Chapter 17

She was trying to make out some figures and shapes in the darkness around her. But all she could see was never ending black color threatening to consume her. Her head was hurting really badly. She wanted this torture to end. She wanted to scream , but no voice was coming out of her mouth. With each passing second she was getting more and more frustrated. She wanted something to happen. Something which will tell her that she was alive. But she couldn't hear anything but her heavy breathing. Tears were freely flowing from her eyes. Her heavy breathing turned into sobs. She still couldn't bring herself to say anything. The utter silence and darkness around her was now swallowing her. She was now convinced that she was dead.

Emily Fields, Spencer Hastings and Hannah Marin were sitting in the interrogation room again. They were waiting for new detective Beckett. She claimed to have proofs against the three of them. They have not acknowledged each other's presence except for the time when their parents have visited them. It was hard for them to accept the harsh reality that their best friend was dead and it was partially their fault. They could have trusted her. They could have saved her. They were overwhelmed by confusion, anger and guilt. Guilt was worse of all. They knew that if it hadn't been for their ignorance, Aria would have been alive and A in the jail instead of them.

Ahem.

Three teenage girls looked up to see Detective Beckett intently looking at them with her partner Castle. Apparently none of them had noticed when Detective entered. Detective again cleared her throat and spoke, " I'm detective of the case of kidnapping and murder of Aria Montgomery. This is my partner Castle. We are going to wait until your lawyer Mrs. Hastings shows up."

Emily and Hannah barely nodded. Spencer still refused to show any expression of emotion. She just looked up at Beckett and then again continued to stare at the table in front of her. She was thinking hard. She was thinking of everything but trying to find out who A was. it had cost her more than anything. She wasn't going to take risk again. She was losing the faith in herself. She snapped out of her brooding when she heard the clicking of her mother's sandals as she entered in the room. She settled her bags and sat beside Spencer.

Beckett again cleared her throat to get everyone's attention which resulted in getting a dirty look from Hannah, who was clearly irritated. Hannah had not yet gotten over her fussy behavior.

"An hour after the arrest we received anonymous video which clearly shows many things you would like to explain. Let's have a look at it." With that Beckett opened her laptop and opened video file.

Video showed the three girls waiting for someone at Bell tower and then a car pulling over. A person with red hoodie got out of car and led them somewhere. Four of them disappeared from video frame as they went behind the car. There was nothing in the video for few minutes until that person in the red hoodie appeared carrying Aria with three girls following behind without showing any attempts of trying to save restrained Aria. With that final scene, Video ended.

Veronica was too stunned to talk. She quickly composed herself and took some notes on her paper. All three girls were in tears. Hannah was shacking uncontrollably. Beckett allowed them to calm down for few minutes. "This video clearly shows that you three were present at the crime scene and made no efforts to save Aria Montgomery when she was carried away by other person. Who was that? Why were you there? " Castle asked.

Three girls didn't respond. They were staring at each other trying to decide how much they should spill and how they should keep to themselves. Beckett was looking at them expecting answer. Veronica was completely clueless about what girls' next move would be. She had advised them to tell the complete truth but she had a hunch that they were not going to follow it.

Finally Emily spoke, "It was CeCe Drake. She had asked us to meet her there. She said she knew that who was blackmailing four of us. We thought...she even said...we thought Aria is blackmailing us. But we were wrong...we.." Emily couldn't speak further.

"go on..." Beckett encouraged.

It was Spencer who spoke for the first time "AND WE WERE STUPID! WE LET HER KILL ARIA! WE WERE SELFISH...BLIND AND STUPID! AND JUST DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ANYMORE, OK? I DON'T CARE." Spencer broke down crying.

Castle signaled Beckett that it was time to stop for today. She told them that they are leaving and coming back tomorrow. Veronica tried to calm girls but she had to leave too. Her heart broke looking at her daughter.

Three girls sat there for next hour until another police officer appeared and broke the gloomy silence of room.

"You have visitor. He wants to meet all of you."

They looked at each other trying to figure out who will be the visitor. They weren't ready for another Montgomery if it was Mike.

Hannah asked, " Who is it?"

"Fitz. Mr. Ezra Fitz."

"I'll meet him." Emily said. Spencer shot her a look, but Emily chose to ignore. She knew how it was to lose the someone you love. She knew even though Ezra and Aria broke up, they loved each other. Their love was too deep to move on. She got up from her seat and walked up to door. She stopped and looked back hoping other two have followed her. But they hadn't moved even an inch. She shook her head and prepared herself to meet Ezra as she walked in the visitors' room.

Ezra looked dejected. His eyes were puffy and red. He looked sleep deprived. Emily tried to find hint of anger on his face she had witnessed on Byron's face. But she could only see sadness.

Finally after few minutes Ezra took a deep breath and said, "I have a confession to make. "

Hey everyone! I'm sorry if this chapter isn't very good. I am actually very irritated. My previously written chapter just vanished from Wattpad. I had to write whole chapter all over again now. I am too stressed out with college applications now. Senior year sucks!

Next chapters -

What is Ezra's confession? will he come clean or he has something else planned? What happened to Aria and where is she?