AN: this chapter is vital to see into Ali's past, and I'll have you know that for some people this may come as a *trigger warning (Although I have written from personal experience before (for my personal collection of stories and etc) , I've never published/shared a scene/chapter like this, so please let me know what you thought?) All feedback is constructive and I just want to make this the best for my readers, I care about all of you, thanks loves, Lina xo
Emily seemed like the type of girl who liked the happily ever-afters and always rooted for the underdog to win, like she cried even for the happy things and well, those weren't the kinds of chapters that filled Alison's story.
x-x-x-x
No One's POV
Two Years Earlier
"I've had enough, that's why, that's why I'm leaving! I'm 23 and I'm done dealing with this Michael!"
Alison was walking rapidly around her and her boyfriend's room, gathering her clothes and throwing them into a small duffel bag, it was late and she didn't want to wake her neighbors, but it never stopped her from arguing with Michael before.
He stood in the door way, drink still in hand and he laughed, "Alison, we both know you're not going anywhere, you're not just going to throw 3 years away. You can't," he scoffed, "not just like this." He smiled and took a large swig from the glass liquor bottle he had in his hand. There was an annoying arrogance in his voice and Alison had heard it get increasingly obnoxious over the past 7 months.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "I'm not throwing anything away...you started to do that all on your own the moment you started to drink."
"This is about...this?" Michael held up the bottle and took an unbalanced step forwards, "you want to leave me because I go out and drink sometimes? Alison I'm 29, I can do whatever I want to do."
"And I'm 23 and so can I! I don't know what the hell I saw in you that first night but god I regret letting you buy me a drink."
"One, you loved it," he made a big gesture with his hand and smirked, "the allure of an older man pursuing you and two, you're blowing this way out of proportion."
Alison rolled her eyes again, this time in disbelief, "And you," she jested with a single finger, "are a stupid bastard who is acting like this isn't a big deal, when it is!"
Michael hiccupped and took another step forward, attempting to pull his coat off without spilling anything on the floor, "Alison, c'mon, you're being ridiculous."
"Am I? You've been staying out late and coming home drunk, and don't think I haven't seen your clothes or smelled you when you lay in bed. I wanted to turn a blind eye, blame it on your work and maybe you were stressed, maybe I was being paranoid, but I talked to your partner, he said you haven't even been getting anything remotely stressful. So for the first few weeks after I found that out, I blamed myself, maybe I wasn't giving you what you wanted, maybe I was doing something wrong, but it turns out, you're just a dead beat. And you know what I deserve better!"
Ali grabbed her last item of clothing she could find and stuffed her bag, struggling with the zipper.
"Better, than me?" Michael stopped what he was doing, successfully removing his coat beforehand and walked more confidently towards Alison who had her back to him. "And you know this how," he continued, "is there someone offering you better?"
Ali finally managed to zip her bag and turned around with it hanging heavily on her shoulder, "what? No, and it wouldn't matter if there was, I have the right to-,"
But she was cut off abruptly when Michael lifted the bottle from his hand and threw it forcefully at the wall behind her.
"DAMMIT, DON'T YOU LIE TO ME BITCH!" Michael took the final step to be only a foot away and he towered over her, the smell of alcohol hot in his breath, eyes red and face flushed; his sense of imbalance gone, anger sobering his coordination.
Alison cringed and struggled to keep her bag on her shoulder, she had seen many versions of a drunk Michael, but very one this confrontational.
"Michael, please, just let me go?"
But he didn't budge. He was tall standing at 6'2" and although he had a somewhat attractive face, nothing about him now appealed to Alison, he used to be charming and thoughtful, but after he got his job, he started to change, and once Alison moved in, the real Michael Richards started to show.
"Go where?" He almost growled and if Alison wasn't mistaken, he sounded possessive.
"I know a friend who can help me, I'm going to stay over until I can-,"
"Which friend?"
"No one you know, just an old friend, I don't need to explain Michael, when I said I would end this is you kept-,"
"What friend?"
"Why do you need to know? I don't want anything to do with you anymore."
"Is it the guy you've been fucking behind my back?!"
"Excuse me, not once have I thought nor did I ever cheat on you. Don't you dare!"
"That's where you're going right? That's where the something better is that you deserve isn't it? What's his fucking name?"
"There is no one!"
"You're a liar!"
"Why the fuck are you so blind, move so I can get the hell out of here."
She shrugged the bag back on her shoulder securely and took one step forward before she was stopped in her tracks. Michael stepped to the side and blocked her path.
"Look, when you're sober, call me so I can get the rest of my things."
"But you're not leaving."
"I can't be with you like this anymore, so actually I am. You would've seen this coming if you weren't out at night drinking with your buddies and paying for free fucks at the strip club."
"Free fucks, oh Alison, I never fuck for free."
Her skin started to bubble with rage and she lost it, "oh yeah? I know, I've been actually and I also know that you've been screwing that whore at your office Janet!"
"Watch your mouth; you don't know what you're talking about."
"Actually I do, you think you're the only one who pays for what you want? No, I found someone who helped me look into everything you've been up to, and I can't let this one go Michael, I won't."
She started to walk again before the air was suddenly lost in her throat as Michael lunged forward, straight towards her neck. She dropped her bag in surprise and looked up wide eyed at the man she thought she could truly love one day. He had his hand gripped around her tight enough so that she struggled to catch her breath once she realized what was happening.
She looked up, frozen, fear paralyzing her. All she seen in the dark blue of his beady eyes was anger and violence.
He got close to her, pushing her until her legs were against the edge of the bed and he leaned into her ear, "when I say you're not leaving, you. are. not. leaving." He pronounced every word deliberately and flexed his fingers at the same time.
"Michael," she tried to push him away, clawing at his hand and pushing against his chest, but he used to play college football, and there no way that some smaller woman just going to make him move with a shove.
Alison started to panic and it was getting harder to breathe, "you're hurting me," she gasped, holding his hand and wrist so that he wouldn't squeeze any tighter.
"And you think leaving me won't hurt me?" Michael asked maliciously, tilting his head.
She didn't know what to do, she was scared and she hoped her brain picked up on it and helped her make a decision, it did and she then pushed hard with all her body weight, but nothing happened, so she gritted her teeth and brought her knee up as far as she could in between his legs, finding success when the pressure around her neck was gone and she was hinged over gasping her air.
Michael groaned, doubled over, with his hands over his crotch.
Ali rubbed her neck and ran towards the door, hand reaching to balance her newly lightheadedness against the frame when it was slammed shut in front of her, Michael's dark and looming figure inches away.
"Alison, you really should've done that."
"Michael," she said back away. Her voice carried less confidence than she had wished, "please, just let me go, you're not in the right state of mind okay?"
"I'm fine," he gritted and without looking behind him, he turned the lock on the door knob, "I'm fine because like I said, you're not going anywhere."
Alison looked frantically for any other way out of their apartment's bedroom, the nearest window was in the bathroom and she knew she would never be able to run past Michael to get there in time, she had to outsmart him.
"Michael, you're scaring me, please just let me go."
"But you love me." It was more statement than Ali wanted to hear.
So she shook her head slowly, hands outstretched defensively. She hadn't noticed but he was slowly walking towards her, each one of his steps forward mirrored by each of her steps backwards.
"You love me, so you can't leave."
"I don't love you Michael, that's why I have to go, I can't be with you like this and I don't think you're going to get better, please just let me go and I won't call the cops."
"Why would you do that?" He asked and he sounded convincingly innocent, or absurdly naïve.
Alison's fear was waning, "why? Because you just put your hands on me! I should call the cops now and have them arrest you, and I'll get a restraining order."
But the threats went up in the air with no weight to them as Michael lifted his head and smiled, softly laughing, "oh but you know why you can't call the cops, remember?"
Alison ran out of space to back up, the backs of her knees finding the edge of the bed again, and she swallowed hard, Michael was just drunk, he's never really hurt her, he never did before so maybe whatever he was drinking got him really-
"I see the wheels in your head turning Alison, I can see them, and you can't get out of this one, you're mine, and I say you're not leaving."
"Please," Ali pleaded as he came closer and closer, "I won't leave." She answered quickly without thinking.
He stopped advancing and quirked an eyebrow, "but you'll try as soon as I'm asleep won't you?"
Alison looked to wherever her phone was and he followed her eyes, "looking for this? I grabbed it on my way in."
"Give that to me."
"Why? There's no one for you to call. No friends, no family, why do you even have a phone? Oh I know, it's to call whoever you're fucking behind my back when I'm gone, isn't it?"
"No, no Michael it's not."
"Then...," he paused to scroll through her phone, "who is JR?"
"It's no one!"
"Who's the weird number that's always calling you?
"Nobody, just some kids pranking me!"
"Yet you keep answering? It doesn't seem like no one if you're always calling them, tell me who it is!"
"JR is a friend I met at the coffee shop!" She lied, sighing and hoping he bought it.
"Liar, what's their name, what's he look like."
"Her name is Julia Ramirez." She lied.
"Julia, you're lying Alison, DAMMIT, STOP LYING!" He raised a fist and Alison cringed back, he won't hit me she thought, he wouldn't.
"Please, her voice was shaky, please, I'll stay, just let me use the restroom."
Michael lifted his head and looked Ali in the eyes, gazing through them with his hazy eyes, "I don't think so, I know that there's a window in there."
Alison's heart was racing faster than she had ever felt it and she made a desperate attempt at the open bathroom door anyways, her wrist was caught and when she was spun around, a loud noise broke the air and she felt a hot sting burn across her cheek just as she crumpled to the ground.
"I SAID YOU'RE NOT LEAVING!"
Ali was sobbing now, holding the side of her face where she was brutally slapped and curling her body smaller and smaller into the side of the bed.
"O-okay," she managed, "okay, I won't leave." She trembled, staring at his boots, cringing when he came forward. Truth was she wanted to run, to scream for help, but it really was paralyzing, she felt so weak, helpless, she tried to still her shaking body by taking long and silent breaths.
"Dammit," her attacker yelled, "fuck!"
Alison looked up and her voice was lost, she opened her mouth but nothing would come.
"You," he growled, walking over to where she half-lay, half-sit, and pointed with his finger, "this is your fault, you made me do this."
Was he fucking serious?
"This is what you wanted wasn't it? You're just jealous that I don't come home every night to fuck you. This was just a plan right, to make me this angry so I can look like the bad guy."
Alison shook her head, afraid of the newfound calmness in his voice.
"Yeah," he said like he was finally coming to some sensical conclusion, "you want me to be jealous all because you want to be just like the whores at the club don't you?"
"N-no, no that's not-,"
"I'll give you want you want then, you just wanted the attention, get up!" He commanded and when Alison moved to slow to his liking, he took a big step forward, leaned down and pulled her by her long blonde hair.
Ali whimpered in pain and when she opened her mouth again, another hand was brought over it, silencing her.
"I'll be good to you now Alison, I'll give you want you want."
Alison's breathing was forced, one hand holding the back of her head and the other covering her mouth and part of her nose, her vision was blurred from the tears in her eyes, but when she looked down to see Michael unbuckling his belt, she tried to get away from his hold he hand over her.
The tears came heavy and her stomach was turning, flipping, tightening, she was on the verge of throwing up. Alison reached her hands out and winced when they were slapped hard by the hand that was behind her head. Michael returned it and shook his head, "do that shit again and you'll really be sorry."
There was no going back now, Alison knew that she could never ever forgive Michael this time around, and she couldn't run, he was too big and too fast, she didn't have anyone to call, she didn't have anywhere else to go, no friends, nothing but this pain and fear. She couldn't even yell because she knew now that he was capable of hitting her, hitting her and-
Her thoughts stopped when she felt a cloth pulled into her mouth, tied too tight around her head, almost gagging her.
"This is so you won't try to scream for help."
Alison raised her hands but was forcefully thrown on the bed, Michael soon on all fours, pinning down her wrists and tying them in the same fashion as the cloth around her mouth.
She kicked and thrashed but all that did was force Michael to lean some of body weight down and keep her still.
She cringed as she felt his cold hands slid of her body, the contact made her skin crawl with disgust, she was beyond the point of holding in her tears and in her head she was screaming, screaming for help-screaming for anybody-
Screaming for-
"ALISON!" A soft and quieted voice sucked Alison back from the darkness, "ALI!"
Alison sat up, feeling an old sense of a cold sweat over her entire body.
She looked up through the dark and made out the soft almond shape of brown eyes, the tiniest flecks of light brown catching the light at the end of the hall.
"Emily?" It was bitch black and she could make out the other girl's shadow.
"Alison, are you okay?"
"What? What do you mean, why'd you wake me?" Alison looked down to where Emily's hands where still resting gently on her shoulders.
"Uh-," Em looked at her unsurely and set her shoulders, "Alison, you were crying...in your sleep, and then you started to-,"
"I what?" Alison sat up straight effectively removing Emily's hands from her body in the process and she wiped rapidly at her face. It was, in fact, wet with tears.
Emily took a step back and continued kneeling, watching intently as the blonde used the rough ends of the blanket they were all given to wipe the moisture away, "I'm fine."
But the brunette shook her head, "I didn't know, I mean you started to get louder I just didn't want-,"
"What? You didn't want what? For me to interrupt your beauty sleep? I said I was fine, you didn't have to wake me!"
Emily's eyes knitted, at first it was in concern and now in confusion, and anger, "I was just trying to help, it sounded like you were having a night-,"
"The only nightmare I'm having is being woken up this early by you and being lectured about my sleep," the blonde whisper-yelled.
Emily opened her mouth to whisper-yell back but a flashlight was seen at the end of the hall just over the short wall that separated everyone's sleeping quarters, and Emily cursed herself, jumping back into bed before the guard came over.
She regretted literally jumping into the bed as it creaked loudly and she felt a thick spring dig painfully into her shoulder blade. Grunting quietly she covered herself and made it look as though she had always been sleeping by the time the guard came over.
She couldn't tell who it was, but whoever it was had no idea that she was wide awake.
When the darkness returned, unblemished by the yellow light, Emily looked over her shoulder across the bunk and watched her roommate's back, rising evenly now like she had fallen back asleep fast.
With her back turned on Alison's back, Emily stared at the wall and drew pattern over it with her finger, whatever Alison was dreaming about, Emily knew it was personal, and it wasn't just 'nothing' as the blonde had said. Emily sighed and closed her eyes her thoughts wondering what it was that made Alison so defensive, so closed off.
Emily wanted to know more about Alison...
And she also wanted to know, who was Michael?
x-x-x-x
The morning that followed that night that Emily woke Alison up was a slow one. Emily didn't see the girl at all: not in the showers, the bathroom, the rec center, not even at breakfast and today was Sunday, which meant they had the day off so there wouldn't be any chance to see her regularly in the library for work.
Emily walked aimlessly around the grounds until she spotted Aria and her group of friends sitting in the grass and doing some stretches.
"Hey," Em said as she approached, "mind if I join?"
The heads of Aria and Val popped up and Aryn's head was still down stretching until she looked up and stood slowly, taking her time to look at Emily's body from the toes up.
She smirked and gestured next an area next to her, "Not at all Emily, nice to see you again."
"Um yeah, you too." Emily made a face at Aria that said what was her deal but Aria just shrugged.
Deciding to distance herself from Aryn, Emily squeezed in next to Aria and Val, crossing her legs as the other two extended their legs out in front and reached for their toes.
"So Emily, we didn't see you at breakfast today."
Em scrunched her nose at Aria, "was that a question or a statement?"
"Unless you have Harry Potter's Invisibilty Cloak, I'm sure it was a statement," Val laughed.
Emily laughed sarcastically and played back, "and I'm sure that was a rhetorical question."
Aria laughed and pushed Em's shoulder, "oh we're only joking, I think it was Aryn that missed your company the most."
Aryn's eyes widened and she threw what little pebbles she could find in the grass near her feet at Aria, "Aria!"
"What? You're not exactly subtle; either say it or I will, because I'm pretty sure Em here is not the only feeling creeped out by the looks you've been sending her."
Emily started to laugh loudly because she did feel a little creeped out and she shout an apologetic look at a horrified Aryn, "I'm sorry but it is a little obvious when you look at me like that."
"Like what?"
Val stood to grab their attention and dramatically stared at Emily, whistling and hollering, sticking her tongue out like a panting dog.
"Oh my god I do not! Val, stop it!" Aryn's cheeks reddened and Emily stifled a laugh, she didn't mind but it would just be better if Aryn said that she was-
"Oh, don't forget the drool either!" Aria pointed at Valerie, who was still pretending to go gaga over Emily.
"Okay, guys, we get it!" Aryn huffed at sat down in the grass, not daring to look at any of them.
"Aw it's okay Aryn, I get you, you're just star struck by me, aren't you?" Emily got up and in her head pretended to walk down a red carpet, dragging her long gown behind her.
"UGH," Aryn rolled her eyes, just the faintest of smiles cracking at the corner of her mouth.
"Ugh, I told you she was just like us!" Aria laughed and patted Emily on the back when she sat back down.
"That wasn't funny."
Emily tilted her head and seen a genuinely frustrated look on Aryn's face, "hey, its okay you know, I don't mind."
"Really, you're not disgusted?"
Emily was taken aback, "disgusted? Why would I be-," and then realization hit, "oh god no, Aryn, I'm not disgusted at all, look if you, I know, ugh I'm gay!"
The laughter that was dying between Val and Aria silenced altogether and Aryn's eyes widened, "wait what? You are."
Emily remembered the time when she would shrug and say yes timidly in front of those who would ask but not anymore, she knew exactly who she was, "yes, I am, I like girls, I'm gay lesbian, whatever, I don't give too much to label it."
"Wow."
"Wow?"
"Yeah, just wow."
Emily turned to other two for help but they just shrugged, "wow? Is that a good wow or a ba-,"
"Good one, it's a good one."
"Then?"
"I'm just surprised."
"At?"
"The way you said that just now."
"Said what? That I'm gay, it's usually not much of a shocker to people these days, you know?"
"No, not that I'm shocked, I guess it's just- you said that with a lot of confidence and you didn't seem shy or ashamed about it at all."
Emily smiled, "that's because I'm not. It took me years to admit it to myself, years more to accept it and almost just as long for my parents to too, so after that, I decided I was done waiting and hiding it from people, if they asked, I would tell them. The same way I told you."
Aryn sat staring at the girl she considered to be an even bigger idol to her and she nodded.
The silence being cut off by Valerie who sat clapping, "that's great Emily; you're braver than I thought."
Emily scoffed, "brave?"
"Well yeah, you sat with us for a whole day yesterday and didn't try to stab anyone in the neck with a fork, including yourself."
"Who's to say I didn't sneak one back to my room?"
"Ah, see the innocent ones you have to watch out for."
"If I was innocent I wouldn't be in here," Emily said with a little too much seduction in her voice.
"OKAAAAAY!," Aria called, "who's ready for that run now?"
Aryn sat still staring at Emily until Val blocked her line of sight and pulled her to her feet, "c'mon loser, you can ask her later, let me beat your ass in the first lap."
"As if," Aryn said, "you know I'm faster."
"Nu uh, I totally beat you all last week." Aria huffed beside them, all four girls now jogging to the dirt track.
"Really," Emily asked, "I'd like to see that, you have short legs." And with that Em pulled ahead and started to sprint without warning.
"HEY! NO FAIR!" The others fell behind quickly, Aryn with her equally long legs, closing the head start gap Em created and Val and Aria laughing and pushing each other from 30 yards back, yeah, no way Aria beat them Emily thought.
x-x-x-x
"Okay, let's vote, Emily cheated!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Okay, the head start was a cheating move, but guys seriously she took off but waited until we caught up to actually start running for reals." Val wiped the sweat off with the back of her hand and huffed several times before calming her breathing.
"Val, whose side are you on?"
"Um, the right one? Admit it, Emily is in way better shape than us."
"I'll agree."
"Aryn, subtly...definitely not your strong suit." Emily joked, the two girls had talked it out, although awkward at first, but they came to the same conclusion that Aryn was just infatuated with her idol, nothing beyond that would be pursued.
"Wait, you're still hitting on Emily?" Aria asked, pulling her short hair into an even shorter ponytail.
"No, god, I don't think I was thinking of Emily that way, I mean Emily, you've definitely got it going on, but I get the sense that you and I are prime friendship material. We're almost too alike."
Emily shrugged and tilted her head, "Yeah Aria, after we lapped you two a few times, I think talking with Aryn was like talking to the sister I only wish I had. I mean I have Hanna, but Hanna and I are good because we balance each other out."
"Hanna?" Val quirked a brow.
"Oh yeah, she's my best friend, and she has been ever since high school, I- I don't know what I would do, who or where I would be without her, since we met, there was nothing we wouldn't do together, well almost nothing," she laughed thinking of all the times they stood at the sideline to something the other was doing, "damn, I miss her like crazy," Emily added as an afterthought.
"Has she visited?"
"Well I haven't even been here a week yet, but yes, I've seen her. I think she's coming next Friday when she closes up the restaurant."
"Why would you wait till then to talk to her?"
"What do you mean? I cant really pull out my phone and send her a text." Emily laughed.
"Noooo," Aria laughed, "you can make calls out you know? Using the money in your account, you can call for...what's the max time you get?"
"Um," Val thought, flipping her raven-black hair to the side, I think it's 20 minutes, they've upped it this month."
"Nice," Emily agreed excitedly, "Hanna will use about 15 minutes to tell me anything and then that leaves me with more than double my usual 'allotted' time."
The three girls shook their head, imagining the mystery Hanna who was Emily's best friend, babbling on the other end of the phone about whatever was happening 'on the outside'."
"So where is that phone?"
"You're going to call right now? Before you shower?" Aryn made a face, scrunching her nose and waving her hand in front, pretending to swat away something odorous.
"Ha. Ha. Yes, I want to call ASAP, I have a lot to tell her and ask."
Aria smiled and waved Emily away once they reached the entrance back inside the main building, "go go, we'll see you at dinner. Walk towards the counselor's offices, keep going, make a right, down the hall and then another right, you'll be in this little area with like 6 phones, once you get there, there will a guard and everything is pretty self explanatory, should be fun."
Em nodded furiously and swung open the door, "Alright, I got to go, see you later."
"Later," the trio rang out in unison.
x-x-x-x
After making a left then a right and walking to the broom closet, Emily started to get nervous about whatever Hanna may have had discovered. When finally did find the right room with the phones attached to the wall, she paced just outside of it, a swarm of mixed emotions flowing within her. What if Hanna had bad news? No Em, she told herself, it will be something good.
She took a deep breath and followed exactly what Aria had said to do.
A few rings later Emily found herself chewing her lip. The automated voice rang through on Hanna's side, asking if she would like to accept the call, and the moment she did she was connected, "Em?"
"Hanna." Emily sounded relieved.
"Hey, is everything okay?"
"Yeah!," Emily said too soon. She knew Hanna would see...hear right through her, "okay well, I don't really know yet."
"Well...?"
"No, I'll tell you later, so what's been going on, did you find anything?"
"Is this why you called?"
"Yeah, I missed you and I'm worried about you."
"Me, Em-,"
"No, don't 'Em' me, I'm fine."
There was a brief moment of silence and it felt like Emily was holding her breath.
"Em?"
"I'm right here."
"So I talked to Spencer, I asked her if she knew anything about missing person cases, she said she didn't but she asked why and it took me a while to tell her, but I did eventually, I think I can trust her."
"Good, and did she come up with anything?"
"Well apparently her and that Toby Cavanaugh were a thing in high school, but broke it off when she left for college and then life, well anyways, I think they're like getting serious again so she asked him theoretically what the next step would be, but he said exactly what I can't do: file a report."
"Dammit, so then what happened?"
"Nothing, Spencer has been coming to the house every day, looking through mine and Caleb's things to see if maybe I missed something, she's fairly familiar with the law but I don't know Em, we haven't come up with anything."
"Not yet Han, don't lose hope."
"Em, what if-," Hanna's voice choked up and Emily gripped the phone tighter in her hand, she wished that she was there with Hanna to hold her and help her herself.
"Hanna, that's poison, don't think like that."
"But-,"
"No, I won't have it, we'll find Caleb."
"But we haven't found anything...at all."
"Han, have you thought of going to California to take a look at his apartment, maybe he had something going on there that will show up in his apartment."
"I don't know Em; I'm scared, whoever has him, has some pretty scary resources, what if they find out, they'll hurt him, I know it."
"Hanna I don't have any other ideas."
"I don't either but Spencer said the same thing: that I should go to the Silicon Valley and take a look at his apartment, I called his boss and all he said was Caleb emailed him a very peculiar letter and quit just days ago before I called him the first time. I don't know if I should go, it might be a waste and I just don't Em, there's a lot going on here, there's 6 more days until the grand opening of the bakery part of the Brew, and then Caleb and you and ugh, I can't do this."
"Hanna, stop it, yes you can, and you will, and don't worry about me, I'm fine, I've actually managed to make some very interesting friends."
"Ugh, I'm sorry, I'm complaining when I should be the one in there, not you."
"Shhhh! Hanna, these lines are randomly monitored while we're on."
"OH, shit, sorry?"
"It's fine, let's just refrain from bringing anything like that up again, not unless we're in person."
"Alright, deal, so how much time did I leave you?"
Emily laughed and looked at the small digital box above the buttons, "um, 5 minutes and 25 seconds."
"Ooo, look a whole extra 25 seconds, you can fit in like a whole life story in that time."
The best friends laughed and Emily shrugged, "I'm so lucky, I feel like I won the lottery."
"Shutup smartass, so how are you? Is your eye okay now?"
"Um, yeah actually it healed really fast, it's bruised but you can hardly tell from how tan my skin is."
"Perfect, that means you look like a total hot badass, how many of those sex-deprieved women have hit on you?"
"Actually one, but-,"
"Ooo! The blonde?!"
"What? No! No, god no."
"Geez, you make it seem like you hate her or something, I thought she was your knight in shining amor, did something happen?"
"Um-,"
"OMG Em, spill!"
"Hanna, nothing happened, she's kind of my roommate now though."
"Really? Ooo that means you can get all cuddly with her and-,"
"Hanna would you stop, fuck, not everything is like that with every girl I meet, okay?"
There was a longer moment of silence before Hanna cleared her throat, "Yeah, I-I'm sorry."
Emily sighed, frustrated with everything she had swimming in her head, "it's okay Hanna, I'm just a little on edge, Ali is my roommate and the only other person I work with in the library, but she's so...I don't know, she has these weird moods, like she can be really nice and talkative and then the next thing I know she's snapping at me, I don't know, she's a lot to handle, and I just want to know what her deal is."
"Em," Hanna started warningly, "not everyone is keen on you and your antics."
"My antics?"
"Yeah, your antics: you like to get to know everything about a person and you try to fix them, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think everyone you meet is gonna like that."
"I do that?"
"Sometimes yeah, and it's not bad, it's just because you care and you become so invested in the people you have around you, you cant help it, you try to help everyone before yourself."
"I don't do that."
"Emily, you helped Mrs. Atkins with her groceries and in turn some kids ran to our cart and stole our liquor."
"Okay but that was-,"
"One time? Well what about that time you were late to your own surprise party in college because you told Amber that you'd help her coach her sister's swim team: the mini Dolphins?"
"Okay well, that's hardly meddling."
"No, but it's just, sometimes you can't say no, and you like being the one that helps someone get through whatever it is they're going through and to do that, you have to know them."
Emily sighed and dropped her head to the dull wall beside the phone, "Han, I just, I don't know, she looks scared but angry and fearless and she has these moments when she wants to open up-,"
"And if she needs you to listen, I'm sure she'll tell you, but for now, leave her alone, or whatever, be chill."
"Chill?"
"Yeah, you know, dial back the Fields side of you."
"Ugh, okay I'll try."
"Uh huh...so...,"
"So."
"So if it wasn't the blondie-,"
"Alison."
"Yeah her, if it wasn't Alison who hit on you...then?"
"Hanna." Emily said with a slight laugh in her voice.
"What?"
"Oh, looks like my time is about to expire, I should really go."
"Em, no you liar, wait."
"Haha what?"
"I love you."
"Oh, well, in that case, I love you too duh, you're my sister."
"Yeah, and Em?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"Hanna, what are you talking about, stop it, I told you already."
"I know but still, I miss you, I miss Caleb, I just-,"
"I know Han, I know, we're going to get through this how we've gotten through everything."
"Together."
"Exactly."
"Ugh, I miss you."
"Miss you too, but I'll see you soon right?"
"Yeah of course, I'll be there after the opening night, but call me before then, I'll probably need you before it starts so you can calm me down."
"Alright deal...well I really do have to go Han, talk to you soon, hang in there."
"You too."
"Bye Han."
"Bye Em."
x-x-x-x
x-x-x-x
"Did she buy it?" Spencer asked from the living room couch.
Hanna dropped her head and relaxed her shoulders, "yeah, she did."
"Good, she doesn't need to be any more worried in there than she probably is," Toby stood from the couch and fixed his shirt.
"I feel bad lying though."
Spencer shook her head, "she needs to focus on her in there, staying under the radar and not drawing any more unwanted attention to herself.
Hanna faced the two new 'friends' she had made in such a short amount of time, "isn't this bad for both of you too? Spencer you helping and being a client's friend, isn't that like conflict of interest?"
Spencer squinted, "no technically I was working for Emily, you may have found me, but I represented her, not you."
Hanna shook her head, "okay that seems like someone will buy it, but Toby? For god's sake, you're the cop who arrested us!"
Toby shrugged, "I'm lucky enough to have started at the department with a clean slate, it wasn't the cleanest to begin with."
But the blonde shook her head, "you can get fired or suspended, and we can all go to jail, for like obstriction of justice or something, how can you be helping me?"
"Obstruction," Spencer chimed out.
"What?" Hanna looked at her confused.
"We can go to jail for obstruction of justice."
"Oh my god, see!"
Toby grabbed the blonde's shoulders softly and sat her down, "Spencer told me all about what you've told her, about the kind of friend you are and how Emily is, and I get it, and if she trusts you and wants to help and for me to be there, I'm gonna do it."
"But you don't know me."
"And you don't know me."
Spencer walked over, "you asked for help, why aren't you accepting it?"
"I don't know, it feels too good to be true, what if you're both undercover, just trying to get me thrown in jail?"
"Don't you think we would've done that already?"
"I don't know, but this is just a missing persons, I wouldn't think you'd be so invested to help a stranger and break the law at the same time."
Toby looked at Spencer and they held hands, an almost pained look in their eyes, "let's just say this case, your situation hits very close to home for us."
Hanna looked between the couple and she wondered if something like this happened to them.
"Okay, then."
Spencer and Toby broke they're gaze and smiled lightly at Hanna.
"I'll do it; I'll let you both help me."
"Alright, let's go to California then."
x-x-x-x
x-x-x-x
Emily wandered the halls of the prison, dragging her fingers along the walls occasionally thinking about Hanna and Caleb and what trouble Caleb could've gotten into for someone to demand that kind of money for his release, but what guarantee would there be that Caleb wouldn't be harmed once that happened?
She thought that Hanna should just tell the cops anyways and run the text messages back, maybe do what she had seen in all the crime tv shows: triangulate the signal and get an ip address, something. Weren't those things real?
Em didn't even know where she really was when she started to hear voices, one of them vaguely familiar.
The brunette looked around and seen the silhouette of someone against a grayish fogged glass. Emily stopped and went to turn around until she really did recognize the voice.
"Jay, I can't do this, she's getting too close, I might tell her and you know I can't."
"It might be okay to let someone in."
Emily was trying to figure out the second voice, but she couldn't place it.
"I had a nightmare."
"What? Recently?"
"Yeah, recently, I don't want anyone finding out what happened, you know what will happen if they did. Words spreads like wild fire, it would be a matter of days before he found me. And there's not much I'd be able to do if-,"
"That's not going to happen."
"You don't know that. He's done it before. If the truth comes out and they put me in the system-,"
"I know, but things are different now, and Jonathan told me that he hasn't been around anymore, he didn't even come back after probation ended."
Emily stared at the door and strained her ears to hear more.
"Well I need to go before they start looking for me, you go first."
Emily wanted to dare to stay and see who was talking but when the door handle started to move, she bolted as quietly as she could down the hall in the opposite direction, thinking when she caught her breath, who the hell was Ali in there with?
x-x-x-x
The rest of the day went by alright, Em tried to keep to herself; she wandered a bit, sat in the crafts room with Aria and her friends and tried to be as engaged as they were, but her mind returned to the same person it had been on: Alison.
Questions ran rampant and she kept thinking that it was nothing. That Hanna was right, deep down she just had a desire to know a lot about the people she met. But how could that be true when she was sitting down in front of three new people and she hadn't known so much as all of their last names?
No, Emily was genuinely intrigued, captivated even by the mysterious blonde. She had more sides than what everyone else choose to see, Emily knew Alison was a good person, she could sense it, she just didn't understand why she acted the way she did, she didn't understand why she could tell these things just by talking to her about stacking books, or by looking at her through the shelves, or concerning herself over Alison's nightmares.
Emily was hooked, Alison was a hard book to read, but Em still wanted to know every story, every chapter, she just wanted it all: to know what made her the woman she is, what makes her laugh, cry, smile, what makes her happy and why she ended up here.
Time passed, and Emily found herself running out of nods and 'uh-huh's to mutter back to Aria, Val and Aryn.
"Hey guys, do they let us walk outside at this time?"
Aria looked up, knowing Emily had been distracted all day and shrugged, "I don't think so, no one has ever asked before, but I'm sure you can ask, there's always guards posted by the doors leading outside."
Emily looked up at the clock on the wall and shrugged, "it's only 7:15, there's probably some sunlight left."
Emily took off without a word, wanting badly to find a space where she could think and gather her thoughts, why was she feeling so invested in figuring out all she could about Alison, she had barely known the girl for a few days, it's not like she could be...no, of course not.
x-x-x-x
Emily did successfully find a way outside and she didn't even walk around like she had originally intended, instead she pressed her back against a cold wall and stared out ahead blankly at everything and nothing at the same time.
She didn't really pay attention when she heard the creaking of the door and soft footsteps crunching the earth below.
"Hey."
Emily looked up, "Reyes."
"What are you doing out here?"
Emily looked around and shrugged, "I don't really know, just thinking I guess."
"Ah I see."
"What are you doing out here?"
"The same I guess," he laughed and put his hands into his uniform pants' pockets, "so how you doing?"
"With?"
"Um, everything? Your head...your roommate?"
"My head is fine, it seems to be healing really fast, and my roommate is- why do you want to know?"
Officer Reyes shrugged, "she was the one to 'save' you, and I know you work together, I just wanted to know how you were getting along?"
"Oh, fine I guess."
"So there's no problems?"
"No, why would there be, do I seem like the problematic type?" Emily teased light-heartedly.
"No, not in the slightest."
"Good, because there aren't any problems, 'Officer'."
"Okay, well if there are, you know I can get you a transfer."
"What? Why would I want that?"
"Oh I don't know, just in case you were having problems, I can ask to get you in a new wing, even a new job and-,"
"Reyes, I'm fine really, I don't need you to do that."
Em scrunched her brows and crossed her arms, "did you know I was out here?"
"Um..."
"Yes or no?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"I asked the Montgomery girl."
"Who?"
"Um, her name is Aria I think? I ran into her in the halls and I've seen you hanging out with her and her friends."
"Oh, yeah I have been, they seem really nice, but why'd you do that?"
"I'm worried about you?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"Telling."
"Why?"
"I dunno, I just, I consider you my friend, if that is okay with you and I'd hate to see anything bad happen to you."
"That's really sweet of you, but we barely know each other, we met under the weirdest of circumstances and I can tell you now I can handle myself, but I do also appreciate you telling me this."
Em pushed herself off the wall and walked towards the door back inside where it was warm and she could feel her toes.
Officer Joshua Reyes stayed outside and huffed out clouds of his breath, watching it appear in the cold and then disappear. Truth was he wasn't worried too much about Emily, he was more concerned with who Emily was getting herself involved with.
x-x-x-x
Alison walked to the back of the library and sat on the floor against the furthest wall. She had 1 more hour until it was curfew and she had to be in her bed for count. She was dreading going back. Would Emily ask more of her, would she keep insisting upon knowing more? Why?
The blonde reached into a hole in the wall and pulled her personal copy of Great Expectations out, the pages yellowed and browned and dog eared past the point of return. Dickens had great work but this would always be her favorite. No matter what page she would turn onto, she could easily pick up from there and continue to read, and even though the outcome was always the same at the end, she read it like it was always the first time and she had no idea about what would happen with Pip and Estella.
She flipped through the pages and decided to read a few pages before she had to go. Ten minutes came and went and Alison found herself stuck, re-reading the same lines over and over:
"Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape."
Alison felt the line was for her, about her, she was the writer and the reader of it. She was broken and bent, she has suffered and learned, she had always hoped for something better...hoping that her heart would mend.
But would it mend into a better shape? Would her new heart have the capacity to let someone else in?
Her past was dark, she felt like a product of it, there was no way she could change what she had become...was there?
x-x-x-x
x-x-x-x
"Hanna! I think I found something!" Spencer called from the small dining table.
Hanna rushed through Caleb's apartment into the living room where Spencer and Toby were sitting over a small computer. It was Caleb's personal computer, not the one that the company had given him.
Toby found it under the floorboards in Caleb's closet and Spencer had been trying to get it open for the past few hours, and they finally had it open and started to look through the last of his activity before he signed off.
"Look at these." Toby stood behind Spencer as Hanna came and sat next to her.
They filtered through the files until Hanna seen something...rather someone she could swear she recognized.
"Oh my god."
x-x-x-x
AN: Ah sorry, I've busy because I've had 4 exams in these past two and a half weeks...and guess what? I've gotten an A on three of them, now I'm just waiting for the last one to come back! Okay, so that's my lame excuse for not updating in a while, it's because I've been studying really hard. Anyways thank you all for your continued support! Love, Lina xoxo