***Chapter 25***

**Aria's POV**

My dad had a class right away, so he dropped me off at his office and went to his room. My bag was set on the end of the couch, but I didn't feel like working this early in the day, though I knew if I didn't get started on my massive pile of work I would never get it done. Plus with all the A investigating going on, I wasn't sure exactly how much extra time I would have, even if I wasn't attending classes like the others. I thought about heading to the campus coffee shop, but didn't want to get the jitters like I did after having Spencer-brewed coffee. Suddenly, my phone started ringing, I looked down at the screen and smirked. Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Spence. What's up?" I answered.

"Hey, Aria. I needed to talk to someone. I had the weirdest nightmare last night. I was walking down this freaky hallway into a crazy room, and there was this little girl. She had long brown hair, and she started dancing. Then she disappeared and I was alone in that creepy room. I saw sandals, they said C. DiLaurentis, then I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and Charles was coming for me." Spencer rambled, her voice trembling as she described what she had dreamt.

"Did you see his face in the dream?" I asked, wondering if maybe she had seen Charles' face and had blocked it out until now.

"The word is nightmare. And no, I didn't that's why I fell off the bed." Spencer refuted.

"So who was the little girl?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her before." Her voice grew soft after a moment. "Or maybe I have."

I gave a sigh. "Again, Spencer, it was just a dream… nightmare."

"But what about that creepy room? Do you remember ever seeing a room like that?" She pressed on, entirely focused on her dream.

"I don't know. But if I did, I've completely burned it from my memory." I cut her off, not wanting to talk about being down there. "Listen, I should go."

I pulled Jason's jacket closer around me. Just thinking about that place made me feel cold. I was regretting wearing a tank top today, something that I probably wouldn't repeat anytime soon.

"Wait, wait. When we went back inside after A locked us out, do you remember a tiled room? It was right next to the…"

"Spencer," I cut her off once more. "I, I do not want to…"

"Aria, please." She begged, interrupting me. I could hear her desperation through the phone as she practically shouted at me. "Just help me."

"I can't." I shot back. "Seriously. It is taking all that I have to forget that place. It's bad enough I can't even walk by the photo lab anymore, without…"

"What did you do with that hairdye?"

"Ugh, you are giving me cramps." I complained, feeling my stomach tie into knots at the stress.

"Aria, we can't just throw away clues." She shouted back at me. I kind of regretted telling her about my A tampering during our nightly check in.

I was pulled away from my thoughts by the sound of her chewing on something as she spoke. The sound continued and I pulled my phone away from my head to see if it was my hair making it, but she was clearly eating something.

"What are you eating?" I questioned, knowing that she tended to be as anti-breakfast as Hanna and me. "Hello? Spence, are you there?"

She didn't answer for another moment before I heard a groan on the other end. "Yep. Still here. My mother's just sitting on my chest. She's still on my case about this stupid Valedictorian thing."

I could understand that, her mother was pretty intense. And since the principal had made the offer for Spencer to be Valedictorian, I was sure that intensity wasn't going away anytime soon.

"Well, why don't you just say yes?" I couldn't understand why she didn't just agree with it. Valedictorian was her dream for the first two and a half years of high school. Though thinking about Spencer, it had probably been her dream since learning what the word meant in like elementary school or something. That was just how much of a braniac and over-achiever she had always been. I mean, sure, in the last two years we had been consumed by A so it had been harder for her to focus on school, but to throw away what she had wanted for so long I just didn't understand it.

"Cause it's a pity toss." She argued. "I've been gone for almost two months, she probably offered to buy them a planetarium."

"Just do it." I told her. "Please, just give me a freaking reason to go to graduation."

"Oh, really? Now you want to go to graduation? I thought your dad had excused you from ever having to step foot in school again?"

I figured she was probably a little annoyed at the fact that I wasn't going to classes like the rest of them. But given the fact that I freaked out pretty much any time I was in public, the incident with Ezra being the most memorable, it didn't seem like a great idea for me to be attending classes. I thought that she would have liked being back in school though, that showing up every day would make her feel more normal. I certainly didn't, hiding out at home or my dad's office because I couldn't handle being around other people for that long, at least not in public.

"Oh god, I have to run." She said with a sigh.

"Wait, what just happened?" I asked, wondering what made her want to get off the phone so fast.

"My mom just got back from Curves and I'm not having this argument with her just after she pumped iron. I'll call you later, okay? Bye."

She hung up before I could respond, but I guess it wasn't necessary for me to say bye. I gave a sigh, knowing that I didn't have an excuse not to work on my assignments now. I headed over to the couch and pulled out the history schedule. It looked like I only had a few worksheets to get through for the first week. I grabbed the book for reference before settling down to work.

-Hanna: Mona is back in town.-

I got the text about half an hour into my working. I guess it was good that we knew where Mona was again. I wondered how she was dealing with being back, being out of that place. I didn't fully trust Mona, even though she had been down there too.

-Emily: Is she going to be at school today?-

-Hanna: No, she had to go into the police station right after she came to see me. Had a nasty run-in with Leslie Stone too.-

-Aria: What happened?-

-Hanna: She got pissed off at Mona, and then decided to get snappy with me. Called me a bag of hair, the bitch.-

I raised my eyebrow at the insult, wondering what exactly that meant but sure that Hanna was super-pissed that Leslie had turned her anger on Hanna. After all, Leslie was the one who had testified against Hanna.

-Aria: So what's our plan now?-

I turned back to my work before my phone lit up with another text. This was why I didn't usually text anyone while working, it was pretty distracting.

-Hanna: I'm gonna see if we can get Mona to go with us to Radley. She knows it the best.-

When no more texts came in, I went back to my work. I made it through the rest of my history worksheets and thankfully I didn't have to worry about most of the tests for the class. The teachers were making an exception for me, I was going to write essays in place of tests. Except for math, that I would still need to go in and take the final closer to the end of the year, though the teacher had said I could go in during her off-period so that I didn't have to be in with the rest of the students. I put history aside and started in on English when I heard a knock on the office door. My dad was teaching a class at the moment, since he had a solid two hour class to start off his day, so I knew it wasn't one of his students. I looked up and Clark had just opened the door to peer in at me.

"Hey." He said, stepping into the office more.

"Hey, how did you know I was going to be here?" I questioned, curiously.

"Psychic." He said with a smile. "That or you said you would be working in your dad's office today."

"Yeah, right." I replied, vaguely remembering that from the day before. "What's up?"

"Well, I was looking over yesterday's photos and I need to rethink what I'm shooting." He said, down on his work again. I didn't understand it. His stuff was really cool, I had set his photo on my desk and was intending to find a frame to put it on my wall as inspiration, I loved it that much.

"Why?" I had to ask.

"My portfolio is beginning to look like one of those calendars that banks give out for free. I was thinking of taking a ride out to a junkyard on route 147, wanna come?" he offered with an easy smile.

I did want to go, taking photos had been a great outlet for me the past few days. Maybe it was because I was afraid of what I had to say that I wanted to stick with the visuals. Every time that I looked at my journals that I used to write in, my chest tightened and I felt his hands covering my mouth again. I shook the thought away, not wanting to go back there now. I wasn't lying when I told Spencer that it was taking all I had to forget that place, and more than anything I needed to forget what had happened.

"No, no I shouldn't. I should stay here." I admitted, trying to convince myself that my schoolwork was more important. "I have a lot of work to do."

"Well, don't go into early retirement, girl. I wasn't blowing smoke when I said your work is really good. It's just the kind of stuff they're looking for."

"Who's looking for?" I couldn't help but ask.

"We didn't talk about the contest?"

"Uh, no. What contest?"

"The Cardillo Fellowship. It's a cash prize and an internship for the summer at a magazine."

"Where?"

I didn't remember him telling me anything about a contest and this would be a great opportunity for any photographer. I had done an internship more than a year ago and had absolutely loved it, so I really wanted to know more about what this contest was. It must have been something for Clark to be interested, since he was such a great photographer.

"In LA. Yeah, I know it aint Rosewood, but there is stuff worth photographing there too. Plus you can do it all in flip-flops." He informed me before standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder. "Good luck with your work."

"Um, Clark, wait." I said, pushing my book off my lap. "Can we stop by my house, I need to grab my camera."

"Yeah, no problem."

I quickly gathered up my school work, shoving the pile into my bag. Then I followed Clark out of the room, sending a quick text to my dad that I was going to go take some pictures with Clark. He didn't reply right away, but I figured he was probably still in the middle of teaching his class and so couldn't get to his phone at the moment. I hoped he wouldn't be too upset that I was leaving campus without telling him in person, but he supported my photography, especially since that was one of the reasons that I had opened up to him at least a little about that place. Clark had actually managed a pretty decent parking spot, so he must have gotten to campus pretty early in the morning.

"Wow, you got a great spot." I remarked as he unlocked the doors of his car.

"Yeah, I have an 8am class. So I always get a close spot. It kinda makes up for having to get up that early every day." He said with a laugh.

"Wow, I didn't even know they offered classes that early. My dad never has to be in until noon." I said as we drove out of the parking lot.

"It's one of the gen ed requirements, they offer a bunch throughout the day."

"So why did you pick the 8 am if you don't like getting up that early?" I didn't quite understand, I mean if there was a bunch of options why not take one of the later ones?

"It didn't conflict with any of the classes that I actually wanted to take. Plus it left me some time to go out and take pictures during the day."

"So what else are you taking?"

It was nice getting him talking about school. It was a safe subject for college students to talk about, plus it got him going for the whole way to my house. I only had to prompt directions every now and then. We pulled up outside my house and for a moment I totally regretted having him drive me here. There was the squad car parked in front of my house and I knew I would have to check in with the cop before I left. It would let Clark know just how not normal I was. Still though I just gave him a smile and told him I would be back in a minute. I ran in nodding at the cop on my way into the house. My camera was sitting up by my bed, so I switched out my schoolwork for the camera before heading back downstairs.

"I'm going to go take some photographs." I told the cop who looked cautiously at first me and then at Clark's car before he gave a hesitant nod.

I hoped that Clark wasn't paying attention, that he wouldn't notice the brief interaction between me and the cop. When I climbed back into his car, he didn't say anything in regard to what had just happened, which I was grateful for. On the drive out to the junk yard, Clark asked me about what school work I was doing in my dad's office. I explained that I had been working on history and English. He probably thought that I was home-schooled or something like that.

When we parked and got out of the car, the smell hit me immediately. I held my breath for a moment, waiting for the wave of nausea to settle before breathing again. It was a unique combination of dirt and mold which drifted off of the junkyard. It could have been worse I guess, but it still got to me. After a few moments, I was feeling fine. I wasn't sure what it was but I was getting queasy easier after being back. Though this was the first time that it hit me from something other than meat or stress.

"You been here before?" I asked as we walked inside.

"No, but I have a friend who came here a few times to take pictures. They have some really cool stuff here."

I looked around at the nicer things that were inside the little office while Clark talked to the owner of the junkyard. Their exchange was brief but looked like it didn't go badly. Clark came back over to me with a smile.

"Alright, we're alright to take some pictures." He said before opening the back door of the office for us to walk out into the junkyard itself.

The smell of metal and mold was stronger back here, rust covering most of the shelves which created a labyrinth as we stepped out into the mess. It was actually fairly organized, which I hadn't really expected from a junkyard. Off in the distance there were piles of cars which created an intricate skyline. Clark immediately grabbed out his camera from his bag, and raised it to his face snapping a picture. I smiled at him before turning back to look at the junkyard, still taking it all in before grabbing my camera out. We went around the shelving units, rearranging the items there to create more contrast between the items.

"Are dolls your thing?" he asked, as I arranged a couple of old dolls on the shelf in front of me.

"Not really. They actually kinda creep me out." I admitted, looking cautiously at the doll whose head had just fallen off. "But I'm doing a new thing. Embrace the creepy."

"I get it. I did a series of the progression of rotting vegetables."

"How'd it turn out?" I questioned, turning back to him after placing the doll's head back in the appropriate position.

"Well, I had a smelly apartment and a major fly problem. But other than that pretty good."

I went around to the other side to arrange the bottles which were standing behind the doll, wanting to get them just right. There was an old, dull hatchet which would take up part of the background of the shot which I shifted slightly before hearing the click of a camera. My eyes shot up to Clark who had his camera pointed directly at my face.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my eyes widening slightly in fear. I didn't like being photographed or documented in any way. It was a mix of the dollhouse and the doctors when I got back, taking pictures of every mark on my body, even between my thighs.

"Sorry, the light was falling across your face. I couldn't help it." He explained awkwardly. "Uh, in honor of diving into things that scare us… would you be up for having dinner with me tonight?"

I could feel my heart beat quicken at the thought, that he wanted to date me, was interested in that way combined with the picture made my chest tighten with fear. He didn't know though, so I couldn't really blame him for it. I gave a sigh before looking at him.

"Uh, Clark, that's a really nice offer, but I can't. I just, I'm not really dating, at least not for a little while." I tried to put him off easily, not wanting him to think that it was him I had issues with. "It's just, this past year has been really difficult. And without going into all the details…"

"No, I know." He interrupted. "I, uh, recognized you from the news."

I felt my heart plummet into my stomach at those words. No wonder he hadn't said anything about the cop outside my car, or doing work at Hollis, or the freakout in the photo lab. He already knew how messed up I was and had just been kind enough not to mention it. I heard him talking still but I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying.

"I apologize." He finished.

"You don't have to." I dismissed, knowing that it must be weird for him to talk to me, knowing about what had happened.

He gave a small reassuring smile before turning away and going over to another shelving unit to go back to taking photos. I watched him go, before returning to my shot. At least I didn't have to worry about him finding out, since he already knew.

It looked like I was really embracing the creepy as I found some very aged dolls which were grouped together on a shelf. I set them all up facing the camera, their blank eyes staring directly at me. I closed my eyes, wondering if I had that look to me. One of the dolls had a cracked face, so I zoomed in close on it, to where the face was almost unrecognizable because of the shattering. His voice sounded in my ear again, calling me his doll and I felt nausea rise up through me. I took a deep breath once I had snapped the shot. I was vaguely aware that Clark was over to the side, shooting in my general direction, when my eyes caught on an old fun house mirror with a clown on top. There was a blur of movement as a dark hooded figure moved from their place.

Immediately, I turned towards where the figure would have been standing but they were gone now. I glanced back at Clark who still had his camera raised and was snapping shots, before following where I thought the figure had taken off to. I headed into the warehouse structure which was on the property, it was filled with broken carousel parts. I looked around, taking another step in when a mirror fell over with a large crash. I jumped back my breathing coming in harsh breaths as I looked for where the figure had gone.

"What happened?" Clark's voice sounded from behind me, apparently he had noticed that I had come in here and was wondering what had happened.

"Nothing. It was my fault." I said before we both left the building.

***End Chapter***