❝ 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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After the elevated adrenaline had died down, faded from their bodies, the five of Alison DiLaurentis' best friends were left reeling after the night's dramatic reunion. Gone were the restrictive, dated attires of Ravenswood, sprawled messily across Spencer's bed as she stood contemplatively at the window looking out at the barn. The others, all in their sleepwear, gathered at the foot of the bed, ugly knots in their guts as they fretted about what was to happen.
"I mean, where has she been all this time?" Hanna asked, her question seemingly targeted at a torn-up Aria, propped up against the bed's pillar.
"I don't know," said Aria, sick to her stomach at the thought that she saw Alison tonight.
"Do you think she's been hiding right here in Rosewood?" Emily asked, again at Aria.
"Why would she be hiding?" questioned Hanna. "Why couldn't she just come back?"
With her hand to her neck, far too stressed to figure the mess out, Aria repeated herself, "I don't know."
Snappily, Hanna said, "You keep saying that."
"Because I don't know," Aria stressed fiercely, upset at all the accusatory actions taken aim at her in Spencer's bedroom.
Trying to calm the abrasive tension, Emily said, "Okay, what do we know?"
Halle broke her silence. She was sat upon the bed, head in her hands as she battled with the frustration her body writhed with. "That Alison loved playing games and last night was another."
"What?" Aria turned to her, shocked.
"That fake-haunted house?" Halle's head raised to glower at her friends. "Didn't it at all feel familiar to you guys?" She pressed at them, "Do you not remember that Halloween, where Alison made us believe she was in danger to prove we would have her back if it came down to it? Was this not the same?" she asked. "She needs to know if she could trust us, ain't that what Grunwald said?" Aggravated, Halle let rip,"This is Alison — playing us — again!"
"Somebody tried to kill her, Halle," Emily replied defensively. "They buried her in her backyard."
"Right," Aria agreed, "and then somehow she pulled herself out."
"Yeah, like a carrot," snarked Hanna.
Emily insisted, "You can't fake that, Halle."
"I never said she did, just like Grunwald never said it happened," Halle put in.
"What are you trying to say?" asked Aria curiously.
"That we're assuming here that Alison got buried," Halle pointed out, "when the girl who is that grave ain't walking in and out of hospital rooms, or visiting you when Meredith drugged up up to your eyeballs," she shot at Aria. "There's two girls."
