ALL RIGHTS GO TO MARLENE KING

There are minutes in love when it's impossible to understand whether you're sincere or not. - Etienne Ray

(I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been busy with finals.)

Chapter 16: Who isn't A now days?

Emily's POV:

It's been a week now and Ali hasn't made any change of remembering, it's honestly driving me insane. These past few days she's been even more bitchier than what I thought was humanly possible.

Ali and Spencer had a huge fight about her moms death and it got really ugly, so they are not speaking anymore.

Every time we're eating a meal together Ali always says some snarky comment about Hanna's old bulimia problem and Hanna gets pissed and it just blows out from there, so they're not speaking to each other that much either.

Aria and Alison are okay, I guess. They never really talk though, since Aria is on Spencer and Hanna's side.

"I don't get the girls, what the hell is their problem? I'm just telling the truth." Ali says and I have the urge to kick her out.

"That's just it Ali, you're the problem!" I snap, throwing my chemistry book of my lapp. Ali stares at me with wide eyes, a slight hurt expression passes her face but it quickly morphs into a confident one.

"We've tried to help you these past few days but you haven't exactly made it easy. We care about you Alison but if you're just going to rebuild all your walls that I've spent years trying to tear down, then I don't know what to do!" I yell, raking a hand through my hair.

"Don't be so sensitive, we both know you want to tear down more than my walls." Ali says, smirking at me.

"Alison leave." I say.

"Emily-" Ali walks towards me but I just point towards the door, motioning her to leave my room. Ali sends me a cold hearted glare, flipping her hair towards my face before exiting my house.

"Ugh!" I shout, falling down on my bed. Why does this have to be so hard? My phone makes a chirping sound and I reach over, reading the message that had appeared on my screen.

Be careful Em, being rude can come back and haunt you. - A

"Why would A return now? We haven't heard from them for a while now." Hanna says, leaning down on my couch. I had sent an SOS text to the girls, well everyone except Ali.

"Wait, so you and Ali were fighting and then right as she left you got the text?" Spencer asks and I nod.

"How would A know about you and Ali's fight?" Aria says.

"If Alison is A." Spencer whispers and my head quickly turns to her direction. She can't be serious. This is Alison, she's even been attacked by A for gods sake, how could she be A?

"No." I say. Ali can't be A, she just can't be.

"Emily it makes sense, you get the text right after she leaves and that's the first that we've heard from A in weeks." Spencer says. My heart hurts just thinking about it, thinking about the girl I love torturing me and my friends.

"I'm sorry Emily." Aria says and they all pull me into a hug but I don't respond. I stare blankly at the wall ahead of me. I picture our trip to paris, our first kiss, our first night together, our first everything.

I feel tears prickling in my eyes and I cling onto the girls shoulders tightly, letting my tears fall freely. I thought that nothing would ever hurt as much as it did when Ali broke my heart the first time, but this;

This feels like someone had picked up a rusty old knife and plunged it deep into my stomach, twisting and turning my organs around. I grip my chest tightly, trying to ease the pain in my heart.

"No, Ali wouldn't do that to me." I whisper as I pull away from the girls. They stare at me with pity plastered all over their faces, everyone except Aria. Her expression is more sympathetic and I understand why. She just experienced the same with Ezra.

"Em-" Aria says but I cut her off by walking away from them. I know that they're just trying to help but Ali can't be A, she just can't be.

Alison's POV:

I lay in my bed in silence, starring at the ceiling above me. There are some old pictures that I had taped up there. One was when I was 8 and our family was on a ski trip, it was a good day. Another one was with Emily in 7th grade. We were swinging in the park, our legs pumping together in synch. We were starring at each other happily, like there was no care in the world.

- Flashback -

The wind carries my hair with ease as I pump my legs harder, trying to get even with Emily's swing.

"Em you're swinging to fast!" I yell out happily. I like coming to the park alone with Emily, it makes it easier to be myself;

She makes it easier to be myself.

Of course Emily slows her pace down and we're now even. Once we're even we glance at each other for a second before jumping off at the same time.

"Now we're married!" I shriek happily, wiping off the dust that had managed to form on my pink sun dress. Emily lets out a delightful laugh and I playfully push her shoulder.

I take out my phone and walk over towards a woman who was sitting with her toddler by the sandbox.

"Excuse me, could you take a picture of us?" I ask sweetly, batting my eyelashes at her and the woman was immediately under my spell. She followed me towards the swings and Emily and I sat down on each of them.

This time we pumped our legs rhythmically and we ended up at the same hight. I reached for Emily's hand and laced our fingers together, letting our hands swing in synch with us.

The woman flashes a photo and hands me back my phone. Emily and I stare at the photo in adoration and I set it as my home screen.

"You look good with wind in your hair." I compliment Emily, earning a crimson blush from her. Which was exactly what I wanted.

"Let's go home, it's getting late." Emily says and we walk home towards my house.

Thinking about Emily hurts. I can handle the girls hating me but not Emily, she's the only one that understands me, the only one I can turn to whenever I want. But clearly not anymore.

I wonder what happened between us during those three years. She seems more open towards me but that might just be her finally accepting who she is. I don't dwell on the subject too long and I turn around in bed, closing my eyes.

An excruciating pain withers throughout my body and I weakly flutter my eyes open. I can't exactly make out whats happening at first but then I see a figure standing over me, it was my mother. Her hands go to a shovel and she starts to pour dirt on top of me.

What is she doing! I try to move but my body is paralyzed. Mom shoves dirt over my face and I swallow some into my lungs. The thickening dirt traveling down my throat, almost suffocating me. I shut my eyes in order to keep dirt our of them but they still burn. I try with every living cell in my body to move a muscle but, I just can't.

I don't know how long I lay here but eventually a tingling sensation takes over my hand and I manage to move my fingers. I use this new strength to claw my way out of the dirt, my hand twisting around in the soil until I feel the cool air on my finger tips.

I feel someone grabbing onto my hand tightly and I'm being pulled out, like a carrot. My vision is blurry and I can't quite make out what's happening. I look around my yard in confusion as I grip onto the woman's arms tightly.

I wake up in a jolt, feeling some tears glistering in my eyes. Why do I keep having these dreams?

I remember when Emily told me about those years, how my mother buried me alive.

Was that my actual memory?

I shudder away from that thought, I don't want a permanent picture of my mother standing over my lifeless body.

I walk over towards my desk, grabbing the nearest photo album. I need to take my mind of things. I sit down on my white chair and carefully flip through the pages. A lot of the pictures are of course of me with other people, always me in the center.

I come across a lot of pictures of my mother and me. There was one when I was about four, her arm was draped tightly around my shoulder, squeezing our bodies together. I had a bright smile on my face and my mom was starring adoringly down on me, you can practically feel the love radiate of that photo.

Hm, love.

My mother never loved me, she was a master manipulator, I learned from the best. She just wanted me gone.

After an hour of crying silently into the book I flipped to the last page. My mouth opens widely in shock and I drop the book to the floor. I feel sweat layering on my forehead as I try to even out my breath out but my eyes are glued to the picture.

The picture of Emily and I kissing.

I pick the photo up carefully, almost as if I'm afraid I'm going to get burned by it. This looks like it wasn't from such a long time ago.

Where we- together?

I trace my fingers slowly over where our heads were. It suddenly felt like my head was hit with a brick wall. Blurry images began to dance across my vision and a thousands of pictures replace the darkness of my mind.

remember when I disappeared, I remember when I came back, I remember Paris, I remember Cyrus, I remember the accident, I remember Emily.

I grip the sides of my head gently and I slowly fall down to the floor, slipping into darkness.

"Alison?" A voice says but I couldn't make out whose. I weakly open my eyes and I feel a firm hand grab onto my arm. My eyes trail up to the persons face.

"Jason?" When did he get back?

"I came home and I saw you collapsed on the floor, what happened?" He asked worriedly.

"I-" I stare blankly ahead and I let out a gasp. I remember.

"I remember." I whisper. My head still aches from all the memories flooding in, it's overwhelming.

"You remember?" Jason asks surprised but I just nod in return. I quickly grab my purse and head out my door.

"Ali, where are you going?" He shouts but before I could reply I'm already in my car.

I start the engine and quickly drive towards Emily house. I've acted terrible this past week. I remember our fight, why did I have to slip back to my idiotic 15 year old self?

I push the peddle down harder and race towards Emily's house.

I park in her driveway and storm into her house, not bothering to knock. I rush up to her room and push the door open.

"Emily!" I yell but she doesn't turn around, she just stands there.

Her right hand is gripping a bottle of alcohol tightly and my stomach twists. I don't like the thought of Emily drinking because of something I did.

"I don't have time Alison." She says bitterly and my heart falls.

"Please-"

"I don't have time for you." She cuts me off and I stare shockingly at her, her words piercing into my heart. I don't think the fight was that bad, we've had worse.

"What's wrong? I know this isn't just because of the fight." I want to tell her that my memory is back but I have to know first why she's acting strange around me.

"Leave." She says, finally making eye contact. I can practically hear my heart shattering inside of my chest. I notice dark circles under her eyes and that her veins are more red than usual. What the hell?

"Emily?" A disturbingly familiar feeling creeps up on me when I inspect her face even more. My eyes scan her room and I let out a loud gasp.

"What the hell is that!" I shriek, picking up a plastic bag that contained some white pills.

"It's nothing." She snaps, ripping the bag away from my hands but I manage to snatch it back. There is no way in hell I'm letting her go down the same path Spencer did.

"This isn't safe Emily, you know that." I say, stuffing the bag into my back pocket.

"Why would you care? The only thing you care about in this fucking world is your egotistical self!" She yells and I step back in surprise. Please say she didn't take these pills now.

"Where did you get these?" I ask forcefully. I'm not letting her get away with this.

"I saw some in Spencer's mom's bag and I stole some, you must be so proud." She snarls at me and I glare at her.

"Shut up, Emily."

Emily stands up quickly, walking towards me. For each step she takes I take a step back until my back is against the wall. Emily puts her hands firmly on the wall beside me and I can smell the alcohol from her breath.

"Don't you dare tell me to shut up or I'll-"

"You'll what? Hit me?" I say. I don't want to admit to her that she's scaring me right now, I don't want to give her that power.

"Shut up Alison!" She yells and I flinch. She did take the pills with alcohol then.

"Emily-"

"I said shut up!" She booms and picks up the vodka bottle beside her. I get a great sense of deja vu when she raises her hand and is prepared to strike it down on me.

Emily holds it firmly in the air and I'm anxiously waiting for the blow to my head. Deep down I know that she could never hurt me, even if she was on some weird effect caused by the pills and alcohol.

She lets out an annoyed sigh and throws the bottle to the ground, causing it to shatter into tiny crystal pieces. Emily sinks down to the floor and puts her head in her hands. I walk over towards her and sits down next to her.

"Em, why did you have to stay up?" I whisper.

"I had to make sure." She says, wiping away some tears.

"Make sure of what?" I ask, dreading the answer.

"Make sure that you weren't A." She says, placing her head back into her hands again.

My body freezes and turns cold. They think I'm A. Confusion quickly turns to anger towards the girls, after all I've done for them and they think I'm A?

"What!" I yell, standing up quickly.

"I'm sorry, it's just what the girls-"

"Save it! I can't believe you would think that, that I would hurt you!" I scream. Emily stares at me with tears running slowly down her cheek.

I quickly turn my heal and storm out of her house, rushing towards my car.

"Ali, wait!" I hear Emily yell but I keep on driving.

I curl up into a ball in my bed, letting my tears soak through the sheets. My chest feels shallow, like someone had literally dug a hole straight through it. I feel so betrayed.

How could they even possible suspect me being A? I've risked everything for them numerous times, I'm in love with Emily for gods sake!

I throw the photo album roughly on the wall, sending the pictures flying out of it. I don't know how long I've laid in the same spot now but I don't want to move. I thought they were my best friends, they promised to take care of me and be there for me but instead they fucking betray me.

I throw a book that was next to my bed on the floor and a piece of paper falls out. It was the paper. It was the quote from Great Expectations that I read to Emily in the library.

Seeing that piece of paper lying there, mocking me, makes me even more mad, even more mad at Emily. I debate of ripping it up, tearing it from shred to shred but I decide not to. I'm not sure why I don't rip it up but something is keeping me from doing so;

Emily.

A knock on my door jolts me up from my thoughts and I glare at the shut door, trying to figure out who's standing on the other side. After a couple of seconds I walk over and slowly opening the door.

I almost shut it immediately again when I see Emily standing there but her foot blocks the door and she pushes herself in. I cross my arms tightly around my chest and stare at her, waiting for her to explain herself.

"Ali-"

"Why would you even think that I could ever hurt you? I love you." I whimper out, wiping away some remaining tears.

Emily stares at me with wide eyes and mouth completely open. Oh right, I forgot to tell her I remember.

"What?" She asks dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I got my memory back," I glare at her shocked expression, "I was going to tell you but then all of the sudden you are acting crazy and you accuse me of being A!"

"Alison, I'm so sorry." Without me noticing she pulls me into a tight hug. I stand there unmoving for a couple of seconds, taking in the way her body feels against mine. I slowly clasp my arms tightly around hers and sob into her shoulder.

Emily's right hand strokes my hair soothingly while her left hand rubs gentle circles on my back. I grip her arms tightly, maybe to tight.

"Why would you.." I can't finish my sentence without my throat clogging up with fresh tears.

"I didn't believe it, that's why I stayed up. I had to gather evidence to show the girls that you weren't A. I trust you with my life and I know that you love me just as much as I love you." She says sincerely. So Emily never really thought I was A? But the girls still did, I thought we were best friends.

"Why do the girls think I'm A?" I whisper into her shoulder, clinging onto her shoulders tighter.

"After we had our fight, A sent me a text." My breathing froze for a second but I calmed myself down. I thought we were done with A.

"What did it say?" I ask, untangling myself from Emily. Emily grips my hand and leads me to my bed. I sit down next to her, resting my head on her shoulder while her arm flings around my waist.

Emily pulled out her phone and showed me the text. My jaw clenched and my fingers tightened into fists. A is setting me up.

After three years of hiding from A I've become used to their twisted games, but making the girls believe I was A? That's a whole new level of insanity.

"When did you get your memory back?" Emily asks suddenly and I feel a smile creeping up on my lips.

"Uh, I was looking through some photo albums and saw a picture of you and I kissing in Paris." Emily squeezes my shoulder tighter.

"It was weird, it was like the picture of us triggered my memory. It was overwhelming so I actually fainted but Jason found me and I drove straight to you." I say.

"I'm so sorry Alison, believe me. I was a wreck when you came over and I don't know what I would have done with myself if I ever hurt you, it pains me to think that I was about to." Emily says and my heart aches to her words.

"Em, it wasn't your fault, you were on a side effect caused by those pills, they are poison and I don't want you to ever take them again, especially with alcohol." I tell her, wrapping my arms tightly around her again.

"I love you so much, Ali." She whispers into my ear and I can't help but to not smile.

"As I love you." I whisper back.

I lock into Emily's eyes and place a passionate kiss on her plump lips. God I've missed the taste of her soft lips. Emily responds immediately and lays me down gently on my bed, hovering over me.

What ever happens, I know we're going to be alright.