***Chapter 29***
**Aria's POV**
"How could A have possibly known where we were going to be? That I would go back to the junkyard. Or that we would all be in Sullivan's office at the same time?" I asked Emily over the phone, since I had gotten back home and told her about the creepy doll that I had found at the junkyard after she left.
"That's how it's always been. A's always known everything, I stopped wondering about the how a long time ago." Emily reminded me of how long we had been stalked by A, how they always knew everything.
"Yeah, but I left Rosewood for like an hour and suddenly A was on my tail. How is that even possible? Especially since I wasn't with you guys."
A had always been able to do the impossible, to anticipate our movements like they were thinking three steps ahead in a chess game. It had sometimes felt like fate, but over time I had dismissed it as them just knowing our behaviors. But this was different. The junkyard hadn't been my idea. It didn't seem possible that A could anticipate Clark's ideas and movements the way that they could mine. There were a couple of possible options, but none of them gave me any reassurance. Either A had bugged my dad's office at Hollis and Clark had shared more info in the office than I had realized. Clark was working with A, which didn't seem that likely given the fact that they still followed me to the junkyard. Or A was tracking me somehow, either following my movements or maybe my phone.
"I don't know, Aria." Emily responded, tone exasperated that I was pushing on the biggest question that we had all given up on in the past.
I heard a knock sounding at the front door, making me turn and look through the glass. I knew that it wouldn't be anyone too dangerous since the cops were still screening who came to my house and were watching it 24/7. Through the glass I could see Ezra standing there, waiting with some sort of paper grasped in his hands.
"I gotta go. Ezra's here."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know." I ended the call and headed over to the door. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Sorry, you left your application for the contest at the coffee shop. I was just going to drop it off, but I saw your car and thought that I would give it to you in person." He rambled in his usual nervous habit, handing me the paper. "I also saw that you needed a recommendation, so I wrote one. I know it's presumptuous, and if you want to get someone else to write one I will understand."
"No. Thank you. I mean, who knows me better than you." I took a look at the paperwork and began scanning through the recommendation, from even the briefest glance I could tell it was glowing. "Wow, you definitely put your creative writing skills to use here. When did I have a solo exhibit at the Brew?"
"I might have embellished a little bit. But I do have your self-portrait hanging over my desk." He said, making me raise my eyebrow that he had the photo of me over his workspace. "I mean, did."
Hopefully he had actually taken it down, it would be weird for him to still look at me for inspiration, especially since I was in no condition to be in a relationship. The thought hit me again, as it had so many times since I had been back. But if I was going to be in a relationship, I wondered if it would even be with Ezra. I mean we had so much history and he had this image of me in his mind, this expectation of who exactly I was. But I wasn't that person anymore, I had changed so much since we had been together and I didn't think that I could go back to being that girl, or that I even wanted to. And as hard as it was to admit, my opinion of him had changed over time as well. For so long we had felt like magnets, constantly pushing away and pulling back together. It felt like fate at the time, like we were truly meant to be. Even him coming to find me had been more of the same. But now it felt more like desperately holding onto what we'd had before and never moving forward. I took a shuddering breath to fight off the feeling of suffocation bearing down upon me. Phantom hands covering my nose and mouth and pressing my lips together.
"Wow, what is that?" his voice pulled me out of my thoughts, as he spotted the doll of me that was sticking haphazardly out of my purse.
"Oh, that." I gasped, feeling the air return to my lungs. I looked at him, almost wanting to tell him what was going on. He had always been a help when it came to looking into A, except when he was working against us that is. But I knew I couldn't tell him, not if I didn't want Sarah to pay for it. "I did that, for my photography."
"Wow, that is disturbing. I'm not sure I would want that hanging over my desk." he joked, but I could hear the hollowness of his laugh.
I gave a watery smile at that, knowing that I honestly would be happy to never see that creepy doll again. It made me feel worse than I already did. I eyed the doll again and I felt the nausea rise up in my throat again. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about this, getting sick every time that I looked at the freaky doll.
"Aria, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just not feeling great." I admitted with a weak smile.
"I should go and let you get some rest then."
He moved to give me a hug but thought better of it when all I did was give him a small smile before he headed out of the house. I breathed a sigh of relief when he had left, feeling like I had just run five miles I was so tired. I sat down on the bottom step of the stairs, trying to recover from what had just happened. It was nice of Ezra to write out the recommendation for me, especially given that most of what I had seen in it was fabricated. Which was something that made me slightly anxious, as that was exactly the sort of thing that always seemed to get turned into A blackmail material. It all felt like a never-ending game. A still pulling the same old tricks as always and us continuing the pattern. More than anything, I wanted to break the pattern. Never get another creepy doll again, not feel the overwhelming exhaustion of this same futile exercise. And maybe, finally be done with the secrets that were always seeping into every crack in my life until it became all consuming.
After a few minutes, I grabbed my purse and phone before heading upstairs, not wanting my family to see the evidence of the continued harassment. It was bad enough that Ezra had seen it. I figured I could get a little bit of rest before the girls let me know the plan for the rest of the night, maybe deal with the exhaustion that was making my limbs tremble. It was a little easier to sleep with the daylight shining through the window, but still I felt restless as I tried to get comfortable in the bed.
I dozed off and on through the afternoon before my phone chirped with a text message.
-Spencer: Leslie works at a college lab. We got a copy of her card key. You in for a little investigating tonight?-
-Aria: Definitely. What time?-
It looked like I might not be having dinner with my family tonight. I wasn't sure though since we would have to go to the lab pretty late in order to avoid anyone who works there, hopefully there weren't any students working late tonight.
-Spencer: How about we go at 9? Should be clear of people there then.-
-Aria: Sounds good.-
It was only around 5 now, so I still had a few hours to hang out and rest before I needed to meet up with the girls.
-Dad: Are you still up for dinner tonight?-
-Aria: Yeah, I'm not meeting up with the girls until later tonight.-
-Dad: What restaurant do you want to go to?-
-Aria: How about the Thai place?-
-Dad: Sounds good. Will check with Mike though.-
I smiled at the normalcy of the act, making plans to go out to dinner with my family. I wish my life could be normal like that, that all I had to worry about was homework and picking out my dorm for next year. I closed my eyes, realizing the futility of that wish. I curled up on the bed again, setting my phone as an alarm for 6 so that I could wake up in time to get ready for dinner with my family. I should probably continue working on the backlog of school work, considering I wouldn't have the time later tonight and I hadn't made any noticeable progress in the massive pile. But I also didn't want to be so exhausted tonight that I couldn't spot the clues. Just a little longer with the sun shining and able to block out some of the fear.
My alarm went off and I bolted upright at the noise before realizing what it was and shutting it off. I rubbed at my eyes, feeling less exhausted than I had earlier tonight. There were no messages on my phone thankfully, so I headed into the bathroom to take a shower. I know I didn't need one, since I had already showered this morning, but it made me feel better. With the heat in my body and heading for dinner with my family, I was ready as I could be for whatever was waiting for us at Leslie Stone's lab.
***End Chapter***
Hope y'all enjoy. Thanks to the folks who have left a review, definitely helps keeping me motivated to keep working on this.