TW/CW: This chapter contains descriptions of torture, sexual assault, and includes a homophobic slur.

Content is tagged in the text, however is fairly plot relevant though it continues to the end of the chapter.

Chapter 75*

Aria's POV*

I couldn't stop fidgeting. The gallery was fairly comfortable, a little on the cool side in my opinion, but I had dressed for that. With my leather jacket with skulls at the collar and cuffs, and solid black tights beneath my green and black dress, with chunky black boots keeping me solidly grounded, I was as comfortable as I could be. But for once it wasn't actually the temperature that was bothering me. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, the exhibit had opened maybe twenty minutes before. And I had already taken a stroll through the work that was currently on display. As everything from the actual competition was separated into a shadowed part of the gallery, that no matter how hard I looked I wasn't able to see anything but maybe the hint of Clark's work on the left hand side. So there wasn't a lot for me to do right now. Other than chat with people who had come to see my work.

Which at the moment the only people that I knew in the gallery were my mom and Emily. As I had driven with them to the gallery, they were both well aware of just how anxious this whole thing was making me, if the anxious twisting of my fingers and biting of my lip weren't obvious enough. I looked around the gallery again, ready for the night to get on and the actual competition photos be revealed to everyone, but apparently we were doing a cocktail hour. Which I got to some extent, there were usually drinks and small bites available at a gallery opening, it's just there was usually the actual art you were there to see on display already. Still there were plenty of people moving around the gallery, how many of them were undercover officers I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. It was a topic that I had sort of avoided, just accepting that Tanner would ensure the event was safe and not asking about any of the details involved in that process. It also wasn't exactly something that I wanted to acknowledge out loud. If on the off chance there was some way that Charles was listening in on the gallery, I didn't want to be the thing that tipped him off. Not that I thought he would really be likely to be dissuaded from whatever he had planned by something as mundane as the cops. Charles was basically a force of nature at this point, if there was something he wanted there wasn't any obstacle that we could throw up to stop him.

He probably wont even do anything anyway. I tried to reassure myself again. He had been so quiet since the arcade and the police had announced that they were looking for him, that maybe he wouldn't be daring enough to try something this public. He was probably too busy dealing with the fall out of Ali telling his identity to the cops to try anything. It was a weak reassurance, but all the same it made me feel a little better.

"Do you want any of the hors d'oeuvres?" my mom asked, drawing me from the rapid downward spiral of my thoughts.

I realized with a small jolt of surprise that I had been chewing on my lower lip in my anxiety, the sharp taste of iron as my tongue soothed the raw flesh, which she might have taken as me being hungry. I was aware of the roiling sensation of my stomach, more anxiety than actual hunger.

"Sure, if they have anything vegetarian." I agreed, noticing the way that her eyes were already following the movement of one of the trays coming out, what looked like bacon wrapped something. We hadn't actually had dinner, and though the idea of eating wasn't tempting at the moment maybe it would help to settle my churning stomach.

"You okay, Aria?" Emily asked, bumping her shoulder gently into me to get my attention.

I reflexively put a smile back on my face, not wanting anyone to worry about me. I could get through this, it was one night to be normal. My lip split a little more with the movement as I responded. "Yeah, just nervous."

"I'm sure they're going to love your work." she reassured, before something caught her eyes. "Is that Jason?"

The weak smile on my lips spread further at that, and I turned to where she was looking, away from the landscape that I had been looking at before. Sure enough, Jason had just walked in with a dark blue button down and black tie, I smiled at the sight of his leather jacket, the same one that I had only given back to him this morning during our coffee date, carried in his hand still. He undoubtedly hadn't needed to wear it in, given the warm temperature outside, and had bypassed the coat check at the front of the gallery. I waved, drawing his attention over to Emily and me.

"Yeah, he wanted to come." I justified, immediately seeing the knowing look in her eyes.

"Of course he did, to support his friend." her lips were tilted too much in amusement for it not to be a jab.

I blushed at the reminder of her insistence yesterday that Jason was more than just a friend. She was so sure that he was willing to put up with all the chaos that accompanied us both right now. Despite the fact that she had told Paige not to come back, because of how crazy things were, and wanting to keep her away from the danger. It wasn't even that I disagreed with Emily, he'd been willing to stick by my side even through the dark parts of dealing with A. But it felt like too much right now, trying to start anything new. The possibility of losing the support that I had right now was more than I dared.

"Please don't say anything to him." I whispered the words to Emily, as Jason slowly drew closer. She hummed in agreement, and I gave that up as good enough for the moment. "Hey, Jason."

"Hey Aria, Emily. I'm not too early, am I?" he asked, leaning in to give me a half-hug in greeting.

From habit, I raised up and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. The movement a comfort, before realizing what Emily would think of the action. I pushed it down. Not up for analysing my relationship with Jason tonight. There were other way more important things to focus on.

"No, but you are going to have to wait a bit before they show my work. There's half an hour before the presentation and reveal." I explained.

"Sounds good. Means we can check out the work already on display then." he gave an affable smile, his presence helping to soothe some of my anxiety. "Are Spencer and Hanna running late?"

I shared a look with Emily, it had been the unspoken tension in the car earlier as we drove over with my mom. Today had been their meeting with some guy at the Carissimi group, which meant that they were going to be cutting it close to get to the gallery for the photo reveal. I had thought maybe they would be here already, but it seemed like it wasn't meant to be. And was currently just one more thing that I was anxious about.

"Great question, I was going to step away and call them. Just didn't want to leave Aria alone, she's a bit nervous." Emily sold me out to Jason, leaning forward slightly to whisper the last part like it was a big secret. "You up to keeping her company?"

Jason's smile turned into a broad grin at that, and I rolled my eyes. It wasn't exactly subtle. But I didn't hate having someone nearby, especially since otherwise I'd be alone in a room of strangers. That thought alone ticked my heartrate up.

"If it's alright with you, Aria." he agreed, turning his attention over to me.

"Just go call them." I told her, grabbing Jason's hand and leading him over towards the far side of the gallery.

I could hear Jason's chuckle as we moved through the loose groupings of people. It wasn't strictly necessary to hold his hand to lead him over to the starting point of the exhibit, there weren't nearly enough people to possible lose track of each other. But it was comforting all the same.

"So how are you doing? Excited? Or freaked?" he asked in a low voice as we stood in front of a black and white photo of a cityscape, the sensation of his warm breath tracing along the exposed skin around my ear had my goosebumps raising.

"Bit of both, I guess." I leaned slightly into him, feeling the heat he was exuding take the chill from the airconditioned gallery. "I just want to get it started. The anticipation is getting to me."

We moved slowly in front of the next piece, this one seemingly taken of an oil slick in the street, aside from the rainbow of the colors swirling across the center of the photo, the rest was in greyscale. It was an interesting composition and I had wondered if they had used different developing solutions on different parts of the film to achieve the effect or digitally altered it after the fact.

"You aren't enjoying the chance to wander through the gallery then?" there was a teasing tone to his voice, and I nudged playfully into him.

"Seeing as it's my second time walking through, I'm ready to see something new." my voice was pitched lower, so we wouldn't disturb or offend any of the attendees. I couldn't help the anxious thrum that went through me every time I thought about getting to see my art on display.

"Oh, you can just leave me to look around if you want." he offered. "Or maybe tell me where Spencer and Hanna really are?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too observant." I questioned, eyeing him as we moved slowly between pieces.

"Not that I can ever remember." his hand moved from holding mine to resting on the middle of my back, the gesture comforting while also simultaneously moving us slightly closer together, better able to keep our conversation private.

"They are having a meeting with someone from the Carissimi Group, Hanna thinks it could be related to Charles somehow." I leaned into him a little more, keeping my voice hushed between us.

"The charity my mom used to donate to?" he looked confused as he pulled slightly away to look me over.

"Exactly. Apparently your mom mentioned they did scholarships to her mom. And there's not a lot of info on what exactly it is that they do." I shrugged, it hadn't been our best lead and I had my doubts about what they could find out. "But Carissimi means beloved in Italian, so they thought maybe there was a connection."

It felt flimsy at best. There was a moment of silence, as he obviously thought through the connection. Before I saw it click into place with an 'ah'.

"Beloved son, gotcha." he picked up on the connection quicker than I had. Then again, he'd been there when they found the headstone, and thought it was actually his brother's grave. I shook off that morbid thought, that felt like such a long time ago, we had come so far from that moment.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch but it can't hurt." I was saying when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw that Clark was walking over.

He had a smile on his face as he waved at me and Jason. I had kind of expected him to dress up a little more, but it seemed the only real difference between tonight and his usual wardrobe was that tonight he had swapped in a black sweater over his red button down, rather than a hoodie. It made me realize that maybe I had been putting too much thought into my outfit for the evening.

"Hey Aria, great to see you. I was starting to think I wouldn't see anyone I knew here." he started with a laugh.

"Hey, Clark." I greeted before realising that he and Jason didn't know each other. "This is my friend, Jason. Jason, this is my friend Clark. He's the one who told me about the contest, and is a finalist."

Jason moved his hand from my back to shake hands with Clark and I instantly felt the absence of his warmth. "Congrats, man. I'm excited to see your work. Aria has told me so much about you."

"Thanks, hopefully she's only said good things." Clark looked slightly taken aback by Jason's statement, but recovered quickly.

"Mostly how talented you are. And that she's sure that you're going to land a National Geographic cover in the next few years." Jason shared, and I felt heat rise to my face.

"Well good to know I'm spoken of so highly." Clark gave a small laugh, but I watched as his eyes darted between Jason and I. How Jason's hand had returned to the small of my back and the way that I had automatically leaned slightly back into his touch. "So how're you feeling?"

"A bit nervous. These pictures have been really personal for so long. I hadn't thought of how weird it would be to show them to a room full of strangers.." I forced the smile on my face to broaden a little, not wanting to show just how anxious I really was. "You've done this before, does this ever start to feel normal?"

"This is a first for me." he shook his head, looking slightly confused at my question.

I felt a frown crease my face in confusion. " I just thought… In the program, in your bio it says that you've won some sort of Governor's award."

The program that was currently tucked carefully into my purse had been what I had done to kill the first couple minutes of the cocktail hour. Reading through it had at least given me something to do while I waited for everything to get going. But watching Clark now, I saw the confusion in his face. Was I confusing his bio with someone else's? He looked away from me for a moment, just a second before turning his gaze back to me.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." he started again, nodding his head. "No, I just meant this was a first at an event this big."

I could feel my frown coming back, I hadn't just been confused. Maybe that award really hadn't been much, and I had just assumed it was a bigger deal than it actually was. Maybe something like my 'solo exhibit at the Brew' from the letter of recommendation, which had been a sting to see in the program. He changed the subject though, continuing on. "Looks like you've got a pretty good turn out."

His eyes moved from Jason standing next to me over towards where Emily was standing, talking with Hanna, Spencer, and my mom. I was a little surprised that he had remembered what Emily looked like from their quick introduction at the junkyard. But I guess he had a pretty good memory for faces.

"Oh yeah." I agreed easily, feeling the comforting presence of Jason behind me still. Then I remembered what he had said when he came up, that he didn't know anyone here. "What about you? Didn't your parent's come up from Baltimore?"

"No, they weren't able to make it." he dismissed, tone light.

"But they know how big a deal this is, right?" I checked, especially if this was bigger than the last award he won, they should be here to support him. "It's not that long of a drive."

"Oh no, it's not. I just didn't want to make them feel obligated." he explained with a small shrug. "In case I don't win."

"So there's no one here for you?" I could feel the frown settling on my face, matching the sad smile on his. "Well, I am. And seriously, thank you. I never would have done this if it wasn't for you."

He smiled again, like he was brushing off my thanks lightly. "You did the work. You used your camera to tell your truth. And I respect the hell out of that. No matter what happens."

"You too." I responded the smile growing back on my face now that the conversation had moved back to the familiar realm of the competition.

"I'm gonna go grab some of those canapes. I'll see you later?" he asked, already tracking on a moving tray of what appeared to be puff pastry as it was taken through the room.

"So that was Clark." I explained, turning back to Jason as we were left alone once more. "I think you're going to like his stuff."

"Yeah." Jason was making a face, like he was trying to puzzle something out and I nudged into him in prompting. "Is he always like that?"

I tilted my head at him, confused what he was talking about. "What the chasing after food? He is a college student." I reminded Jason gently, feeling a broad smile form at that stereotypical antic.

"Not that. The weirdness about the award he won and his parent's not being here." he clarified.

If I was being honest with myself, it had bothered me too. It had almost been like he had no idea what I was talking about with that award. I dismissed the worry though. "He's probably just nervous."

"Yeah, that makes sense." he agreed easily, but I could see it was still bothering him. "I think your mom is waiting on us though."

Sure enough when I glanced back over to where I had seen them last, my mom was eyeing us. Her hands full with a plate of hors d'oeuvres that she had managed to pile remarkably high for such a small plate. I breathed out a laugh at that and headed over with Jason in tow.

"They had a surprising amount of vegetarian offerings." she assured, passing the plate over to me.

"Thanks." I accepted one of the mini quiches, not really wanting to eat anything but taking something to nibble on anyway.

"Jason, I wasn't expecting you. Aria didn't mention you were coming." she leaned over and gave him a half hug in greeting. "Have you eaten anything?"

"I'm alright, thanks." he gently turned down any food. "I'm surprised she didn't say anything. She knew I wanted to see her work."

My mom's gaze turned back to me expectantly and I popped the quiche into my mouth to avoid answering. She had that knowing look on her face, similar to the one that Emily was currently sporting. I chewed slowly, and was relieved when I heard the tapping against glass to call for attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Cardillo Fellowship. I would like to welcome you all to our gallery." A woman's voice sounded from over by the shadowed part of the exhibit.

I covered my mouth out of habit, mindful not to spew crumbs as I chewed, as I moved over towards the speaker. Jason moved like a shadow of warmth behind me, not quite touching but staying close as I moved towards the front of the crowd. I wanted a good viewpoint of the other contestants work, as well as the chance to finally see my work blown up large on the wall for everyone to see. Anxiety burbled in my stomach, but I swallowed down my food and the anticipation in one go. My hand was suddenly filled by the soft hands of my mom, holding onto me for luck as we settled in to watch the speaker.

The woman at the podium wore a dark green dress and gold jewelry, offsetting her shaved head and thin framed, black glasses. She spoke with confidence as she looked across the crowd that settled into place in front of her. As I moved closer, I strained my eyes to see what was in the shadows, wanting that first glimpse of the work. But I couldn't spot where my work was, and the shadows at the back of the gallery were too thick to see anything.

"We are here to celebrate a fresh crop of promising new photographers. One of whom, will leave here tonight with a five thousand dollar cash prize, and a summer internship at a premiere travel and leisure magazine based in Los Angeles." She paused a moment, allowing the crowd to applaud. "I would like to thank all the young artists who applied this year. You gave the judges a real challenge. And thank you, to the Rhodes Fine Arts gallery, for so generously hosting this event."

She looked over to the side, undoubtedly eyeing the coordinator, while she paused for emphasis. I felt like my heart was going to hammer out of my chest. I forced my breathing to stay steady as I waited for her to continue, but the second felt like an hour as we waited.

"Now, I'd like to invite you all in. To meet our finalists." she moved away from the podium and an attendant from the gallery moved in to remove the red velvet ropes that were blocking off the finalist section of the gallery.

The lights slowly raised and illuminated the expanse of white gallery floor and walls that hosted our works. I felt my breath catch first in anticipation that the moment was finally here. My eyes immediately took in the splashes of colors across the walls, but it was what was on the center wall, directly opposite me that stole my breath away.

My section for the exhibit had been placed directly in the center, my name boldly printed across the top of the gallery wall with four frames below, evenly spaced across the section of wall. But those weren't my photos. I had never seen those images before, though sure enough I had lived them.

-TW Content -

There were four autopsy slabs, filled with four girls covered in nothing but white sheets. Eyes closed across the line up, and the color washed out from all of us. I could feel the icy metal against my bare skin again as I took in the sight of the row of us. Me, Hanna, Emily, Spencer. Neatly lined up on the wall, laying as though we were dead, but just as we had been in that cold sterile room in the bunker. I could feel my mouth slacken in horror, as my body began to tremble. This couldn't be real. Charles couldn't have replaced my photos with his of the bunker. I heard a few mumbling voices behind me, but the sound of my blood rushing through my ears diluted their voices too much for me to understand. I shook my head slightly, not believing what I was seeing, needing to shake the image away. I blinked my eyes, thinking that would make the images go away. I wanted to sob when I opened my eyes and the images had gone.

It wasn't any better.

Somehow new images had taken the place of the ones before. My body was shaking as in the place of the four of us, laying identically on slabs in a morgue, were individual photos of moments capturing our torture. The left end where I had previously laid like a corpse, was instead an image of me wrapped in that same dirty white sheet, dragging my body across the glittering sea of glass as my bloody feet trailed behind me, the glass was somehow visible digging into my skin and I felt the heat of it again, against the shivering cold that surrounded and threatened to consume me. Lungs frozen from the cold, I forced my vision over to Hanna, her face contorted in disgust and anguish as she sobbed her way through eating an array of what seemed to be cupcakes. The frosting was smeared across her face, leaving her skin greasy and shiny. Traces of tears curved down her face as she sobbed around the frosting. I could see smears of what looked like vomit mixed on her chin with the sugary white frosting. My stomach threatened to turn over and I forced my attention further down the line.

Emily was screaming, face taut with rage and pain as her arms were tied at the wrist behind her back, shoulders pushed forward as her hands were dragged by rope up towards the ceiling. Her head was down as she tried to get any relief from the stretching pain of the position, but she was already balanced on her toes. The agony clear from the line of her body and tears sliding down her face through the creases of her fury.

Spencer was a portrait of panic, her blood covered hands pulling at her white tank top, trying to get the sticky substance away from her skin, pulling back the soaked red fabric and revealing the pale bare skin of her belly. The red too vivid against the milky surface of her skin, a horrifying contrast that made her look gaunt. Fear and confusion across her face as the blood had been smeared across her mouth and cheeks, but her dark circles, worse than I had ever remembered seeing them from sleep deprivation stood out. Her bare feet were scrambling for purchase in the pool on the ground. Along with the thick trail of blood that was smeared across the ground in a crimson trail of something being dragged away from her. Her confession of thinking she had hurt someone, ringing through my head with obvious desperation.

Before I could fully understand how I was seeing what had happened to the other girls. The photos changed again, in the blink of an eye. And my trembling stopped. Every picture was of me, black hair consistent throughout. The first was of me waking up with the remnants of my hair scattered around me on the pillow, the bruises that scattered my face and clear hand prints wrapping around my throat an anguish that I had thought I moved past. But I could feel the pressure on my skin again, feel the crushing pain as I struggled to draw in a breath. I looked away to the next picture, only to see the moment of the hands wrapped around my throat itself. Dead eyes staring blankly into the camera to my left as gloved hands crushed my airway. My mouth was gaping open and the part of my face not buried in the bed was crystallised in pain. The tearing, burning pain as Charles had forced himself inside me, his pale body a stark contrast to his gloved hands and black mask. But he was obviously raping me in the picture, muscles tense as they threatened to choke the life out of me.

I couldn't feel the air in the room anymore, but managed to pull my gaze away as the cold threatened to take over me. The rush of dizziness accompanying the brutal image of my naked body hanging from the ceiling, the dark shape of bruises across my hips and breasts, a perfect match to the marks visible around my throat. The color was harsh against my pale porcelain skin stripped bare. There were so many cuts from the glass, bandages that had been taken away as they were too close to safety and covering myself. Dirty pink streaks visible in my hair as it hung down towards the floor, the distant too great for the cropped locks to travel. In horror at the awful feeling of being exposed, I turned my eyes to the last photo. I was dressed in this one at least, in more than just a sheet even. The filmy cloth of the dolls dress covering my skin, though leaving the bruises on my throat and thighs visible. I was sitting in the chair, body arched backwards in pain as electricity coursed through my every nerve. It burned my skin now, muscles twitching and spasming from the current. My mouth gaping open as my head lolled backwards, eyes frozen open as tears dragged clean paths down my dirty face and drool from the shock frothed over my chapped lips.

All the images turned black. Like the darkness that had saved me from the pain consuming me wholly. Then Spencer's autopsy photo returned, a word scrawled in vibrant red across the image over her chest. Vivid as blood against the pale cast of her skin.

JUNKIE

It declared. Emily's photo came back next, the same red across her chest, the contrast not quite so intense as there was at least still color in her cold skin.

DYKE

I heard a gasp as it appeared, but then Hanna's photo was up.

COW

I forced myself to look at the remaining black frame, the darkness where my photo would appear. I had no idea what could be written across my chest. But I didn't have time to think as suddenly my image returned. The red word seared across my image.

KILLER

My body was shaking at the sight. Lungs convulsing in my chest from not breathing. Somewhere, I heard my name. The cold returned to my skin, tightening around me as the world tilted and swayed. The searing agony of pain rippling through my entire being as darkness rose up and swallowed me whole.

End Chapter*

Sorry about the use of a slur, I generally try to avoid them even in writing, however it didn't feel right to just censor that one, and I know that the site has a filter for words like that.

I hope you enoy this chapter, let me know what you think.