No Escape

You Are Where I Was

Everything was blurry for Alison, but some of Paige's words would slip through the fog that had seemed to cloud her mind, and she swayed on her feet as she listened while Paige condemned her. That wasn't going to do Pigskin any good, she thought, eyes barely able to focus on everyone in front of her. So -A had called the girls. If Emily did as the detective had planned, she wouldn't be amongst those four, Alison mused, the cloud in her brain joined by a constant throbbing now.

She barely gave it a thought when the words slipped out, but she knew it was the worst time to have said them. She felt herself being thrown down, and she was barely able to even adjust herself so she could look up at the barrel of Paige's gun. Her head lolled to the side, before she forced herself to look at Paige. Paige's face came in and out of focus. Alison vaguely thought that she didn't want Paige to be the one who killed her. That would go against that morbid fantasy of hers to be remembered when she died.

Suddenly a loud sound filled her senses, and she couldn't see Paige anymore. I'm dead, she thought. It was oddly painless. Everything was still blurry. Images shifted in and out of focus. Then suddenly she could see Emily. She's so near. This must be heaven. Her eyes somehow found a reason to focus, and she looked up at the one person she loved more than life itself. My Avenging Angel.

But something was wrong. Emily wasn't smiling. Her face was fixed in a look of shock. Emily's lips were parted, and suddenly she felt a weight on her. It was a painful few seconds to realize that it was Emily who had taken the bullet.

Time seemed to slow as her mind struggled to make sense of what happened. Her weak arms came up to wrap around Emily, and she felt the warm wet sensation of Emily's blood. No. As always, her mind narrowed down to that space where only she and Emily existed, but this time Emily wasn't looking at her lovingly, or kissing her teasingly. Emily was collapsed on top of her, and she could barely feel Emily's breathing on her neck. No, no, no.

She tried to call out her name, but then Emily was off of her, and lights blinded her, and she was being lifted up. Hanna, she recognized. The fog seemed to lift as the events dawned on her, but she was still too weak, her head still rolling to the side since she couldn't keep it up. Emily. With the weakness came the sharp, excruciating pain that had gripped her heart and made her breathing feel constricted. She couldn't live in a world where Emily wasn't in it. She couldn't. Emily, she tried to say again. Her breathing became more shallow, the drugs she'd been fed mixing with the panic trying to break through her consciousness. I need Emily.

The last thing she saw was a body being carried away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...Paige is at the station."

"She should be locked up."

"But -A has enlisted a lot of people. Maybe she was just in a really dark place."

"Really, Aria? She was crazy!"

"Exactly! They sent Mona to Radley for what she did. She nearly killed Spencer."

"But Paige isn't like Mona."

"She tried to drown Emily for being better at swimming, remember?"

Ali raised an arm to cover her eyes, as if it would also block the noise from her friends. A few seconds in that position, trying to remember the night's events and then she scrambled up, feeling a tug at her hand.

"Ali."

She looked at her hand and saw an IV, probably to detox whatever she was given by -A. Whatever it was, she didn't care. She moved to remove it, but she recognized Aria's hand settling over hers.