❝ I genuinely thought the worst of this nightmare was over ❞
Halle Brewster told a lie, and the secrets kept growing. After slaying one stalker, another reared its nasty head, and Halle was starting to wonder if she'd ever be free from the friendshi...
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The night was so brittle, they had almost been rain. That waning summer night had turned nasty on them, cold and bitter. Halle Brewster's skin was frozen, rising up with goosebumps up her arms and down her spine. Muscles ached, both burning and numb from exertion and the wind. Panting heavily, Halle gasped for air as she dragged the blonde girl across the yard. Her left foot caught beneath Alison and caused Halle to slip on the grass, falling backwards onto the ground.
"Ugh!"
She almost gave in. Almost. Her hand to her head, Halle wiped at the sweat at the top of her forehead collecting in her hair. Halle looked down. Eyes took in Alison's limp body, dead-weight and warm. Blood was starting to congeal at the point of impact. Halle could still hear the deafening crunch Alison's skull made as the rock came down.
There was a pulse, Halle told herself, she found a pulse.
Her promise rang loud, competing with the crunch in Halle's head. "This never happened... Go back... Listen to me... I'm gonna fix it." And Halle was going to fix. Halle fixed everything. That thought alone drove her to pick herself up. Halle wiped at her head again then hooked her hands under the shoulders of Alison DiLaurentis. Locking them tight, Halle resumed. She put all her might into tugging the body to where she wanted to hide it.
"Come on, come on," chorused Halle. Her body was failing, energy withering with each hard pull. She glanced behind her, over her shoulder, examining the distance still needed to tread. An idea had already flashed in her mind seconds after the hit happened, but its glow was dimming rapidly. Time was against her. Each second that ticked by was too short. Halle had to be quicker if this was too work.
The rock.
That had to be her next priority.
Abandoned, Alison's body laid upright against the tree. Halle hid Alison out of sight of the house or street, knowing there was little opportunity of somebody stumbling on her. There was more chance of someone discovering the attempted murder weapon first, so Halle had to get rid of it. Nothing could tie them to the attack. In the small window of time she had, Halle chose to relocate the rock in plain sight rather than help Alison — a choice she frantically overthought with every beating second.
Her mind repeated it. The same crunch of Alison's skull. Crashing through bone, slashing through skin. But it was the squeak of shock, the whimper of realisation and the cries of distress that fuelled Halle to carry on. She was going to fix it. She had to fix it. Alison was an awful person... The person Halle was doing this for was not.
As it all got muddled together, hazy in untrustworthy thought, Halle's awareness dwindled. Her vision became spotted. Brain fogged; she was kept from the blanks she drew. Sprinklers sounded, water spirting out in a continuous beat. Slower than her heart-rate, faster than the slow-motion memory of the rock hitting Alison DiLaurentis.
