No Escape

It's Our Little Secret

Emily waved as Paige drove away, arms coming up around herself. It was cold, but her fingers clenching around her own arms wasn't to ward off the cold. She was sure Paige noticed how distracted she was during dinner, and if she knew what Emily was actually thinking about, Paige would throw a fit.

Emily shook her head as if it would get rid of her thoughts, but of course it was futile. She knew Alison didn't mean for her to hear those last three words. She'd never heard Ali sound so broken before. Those three words weren't meant to be choked out in pain. But that's exactly how Emily had heard it when Ali finally, finally said them.

And Emily had spun around after a few seconds of realizing what Alison had said, only to find the door to her house open, the wind blowing the rain in. Ali had already left, and she left Emily with too much on her head sleep comfortably that night. Emily was still debating on whether or not she'd heard what she did, but from the distance that had felt too wide between them that day, she could feel the truth behind the words. She would never be able to explain why, but that was exactly how she felt about it.

And now she didn't know where Ali was.

Not only that, the chances of her being in A's grasp was too high. The note that was left for Alison's father was signed by the person who had been tormenting them for years now. Her grip on her arms tightened when she thought about how much work this person was putting just to ruin their lives. He or she must have too much time on their hands. Why put in all that effort into making five people's lives hell?

She had just entered the house when her phone went off, and she stiffened, wary of the message she was going to see there. She was right to be wary.

'Does Paige kiss as well as Ali does? -A'

Emily's lips pursed, ready to throw her phone against the wall, when suddenly it rang this time. Emily was angry enough not to even think about the fact that she was answering an unknown number. Hand stiff, she received the call, lifting it to her ear.

"A." Her voice was flat.

The other end was silent. It was only a few seconds, and Emily's temper was just getting worse. "Look-"

"I have her."

Emily's body went ice cold. Her hand went lax around her phone and she had to consciously tell herself to hold on to it, afraid she'd drop it. The fear, she couldn't suppress it. The anger had fizzled out like a match blown out. Emily would have preferred it. Preferred it to the cold, consuming fear that had suddenly overtaken her whole being.

"Who is this?," she asked, knowing it wasn't going to be answered, but needing to tell the person anyway. She needed to keep them on the phone. She needed to know more.

"Don't worry."

It was obviously one of those voice modifiers. She couldn't tell if it was male or female. She only knew that it sounded a little manic. She swallowed, hands threatening to shake, but she had to hold on. "Who's this?," she repeated.

"It'll all be over soon."

She felt her heart drop even before the call ended. Snapping out of her stupor she quickly moved to send an SOS to the other girls, but she received a text with an attachment. She was afraid to open it, but her fingers moved on autopilot, opening the message and clicking on the attachment.

It was Ali, blindfolded with a noose wrapped around her neck. Her face was contorted as if she were in pain, and tear tracks, despite the blindfold, were visible on her face. Ali had always been pale, but she was too pale in the photograph. She was scared. And Emily had no idea where she was.