I do not own Pretty Little Liars.

Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.

Please review, and enjoy.

Turning my head away from the wall when I wake up in the morning I see that Aria's still asleep right next to me, her arm dangling a bit over mine as if she had been holding onto me all night. I thought she would have gone back to her bed after I fell asleep, but nope she's still here.

I half smile as I turn my body so that I'm on my back, moving her arm back over to her and watch the ceiling. I close my eyes again to rest them, but in no time I'm asleep almost as fast as I woke up.

A few hours after we both wake up, the girls (with the exception of Emily) and Andrew come over just like they said they would. I'm on my bed under the covers and facing the wall when they walk into the room with Aria. The last couple days obviously took a bit of a toll on me so I've been a bit dazed out most of the day.

I feel a kiss on my head and I turn it to the side to look. Andrew is staring down at me. "Hey, babe."

I turn all the way and sit up. "Hi."

He leans in and hugs me. It makes me feel claustrophobic with his arms wrapping around me all of a sudden. It reminds me of the feeling of the tape around my body and it makes me jump.

"It's okay." He says, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry."

He shakes his head. "It's fine."

"Is Em okay?" I ask when I notice that she isn't here.

"She didn't want to leave the house today." Spencer says as she sits on the bottom of my bed and crosses her legs.

"I don't blame her."

Aria and Hanna walk over to her bed and it gets awkwardly quiet for a bit. I'm still a bit weak but I feel better than I did the day before. I watch as they all stare at me, ready for me to say something about that night. I wish I was able to just tell them to drop it. But I know I can't.

Andrew is holding onto my hand and I feel him start to rub his thumb across the top of it. I look at him and see that he's occupied with staring down. I follow his gaze and watch as he brings his hand up a bit and starts to rub my bruised wrist from all the times I rubbed it against the tape trying to get out. The other is just as bruised up, a little worse since the watch was tight around it the entire time.

"Okay." I say as I stare at him and watch him look at me in return.

"Okay what?" He asks.

"You guys want answers." I look at all of them.

"Only if you are ready." Spencer says. "You don't need to tell us right this minute."

"No." I say shaking my head. "I do. I'll never be able to talk about it if I don't do it now. But you have to promise that I won't have to repeat it a million times."

They all nod. "We'll tell Em." Hanna says.

"And I'll tell mom, dad and Mike whenever they ask." Aria tells me.

I nod. "Right." I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

I can't make eye contact, so I just stare at my hands as I finally start to tell them everything. Aria already told them what she heard when I was telling the cop what happened after I got dropped off at Bobby's. So I skip to what happened when I woke up in her lair. Like having a conversation when she was decently nice Mona, to turning into psycho Mona.

"Trying to act tough and calling her names was the stupidest thing. I was scared and you know when I'm scared I act braver than I am." I look up at them finally and they all nod. "But she got really mad and threatened to kill me."

I'm shaking now and Andrew slowly climbs over my legs. He plops himself on the other side of the bed next to me. He puts his arm on my shoulders and squeezes my arm with his hand, bringing him closer to his body. This time I feel comfort instead of fear.

"She said she would either cut a finger off or burn my face the way Two Face from Batman was." They gasp, their mouths dropping and it makes my heart race a bit. "She thought it would be funny to send my finger to you and see how you reacted to thinking I was dead." I look at Aria and see her tears go down her face. "When I started whining she really hated it. I was begging and she thought I was being weak. She thought my voice was annoying as she got really pissed and decided to tape my mouth back up." I describe how she went about that, not looking at them as I'm trying hard not to cry. "She over did it a bit."

"A bit?" I hear Spencer's voice and I look at her. "We saw the aftermath of her tape rampage. She could have suffocated you." Tears are in her eyes.

"It was my own fault." I start to tear up now. "I shouldn't have said all that to someone unstable."

"Don't you dare blame yourself." Spencer leans in and grabs my hand. "You were doing what you thought was right at the time. You were scared."

"What happened next?" Hanna says, tears streaming down her face now. I know she never expected her best friend to be this type of person.

I tell them about what happened from when she left to go to her car after she taped my mouth back up, and how she reacted when I wouldn't stop yelling after fifteen minutes of screaming. The scared looks on their faces is making me want to stop telling them what happened. I don't like seeing them like this, but I know I need to get this out.

"Then she went to get dressed for the Masquerade Ball." I take a deep breath. "I continued to yell for help as much as I could through the tape for a long time. It tired me out so much that I couldn't do much by the time she got out of the bathroom." I flash back to her saying she had a surprise and my tears slide down my face. "When she was done she told me she had a surprise for me. She went over to a drawer and pulled out a black box."

"The tarantula." Spencer says.

I nod, shaking really bad and closing my eyes. "She let it crawl on me and then stuck me in the bathroom to drug me again."

"It's okay." Andrew says. He scoots me forward and I open my eyes as he sits behind me. He puts his chin on my shoulder and I lean my body back onto his. Then he rocks me back and forth. "You're safe now."

I look at Spencer. "When I woke up again you were there."

She nods. "You can stop now. We all know what happened next. I told them."

I take a deep breath and grab Andrew's arm tight, trying to calm my shaking body. He holds onto me as if he never wants to let go. I see Aria and Hanna watching me in so much concern it kills me to see them like that. Then Spencer gets off the bed and kneels next to it so I'm looking at her.

"She won't get away with this."

"W-What if she does." I sniff, trying to keep myself from breaking down.

"She won't. Not if mom and dad have anything to do with it."

To keep myself from over thinking what I went through I ask them to tell me what happened after I left for Bobby's. They tell me that they stuck around Aria's until they had to go home to get ready and got picked up from Hanna. Most of the night they didn't do more than search around the place, seeing if they could spot someone out of the ordinary who could have been A. They saw Lucas with Jenna and some girl in a Black Swan outfit. They thought this was suspicious but couldn't tell who the swan was since she had a mask on. When they went to talk to her after she left the other two she took off.

After that they knew they didn't have a lot of time left till A was supposed to meet with them. That's when they decided to call Spencer to let her know what happened since she went with Mona to the motel I was in. Which I found out happened to be the same motel they went to check out the night before. But when they called that's when Spencer put them on video chat with the volume muted and watched helplessly as we were being taken to the top of the cliff. Mona really fooled us all.

Later on the cop from the other night comes around to check on me and Aria, wanting me to explain things to him since I couldn't the other night. It takes all of my effort not to break down again. This time the rest of the Montgomery's are there and keep giving me sad and shocked looks. Aria does her best to keep me calm by holding onto my hand the entire time. She lets me know that it's okay to squeeze hers when I need to every time I felt her squeeze mine in response to my breathing getting fast or sounding like I'm about to cry.

Now that whole week of school I'm not the only one who doesn't go. Aria stays with me not only to make sure I'm alright, but because she isn't ready to go back. Both of us have had nonstop nightmares almost every time we fall asleep and it get to the point where we both sleep together in her bed out of comfort.

"No." I hear a mumble from next to me at almost twelve in the morning Thursday night when I can't fall asleep.

I'm still too scared to sleep with the lights off, so when I turn my body away from the wall to look behind me and check if Aria's okay it's bright enough to see her. I sit up and watch her for a few seconds, not sure if I just heard things, or if she really said something.

"Why is she doing this." She mumbles, now starting to shuffle around in her sleep.

"Ria." I whisper.

"She looks so scared."

"Ria." I shake her a bit this time and she sits up so fast that it scares the hell out of me. "It's okay!" I whisper loudly.

She looks at me. "Jessie." She looks confused but then tears start to go down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

"I..." She starts. "I couldn't save you."

"What?"

"I saw you through the phone while you were tied up in the back of Mona's car and I couldn't save you."

I flinched when Aria says Mona's name. I swear her name has become basically like saying Voldemort's name in the wizarding world. But I just try to stay calm and tightly grip the sheets of her bed. I need to be there for Aria right now. She's freaking out. I can't break.

"Ria, there was nothing you could do." My voice is shaky as I talk. "You weren't there."

She watches me. "I thought I was going to lose you."

She breaks down and now I start crying from the mixture of my anxiety and watching her this way. So I just lean in and grab her, pulling her over to me and hugging her tight.

"Please…don't blame…yourself." I say between a sobs.

We both cry ourselves to sleep that night. Everything Mona put her through seems just as hard for her to get through as it is for me.

Now when it comes to Emily, she has refused to go out all week. She doesn't even want to talk to anyone. I mean I could imagine how she feels. I don't know what I'd do if it was Andrew. Maya's family had a private funeral and didn't invite her to it, which I would think has her more in a down stage than she already was. I wish she would talk to us.

Spencer and Hanna only missed a couple days of school themselves. They passed by almost every day after they came out of school to give us homework we missed. Spence even went as far as to try and teach us whatever our teachers gave us that day. I wasn't really in the mood half the time but it was better than having my mind think about Mona.

"I don't want to go." I say as I sit on my bed Monday morning, debating whether to put my sneakers on or to just skip another day of school.

"I know." Aria says, sitting on my bed with me. "But we can't stay here forever."

"Everyone is going to be looking."

She nods. "Maybe, but we have to make it seem like we don't care." She pushes aside my bangs. "We only have a few months to go and school is done."

I take a deep breath. "Are you okay?"

She nods. "I'm not going to let this get to me. Are you with me?"

I take another breath and then bend down to put my sneakers on. "Yes." I stand up.

She smiles and gets up too, following me out of our room and down the stairs. We each grab a banana from the kitchen and then head outside to get a ride from Uncle Byron today. He doesn't want us going anywhere on our own.

"Be careful." Uncle Byron says when he drops us off. "Watch them." He says to Mike.

"I got it." He says.

"It's just school, dad." She says as she opens the door.

He looks at me. "You have the note from the doctor?"

I nod. "Yep." Then I get out right behind Aria.

The looks everyone gives us when we get out of the car makes my anxiety rise. The cut from the crowbar that looks like a half-moon circling around above my eyebrow to the corner of my eye, the two marks on my cheek from Mona's nails and the gash from the blade on the tip of my ear are all scars now, and pretty visible. The stitches from the crowbar and my ear desovled a couple days ago. I still have the black eye too, and I hide my wrists with long sleeved shirts and hoodies all the time now to keep the bruises out of sight. I can't use my watch or touch them too hard because it hurts. But luckily my lip is heeled up. As for my glasses, I have to use the old ones now so that I'm not seeing a million things at once, but I'll be going to the eye doctor tomorrow.

I put my hands in the pockets of my zip up hoodie, trying to keep everyone from seeing them shake in fear. I see Aria look at me from the corner of my eye and wraps her arm between mine. I look down at her and she smiles. Then we walk over to the front steps and head into the school. She doesn't let go until we get to our lockers.

I see Spencer walk out of the bathroom at the end of the hall and walks towards me. "Hey, happy birthday." I say as I open my locker.

She smiles. "Thanks, Jessie."

"Anything planned?"

She shrugs. "Not really. Mom and dad are…"

"Busy." I say.

She nods. "Yea. So maybe we can hang out tonight and go to dinner with the girls?"

"Sounds good to me."

She half smiles and it gets quiet for a second. "I can't believe you came."

I slowly nod, not looking at her as I take things out of my backpack to put it into my locker. "It is Monday."

"I know, but you know what I mean."

I nod. "Yep."

"Hey."

I stop what I'm doing and look at her.

"Relax. You look like you are going to pass out."

"Have you seen the look everyone is giving me?" I grab another book from my locker and put them in my backpack.

"Be happy it's a sympathetic look rather than them thinking you are lying."

"They think you're lying?"

She shakes her head. "No. I meant from all the times that Mona set us up for things."

I flinch from her name, my breathing getting rapid. I hold onto my locker door for support as I blankly stare at the inside of it and try to calm down. Then I feel her hand go on my shoulder and it makes me jump.

"Sorry." She says softly.

I take a few deep breaths and look at her with a slight smile. "No worries." I close my locker and see Aria and Hanna come to view. "Em didn't come again?"

Hanna shakes her head. "She still doesn't want to leave the house."

"Has anyone gone to see her?"

"We've tried, but she doesn't want contact with anyone." Spencer says.

"She hasn't called either?"

They all shake their heads.

"Come on." Aria says, grabbing my hand as the bell rings. "We are going to be late."

I sit in my regular seat in English class, doing my best not to pay attention at all the kids staring at me and the girls whenever Aunt Ella mentions the words cyber bulling or hurting people for fun. She has to give a presentation about bullying today and we all know it's because of us. I hate the attention being on me, so every once in awhile I try not to look whenever I see another head turn to me.

One time I make the mistake to look, just to see who it is. Riley and the Carrie twins are staring at me with mean looks. Being Mona's friends they probably figured this is all my fault. I'm not up to seeing how they are going to bother me today.

I look away and notice that Aunt Ella is putting in a video showing about bullying. I look out the window to tone everything out. I'm not in the mood to watch this so I daze out, but try not to daze out so much that my mind thinks about everything that happened.

"As everyone already knows..." I hear Aunt Ella say when it's done, but I don't bother to look. "This lesson was because Mr. Hackett wants everyone to be aware of bullying. He wants everyone to know that it is okay to come to adults when this happens."

"All this because Mona stalked and kidnapped someone?" One of the girls says.

The sound of her name makes me jump. When I turn back I see Aunt Ella giving a look to the girl in the seat next to Spencer. "That is one reason. Yes, Alexa." She paces the room. "Mona Vanderwaal took it a bit far. In her case she has a mental disorder, but that doesn't mean she can't be used as an example."

I look down at the desk, trying to block out the conversation. I take a few deep breaths and try my best to hide the fact that I'm shaking by fiddling around with my pencil and bouncing my leg up and down. I see Aria turn to me from the corner of my eye and I can't help but look.

"You okay?" she whispers.

I shake my head, bending the pencil with both my hands out of nerves. It snaps and everyone looks at me now. Even Aunt Ella looks and gives me an apologetic look.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" my voice cracks as I say it.

She nods. "Of course, Jessie."

I get up quick and stumble through the isle as I desperately need to get out of here. I trip over a backpack and someone grabs my arm as my hand lands on a desk to keep myself up. I look to see who it is and see Spencer is watching me in concern.

"Breathe." She whispers to me.

I take one but then I straighten up and practically run out of the room. I half run through the hallway and storm into the bathroom. I start to pace the room and then lean up against the wall, collapsing to the floor with my knees to my chest. This is going to be harder than I thought.

I close my eyes and immediately see Mona's face pop into my head. She has that evil smile she kept giving me every time she was up to something as crazy Mona. I feel my body shake and take a deep breath.

"Jay?"

I open my eyes and see that Kelly is standing at the door. I wipe a tear that slides down my cheek and she walks over.

"You okay?" She kneels down in front of me.

I nod, and watch her concerned green eyes watching me. "I'm fine."

"I've been wanting to come see you. I'm sorry about what Mona did."

I flinch and feel my heart race. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"Are you?" Now she sits down and crosses her legs.

"I'm hanging in there, Kel."

"What did she do to you?"

I shake my head. "It's a long story. Something I rather not bring up anymore."

She nods. "I get it. But I'm here if you ever need me."

I smile a bit. "Thanks."

The bell rings. Oh great. I think to myself, dreading having to go back into the world of school.

"Come on." Kelly stands up and holds out her hand.

I watch her hand for a few seconds in a daze.

"Jay….you sure you're alright?"

I look up at her and nod, taking a deep breath. "Yea."

She helps me to my feet. "Positive?"

"I'm good. Kind of have to be right?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. Being brave all the time can be a toll."

"Maybe, but it's better than breaking down in the middle of class."

"True. Well then, you got this."

I smile and the door opens again, the girls walk in.

"You okay, Jessie?" Aria asks.

I nod and look at Kelly, who smiles reassuringly. "Yea. Yea I'm fine."

They hand me my stuff, I say bye to Kelly and then follow them out the door.