Disclaimer: Still don't own it
All roads lead back to Radley.
Sure, everyone has said it a number of times but I never actually believed it up until now given what I just found out.
While the three guys in the room didn't know where the Abyss was, I sure did. Radley was a big place and had been built a long time ago, thus there were more features to it than most people knew. Besides the main building, there were a number of small cabins spread out around the perimeter of the sanitarium itself; places for the groundskeepers and other maintenance people to stay. Very few people occupied them anymore since Radley had added a temporary wing to house its various medical staff.
The Abyss was an abandoned out house that was the farthest from the sanitarium and considered to be cursed. Supposedly, it was haunted because one of the patients had committed suicide there a few decades ago; thus everyone was too afraid to go near it because of the ghosts. In truth, there had been no brutal death and the place was abandoned because of a land dispute with the State. Somehow though, people started believing in the legend, which was still told as a ghost story around Radley; which spread to the latest generation of inmates.
I had discovered the place when I had done research on the sanitarium when I was digging into Alison's parents. I knew that Kenneth did business outside of town, but Jessica was a local girl who had family ties to Rosewood. When I had been locked up, I considered using the Abyss for a possible lair location when I first heard about it; but couldn't since the walk was too far to scout the cabin. I never got around to asking Toby and wished I had since I would have possibly gotten the drop on Courtney a long time ago.
"Anybody know where "The Abyss" is?" Mike asked while Jason listened to more of the tape and Lucas waited for his turn.
"I've never heard of it and I don't think Mona had ever mentioned it," Lucas answered and I thought back to when he had been my subordinate to see if that was true.
Unlike Toby, I had confided a little more in Lucas since we had been working together long before I started up the game again. With Toby, there had always been the risk of him going to Spencer when I first recruited him; though I had taken steps to make sure that didn't happen. Lucas knew much about my plans and locations of my secret places, including getting in and out of Radley after I gave him the codes. There was a chance that I had told him about the Abyss but might have not since it had been a dead end to me.
"So we have a possible location on where Alison and her partner are hiding, but there is no way we can find the place," Mike stated and I could hear the frustration in his voice.
"If we had access to Mona's diaries, there is a chance that we might find the location," suggested Lucas and took the headphones from Jason when he was done listening to the tape.
"I really wish I remembered where those went," I said out loud and sighed. I also wished I remembered what was on them since they could help now; though I suppose I had all the pieces now and don't need them myself.
"If you would let me break into Hanna's house; I could get them so we can read them," growled my former boyfriend and I looked at him in surprise. Wait, I hid both my diaries and Alison's at Hanna's house?
Talk about putting all of your eggs in one basket.
"We've talked about this, it's too risky; especially since one of the twins just tried to do the same thing," Jason said and I had to agree.
"Plus, everyone will be alert now," Lucas added while he listened to the tape. I kept hoping that they would mention where they thought I hid them so I could mention it to the others.
"But we are risking them being found by Alison and destroyed," Mike argued and I had to admit that he had a point.
"We are not the only ones who know about Alison and there is a chance that the girls are on the same page as us; especially in regards to this sister of Alison's," Jason stated and a part of me wished that there was some coordination between the two groups; but these three were my ace in the hole for the time being.
"Plus, sooner or later your sister is going to corner you about the cabin in the woods incident and we can't risk them finding out about us," Lucas said once he was done listening. He looked grim as he put the head phones on the table. I had forgotten about that and wondered if anything had become of it.
"I can handle Aria; if I have to threaten her about going to the cops, I will do it," Mike stated and I did a double take; he had always been the protective brother and it appeared that something had changed.
There was a beep from his phone and Mike went to read the text he just got. By the glare that he received, I almost suspected that got an A text but knew that Alison had yet to discover the group; I hoped. After he finished reading, he put his phone away and there was a flash of anger in his eyes. I could see the curious looks on the other two guy's faces and I was also interested in what the phone had said.
"That was my mother; she needs me home because it's getting late. Did you guys need me for anything else?" Mike inquired and both of his partners shook their heads. He then grabbed his coat and left.
And I followed him.
I could have stayed and listened in on anything important that could still be said with the other two. I wanted to follow my boyfriend because I knew that he had just lied about the text from his mother. Ella Montgomery was not someone who texted and like my mother, preferred to leave messages since they were more personal. So whoever just sent him a message got his attention and I needed to know who he was meeting.
It was easy to follow him to his car and I got into the backseat as he buckled up. Looking over his shoulder and checking his mirrors, Mike pulled out into the street and headed away from his house. Unless his mother had moved to another location, he wasn't heading there either and I was now more than curious to where he was going. It was another couple of minutes before he turned onto another road and I realized that he was heading to the school.
When he entered the school parking lot, I saw that it was deserted. He took one of the front spots and got out of the far, putting up a black hood as he walked up to the side entrance. For a second, I had a secret fear that he was a double agent for A, but quickly dismissed the notion since his hatred for Alison was very real. The side doors were chained but Mike pulled out a key that he somehow had to unlock them. On closer inspection, I realized that they were my set back in the day that I had been A.
It was coming apparent that my former boyfriend was keeping his own secrets; even hiding certain things from his own allies. There was a chance that he had gotten that set from Lucas but the way he had been acting, I had a feeling that wasn't true. If he had the keys that I had at one time, I was curious to what other things of mine that he had. I seemed to have made an error by avoiding him and should stick to him for a while to see what was up in case I had to intervene in some way.
He entered the dark hall and kept to the shadows, a tactic that I had used on more than one occasion. While the school lacked any real security at night, there was a chance that had changed in the aftermath of my death. Since I couldn't be seen, there was no reason why I had to hide so I just stood out in the open. He seemed to be heading towards the locker rooms and I was curious to what was there that he was interested in.
When he entered the girl's locker room, I followed him in and was surprised to see that he was meeting someone.
"Do you have it?" Mike demanded as I watched him approach Noel who was sitting on one of the benches in the room.
"I do; did you doubt me?" Noel inquired snidely as he tossed a thumb drive at my former boyfriend, who caught it easily.
"Just making sure that you are not playing me," Mike said and Noel just smirked at him. It was a little unsettling to see both my ex-boyfriends in the same room together; I had avoided going to the same places that I had gone with Noel when I was dating Mike.
"A little hard to do with you blackmailing me," Noel sneered and I could hear the venom in his voice as he said it.
"What the Hell are you doing Mike?" I asked him with bother concern and alarm in my voice. I didn't like what I was seeing him doing and wondered what else was going on behind the scenes.
"Maybe you should not have sold those fake ids to a bunch of kids caught buying alcohol," Mike countered with a smirk.
"Maybe I should have not told Mona about that in the first place; that was how she blackmailed me back when she was running the show,"
Noel bit back and I could see that he was now angry given the intensity of his look.
"It was you who played her first; after all, it was under Alison's orders that you messed with both Mona's and Jenna's feelings," My former boyfriend struck back and he matched Noel's intensity with his own.
"Alison used me, okay? Besides, I threw Mona a bone when she started dating me since she wanted to rise on the social ladder," Noel stated as if what he did was nothing. The room's temperature dropped a few degrees as my anger began to rise; which I could tell given that I could now see their breaths quite clearly.
"Mona fell for you hard; you broke her heart when you dumped her," Mike stated and his anger was clearly starting to rise.
"Which she got back at me when she started doing the same thing you are doing to me now," said my old ex and he had a point that even Mike had conceded.
"Well you are just lucky that Mona just blackmailed you; she could have just told Jenna and we both know what would have happened then," stated Mike as he smirked. Noel glared, but I knew he was agreeing since the blind teen would have just killed him in some way; Jenna could be far more vindictive than me at times.
"Speaking of which; is this it? Because it's getting hard to lay low when you are fighting some secret was with Alison," Noel stated and Mike looked like he was considering his answer.
"When Alison is behind bars or dead, you will never hear from me again," my former boyfriend answered and Noel nodded but didn't look pleased.
"You must be feeling quite powerful with Mona's diaries; don't let it go to your head or you might end up like your girlfriend," Noel stated and Mike looked like he was holding his fury in with that remark. I was now astounded that Mike had lied and had my diaries all along; using them for his own ends.
He then left and Mike stayed where he was as a second person emerged from the shadows; which caught me by surprise since I never saw her.
"I guess Jenna isn't the only one you are blackmailing," Sydney said as she looked slightly out of place in her dark clothing. I was now getting a full picture of what he was doing and guilt started to flood my emotions.
"Just doing what I need to do in order to get justice," he said and I was seriously creeped out since it was almost like I was seeing myself once upon a time.
It didn't take a genius such as myself to see that Mike was turning into me in the darkest part of my life.
"Speaking of which, is what you said to Noel the same deal that applies to Jenna?" Sydney asked as she handed Mike a paper bag. While I couldn't see what was in it, he was happy by the contents.
"The deal applies to everyone; once Mona is fully at rest, then everyone is off the hook for life," Mike answered and I wondered who else he was using for his own ends. While it was slightly sweet that he had taken up a crusade in my name, it was doing things to him that I didn't like and that I wanted him no part of.
"Just how many people are you using?" Sydney inquired and I could hear the horror in her voice when she asked. It also appeared that she couldn't see me which I was thankful for since it would lead to a number of problematic questions.
"As many as it takes; what else do you have for me?" asked my former boyfriend, not as demanding as he had been with Noel. I wasn't sure if that was because of some sort of chivalry or Sydney wasn't on his blackmail list; maybe both.
"Alison is pissed at the twins and is threatening to cut them off if they talk; sounds like they broke into Hanna's on their own. She keeps texting someone but I can't see who it was and she won't let anyone near her phone. Me and Jenna are just keeping quiet, staying out of it and watching like you instructed," Sydney informed him.
"Good; anything else?" Mike inquired, appearing to be pleased so far. I didn't like any of this and needed to do something soon before Mike crossed the point of no return.
"Only that Alison is completely focused on your sister and her friends; she thinks that they are baiting her with the "Ghost Mona" thing" informed the teen and she looked to me like she was a believer; an unfortunate consequence of my actions.
"It's something they would do; just like them to use Mona's memory like that," my former boyfriend stated but Sydney didn't look convinced.
"You don't believe in ghosts?" she inquired and I had a feeling she did.
"No; you do?" he asked and she nodded. I was curious to if she was going to tell him about what happened in the pool.
"I have to go; was there anything special that you wanted Jenna to do?" Sydney asked and there was a slight tone of annoyance in her voice. I had a feeling that she wasn't pleased about her friend being blackmailed by my former boyfriend.
"No; talk to you in a few days," he said and simply left Sydney there with me following him out.
He once again stuck to the shadows as I followed him to his car. I did him a favor and watched for anyone else while he slowly made his way out of the school. I liked that he was being careful and making sure that Alison or her sister couldn't ambush him. It was something that everyone needed a lesson in since it was too late for me. When we got to the car, I once again got into the back seat; though I didn't get why I just didn't get in the seat next to him.
The paper bag was in the front seat and I was dying to know what was in it; no pun intended.
It appeared that he was going home for real as we went down a familiar route to his house. When we arrived, there appeared to be no lights on with the house in pure darkness. His father must be on another academic trip and Ella must still be divorced unless she went with him. Aria must still be with the girls since I didn't see the other car and she would have left the light on as well as waited up for her brother given how late it was.
I was a little reluctant to follow him in at first; given that he was one of the people that I wanted to avoid. But given his new hobby, I felt that I now needed to stick to him for the moment. I also needed to relay my recent information to the girls and Aria could do that for me. So I could now kill two birds with one stone in a sense. Once he was inside, I saw the light go on inside as well as the outside light for Aria.
So I decided to go in; wondering if the place had changed since I had been gone.
I walked inside and into an empty hallway; though I could hear Mike in the kitchen. Since I knew the house rather well, I went straight to where he was and saw that he was fixing himself something for dinner. He had pulled out some leftover chicken out of the refrigerator along with some peas and was microwaving them. Once he was done, he grabbed a bottle of water from the cupboard and sat at the table; I sat down in the free chair across from him.
"I never wanted you involved in this," I said out loud as I watched him eat. Every time I saw him and what he was doing, there was nothing but guilt since it was my fault that he had become this; though one could argue that Ezra also helped.
Once he was done eating, he put his dishes in the sink and headed upstairs. I was still sitting at my chair in the darkness since he had turned off the light on his way out of the kitchen. The hall light was still on for Aria so there was some illumination in the room. I was once again conflicted about following him even though I had been in his room before. After a minute, I gathered my courage and headed upstairs.
When I entered Mike's room; I saw a shrine of myself.
Please Read and Review; also a special thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read, you should check out her fics, especially if you are a Paily fan