Breathe Me

Dollhouse

Hey girl, open the walls, play with your dolls
We'll be a perfect family.
When you walk away, is when we really play
You don't hear me when I say,
"Mom, please wake up.
Dad's with a slut, and your son is smoking cannabis."
No one ever listens, this wallpaper glistens
Don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen.
Places, places, get in your places
Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces.
Everyone thinks that we're perfect
Please don't let them look through the curtains.
Picture, picture, smile for the picture
Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?
Everyone thinks that we're perfect
Please don't let them look through the curtains.

Alison's POV

I've been in the dark for a long time and I'm getting scared. When will it be light again? And where am I in the first place? I've been hearing some familiar voices all around but I can't understand full sentences, just bits and pieces and I can't identify who is who.

"Ali's still-"

"Is she-"

"We should-"

"I think-"

"When will she-"

"Asleep-"

Finally the lights go up again.

I'm standing at the front of my living room again except this time it looks like how it was just two years ago. A few weeks before I was buried alive.

I see myself from a few years ago. I look mostly the same. My hair is a bit longer and curlier and I'm a little shorter and have no curves. But other than that I really haven't changed much.

I'm playing a beautiful song on the piano and I look so happy and in my element. I've always loved the piano.

Then my mother's angry voice sounds throughout the house. "Where are you?!"

"In in here, duh." Fifteen-year-old me rolls my eyes.

Mom storms in.

She smiles at mom. "Aren't you impressed? I guess all your nagging finally paid off-"

She barely finishes her sentence when mom slams the piano top down, nearly smashing her fingers.

Luckily, she pulls back just in time.

I jump as it happens. Now I remember this.

"Oh my god!" The girl cries. "You almost took off my frickin' fingers!"

"You think that's funny? The stunt you pulled? That's some sort of sick joke to you?"

"You seriously almost took off my limbs." She laughs humorlessly.

"Is that what you do when you're not flouncing around town? Figure out ways to ruin things for me?!" Mom asks with disgust.

I wince at her degrading words, but the younger me stays stoic. "Why are you having a full on hemorrhage?" She mocks.

"Don't you speak to me that way."

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" She cries. I remember that she's telling the truth. She has no idea what this is about.

"I get a call from your dad this afternoon, 'Why didn't you tell me? Why are you buying things for her?'"

I remember everything. Those two dresses were the first of many identical gifts that Bethany and I got from mom.

"So I try to reason with him but he starts yelling at me! Threatening to leave me! Accusing me of an affair that he was already suspicious of! How could you tell him about the double gifts, Alison?! I told you not to!"

The teen's face goes blank. "I didn't."

And she didn't. I know now that it was Mona as A that tipped dad off, but back then I was so confused.

"Oh don't lie to me!" Mom shrieks. "I had to convince him that I wasn't cheating and it was not easy! You are so selfish! I never want you doing something like that again!"

"I didn't!" She yells back.

"I said don't lie to me!" Mom is loudest of all. "Go to you room. Go to your room, because I cannot be held accountable for what happens."

"I don't even know how he found out!" The girl defends.

Mom sighs, still not believing her. "Well you enjoy it." She says menacingly. "Because it's the last game that you are going to play. The way you act is toxic."

"So are a lot of things." The daughter whispers.

"You will no longer do this. This is the last time..." She walks away.

Her voice chills me to the bone. It's like she knew she would be burying me alive in a few weeks time. Maybe she did. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that we don't know now that mom is gone. Like who hit me with the rock. It was probably A, but there's no way to be sure.

The Ali at the piano glares at her mother's retreating form, then goes back to playing the piano.

I feel tears wetting my cheeks but I'm not sure how long I've been crying.

And it's dark once again.

Emily's POV

"Ali it would be so nice if you could wake up." I grin, squeezing her hand. It's been about a week and she still hasn't stirred. The doctors say she's stable and that there's no signs showing she won't live, but they don't know when she'll wake up.

I stare down at her beauty.

She has silky, golden blonde hair, electric blue eyes, smooth creamy skin, bow-shaped, naturally shiny pink lips, and a heart shaped face. She's perfect like a Barbie princess. And I had the chance to have her and I blew it. I want her back.

"Hey."

I look up to see Hanna.

"Em, you need to eat."

"No." I say and look back down at my Barbie princess. "I'm not leaving her unless I have to."

"I don't think she can tell the difference, Em."

"Yes she can! She knows I'm here, I can feel it. She needs me."

"Emily I think she'll understand if you need to eat. Just get some food and bring it back in to eat." She says.

I stand reluctantly. "Okay..." I kiss her hand and whisper, "I'll be right back, Ali." Then I lay it back on the bed and go to get food with Hanna.

Spencer and Aria are waiting for us in the cafeteria.

"Hey, Em. How are you doing?" Spencer asks.

"Fine." I mumble.

"How's Ali?"

"In a coma, Spencer." Hanna says. "She's not breathing, how do you think she's doing?"

Spencer furrows her brow. "Hanna, people in a coma still breathe."

Hanna contemplates then just shakes her head. "Whatever."

"Let's just eat." I say glumly.

AN: So more memories... Yay... The video at the top was not made by me. I forget who made it, but if you just search it up on YouTube you'll find it. BTW, I wrote that thing about Ali's curves to say something. People say Sasha has gotten fat but that isn't true! What you have to understand is that before she was 12/13 and now she is 19! So of course in that time she grew like any normal teenager. She filled out and got curves. It's normal. She is not fat! The other girls didn't do that because they were already in their twenties when the show started. Sasha was still a child. Hope you guys liked it! Song is by Melanie Martinez. But yeah next chapter coming at ya soon!

- G. Schreiber

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