Ivy sat at the kitchen counter, buttering a piece of toast, while Hanna stood next to her, picking up some paper.
Ashley glanced at them. "Where's Emily?" She wondered.
Ivy placed the knife down, fixing her gaze on Ashley. "She already left. She went to her house to talk with the tenants before they move out." She notified.
Ashley placed three cups on the counter for each of them. "Have we heard anything more about that fire at the Dilaurentis' house?" She asked, mostly directed at Ivy.
Hanna's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Ashley clarified, "Do they know how it started? Do they think someone set it intentionally?"
Ivy shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know. Jason hasn't said much about it. I'm guessing it was an accident, Jason always forgets to put things off." She lied with a chuckle.
A sudden ring coming from Hanna's bag made both girls freeze.
Hanna had forgot about the phone that Mona gave her.
Ashley looked over at Hanna. "What was that?" She asked.
"What was what?" Hanna wondered, acting confused.
The phone rang again. "That." Ashley said. "Your purse is ringing."
Ivy shook her head. "Hmm. I don't think it is."
Hanna nodded along. "Yeah, if Ivy says it's not. It's not."
"You must need your ears checked." Ivy gave Ashley a sympathetic smile.
Ashley ignored the girls, then rummaged through Hanna's purse, pulled out the phone and answered it. "Hello?"
"No, this is her mother. I don't know what you're calling her on, Caleb, because Hanna doesn't own a phone anymore, and Ivy can't have hers either." And she hung up.
Ivy scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I can't have mine?"
"Yeah. Hand it over." Ashley held her hand out, and Ivy reluctantly placed her phone in it.
Ashley raised an eyebrow at her. "You'd think that when you turned eighteen, that you'd start telling the truth."
Ivy shrugged, folding her arms. "I ain't no snitch."
Ashley turned to look at Hanna, who blurted out the truth, "It's not my phone. It's Mona's. She gave me her old one. She needs to be able to reach me at all times."
"Why?"
"No, Mona's in a crisis. I need to be there for her 24/7." Hanna told.
Ashley just stared at her. "What's the crisis?" Hanna didn't answer. "Okay, Hanna, Ivy, there is no more room for secrets and lies in this house. It's already way too crowded."
Just then someone knocked on the door and came in. "Morning." Mona said, closing the door behind her.
"I thought you were gonna honk." Hanna said. "Let's go."
Before they could leave Ashley spoke up again. "Mona...If you need round-the-clock counselling, your more than welcome to stay here for a night or two." Mona looked confused. "But no using phones. Is that clear?"
Mona nodded. "Got it. So sorry." she smiled apologetically. "Ooh, is that an egg white omelet? You are just amazing, Mrs. M. you make Martha Stewart look like a slacker."
"Mona, move."
Ivy packed up her books in her bag, and threw it over her shoulder, following after them.
——————
Ivy, Aria, Hanna and Emily were sat outside the school in the courtyard.
Ivy took a bite of her blueberry muffin as Spencer came running towards them. "Guys, I figured it out." She alerted them.
She sat down, and continued, "Alison took out a classified ad asking 'A' to meet her in Brookhaven, and 'A' responded. This was going on for like a month. Look. "Dear 'A' , what's it gonna take to end this? You need to stop. A.D.""
Spencer handed over the newspaper to Aria and continued, "Hey, desperately seeking silence, who says I wanna end this? 'A'." She read.
"Let me see that."
"What's this one?" Emily asked, picking up the paper.
"It's the last paper before labour day weekend. Alison was set to meet 'A' at 235 Spruce Street." Spencer told them.
Aria leant forward. "Why do I know that street?"
"Because we walked on it." Hanna started. "The creepy doll hospital?" She jogged their memory.
Just hearing about the place gave Ivy the shivers.
"Guys." Emily gained their attention, and the four looked to where Emily was gazing.
Jenna and Toby entered the courtyard.
"She took of the bandage." Ivy mumbled.
"She's not using the stick." Aria noted.
"Why is she still wearing the shades?" Hanna wondered.
Emily leant forward to whisper. "Hanna, stop staring."
Spencer shoved the newspapers safely away in her bag.
Ivy's eyes widened when Jenna and Toby started to come over to them. Toby ambled away when Jenna stopped at their table.
Jenna squeezed in between Ivy and Hanna. "Sorry to interrupt."
"Can you see or not?" Hanna blurted.
Ivy's eyes widened. "Hanna!"
Jenna shook her head.
"Wait, the surgery didn't—?"
Jenna stopped Aria. "No, it didn't. I went in knowing the odds, so I can't be shocked. The funny thing is, I woke up this morning and, uh...I could see clearly, just not with my eyes."
Ivy looked around at the girls confused, but they seemed to understand, so she acted as though she knew exactly what Jenna was saying.
"You could've left me in that smoky room, Ivy, but you...you didn't. Instead, you...you saved my life." Jenna cried. "And it made me realise that...that people can grow. So now it's my turn, and that's why I'm here. I'm here to...to apologise. And to let go of the anger that's been holding me back. So can we just please...move on?"
"What exactly are you apologising for, Jenna?" Emily asked.
Jenna took a breath. "For holding a grudge and, uh...for hating you." She paused for a moment. "We've all done things that we're not proud of. I know what you think of me. But you're wrong. I've never been the person you really need to fear."
And she stood up, unfolding her cane, and walking back into the school.
"Please don't tell me you bought that." Emily said, looking around at them.
Aria sighed. "I kinda did."
"Guys, if that surgery didn't work, there's no way she hates us less." Emily made a good point. "I still believe she had something to do with that fire at Jason's."
Hanna squinted her eyes. "So you think she set the fire and then just walked into it?" She speculated.
"Yeah, I've heard of cutting off your nose to spite your face, but that's—" Aria began.
"Cutting off your whole face." Spencer finished.
Emily tilted her head. "Well, if Jenna isn't 'A' , then who is she talking about? Garrett?"
"Melissa." Hanna stated.
"Hanna, Melissa openly admitted to sending Ali angry text messages. If she was 'A', why would she do that?" Aria questioned.
Hanna shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have the answer."
Spencer spoke up. "I think Vivian did. I think she found out. That's why she's not sitting with us."
"What do we do now?" Ivy wondered.
"We retrace Ali's steps, go back to Brookhaven. We're too close now to back off."
——————
The five arrived back in Brookhaven, and Aria was updating them on that she found papers on her mom's desk, for an all girls' boarding school in Vermont. "He couldn't run Ezra out of town, so now he's shipping me off." Aria said, taking the lead down the street.
"What did Ezra say?" Ivy wondered.
"Well, he's not really surprised. My dad's turning this into a war." Aria stated.
Emily spoke next, "So, what are you gonna do?"
"Look, can you just hurry up and figure it out? Because Vermont is like Iceland the sequel." Hanna dramatised.
Spencer's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, there's no 235."
Ivy noticed an old lady walking towards the creepy doll shop. "Guys, look." She pointed.
Spencer started to the women. "Uh, hi. Hi. Um, sorry. Excuse me." The girls followed in a close range.
"We're not open." The lady stated.
"Oh, well, we've tried to call you, your shop a couple of times. We just want to ask a few questions." Spencer said.
"You can ask, but it don't mean I'll have the answers."
Spencer chuckled. "Um, we just wanted to know if you keep a record of all of the customers who purchase your dolls." She said.
The lady shook her head as she spoke, "We don't see much. It's mostly repairs."
"Uh, um, well, you do sell some dolls, because a friend of ours might have received that one as a gift." Spencer pointed in the window at the creepy brown stitched doll.
"We never sold those. That's as left her and never picked up." The lady said.
That peeked Spencer's interest. "Could you tell us who might have left it?" She asked.
The lady chuckled. "I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch. Ya'll better come inside." She gave them a smile. "Seth, baby, turn on the light, would ya? We got guests."
The lady led the five down the stairs, talking as they went. "My late sister did the books. I've been dying to sell the shop." She chuckled. "No takers. Kids these days only like things they can Google." She turned back to face the girls. "Which doll was it again? So many faces in here, they start to blur."
"Uh, it was a small one, kind of folksy and burlap-y." Spencer described.
Hanna added on, "Terrifying."
"They mean the voodoo dolls. There was another girl came in asking about the same one." A boy spoke up.
Ivy thought he looked a bit creepy.
"When was that?" Aria asked.
"Summer before last."
The lady interrupted before he could go any further. "I can't make heads or tails out of this. Let me check that stack over there." And the lady left.
Hanna turned to face the boy. "This girl who came in...what was she asking?"
"She wanted to know who bought it."
Emily brought her phone out and showed him a picture of Alison. "That's her face, but she had dark hair, lots of it, like that." He pointed at a doll.
"Did you ever figure it out? The person that she was looking for?"
The boy shook his head. "No, but I told her to stop looking."
Ivy tilted her head. "Why?"
"There are people who wanted to hurt her. A man and a women."
The lady stopped him. "Seth, hold your tongue."
"What is he talking about?" Spencer asked. "When did these people come into the shop?"
The lady shook his head. "They didn't. That's something he saw in his mind. He sees things - things that haven't happened yet. He's gifted."
"This couple who was after her...what did they look like?"
"Dark hair, like yours." The boy replied.
Ivy stepped forward. "Um, was she wearing sunglasses? Did she have a cane?"
"Is she blind?" Hanna simplified.
The boy shook his head. "Oh, no, she can see."
"Seth, baby, why don't you take the groceries up to the kitchen, hear?"
To Ivy, it seemed like the women was trying to avoid this conversation at all costs.
The boy nodded, and picked up the bags. He didn't make it far before he called back, "Sorry about what happened to her. Must have been awful, breathing dirt into your lungs. I don't even like sand in my mouth."
The five girls stared at him with shock.
"Seth, baby, go. You said enough."
The boy disappeared up the stairs, and the girls kept taking glances at each other.
——————
"You think this will be enough to split?" Aria asked, holding up a pizza box.
The five were now at the Marin's house, sitting in the kitchen. None of the girls answered her, too freaked out by the boy.
Aria chucked the box on the counter. "Guys, seriously, he's nine years old, he's never seen the sun, and he probably lines in a cupboard with like 600 dolls. Okay? So you don't need to get all freaked out over a news flash from Casper the friendly host."
"Aria, he remembers Alison. Okay? He warned her that something bad was gonna happen." Emily spoke.
"Well, if it wasn't Jenna and Garrett, who was the couple he saw in his head?"
Hanna spoke up, "Melissa and Ian."
"Can you let it go?" Emily asked.
"No, he said the girl wasn't blind."
"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean that we have to go back there."
Spencer spoke up, surprising them all, "Yeah, we do. My parents thought that Melissa could've killed Alison." She let out.
The girls all sat up. "Say that again." Ivy muttered, staring at her with wide eyes.
"They hired a detective after Ali disappeared." Spencer told.
Aria sat down, and Emily asked, "What did the detective find?"
"I don't know, but Melissa tried to convince me that my father wanted to see Ali dead." Spencer told.
"Wait, Melisa accused your father of wanting Alison dead. Why? Why would he want that?" Aria questioned.
Spencer glanced at Ivy - who gave her a reassuring look, then sighed. "Because Alison knew that my dad...my dad's is Jason's father, too. She would like drop hints and make weird jokes about how close our families were. And then Jason figured it out, and he told me...recently."
"So you're father and..." Hanna trailed off.
"Did Ali rub this in Melissa's face, too?" Aria asked.
Spencer shrugged. "All I know is that Melissa hated Alison's guts. She worked in the next town over and she probably drove past that creepy doll shop every day."
——————
Spencer told the girls about what Melissa said. She told Spencer that she'd seen some videos that made the girls look bad. And Spencer was now freaking out about it. "She's bluffing." Hanna said.
"That's a pretty big hand to play with no cards." Emily analysed, as the five sat down outside for lunch.
"That's what happens when you have nothing. You play big and you psyche everybody out." Hanna stated.
Spencer turned to her. "Okay, but what if Melissa is telling the truth? What if there was a camera on us the night of the Jenna thing?"
"That's scary." Ivy mumbled, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
Hanna sighed. "You know what? Enough is enough. If we have to trick Melissa into sending a text message to prove that she's 'A', then that's what we'll do."
"I'm really hungry." Ivy complained, throwing her head back against the headrest.
Emily nodded. "Me too..."
The two girls were sat in Emily's car, waiting for Melissa to pull up outside the post office. Their plan was to get Melissa to see Mona and Caleb kissing, which would then make Melissa send Hanna a text.
Melissa pulled in, and the two girls automatically ducked. She got out of the car, and headed inside the post office.
"Now, the waiting game." Ivy mumbled.
The two sat in comfortable silence, as they waited for Melissa to come back out.
The only sound in the car was from the quiet music playing from the radio.
A few minutes later, Melissa walked out, holding a cardboard box in her hands. Emily sent Mona a go ahead through text, and they then waited.
Melissa visibly stopped when she spotted Caleb and Mona. But she continued on walking, she kept glancing back at the two as she walked past.
After Emily and Ivy dropped Caleb home, they headed back home. They walked in the door, and headed into the kitchen to find Hanna and Spencer.
"Where have you two been?" Spencer asked in a motherly tone.
"We drove Caleb home. He told Mona he wanted to walk." Emily said.
Ivy folded her arms. "Yeah, mom, anymore questions?" She asked.
Spencer gave her a look.
Emily ignored her and continued. "Caleb doesn't get why we aren't trapping Jenna and Garrett. To him, that's still the enemy."
"Well, he's wrong. We have proof now." Hanna said.
Spencer shook her head. "No, we might need more."
Hanna snapped her head to face Spencer. "More? I just forced my boyfriend to make out with my best friend from junior high. What's next? Hiding in Melissa's closet? Rubbing her belly until the baby confesses?"
"Hanna, Jenna and Garrett—" Emily began
Hanna stopped her from continuing, "No, Emily! Stop confusing us! We know who 'A' is now!"
"No, Hanna! We're still just guessing!" Spencer fired back.
Emily said, "What if we show that kid the video from Alison's room? Let Seth tell us which couple—"
Hanna cut in, "Have you lost your mind? We are now going to ask a nine-year-old sideshow to tell us who's been torturing us?"
"Hanna, he remembered Alison." Emily said.
"So what? He reads the paper. It doesn't mean hat he can bend a spoon just by staring at it." Hanna shouted.
Spencer spoke up, "He knew how she died. That was never in the paper."
The front door suddenly opened, and Mona called in, "Hey there." She shut the door and came into the kitchen. Ivy gave her a small waves which she returned. "So did it work? Did you guys get a text?" Mona asked.
The girls looked at Hanna, waiting for her answer. "No. No, not yet. What's in the bag?"
Mona raised the bag in the air. "Shower gel. I need to scrub off ten layers of shame." From the awkward glanced between the girls, Mona spoke up again, "Well, um, I'm gonna go shower. See you before lights out."
When she left, Emily turned to Hanna. "You can't tell her everything. Hey, this is Spencer's family."
"Fine. We'll show Seth baby the video." Hanna said, and she glanced round at Spencer. "That's the only stop we're making before the police station." And Hanna stormed out.
——————
The four girls walked along the sidewalk towards the doll shop. "Do you think it's too late?" Emily wondered.
"Yes." Spencer answered honestly.
They came to a stop outside the creepy shop, and Hanna peered in the window, but didn't see anybody. "They could be downstairs." She suggested.
Spencer tried the door, and it was open. The four just waltzed in. "Hello?" Spencer called out.
Ivy had latched onto Emily, absolutely terrified of the creepy dolls that stared at them. They made their way down the steps, into the basement. "Martha? Are you down here?"
"Why's the light on? Looks like somebody just left." Emily analysed.
"Did you guys ever think the possibility that 'A' tricked us? Like, maybe 'A' knew we were gonna do that, do they waited, and set up Melissa to make it look like she done it?" Ivy stated.
Spencer pointed at her. "That's exactly why we need to be careful."
The four made their way further into the basement, but Ivy couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching them.
"You guys, let's just go." Hanna was just as freaked out as Ivy was.
Emily noticed a box of those creepy brown dolls, and pulled them onto the table. "Look. She said she didn't sell these."
"She did."
Just then the light turned off.
"Oh, no. I ain't doing this today." Ivy muttered, pulling Emily close to her as though she was a body shield.
"Martha?!" Spencer called out. "Um, I'm sorry. We're down here."
"Okay, let's just come back when they're open." Emily said.
"That would be 1979." Spencer joked. "Just find a light switch." She added.
Hanna shook her head. "Let's not, and just leave."
Ivy pointed in the general direction she though Hanna was in, as it was dark. "Yep, I agree."
A distorted voice spoke up, "Follow me, end up like me." It kept chanting.
"Oh, hell nah." Ivy mumbled, about to make a run for it, but Emily dragged her closer to herself.
Spencer opened the door where the noise was coming from, and there sat a doll, sitting on dirt, mocking Alison.
If Ivy hadn't shit her pants before, she definitely did after a doll came flying over to them.
The four looked up as they heard screeching, and saw a monkey doll, hitting it's symbols together. Ivy pointed at it. "It's the creepy monkey from Toy Story 3!" She yelled.
More dolls kept flying and falling off the shelves, one actually hit Ivy on the head, making her groan.
They managed to get out, but each of them kept jumping at the slightest noise.
When they had arrived back at Spencer's house, they immediately ran up the stairs, to start packing the stuff back in Ali's bag.
"What all should we take?" Emily asked, shoving things in the bag.
Spencer was about to leave something out, but Hanna stopped her, "Wait, put that in the duffel bag." She said. "We have to give them everything."
Hanna started to walk off. "What are you looking for?" Emily wondered.
"I have no idea." Hanna shrugged.
"This feels really weird, giving them all of Ali's stuff." Emily noted.
Ivy placed the bunny in the bag. "Maybe there's something useful for the police in there."
Spencer nodded. "Yeah. Alison even said there was."
Both Ivy and Hanna stopped. "What? When?"
"Yesterday." Spencer replied.
"In a dream." Emily finished.
Ivy glanced at Hanna, and she too didn't hear anything about this dream. "Okay, why are Ivy and I just hearing about this now?" Hanna asked.
Neither Spencer or Emily answered as a door closed downstairs.
Ivy pointed towards the door. "I swear if a doll has followed us here: I'm moving state." She paused, then corrected herself, "Nope, I'm moving country."
The four creeped down the stairs, to listen. Spencer took the lead, then Emily, Hanna and Ivy. Spencer spun back to face them, and mouthed. "It's Melissa and Garrett."
"I don't want you carrying any more than you already are." Garrett said.
Spencer snapped round to face them once more. "They just kissed!" She mouthed.
All four held shocked faces.
"Do you want a beer? You're off duty." Melissa asked.
"Um, I'll just take a soda if you got one."
Hanna moved slightly, causing the stair to creak. The girls spun their heads to her, mouthing cuss words frantically.
"Is someone else here?" Garrett questioned.
"I don't think so."
"Are you sure your sister didn't—" Garret started, but got interrupted by Melissa.
"Stop worrying. I've been scaring her since she was born. There's no way she or her friends are turning in that video. Trust me." Melissa reassured him.
This time Ivy tripped over her own foot, and almost fell, but thankfully Hanna and Emily caught her. But unfortunately the floor creaked underneath them.
The girls started panicking when they heard footsteps coming closer, but were saved by a knock at the door.
Spencer peeked round the doorframe, and turned back to them. "It's the police."
"Why are they here?" Ivy mouthed.
Spencer shrugged.
Melissa opened the door for them. "Officer, Hi. Um, is something wrong?"
They didn't answer, and they walked in. "Neil. What, uh, What's going on?"
"We're here on official business."
The four poked their heads round the wall to see what was going on.
"Officer Reynolds, will you please surrender your weapon?"
Garrett and Melissa glanced at each other. "What? What the hell is this?"
"Why are you doing this? What has he done?" Melissa questioned.
Garret gave the man his weapons, and the man said, "Garrett Reynolds, you're under arrest."
"For what?" Garrett shouted.
"The murder of Alison Dilaurentis."
————————
Hey guys :)
How are you all?
Here's the next chapter. I hope you liked it.
I don't know how many times I'll update over the course of the next month, as I have exams soon, and need to prepare for them, and hopefully pass. But I'll try and update as much as possible.
We're one chapter away from the end of season 2. And I'm so thankful for all of you.
Hope you have a great day/evening/night.
Thanks,
- Katie :)