Thanks to nick2951, RHatch89, and karma3825 for reviewing! This is a pretty exciting chapter, and leads into one of my favorite arcs of the story. I'll update again either when I get to five reviews, or after about a week, so please let me know what you think!

Chapter 48

I can handle this. I can totally handle this. I've handled worse and I can handle this.

Or at least that's what I tell myself as I pull on a black t-shirt, leggings, and sneakers. My hair is back in a ponytail, but my black beanie is stuffed into the pocket of my jacket. I don't want to look completely like a criminal when I leave my house.

I stare once more at the picture of Justin. It's after seven o'clock. What does "A" mean, "tick tock?" How much time do I have?

I pull on my jacket and race into the hallway. "Mom!" I call, peering in through her open bedroom door. "Mom, where are you?"

"I'm in here," her teary voice responds, and I spin around, rushing back down the hallway.

My mother is sitting in Mona's bedroom, on the edge of her bed. She's holding an old stuffed animal, her eyes shining with tears.

Crap. There's no way I can rush out now.

"Um," I stammer, walking in and forcing myself not to look around. I haven't let myself come in here since she died. I suddenly feel claustrophobic, like the walls are closing in and something is pushing down on my chest. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," my mom says with a forced laugh, setting down the stuffed animal. "Some days I just…it just gets too hard."

I nod, ducking my head and trying to keep the tears at bay. "I know, Mom. I miss her, too."

She stands up, running her hand along the bookshelf. "Your sister was a good person, Viola."

A laugh escapes out of me before I can stop it. "No," I say, and my mother looks up at me, hurt. But I can't help it. "No, Mom, she wasn't. And that's what I loved about her."

My mother laughs a little, too, thank goodness. She wipes at her eyes, focusing in on the keys in my hand. "Are you going somewhere?"

All at once, my mind snaps back to the present. The "A" message. Justin. The knife. My stomach lurches. "Um, yeah," I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "I was going to go meet Macy at the Brew for a while."

This is the best excuse I can think of, and it works. My mom smiles, clearly just glad to see that I'm getting out of the house for once. "Good. You haven't spent time with her in a while. Just…" She pauses, wiping once more at her eyes. "Just make sure you're back by nine, okay?"

"Okay," I agree, even though I know that I'm not going to have any control over that. "I will."

My mother suddenly walks over, enveloping me in a hug. "Be careful," she whispers, her voice wavering.

I feel a rush of sympathy, and hug her back, tightly. She has no idea that I'm about to walk into something extremely dangerous. After a moment I force myself to pull away. Tick tock. I can't waste any more time.

To make up for the ten minutes that I lost, I drive dangerously fast to the high school, screeching into the parking lot and not even bothering to make sure I'm parked between the lines. It doesn't matter. All of the lights are off, no one's here. Even the janitors appear to have gone home.

The darkness makes this worse, I decide, wishing that I'd thought to bring a flashlight. I use the light from my phone instead as I get out of my car and jog over to the back entrance. I bend down to inspect it. There's no keyhole. How am I supposed to get in?

Frustrated, I grab the door handle and pull. It flies open, nearly slamming right into me. Of course, I realize, rushing inside without a second thought. Of course "A" would leave a door unlocked, somehow.

But I have a feeling that it's not all going to be this easy.

Using the dull light from my phone to guide me, I make my way down the dark hallway of the science wing, past the biology and chemistry labs. My footsteps echo around the empty space, my shadow, barely visible, stretching in front of me.

I never realized how creepy the school really is. During the day, with the lights on and students flooding through the hallways, it seems so different. But I feel like a sitting duck right now, walking down a long, straight hallway with locked doors on either side of me. There's nowhere for me to run. I should have brought a weapon, especially because I know that "A" has one.

Geez, I'm stupid.

I creep down to the end of the hallway, right near the office, and peer around the corner. At least there's no screams of pain or other horrible noises, but on the other hand…the silence might be worse.

I'm terrified to make a sound, but it's clear that creeping around through the dark hallways isn't going to get me anywhere. "A" doesn't seem to be offering me any sort of hints, which is unnerving. Usually "A" revels in their little riddles and games.

I duck into the English wing and call out, my voice shaking with nerves, "Hello?" The word bounces against the walls, echoing through the empty hallway. I clear my throat and try again. "Justin?"

Nothing.

I feel a chill up my spine. I almost wish that someone in a black hoodie would dart out from around a corner, or that creepy music would start blaring. Anything but this feeling of unknowing.

I round the corner, heading toward the cluster of math classrooms, when I catch sight of an open door at the end of the hall. A light shines out of it.

A combination of relief and fear rushes through me, and I hold my phone out like it's a weapon, advancing toward the classroom, which was Ezra's, back when he still taught here.

Speaking of Ezra, I saw him with Aria last week, in what looked like a pretty intimate meeting at the Brew. Maybe that's part of why I snapped at her at school. I still can't believe she would actually go back to the guy who stalked her for years, all in the name of writing a freaking book.

My nerves light up as I reach the open classroom. Holding my breath, I flatten myself against the wall and slowly side-step closer, until I can turn my head and peer into the room.

It's empty. Or it looks that way. "A" could be hiding around any corner with Justin in their clutches, one wrong move away from slitting his throat.

Frightened by this thought, I move slowly into the room, turning in every direction. Everything seems in order. There's a large cabinet in the back corner, but it's wide open and empty aside from a few stacks of paper and notebooks. The blinds on the windows are closed tight. It's all in place, aside from the door being open and the light being on.

I frown deeply, my brow wrinkling as I move to stand in the center of the room. This is so weird. Every bone in my body is screaming at me that this is a trap, that I need to get out of here, now. Justin is nowhere to be found and neither is "A." There is something really, really wrong with this.

But I have one last hope. Perhaps "A" forgot to take his cell phone when they kidnapped him. Even if he doesn't answer, the ringtone might be enough to lead me to him.

I scroll through the contacts on my phone and select his name, thankful that I hadn't deleted his contact after our breakup. I guess I'd had a feeling that it wouldn't be our last time talking. And I was right, in a way.

I press the phone to my ear as it rings, the sound amplified in the silent room. On the third ring, a very confused voice answers. "Viola?"

He doesn't necessarily sound like someone being held hostage, but I'm not convinced. "Justin, hey."

There is a long pause before he responds. "Uh…what's up?"

This is way more awkward than I was expecting. But then again, I was not expecting him to answer at all. I try to think of some excuse as to why I would be calling my ex out of nowhere, but my mind is drawing a blank.

I finally realize that it doesn't matter. This isn't the time for small talk, so I get right to the chase. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm at home," he says slowly, and sure enough, I hear a faint faucet running in the background. "Why?"

I don't have an answer for this, but I'm so shocked that I don't even try to think of one. Instead I let my arm drop to my side, absent-mindedly ending the call without saying another word.

This was a trap. Justin was never here, never tied up or in any danger. Somehow "A" edited that picture just to get me here.

But…why? There's no sign of anyone or anything. If "A" was going to do something to me, why wouldn't they have done it already?

As if triggered by my thoughts, the light goes out, bathing the room in darkness. I let out a yelp of surprise. Then the door slams shut.

I gasp and whirl around, unable to see a thing in the sudden total blackness. I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again, slowly adjusting to the dark. I'm just reaching for my phone, to get at least some light in the room, when a shadow passes across the wall in front of me.

Crying out, I stumble around once again to face away from the door. There's nothing there, but I'm not dumb. I know that some sort of movement had to have caused that shadow. I'm not alone in here.

"H – hello?" I call out, my voice wavering helplessly. I ball my hands into fists and turn in a complete circle, my eyes scanning over the entire classroom, every desk and chair, every corner, trying to make out every shape I can in the dark. "Who's there?"

A dark figure pops out from behind a desk in the back row, and I scream, instantly recognizing the formless black hoodie. "Please," I cry, numb to the tears streaming down my face. "Please don't hurt me."

I expect the figure to charge me, but they don't, only walking toward me slowly and purposefully. This is somehow even more terrifying. I run to the door, grabbing the handle and pulling. It doesn't budge.

"A" stops beside the first row of desks, and I can somehow tell despite the lack of features that they are facing me. "No!" I scream, jiggling the door handle desperately. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, pounding wildly. I feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead. I think I'm going to be sick. "Please!"

I turn back to the door, yanking with everything I have. I'm vaguely aware of my phone falling out of my pocket, crashing to the floor, but I don't even care. A broken cell phone is the least of my problems.

I pull again, and the door gives a little. I let out a gasp. It's not locked. There's something blocking the other side. "Come on," I gasp, but before I can make any use of this realization, something heavy and hard connects with the back of my head.

White dots appear in my vision and my knees give out, sending me slumping right to the floor as pain explodes in my head. This is it. "A" is going to kill me, just like they killed my sister. I'll never find out who they are, who has tormented me for years.

It's over.

My vision is swimming and my head feels like it's going to split open from the pain. I crack my eyes open, trying to ignore the feeling of my skull splitting open, and squint through the blurriness of my vision.

A figure leans over me, the hoodie or mask or whatever they have on completely obstructing their face. But I do make out several tendrils of blond hair peeking out from under the hood.

"Alison?" I gasp out weakly, the word draining the rest of the strength that I have left. The figure disappears from view, and a moment later so does everything else, as my vision fades to complete darkness.

...

Again, please review and let me know what you think! Next, Viola wakes up to find herself in a very familiar place. Any theories?