We have five minutes to pack our bags and get out of here without any trace. But all I’m thinking about is whether Holbrook won this one. Delete the system or let the FBI know us. Either way, I had to leave.
He was one step ahead of me
But in a way he wasn’t. Because relocating didn’t mean we were leaving Rosewood. Just leaving the Lost Woods resort.
Mona is back in her creepy room ripping the wallpaper down. She has the most to do since she’s the most obsessed with the liars. Holdon’s gone to help her while Cece cleans their room. Wesley’s in our room shoving clothes into bags and I’m out here staring at the computer system when I should be taking it down.
The screens are black.
They once had words on them.
And I’m thinking why does Holbrook always haunt me?
Wesley knows who it is. I think it’s obvious by my face and I’m doing nothing to keep my emotions in. They are everywhere.
“Alice,” he says, coming out our room.
“We need to bomb this place.”
I forget those words came out of my mouth.
“What?” He is shocked. He doesn’t understand what actually happened.
I move towards the computers and begin to pack them up.
“That’s the only way,” I say. “They already know that the hack came from here. The best thing to do to get rid of our trace is to bomb the place. Destroy evidence. We’ll have to hose down the walls with vinegar spray to remove fingerprints and then we’ll have to set the whole resort on fire.”
Wesley is looking at me like I just broke. Then he leaves to get the vinegar and the gasoline and I smash some of the computers against the wall and sit down for 30 seconds just to cry.
No one sees me cry.
The FBI. This is endless. This curse that Alison put upon is endless. Why can’t I just live a normal life? Why am I so obsessed with the past that I’m drowning in it?
Oh lord. Help.
I can’t do this anymore.
And then I’m up again and sweeping the room for everything that is us and I fling bags in front of me and shove stuff in and Holdon’s in front of the door not looking me in the eye and taking the bags to the car and I think, wow, this pain never ends does it.
When I come back in half the room has been showered with vinegar and gasoline and I can see every trace of us disappear. Holdon swaps the bags with Wesley’s gasoline and goes towards Mona’s and Cece’s room to cover to shower them down.
And I’m just left on the outside, watching the shiny gloss of gasoline climb down the walls.
And I wish Wesley didn’t see through me this time because he slowly wraps his hands around my waste and leans his head on top of mine and I feel like he can feel the pain I feel.
And I try my best to hide the world from who I am but I can’t. Because everything is just pouring out in unfathomable speeds and sometimes tears don’t hold in themselves.
I think I’m crying.
I know I’m crying.
And Wesley just holds me. A pool of wetness forming on his shirt and I think back to how I destroyed him. How I am destroying him now. His broken face when I first met him.
***
I’ve always liked to think of Prison’s as a way of keeping the bad people away from the truly messed up people inside. Just a physical representation of how trapped we are inside of us.
I’ve been inside the building for a less than 30 seconds and I’m already at the counter lying about who I am and what I want. I show them my exceptional fake idea and then I am being escorted to the Prisoner viewing room.
I’m afraid Gabriel is going to walk in any minute. If he knows what I’m doing..
I don’t know this boy. This boy that I’m about to pluck out of everything he has ever known. I just know a couple of details. That I’ve met him a couple of times during childhood and that he’s Ezra’s younger brother that the Fitzgerald’s refrain from talking about.
And that he is a murderer.
Killing the sports captain at his local school just because he was picked last for his team.
I wonder what makes someone do that.
In my world, death was never the first option. It might be a consequence from Alison and I’s schemes, but it was never a decision even if it was an outcome. When it happened it was just that.
Death was an unregulated outcome to me.
Maybe not this boy.
I wonder if this boy killed him intentionally. That he was thinking about death when he did what he did.
I wonder if Gabriel will realise that I’ve hit an all time new low.
The door opens and my escort tells me to take a seat and I’m sitting. He says something along the lines that “Wesley Fleetwood,” will be here shortly. I laugh because I almost forgot how the Fitzgerald’s had attempted to change Wesley’s last name. Ezra was the only one who attempted to support his brother. I think he believed that Wesley wasn’t capable of what he was accused for. That he didn’t do it.
I wonder if I’ll meet a sane or insane boy today.
The door opens and two guards drag in a boy whose face has lit up with excitement and happiness as he says to his guards that he “never thought his family would come,” but then he see’s me.
And all hope Is lost.
I am sitting on the other side of the glass window staring at him curiously while he falters with the guards and looks at me with this hidden sadness.
No Wesley, I am not your family. They’ve given up on you.
The guards release him and he comes to slowly sit in the seat on the other side of the glass.
His first words are, “Who are you?”
I can’t tell if he is sane or not yet and I’m starting to get angry, but I calm my self down.
“You don’t remember?” I say politely and then lean forward so the guards can’t hear. “I’m only going to say this once. You want freedom? I’ll give it to you. I’ll clear you of your charges.”
He narrows his eyes at me and I sigh. He doesn’t trust me. Why is trust so hard to get.
“Who are you?” He repeats.
“Alice Fiend,” I say quietly.
He stares at me and a brief flash of realisation hits him in the face.
“I know you,” he says, “But not well.”
“Don’t you see?” I say frustrated. “I am trying to help you. Just accept it.”
He stares for a bit, “You want to manipulate me?”
I look at him.
“Yes.”