On Friday I was feeling overwhelmed by the excitement and spontaneity of our trip and the frenzied packing I had done after school. Alison was coming to pick me up at 6 pm and I still had an hour and a half to get ready. I decided to change in more appropriate clothing for an adventurous runaway, but I realized I had no idea what kind of attire was expected for that. In the end I decided on a pair of high-waisted denim shorts and a simple white Tee, and I tied a black and red printed flannel around my waist. As I was brushing my hair for the tenth time, I could hear my mom coming up the stairs. I quickly put the brush on my desk so my excessive preparation for the trip wouldn't look suspicious. She leaned against the doorframe and looked at me smiling.

"It's so nice of Spencer to have you girls over at her lake house. Is Alison coming too?"

"Yeah" I said, trying to cut the conversation short.

"It's been so long since you all went there last, before Alison disappeared. It will be good for you to get away from the chaos of Rosewood for a weekend" she continued, seeming genuinely happy for me.

"I know."

"Okay, I'll let you get ready" my mom concluded, then left my room.

I felt incredibly guilty for lying to my mom that I was going to Spencer's cabin, especially because I didn't have the slightest clue of where we were really going.

It was now almost 6 and I was out of my house five minutes early as Ali instructed. She said I couldn't be even a second late, but I didn't understand why, we didn't have any fixed plans. A few moments later I saw her silver car pulling into my driveway. I waved goodbye to my mom, who then came to the porch to hug me and tell me to have fun and be safe. I told her I would, and then ran to Ali's car with the bag I had packed. I threw it on the backseat then went inside and hugged Ali.

"Are you ready?" she asked smiling coyly.

"Where are we going?" I smiled back.

"You'll see."

She turned on the radio, which was set on a top hits station, then backed out of my driveway.

"Are we going to be driving for a long time?" I was hoping to at least get a hint.

"You're so impatient, aren't you?"

"A little. I told my mom we're going to Spencer's lake house, so we should be back before Monday, I was thinking Sunday night?"

"Stop getting so ahead of yourself!" She said trying to be reassuring, but I sensed nervousness.

I decided to let her drive without distractions, so I rested my head against the window and looked outside, listening to the music. About half an hour later, we were getting close to Philadelphia.

"Are we going into town?"

She shook her head no, then I realized she was taking an exit off the highway where a sign indicated a hospital nearby. I was confused more than anything, and I started wondering if we were going to visit Jason. I avoided asking any questions, but I was getting increasingly worried. After a few more minutes we were taking a shortcut through the hospital's parking lot, and Ali turned her car into a narrow street behind the building. There were bushes and shrubs on each side of the street, and Ali was sitting up in her seat, peeking carefully on either side as she was driving the car extremely slow.

"Can you please let me know what's going on?"

But before she could give me an answer, I saw a manly figure dressed in black jumping out from one of the taller bushes.

"Ali, drive!"

"Lower your voice!" she commanded, and as I looked at the person approaching us more closely, I realized it was Jason.

He opened the door in the back, which was already unlocked, then as soon as he violently shut it behind him, Ali pushed the gas pedal.

"I'm going to jump out of this car if someone doesn't tell me what's going on right now" I demanded.

"Jason can't go to rehab, he needs to come with us, and we're helping him run."

"But I thought this was our road trip –" I said, then quickly stopped myself, realizing I must have sounded rude since Jason was with us in the car. "Sorry, Jason."

"It's alright, nice to see you Emily."

"Nice to see you too" I replied, unconvinced.

"I hope you don't mind Em, but he doesn't have anywhere to go. We're going to a motel halfway between Philly and New York City."

I sighed, and I was losing patience. I thought I would have a say in our little "adventure", but Alison had already assumed the leader role. I mostly just wanted to go back home and wash away the feeling of guilt from lying to my mom. I grabbed Ali's phone from the center console to browse her playlists, since the music on the radio was getting on my nerves. She hadn't noticed I took it, but she usually didn't object to me using her phone. However, as soon as she happened to glance over and saw it in my hands, she almost lost control of the wheel.

"Put that down, Emily!" she raised her voice, and tried clutching the phone.

"Why, what's there to hide?" I answered stubbornly.

I typed in her password, which she had told me a few days earlier, and as soon as the home screen disappeared, her messages showed up, displaying one from A at the very top: You made the right decision, doing what I said. Have the best of trips! Kisses, A.

"Ali, what the hell is this?"

She pulled over on a back alley; we were now a good few blocks away from the hospital. She took a deep breath, then parted her lips slightly in an attempt to say something but nothing came out.

"Is this really the road trip we talked about, or one of A's ambushes?"

"I couldn't tell you anything, or A would've killed both of us! I don't know what's going to happen, I have no idea, okay?" she was becoming hysterical. "I got an unsigned text on Monday, saying to take you and Jason to this place, otherwise we'd all wind up dead. Then this morning I got another text, revealing that the person who sent the letters to Jason and I, was A, the same A who has been torturing us for years. I freaked out and I was angry, so I deleted it. And right as I pulled into your driveway, I got this text."

"And when were you planning on telling me this?!" I asked, feeling my temperature rise alongside with my anger. "When we get to the freaking hotel, right into A's hands?"

"Emily, listen to me, if we don't go A will go as far as killing us. We have to go."

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm taking a bus back home."

But when I tried opening the door, it was locked.

"LET ME OUT!" I demanded, but instead she put the car back in drive, and left the alleyway.

I started screaming even louder, hoping she would eventually get tired, or that she would feel bad for me, but she continued driving. When I looked over at Jason, he was staring out the window, a resigned expression on his face. I was crying and flailing my hands frantically to make her stop, but I could only keep it up for so long before I fell back into my seat. I couldn't believe Alison had betrayed me like this, and I didn't care if she thought it was for the better. Because it wasn't, I couldn't believe that it was.