When Mona died, that was things fell apart. I mean, it had been pretty bad already, but the shattered pieces of the picture had been hanging to its frame…now they crashed to the ground, making more splinters of glass fragments on the floor.

Mike was sadder than ever. He kept ranting about how Mona wasn't the angel everyone was proclaiming her to be now that she was dead. Alison was arrested for the murder of Mona. Jason was kicked out of the house by Dad for turning Alison in…bad to worse and worse to awful, it seemed to be.

"You should visit your sister, at least." Mike mentioned to me in the hall one day after physics.

"I don't want to complicate things though, Mike." I brushed him off. "Plus, Jason called me yesterday to tell me he visited her. She saw a sibling. That's all she needs."

To my surprise, he let it go. "Fine." was all he said before turning around and heading the opposite way. I thought that was the end of it. Until Hanna told me Mike had been visiting Ali in prison. I thought since Toby was working on the force now, that he would tell me, but he never brought it up.

"You need to keep Mike from visiting Ali," the girls told me.

"I can't exactly force him. I don't own him." I scoffed.

"But he listens to you." They pleaded.

I refused, and walked into class without another word. Mike had been seeing Ali…because he knew about A. That was what Aria later revealed to me.

"At least we don't have to lie to him anymore." I sighed. My call was interrupted when my father walked in to tell me that Hanna had been arrested, and that her mother had just called our house in hysterics, unsure of who to talk to, because each of their children were facing murder charges.

Scared that A would target Mike and frame in the same way that it framed Hanna, Aria and Ezra agreed to hide Mike.

I was doing my calculus homework when my phone rang. Aria. I picked up and without even getting a word out to say hello, she launched into a tale of how worried she was because neither Ezra nor Mike were picking up their phones and no one was picking up at the cabin either.

"I'm sure they're fine, Aria. Don't worry." How hypocritical. Now, I was practically shaking too. My mouth ran dry with the idea that A had gotten to Mike. I couldn't do any homework now. I closed my books and eyes and tried to relax. It didn't work. It wasn't until my phone rang again later that I felt like something was finally occurring. All the waiting, it felt like a weight on my chest.

"They found him. He was hazed. I'll forward you a picture that Caleb took. Ezra is bringing him home now, the police department up there didn't want to do anything about the incident."

"Oh thank god." I breathed, sitting down on my bed. He was alive. Beaten up, but alive.

Aria texted me the moment Mike got home and I raced over. She opened the door for me and pointed upstairs. I dropped my bag and sprinted, skipping a stair or two on every step. I practically slammed into Mike's door, but I managed to stop, steel myself, and slowly enter.

"Mike?" I asked weakly, peeking my head in. He turned to face me. His eyes were red, from the pepper spray. He looked so weak and fragile.

"Mads." His lip trembled, and we found ourselves in a tight embrace. I rubbed his hair and whispered in his ear that I wouldn't let him out of my sight, that I wouldn't let A hurt him again. And in the next moment, his lips were on mine. And I'd nearly forgotten how much I had missed them.

I had him back.

A few days later, I was sitting in the courtroom with Jason, holding his hand tightly in my own, waiting for the jury to reach a verdict. My heart thudded in my chest. I thought it would be a happy ending. I thought it would be like the movies, and that I'd hug Ali in tears of joy once the officers released her. Instead, I found myself hugging Jason, sobbing. Mike, who had been sitting in the back of the room, came up to me and took me into his arms, so Jason could go outside and talk to our father.

I sunk to the ground as Ali was led out of the room by policemen, and Mike sunk with me, promising, like I had to him, that he would not leave my side.


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Sorry for the short chapter, but things are hectic as college decisions come out lol.