CHAPTER 17

POVS ELIZABETH

4 days later…

These days, after my grandmother threw me down the stairs, I haven't left my house at all. I still wasn't feeling well because of the cold, it wasn't until yesterday that my fever finally subsided, but mainly it hadn't gone out because my ribs were very sore, my entire stomach area hurt, and my knee wasn't doing very well either.

I have only been able to get out of bed, at the cost of a lot of effort and pain, to go to the bathroom and to eat I had managed with some snacks that I luckily had in my room. It was impossible for me to go down the stairs so my whole body hurt, and I didn't want to see my grandmother under any circumstances, it scared me.

This fall had definitely hurt me a lot more than what Stephanie had done to me, and I was afraid I had a broken rib.

I knew that the best decision would have been to tell Spencer or any of the girls, but I was embarrassed that they knew what my grandmother had done to me. I didn't want them to find out, much less worry or be harmed because of my grandmother's threat not to tell anyone. I saw my grandmother as very capable of ruining someone's life, in the end that's what she did to me. I couldn't go to the hospital either because they would ask a lot of questions and my grandmother would find out.

Since I didn't want Spencer to find out, I had been actively avoiding her calls, then I would answer that I was asleep resting and I would get her not to insist for a while, although in a few days I would have to return to school or there would be too much suspicion. On the other hand, I hadn't even answered Jason's messages, I felt that he didn't deserve to have someone like me in his life. He deserved someone better, not an asocial person with a lot of trauma and little to offer. In short, a personal mistake as my grandmother had said.

The next day I am able to move a little beyond the bed and the bathroom. My rib area still hurts a lot, but at least I was able to stand up. Just when I decide to try to go downstairs to get some more food that isn't just bars, I hear a knock on the door.

My grandmother wasn't home, she had gone to work a few hours ago, so I was alone. I walk over to see who's calling and I see it's Spencer. I hesitate to open the door, but she is too insistent, she looked like she was going to break down the door.

"Elizabeth opens the door! I saw you!" Spencer warns me, so knowing how stubborn she was, I opened the door.

"Hello…" I say shyly when I open the door.

"Hello? "Elizabeth, you haven't been to school all week and you haven't taken my calls, you've only sent me some messages saying that you were resting! I was worried about you, knowing who you live with," Spencer tells me the latter more softly.

"I'm sorry, the cold I had was pretty bad and I'm still recovering. This has left me with little strength, but today I am a little better. I'll go to school on Monday," I tell her, embarrassed that she was so worried about me. She relaxes a little.

"Why don't you come to my house for a while? The girls are there, because we have to go to Mona's camp, which she has organized for her birthday," Spencer tells me, disgusted.

"And why are you going if you don't like Mona?" I ask her, intrigued.

"Because of Hanna. Mona is mad at her, so she didn't invite her to her birthday, and She want us to go," Spencer says upset. ''Well, come on, they want to see you too, we were worried about you. Ahh and my mother is not happy that you didn't let us help you," she tells me, still half angry.

"Okay, but I'm fine, just a little tired still. The cold has been very bad," I say as I walk out the door and set off to go with her to her house. "Wait, I'm still in my pajamas," I tell her as soon as I get out of it.

"It doesn't matter, Liz. You don't need to change, my house is as if it were your house, plus it looks like a tracksuit, not pajamas," she tells me with a smile.

"Even so… well, I don't really have much desire or strength to change, so it doesn't matter," I tell her resignedly as I walk slowly with her to her house, each step hurt my ribs, but I hid it quite well.

"Does your knee still hurt? You're limping a little again," Spencer asks me worriedly before entering her house.

"I hurt myself a little again the other day, going down the stairs and it hurt again, but in a few days, it will go away," I tell her a short lie. She nods her head hesitantly to ask me more. I appreciate that you don't, although I really wish I told you.

We were already going to open the door, but before we could do so, Melissa opens the door accompanied by Ian, who I think was Melissa's ex-boyfriend.

"Hey… you finally listened to me, I see," Spencer says with a smile when she sees them.

"Yes, Spencer, I listened to you. Let's go have coffee," Melissa says, laughing. They both seemed to have a better relationship now. "Ahh, Elizabeth, I haven't seen you in many days, my mother told me you were sick, are you better now? We have been worried," Veronica tells me when she sees me next to Spencer. I get a little nervous, because I would like to be able to tell you everything, but I can't.

"Yes, I'm better now, I'm still just a little tired," I say with a somewhat fake smile.

"Get well soon, if you need something you come to our house or call us, you already know. See you later! " Melissa tells us as she leaves with Ian towards the car.

''Well girls, here I bring the missing girl,'' Spencer says to Hanna, Emily and Aria when we enter the kitchen.

''You are better? We were worried, because you weren't picking up our calls. Yesterday we found out something about Alison that you should know,'' Emily says worriedly as she approaches me. When she was going to answer her, she staggered a little and Spencer became alert.

''Careful, sit here for a moment. You're still weak,'' Spencer tells me, frowning.

"I haven't gotten out of bed much these days and I get tired quickly, tomorrow I'm sure it will pass, I'm better now," I tell them all with a fake smile on my face. They don't seem very convinced, but they leave the topic for now. "What have you found out about Alison?" I had not forgotten that important detail.

Then they told me how the FBI had called them at school today to talk about a video in which Alison appeared supposedly talking to the boyfriend she had during the summer before she disappeared.

''Wow, and the FBI is now also on the case?'' I asked them, surprised and at the same time more afraid than before. We'd had enough with Wilden.

"Yes, what you heard," Hanna says, sighing in defeat.

"By the way, Liz, are you coming with me tonight to spy on Mona's camp?" Hanna asks me, eager for someone to accompany her.

"I'm still quite tired...," I tell her, knowing that in the end I was going to end up accompanying her.

"Come on, don't leave me alone in the forest at night," Hanna tells me, making a puppy face.

"Hanna, she's still recovering, she's been in bed for almost a week...," Spencer tells her, almost scolding her.

"It's okay, I'll accompany you, but I'm not going to be of much help and don't make me run away, we'll do some quiet espionage," I say, almost begging, knowing well what Hanna was like.

''Good! Thank you very much, Liz!'' Hanna shouts with joy and comes to give me a cautious hug. Since I feel comfortable, I hug her back and, upon noticing her, she hugs me a little tighter. Even though everything that had happened these days I was glad to have them.

Right after this moment, when we break away from the hug, Hanna is startled and says, "Spencer, turn up the volume," apparently, they were discussing something about Alison's case on the Rosewood news.

In the news they were saying that this morning the authorities had searched Toby's family home and the tests they carried out confirmed that the blood found on a sweater matched that of Alison. Because of this, the police were issuing a search and arrest warrant for Toby, now linking him to Alison's murder.

''No, Alison never dated Toby. He can't be the one she talks to in the video,'' Aria says incredulously, while I tune out what the others are saying about Toby. I'm left wondering if I was so naive to believe that he was good or if he really was that kind person that he invited me to his house.

I didn't know what to think.

A few hours later, even though I tried to find an excuse not to go, I couldn't find any convincing one and now I was with Hanna hiding in the bushes, so that no one would see us. Everything hurt, but I was hiding it as best I could, at least for now Hanna hadn't noticed that I was beyond tired from the cold.

"Hanna, are we going to be here all night? I'm sleepy," I ask her, yawning, while we are sitting in a camping chair in the bushes. Hanna is very focused with her binocular and I'm bored. Nothing interesting was happening.

"We'll be there as long as it takes," says Hanna, somewhat grumpily. She was also affected by the lack of sleep and that we hadn't eaten anything.

"If I had known, I would have brought a book," I tell her, crossing my arms in disgust.

"Take. I brought this to you knowing that at some point you would get bored," Hanna tells me, mocking me as she hands me a book.

"An art history book? Don't tell me you stole it from Spencer? I saw it recently at his house," I say in disbelief.

"Well, the important thing is that you have something to entertain yourself, right?" Hanna tells me, laughing.

"Thank you too," I say, unable to help but laugh with her.

"By the way, have you continued talking to Jason since he left? I know he left you his phone number," Hanna tells me with a mocking smile, a little more relaxed than before.

"We were talking for a little over a week, but this week I stopped answering when he called me," I tell her, embarrassed.

"Elizabeth! Why don't you answer his calls? You like him, right? I saw how you smiled every time he was in the room and the same thing happened to him," Hanna tells me, bewildered.

"It's just… I don't feel like I deserve him. Jason deserves someone better than me," I say sadly.

"What do you say, Elizabeth? In any case, he is the one who may not deserve you. Anyone would be privileged to be with you. "I am privileged to have you as a friend," Hanna tells me emotionally.

However, before I can say anything to him, we become alert when we see a car arriving in the distance. Someone in a hooded jacket from Mona's camp quickly gets into the car.

"How?" We say surprised when we see that the person who has gotten into the car is Aria and she is kissing our English teacher, Mr. Fitz.

"Aria and Mr. Fitz?" I say, bewildered. I didn't believe it and Hanna was shocked too.

But we were even more frozen and surprised when we saw someone with a black hoodie approaching from behind the car. It seems that he is leaving them a message. That person was A, but worst of all, that person was Noel Khan.

Frightened by the recent discovery, Hanna sends the girls the following message: "We know who A. Heading to the parking lot is."

Once she sends them the message, we go as fast as we can to where we thought A had gone, but when we arrived there was no one there. I was almost out of breath after running as fast as I could, so I kneeled on the ground trying to recover. My rib area hurt a lot and I was having a hard time breathing.

"Liz, are you okay?" Hanna asks me worriedly, but before I can answer I see a car approaching us at full speed.

"Hanna, be careful!" I yelled at her while with the little strength I had I tried to push her away so that car wouldn't hit her.

"Liz, no!" I hear Hanna scream just before the car crashes into me.

I think I also hear Spencer's voice asking for help and saying that everything would be fine, but at that moment I didn't feel anything, not even pain.

I hoped that if this was the end of me, I could find peace with my mother and brother.

I closed my eyes, happy that at least I was able to save Hanna.

I wouldn't have forgiven myself for losing anyone else.

hii, I hope you liked this chapter. It's not very long, but it's close to the moment I've been waiting for since I wrote this story, I swear hahahaha. In the following chapters there will be more interactions with the Hastings. Will Elizabeth survive? Do you think there will be justice for Elizabeth? What will happen to her grandmother? In the next chapters you will discover it.

Thank you very much for the advice Pllfan, it helps me a lot :)

and thank you all very much for making reviews, they make me want to continue writing. kisses