed by Emily's familiar touch, but the old fears that had manifested since she first left town were beginning to resurface as the other girl asked more and more questions. Alison was never one to dredge up the past, she very much lived in the moment and didn't like to think of previous mistakes or memories that she would rather forget.
It was true that CeCe had done some questionable things for her, things that sweet, innocent Emily would never be able to accomplish and come out on the other end untouched by the darkness Alison still carried. Despite all of the things Alison put her though, all of the pain and heartache she had suffered at her hands, she still remained optimistic and bright as if she had never met Alison in the first place. She wouldn't have admitted it a year ago, but the light Emily possessed was the only thing that kept Alison from being completely pulled under the dull fog in her brain. Between all of the manipulation, lies and secrets she kept, Emily was like a breath of fresh air. She made her feel like she was a kid again, before she met CeCe, before the Jenna thing and before -A.
"Hey," Emily said, voice soft, "where did you go just now?" Alison shook herself of her thoughts, turning to give Emily a stunning smile.
"Just imagining you on top of the Eiffel Tower. You look even better than I thought you would," Alison replied wryly, her voice light despite what was still on her mind. Emily giggled delightedly, and Alison felt a swell of pride on putting such a beautiful smile on her face. The laughter eventually faded, and the expression on Emily's face turned inquisitive. She didn't know how to put into words what she was thinking without sounding awkward or clingy.
"Ali... did you meet anyone after you left?" She asked, wincing at how her voice came out, trembling and unsure. She knew that if Alison said yes, she had absolutely no right to be jealous, but it wouldn't stop her from feeling it anyways. After all, she had been apart of three relationships after Alison's disappearance, all which ended in miserable failure. She still wasn't certain if they ended because she still had lingering feelings for her first love, but the logical part of her brain knew that wasn't the case. She was just wildly unlucky.
She loved Maya, that she was sure of. Maya was her first real relationship; she didn't really count Ben, as she was using him as a beard (something which still still felt bad about). The dark skinned girl was such a departure from Alison, and as much as it hurt her to say it, she found the change refreshing. With Maya, she never had to worry whether or not she was being used for 'practice' or if the other girl even had real feelings for her at all. Maya had her flaws, sure, but she was always so calm and collected, and made Emily feel safe and secure. It was the complete opposite with Alison. With the blonde, everything was fast paced and exciting, with constant risk taking and danger involved. Where Maya was a cool and brisk sea, Alison was a raging inferno.
Then there was Paige. At first Emily had jumped into the relationship, using the auburn haired swimmer as a rebound to drown out her emotions over having to say goodbye to her first girlfriend. She panicked when she started to develop feelings for the other girl, and let her go at the first opportunity she saw. Paige was a good person at heart, and didn't deserve to be in a relationship with someone who was still in love with two other people and wouldn't ever truly return her feelings. It was difficult, but she knew that Paige was strong and would get over it with time.
When she looked back on her relationship with Samara, sometimes it didn't even feel real. It was so fast and short lived that Emily had trouble remembering it ever happened in the first place. She was drowning in a sea of emotions for three other girls, and Samara was a useful distraction to keep her from doing something more destructive to occupy her time. She was almost grateful to -A for ending their relationship prematurely, as she knew that she would drop Samara as soon as Maya got out of True North. It truly was a shame, because Samara was almost unbelievably perfect. All blonde haired and blue eyed, with a sweet personality and caring nature. In another life, she believed that she would have loved Samara as much as she loved Alison. But her heart wouldn't allow that to happen, and she hated herself for hurting her.
But all of these past relationships ceased to exist in her mind as soon as she saw Alison again. Every thought, every kiss, every touch was wiped from her brain when she looked into the blue eyes of her first love after a year of thinking she was dead. She had dark thoughts of Alison rotting in the ground, having to listen to all of her past victims at school mocking her, saying she got what she deserved. But when she saw Alison alive, with her lightly tanned skin and flaxen hair perfectly intact, her mind went blank. Maya, Paige Samara- they might as well have never existed in the first place, because they didn't hold a candle to Alison DeLaurentis. Emily didn't think that anyone would ever burn as bright as her.
Emily blinked, realizing that Alison was talking to her. They both seemed to be in their own little world, as Alison wasn't looking at her, instead seeming to stare into space.
"-moved around Philly for a while, but I never stayed in one place for very long. I never really got the chance to meet someone I liked, and even if I did it would only be a casual fling before I had to leave again. I've never been into casual relationships unless I got something out of it," Alison's mouth snapped shut, as if she didn't mean to say what she said. She was in a sort of trance and it just... slipped out. She didn't like to talk about how conniving she used to be.
"You had someone, though. Two someones," Alison recovered, quietly.
"How did you know...?" Emily trailed off, the rest of her question clear. She was slightly confused, however, because she had three someones, not two...
"I came back for the first time when Hanna was in the hospital. I didn't know how hurt she was, and I needed to know that she was okay. I saw you, afterwards... you were with Maya. I was trying to keep tabs on you, and saw you with some blonde girl a while later," Alison answered, hesitantly. Emily seemed to accept her answer, until her eyes widened at one small detail.
"Wait, how did you know her name? You couldn't have gotten that close," she asked suspiciously. Alison mentally cursed, the cogs in her brain working to spew out a lie that would placate the caramel skinned girl.
"Ali, you said no more secrets, remember?" Alison felt like snorting, her words always came back to bite her in the ass. She figured she would tell Emily the truth, after all, she had already told her too much anyway, what was the harm?
"Noel Kahn has been keeping tabs on you guys for me. He's known that I'm alive for a while now," Emily's eyes narrowed in anger, huffing out a breath disbelievingly.
"What, so you tell Noel Kahn that you're alive, but not your four best friends?" She demanded, her knuckles white from her tense grip on the bedspread.
"Em, it's not like that. Noel's been helping me out with money, it's not like I can get a job like a normal person!" Emily continued to stare at her, and Alison felt forced to elaborate.
"You have to understand," she said desperately, "I asked Noel for help because I don't care about him. I couldn't just ask Spencer to send me money even though she would have had enough, she's my friend and I couldn't exploit her like that." She suddenly saw herself exploiting Aria's father for that exact purpose, the memories flashing briefly in her head. She did that in a moment of desperation, when -A was threatening to kill her and she needed money immediately. She wasn't proud of those last few days in Rosewood.
"Well..." Emily started, and Alison was relived at the slow acceptance in her tone, "Noel is kind of an ass. I just wish I saw the look on his face when you showed up from the grave and started hounding him for money." Emily started snickering at the mental image and Alison hesitantly joined in the laughter. Emily a year ago would have torn her apart after giving her the silent treatment for a week over a secret like this. A lot had changed, and Alison regretted not being there to see it happen in person.
"Any other secrets I should know about?" Emily asked lightly. Alison shook her head, still smiling.
"That depends, are there any other girlfriends I should know about?" She joked. Her eyes widened when Emily didn't respond, ducking her head and.. oh god... blushing.
"Wait, what? Noel didn't mention anyone else..." she said, mostly to herself. Thinking as hard as she could, she couldn't remember Noel mentioning anyone besides Maya and a blonde who he didn't recognize.
"That's because we kept it a secret. I don't know if you know her or not, her name's Paige," Alison's mind immediately went blank, until a sudden rage possessed her so swiftly that even she was surprised by it's intensity.
"Pigskin?!" She shrieked, causing Emily to jump and move away from her in shock. Emily observed the other girl for a moment from her new position; if she were a cartoon, her cheeks would be tomato red and steam would be pouring out of her ears uncontrollably. The image almost made her want to laugh, until the nickname registered in her brain. She had heard Alison use it before, but she had no idea she was referencing Paige.
"Wait... Paige is Pigskin? Why the hell would you call her that?" Emily demanded, quickly becoming pissed off and feeling the need to defend the other swimmer.
"Because, she's the reason I had that massive bruise on my shoulder after soccer practice! She's a total psycho!" Alison shrieked, and Emily winced. Paige was troubled, she knew that the moment the other girl had tried to drown her over a simple misunderstanding. But it went so much deeper than that, she doubted Paige would give Alison that bad of an injury for no reason.
"Calm down. There's more to it than that, I know there is," Alison's cheeks were still a bright red, but she had stopped breathing harshly through her teeth. Emily took that as a good sign.
"Pigski- Paige," Alison spat out at Emily's disapproving look, the name leaving a bad taste in her mouth, "would never just let things be. The first time I pushed her, she pushed back twice as hard-" Emily cut her off angrily.
"So what, you bullied her because she stood up to you? That is so fucked up Alison, even for you," the blonde was taken aback, not just by Emily's out of character swearing but also the use of her full name.
"That's not it! She gave me a bruise the size of my head just because I bumped into her with my shoulder in the hallway. I was ready to go to war with that bitch," Alison hissed, her anger overtaking her once again.
"Jesus Em, you really got around when I was gone, didn't you? Was Paige the first loser you spread your legs for?" She continued, laughing mockingly. The words stabbed Emily like a searing hot knife. Normally she would feel destroyed over a direct insult from the blonde, but now, she just felt a white hot rage swell in the pit of her stomach.
"Fuck you," she hissed. "Paige treated me better than you ever did! She was in the closet just like you but she was up front about how she felt about me! She never deliberately hurt me after we got together, and if she did she always apologized! She couldn't be true to herself but at least she never used me and then discarded me like a piece of trash!" Emily was yelling now, angry tears welling in her eyes and spilling over onto her cheeks, leaving clear trails in their absence. It felt somewhat liberating to finally take out her frustrations on Alison personally instead of in a note. She never thought she would get the chance without talking to a headstone.
All of Alison's pent up anger seemed to leave her in one, breathtaking woosh, and the gravity of what she had just done nearly crushed her under it's weight. Emily's face was an angry red, her fathomless, dark eyes bright with tears. She had never in her life seen Emily look so enraged. All of the times she had hurt her, all of the times she had manipulated her, Emily had never once fought back, just accepted what was going to happen. Alison would have been proud that the other girl had finally grown a backbone if she wasn't currently being hit over the head with it.
"Oh, Christ," she moaned. "Emily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," she watched with despair as Emily stood up, walking with purpose towards the thin, wooden door separating their room from the dingy hallway. Alison leapt up and grabbed her wrist, the breath nearly being knocked out of her as Emily ripped her arm from her grasp and sent her tumbling to the floor. The fog of anger that was currently clouding Emily's mind cleared in an instant; she didn't mean to actually hurt her.
"God damn it," she breathed, rushing over to Alison and leaning down to give her a hand. Alison stared at Emily's outreached arm for a moment, before accepting her hand and allowing the swimmer to pull her up. Emily was strong, she noted, lifting her full weight with ease.
"I think we should sit down," Alison said shakily. Emily rubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve furiously, in an attempt at ridding her face of tears. She always hated looking weak in front of the other girl. Alison, fearful that Emily would try to leave again, gently took the arm that wasn't rubbing at her face and lead her back to the bed. Emily sat down stiffly, but with little resistance.
"I'm sorry," Alison exhaled, eyes wide and unfocused. She turned her gaze to Emily's face, searching it for a reaction. The area around her eyes and nose was red with irritation, but clearing by the second.
"I'm sorry too," Emily said as a sort of knee-jerk reaction, not sure what else to say. She stared down at the ripped denim of her shorts, playing with a flayed piece of string.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Emily. Who you date is none of my business," Alison muttered cynically. If there was any chance of her rekindling whatever it was that they had, it was gone now.
"I just have one question," Emily said, and Alison looked up hopefully.
"Why did you call her Pigskin?" She asked, searching Alison's blue orbs for an answer. The blonde had to resist rolling her eyes, of course her first question would be about Paige.
"Because she had weird bumps on her thighs," she answered timidly. Emily's brow furrowed in confusion, she had seen Paige in her swimsuit many times, and never noticed anything weird about her thighs.
"I think... I think she was hurting herself," Alison admitted, the guilt hitting her like a ton of bricks. "It was because of me," she continued, her eyes growing wide with shame, "It was because of me, wasn't it?" Alison held her head in her hands, unable to look at Emily's face. God, she was just so horrible. She never cared about anyone else in Rosewood High, as far as she was concerned, her fellow students were stepping stones to get her where she wanted. She never spoke to anyone without purpose; unless she could get something out of them, they weren't worthy of her attention.
But Paige had nothing to give her.
"You knew that she was hurting herself, and you tortured her over it," Emily said blankly, the emptiness in her voice nearly making Alison sick.
"Emily, please," Alison started, and the disparity in her voice would have embarrassed her had this been any other situation, "I tortured Paige because I was jealous that I had to compete for your attention. Paige could have gotten you if she built up the courage, and that drove me crazy," Emily continued to stare at the ugly wallpaper on the wall in front of her. Alison's stomach dropped, her brain blanking out as she struggled to find the words to make Emily stay.
"I loved you," she whispered, and her subconscious did a happy dance when Emily's head whipped around, her expression saturated in shock. If Alison looked a little deeper, she could see hope blooming in Emily's onyx depths, age-old feelings coming to the surface.
"I couldn't lose you. I was selfish, I know that. But when I learned that Paige liked you, I didn't listen to my brain. She was a better person than I was, and that terrified me. I had to get rid of her," Alison breathed shakily, her head dipping to hide her face behind her hair.
"I was going to tell you Em, I swear, but then the texts from -A began and they threatened to tell everyone if I admitted anything to you. I love you, Emily," she said, raising her head and smiling joyously at finally being able to say the words after years spent denying herself happiness. She felt the beginning of tears begin to prick the back of her eyes.
"I love you."
"Fuck," Hanna hissed, quickly raising her thumb to her mouth and sucking on the sudden wound. Spencer looked on in disgust.
"Don't put your hand in your mouth! Don't know how many germs you have on you right now?" Hanna rolled her eyes, sighing exasperatingly.
"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway," Spencer huffed out a laugh, crossing her arms.
"No, I won't. You'll find out after you get sick from inhaling so many of them," Hanna's face screwed up into a repulsed expression.
"Okay, you win, now I'm grossed out." Aria looked at the two of them in amusement, glad at a reprieve from the less than enviable task they were currently working on. They had taken on the job of helping the police put up missing posters of Emily, and she had to will herself every five minutes not to cry. After the first few hours, she was completely secure in the knowledge that Emily was just lost and that she would be home soon. But then Emily's parents landed back in Pennsylvania from Texas, and had immediately demanded missing posters be put up when Emily still hadn't returned. The girl had never been home late a day in her life, and always answered texts from her mother. Something was clearly amiss.
Hanna's expression turned sombre.
"It's weird how familiar this feels," she said quietly. "Like deja vu, only worse, you know? It's been over a year but I feel like we were just doing this yesterday." Aria couldn't help but agree. When she wasn't looking directly at them, it felt like she was pinning up missing posters of Alison, not Emily. Alison. The name always brought a sharp pang of sorrow. She hoped against everything that Emily's name wouldn't bring that same pang in the days to come.
"I hate to say this," Spencer started, "but Ali was hated by a lot of people in this town. Emily never hurt anybody, maybe this time people will actually devote some time to find her," she finished bitterly. Aria's expression turned horrified.
"If this is really history repeating itself... do you think Emily was buried alive somewhere?" She asked, resisting the urge to throw up. Hanna shook her head vehemently.
"No. No way. I know that -A is a psycho, but Emily is too good of a person to die like that," she said, her voice tinged with denial.
"So what, you think Alison deserved to die like that?" Spencer asked, but there was little malice to her voice, just morbid curiosity. Hanna's eyes widened at what she had implied.
"What? No! Nobody deserves to die like that," she hissed, a little offended that Spencer thought her capable of holding that much hatred towards one of her best friends. Her anger was cut short when her phone went off, and, like dominoes, Spencer and Aria's phones followed suit.
"Oh jesus," she moaned. "Not now, please."
The three girls looked at each other hesitantly and each brought out their phones, eyes gazing down at their screens to read the short message.
You aren't as stealthy as you think you are. Next time, try a ski mask. Kisses! -A.
Hanna had to swallow a lump in her throat as she noticed the attachment at the end of the infuriatingly casual text. Her stomach turned with nausea as her thumb pressed the screen and the attachment quickly loaded. She heard Aria gasp next to her; Spencer was silent, nostrils flaring at the picture. It was of the three of them in the dead of night, sneaking out of Emily's house. Aria was the first to crack, nearly on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Oh god. Why didn't we see this happening?! -A is going to send this to the police and-"
"Calm down. This picture doesn't prove anything," Spencer cut her off. At Hanna's disbelieving stare, she sighed uncomfortably.
"Alright, I'll admit it does look suspicious but it doesn't prove that we did anything wrong." Hanna laughed mockingly.
"Aren't you supposed to be the smart one, Spence? This shows us breaking and entering. Wilden is going to be on us like a bloodhound as soon as he sees this picture. That pathetic asshole would nab us for jaywalking if he could."
"Garrett told you that Wilden is just acting as the chief investigator for Ali's case, right? He wouldn't be able to do anything with the picture anyways!" Spencer countered.
"Yeah, but he'll just give the picture to Garrett and we'll be right back where we started!" Aria shrieked, in full blown panic-mode.
"Calm down, Aria. -A hasn't done anything with the picture yet. Let's just wait this out, and see what happens," Hanna soothed, her words falling flat to Aria's ears.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen," Aria began, her words thick, "-A is going to use this as blackmail like they always do! We were screwed before, but now we're really screwed." Hanna attempted to calm her down again.
"-A already had tons of blackmail on us, what's one more piece of ammunition?" She asked, trying to sound optimistic but failing miserably.
"The difference is, -A has an actual crime on us now. If they blab, we could go to jail," Spencer said, her logical tone cutting through Aria's hysterical panic. She seemed completely catatonic, staring at Spencer in horror. Hanna sighed, cynicism crashing over her in waves.
Leave it to -A to make a terrible day even worse.
(last night)
Mona was panicking.
On the outside she was cool as a cucumber, face perfectly neutral, hiding the storm that was quickly brewing in her head. She had been trying to draw the three girls out, but couldn't figure out a way how without seeming too interested in where Emily had gone. She wasn't certain, but there was a good chance that the three of them knew where Emily was, and were somehow able to keep it hidden from her. Mona wasn't used to being denied information; whatever she needed to know, you could bet that she knew it within the hour. But not this time.
And then, like a gift from god, Lucas had told her that the three girls were heading towards Emily's house. Mona had jumped up from her bed in a rush, sneaking past her slumbering mother and speeding away in her car. This was just the kind of break that she needed. If she somehow gave the girls enough... motivation, there was a good chance they would spill where Emily was to -A.
She couldn't help but laugh gleefully when she caught Aria fumbling around, looking for an extra key to break into Emily's house. It was just so delicious, watching the three of them unknowingly screw themselves over. Mona was nothing if not efficient, and unlocked the front door herself with a bobby pin after Aria left with the key. She entered the house quietly, swiftly making her way up the stairs before Aria had even gotten around to the back of the house. Taking out her red lipstick, she scrawled a menacing message on the mirror. It wasn't the most creative thing she had ever come up with, but it would have to do with the short amount of time that she had.
Her head snapped up as she heard the back door creep open, and she knew she only had minutes until she was caught. She heard quiet voices downstairs, but didn't care enough to listen to whatever it was they were saying. She took one last look at the message on the mirror, admiring her work, before she opened the window and climbed down the tree adjacent to the building. She quietly closed the window behind her, and released a relieved sigh when her feet touched the ground. She had been in some pretty tight situations, but that was close, even for her.
The black of her hoodie and cargo pants gave her greater camouflage than a chameleon. She crouched in some far off bushes, waiting for the perfect opportunity to truly nab the three of them. She adjusted her camera, the same one she had used to take hundreds of pictures of Alison. As the three of them exited Emily's house, Mona zoomed in and took the incriminating photos. She waited until they were long gone to crawl out of her hiding place, and took a moment to bask in her success.
She knew it wasn't a concrete plan, but plans made up on the spot never are. She was certain, however, that this threat, just like all the others, would be enough incentive for the girls to bend to her will. It had to work. It just had to.
At first, Mona had been texting Alison to scare her. She had wanted the blonde to feel just a fraction of the fear that she felt whenever she passed her in the hallway, or made eye contact with her accidentally. Alison deserved to feel afraid, she deserved to see what it felt like to be truly terrified. But then someone had ruined the fun.
They had stolen the game from her.
She didn't know who they were. But they knew who she was. At first, she had thought they were Alison, and she was ready to chew her out for even daring to entertain the thought of coming back to Rosewood. But it wasn't Alison; no, it was someone wearing a mask that was eerily identical to her face, with long blonde hair that she wasn't sure was real. They were wearing a stark red coat, the colour of fresh blood.
Mona admired their mystery.
Red Coat was the fuel to her fire, one that would have gone out a long time ago had it not been for them. They had just showed up in her room one night, threatening to tell everyone what she was doing unless she did what they said. She was enraged at their arrogance, she would never allow herself to be pushed around by anyone else after she convinced Alison to disappear. She was finally free, and she enjoyed her freedom.
But she came around, eventually.
Red Coat had whispered her promises, their voice wrapping around her like a snake, dripping with sickly-sweet venom. The rewards they had enticed her with were so alluring, that she had nearly agreed on the spot. However, she needed some sort of assurance that she would never be caught. She needed to feel safe. Red Coat had made her a believer, of course. They were a master manipulator, and had managed to talk Mona into accepting their proposal without actually offering anything. Mona had once thought herself a genius.
She had no idea who she was up against.
Shaking her head, Mona got back into her car and sped off towards her house, pulling into the driveway as quietly as possible as to not wake her mother. She crept up the stairs, careful to avoid the places that groaned when stepped on, and finally sighed in relief at being back in her room. She closed the door behind her and locked the door lock firmly. She then locked the lock above it, and the one above that. What could she say, she was paranoid.
She uploaded the pictures onto her computer, and then downloaded them to her phone, constructing a quick but meaningful text designed to scare the wits out of the three girls. She saved the message as a draft, planning on sending it the next day. She was ready to collapse into bed and call it a night, before she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Frowning, she looked to see who it was from.
Lucas. Wonderful, she thought sarcastically. Opening the message, her expression immediately changed to one of delight.
I went back to the barn like you told me to. I found Emily's phone, it was ditched on the side of the road. -L.
Mona sent up a prayer, thanking god for making the cops in Rosewood so stupid. They had apparently searched the place completely, but some miracle had caused them to miss Emily's phone which was left a bit further from the barn down the road. Mona's night was really starting to look up. If Lucas was right, and it was Emily's phone, the three people she held the most contempt for were about to get some very interesting messages.
Mona smiled to herself. She always came out on top.
A/N: Alrighty, so this chapter is an itty bitty 2000 words longer than the last ones. It seems like when I start writing about Emily and Alison, I can't stop o.O
So, who do you guys think Red Coat is going to be? CeCe? Aria? Charles? Inexplicably Harry Potter? Let me know! :)