Which Aria Is It Anyway?
Chapter 8.
"What's going on here?" A voice boomed from the door, and they both jumped up from the bed to face the person who'd spoken. It was Dr. Sullivan, and she seemed less than thrilled. Alison and Aria weren't supposed to have any contact for both of their protection.
Busted!
"Should I try a bit of sarcasm?" Aria whispered so only Alison could hear.
"I wouldn't." Alison responded, also in a whisper. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."
"I find that rather offensive!"
"Truth hurts, doesn't it?"
"I'll have you know that sarcasm is my bitch!"
"Yeah, talking like that really doesn't suit you either."
"What did I ever do to you?"
"One time you ate the last green skittle."
"But you only like the red ones?"
"Yeah, but it was during the Holidays, and the Christmas spirit just took over."
"Well, I'm sorry. First thing I'm gonna do when I get out of here is buy you a bag of Skittles."
"Aw, thank you so much."
Alison and Aria had carried out their whispered conversation for a few minutes, and they'd forgotten about Dr. Sullivan who was still expecting an explanation. For those few minutes they were blissfully unaware of the trouble they were in.
"Someone explain what Alison is doing in here right now!" Dr. Sullivan interrupted their little conversation, crossing her arms over her chest while looking at them expectantly.
"Well, Aria and I think that it's unfair of you to keep us separated." Alison explained, knowing that Aria would rather not say anything to the therapist. "In situations like these you need your friends to lean on. You're depriving Aria of that."
"That may very well be, but since Aria's mental health is directly related to you, and the fact that she's still in a fragile state, it's safest for the two of you not to spend any time together." Dr. Sullivan informed them, a strict expression on her face.
Of course she wouldn't give a damn! Aria frowned while she stood on the sidelines, watching Alison fight their battle. It was infuriating that Dr. Sullivan kept up the stupid 'you can't see Alison' policy. They were in the same damn sanitarium, and therefore Pumpernickel would be able to hurt Alison whether Aria saw her friend or not.
"How would you know?" Alison challenged.
"I happen to be a therapist!" Dr. Sullivan said, her eyes blinking vividly as she seemed slightly offended.
"I happen to be her friend!" Alison argued. "I think I'd know what's best for her a lot better than you."
Dr. Sullivan sighed deeply at the girl's apparent ignorance. "If that were the case, Alison, neither of you would be here right now."
Alison's jaw dropped.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She exclaimed.
Aria cleared her throat beside her friend, and Alison looked to the side and met her eyes.
"I think she's trying to insinuate that you drove both of us here." Aria whispered, and then paused. "Of course, I could be wrong."
"That's a bit unprofessional, wouldn't you say?" Alison questioned, also in a whisper.
"Yeah, but I've heard that, that menopause thing makes old people lose their shit."
"You think she's that old?"
"I haven't cut her legs off and counted the rings, so I really wouldn't know."
"You gotta stop with those weird analogies."
"I'm not allowed to do sarcasm, and now you take this away from me. Is there anything you will let me do?"
"Yeah. Buy that bag of Skittles when we get out of here."
"Seriously though, would 50 be highballing it?"
"I think that'd be lowballing!"
"Maybe we should cut off her legs?"
"Shush it, you."
Another whispered exchange between the friends, and Dr. Sullivan was starting to lose her patience. She didn't have time for this at all. Alison needed to be out of Aria's room! The sooner, the better.
"Excuse me, Alison, but I think it's time for you to leave now." Dr. Sullivan interrupted. Again! She gestured towards the door to emphasize her point. Alison gave Aria a quick goodbye hug, and gave the therapist a dirty look as she exited the room. Dr. Sullivan turned her focus on Aria. "What were you thinking?"
"At which point in time?" Aria asked innocently, pretending to be clueless. "You'll have to be more specific."
Dr. Sullivan sighed impatiently. "You know perfectly well what I meant. What were you thinking, associating secretly with Alison DiLaurentis? One of you could have gotten hurt!"
"Care about that now, do we?" Aria scoffed, suppressing an eyeroll.
"I've always cared about you." Dr. Sullivan spoke calmly. Either she was ignoring Aria's hostility, or she was just that stupid. Given Aria's dislike, it wasn't difficult to guess which she believed. "I've tried to help you and your friends ever since I met you. Why should now be any different?"
Something just seems off about you. "You tell me?" Aria challenged.
"This attitude will only harm yourself, Aria." Dr. Sullivan informed, obviously unimpressed by Aria's antics. "The first step of getting better is wanting to get better, but that will not happen unless you work with me."
"I'm taking the damn pills!" Aria shouted, her eyes piercing with anger.
She couldn't explain why she seemed to loath her therapist so much during her Radley stay, and irrationally she didn't care about any sort of explanation to the anomaly. She just really, really disliked Dr. Sullivan. No reason needed.
"It's going to take a lot more than that." Dr. Sullivan tried to reason with her patient, fruitlessly as ever. "Any good recovery is due to a combination of medicin and therapy."
"You and I have nothing to talk about." Aria maintained stubbornly.
"I'm not giving up on you, Aria." Dr. Sullivan announced, a weird glint in her eyes.
If Aria didn't know any better, that gleam in the doctor's eyes almost seemed like affection. Almost like she cared, but Aria knew she didn't. If she did she'd let her see Alison. She'd be more forthcoming about everything.
After a short silence between the two of them, Dr. Sullivan decided to leave the room, knowing she wouldn't get anything out of Aria at that moment. She'd try again later. She'd keep trying.
As Aria watched the therapist leave, she realised that there was someone at Radley she didn't trust after all; Dr. Sullivan. It didn't matter in her mind that there was no connection between the psychologist and Melissa Hastings. It had to be Dr. Sullivan.
She would tell Alison about it when they saw each other again... Because they would see each other again!
Which Aria Is It Anyway?
It was that night. The night Ali told all. They were on the roof, and they'd just been in a confrontation with A – a confrontation that involved a gun.
Ezra had showed up. He'd fiercely battled with their tormentor, trying to get the gun out of his or her hand. He'd succeeded, and Hanna had picked it up, aiming it at A.
They'd demanded that he or she take off their mask, but instead A bolted and jumped from one roof to another, a large gap in between. Even Emily, the most athletic in the group, couldn't have made that jump.
They were leaning over the railing, watching A get away yet again. They had the bitch, it really seemed like they did. Just their luck, the bitch ran!
They were still trying to catch a glimpse of A, still trying to catch up with the reality of what just happened, when Aria noticed Ezra by the other edge of the roof, oddly gazing off into the distance. She approached him.
"Ezra?" She tried, concerned.
He kept his back towards her, and that gaze at the distance.
"It's so beautiful." He spoke, almost dreamily.
He turned around to face her, his expression matching his voice. Hers was worried, rightfully so.
He looked down upon his shirt, and noticed a large bloodstain on the lower part of the stomach. He touched it carefully, and that's when she noticed it too.
She started screaming as she ran to him. "No, no, no!"
She grabbed him in her arms, and they fell to the ground. She refused to let him go. Despite what had happened between them lately, she still loved him, and this was not how it was going to happen. It couldn't be!
Then her friends saw what happened, and they rushed over while panically chanting; "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"
"Oh, my God, Ezra." Alison cried as she leaned down.
Ezra reached up his hand to Aria's face while he tried to say something, but she shushed him while she tried to fight back her tears. When he began to struggle to keep his eyes open that battle was lost, and she sobbed heavily.
"No, you stay awake. Do you hear me?" She cried while she kept her eyes determinedly locked with his the best she could. "No, don't you dare close your eyes." His eyes closed, and she became hysteric. "NO, PLEASE! EZRA, NO!"
"Someone please call for help." Alison shouted, looking around although they were the only ones there.
The girls were shouting hysterically, and Aria kept repeating Ezra's name desperately as though it could get him to wake up again. Half of them ran to the railing, yelling for help, but she stayed with him. She was not leaving him, not a chance.
Noel burst through the same door as A had earlier onto the roof, and he immediately dialled 911. He informed them that help was on its way, and they needed to get out of there before it arrived so they wouldn't be questioned.
Alison leaned down and spoke softly in Ezra's ear. "Please don't die, Ezra."
She stood up, and Aria reluctantly did the same. Their eyes met briefly, a vague glint in her eyes. She'd heard Alison, heard how she'd begged him not to die.
Then something flickered. This was her fault. Alison. She did that to him. Aria wanted to strangle her friend for a brief moment, but then it disappeared like nothing had happened.
Her friends dragged her off the roof while she sobbed hysterically. She cried as though she was being whipped, as if she was in physical pain, like she would die if Ezra died.
Then Alison turned around, and looked at Aria with concern in her eyes. "Aria, are you okay?"
Wait! That was new?
"Aria?"
"Aria?"
"Aria?"
"ARIA! WAKE UP!"
Her eyes opened instantly, and she shot up. When her eyes had adjusted, she saw that Alison was kneeling beside her bed with a tortured look and tears in her eyes. Her own eyes were sore, and her cheeks were sticky. It became evident that she'd been crying in her sleep.
Great, another Pumpernickel nightmare, and she still felt the terror deeply. No wonder Alison had woken her!
She was awake now so why was Alison still looking at her like that? If Aria had to pinpoint it, she'd characterize it as terrorised guilt. But how could that be? She couldn't have known what Aria had been dreaming? Or could she?
"Why are you crying?" Aria asked sympathetically, stroking Alison's cheek gently to comfort her.
"I'm so, so sorry." Alison apologised which seemed odd to her shorter friend. They had covered those grounds, and Aria had forgiven her, so why was she being a broken record?
"What for?" Aria wondered aloud, shooting her friend a quizzical look.
"I lied to you!" Alison cried, confusing Aria further. They didn't do that anymore, did they? "Or Hanna did, but I went along with it. I'm so, so sorry. I had no idea. I'm sorry."
"At one point you have to stop apologising so profusely, and actually tell me what you're apologising for." Aria exclaimed after Alison's little rant of apology.
"Ezra." Alison said, barely audible.
But Aria had heard it, and her face fell. "Why do you have to bring him up? He's out of both of our lives for good!"
"Not entirely." Alison muttered, sounding extremely guilty.
"I'm sorry, let me get out my crystal ball and decipher what you're saying." Aria said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Alison closed her eyes and gulped, preparing herself to hit Aria with the truth that she deserved, but would no doubt hurt her.
"Ezraisinacomaandhislifehangsinadelicatebalance."
Aria stared at her friend like she had three heads. "Yeah, I don't speak latin." She paused. "You're gonna have to enunciate!"
Alison sighed deeply. This was it. "Ezra is in a coma, and his life hangs in a delicate balance. You... You were crying his name in your sleep."
Aria's face fell again. "That's not funny!"
"I'm not trying to be funny." Alison said as tears began to form in her eyes again. Subconsciously Aria knew that Alison was being serious, but the rest of her had not caught up. "He could die."
"No! No... Becau. Because you all said that he left town. You... You said that he. That he obeyed my wishes, and... And left." Aria stuttered while she tried to comprehend the information she was being told. "Why... Why would he be in a coma?"
Another sigh, and Alison started to explain things further. "You remember how we told you that someone tried to shoot you on the roof?" Aria nodded. "Ezra was there, and he fought, and took a bullet for you. He seemed to think that if he brought A to justice, he'd be able to win you back. Or something heroic like that." A pause. "I shouldn't have lied to you."
Aria repeated the words over and over in her mind, trying to make sense of them. To understand. Ezra hadn't left. He'd been there on that night. He'd fought the fake A (since she was actually A). He'd been shot. He was in a coma. He might die. Her friends had kept that from her. They had lied.
She looked up, and met her visitor's gaze. This was HER fault. Her eyes flickered, and she was briefly overcome by a familiar feeling. That feeling she'd get right before... And then she'd wake up, and everything would be gone. Stolen. Taken by the person who had a strong urge to hurt Alison, an urge channeled for a short minute. She couldn't explain how she knew, but Pumpernickel was coming. Fast.
"Ali?" Aria spoke as she felt another brief rush of Pumpernickel's wish for revenge. She couldn't hurt Ali. She wouldn't! "Ali, you have to leave now!"
Alison seemed confused, especially by the firmness in her friend's voice. "What?"
"Get out!" Aria exclaimed fiercely, looking sternly at her friend.
"No, Aria. Not until you forgive me." Alison said distraughtly, missing the point of what Aria was trying to do. "I know I went along with the lie, but it was to protect you. I didn't want to hurt you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please, believe me. Please."
Another wave of Pumpernickel emotions. They were getting stronger. She wouldn't be able to fight her off for much longer. She had to get Alison out of there!
"I know, Ali, I know." Aria cried desperately, fighting back tears. "But you have to leave now. Pumpernickel is trying to take control, and I don't want to hurt you. You have to get out of here. I may understand, but she doesn't."
"I'm not leaving you!" Alison shouted determinedly, too worried about her friend to get up.
"You have to!" Aria shrieked. "You have to! I love you, and I will not let her hurt you. Never again. So please, for me... Leave. Leave now!"
Finally, the seriousness dawned on Alison. She nodded and stood up. "Okay."
"Run!" Aria exclaimed shrilly. She was clearly in agony. "As fast as you can! Run out of here, and lock the door behind you! If you can't lock it, block it. She'll do whatever she can to get to you. We can't let her!" She was hit by another Pumpernickel urge, this one stronger. She was close. "Remember; lock it or block it. Now, GO!"
Alison ran quickly out of the door, slamming it behind her, and not a second too soon! Aria's eyes flickered one last time, and it was no longer Aria's eyes. She was no longer Aria.
This was Alison DiLaurentis' fault. If it wasn't for her, Ezra would be fine. If it wasn't for her everything would be alright. Wasn't the things she'd done to her personally enough? She had to get her through him? It was her fault! Alison was gonna pay tonight. She would make sure of that!
She was going to kill her. Now!
She chased the same way she knew the bitch had just left. This was deliciously easy.
She reached for the door knob, but the door wouldn't budge. That bitch! The door was blocked... But she had to get her hands on Alison. She had to kill her. She had to make her pay tonight.
She clawed at the door, trying desperately to get through it. When that didn't work, she pounded until her hands started to throb which only fueled her anger. So she clawed again, and when she realised she wouldn't get through the door that night, she began tossing the furniture around.
"That bitch!"
Which Aria Is It Anyway?
Disclaimer: I still don't own Pretty Little Liars.
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Pipe It Down Arielle. Thank you for your long reviews, thank you for always reviewing, and thank you for being you. I hope you're still with me. You rock ;).
I don't know if any of you read my other story called Shooting Stars, but in my previous update I explained my absence to them. You see, I've had this on/off nerve condition in my hand, and right now it's very much on. During these times it's actually physically difficult writing. So I've been writing as much as I physically can, but I'm still sorry for the delay. The good news is that I have an appointment at a hospital in early September to have my hand tested. They're gonna send shocks through my arm, and see how my nerves react. Hopefully they'll be able to tell me what's what, and it'll be better soon. I'll continue to write as much as possible.
Now that we have that out of the way; THANK YOU so much for the reviews. They mean so much to me. You guys are awesome! I hope you keep it up :). Especially since, as I've mentioned, things are beginning to get very serious. Pumpernickel going after Alison in this chapter is just the tip of the iceberg.
I know this chapter was sort of short, but I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it anyway. What was you favorite part or parts? I really liked Ali and Aria's whispered conversations. Those were fun to write, and they do stand out in the drama of it all. Also, I've been waiting for this chapter since the beginning. This is the turning point. This is the moment where things begin to slowly fall into place, and answers begin to emerge. I hope you're excited for that.
Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please, please, please review ;). I'll spend this moment now and until next time alternating between writing and yelling at my fingers for not being able to write.
Laters,
AK-tutti :)