"Oh, hey, Aria." Paige McCullers greeted her girlfriend's tiny best friend as she entered the Brew's fancy bathroom.
"Hey, Paige! Is your car alright?" Aria said back with concern. "That was quick." She shrugged, wiping her hands off on a towel that had automatically dispensed for her.
"What do you mean?" Paige inquired with a furrowed brow. "Have you talked to Emily? I tried calling her a few times, but it went straight to voicemail. She told me she made it to work." A smile crept up on Paige's face at the very mention of Emily. "I thought I'd stop by and surprise her." She finished, feeling the smile on her face beginning to fade as Aria's expression contorted into confusion.
"What?" Aria whispered, her gaze not moving from Paige's.
"What's wrong?" Paige heard her voice crack as a flood of worry washed over her.
"Emily said she got a text from you about car trouble, that you needed a lift. She left." Aria shook her head, looking down as if trying to see a path to some sort of answer. Unease replaced her confusion.
"Why would I text Emily about car trouble? I love cars." Paige asserted, feeling the need to protect her innocence. She knew Spencer would be all over a list of suspects as soon as she found out and Paige was willing to bet she'd top the list.
"Oh no." Aria closed her eyes as she tried to think up an explanation. "We need to find her. Now." She demanded, grabbing Paige's hand and pulling her out of the restroom. Before they could reach Hanna and Spencer, Paige pulled away from Aria and spun her around.
"They are going to blame me." Paige assured Aria, a deep look of consternation stained in her eyes.
"We can't not tell them. This could be serious, Paige. After we found A's lair in Ravenswood we stopped getting texts. Now this. It's just not right." Aria expressed, snatching up Paige's hand again and dragging her to the other two girls. "We have a problem." Aria immediately said. Spencer's eyes shot directly to Paige's and the room suddenly began to tilt.
"What?" Hanna wondered, studying the serious expressions on both Paige and Aria's faces.
"Emily's missing." Paige put forth, waiting for the impact Spencer's glare would have on her.
"I never texted her asking for her a ride. I came up here to surprise her at work. Aria just told me she went off to fix my car which doesn't make sense because she knows I love cars." Paige explained again, quick to assert that she was not at fault.
"She said it was from you. Has anybody else had your phone?" Spencer interrogated, her stare growing colder and harder as the minutes passed. It was an immense stare and Paige didn't know how anybody managed to escape it.
"No. I mean, I was in the pool for a bit, but it never left my sight. Do you guys know exactly where she went?" Paige wondered, cocking her head at Hanna, who was the only one who hadn't spoken yet.
"All she said was you were having car troubles. She took off before we had a chance to even question it." Hanna replied. Then, Spencer chimed in.
"The school." She whispered, having a sort of mini revelation. The other girls looked at her, confused. "She told Zack Paige was at the school. There's only three schools in Rosewood."
"So we split up then? Hanna and Paige can go to the high school and me and Spence can check the middle school and McIver Elementary." Aria said.
"The middle school's behind my house. If I was stranded there I could just go home. Em would know that." Paige corrected Aria as Spencer glowered at her, never moving even when she spoke. Paige turned to Spencer. "Is there a problem?" She said, a bit more harshly than necessary.
"I'm just thinking about how convenient it is that you come up here fifteen minutes after Emily disappears with answers to all of our questions. How long does it take to get here from your house? Ten minutes?" Spencer folded her arms. Paige scoffed in obvious disappointment. How could anybody think she would try to harm the girl she loved so much?
"I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, Spencer."
"Spence, play nice. We need to find Em." Aria rolled her eyes, pulling Spencer out of the door with Hanna and Paige trailing her.
"If you see anything, call us!" Hanna shouted as she guided Paige to her car.
"I'm really sorry, Paige." Hanna finally said after they had started on the road towards the high school. She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel impatiently, finding comfort in the clicks of her nails on the smooth leather.
"Sorry for…?" Paige wondered, staring at the road straight ahead. If she looked away, they could easily pass Emily by if she were on the road. A milky sunset had begun forming and the air was dusty, hard to see past.
"Spencer. She can be a bit…intense." Hanna answered.
"Intense isn't really the right word, Hanna," Paige replied. "She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you. She is just really protective over Em." Hanna began, occasionally looking at Paige to confirm that she was listening.
"I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't even bring myself to think of hurting Emily." Paige said, unsure of where Hanna was going until she continued.
"A has done a lot of petty shit to us for the last three years, but nothing like what she did to Emily. A took the most important thing in the world from her and Spencer doesn't want to see Emily hurt anymore." Hanna finished, squinting at the road to try and find the turn to get into the school.
"So that's it? I'm gonna hurt her because I'm not Maya?" Paige questioned, a bit confused.
"Not because you aren't Maya, but because Emily loves you just as much." Hanna turned down Sawmill Road and could see the school looming in the distance.
"That's her car!" Paige screamed, pointing towards the Toyota Corolla Emily had won at Homecoming. The sides of the car were keyed and the tires had been slashed. As they got closer to the scene, the crooked, misshapen shadow of a girl on the pavement appeared.
Hanna sped closer to the car and the shadow gathered more and more detail until the blonde slammed on her breaks.
"That's Emily!" Paige screamed, jumping out of the car before Hanna could put it in park and dashing to the ground beside her girlfriend. "Oh my-." Paige cried, her eyes gathering the haunting image of Emily's bruised face. "Oh god, Em, what happened?" Paige wailed.
Hanna had never heard so much pain in a person's voice. She joined Paige by Emily's side, not wanting to touch her friend for fear of doing more damage.
"What the hell" Hanna whispered, dumbfounded. She immediately picked up her cell phone and called Aria. After a few moments, Aria picked up.
"Han? What's up?"
"We found her." Hanna explained, her voice shaky. Her mind hadn't completely wrapped itself around the situation yet. Shock absorbed her, holding back her tears and confusion and pain. There was only utter surprise.
"We're on our way." Relief flooded out all of the concern Aria had before. "Should we call her mom? Tell her we are going to-"
"Aria." Hanna paused to collect herself. "Something happened."
"What do you mean something happened?!" Hanna heard Spencer curse over the receiver before continuing.
"She's lying unconscious in the road." Hanna frantically explained.
"Did somebody hit her?"
"I don't think so." Hanna heard Spencer yell something in the car again, tires screeching as she hauled ass to the school.
"Hanna!" Paige's shrill voice cried out. She held a note. Hanna darted to Paige.
"Spencer says try to wake her up, Han!" Hanna ignored Aria, taking in a sharp breath as she read the words "We win" on the paper in Paige's hands.
"I don't want to touch her. It looks serious." Hanna pulled Paige on to her shoulder with her free hand as the girl bawled her eyes out.
"How serious? Did you see who it was?" Aria fired the questions so quickly it made Hanna dizzy. She took a minute to cage her thoughts back in.
"Slow down, Aria. I don't know what happened. It looks like someone beat the crap out of her." Hanna snapped her eyes shut when she heard Aria's disgruntled gasp in disbelief on the other end of the phone. It was far too hard for Hanna to listen to. "Just please get here." The blonde finished, feeling the soft tickle of a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Is Paige okay?" Aria asked, her voice like a feather against the hard situation.
"No. Just hurry." Hanna demanded.
When Aria and Spencer got to Emily, it was like hell had broken loose. They immediately went to Emily's side while Hanna tried to comfort Paige. After a debate over whether they should call the police to the scene or just take Emily to the hospital, Hanna convinced the other girls to dial 911. There was too much evidence at the sight to let anything possibly happen to it. Paige was the only one allowed to ride in the ambulance much to Spencer's distaste.
When the other four girls arrived at the hospital, Paige was pacing back and forth in a big, white waiting room, biting her nails and humming. She was worried sick, anxious to make sure Emily would pull through.
"How is she?" Hanna wondered, touching Paige's arm in comfort and offering some much-needed sympathy.
"Some minor cuts, pretty bad bruising, a broken wrist, broken ribs... The doctors said she is lucky." Paige choked out, her head ducked. She really didn't feel like facing Spencer through all of this.
"She is lucky." Aria muttered.
"God, who would do this to her?" Hanna pondered, her arms folded as if protecting herself from some unseen danger while Spencer stared daggers at Paige, who noticed after a moment.
"Look, if you have a problem with me, I'm sorry. But you're her best friend. It's time you start acting like it." Paige snapped. She was right. Emily hated the prejudice.
"Maybe she has a point." Hanna supported.
"Now you're against me to?" Spencer raised her voice.
"Nobody is against you, Spence. But-" Hanna was interrupted by Aria chiming in, attempting to keep the peace as usual.
"Guys! We're wasting time. The sooner we figure out who did this to Emily the better." Aria said, her eyes skipping from each of the girls faces as if it would give her some ideas. "Who do we know that would want to hurt her?"
"Do we even have to ask anymore?" Hanna replied with a nod.
"Even if it was A, we don't know who that is." Spencer corrected. "So with that mentality it could've been Jenna, Jason, CeCe." She continued.
"Do you really think Jenna or CeCe could have done that?" Hanna inquired. "Nobody wants to waste $50 on a manicure if you're just going to mess it up beating the crap out of somebody."
"Hanna!" Aria scolded.
"What?" Hanna questioned.
"It also could've been completely random." Spencer suggested. Hanna cocked her head at the statement.
"What do you mean?" She wondered.
"A top swimmer from a rival school or…a hate crime." Spencer shrugged, scrunching up her face as she thought hard.
"A hate crime?" Aria repeated, questioning Spencer while trying to make her own sense of it.
"Yeah. You know, a bunch of prejudiced morons trying to correct a flaw they see in society." Spencer began to explain.
"No, I know what a hate crime is, I just don't know who would do something like that to Emily." Aria replied.
"Rosewood isn't exactly the most liberal city." Spencer stated.
"Yeah, but everybody knows Emily. Nobody has done anything past whispering in the halls about her." Aria remarked, confused as to where Spencer was getting at.
"Rosewood isn't the most straightforward city, either. People brood." Spencer responded, looking towards the double doors leading to the patient's wing. She wondered when the doctor would come through and let them speak with Emily.
"It should've been me." Paige rejoined with a mumble.
"Don't say that, Paige. It wasn't your fault." Aria put her hand on Paige's shoulder. She was conflicted. Paige had distressed Emily so much in the past, but loved her so much now. Aria didn't know which Paige to pass judgment from.
"Yes it was. We were so open, somebody probably saw us and- god, I can't believe it." Tears began to flow down Paige's face and the guilt burdened Hanna. She too had been hostile towards Paige for lack of understanding how much she cared for Emily. The expression on Aria's face seemed to portray the same culpability while Spencer refused to even look.
"Emily was gay before she started dating you, Paige. Besides, we don't even know if it was a hate crime. Don't blame yourself. Emily wouldn't want that." Hanna comforted the breaking girl, pulling her into a hug and not letting go until Paige's sobs had subsided and the doctor joined the girls.
"Can we see her?" Aria immediately questioned.
"Yes, but just be aware that she is in a lot of pain. Keep the physical contact to a minimum." The doctor instructed, leading the girls to Emily's room. He left them right in front of the door waiting, but none of them could bring themselves to enter.
After a few moments in silence, Hanna pushed the door open anxiously, entering with the other three trailing her. Emily was faced towards the window, but when she heard the girls enter, she turned. Her eyes immediately lit up when she caught sight of Aria, Hanna, Paige, and Spencer. For a moment, all anybody could do was smile; smile because they knew that in that moment things were a little bit okay, smile because they were together, smile because A hadn't totally destroyed them yet.
"Hey." Paige rasped, tears transforming her usually honey smooth voice into a barely audible whisper.
"Hey." Emily smiled weakly as Paige made her way over to the bed, leaning down for a kiss. Emily pulled away almost impulsively, leaving Paige with nothing except dejection on her face.
"I'm sorry." Emily whispered. Having someone close to her body terrified her. Paige seemed to understand that and she stepped back a few steps, reluctantly granting Emily her wish and taking in the girls broken figure. Aria had her hand over her mouth in shock at how terrible Emily appeared. Sorrow spread throughout Spencer and Hanna.
"Oh, Em." Aria finally professed, coming to Emily's side along with her friends.
"I look that bad?" Emily quipped, eliciting a smile from Paige. Emily was still on some sedatives for the pain and it made her more lighthearted than she should have been under the circumstances.
"You look beautiful." Paige beamed.
"Emily, I hate to bring it up, but do you know what happened to you?" Spencer asked, carefully. Emily nodded, much to Spencer's relief. "Who was it?" She said, a little quieter for fear of upsetting her friend.
"I don't know." Emily replied, truthfully. Spencer sighed.
"You don't remember?" Hanna wondered.
"No, I remember." Emily closed her eyes as if having a flashback. "That's the problem...I just didn't know who they were. I already told the police everything..." Emily's voice quavered.
"You don't have to relive it if you don't want to." Paige urged, trying to keep Emily from getting too worked up.
"I just really think I need to be alone." The frail girl spoke softly. Paige, discouraged, nodded.
"We will be at Spencer's if you need anything." Aria offered a disheartened smile, feeling immense pain for Emily.
"Paige, I'll be in my car when you're ready." Hanna said. And then, Spencer, Aria, and Hanna left, leaving Paige with her girlfriend.
"Emily." Paige began, barely audible. "I am so sorry this happened to you. When I find out who did this to you, I will-"
"Paige. Stop." Emily begged. "I know you're angry and I know you're hurting, but I need to be alone."
"We are alone." Paige clarified. Emily shook her head.
"I mean completely alone." She reaffirmed, not meaning to sound as demanding as she did. She could see the discourage growing in Paige's once bright eyes.
"Oh." She responded.
"I'm sor-"
"No. I- It's fine." Paige replied, holding her head down as her tears began falling. "Really. I get it."
She then stepped away from Emily and ran out of the hospital.
