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"The Devil You Know"

During lunch, the five friends sat outside in the courtyard

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During lunch, the five friends sat outside in the courtyard. On a tablet, they had Ian Thomas's suicide letter, all of them eagerly leering over it. Re-reading his words over and over, Halle's stomach curled inwards. Halle thought only of Jason and how he would feel reading Ian's letter — how he would feeling knowing she read the letter. A seed of betrayal sewed deep when her eyes first laid on the letter, all of it out of guilt because of the unsaid guilt she held towards Jason. It ate her, and the churning of her insides crippled her.

"Is this a suicide letter or a confession?" Aria asked, trying desperately to wrap her brain around it.

"It's both," Spencer said.

"No, it's not," Halle defended. She was frustrated. It was supposed to be over. Jason promised her it was over. But reading Ian's letter, Halle knew better to believe it was over for them. Halle put in, "It doesn't read like a suicide letter. I mean, look at his last words. 'Come and find me'? That's not suicidal, that's a game of hide-and-go-seek," she said strongly.

Aria looked up at the swimmer across the table and asked directly, "Emily, how do you have this?"

"I sent it to her," Hanna answered. "I took a picture with my phone before we called the police."

"Like, it's weird," Emily mentioned, her eyes on the screen.

"What the letter, or Hanna taking a photo of said-letter?" Halle shot.

"Hey, it's evidence," Hanna said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Halle's word were laced with sarcasm as she fired them out at Hanna. "Ian's body is evidence too, did you take a picture of that? Gunshot to the head and all?"

Halle wanted it to be over — like Jason said. She had been sucked into the promise of moving on. Or at least starting to. It sounded so sweet last night when Jason said it to her. Halle was lulled into it, more so than anything before. If Halle was allowed to want, Halle wanted that peace.

Emily butt in, breaking up the obvious irritation Halle was taking out of the group that day. "Why would Ian kill himself just as he was about to skip town with Melissa?" she asked curiously.

"Maybe he realised he was gonna get caught. He couldn't hide forever, even with Melissa's and Wren's help," Spencer said.

"But if Ian was alive and came back with Melissa, we'd be the liars," Halle countered. She was remaining strong on this one. "We all said he died that night in the bell-tower — and that he killed Alison. If he's not dead, no one would he killed Alison either. He had the perfect out, so why would he kill himself?"

"Who cares?" Hanna snapped. "Who cares why Ian did it? The important thing is, Ali's killer is dead and we're no longer people of interest," she explained simply.

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