This chapter is quite short, I apologize.

I do not own Pretty Little Liars.

Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.

Enjoy and please review!

As if we needed more hectic time in this town the cops didn't leave Spencer alone for about a week as they tried to find evidence on her killing Alison. It calmed down a bit after that but we all knew they were still looking. I found out that the only reason they started picking on her after the trophy incident was because they found out that she had a thing with Melissa's husband Ian while they dated in high school. In my opinion the fact they aren't disgusted that Ian had something with a kid that wasn't even a teen yet while he's like five years older is a bit weird.

Obviously I wasn't around at the time Ali went missing, but I believe Spencer when she says she didn't kill her. I mean I've known her for like ever. She's not the type of person to get so pissed off that she'll lash out in a violent way. Get angry and have arguments yea, who doesn't? But kill someone? Not a chance.

During their investigation her desperation to get them off her back got a bit higher after awhile. She kept saying that Ian was the one who killed Alison. In all honesty, I don't know what makes her think Ian did it. She won't even give me an explanation to that, so I can't figure out her thinking. Her parents think she's nuts and wants to get her into therapy. I wouldn't go that far as to think Spence is a loony, she must have her reasoning. But I hate that her parents and Melissa won't take the time to figure anything out. Her family drives me crazy.

On top of everything going on with Spencer it's now a week before the one year anniversary that changed my life forever…the day my family died in that car crash. Monday and Tuesday I went to school, but I could barely concentrate on anything else and had a lot of anxiety so the rest of the week I was home.

"Hey." Aria walks in our room Friday after school and sets her stuff on her bed. "It's a nice day. Want to go to the Brew?"

I'm under the covers facing the wall. I'm not really in the mood to talk so I don't answer.

"Jessie?" I hear her walk over towards me and the bed goes down as she sits behind me. She puts her hand on my arm and rubs it with her thumb gently. "You need to get out of the house. You've hardly even left this room since Tuesday."

"I'm tired." I say with no emotion.

The bed goes down again and I watch her hop over my legs from the corner of my eye and sit up against the wall, watching me in concern. This is the first time Aria has fully seen me in a depressed stage to the max and for a couple days she didn't know what to do but to give me space. Every time she walked into our room and noticed that I wasn't in the mood she left me to my thoughts and would either leave or she would just sit on her bed and read so she wouldn't bother me.

"Then can we talk if you don't want to go out? Spencer told me how bad you got after the accident. She said that it's not good to leave you in your head for too long."

I watch her for a little. "I just want to sleep, Ria."

She gets a little sad. "Please talk to me."

I just shake my head and pull the covers over my head. She doesn't get up to leave so she just sits there in silence for awhile. Eventually she just gets to the point where even though I didn't want to talk she tried going down memory lane and said things that used to make us smile from before she moved away. Sometimes it worked and I'd pop my head out to talk to her, but other times it made me worse and she'd have to calm me down.

The next day she convinced to go to the park to shoot some hoops. We all know she isn't the best at it but she wanted to keep me distracted and that led to Andrew and the triplets catching up with us. For a short time I felt back to normal with all of them there as we played three on three. But the following day when Spencer and Emily passed by to see how I was doing I wasn't really sure how to be around them. My mind was all over the place so I rarely talked, but it didn't make them leave. My friends are what I consider true friends because they are the ones who will be there for you no matter what state of mind you're in because they love you enough to care.

Then the day it happened was here and I knew what day it was in no time. All five of us go to Jersey to see their graves today, and I'll tell you that it's still hard to see it even after a year of not having them around. Mom and dad are buried under one headstone and Jeff is by himself. If I hadn't lived I would have probably been with Jeff.

What makes it a bit harder to handle is when we see some of my family pull up in a car. Both my aunts (Katie and Casey) hop out of the front seats, Uncle Tyler right behind them as he comes out the back. They had always been really close friends once my parents started dating so it wasn't weird to see them together, just weird to see them.

When they see me they freeze, which is my reaction as well. Aunt Casey and Uncle Tyler I haven't seen in a year, and as we all know Katie is a different story. I'm both shocked and scared at the same time. Shocked because I'm seeing my dad's siblings for the first time in forever, yet scared because I know what Katie is capable of.

"Oh my God." Aunt Casey says.

"Jessie." Uncle Tyler says, then walks over and hugs me.

I kind of tense up for a second, but then I relax and dig my head into his body. He always referred himself as the cool uncle because he spoiled the hell out of me and Jeff growing up. It feels great to see him again.

Then a hand goes on my shoulder and I look to see Aunt Casey. She just smiles. "Hello, nena."

I smile a bit. "Hi, Aunt Casey."

Her and Uncle Tyler being from dad's Hispanic/White side of the family I grew up calling them aunt and uncle, rather than titi and tio. But they both still know Spanish, which I'm sure you got when Bobby spoke it the night of the dance.

"You got so big." She has tears in her eyes and cautiously pulls me in for a hug. When we pull away she looks around. "Where's Bobby?"

"He had school today."

I look over her shoulder as Katie starts to walk closer and then comes into view next to us. I back up so quick you would think I have super powers. I feel Uncle Byron grab my arm and pulls me to him. I don't hesitate to hide behind him in fear because it's the first thing I can think of to do and hold onto his arm the way I used to when I was scared of something as a kid. Aria stands beside me and holds my hand. I look at her and she gives me her Focus on me stare, so I do. I keep my eyes on her because it calms me down to see her soothing eyes sparkling in the sun so that I wouldn't freak out more than I am.

"Katie." I hear Uncle Byron say in a calm but stern voice.

"I didn't think you would be here." She says, shifting her eyes uncomfortably.

"They are her parents and brother." He says.

"Yes, I know." She says in agreement. "Just figured it was too far a drive."

"Again, they are her parents and brother. Do you really think the distance matters for a day like this?"

Aria is whispering to me in conversation to keep me busy but I'm still able to sense the tension getting really thick between everyone. So I turn around slowly to pull on his coat and he looks down at me.

"Can we go?" I whisper.

He looks at Aunt Ella who nods.

"Yea." He says and looks back at me. "We can go."

"Jessie." Uncle Tyler says and I look at him. "You don't have to leave. We can get something to eat. No one has seen you in a year."

"Katie has." I give her a quick look then look back at him. "And it's not my fault that I haven't seen most of the family since the funeral." I wasn't angry, which surprised me that I was able to talk to them so calmly.

He's quiet at first with sadness in his eyes but then he nods. "I know. But can't we just start over?" He still has a sad look. "We'll go wherever you want to eat."

I watch him for a few seconds. "Is Katie going to join us?"

He nods.

"Then no. Thanks though."

Everyone looks at her and her face starts to get red. Not like embarrassed red, more like trying to hold in her anger red. "Are you kidding me?" We could tell her temper was rising. "You haven't seen me in months, them in a year and you still want to leave?"

"I want to stay, but I don't trust you."

She opens her mouth and then closes it. Then she opens it again and says. "I'm trying to change."

"Are you?" There's a little sarcasm that I didn't mean to put in my voice.

That obviously upset her 'cause her face went from normal to pissed. "You little brat." Obviously any little thing is still setting her off.

"That's enough." Uncle Byron says before anyone else can get into it. "You hurt her." He says, looking at Katie. "Not just mentally, but physically. She's scared of you." He turns to the others. "The fact you guys can still have anything to do with her after what she did to your own flesh and blood is disgusting to me. None of us are related to her and we take better care of her than you do."

"Uncle Byron..."

"You have no right to talk to us like that." Katie says.

But he doesn't stop there. "Oh I don't? Would you want to stick around if someone hit you like that?" He looks at all of them and then specifically at Katie. "Would you?"

Katie looks like she's getting boiled up, like she's about to charge after him. That's when both of my aunts and my uncle get in between our groups. Since I'm standing behind Uncle Byron, Aunt Ella has to make sure he won't do anything so she blocks my view of Katie. Then Aria and Mike pull me back farther.

"Maybe we all do need a bit more time apart." Uncle Tyler says.

All four of the adults agreed on this, so we walk back to the car.

I silently cry most of the way home from all the frustration I've been feeling since last week. Aria holds my hand for comfort the whole way home as I look out the window, eventually falling asleep.