After me ~ Pretty Little Liars Fanfic

thirty three

***

"It doesn't add up." Hanna paces back and forth in our kitchen. My parents are currently fighting off reporters to get to work and Melissa and Wren are painting their new 'baby's' room. I can't wait for him to throw her the the curb when he finds out she's been lying for the past 5 months. "How can Mackenzie be a murderer and then go jump out of a burning building whilst saving a man's life?"

"Right here Hanna" I exclaim. I look to the clock. 7:30am. None of us have slept since the incident. We had to move the conversation back to the Hasting's residence because Ella was setting up for some art exhibition she's holding at the house. I've already told the fire story to 3 different police officers. "And I didn't murder anyone"

"I still don't know if I believe that" She shrugs.

"Sara Harvey is still alive. She's living in Emily's house." Spencer answers for me.

"How do we know that's Sara though? DNA tests go wrong Spence- Ali is a prime example of it." Hanna replies as if it should have been obvious. We all look to Alison who looks guilty- we all know she'd corrupted the police, made them change the DNA results- she's just never admitted it.

"Here" Spencer says handing Hanna a bagel that's just recently popped out from the toaster. "Put something in your mouth besides your foot."

"All I'm saying is that I don't get it" Hanna shrugs. Aria gives her a death glare that I've never seen before as Hanna quickly shoves the food in her mouth.

"So before we sort this whole Jenna thing out, can I just ask one question?" Alison speaks up. She's been quiet all morning since I told her to shut up. "Mackenzie, are you screwing Aria's little brother?" She says sternly. I almost choke on my orange juice at her words.

"No I'm not!" I exclaim.

"Because he couldn't keep his eyes off you last night. Even considering your deformi-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence" Aria shouts. She seems so on edge about something. We never see this Aria. I didn't even know she existed.

"Long story short, we made out like once" I blurt, Aria raises an eyebrow. "Or twice. Okay I can't remember but that's it. I promise." I say defensively.

"So you are basically screwing Mike" Ali says.

"I'm not screwing Mike!" I exclaim.

"But you want to?"

"Stop putting words in my mouth Alison." I roll my eyes.

"Who's putting what in your mouth?" I hear Mike's voice behind me. I hang my head in shame.

"You and Mackenzie." Ali says standing up. She pulls me off my seat and onto my feet with a jolt. "Are you screwing her?"

"Am I what?" He exclaims, gripping the bag of burgers he just drove an hour round trip to get.

"Are you sleeping with my honorary little sister?" Alison says determinedly.

"Alison this is the least of our worries right now" I try to pull my arm out of her grip.

"No I'm not." Mike answers.

"Well why not?"

"I didn't say I'm never going to." Mike shrugs.

"Hello? I'm right here you know" I say but it's as if I'm talking to a wall.

"She just got out of hospital Ali. She literally just jumped out of a burning building and saved a man's life. I think that's the last thing she's thinking about" Mike continues. Well....

"Exactly, she needs to relax." Ali states. She turns to me, finally acknowledging my existence. "Mackenzie I'm pulling you out of this one. We don't need your help with this."

"Oh just like you didn't need my help on everything else? Just like you didn't need me in prison?" I sass. "You and I aren't so different Ali. We've both been through the same things. You came out with a shining reputation whilst I got a murder inquisition and infertility."

"Kenz, Ali's right on this one. You're going back to school tomorrow and after this morning, you seriously need to take a step back." Spencer says softly.

"I can handle it" I assure her.

"Please Kenz, do this for me? Look after yourself first?" She pleas. "I'll bring in Caleb and Toby on this one if it'll make you feel better."

"It'd make me feel better if you all stopped treating me like the helpless little child the whole town thinks I am." I sigh.

"Mackenzie why don't we go eat these at my place?" Mike says taking my hand.

"No Mike. I'm not a kid anymore. I may be 16 but I've been through much worse than any of you have put together." I state. "You've all pushed me around for so long, dictating my entire life. I'm over it now. I'll do what I want."

"Mackenzie stop it." Mike says sternly. He takes my hand and drags me upstairs before I can say anything more. He throws me into my room viciously, dropping me onto the carpet floor as I look up at him. He slams the door, locking it forcefully. His angry expression washes away as he sees the fear in my eyes. He leans down to me but I scramble away from him.

"What the hell Mike?" I exclaim as I get back into my feet, still keeping my distance from him.

"I have so much anger stored up inside of me. I just exploded." He sighs, looking to the ground, obviously ashamed of his actions.

"What do you have to be angry about? It's not like anything bad's happened to you."

"So my best friend getting locked away, my sister being imprisoned, my girlfriend being kidnapped, my sister and best friend disappearing off the face of the earth, the girl I've been in love with for 12 years being tortured and induced into a coma for three weeks to then jump out of a burning building hasn't affected me at all?" He exclaims so quickly I'm not entirely sure what he just said. I didn't realise that out of all of this, every single thing has affected him too. He lost his sister, girlfriend and best friend all at the same time. I thought I was the only one slowly going insane.

A hasn't just messed with me.

A's broken everyone.