4 Years Later

by applestoables23

This is a fanfic that focuses on the lives of Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hannah four years after season three part B. You will learn what happened four years ago and how it effects their lives now. Each character is dealing with their own struggles in life but one common enemy brings the four girls back together. "A" has not sent a cryptic text in four years till three days ago.

5. Toby

4 years later

Hey! So again I am sorry for my lack of posting but I promise once Thanksgiving/Christmas break hits it will be Chapterpalooza! So, this is probably my favorite chapter so far because if you haven't noticed I like to write a little bit dark, sad and twisty stuff and in my opinion Toby is the darkest, saddest, and twistyest of almost all the characters. Also I think there is sooooo much that could be done with his character and his character has so many elements as well, I really just hope that the writers of PLL don't go for the obvious, which I did "a little"….but you will see what I mean. So, I was going to put more into this chapter but decided that I didn't want to put too much info into one chapter, so if things like "the fight" Toby got into seem unfinished, I plan to pick that up later. Anyway, I have not mentioned this yet but I shall now: I do not own nor have I ever owned any of these wonderful characters or the world, in which these characters live, I simply admire the writing of Pretty Little Liars and hope to put my twist on what is already a awesome story. QUICK PREVIEW: (Chapter 6: Spencer) (Chapter 7: Lucas) (Chapter 8: Emily) …. I may change my mind again, but that's probably what it's going to look like. So, now that we got all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

P.S. A special thanks to all the amazing reviews so far! A special, special thanks to Poisonnwine… your reviews make me soo happy and im so glad that you like the story!

SO I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW, SINCE I HAVE NOT UPDATED FOR A WHILE, I AM NOT GONE FOREVER. I HAVE FINALES SOON SO I AM TAKING A BREAK FROM WRITING BUT ILL CONTINUE AROUND THE 3RD OR 4TH WEEK OF DECEMBER. ILL EVEN TRY TO POST TWO OR THREE CHAPTERS AT A TIME SINCE ILL HAVE FREE TIME OFF SCHOOL. ALSO, DON'T WORRY IM NOT WRITING THIS AS I GO ALONG, I HAVE TO BASIC STORY ALREADY PLANNED OUT IN MY HEAD, ITS JUST THE DETAILS THAT IM HAVING TO SORT OF MAKE UP AS I GO ALONG, SO THIS WILL BE A STORY THAT CONCLUDES AT SOME POINT!

Toby

Toby's family was never what you would call up-standing and productive citizens. His mother ran off with a truck driver when he was four years old, the last time Toby saw her, the trucker left her and she was strung out on meth. His father and step-mother were not much better. Neither one of them wanted to be parents but both were left with a child by their ex's, so they spent most of their time out having fun and drinking, leaving Toby and Jenna by themselves. However, it wasn't just Toby's mom and dad that were reckless and negligent; his whole family was either a bunch of crooks, drunks, or just plain assholes. When Toby was twelve years old he was told something that made little impact on him then, but rang so true to his situation now. He was at his grandmother's house for the weekend and his uncle, who had a beer in one hand and a newspaper in the other, was sitting on a recliner chair reading the crime reports. Toby was sitting on the sofa watching morning cartoons when his uncle Jim looked over at him and said out of the blue, pointing his index finger at Toby, "Ya know, a righteous man never does evil and an evil man never does right, but an honest man does both."

As Toby sat in his cell confined by four brick walls, he wondered which of the three men he was. He had done so many things in his life that he hated doing, but many of those same things he would never do differently. He did not think he could ever be considered an honest man, no, he had lied far too much for that title. Was he a righteous man? Can you commit a sin as awful as the one he committed and still be considered righteous? Toby doubted it. So, that left the question that Toby had obsessed over since the night he pulled that trigger. Was he an evil man? Could an evil man love as deeply and as truly as Toby loved Spencer? Toby always knew that he had a dark side but as time went by, the more time he spent on the "A" team, and the more time he spent in prison, the darker that side got and the more that darkness consumed him. When Toby joined the "A" team he learned that he had a talent or a curse, depending on how you thought of it. Toby could turn off all his feelings, fears, conscience, and even his love to do what he needed to do. Toby believed when he was on the "A" team he was not himself but instead the darkness within him taking human form.

Toby was currently in solitary confinement. He was sentence to 48 hours of solitary after getting in a fight with another inmate. Solitary confinement was better known as "the hole" to the inmates because there was absolutely no light within the small room. When Toby was pushed into the cell by a guard, it literally took him five minutes to find the dirty cot placed in the corner of the cell. All sense of time for Toby had disappeared and not knowing how long he had left in the dark room was infuriating to him. In "the hole" a minute felt like an hour and an hour felt like a day and he honestly did not know if it had been two minutes, two hours, or two days since he was shoved into the pitch black room.

In general population the prison was never a quiet place; every sound seemed to echo throughout the halls. However, in "the hole" which was in a small building just outside the prison, the silence was absolutely eerie. In an odd way, Toby had gotten used to the constant noises of the prison over the last four years. Everything in the prison was on a timed schedule and so was every prisoner, so Toby had began to expect certain sounds at certain times and that was so soothing to him now. Without those noises Toby had become accustomed to, sleeping became a very difficult feat. The only sound or sense of time Toby was given was when a guard would come twice a day at varied times and give him his meal through the small rectangular hole in the large metal door. This also gave Toby a split second of light for which he desired so much. However, trying to eat his food in complete darkness was something that he hoped he would never have to do again.

Not being able to sleep during his time in "the hole," Toby was forced to do a lot of thinking. Was "the hole" a metaphor for his life? Was "the hole" his soul and Spencer his light to which he so desired but was never within reach? Toby tried to shake off those thoughts and any thoughts that had to do with Spencer, but since her last visit to the prison that seemed impossible. The text message that she showed him through the glass window angered him possibly more than him telling Spencer to "be careful" angered her. However, he knew that giving her any indication of his true emotions could not only be dangerous to her but also to everyone she loves and he had already hurt her too much. Toby would have been an idiot to think that the "A" team wasn't still watching every move he made but he truly thought, after that night at the lake, their harassment of Spencer and the other girls was over as long as their identities stayed anonymous.

The sound of clunky boots hitting the tile floor startled Toby out of his thoughts. He instantly recognized the footsteps of those of a guard, and thought it must be meal time. The light released from the opening door burned Toby's eyes, temporarily blinding him. When Toby regained his sight he was being pulled to his feet by a brutish looking guard with a rather large neck. The guard must have been new because even with blurry eyes Toby knew he had never seen the man before, and being at the prison for four year now he could recognize mostly all the guards.

"What's going on?" Toby asked the guard who was turning him around and placing handcuffs around his wrists.

"Your times up, Cavanaugh." The large necked guard said bluntly as he led Toby out of "the hole."

As Toby and the large necked guard walked down the corridor he saw the familiar face of a older guard named Officer Franks, who was quiet but possibly the nicest guard in the prison. Franks was standing by the door that led outside with one hand on the door and the other place on his right hip where his tazer and gun were.

"No more fighting, eh" Franks said nodding at Toby as he and the large necked officer neared the door. Toby nodded his head lazily, feeling the weakness of his body and the heaviness of his sleepless eyes. Franks probably could just tell by looking at Toby that "the hole" was a living hell for him. Leaving a person with as many demons as Toby has in the dark with complete silence is creating a gateway for those demons to get out of the pit that Toby buried them in.

As Franks and the large necked officer walked Toby back into the main prison Toby felt a calming sensation. As weird as it was this prison was his home and unlike many who continued to hate the place and plead their innocents, Toby had gotten used to the prison and maybe that was because he knew he deserved to be there, and nowhere else.

Toby and the two guards neared the cell numbered 1050 that had belonged to him for about two years. The large necked guard reached over to pick up a food tray that way place on a roll out chart next to the cell. Toby raised his eyebrow at the guard in curiosity as Franks undid his handcuffs and lightly pushed his into his cell. Meal time was usually in the "dining hall" which was really just an empty area in the middle of the cell block that had pull out tables and plastic chairs scattered about.

"Paper work was slow getting through, we had to delay you're release from solitary so you missed dinner." Franks said noticing Toby's questioning expression as the large necked officer placed the food tray inside his cell.

"That means room service for you, Cavanaugh," the large necked officer said in his deep expressionless voice.

Toby was happy that he wasn't going to have to eat in the same room as the guy who gave him a black eye and a few bruised ribs. As usual Toby had tried to play hero and winded up getting his ass kick by a guy twice as big as him. He had gotten a few good punches in on the large inmate but Toby had been far outmatched by the man.

Franks shut the metal door of the cell and Toby was left alone to eat his meal. Meal time at the prison was like playing Russian roulette because you never knew if you were going to get a normal meal or one that was spiked with Laxatives or Ipecac syrup. Toby picked through the varied colored food on his plate only consuming a few bites before deciding that his body ached far too much to risk a night full of vomiting.

Often the prison guards would get angry if you didn't eat your meal and would restrict you from yard time, which prisoners got about once a week. Yard time was an hour in which the prisoners got to go outside for "recreational activities." Usually Toby would just sit outside by himself and enjoy the fresh air and sunlight, but it was still his favorite part of the week.

Toby looked down at the tray in discussed and to insure that he could keep his yard time he carried the tray over to the small metal toilet in his cell and dumped it. As he emptied the tray he noticed a small white square taped on the bottom of the pale colored tray. Only a couple people had ways of getting a note to Toby without it being "reviewed" and eventually "disposed of" by the guards. Of course the only people to be, shall we say "creative" enough to accomplish this task were former or current "A" team members. Toby was just hoping this note wasn't from a current member.

Over the years Toby had gotten notes from both sides and to be honest he didn't really enjoy getting either because weather it was from former or current it always meant something big and important was going on.

Toby pulled the taped note off the tray and unfolded it. He immediately recognized the hand writing and knew who it was from and was slightly relieved.

It's time to end this, man! You need to tell her everything we know, she's smart and she will figure it all out. The money's in the bank, you already have the account number, so you just do what you need to do now. -L

P. S.

Do not get caught by ANYONE!

Toby scoffed that the note, "as intense as ever," he mumbled to himself. Toby tended to forget that Lucas was no longer that skinny and awkward kid he was in high school that got pushed around by everyone, no prison had turned that kid into a man, and sometime a rather scary man. Toby knew that that night at the lake had haunted Lucas even more than it haunted him, and that's really saying a lot. Ever since that night, Lucas had done everything in his power to uncover the identities of the people who had ruined their lives and turned them into monsters. However, attempting this discovery from within the prison walls was not an easy task and Toby knew, like himself, Lucas had to befriend horrible people and do horrible things and continuing to sell bits of his soul in order to end the evil he was once part of.