My Life in Rosewood - All Grown Up

by potterjay92

Five years have passed since senior year. There's no more A and no more CeCe Drake. Jessie now being five years older she has tried her best to go back to what she knew as normal. Back to the way things were before her family died in that accident and before the dramas of A or Alison took over her life. But things are never as it seems, and now she is in for another rough ride.

5. Chapter 5

"Pathetic isn't she?"

"Oh absolutely. Always getting herself into trouble."

"Doesn't seem to learn her lesson."

I feel my head rise from my chest from what feels like being asleep, my eyes dimmed out a bit as people are talking. My head is throbbing and I go to press my hand to my forehead, but I can't because my arms won't move. I realize quickly that my wrists are both tied to the arms of a chair, twisting them a bit in fear. Then I feel my ankles tied to the legs of the chair and I panic more.

"Oh God no!" I scream, except it's muffled when I realize there's something stuffed in my mouth and my eyes widen in fear now. The memories flood me from being in the familiar position I'm in when Mona and CeCe took me all those years ago

"Look who's finally awake."

I look towards the voice and my heart sinks, shaking my head desperately and screaming into my gag. Mona, CeCe and Alison are standing in front of me, all of them dressed in the famous A get up from head to toe black attire. All 3 of them are wearing the same black hoodie with black jeans, black sneakers and black gloves. What the hell is happening.

Mona has that same look she gave me the night she took me, insanity, ready to kill. There doesn't seem to be a shed of sympathy in her expression. "Thought this was over, Jessie?"

"It's just the beginning." CeCe adds after with an evil grin, the same voice she had as if proud of herself the night she finally got caught.

"You should have taken my offer to be friends, Jessie. Now you'll learn." Alison says now, her usual smirk on her face as she walks closer. It almost feels like I'm back in high school because of the 3 people who made my life hell.

The other 2 are right behind her. Mona with a box, the same box with the tarantula that scared the hell out of me the night of the masquerade ball, and CeCe with a taser in her hand that she used so much that I lost chunks of my memory from the seizure.

"Ready?" Alison says with a laugh, being the only one with no weapon in hand. The same way she always was when she let people do her dirty work.

"Yes." Both Mona and CeCe say in a monotone and serious looks on their faces before lunging at me.

"NO!" I scream as my eyes shoot open, panic comes through me from the dream and then I feel the sensation of something going up my arms, almost like spiders. This makes me scream again in more fear, patting myself down to get them off when I sit up. Then I see the darkness seep to my vision with a hint of light from the hallway through the cracked door, which allows me to now see there aren't any spiders around and I take another breath. Till this day I still can't sleep without some type of light from all the chaos that Mona put me through, and it only got worse after CeCe.

Once the realization of being in my own room sinks in I wipe my face from the sweat as the door opens. I look towards it when the light to the room goes on and I see that it's Aria through my blurry eyesight. For a second I'm confused because I'm in my room in my apartment but Aria is here, then I remember that she offered to stay with me while visiting Rosewood instead of being with her parents. It's a few days after our talk from the other night and my nightmares seem to have gotten worse since she's been back.

"What happened?" She asks cautiously, slightly panting from the run she made while in the guest room.

I take a breath and shake my head as I grab my glasses off the nightstand and see the fear in her wide eyes when my vision clears up. "Nothing, I'm fine."

Aria takes her own breath and then steps into the room a bit. "You were screaming, Jessie. That's not nothing."

I shake my head, rubbing my eyes a bit. "Just a nightmare."

She doesn't leave however, her head tilting. "Flashbacks?"

I shake my head, "Not this time." I say gently, waving her off now. "Ria. Seriously, I'm fine."

"What do you mean not this time?"

"Aria." I whine slightly, because she's treating me like a kid. "Go back to sleep."

She shakes her head and comes closer, sitting on my bed now she tucks her foot under her leg and watches me gently. "Not until you tell me."

I close my eyes in frustration, seeing the flash of the 3 girls in those hoodies looking back at me before opening them up to look at her. Despite being away from each other for so long and barely talking, she's been making an effort to be there for me when needed. Trying to make up for everything. "I get nightmares a lot, Ria." She of course hasn't had to deal with this part of me in a long time, so she's no longer used to it. "It's nothing new."

"I thought they stopped?"

I half smile, hating how she no longer knows my patterns. "Barely. I have good and bad days just like I always have."

She takes a soft breath, watching me for a few long seconds. "What was this one about?"

I press my lips together, shrugging. "Does it matter?"

She gives a soft smile, rubbing the part of the blanket where my leg is to show me that she's here, "Yes, because we used to share everything with each other. Your experience after Mona especially bonded us more and I should have been doing the same after CeCe."

The guilt in her voice is so obvious that she hates what she did after we graduated that it slightly hurts to hear how bad she feels, so I take a deep breath. "I was kidnapped again by Mona and CeCe, who were working together in that stupid black hoodie." I press my lips together, my eyes shifting to my hands. "Alison was there too, but she was on their side. She ordered them to hurt me."

When I look back at her I see that her face drops slightly when she realizes how crazy my dream is, the way my imagination basically hijacked my brain in this way. "She…what?"

I half laugh at her tone, "It's odd really. Because even though it was just a dream, this is something she would do in real life and not even bat an eye. So I'm not really shocked now that I think about it."

Aria goes quiet for a second before saying, "She…hasn't though, right? She hasn't hurt you since we've been gone?"

I give her a soft smile as I shake my head gently, "No. The opposite actually." I have to laugh now from the efforts Alison has been making for years, "She's trying to get on my good side."

Her face gets slightly confused, "Alison wants to be your friend?" When the girls left they didn't just drift from me, they also were not in much contact with Alison after a while. That's another reason why I think she's grasping so hard on wanting to make amends with me. She has no one else to turn to in this town.

I roll my eyes a bit, leaning back onto my pillow when I adjust it against the headboard. "Unfortunately."

She watches me for a while, seeming to be thinking. "She's desperate I guess."

"Annoying is more like it. She wouldn't even leave me alone when we were in college."

"But you made it clear you didn't want to be her friend." She says matter of factly, because she knows how I think.

I take a breath and nod, "I tried at first to be her friend, Ria. I did it because I felt bad that she had no one else around, but there was too much bad history. She even still had her snarky ways with people, or when she tried to impress others her old self would peek out and I needed to cut her off."

She nods gently, half smiling because she knows what I mean. "I don't blame you. I saw her the other day and it's not as noticeable but she does still have that attitude, and the need to have people on her side. I couldn't take her seriously."

I nod in agreement, "Oh I know." I press my lips together with my eyes on her, because I didn't tell her what happened at the fair with Alison. "Ran into her at the sports fair, she wanted me to give her another chance to be friends and it didn't go that well."

Aria slightly smiles, "You gave her the cold shoulder didn't you?"

I half laugh and nod, "Yeah, and when I shot her down she snapped back into her old self." I click my tongue gently, "Straight to calling me Four Eyes."

Her face drops slowly, the smile no longer there. "Are you kidding me?"

I shake my head, sucking on my lip. "Wouldn't make that up."

"God she's such a bitch."

I smile softly to her outburst, "Welcome back to the world of everything revolving around Alison DiLaurentis."

"I definitely don't miss that."

I give a sad smile, getting quiet for a few long seconds before I say. "I'm glad you got out though. It's not worth being here."

She bites on her lip and reaches out to grab my hand, "You're worth being here, Jessie."

I smile softly, "I do miss you."

"And I miss you."

...

A few more days pass and my brain is overloaded with work. I had shut down the sports store for one day to catch up with Aria, but after that I knew I needed to focus. Once the fair was over Mona went back to Philadelphia for her job and my other high school friends all went back to their new towns. Aria plans to leave tomorrow night and since she's been back she hasn't done much unless it's to come visit me at work, hang out at my place or to go see her parents. She even went to check up on Ezra a few times. He's still not doing too well unfortunately and I know that I have to pass by soon as well, knowing he can go off the deep end with his drinking. I might even have to grab Tobs for an intervention in getting Ezra out of the house.

While I'm in the back of the store checking last minute inventory before getting ready to close up, I hear the door chime from the bell that lets me know when someone walked inside. When I check the time on my watch I see that it's a few minutes to 8, so this will be my last customer and then I'll close up for the night.

"Be right with you!" I yell from the back, setting a couple things into their boxes and then walk out to the small hallway that leads to the front of the building.

I push aside the curtain that divides the hallway and the main part of the store and stop in my tracks behind the counter, my face slacking. It's Alison.

"Hey." she says gently, her hands behind her back as if uncomfortable.

For a second I'm speechless because she hasn't stepped foot into my store since we were in high school. So this is unexpected and doesn't seem like a good sign. "What the hell are you doing here?" I say once I get over the shock.

"I wanted to talk." she says slowly, as if being cautious after the other day of seeing her.

I shake my head and walk out from behind the counter, "I rather not." I head over towards the door to change the sign.

"Jessie, please?"

I switch the sign and pull down the blinds so that people get the hint to not come inside, "We already talked. You resulted in name calling and dismissing my reasons." I don't raise my voice or make a scene, now looking at her and putting my hand out to indicate to come to the door. "I'm closed. Please leave."

Her hands go to her sides as she gives a soft sigh, "I just need ten minutes." she doesn't move from her spot, being stubborn as always.

I grind my teeth a bit, "We have nothing to talk about, Alison. We're not friends."

"No.." she shakes her head slowly, "Not about that."

I give a confused look, locking the door behind me now before focusing my attention back to her. "Then what?"

"I have a favor to ask."

I roll my eyes, figures. "You're trying to give me a migraine aren't you."

She gives me a slight smile, but she looks really worried which is alarming coming from someone like her. "Jessie…"

I take a breath and walk closer, "Fine. What is it?"

She presses her lips together, staring at me with caution when I get in front of her. "I'm trying to get myself a court date to talk to a judge."

I watch her for a while in fear, because there's been rumors that she keeps trying to get someone to help get her sister out. So half afraid of the worst I ask her cautiously, "For what?"

She hesitates for a second, which makes me know I will not like the answer. "To help me get Charlotte out of that hospital and I need your help."

My mouth slowly drops, staring at her like she has 2 heads because she didn't just say that to me. Charlotte, or CeCe for short, got sent to an institution when she got arrested but her being Alison's sister this has always made her have a soft spot for CeCe despite the horrible stuff she did to all of us in high school. Alison has always given her the benefit of the doubt because her parents didn't treat CeCe well as a kid and shipped her off to the kids ward for being a boy at the time who liked to dress up as a girl, and apparently being close to hurting Alison as a baby. Their dad thought this was insane and didn't want to deal with it, which led to Alison never knowing about her because she was too young at the time to remember and her parents hid everything. So now Alison feels the guilt that her parents allowed this to happen and took responsibility for her when she got caught as A.

"You…did not just say that."

"Jessie, she's changed. She's not the same person from five years ago. I want her to come home with me."

I half laugh now and shake my head repeatedly. My laugh is more in a manic way, because I feel like I'm going crazy. "Are you out of your damn mind?"

She licks her lips and then bites down on the bottom one, as if trying to think of how to explain. "Look. I know what she did, I'm not excusing it, but she's my sister."

"Alison, I don't care who she is to you. She almost killed me." I raise my voice slightly as I point to myself to emphasize, "She took the girls hostage, they could have died. We both saw the aftermath and how dangerous she is."

She doesn't answer right away, watching me for a second. "I know that."

"And yet you still want her out?"

"Why is it so hard to believe that she's different?"

"Because she had a whole bunker dedicated to keeping you and the others as her pets. She planned to kill Mona once she got you to complete her set." I shake my head, "That's very detailed and calculated."

She seems to get slightly upset as she crosses her arms, "Mona was detailed and calculated too. Yet you're all buddy buddy with her."

I press my lips together to try and not get upset, because I knew she'd bring her up again. "Mona was less vicious than CeCe was."

"Are you really that stupid to believe Mona is any different than my sister? She tried to kill you too!"

I glare at her, a hint of anger behind my stare. "Did you just call me a name again? Are you really going down that path?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but you're not being fair."

"Fair?" I stare at her in disbelief for a second, "Did you really just say that to someone who was relentlessly picked on for no reason? Mainly by you." I see she's about to reply but I cut her off, "To the one person who's childhood had been nothing but one tragedy after the other since my entire family died?" I keep my stern glare on her, "How's that for fair?"

Her face slightly drops, then shifts her gaze for a second. "I didn't mean it like that, Jessie." She stares back at me with some worry because she lost her mom back in high school and understands that pain, which I of course know where she's coming from but it doesn't mean I relate to her. "All I want is help. For you and the girls to have my back and tell the judge that you forgive her and are no longer scared."

My face drops to her words, staring at her for so long that it feels like time slowed down. "You got some guts asking me that."

"I just…"

I shake my head, now pointing to the door with a little more force and annoyance. "Get out."

"Jessie…"

"Alison, so help me if another stupid thing comes out of your mouth." The build up of anger is about to outweigh my common sense to be an adult and not hit her. "Because Mona and Annabeth aren't here to hold me back this time."

She seems to know where I'm coming from now as she takes a breath and starts to walk to the door, then unlocks and opens it. Before she leaves she turns to me, "I am sorry you went through all this, but I just want my sister to have a better life." Then she leaves and closes the door before I can retaliate to what she said.

I angrily go to the door and lock it behind her, my fists clenched so hard that I'm digging into my skin. That's when everything swarms back into my brain of what CeCe did, what Alison did growing up, even Mona before she turned her life around.

When I come back from those memories I find myself in my office, not realizing that I aimlessly walked away from the door and am now staring at myself in the mirror on the wall close to the couch. My eyes are glazed over and fuming from rage before slamming my fist into it and the glass shatters everywhere. I take deep breaths, seeing the flashes in my head of all the stuff I've been through in my life again. If CeCe gets out I don't know what I'll do.

I notice quickly that there's blood on the broken pieces of glass still clinging to the mirror and I look down at my hand to see that I opened up my knuckles from the punch, blood dripping all over my hand and floor. "Damn it." I haven't lost my cool like this in years.