Disclaimer: Still don't own it.
I stood there flabbergasted as Jason made his way into the room.
Before anyone could say a word, he reached out with both hands and grabbed Mike by the shirt and then lifted him up. Jason then shoved him against the wall, his face looking so angry that even I felt a chill.
"What the hell?" Mike gasped as he was lifted off the ground. Lucas moved to intervene but a glare from Jason froze him in his tracks.
"What were you trying to accomplish? Do you know how much trouble you caused?" Jason asked, practically snarling.
"I already told him off; let him go," Lucas said but Jason ignored him and stared into Mike's eyes. If I could intervene, I would have but I was currently helpless.
"I'm sorry; alright? I just snapped," Mike struggled to explain and Jason let him go.
"Snap again, you go somewhere else to take out your rage," Jason ordered, almost a threat as he looked down at Mike on the floor.
"Okay. I'm sorry," Mike said and Jason reached his hand out, which Mike grabbed and was pulled up by the older guy.
"You pissed Alison off; I've never seen her so angry," Jason said, giving Mike an almost brotherly look. It seemed that the two had bonded somehow in the aftermath of my death.
"It won't happen again. Does she suspect me?" Mike asked and I was curious as well.
"I don't think you are even on her radar. Alison would consider me or Lucas a suspect far before you," Jason informed. Lucas nodded in agreement.
"Are you a suspect?" Lucas asked as he sat down in front of his computer. Both Mike and Jason sat at the table across from him while I stayed in the corner with my arms crossed.
"No, but that's because I was dragged into a family thing by my grandma who was visiting us," Jason answered with a sigh. I got the impression that he had not liked being dragged into that family thing even though it had paid off by getting him off the hook for what Mike did.
"Well I am not one; the police came by and questioned me. Luckily, I was out with my parents in Brookhaven," Lucas stated, sounding relieved.
"So all is good," Mike said, as if he was making what he did seem alright. I just closed my eyes and shook my head at his idiocy.
"No, we got lucky," Lucas chided and Jason just nodded his head in agreement.
"Well maybe something like this needed to happen. We have been skulking about, doing nothing for the last month while Alison has been out there dancing about like she is the Queen of Rosewood. I am tired of this," Mike raged, a storm of emotions coming out. I was also coming to terms with my own emotions as I watched him.
"Mona did stuff like that and that caused her problems for everyone around her. You can't go down that path," Jason said and I agreed with him, mostly anyway.
"But it got results; didn't it?" Mike asked Lucas, trying to press the point.
"But at what cost? We are doing this to protect the ones we love and not revenge. Mona saw this at the end and she got real results and is now mourned by everyone, instead of everyone being relieved," Lucas argued back.
"But we haven't gotten anything to use against Alison. We have been watching her every move and got nothing for it except for useless fashion crap. She is winning," Mike stated, echoing my earlier claim to Caleb.
From the sound of things, these guys were basically where the girls and their mates were; with nothing. It seems that I was the only one who ever gotten one over on Alison while the rest were struggling to keep up with her. Without my genius, everyone was lost and unable to do anything effective. It was both annoying and saddening at the same time.
It was also interesting to see these three together, forming some sort of Hoodie Trinity. While I could see Lucas forming some sort of group in the wake of my death, I was unable to fathom how he managed to rope Jason and Mike in. Actually, I take that back since I could see Mike in this since he needed a leash; I loved my boyfriend but he had a temper. Jason was the enigma; how did he and Lucas meet up for him to become a part of this?
Also, what the Hell did Alison do to alienate Jason so much?
"Alison isn't winning; she just has the upper hand right now. She thinks that she has everyone under her thumb right now and is cocky. We can use that against her," Lucas argued, trying to make a point.
"You say upper hand, I say winning since no one has done anything useful including us. Mrs. Vanderwaal doesn't even have a body to bury," Mike practically yelled, rising to his feet.
"And what are you going to do? Harass Alison until she gives up and confesses? All you are going to do is make her look like the victim and no one benefits from that," Jason said, like an older brother trying to get a point across to the younger sibling.
"So what am I supposed to do? I want to do something so Mona can rest in peace," stated my former boyfriend. Or is he my current? How does that work with me as a ghost?
"Well at least you get that I am not at peace," I said out loud, feeling a little happy that my Mike is trying to be my avenger.
"I don't think Mona would like her only real boyfriend to rot in some jail cell or sanitarium for the rest of his life," Lucas claimed; which he was right since I wanted Mike to have a future outside of Rosewood.
"Well what would she want? What would Mona do if she was here?" Mike angrily demanded to know from the two other males in the room.
"Mona wouldn't do anything that sloppy; she was at least methodical when she initiated her plans no matter how much I said it was wrong," Lucas informed him and I had to agree.
He was right; Lucas would often try to be my jiminy cricket when it came to my operations. It was useful at first since it guaranteed me not going too far and do something stupid. After a while though, his second guessing me had gotten on my nerves and I started to ignore him. I wondered if I had gotten careless after that and allowed Alison to poach my game away.
"I am starting to wonder if maybe Mona had the right idea," Mike growled, pressing his point.
"Are you forgetting that Mona terrorized your sister for over a year and nearly ruined her life?" Jason asked, clearly aggravated by Mike's words.
"My sister stood by and let Alison DiLaurentis terrorize half the school. She then lied to me and my family about her affair with Ezra as well as what happened in New York. She also tried to break me and Mona up. Aria doesn't deserve my sympathy," Mike stated and my jaw nearly fell on the floor while the other two guys looked solemn.
I wasn't sure what to think about that. In the time that I knew him, Mike had always been the protective brother when it came to Aria. Obviously something must have happened between the two to make Mike turn against her so adamantly. It turns out that once again that I had some things that I needed to find out.
"It wasn't her fault; Aria fell into my sister's thrall like so many others," Jason defended and I was curious if he was still into her. I was never able to find out if he genuinely liked Aria or if it was all for show.
He was also technically right. Alison would have been a great cult leader; she might still, given enough time. She had this ability to make everyone around her become immersed in her and look the other way while she committed some pretty horrible things. Even I was entranced by her at first; until I was dubbed Loser Mona and that love turned to hate.
The silence from Mike that followed almost seemed like he yeah gotten Jason's point; but by the look I saw on his face, I doubted it. This meant that I might have to keep a special eye on him in the future so that he wouldn't do anything else stupid. Of course I couldn't stop him so I guess there was no point.
Sigh….
"You said on the phone that Alison went somewhere in the middle of the night and I have her on camera leaving Rosewood. I then lost track of her; did you find out where?" Lucas asked Jason, changing the subject to something a bit more useful.
"No; I didn't get a chance to press before we were interrupted. All I could say was that I heard someone leaving and inquired if it was her. I don't think she realized that I knew that she had left for a few hours," Jason answered, frowning at the failure.
"So once again we have nothing," Mike angrily stated.
"I agree if anyone cares," I said, wishing again that someone could hear me. I really was hoping that there was someone else other than Caleb out there that could see and hear me.
"Not totally; I looked at Alison's phone while she wasn't looking and it looks like she talked to someone before she left. The number was blocked but I might be able to steal her phone given the chance," Jason said.
"How are you going to do that? Especially with A watching her back," Lucas asked, skeptically.
"I don't know; I'll think of something. By the way, Mona's mom is going to sue Alison for her daughter's death," Jason informed everyone.
"Really? Can she do that?" Mike asked, puzzled.
"She might if she has a case. But Alison has so many people under her snare and her family is rich so it's a long shot," Lucas stated.
"Well apparently my father and his wife are going to help Leona on the sly. I also wouldn't doubt if Spencer and the rest of the girls helped too," Jason informed the other two, which I already knew.
"I don't doubt that; we aren't the only ones digging into Alison's life. When I was hacking into the police department, I noticed Mona's software alongside mine and it looks like Caleb is helping the girls," Lucas said. I smirked since this meant that Lucas and the group were onto the girls while they were clueless.
"How do you know its Caleb? Why not A?" Jason asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
"Because A doesn't need to hack the police department and Mona had told me that she had given Caleb her encryption software to do the very thing I am doing now," Lucas explained.
"So what are we going to do now?" Mike asked, clearly frustrated; which I couldn't blame him. While I admired this trio for their dedication and the fact they were getting stuff done, they weren't that far ahead of the girls.
Maybe this was the reason why I was here; because I was the only one capable of getting stuff done. Alison was ahead of the game and leaving everyone in her dust. But that left the question of the big hole in my memories as well as the fact that I could only communicate with one person. If someone wanted me here to stop Alison, why leave me at such a disadvantage?
I stood there as the three discussed their next move; nothing really of importance in my opinion. Their plans were interesting, but all they entailed was just more surveillance. Other than what Mike did, there was no taking the fight to Alison in this group. They had the vision, but lacked the skill and drive to get the job done.
Once again, being dead sucks.
Eventually everyone left and Lucas turned out the lights, activating the security system before locking up. I was alone in the darkness, contemplating on what to do. It was only in the mid afternoon according to the clock, and I supposed that I could either make my way back to Caleb or do some more exploring.
Speaking of Caleb, I wasn't sure whether to let him in on this new alliance against Alison. While more people coordinating against Alison the better, I was afraid that the inclusion of Caleb and the girls might attracted the attention of A; so far, these guys were successfully operating under the radar and why should that change.
No, better to leave Caleb and the girls in the dark about this since it wouldn't accomplish anything.
Since I couldn't turn on the computer to go over what the guys had in terms of surveillance, and there weren't any photos around, I headed out of the room; opting to just go through the wall so that I wouldn't trip the security system. I appeared on the other side of the building in an empty alley and walked out into the open.
The sun was still up and there were people everywhere, bustling about their business. Looking around, I didn't see anyone I directly knew; only people that I saw everyday but were irrelevant to my life. I saw the police station at the end of the street and thought that they might have something useful for me; that or something that I could warn Caleb about.
I started walking and deliberately passed through people, causing them to shiver which brought a smile to my face. I needed cheering up and what better way than to cause a little mischief that wasn't totally harmful to anyone. I was starting to enjoy myself when I spotted something familiar. I diverted from my path to get a closer look.
It was the car from last night; stopped at a red light. I could tell since the color and make were identical as well as the driver whom was covered with a hoodie. Looking around, I was surprised that no one else found this unusual; but I had driven around town numerous times like that and not been pulled over. There was never a cop around in Rosewood that was useful.
Taking advantage of the situation, I sprinted towards the car and jumped in the backseat. It was just in time as the light turned green and the car took off. I sat upright and smiled at the person in black the evilest one I could muster; which would have been more satisfying if he or she could see it with their mirror. But I suppose I could just settle on the fact that I was now able to find something out on my own.
The driver was dressed head to toe in black with nothing to identify her. I knew it was a she because of the b*** sticking out of the chest but I don't think it was the same person from the other night. This person appeared to be a little taller and the bust just a tad bigger; I wasn't a pervert but was always good at observation.
After a while, the silence was starting to annoy me. Whoever she was, would it bother her to turn on the radio?
We were leaving Rosewood, telling by the houses that lay at the edge of town. As I studied the area, I could tell that we were heading towards the lake that lay at Rosewood's edge. I was puzzled since there weren't any houses or cabins there so it didn't make sense for us to come this way. A chilling thought occurred to me and I quickly put my head through the backseat to see what was in the trunk.
It was empty to my relief.
The car pulled onto a trail and sped along the dirt path. It was starting to get dark as the sun began to set. I noticed that we were heading towards the lake and I was once again puzzled since State Rules forbid any living areas on the lake shore. It was also enforced pretty heavily so I knew that we could not be heading to a possible lair.
When the lake came into full view, the car stopped at its edge and the driver got out. It was dark and I couldn't see much so as I moved to get out, there was a sudden jolt and I froze; confused to what was happening. Then there was the sudden sound of a large engine and something slammed into the car hard.
The next thing I knew, there was water rushing in.
Please R&R and another thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!