Whispers in the Dark
- Chapter Six – For Whom the Bell Tolls
Cory continued to stare at her friends as they all stared back at her after seeing video footage of her in the backseat of a car with Jason. This certainly wasn't how she'd planned for them to find out.
"How did that… did you guys, even happen?" Spencer was the first to be able to pick her jaw up from the floor and form words as her others helplessly nodded along with her question.
"I really liked him." Cory explained, with a shrug.
"Yeah, that was pretty clear with what we saw on the-" Hanna started to say, until Aria quickly cut her off, "Not helping, Hanna."
"I'm sorry… I just, I don't get it…"
"There's not much to get." Cory breathed, shrugging again, "I think I'd always kind of had a crush on him and one day we just sort of got to talking and he was so different than anyone else I'd met."
"Yeah, because he was a freak –he's always been a freak." Emily pointed out.
"No, he's not. That's just what other people said… people that didn't know him." She quickly defended, "I just…. I thought he was the coolest person I'd ever met. He had all these theories about how in a town like Rosewood there's not really room for mistakes cause people talk and that our parents groom us to be afraid of screwing up at an early age and just… he was the single most non-judgmental person I'd met."
Aria looked down and smiled softy as she saw her friend's lips starting to curve up into a smile, it was clear to her that Cory still harbored these feelings for Jason.
"So he what… gave you his stoner theories and you completely drank the kool-aid?" Spencer guessed, still looking at her like she was out of her mind.
"She drank his kool-aid." Hanna chimed in, causing Cory to roll her eyes as Aria complained, "Ew, gross, Han. Seriously… gross."
"What?" she asked, playing innocent.
"Oh my god…" Emily realized her eyes widening, "I never understood why you started binge drinking and getting high… now it makes perfect sense, that's all Jason ever did."
"It's not like that-" Cory started to say but Spencer cut her off as she agreed with Emily, "How did we not see that?"
"Maybe if you guys would give her a chance to explain…" Aria breathed looking around the group.
"Yeah, okay… I didn't really start that stuff until after I was seeing Jason and spending a lot of time with him, but it's not his fault. And honestly, once my brother died and then Ali went missing, I was just doing a lot of self-medicating, I guess." Cory tried to explain, but she got the feeling none of her friends truly understood where she was coming from. They looked at her like her life couldn't have possibly been bad enough that she needed that stuff to get her through the day.
But they didn't know she was the reason her brother had died, she felt like they couldn't begin to understand the guilt she still carried with her.
"Wait…" Hanna breathed, jutting a finger in Aria's direction a she breathed, "How come you don't seem shocked about this?"
"I found out earlier today." She admitted, and everyone's attention turned back to Cory who sighed and rubbed her forehead as she said, "I was going to tell the rest of you… I just needed a little time, but now everyone knows. So can we focus on the important thing here? Like the rest of these videos and figuring out if this is why Ian wanted Ali dead?"
It was clear her friends still had more questions; questions that she'd no doubt be bombarded with later but for now it got the heat off of her. They all knew she was right, there were more important things happening than the latest shocking revelations of Cory's love life.
They sped through all of the videos containing themselves and most of the others until they saw Jenna on a video, talking to Toby. Where she threatened to tell their parents that he'd forced himself on her if he didn't continue the affair they had going on. But he wanted to stop, he knew it was wrong.
"Shut it off." Spencer demanded and Cory quickly shut the laptop earning a hard stare from Emily who didn't have the money for a new computer if they broke hers.
"Do you realize what these videos are?" Emily questioned.
"They're of us, Ali, Jenna… we're young girls in our bedrooms, changing clothes… we're naked." Aria pointed out, another unnatural chill running down her spin at the thought.
"Exposed." Spencer added in, even with the blinds and curtains drawn in Emily's bedroom, they all still felt violated and exposed from the videos.
"Do you think Ian was watching this and getting off on it?" Hanna asked what everyone else was afraid to even think of.
"We all know he has a thing for young girls." Spencer nodded.
"I feel sick." Emily whispered and Cory nodded as she kept her hands over her own stomach, feeling like she could lose her dinner at any second.
"You guys… in some of these. We were just kids… Ian's been watching us for years." Hanna said.
Nodding Spencer asserted, "And he killed Alison to make sure nobody found out."
"I wish she would have told us about these videos." Cory breathed, and Emily agreed, "Yeah, we could have helped her or done… something."
"Guys, it's not too late to help her." Spencer said as she pulled the flashdrive from the computer and continued, "We can use this to prove that Ian killed Alison."
"How? How do we even begin to do that?" Emily questioned.
"We start by finding out what Jenna knows." Spencer realized out loud, not liking the idea even though it was her own.
"Are you on something?" Aria blurted out, then glanced at Cory from the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, Jenna's at the top of our A-list." Hanna argued, wondering the same thing Aria had asked.
"Look, I get it, okay. But she knows that these videos existed. She was looking for them, that's why she hired Caleb to find that key." Spencer said as she stood from the bed and started to pace the floor in front of them, at the foot of the bed.
"Spence, no. How are we ever supposed to believe anything that bitch says?" Hanna asked.
"No, she's got a point." Cory argued, also standing up from the side of the bed, "This video makes things look, really, really bad for Jenna. We can use it against her… we've been terrified of her since the Jenna thing and now we have something she finally wants."
"And Ali's the one who gave it to us." Spencer nodded, smiling at Cory who returned the smile and hoped their plan would actually work out for once.
~(At school)~
"There's Jenna." Emily whispered as she paused by where Hanna and Cory were standing at their lockers.
They looked across the hallway and nodded to Aria and Spencer, as Cory said, "It's go time."
The group of five followed her into the music room where she heard several sets of approaching footsteps and asked, "Who's' there?"
"It's Spencer."
"Who else?" Jenna demanded to know, turning and holding onto the handle of her walking stick.
"Cory."
"And?"
Sighing Spencer admitted, "Aria, Emily and … Hanna."
"Should I call security?" Jenna snapped, remembering her last encounter in the bathroom where Hanna had slapped her.
Cory looked over and saw the expression on her blonde friend's face and she knew Jenna deserved that slap and a lot more for what she'd done.
"Bitch, you couldn't move fast enough." Cory angrily said to her and Hanna held back a laugh as she looked over at her.
Before Jenna could argue with them, Emily got right down to business and admitted, "We have what you sent Caleb looking for. You didn't think it was wrong, but Toby did."
"So you've seen it?"
"Every frame." Spencer coldly responded.
"What do you want from me?"
"The truth, can you handle that?" Hanna finally found her voice.
Sighing and knowing she'd been defeated, Jenna admitted, "Look, when I said Alison came to see me at the hospital –I was telling the truth. But the part about her coming to talk about Spencer; that was a lie."
"We're just supposed to believe you?" Cory asked.
"Yeah, how do we know you're not lying now?" Aria backed her friend.
"You all knew Alison, okay? You knew what she was capable of… it was the day before she went missing and she was on her way home for Georgia. She had just found the video and she couldn't wait to play it for me…" Jenna said as she went on to explain how Alison made a deal that if she didn't say it was the girls who were responsible for the accident, that if she kept their secret –Alison would keep the video under lock and key.
"She was on her way home from Georgia?" Spencer questioned.
"That's what she said." Jenna shrugged, "then she made some joke about her tan and how it was too bad I couldn't see it."
"Did she tell you anything else… anything at all?" Cory asked, trying to read her body language and decipher if she was telling the truth.
"It was a short visit." Jenna admitted, then her voice cracked slightly as she continued, "Look, I've given you what you asked for –what are you going to give me?"
Stepping forward, Cory folded her arms over her chest as she smirked and said, "Come on, Jenna… we're not unreasonable. Same rules apply. You keep our secret and we'll keep yours."
Jenna scoffed, turning her head to face her as if she could see her, "You sound just like Alison…"
Spencer looked at Cory and thought to herself Jenna was right about one thing; Cory did sound a lot like Allison. Clearing her throat, Spencer clarified, "We'll keep it somewhere safe."
When the room fell silent she nodded, accepting what they said because she had no other choice. But as she started to leave the room she turned and reminded them, "We've all made mistakes. Remember… I'm still paying for yours."
Once she was gone and the door shut behind her, they started talking debating whether Jenna had made the story up or not. But it seemed legit. Alison used the video as insurance the day she got it, which could only mean that she'd really been with Ian that weekend at Hilton Head.
"Don't you guys remember how happy Ali was when she got home from that trip?" Cory reminded them, believing Jenna's version of the story.
"Yeah." Spencer nodded, "She was so happy… I think, because for her, the Jenna thing was over."
Hanna scoffed, "Nice of her to share the safety net with us."
"Wait for it girls… wait for it."
Everyone looked at Emily confused and Spencer gruffly asked, "Wait for what?"
"That's what Ali said when we met her at the taxi, maybe this is what we were waiting for?" Emily guessed.
~(At lunch)~
Spencer and Cory met up with their friends at lunch after skipping their class before lunch to run to the store.
"We got it." Spencer said as she and Cory sat down at the lunch table with everyone else.
"You're sure Ian can't trace this number back to us?" Aria nervously asked, causing Emily to shoot her a look when she started to annoyingly tap her foot against the floor.
"It's a prepaid phone, I used cash and the number isn't registered…" Spencer started to say before Cory cut her off and pointed out, "Actually, I used cash."
Spencer sighed, "Yeah, because no one carries cash on them nowadays; except for you apparently."
Cory rolled her eyes and laughed, as Hanna proceeded to ask them how they even know about using prepaid cellphones so they couldn't be tracked.
Spencer continued to open the phone packaging and everyone looked over when they heard Ian laughing as he talked to some students across the cafeteria.
"He acts like he doesn't have a care in the world…" Emily sighed, dropping her spoon to her plate.
"It's because he thinks he got away with it." Cory reasoned, her eyebrows knotted in anger as she stared at him across the cafeteria.
"Well, he didn't." Aria asserted, trying to have complete faith in their plan.
Taking a deep breath Spencer reminded them, "We convince Ian that this isn't anything but money. Hopefully that will throw him off of us."
"Agreed." Cory said as she held out her hand for the phone and Spencer handed it to her.
"Remember, we tell him we've got his home movies and we want money. Then when he shows up for the swap…" Spencer continued to remind them, but Hanna cut in as she smiled and held up her own phone, "We make our own movie…"
"Then we'll take that, the flash drive, and the prepaid phone into police." Spencer nodded in agreement,.
"Pretty much the second he responds to that text he's guilty." Aria pointed out, looking to Cory who held the phone in her hands.
"What should I say?" She asked with slightly shaky thumbs.
"Something simple, straight to the point." Emily shrugged and everyone agreed with her.
Sliding the screen up to reveal the keypad of the phone, Spencer gave her Ian's number and Cory entered it then typed as she spoke out loud, "I have Ali's video."
Within seconds, they saw Ian looking down to his phone before appearing to grow nervous as he excused himself from the group and disappeared from sight.
Everyone slouched down in their seats some, feeling let down by their plan. If he didn't respond, they couldn't set up the fake swap.
There was a text alert and everyone jumped, but Hanna sighed as she checked her phone and explained it was just her mom making sure she'd stayed out of bed.
Seconds later the phone went off in Cory's hand and she looked down, smiling as she breathed, "Got him."
"He wants to know what we want." She relayed the message.
"Money." Aria reminded her.
"Yeah, but how much?" Cory sighed, "Too much and he can't come up with it… not enough and it doesn't seem legit."
"Ten thousand?" Hanna asked, and Spencer agreed, "Yeah, that's perfect."
Looking down to the phone, Cory typed out: Bring $10,000 to Willow Park. 9pm. Come alone
Taking in a deep breath she looked up to her friends for reassurance, which they all gave her and she hit the send button.
But before they could get a response Mona walked over and loudly asked, "Is this the lets love on Hanna lunch committee?" Before turning her attention to her best friend and questioning, "Feeling better, sweetie?"
"Sorry guys… I just realized I need to… do something." Cory blurted out, wanting away from Mona incase they heard back from Ian. They couldn't very well start openly talking about it in front of her.
Tucking the prepaid phone in her pocket, she practically jumped up from the table.
~(Later that night)~
"Hey Spence, I was dropping by to see if you wanted a ride to where-" Cory started to explained before her friend breezed past her out the door of her house and said, "I'm gonna be a little late to that, I need to pick Melissa up… Ian never showed up at the church."
"I'll come with you, once you get her home we can meet up with everyone else?" Cory offered, as she got into the car with Spencer and sent their friends a text letting them know they were going to be running late.
Once they got to the church they found a very worried Melissa pacing back and forth out front in the cool night air. Cory got out and moved into the middle row of seats to let her sit in the front and Melissa got into the car, immediately bringing up how worried she was that Ian never showed up.
"I talked to him this afternoon; he was taking care of the contractor then heading straight to the church." She said, getting agitated and shivering from how long she'd been outside.
"Something is wrong, I can feel it!" She continued, frantically searching her through purse for her phone with no avail. Then she groaned, realizing she'd left it at the church.
"Melissa, you have to relax. Please, this cannot be good for the baby." Spencer cautioned.
"Spoken like a sister who actually cares…" Melissa responded, her teeth chattering as spencer argued that she did care.
Cory looked around until she found a blanket folded up behind her seat and said, "Here Melissa, you must be freezing…"
"Thanks." Melissa quickly said as she leaned forward in the seat some and Cory awkwardly looked down to the blanket in her hands before she unfastened her seat belt and leaned forward, draping the blanket around her best friend's sister, who hugged the soft fabric to herself.
"Do you want me to go back to the church?" Spencer asked as Cory sat back in her seat, and was getting ready to put her seatbelt back on.
"Yes." Melissa agreed, hopping the next time she tried to call Ian, he'd answer the phone.
Cory thought about texting or calling to let her friends know they'd be a little later than they thought, but never got the chance when a car came out of nowhere and hit them on the passenger side.
There was a deafening loud honk from the other car and blinding headlights as it happened both in slow motion and with lightening fast speed.
Cory pinned her eyes shut and tried to prepare herself for what was happening, but there was no way to prepare for that. They were hit with such force it pushed them off the side of the road, and caved in her door so far it hit painfully hard into her ribs, for a few white hot seconds of pain the world was silent before the sound of screeching tires and busting glass not only filled her ears but rained down into her lap.
The next sound she heard was Spencer screaming, "Melissa?"
"Is she okay?" Cory asked, as she tried to move, but a severe pain radiated down the entire right side of her body and she couldn't catch her breath.
"I… I don't know." Spencer admitted, as her sister lay passed out in the seat beside her.
Cory looked around, her head still pounding as the night air was thickly laced with the sound of the car horn from the car that hit them. Knowing her door wouldn't work, she crawled across the middle seat and out of the other side.
"Oh my god…" Spencer breathed as she exited the car at the same time and saw Cory leaning against the open door for support. Her face and arms were cut up from the broken glass and her eyes seemed to not entirely be focusing, not to mention she remained slightly hunched over as she held onto her right side ribs.
"I'm fine." She assured her, truing to ignore that every breath felt like someone was hitting her in the chest with a sledge hammer.
The friends walked around the passenger side of the car where Melissa was just starting to come too, they got her door open and tried to keep her calm as they waited for paramedics to arrive. Once they got there, Cory staggered over to the ambulance and started to tell them about Melissa but one look at her and they wanted to get her to hospital.
"No, you don't understand… I'm fine but she's pregnant." Cory finally yelled loud enough over their talking, that she got them to listen before she made her way back over to the car and assured her best friend's sister that they were going to get her out of there.
She stood back with Spencer as they carefully got Melissa out of the car and onto a gurney, both teenagers refusing any sort of medical treatment until they'd gotten her loaded into the ambulance.
The next several minutes passed in a painful blur, as they ushered both girls into the back of the ambulance and sped towards the hospital.
Once inside some nurse Cory didn't know practically pushed her into a wheelchair and whisked her straight into an ER room.
There was a nurse, a tech and a doctor all firing questions at her left and right but she was still in a daze. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the blinding yellow headlights and the metal crunching noises were all she could hear.
She couldn't really focus on anything until she heard a familiar voice.
"Cory?"
Looking up she saw her dad, dressed in his white doctors coat as he stood next to her bed and looked her over.
"What happened? I heard there was some sort of car accident, are you okay?"
She looked around, for the first time noticing the other hospital staff was no longer in the room. It was just them.
"I'm fine." She lied, still in agonizing pain on her right side.
"You don't look fine… but I'm glad you're okay." He said as she stepped closer to the bed and wrapped her in a tight hug before he angrily asked, "Who was driving the car?"
"It's not important… it wasn't her fault, the other car came out of nowhere." She said, her voice muffled against his shirt as she clutched onto him, thankful he was there.
Hearing the door open, she looked up to see the nurse from earlier walk in with a little bucket in her hand as she offered a friendly smile.
"What's happening?" Cory asked, pulling away from her dad's hug and staring at the nurse.
"It's okay, honey… they just want to draw some blood and get you started on some I.V. fluids while we wait for them to run more tests, make sure there's no internal damage." He assured her, rubbing a comforting hand up and down her back.
"Why do I need an I.V?" She asked, her eyes wide.
"It's just going to help... your coloring is sort of off and you're shaking really bad… you might be in some shock and this will just help you stay alert so we can figure out what's going on." He assured her.
He remained in the room while they drew several vials of blood and then started a port for the IV on the inside of her forearm and started her on some fluids.
"How's Melissa and Spencer?" She hurriedly asked her dad once the nurse was gone.
"Was it one of them who was driving?" He returned to his earlier line of questioning.
"Dad…" She groaned.
"You don't need to worry about them, just lay back and try to relax. They'll be coming to get you for x-rays in just a few minutes." He assured her, knowing as much as he wanted to stand there and take care of her –he had a job he needed to do, and patients that were waiting on him.
"Why? I'm fine." She restated but he shook his head, showing he didn't believe her as he pointed out, "Even if I wasn't a doctor… I'd notice how much you're favoring your right side. Hopefully it's just some bruising and nothing too series, but on the chance that something is broken we need to know –it could be fatal if it pierced your heart or lungs."
She nodded, but nervously looked around, she hated hospitals with a passion and this was the last place she wanted to be. It felt like her skin was crawling just sitting in the ER exam room.
A phone beeped from his pocket and Austin sighed as he said, "I need to get back to work, but just lay back and take some deep breaths. I'll come check on you every chance I get." He assured her before kissing her on the top of the head and leaving her alone in the room.
A few minutes passed and she looked around the room, before blowing out a heavy breath and looking down to her arm as she got to work peeling off the tape they'd secured the IV port to her arm with. Once it was gone she pulled it from her arm and let it fall to the floor, watching as a trail of blood ran down her arm until she applied pressure to the small open spot and located a Band-Aid in one of the drawers, quickly sneaking into the staff only bathroom behind the nurses desk she washed and dried the blood from her arm and put the Band-Aid on.
She looked in the mirror, frowning at her appearance and wanting to pull her hair up in a ponytail off her neck, but was pretty sure she couldn't get her right arm up that high without causing herself excruciating pain, so she left it down in disheveled waves with shiny pieces of glass still littering her brunette locks.
Pulling her jacket back on she'd grabbed from her ER room she found Spencer heading down a hallway towards the exit.
"Hey, how's Melissa?" She asked.
"She's stable… but they're not sure about the baby yet." Spencer admitted as she turned to face her and looking shocked that her friend didn't look any better.
"Are we going to meet up with the others?" Cory questioned.
"No, I'm going to the church to find Melissa's phone and maybe Ian if he's there, Melissa isn't going to calm down until he's here.… I think you should stay here."
"I'm not staying here, I'm fine. They just released me." Cory lied, but could tell Spencer wasn't buying the story.
"I'm not staying here." She restated.
"Okay…" Spencer breathed, looking her over again before she continued her walk towards the door, this time a slower rate so her injured friend could keep up.
It took much longer than usual for the walk since Cory was seeming to have trouble standing upright. Even though the church was only a few blocks away, it felt like it took hours to get there and along the way Spencer called to fill the others in on what happened.
After hanging up the phone Spencer looked over at her friend with a pained look as she said, "I'm so sorry, that car just came out of nowhere and-"
"Spence, it's okay. I don't blame you." Cory assured her as they came to a stop just outside of the church building.
"It's just… you're more banged up than me or even Melissa and you got yourself out of the car and got the EMTs to take care of my sister first… you're just being so strong and I don't even know what to do." She admitted, her voice cracking as she faced her in the dim streetlight glow.
"For once Spencer Hastings doesn't know what to do?" She tried to joke, but the humor was lost to the somber mood and guilt Spencer was feeling.
"I'm not that strong, Spence. Right now I just… I don't know, since that car hit us I just feel like I'm going through the motions. If I seem like I'm holding things together right now, it's probably because I have no idea how to handle anything." Cory whispered as she stepped closer and gave her friend a one armed hug with her left side, careful not to jar her right side too much.
"Let's just get Melissa's phone and get back to the hospital." Spencer said, hugging her back before they walked into the church together.
"Why are all of the lights on?" Cory whispered once they stepped inside.
"Hello? Reverend Acker?" Spencer called out but they didn't get a response. Cory started at the back corner of the main room in the church and Spencer started at the front of the pews looking for Melissa's phone.
Cory was knelt down on the floor and not sure how she was going to get up when she heard Spencer gasp, raising her head and looking between the isles she saw Ian was there, as he asked, "Lose something?"
"Melissa left her phone here. We've been trying to call you." Spencer calmly said.
"You know I got the strangest text message today…" He said.
Swallowing hard Cory gritted her teeth and managed to silently stand up, almost blacking out when white hot pain shot through her rib cage. But she held her breath and slowly started to creep up behind Ian, as he continued, "The number was blocked, but I could reply to it."
Seconds later the phone went off in her pocket and he stepped to the side to keep an eye on the both of them.
Looking Cory over he chuckled, "Asking for money… that was clever."
"Ian, look… there's been an accident." Spencer started to fill him in, but he cut her off, "I know, I got the messages, I've just been waiting for you to leave the hospital. Melissa would want me to take care of this."
"What? Like you took care of Ali?" Cory asked, through gritted teeth as she tried to slip her hand into her pocket to dial 911, but he saw her and roughly grabbed her arm stopping her.
"Let go of her. I've got what you want." Spencer called out holding up the flash drive containing the videos.
"You want some popcorn to go with that?" She smirked, before tossing the flash drive to Cory and yelling, "Run!" As she herself ran farther into the church assuming Ian would follow her but he didn't.
Instead he caught Cory right as she was trying to get out of the doors, there was a slight struggle but once he elbowed her in her injured ribs she didn't stand a chance and he easily tore the flash drive away from her, before roughly throwing her against a pew where her body crumpled to the floor and she blacked out.
~()~
"You really scared me there for a second…"
Cory's eyes fluttered back open and she looked up to see someone standing over her, dressed in all black with their face shadowed by a dark hood. But she didn't need to see the person's face, she'd know that voice anywhere.
"Ali?" She stuttered, trying to sit up.
"Shh… it's okay, don't try to get up. I think you're hurt really bad."
Cory watched with wide eyes as the figure lowered the hood and showed their identity; it was Alison. Cory's hazel eyes widened as she stared up at her best friend, her lips moving as she tried to ask one of the million questions fluttering through her mind –but she couldn't form a sound.
"I've missed you, so much. You really were my best friend… out of everyone." Alison admitted as she knelt down beside her and brushed some of her tangled hair from her face.
"Does this mean… I'm dead?" She questioned, staring up at her. It was the only logical explanation for being able to see Alison again, but death was supposed to be peaceful and she was hurting so bad.
With a small laugh Alison cocked her head to the side and said, "Do I look dead to you?"
Cory shook her head no and Alison looked around before saying, "I don't have much time, but I had to see you before I left."
"Wait, where are you going?" She asked frantically, trying to sit up again but her friend stopped her.
"A lot of places." Alison smiled, "But it doesn't matter… whoever said the truth will set you free has never had to deal with A, that's for sure. Telling the truth is what got me in this mess."
"Ali, I don't understand…"
"You're not going to, sweetie… not yet at least. Just know that if things were different, I'd be right here with you… but it's not safe for me. It's not really safe for you either, for any of you." She breathed, a look of pain falling over her face before she stood up and started to walk away.
Turning around and giving her a smile over her shoulder before almost seeming to disappear into the darkness when the church doors opened.
Cory struggled to get to her feet; her forehead lined with the intense confusion she was feeling as she cried, "Ali, wait!" but her friend was already out of the church and Cory felt like she had less answers now than she began with.
She tried to take a step, but weakly tripped over her own feet and fell the ground with a painful thud where she remained until she heard the church doors open again and her friends rushed in.
"Did you see her?" Cory asked them, her eyes wide as she stared up to Aria, Hanna and Emily.
"Stay here." Aria instructed to Emily, before she and Hanna raced into the church farther trying to find Spencer before it was too late.
Emily gently helped her up until she was sitting in one of the pews and asked, "See who?"
"N-no one…" Cory breathed, thinking with the way she'd blacked out earlier, she must have dreamt the vision of her friend up. There was no way Alison was still alive, no possible way.
Moments later Hanna and Aria returned with a very shaken up Spencer, who explained that Ian was trying to kill her and would have succeeded but someone in a black hoodie showed up and threw him from the bell tower just in time.
"What?" Cory gasped, causing everyone to look at her.
"Did you say a black hoodie?" Her mind raced and her heart thudded away inside of her chest as she remembered the vision of Alison she'd had –her friend was wearing a black hoodie.
"Yeah." She nodded, "Did you see them?"
"I… I think I might have seen someone run out." She lied, not wanting to sound crazy and say it was Alison. She wasn't sure how much she trusted her own mind at that point. But on the very slim chance that she hadn't imagined it and somehow Alison was still alive, there had to be a reason she'd stopped to talk to her instead of waiting around for everyone to show up.
After the police got there and lined off the scene, they kept the girls inside of the church while they took down their statements and then finally released them to go. By the time they got outside, it looked like half of the town was gathered on the opposite side of the police tape gawking at them.
They were stopped by a police officer who angrily asked them if this was a joke, because Ian's body was nowhere to be found. They followed him back inside where sure enough, his body was no longer hanging from the ropes.
After giving their stories to the officers again, they were released and they made it back outside of the church.
Emily walked with a still very shaken up Spencer and Cory had Aria and Hanna on either side of her, to help keep her upright and from falling down. As the group of five best friends neared the crowds where they saw their parents, they could hear the townspeople talking about them;
"Those girls knew Alison."
"Are they lying?"
"Why would they lie?"
"Liars!"
Coming to a stop they looked around as their phones went off, Cory could feel hers vibrating in her pocket but didn't even bother reaching for it –she knew her message would be the same as her friends: "It's not over till I say it is. Sleep tight… while you still can, bitches. –A"
"Oh my god…" Hanna breathed as she read the message from her phone and Cory swallowed hard.
Cory tried to take in a deep breath, but it felt like her lungs just wouldn't expand.
"Guys…" She breathed, an airy whine to her voice.
"Cory?" They pretty much asked in unison.
"I lied… I don't… I don't think I'm okay." She admitted, fighting harder to even take in a shallow breath, but it was useless. It felt like all of the oxygen had been forcefully pulled from her world and she was drowning on dry land.
Her eyes fluttered closed, Hanna and Aria gently lowered her to the ground and the last thing she heard before the darkness set in was a chaotic mix of her friend's voices, half of them yelling out her name and the others screaming for someone to call for an ambulance.
A/N- Thanks so much for reading! I know this was a pretty long chapter, but Jason will make an appearance within the next few chapters! ^_~
I owe a very big thank you to Heartless-Princess33, xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, Lucy Greenhill, Momsen-xxxx, SmellYourScentForMiles, xxxRena, DancingDorisDay, EmmettLuver2010, 2 guests, Tina, Emmy and Jenna for being sweet enough to show their support and review chapter 5!
For anyone who didn't already know, the link to my Tumblr is up on my profile. I post a lot of fanfiction related stuff on there. Including chapter sneak peeks for this one and a few of my other stories.