Chapter 20: Nothing Ever Ends in Rosewood
She'd never had to run in heels before.
Her hand, adorned with bleeding knuckles, grabbed the brick corner to aid her in rounding it. She stuffed the long, dark hair she'd been unable to tie back behind her ears. The longer she ran down the alleyways, the bleaker they became. Soon she was unable to let her eyes water without being blinded.
Eventually she reached a dead end and pressed her back against the crumbling brick. Her knees shook, threatening to collapse her. When her hand wiped the sweat and smeared makeup off her cheek, it created streaks across her face that looked like mixed watercolor paints, and stains on her body-tight dress from placing her hand on her abdomen to control her breathing.
She didn't remember how she got here.
"Aria…" A male voice echoed above the tops of buildings. "If that's your real name, you lying bitch…"
The voice was closer than she expected it to be, and her heels nearly jumped out of their straps. Helplessly she slid to the ground and curled up, no longer caring that the brick stabbed into her back. She brought one hand to her mouth to muffle the cries that she'd been holding back since the moment he pushed her into the table and she ran away. She tried to move her other arm, but she was sure the shoulder was dislocated when she had fallen on it.
And no one in that seedy placed had bothered to help her, no one offering ice for the bruise that had already formed around her elbow.
Aria shut her sore eyes and thought back to everything she loved: her friends Hanna, Emily, and Spencer; her brother, Mike; her boyfriend, Andrew; her reconnected friendship with Ezra.
"There you are."
A menacing shadow with overgrown, dirty blond hair falling into glowing blue eyes stepped into Aria's view. It didn't seem to care that it had already did a number on her physically. What more did it want? Was it looking to be charged with homicide?
When it reached down and grabbed her bruised elbow, Aria took what might be her last breath and yelled "No!" while she brought her knee up between its legs.
A/N: That's the end! (For now.) This chapter was officially the beginning of the sequel!
In the sequel, more will be shown on how Aria is adapting to life out of Radley; Spencer will be having some family troubles; Hanna is worried about falling into a relapse despite being happy with herself and her relationships, including a budding romance with Caleb; and Emily is continuing her romance with Maya, but still hasn't found a way to tell her parents. The question "what was Alison doing in Radley?" will also be answered...along with many other surprises I will not foreclose right now!
If there is something you are dying to see happen in the sequel, feel free to leave a suggestion in a review. I do read your guys' comments and take them into consideration. However, I can't promise that I can follow through with everything.
Thanks so much for reading, guys! I'll be planning out the sequel more thoroughly. Until I begin writing it, I'll be continuing with my future Ezria fic, "Where We Are Supposed to Be."