Pretty Little Liars

Chapter 8: Tell Me Who Sent This, Dammit

That same evening, Dakota lounges on the floor of her bedroom, a little white candle lit in front of her for Alison. She's holding a framed photo of the five of them together, taken on the her porch swing, all crammed together to fit in the shot. Their smiles matched each other's: bright and carefree, shining in the summer sun. Dakota runs her hand over Ali's face, momentarily covering it up so the four remain. The doorbell rings.

Dakota gets up from her floor, nearly sliding on the hardwood, her striped knee socks bunched at her shins. She skips downstairs to open the front door, where a mail man waits on the porch in a light blue polo and navy shorts.

"Package for you," he grunts, holding out a box addressed to Dakota's mother, a thin pile of envelopes on top.

"Thanks." Dakota politely smiles and shuts the door once she takes the contents, setting the box down at the bottom of the steps. Her mom should be home now any minute with dinner so she will leave that for when she gets back.

Sifting through the mail, Dakota comes across a blank envelope with a thin piece of paper slipped inside. Her name is written on the front in a font she doesn't recognize. Brow furrowing, Dakota tears the envelope open at the top, unfolding the lined paper from inside. It reads:

What would Mommy Dearest say about you warming up to her source of income? Will you tell her or shall I? -A

Dakota's heart plummets deep into her stomach and her hands begin to tremble. She reads the words over and over again until they set in. Someone knows. Whoever wrote this, knows. Alison's face flickers through Dakota's head, like it's lightening from a storm. She snaps her head up to look at the door, tearing it open and racing outside.

"Wait!" She waves her arms in the air as the mailman is just now climbing into the little truck parked at the end of the driveway. "Who sent this?"

"Pardon?" The mailman looks at her, confused.

"Who sent this?" Dakota asks again, holding up the note in her hand, blocking the writing so he can't read a single word.

"Well, does it have a return address?"

"No." Dakota searches the outside of the envelope again but her name is the only thing glaring back at her. She glances over her shoulder, waiting to see Ali lurking behind the ferns in the side yard, giggling into her hand.

And then she sees it. A flash of blond hair from around the corner of her house. Dakota ignores whatever the mailman is trying to tell her and she takes off through the yard, the note now crumpling up in her sweaty palm. She nearly trips over herself in the process, rounding the corner. But whoever was here-- if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her-- is gone.