Disclaimer: Still don't own it
At first, we only stared at the laptop.
Of all the things I had expected, it definitely wasn't Alison's diaries since I thought they had been lost to me.
There was another flash of a returning memory, and it was if I was watching a movie while sitting in the theatre all alone. I watch myself as I download the files onto the micro hard drive, and stuff it into my stuffed animal before I am carted off to Radley for the second time. It must have been a precaution after I had helped out Hanna's mother and incurred the wrath of Alison and her partner.
"This is the mother lode," Hanna said as she started reading and I could only nod.
"I wonder if there's more," I said, mostly to myself but Hanna heard me, and looked over with that look she always displayed when she had come up with something.
"Maybe we should go and check; your mom gave me a key before she left town for a few days to visit family," Hanna informed me, pulling the key out of her pocket. My eyes widened slightly when I recognized it as my old house key when I still had been alive.
"No; you go with Emily and Paige like you had planned. I'll stay here and look after everything," I said quickly and Hanna looked surprised by my statement.
"Why? Don't you want to know what is in your house?" my friend asked, confused by my attitude. I was starting to get annoyed that she didn't understand where I was coming from.
"I do; but I just can't go in there," I said and my frustration was more than evident in my voice. She just looked at me funny until it dawned on her.
"I'm sorry Mona; I forgot," Hanna said, and I could hear the guilt in her voice.
"I died there Hanna; I don't think I could ever go home again," I said softly and the blond nodded as she just gave me a concerned look.
"So you haven't seen your mother?" she asked and I shook my head.
"How is she?" I inquired, more out of concern than curiosity. She had always been a strong woman and I hoped she was coping.
"She has accepted that you are gone, but I think it's hard for her because there was no body," Hanna told me and I understood what she was saying. Not having a body to bury wasn't really closure for anyone, and I could understand why it could be hard for my mother.
"So was it just an empty coffin that you buried?" I inquired, wondering what was in my grave if not my body.
"Your mom buried a bunch of your keepsakes in the coffin; I think even your old retainer," Hanna answered and I just laughed at that even though I felt a pain in my heart.
"That sounds just like her," I said as I chuckled even though I could feel the tears in my eyes.
"She plans to start a fund in your name; to buy books for the town library. Every book someone buys has a picture of you in it," she also said and that also sounded like something my mother would do.
"I wonder how many other mothers in this town will go through the same thing before this is all done with," I wondered as I sat down on the free chair.
"No one else is going to die; we will take Alison down and now we have more tools to do it because of you," my friend said as she leaned down and stared into my eyes. I almost believed her conviction as I just stared back.
It was a nice pep talk though a little cheesy and cliché. Even with Alison's diaries, there was still so much to do and they would not be enough. I had the diaries for a long time and even I wasn't prepared for my death; I think since there had to be a reason why Mindy tried to steal them. Maybe I had missed some clues in them, and there had been some about the secret sister. I needed to get this ball rolling.
"Well we have a lot of reading to do; you need to make copies right now. Text Caleb now and tell him to buy a bunch of hard drives to give everyone," I commanded and Hanna didn't question me and whipped out her phone. There was a reply a minute later and Hanna glanced at her phone.
"Caleb will be right over after school; what should we do until then?" she asked me as we stood in front of the laptop.
"Read; maybe something will jog my memory and we need as much information as possible in case something happens," I answered her and I could see the confusion on Hanna's face.
"How many times have I stolen information back from you guys back when I was A; you can't let an opportunity like this vanish. Start reading,"
I once again commanded her and Hanna complied after getting my point.
It had been a constant weakness with the four girls; letting useful information slip out of their hands because they took too long to exploit it. It was the reason why me and my successor had run circles around them for a couple years now. They never learned to keep their hard won clues within their sights, lock their doors, or make copies of anything that they found. Well that ends today with my guidance and coordination.
While Hanna read, I patrolled outside and watched as Ashley went somewhere which was a good thing since an inquisitive mother would be a threat.
"Where is your mom going?" I asked as I reentered the house as she stopped to take a break. I knew Hanna wasn't a reader, though those mystery novels had to have helped somewhat.
"To the office; Jason needed her help on something," Hanna answered as she grabbed something to drink from the refrigerator.
"So when did your mother start working for Jason?" I inquired as I sat down on the free chair in the kitchen.
"A little while after he returned to town and took over his mother's business," Hanna informed me as she back down at the computer with her glass of orange juice.
"I didn't know that Jason had gotten his real estate license," I said, and I thought I had known everything about him. I knew he was taking after his mother, but thought that the drugs and alcohol had interfered with that.
"I think his mother's death shook him up a bit and prompted him to get his life together," Hanna explained to me and that did make sense.
"I think Jason might be the only good one in that family," I said as Hanna sat next to me. For a second, it was like we were having a normal conversation in a regular situation.
"Probably is; though we don't really know how many are out there," my friend stated and I had to agree.
"Anything about Alison's sister so far?" I asked, hoping that it had come up. I was guessing no since Hanna had a tendency to get excited when she had found something of importance.
"Nothing so far, but I never realized that Alison had done so many bad things before she met us," Hanna said and I could hear the disbelief in her voice.
"I did; if I could remember them. You girls saw her do horrible things right in front of you and I even revealed them when I had been still A," I reminded her and I could see the guilt on her face.
"Yeah; well we are guilty of that. I think Emily feels the worst since she was once in love with Alison. I remember when we went to the first of her funerals and we all sat together for the first time; I remember thinking that I was kind of happy that she was dead because of all the pain she had caused in life," Hanna told me and I sympathized with her; glad that she and the rest of the girls finally knew the real Alison.
"I remember that day; I wanted to go to the funeral, but mom dragged me to a book fair in Philadelphia. I had even forgotten my phone so I couldn't follow it," I told her and she whipped her head suddenly, looking completely surprised.
"Wait, you never texted us at the funeral?" She asked and I was now confused.
"No; I started texting you after you girls started hanging out together again," I answered, not understanding where she was going.
"We all got texts just before the funeral and during it; you are saying you never sent them?" Hanna asked, almost demanding an answer from me.
"No; you are telling me that you got texts from A when the body was dug up for the first time?" I inquired. This was huge and changed everything.
"Yeah; we all got separate texts until all together at the funeral. We all assumed it was you since they were signed A. If you didn't send them, who did?" she asked and I could see the confusion on her face.
"Well it wasn't me; was it those texts that pushed you guys all together?" I asked. Things starting to make sense after she had nodded in reply.
"I only started up the game again because I thought you had gotten back together with them; I never knew that it had been going on without me," I stated as my anger started to rise; which in turn started to affect the environment around us. The air began to get colder and I could see Hanna start to shiver.
"When did you start texting us?" she asked in an effort to get me to calm down. I tried to put my emotions aside and think back to my past actions. The memories were fuzzy, but were coming to me.
"Maybe a few days after the funeral; then you guys started to try and block me," I informed her, remembering being amused about it.
"Can you remember all of the texts that you sent us?" Hanna inquired and I wasn't sure where she was going since I didn't figure that it was important.
"There was a lot; I don't think I can remember all of them," I told her and she sighed with frustration. I was curious though and she could see it on my face.
"I am thinking that maybe you were not the only one who was texting us back then; maybe Alison knew you had been her A and used you to get to us," Hanna suggested and what she said caused a few light bulbs in my head to go off.
I had always assumed that Alison had found out that I was A when I first went to Radley and that was when I had been approached by Redcoat for a partnership. If Hanna was right and Alison knew about me all along, then that meant that I must have been under observation all along without me knowing. I had been so focused on the girls that I had completely forgotten to make sure that I had been safe and undiscovered.
"But why didn't A steal the game from me when I first went to Radley? I had been locked up and out of the way," I wondered and Hanna seemed to think about that too.
"Well you still had Toby; maybe Alison and her sister knew that he was more loyal to you than them," she suggested and I definitely nodded in agreement.
"Until he handed my all of my information my information over to her after I had been kicked out," I said and I was still angry with him for doing that; especially since I never knew why.
"Spencer said that A had information on his mother's death and that he had traded your stuff for information," Hanna explained to me and I then understood his motivations since Marion had always been a weakness of Toby's. I remembered well since she had always been nice to me when she had still been alive.
"So what do we do now? If A was going after us before you, how do we use this to help us?" asked my blond friend and I had to think about that. I suddenly remembered something important.
"I think we need to find my diaries," I said and Hanna blinked at me a few times. "You have your own diaries?" Hanna asked me and I nodded in reply.
"Yeah; though I have no idea where they are; I probably hid them like I did with Alison's diaries," I told her.
"Then I guess we'll have to look when me and Emily go to your house on Saturday. We can spend the entire day there looking since your mom won't be there," she said.
Hanna spent most of the day reading the diaries and had gotten a reply from Caleb that he would bring what we needed. Once there was enough copies, he would distribute them so that the rest of the girls can start reading and coordinate with one another on ideas. I had only read Alison's diaries for her juicy secrets and there was a chance that I had missed something that they might catch.
As she sat on her bed and read, I sat on the ground and was reading a magazine until Caleb walked in. He had his backpack and it seemed that he had come straight her; though with what we had asked for I hoped. It was only a matter of time before Alison and her sister found out that we had copies of her diaries and would make a move to take them back; like Mindy had tried before.
"Did you bring the portable drives?" I asked him as he closed the door behind him. I hoped that Mrs. Marin wouldn't mind the door closed since we needed our privacy.
"Yeah; bought them from the school store," he answered and he took out the packages of little micro-drives. There was quite a large amount of them and more than enough for distribution.
"Good; we need more eyes on this and everyone needs to start reading for possible clues on the identity of Alison's sister," I explained to him as he took the laptop from Hanna, who seemed glad to be able to take a break. I watched as he opened the first package of the hard drives and plugged it into the computer.
"Do you think this is all of them?" he asked me as he made the copies. It was a little uncomfortable to see him cozy up to Hanna with her practically using his shoulder for a pillow.
"I think so; I wouldn't risk splitting them up," I answered from my spot on the floor.
"How was school?" asked Hanna with her eyes closed, resting them after all of the reading that she had been doing. Hanna would have to get used to it since she would be doing a lot of it when she goes to college.
"Well Mindy getting arrested is the buzz of the school; the rumors were pretty wild with a few saying that she had murdered you or put you in the hospital," he informed us and Hanna just rolled her eyes.
"Was Cindy there?" I inquired; when it came to the twins, one was never without the other which was why I was surprised that it had only been Mindy in the house.
"No; she is at the hospital with her sister. She woke up and started razing about seeing you," Caleb said and I could see the amusement on his face.
"Well that might cause problems; if Alison's sister is superstitious then she might believe that it really is me," I said, hoping that it wasn't true.
"Did you find anything on her while you were reading?" Caleb inquired to Hanna as she yawned and looked like she wanted a nap.
"No; but I was still in the early years of Alison's life. There is a lot of stuff here and I feel even sorrier for Jason since he had to grow up with her," Hanna answered and I could hear sympathy in her voice.
"Well if we are going to find her then maybe we have to look elsewhere," Caleb suggested and I motioned to him to continue.
"Well; if Alison has a sister then maybe we should look at her possible parent. Could she be another one of Mrs. DiLaurentis's kids?" he asked and I had to think about that.
"You can't really hide a pregnancy and Jessica isn't able to do that; especially if she had an affair," Hanna said though I disagreed.
"Not if Jessica secretly gave the child away while faking a stillbirth or something," I said and Hanna nodded as if she agreed with me.
"Why would she do that? Didn't she raise Jason under the same circumstances?" Caleb inquired.
"Because the daughter might not share the same genetic similarities with Alison's father; Jason does because he looks like he could be Kenneth's kid even though we know he isn't," I explained to him.
"So we should look into Alison's mother then," Hanna suggested and I nodded.
We were about to make plans to do that when a sudden ding came from Hanna's phone on the table next to her. She grabbed it and checked to see who had texted her when she looked like she was going to throw up; which she did somewhat into the trash can next to the bed. Caleb, after taking the phone from her, looked equally disturbed and suddenly looked at me with a mix of emotions on his face.
"Who is it from?" I asked, now confused on their behavior.
"It's from A," answered Hanna and before Caleb could hide the text, I moved to their side to see what the message was.
It was a picture of my decomposing body.
Please Read and Review; once again, a special thanks to Paradiccted for the Pre-Read and you should check out his/her awesome stories. Especially "Stepping Up" since it has a nice twist on 5x12 with a cool Paige/Caleb/Mona team up.