They all crept towards Spencer's barn door, clutching onto each other for dear life, while I sat still in my seat, rolling my eyes, already knowing what was about to happen.
The trees made creepy ass noises as they hit against the roof.
Suddenly, a figure from the shadows burst out and into the barn, terrifying all four of them.
Alison Dilaurentis winked iconically as they all screamed with terror, "Gotcha!"
"So not funny, Alison!" Spencer laughed, clutching onto her chest where her heart lays.
We all began to laugh hysterically at another of of Alison's pranks.
Alison checked her phone for text messages, probably from one of the many boys she kissed and hung out with.
"I think I'm having heart palpitations." I say, sarcastically, clutching my chest for dramatic effect.
Alison grins and sits down on a stool, playing with her headphones which are attached to her phone.
"Don't fret, Alyssa." she says, cheekily, "I'll scare you one day."
"Ali, did you download the new Beyoncé?" Hanna questioned with a small smile spread from both of her chubby cheeks as she huddled into a blanket she had brought with her.
"Ugh, not yet." She whined, rolling her eyes at what she was missing out on.
"I'm loving her new video!" Emily pulls her knees up to her chest as she grins, waiting for somebody to reply.
"Maybe a little too much, Em." Alison implies, making eye contact with Emily.
The conversation seems to die a little after that awkward encounter, hence I decide to speak up.
"Any new boyfriends we should know about, Ali?" I wiggle my eyebrows as the other girls await her answer.
"Nope." she says popping the 'p', "Not yet anyway."
I chuckled, knowing that there was a guy, she was just being mysterious.
She began to pour some alcohol into red plastic cups and handing them all out to us. The first cup went to Aria, who almost immediately drank the liquid from inside of it.
"Careful Aria," Spencer laughs, "drink too much and you'll tell us all your secrets."
We all look at Aria who is smiling and then we all just laugh, thinking about the night ahead.
"Friends share secrets," Alison smiles genuinely, "that's what keeps us close."
We all look at each other, grateful for what we have.
"Drink up." Alison encourages as we all chug back the alcohol which begins to burn against our throats.
***
I wake up to the sound of somebody rustling around in the barn, "What's going on?"
I wipe my eyes and then look around the room to see Emily, Hanna and Aria sitting up looking confused and agitated, "Where's Ali and Spencer?"
"We don't know." Aria shrugged, still underneath her blanket.
Thankfully, we see Spencer coming into view through the barn doors but she doesn't look happy. She looks anxious, extremely anxious.
"She's gone." Spencer stutters a little, putting a lump in my throat.
"What do you mean 'she's gone'?" Aria asks, wondering if this is all just another one of Alison's pranks.
"I've looked everywhere for her," Spencer mutters worriedly, "I think I heard a scream."
1 year later. . .
Its been a year. Since she went missing. Since I left for military school. Since he left me behind.
I've tried to move on but its hard. Seeing the missing flyers all over the place doesn't help. Ali would have loved the attention. Sometimes I let myself hope that she's okay. That she'll just come home and say it was all a big joke. But then again, hope is for suckers.
"You okay, pequeño soldado?" my mom asks, interrupting my thoughts. "Yeah, it's just weird being back, that's all." I tell her. "You'll adjust." she answers. "You still have your friends to help you settle back in."
"Yeah, I guess." I reply.
My friends. We used to be close. That is until Alison went missing. I haven't heard from the others in forever.
"How about I drop you off at Spencer's?" my mom offers after a while of silence.
"Are you sure?" I ask, not wanting to ditch my mom on my first day back. "Yeah, it gives me more time to get Abuelita's stuff out of your bedroom." she says. "She kinda moved herself in while you were gone."
"Of course she did." I answer, receiving a chuckle from my mom.
After some time driving, we stop in front of the Hastings house. I get out of the car and wave my mom goodbye. I walk up to the door, which happens to already be open. "Knock, knock, puddin'." I say with a smirk, as I walk in, using my nickname for Spencer. Less than a second later, I'm enveloped in the biggest, most suffocating hug. "Hello, Alyssa." Mrs Hastings greets me with sweet smile as she enters the room, while Spencer is still holding on tightly. Like real tight.
"Sup, Mrs Hastings." I greet back, as Spencer finally let's go. Jesus!
"How was military school?" Spencer asks with a huge smile on her face. I hesitate. Should I tell her the truth? How miserable military school was? Why I had to go.
"Loud." I decide to answer. Better to keep it simple.
"Why don't you stay for dinner, honey?" Mrs Hastings asked, as her husband walked up and put his arm around her.
"Please do." Mr Hastings requested with a smile as Spencer's sister, Melissa walked in with some guy.
I looked at Spencer, whose eyes were practically begging me to say yes. Suspect, but okay.
"Sure," I replied, smiling. "Let me just call my mom first."
My phone buzzes just as pull it out from my pocket. I looked, to see a strange text from an unknown number.
A cheater will always cheat,
A liar will always lie,
And a snake will never escape. -A
I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion as I started to panic a bit. This can't mean what I think it means. Can it? Only Alison knew about that. But she's gone. Right?
"Can you please stay?" Spencer pleaded the next morning. I ended up staying the night because it turns out Abuelita had some "problems" when it came to moving out of my room. As expected. "I can't, Spence." I tell her once again. "Please?" she starts again. "Don't leave me here with Melissa and her fiance."
"I'm sorry, cariño." I tell her. "But I have to."
"Fine." She huffed. "At least come with me to the mall?"
I give her a look as if to say, "really?".
"I'll buy you something." She said, cheekily wiggling her eyebrow.
"Ok, you weirdo." I giggle.
"Gold digger." She says, earning her a smack to the face with a pillow.
YOU ARE READING
Rosewood Serpent
Fanfiction"A cheater will always cheat, A liar will always lie, And a snake will never escape. -A" As time has passed since Alison, the queen bee of the bunch, went missing. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily and Alyssa have gone on with their lives, though they've...
