Whispers in the Dark

- Chapter Two – The Devil's in the Details

Cory met up with her friends outside of the school auditorium to help Hanna get ready for her audition. As the girls sat in a group on the floor Hanna noticed a classmate walk by without her shoes on. Her forehead lined with confusion as she asked them, "Why isn't she wearing any shoes?"

"So she can look short enough to play an eight year old." Spencer answered with a laugh before looking to Emily to who was flipping through the script and said, "I don't see anything about a medal."

"That's what the eight year old killed her classmate for." Spencer said as she leaned over to get a better look.

Nodding Cory agreed, "A penmanship medal, that's why they call her the bad seed."

When she was met with four questioning looks she said, "What? The high school I was in Ohio was so small that you pretty much only had the choice between theater or cheerleading and I'm not exactly the peppy 'go team' type."

As if she'd just picked up on what was said earlier Hanna asked, "Wait? What? A penmanship medal… really?"

"Didn't you read the whole play?" Spencer questioned, but should have already known the answer.

"No, she refuses to read the entire thing." Cory laughed.

Hanna looked over at her and sighed, "Why do I have to read the whole play? I don't want to be the bad seed's mother. I want to be the other mother, the one who's drunk all the time."

"No comment." Spencer sighed.

"Are you really still ragging on me for bringing a flask to the dance?" Hanna asked.

Cory laughed with her friends, but felt a little left out. Even though she'd been keeping up with them over the phone she still felt like she'd already missed so much of the school year with them. It was hard to no get sad when they started talking and laughing about something that she wasn't there to be a part of.

"I don't need another parent, Spence. One's plently." The blonde assured her.

"Well, has the one figured out that Caleb's in the basement?" Aria questioned, finally pulling her attention away from the script in her hands. She'd been there to support Hanna and steal a few glances at Ezra.

"No, but A has." She admitted to them.

"What are you going to do?" Emily questioned.

"Probably tell my mom before A gets to her." she said, and Cory nodded, "Maybe you could ask if he could stay in the guest room or something? You know, leave out the part of him staying there without her knowledge.

Cory watched as Mona walked up to them, it still shocked her to see how much of a makeover the teen had gotten. It was clear to see that Loser-Mona existed no more.

"Hey there, Hanna and clanna!" She cheerfully greeted as she walked up to them after leaving her audition.

"Hey Mona, how'd it go in there?" Hanna asked her friend.

Mona surveyed the group of girls, seeing all of them had a script in their hands. She didn't know if they were all auditioning or not, but she didn't want any more competition than she already had, It had taken her a long time to get to the place that she was and she didn't need Hanna's friends screwing things up. So she put on her best confident smile and exclaimed, "Honestly, I nailed it, it was epic." Then to add more to her story she continued, "I think Mr. Fitz even cried."

"Good for you, Mona. Guess the rest of should just go home." Spencer sarcastically said and Cory raised the script in her hands to cover her face as she stifled a laugh and tried to remind herself that Hanna was friends with the girl now and she needed to try and be nice. But she couldn't help but think what Alison would say if she saw them being friendly with Loser-Mona.

"No! There are no small parts. Only parts that don't make it into the yearbook." She said, smiling menacingly at them and hoping it was enough to get inside of their heads and stir-up some self-doubt. "Good luck!" she called over her shoulder as she turned to walk away.

Cory looked up and saw Aria gazing longingly at Mr. Fitz from across the hallway. She smiled, thinking what a cute couple they made and she honestly couldn't blame her friend for going there with him, he was definitely the hottest teacher she'd ever had.

"Why don't you audition?" She asked.

Aria's eyes widened as she realized she'd been staring at him.

Spencer nodded, "Yeah, you kind of have it in with the director…"

"Stop!" Aria ordered.

"Is he wearing that tie you gave him?" Hanna asked, as Emily looked over to see.

"Stop!"

"It would be so awesome to hang out with you two after school, see you as a couple." Spencer couldn't help but say.

"Right!" Cory loudly said before lowering her voice and gushing, "They have to be sooo cute together!"

"Uh…" Aria cut in, clearing her throat to get their attention, "News flash, just cause we're on this side of the building doesn't mean that we can suddenly light candles and slow dance."

"That's the opening night party!" Spencer exclaimed as she went on to make up a conversation between them until Aria hit her arm and stopped her when their friends busted out laughing.

"It's not like we'll ever be able to go on a double date with you guys." Emily said, her lips in a slight pout as she spoke.

"And you won't even send us pictures." Hanna sighed, showing exactly how much it all upset her that she couldn't see Aria and Ezra as a couple.

"Pictures? Hanna it's not Sea World, we meet at his apartment."

"We're just saying it would be nice." Emily smiled.

"Believe me, I know." She said as she started to gaze in his direction longingly.

~(The next morning)~

"Spence, you okay?" Cory asked as she raised her head from her side of the bed and looked over at her friend.

Spencer sat up farther and pushed the blankets off of her as she groaned, "I'm fine, just had another nightmare?"

"Show up for your first day of college naked…again?" Cory laughed as she also sat up and stretched wishing they could just sleep for a few more hours.

"No. But I do still have that dream." She admitted, laughing as Cory pointed out, "I think you started having that dream since your first day of kindergarten."

Spencer opened her mouth to say something but before she could they heard something from downstairs.

"Shouldn't your parents be gone by now?" Cory asked as she walked over to where Spencer was now standing beside the bed.

She nodded and quietly the girls left her room and headed for the stairs, where they found Ian in the living room, taping a box shut.

"Oh hey." He greeted seeing them, "I didn't wake you guys up, did I?"

"Sort of." Spencer coldly said as she looked at her friend over her shoulder before they continued down the stairs and through the living room into the kitchen.

Ian smiled and nodded at Cory, who quickly diverted her eyes and remained glued to her friends side.

"Are you packing or unpacking?"

"Uh… a little of both. You know, I gotta make room. Babies come with a lot of gear." He laughed, and Cory watched him closely. Thinking that if she hadn't seen that video of him in the woods with Alison, she'd probably have a hard time believing he was capable of killing someone.

He pulled of charming well, she had to give him credit for being a pretty good actor. But then again, she was pretty good at hiding her own secrets.

Spencer grabbed a few coffee mugs from the cabinet as Ian continued to explain, "figured it was about time to get rid of some of this dead weight."

"What's in there?" Cory finally asked, nodding to the current box that looked overstuffed.

"Junk, mostly. Yearbooks, baseball gloves, trophies… all the stuff my mom probably wants more than me."

Corey grabbed the milk out of the fridge and Ian turned his attention to Spencer as he asked, "Listen, can you hold this flap down for me?"

He stood up and adjusted the cardboard flaps on top of the box and got the packing tape gun ready but the teenager didn't budge as she looked up from stirring sugar into her coffee.

He sighed, seeing her hesitation and knowing she still thought he was responsible for Alison's death. "It's a tape gun Spencer, you won't get hurt."

"I know that."

"Really? Cause you flinch every time I come near you." He pointed out, growing tired of the way she was acting around him.

"We have to get ready for school." She excused nodding for Cory to come with her, but as they passed him he said, "A little help here, Cor?"

Spencer kept walking, but she stopped to face him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He nodded to the box and said, "Can you just hold this shut for me?"

Seeing her reluctance he sighed, "Come on, we were friend at one point, right?"

"I was never friends with you." She argued, but wished she hadn't when he raised his eyebrows and shot her a look as he reasoned, "Well, you were around Jason a lot and-"

"Just tape the damn box." She groaned, as she rushed over and held it shut for him.

"Jason?" Spencer questioned, staring at her friend and waiting for a response, but she didn't get one as Cory ignored her and asked Ian, "Is that all?"

"Thanks." He nodded, then glanced over to her friend as he admitted, "Yeah, Melissa told me what you said to her at the swim meet. You really think I had something to with what happened to Alison DiLaurentis. Though for the record, I'm not surprised she ended up that way."

"That's a hell of a thing to say." Cory shot at him.

His gaze fell on her as he said, "It means your friend Alison was a psycho stalker who wouldn't take no for an answer. Maybe someone else had enough of her."

"I don't know…" Cory breathed shaking her head and giving him a look to show she didn't believe him. Nodding Spencer agreed, "Sounds like you're blaming the victim."

"Listen, our relationship could be summed up in two words: get lost." He yelled, seeming unnaturally angered by the situation.

"Right, well it's too bad she's not here to defend herself." Spencer yelled, practically stealing the words from Cory's mouth.

"Yeah, well trust me… she never played that positon. Your friend Alison was always on offense." He said a tone that dismissed the conversation as he turned to head out of the doors towards the barn.

"Can you believe him?" Spencer growled.

"That he's a homicidal creep, yeah. I buy that totally… but what are you trying to do?" she asked, turning to face her friend.

"What?" Spencer questioned.

Rolling her eyes Cory pointed out, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. We're 100% sure that he's responsible for what happened to Ali, and you're acting like that towards him?"

"What are you saying? I should just hide up in my room?"

"No, but I'm saying you shouldn't provoke him… we know what he's capable of."

"Why does he think you hung around Ali's brother?" Spencer turned the line of questioning around on her and Cory quickly rolled her eyes, "I don't know… we need to get dressed for school though."

"Cory?" Spencer pushed, knowing she wasn't getting the entire story.

"What?" Her friend exclaimed but didn't give her a chance to ask anymore Jason related questions as she said, "I need to go get dressed for school."

As the friends walked up the stairs, Cory frowned at herself and how after everything she was still lying to her friends. She wasn't even sure why she kept doing it, Alison always told her that you're better off with a really good lie. And once Alison found out that Cory had been hooking up with her older brother, she made her feel like it was something she should keep a secret from everyone, and so she had.

Even now that she had no reason to keep lying about it, she still felt like she couldn't tell anyone.

~()~

"Hey Cory!" Mona greeted with a wide smile as she stopped next to her locker.

"Oh, uh… hey?" She greeted back, unsure of why the teenager was talking to her.

"I just wanted to be the first one to congratulate you." She beamed smiling.

"What?"

"On getting the part in the play!" Mona said, like Cory should have already known what she was talking about.

"I didn't even audition." She laughed thinking it was some sort of mix-up or that Mona was confused.

"Of course you did, I saw you there." Mona reminded her.

"Yeah, I was there and I did go out in front of Mr. Fitz… but I was just helping Hanna audition. I never even signed up."

"Well you must have really left an impression. Here, look… I made a copy of the cast list to frame since I got my part as well. Hanna even got the part she wanted." Mona continued to speak in a voice so cheery it took everything Cory had to not snap at her.

Pulling the bright orange sheet of paper from the other teenager, Cory read over it as her eyes widened and jaw practically hitting the floor as she saw what Mona was congratulating her for:

Cory Blackwell, cast as - Rhoda Penmark

"Congrats!" Mona said again as she took the paper and said, "I'll make you a copy too if you want-"

But she was cut off as Cory shut her locker and said, "I need to talk to Mr. Fitz."

It was at the end of the day that she finally tracked the English teacher down as he was setting up the room where the cast was supposed to meet for the play after school.

"Mr. Fitz?" Cory questioned as she walked into the room, lightly knocking on the open door as she passed through it.

Looking up from a folder he gave her a friendly smile as he said, "Cory, you're a little early. But everyone else should be showing up soon."

"I actually need to talk to you about the play." She said, eyeing him suspiciously as she crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "Why did you cast me as Rhoda?"

Looking a little surprised and taken aback by what she said his eyebrows furrowed as he questioned, "I'm sorry?"

"I didn't even audition, I was just helping Hanna out. So what are you trying to get at?" She asked, seeming angered.

But Ezra looked more confused than he was in the beginning as he said, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Which honestly I was a little disappointed that you weren't auditioning because you seemed to know the play exceptionally well and you've got quite a stage presence-"

"So you what, just thought you'd give me the lead part and I wouldn't say anything? That I'd just go along quietly?" She pushed, not letting him finished.

"Um, no… if you'd let me speak, I was going to tell you that I was disappointed until I took another look at the audition sheet and saw you'd signed up." He said as he turned to the table he'd set up and moved some papers around until he found what he was looking for and turned back to face her presenting an audition sign up sheet and where she saw her name was written in. The handwriting looked very similar to her own, but it wasn't hers.

Taking the paper from him she looked at it closer and admitted, "I didn't write this in… I never signed up."

"Maybe a friend was trying to help you out?" He guessed smiling to the students who were starting to fill the room. Taking the paper from her, he sighed, "If you really don't want the part, I can take you out of the play… but for everyone's sake, I really hope you'll consider sticking around. You seemed like a natural up on the stage."

Nodding and feeling embarrassed for the way she'd freaked out on him, she quickly muttered an apology and sat down next to where Spencer was on the couch in the room.

"Everything okay?" She asked her.

"You didn't put my name on the audition sheet… did you?" Cory questioned.

"No." spencer answered, as she looked down to the binder in her hands and started to go over her lines.

When her cellphone went off from her pocket, Cory took her phone out and her heart sank as she saw it was a text from a blocked number:

I thought you'd be perfect for the lead role. After all Rhoda drowned her classmate to death and you drowned your little brother. Maybe Rhoda isn't the only bad seed? Casting at its finest. Kisses –A

Silencing her phone she put it back in her pocket and shook her head, she'd considered maybe one of her friends had thought she was good and put her name on the list. But now she knew that wasn't the truth, it had been A this entire time putting her on the audition list for the part of Rhoda.

Of course, A had nothing to do with her actually landing the part, well unless Mr. Fitz was A but that didn't seem likely.

It was starting to feel like she couldn't go a single day without being taunted, and for what? What was the endgame here? Torture her until A took whatever evidence they had to police or make her turn herself in?

None of it made sense.

As Mr. Fitz talked and Aria passed out the practice schedules, Ian showed up in the room. Claiming to be looking for the varsity booster club, but it was pretty obvious he'd taken a wrong turn on purpose with the look he shot in Spencer's direction.

Aria sat down with her friends as the room thinned out with students going to the vending machines for break.

"I can't believe you kissed him." Aria said, as a chill ran down her spine at the thought as Emily joined them in the room.

"We all wanted to kiss him." Spencer quickly reminded them.

"Not all of us." Cory argued and Hanna nodded, "Yeah, not me… never."

"At that frat party, when he was big man on campus. The one Alison got us into… we were all checking him out." Spencer reminded her friends.

"No… I never liked Ian." Cory stated, looking down to her lap and thinking that at the time she probably would have if she hadn't been so interested in Alison's brother, Jason.

"Me either." Hanna tried to lie, but Emily called her bluff as she said, "Yes, you."

~(Flashback)~

Once they'd gotten off the bus and made it to the frat house where the party was being held, Alison stopped them all outside and passed out plastic cards that they all soon found out were fake I.D's, putting them all at over the age of twenty-one.

"You are so bad ass!" Hanna exclaimed as she looked down at to hers.

"Did you make these?" Emily questioned.

"Where did you get this picture of me? I look like my mother…" Hanna realized.

Leaning over Aria laughed as she pointed out, "That is your mother."

"Wait…" Emily said looking around, "Didn't you get Cory one?"

"She's got hers." Alison said with raised eyebrows as they watched her pull a card from her purse.

"Why did you get one first?" Aria asked, but she didn't get to answer the question as Alison said, "Maybe Cor, likes to run with an older crowd, right hun?"

Cory shot her a look from her under her thick, mascara darkened lashes and the blond smiled innocently back at her before turning and showing her id to get into the party –all five of her friends followed suit.

Once they were inside, everyone looked around with deer in the headlights sort of looks. There was loud music with the bass thudding so loud they could feel it in their chests, a pool game was going on and there were even some girls dancing up on the tables. It was the kind of scene they'd thought only existed in the movies.

Seeing how star-truck her friends were, Alison laughed, "You guys can all thank me later."

She turned to walk away but Aria quickly stopped her, "Wait… what do we do now?"

"Act your new age." She said, ignoring the look Cory kept giving her after her comment outside.

Hearing someone talking they looked over to see Ian Thomas making his way through the crowd.

"Spence, isn't that your sisters new boyfriend?" Aria asked.

"He's cute!" Hanna exclaimed then eyed the guy next to him as she added, "So is his friend…"

"Easy, he's a little old for you." Emily cautioned, still feeling like going to the party was a bad idea. She'd rather have just had them sleep over and watch movies with endless tubs of popcorn.

"Not tonight, I'm twenty-six." She argued, showing off her ID again.

"Put that away!" Alison quickly snapped, not wanting them to get caught.

"Yeah, and take a math class… you're twenty-one." Spencer nodded.

"Twenty-whatever, it doesn't matter… I still say they're pretty cute." She said, continuing to practically jump from excitement.

"Yeah, but you're really-" Emily started to argue again, but this time Alison cut her off.

"Lighten up, Em." Then turning to Cory she questioned, "What do you think?"

"I don't know." She stuttered out.

"Of course you do… Melissa's boyfriend is the same age as my brother, everyone here is probably Jason's age. Do you think that makes any of the guys too old?" Alison taunted, dangling her friend's secret right out in front of their entire group.

"What?" Emily yelled, covering her ear closest to the speakers with her hand to try and hear them.

Cory's jaw tensed in anger, but she knew she couldn't really say anything back. If she made the wrong comment, Alison could easily out her secret that she'd been getting really cozy with Jason lately.

Normally someone wouldn't be happy about their brother hooking up with one of their friends, Alison however seemed almost thrilled when she found out. Probably only because it gave something to hold over Cory.

Hearing giggling they looked over to see Ian leading an obviously drunk girl up the stairs of the frat house.

"Looks like Mr. Melissa is giving Miss Rum and Coke a special tour." Alison said.

"Maybe he's just taking her to the bathroom?" Hanna offered when she saw the look on Spencer's face.

"Or finding an empty room so she can lie down." Emily agreed, always wanting to see the best in people.

"Yeah on top of her." Alison said, causing Cory to laugh. But when she saw no one else was laughing she asked, "What?"

They continued to look between her and Cory, with a laugh at all of her friend's expense the brunette said, "You guys just think so innocently…"

"Right!" Alison exclaimed laughing louder so the attention would all fall on her, "They're honestly too adorable sometimes."

Hanna, Spencer, Emily and Aria all shifted and looked around uncomfortably as Cory and Alison talked about them as if they weren't just right in front of them. That was something that happened quite often, they made the rest of the group feel like they weren't on the same maturity level as them.

Sighing at them Alison rolled her eyes, "Look, I don't know about you vestal virgins, but I'm here to make some memories. Let's divide and conquer… meet back here at midnight."

"Wait!" Emily called after here, "We don't even know what to do… you can't just leave us."

"Don't worry, Em. Just stick with Cory, it's not exactly her first rodeo." Alison teased.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aria asked, when she saw Cory starting to stare down at the floor and avoid their eyes.

"I've never been to a frat party." Cory admitted as she looked around, feeling out of place.

"No, but this isn't your first party… is it?" Alison asked, stepping closer to her. "I mean there may not be hard liquor on the tap and smoke so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife…"

"That sounds like a party your brother would throw." Spencer cut in, as she looked back towards the satirs wanting to see if Ian resurfaced.

Laughing Alison nodded.

"Yeah, like Cory would ever be a party like that." Aria rolled her eyes at the idea.

"You never know… our little, Cory could just be full of surprises."

"Ali…" Cory warned shooting her a look.

Smiling in response Alison looked at her and said, "Take care of them… we'll meet back up at midnight."

With that she disappeared into the crowd and left Cory to deal with the barrage of questions her friends had for her.

"What has been going on between you and Ali lately?" Hanna questioned as soon as the other blonde was out of sight.

"Nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing…"

"Hanna, just back off, okay?" She unintentionally snapped at her and immediately felt bad when Hanna's smile fell and she looked around, crossing her arms over herself like she wanted to disappear from the room.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, but it didn't seem to do much to lift her friend's spirits.

"What now?" Aria questioned.

"I'm getting a drink." Cory groaned as she walked away, leaving the rest of the group shocked at her behavior as Spencer called after her, but she didn't turn back around.

~(End of Flashback)~

"You should have told Melissa about Ian that night." Emily said, as she thought back to the night they'd snuck into the party too.

"Like what… I crashed your boyfriend's frat party? I would have been so dead." Spencer argued.

"Like your sister isn't now?" Aria breathed, before standing up to go back where her seat was.

"And knocked up with his bad seed." Hanna said as she looked down to the script and thought of how the name was fitting.

Cory sat in silence as Mr. Fitz fired off questions to the cast, trying to make sure they understood their characters and what the idea behind the story was.

"Let's stop here, these are all good thoughts but we'll pick up where we left tomorrow." Mr. Fitz said to them and Cory nodded closing her bound script and sighing. She wasn't sure she even wanted to stay in the play, she did love acting and being on stage but knowing the only reason she was there was so A could torment her, made the idea of being the lead in a performance less appealing by the second.

Gathering his books to leave he continued, "Study your lines… put away the props. I'll see you then."

After some more internal debating, Cory stood up and started to follow her teacher to tell him she was sorry but really didn't' think she'd be able to perform in the play after all. But before she could get out of the room, Spencer called out for them all to come look at something.

Once they were all over to her, she showed them a trophy with Ian's name on it that she'd found in the prop trunk.

"Why would that be in here?" Cory asked, then gasped when Spencer turned the trophy and you could Cleary see blood on the marble base.

"Is that…blood?" Emily gasped.

"Em, where did you get this?" Spencer questioned, knowing Emily was one of the students who'd gather props for the play.

"I didn't!" she argued, "I've never seen it before."

Swallowing hard and feeling her stomach starting to sour Cory choked out, "Do you guys think that's what he used to kill Ali?"

"Don't you?" Spencer whisper-yelled at her.

"Wait, just slow down." Aria came through as the voice of reason while everyone else was starting to panic, "We don't know if that's Alison's blood… we don't even know if that is blood."

Hanna countered with a very valid argument, "Yeah, but we don't know that it's not."

Slamming the lid of the prop trunk closed Aria said, "This is insane… why would he hide that in here for everyone to see?"

"Because it's a bold move and no one would ever look for it here. Why did the bad seed hide the medal in the box on top of her desk?" Spencer argued.

Raising her head and playing the question over, Hanna turned to Cory and asked, "Why would you hide the medal on the top of your desk?"

"I didn't." She sighed, rubbing her fore head, "Hanna, I'm not the bad seed."

"You're Rhoda." She argued back.

"Oh my god!" Cory exclaimed dropping her arms to the side in defeat as she shook her head and Hanna shrugged like she didn't understand.

"We saw the video, Ian didn't' have a trophy in his hands." Aria continued to fight and prove her point.

"We didn't see what was on the ground." Emily pointed out, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of them coming across the murder weapon.

"What is the trophy for?" Cory questioned.

Opening the lid to the trunk, Spencer said, "Oh my god… this is from when they were together at Hilton Head!"

Arai nodded, biting down on the inside of her cheek. The evidence was really stacking up that it was the weapon Ian could have used to hit Ali over the head with.

"Think about it guys…" Cory sighed, thinking back to something Alison had told her on several occasions, "The bolder the move, the less anyone questions it."

"Wow…" Hanna breathed, "Sometimes you sound so much Ali, it's scary."

Cory shrugged and Spencer spoke up, "We need to go to the police station now and turn this in… we can't run the risk of losing evidence again."

Her friends nodded but left it up to Spencer to actually pick up the trunk and carry it out to the cars. None of them sure what they wanted to happen. If the blood was Alison's than Ian could easily go down for her murder, his name was literally carved in stone on the weapon. But if it wasn't than it would look bad on them.

A/N - Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you all liked the chapter.

I owe an extra special thank you to xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, SmellYourScentForMiles, xxxRena, BloomingBlueMoon85, RHatch89, Emmettluver2010, Lucy Greenhill, guest, Holly, Maze, DancingDorisDay, Nicole, Englishbiotch99, Heartless-Princess33, missEMbear, guest and Momsen-xxxx for reviewing chapter 1! I'm so excited to share the rest of Cory's story with you all. ^_^