A Twist of Time (A PLL Fanfic with Alison and Courtney)

Chapter 8, Alison Into Courtney

Alison DiLaurentis's Perspective

It's been exactly eleven hours and thirty seven minutes since I last saw Courtney. Mom and Dad are frantic, Jason's extra depressed, and I want to scream at the world for taking my sister. Mom and Dad have called all of our friends. Strangely, they've told me to wait in Courtney's room. They don't seem to want me to take part in it. I try to open the door, but I discover that it's locked. Then I hear my parents whispering with Jason outside the door.

"Courtney's gone crazy. We need to take her to the Preserve at Addison-Stevens. She did something to Alison. That's why I locked her in her room, Jason." Mom whispers.

My jaw dropped. They think... No. I can't believe they mixed us up! But then I hear Jason arguing.

"There's no way. You locked Ali in Courtney's room. Courtney's missing. We need to find her. Let Ali out so she can help!" Jason was the only one who could ever tell the difference between us in our family. Mom and Dad got by on their lucky guesses. But this time, they were adamant. This time, Dad's the one arguing with Jason.

"Enough, Jason! It's definitely Alison who's missing. Courtney's dangerous again, and she needs help. Jessica, can you go and call the Preserve?" Dad asks.

"Of course, Kenneth. Then I hear her phone voice. 'Yes, this is Jessica DiLaurentis, I'm calling to..' I don't hear the rest of it because I'm screaming.

"I'm Alison! I'm Ali! I'm Ali, damn it! I'm Ali! I'M ALI! It's me, Alison! I swear, I'm Ali! I'm ALI!" I howl into the hallway. Not this. All of a sudden, my phone buzzes with a text from Unknown. It reads:

 Gotcha, bitch!

 You're finally going down, Alison.

 Or should I say Courtney?

  Who cares?

 You're both mine now.

   Kisses!

 -A

Then a strange thing happens. The phone counts down from 5 seconds. Then the message deletes itself. All of a sudden, I realize what A is doing. A is sending me away to a mental hospital so that they can watch me suffer and know I didn't do anything, while Courtney is being held hostage somewhere so that she can't reveal anything or get me out of The Preserve. What can I do? I realize that I still have my phone with me. I call the first number I think of. Emily.

"Hello? Ali?" Emily asks, yawning into the phone.

"Em! I need you to tell the other girls. Quickly! Look, I'm going to be locked up, and-"

"What?" Emily was wide awake now. "What's going on, Ali? Is this a prank?"

"No!" I cry into the phone. "Look, I used to have issues with Courtney about switching places and all of that, but my parents think it started again because Courtney disappeared and they think she's me and I'm her and I'm calling myself Ali, but I really AM Ali, and Em, they're taking me to the mental hospital, The Preserve! Em, you've got to help me!" I sobbed into the phone.

"What? Courtney's disappeared? Your parents are taking you to The Preserve?" Emily said, loud and panicky. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Tell Aria, Hanna, and Spencer, but only them. Come visit me tomorrow so that I can talk to you guys properly, but please, don't tell anyone else. They don't realize that I have my phone, but they'll find and take it. Please visit me tomorrow. Please." I begged. I normally didn't, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Of course, Ali. We're definitely coming. I'll see you tomorrow. Stay strong." Emily says.

I hang up the phone. I turn it off, so that I can hide it so that I can take it to the Preserve. Wherever that was. But I knew this: A lot of people who went there never came out. I knew that without any proof, I would be stuck in there until June 6th on my eighteenth birthday. But I wasn't going down without a fight.

When my parents came in with a packed suitcase that I eyed warily, I knew exactly what they were going to say.

"Courtney, we think that this will be the best thing for you." Mom cooed at me, like I was seven, and not seventeen. Seventeen and stupid. Joke's on you, Mom. I glowered at them.

"I am not Courtney. Never have been, never will be. I'm Ali. I'm Ali. Jason knows, bring him in!" I demanded. My parents had their thin impatient smiles.

"Courtney, your issues on this need to be addressed. Come on. Now."

"No! I'm Ali! I'm Ali, you idiots! Let me go! I'm Ali!" I howled, trying to get their hands off me. They dragged me downstairs. I screamed my head off. All of a sudden, I was seven again, trying to fight the craziness that was welled up inside me. The fury, the injustice of it all. The desire to get my way to the point of death.

"No! I'm Ali!" I wailed, when my parents stuffed me into the car. "I'm Ali." I whispered. Ali. Ali. Ali. The car seemed to whisper back. I shook my head. I'm not crazy. I'm Alison DiLaurentis. Courtney DiLaurentis is missing. But Alison is here. I'm Ali. I know it. And that's step one to leaving the crazy place. But I will leave. After all, if anyone can think of something, it's me, Ali.