Ali and Chloe One Shots

Mirror, Mirror

Chloe Hastings sat at the dinner table alone on a Thursday evening in the middle of January. Courtney, Spencer, and Melissa had left an hour ago, and her parents had disappeared out the front door, not bothering to say goodbye. Then again, they didn't even know Chloe was home. No one did.

As Chloe took a bite of leftover Chinese food from the carton she'd pulled out of the fridge just minutes ago, she glanced at the pile of mail on the kitchen table. There were a few college acceptance letters for Courtney and Spencer. But Chloe had looked through everything. She was more concerned about what she was going to do in a matter of minutes.

Chloe pulled out her iPhone out of her coat pocket and checked her e-mail inbox for the fifth time in ten minutes. Nothing from A, the second one. The first one, Mona Vanderwaal, was dead and gone. Now it was time to take care of the new one.

Candace, the family's housekeeper, was off for the night. Chloe had paid her a more-than-generous amount for her leave her shift early. Don't worry about the stove. I'll clean it, Chloe had said.

And she did. The room smelled like eucalyptus-scented cleaner. The stove was spotless. The latest season of America's Next Top Model, Candace's favorite show, played quietly on the little flat-screen TV above the cabinets. The caterers had just come to drop off some of the ingredients for Saturday's fundraiser, and the alcohol distributor had brought in several cases of wine. A few magnum bottles sat on the kitchen island, constant reminders that Chloe was the favorite edition to the Hastings family. She was never a DiLaurentis anyway. She was and always would be a Hastings.

Chloe looked up at the TV, staring as a bunch of pretty girls walked down a makeshift runway in a morgue, modeling what looked like crosses between bikinis and straitjackets. Suddenly, the TV went dark. Chloe remained still. A news logo flashed on the screen. We have a breaking news from Rosewood," said a voice-over. Chloe reached over to the remote and turned up the volume.

A bug-eyed reporter with a crew cut stood in front of the Rosewood courthouse. "We have an update about the Mona Vanderwaal case," he announced. "It has officially been ruled a suicide. There is not any evidence that indicates foul play."

Chloe smiled triumphantly. She smoothed out the material of her red halter dress. Technically, she was supposed to be at her friend, Molly Anderson's house, dancing away and flirting with the cutest guys and girls from Rosewood Day. She'd already left to go there two hours ago and pretended to go to the bathroom, but Molly would cover her. It was all part of the plan.

The broadcast cut to a shot of the front of Mona's house, a large, spacious property with a five-car garage. "Mrs. Vanderwaal strongly disagrees with the decision to rule her daughter's death as a suicide," the reporter announced off-camera. "We spoke with her last night to see how she was doing."

Mrs. Vanderwaal's image appeared on the screen. "My daughter didn't kill herself," she protested her eyes wide, but tired. "Someone did this to her. Someone killed her."

The report ended, and ANTM came back on. Chloe stood up, feeling excited. She pulled on her coat, stepped out the back door, and onto the patio. A chilly gust of wind hit her in the face. The heron-shaped thermometer that swung from a post next to the grill said the temperature was only thirty-five degrees.

It was quiet and dark on the porch. The woods behind the bar seemed darker than usual. When she turned and looked toward her front yard, a light in the Cavanaughs' house snapped on. A tall, dark-haired figure floated by the living room bay window. Jenna. She was pacing around, talking into her cell phone, her lips moving quickly.

Chloe looked to see if Jenna could see her, but she wasn't paying any attention to Chloe. Good. Now all Chloe had to do was wait.

Seconds seemed like hours as she gazed out at the opposite side of the deck. She glanced at the hole in her old backyard. It was so close. Her eyes moved to the barn, the site of Courtney's end-of-seventh-grade-sleepover with Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer.