chapter seventy two — a is for a-l-i-v-e
[ season four, episode one ]
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Spencer slowly moved and opened the trunk before the girls moved back and gasped, Josie moved her hand to cover her mouth as she and the girls stared at the dead pig in the trunk. "What the..." Aria asked before the girls looked around. "Where's Mona?" Spencer asked, noticing that Mona wasn't next to her anymore. "This was all her. She set us up." Aria said. "Okay, let's go. Let's get out of here." Emily said and Josie was all for getting out of there. "Come on." Josie said as she and Emily went to walk back to the car, the girls following, minus Hanna.

The girls turned to see her walking towards the driver's side of the car. "Hanna! Hanna, let's go." Spencer called out to her as the girls went back to Wilden's car, Josie looked to see Mona in the front seat. "God, Mona, what are you doing?" Hanna asked. "Saving your mom." Mona responded before she tried to open the black box of the cop car. "Guys." Aria said suddenly and the girls looked at her. "Someone's coming." Emily said as they noticed the two people walking around. 

"Hey, they're coming this way." Josie said to Hanna. "Hurry up!" Emily said to Mona, wanting to get out of there. "Mona!" Spencer said, panicked. "They're coming Mona, come on." Hanna said, rushing Mona. "Han, we've gotta get out of here, seriously, hurry up." Josie said, looking at Hanna before they started walking to the car again, and got into the car, and started driving and as they started the car, they drove past Wilden's car, Mona got out of the car and Aria opened the backdoor. "Come on!" she said and the two joined them in the car and they drove off.

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The girls went back to Spencer's place. "There's a report on the lodge, but nothing about Wilden's car." Spencer said, watching the news as the girls stood around in Spencer's kitchen/living room. "Well, I guess the fire trumps a dead pig." Hanna remarked. "You can stop staring out the window, Aria, the cops aren't coming to arrest us." Mona said and everyone turned to her.

"We're supposed to feel safe just because you say it's okay? After everything you've done to us." Josie said, looking at Mona as she crossed her arms. "Do you think we'd be sitting here if anyone saw us?" Mona asked. "You wanna know what I think? I think you're lucky we're not beating the crap out of you." Emily snapped. "And I believe you could, Emily. You really were the weakest link." Mona said. "But look how strong I made you. You should be thanking me." she added.

"Okay, that's it." Emily said, moving to punch Mona and Mona moved away. "Em!" Hanna said, stopping her. "You know we all want to take a turn." Aria said, "but we won't." Hanna added. "You like games, right, Mona? So let's play one called the third degree" Spencer said as the girls stared at Mona. "How did you get the car out of that lake?" Hanna asked. "I didn't." Mona answered and the girls shared a look. "I put the car in Hanna's garage and that was the last time I saw it." she added before Hanna and Spencer shared a look before they all sat down and Mona told them what she knew.

"Shana knew Jenna before she came to Rosewood, I think she's in love with her. They're both afraid of Melissa."

"When CeCe came to Radley, I thought she was Ali, I don't remember what we talked about. It was before they changed my meds."

"Lucas gave Emily that massage. He said you were tense." 

"I recruited Toby when he got that job in Bucks County."

"I didn't push Ian off the bell tower. I wish I knew who did."

The girls shared looks as they let the information sink in.

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Josie's eyes fluttered open, she didn't even remember falling asleep, like at all. She sat up and looked at Hanna, who was also awake, and they both noticed the backdoor open, "Mona's gone!" Hanna exclaimed, and the others woke up. "I don't remember falling asleep." Spencer said. "Did she drug us?" Aria asked. "Wouldn't be the first time." Emily remarked.

"You guys, she still has that chip." Hanna realized and Josie sighed before they noticed Mona through the backdoor window before she walked back into the house. "Oh, Emily, I borrowed your car." Mona said, and Emily looked to where her car keys were on the kitchen island. "Yeah, I have my own set." Mona said casually before the girls stood and gathered around Mona, staring her down. "Where'd you go?" Hanna asked. "Coffee Run. Duh." Mona answered.

"Where else did you go?" Hanna asked but she ignored Hanna and started handing out drinks. "Americano, one pink." Emily hesitantly took it from Mona hesitantly. "Dry soy cap." Aria took it, "Super-sized drip, with three sugars." Spencer took it, "Super-sized hot chocolate," Josie shared a look with Hanna before taking it. "And A skinny vanilla for you." she finished, holding out a drink for Hanna. "Did I get it right?" she asked, looking at the girls.

"I want the chip, Mona. And I want It now." Hanna demanded. "And I also got breakfast." she said, turning to grab the bag off the kitchen island. "Multigrain scone." she said, looking at the girls. "I'm not in the mood to play room service." Hanna snapped, grabbing the bag off Mona.

"I wish I could give it to you, Hanna. But I can't." Mona responded. "Why not?" Josie asked. "I need to find out who red coat is and so do you. She tried to kill all of us, so, like it or not, we are in this together." Mona responded. "Okay, prove it." Aria said. "Yeah, we want everything you've have on us." Spencer said. "Now." Emily demanded and the girls stared down at Mona. "Mi casa es su casa." Mona responded. "In English." Hanna said. "She's taking us to her lair." Spencer explained.

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The girls were spread out around Mona's 'A' lair, looking through everything as Mona stood and leaned against the wall of the RV. This whole lair was creepy to Josie, the photos that were stuck to the walls of Alison, the girls, it creeped her out. "If red coats 'A', why did she save us from the fire?" Aria asked, looking at a photo of red coat. "So she could set us up to take the fall for Wilden's murder." Mona responded.

"Yeah, a cat plays with a mouse for hours before she actually eats it. Once it's dead, the fun's over." Spencer explained. "So we're Ali's mice?" Hanna asked. "We're her dolls." Spencer corrected her. "That doesn't make me feel any better, at all." Josie uttered. "Guys, Alison isn't playing with us, okay? She's dead." Emily remarked and Josie sighed. She knew what she saw, she saw Alison.

The girls went back to looking around Mona's RV and Josie picked up a 'phantom of the opera' mask that she recognized, it was the same one that Caleb had worn on the halloween train. Hanna took it from her, looking from it to Mona. "you were on the halloween train. Dressed like Caleb." she said.

"To think were this close to our first kiss." Mona said, holding her fingers close together. "And to getting rid of me for good." Aria snapped. "That wasn't me. And I can prove it." Mona responded, turning and grabbing her computer.  "When I took this, you were already in the box." she said, typing something. "And these two put you in there." she said, and the girls turned the screen to themselves.

They saw the back of the head of the queen of hearts costume. "It's not gonna happen!" they heard Wilden shout. "Oh, god, that's Wilden." Josie said, shocked. "Listen to me." he said as he turned and they saw his side profile. "He was the queen of hearts?" Emily asked. "Just leave her. Plans have changed." he said and he moved, so the video moved along with him, and then it showed another person in the queen of hearts costume.

"Garrett's going to tell them everything." he continued. "There's two of them?" Aria asked. "We can't let that happen." Wilden said. "Who's that?" Emily asked. "Your sister." Mona said, staring at Spencer, and the others looked at her as well. As the other queen of hearts was gonna take off her mask, the video glitched and shut off. "Oh, yeah, that's convenient. Right before you could prove it." Spencer remarked.

"Wait, Mona, what's going on?" Hanna asked as Mona looked at her computer, shocked and panicked as she tried to do something. "Someone's deleting all my files." she responded as red lipstick shaped kisses showed up on her screen. "Shut it down!" Josie demanded. "I'm trying to." she retorted but nothing Mona did worked, her laptop eventually switched off.

"Alison? Faster." they heard a kid call out, making them look towards the door of the RV. "Come out, come, wherever you are." the same kid called out, and other kids giggled. "What the hell." Josie muttered before the girls got out of the RV. "It's not fair, Aria. it was Emily's turn." the girl called out again.

They looked around, trying to see where the laughter was coming from, when the merry-go-round was moving, so they walked towards it and as they got closer, they noticed a group of girls playing and they had dolls. "Faster, faster!" one of them said and the girl who was spinning the merry-go-round ran faster.

Josie was getting deja vu. They looked exactly like them. All of them. Spencer, Hanna, Aria, Emily, Josie and Mona. "Hey, there!" Aria called out. "Hi." the one that looked like Aria said, walking up to them, with her doll in her arms, the other girls following. "Where did you get these dolls?" Josie asked, looking at the kid, who looked like her with the doll.

"They were a present." she responded. "Mine's name is Aria, and that's Hanna, Spencer, Emily, Josie and Mona." the mini Aria look alike responded. "Who gave them to you?" Mona asked. "Your friend, Alison. She started playing with us right after you moved in." The Josie look alike responded, and the girls took a look at the dolls, and they were significantly creeped out. They resembled who the girls were before Alison went missing.

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"Wait, so you guys think Ali's red coat?" Richie asked as they sat in Josie's kitchen, eating breakfast. "Yep. Except for Emily." Josie responded. "Why not?" he asked and she sighed, putting her fork down, "Em's deadset on thinking that it's just someone messing with us, because Ali's dead." she answered and he nodded in understanding. "But isn't red coat, like the leader of the 'A' team?" he asked and she shook her head. "I don't know. I really don't, but anymore thinking about it and my head's gonna explode." she said, rubbing her fingers on her temple.

Richie got up from his seat and moved beside her, pulling her up out of her seat, pulling her into a hug, one she melted into. She rested her head shoulder, breathing him in. "Thank you." she muttered into his flannel. "For what?" he asked, hugging her still. "Being there for me. Through this entire thing." she said and he hugged her tighter. "I'm always gonna be here for you Jo." he said and she smiled and they stayed hugging like that for a while.

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Josie and Richie were sitting with Aria and Emily in the courtyard the next day. "Paige doesn't know about Wilden yet. Not sure how much to tell her." Emily said. "Go with your gut Em." Josie said and Emily nodded but sighed before looking over at a distracted Aria. "Aria?" she asked. "Do you believe in the four seasons of grief theory? That you have to live through a year of everything, before you can really get over someone." she asked, and they noticed she was staring at Ezra.

"You guys have been through so much together. Can't you wait it out for a few more months?" Josie asked, stealing a chip from Richie, who frowned at her jokingly. "Just feels like we're back where we started." Aria confessed. "And we can't go back to where we were, there's too much at stake now." she added. "You know I totally support you and Ezra together, but maybe he's right. You know, it's senior year." Emily said and Richie nodded in agreement. "You should be having some fun, join some clubs," he suggested. "Look at him." Aria said, ignoring what he had said.

"They're hanging on his every word." Aria smiled and they all looked towards Ezra. "You've never been on one. But there's this thing called a double date. And it's what you do with your friends when you can actually be seen in public with the person you're going out with." Emily said. Aria looked away from Ezra and looked behind them before looking straight again, but she seemed panicked. "Oh, my god. I am so busted. Hackett just saw me staring at Ezra." she said, picking up a book. "Now he's walking over here." she said

"I think what Mr. Fitz meant was, Steinbeck used the farmer as a metaphor for his frustration." Aria said as Vice Principal Hackett stood behind her. "Is he gone?" she asked in a low voice. "No. and he's totally watching you." Emily responded, having looked directly.

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The next day, the girls, wearing black dresses, walked to the church for Detective Wilden's funeral. "Do you really think 'A' put something in there? With his rotting, stinking corpse?" Hanna asked as they watched people unload his casket. Spencer had told them about the 'A' message she had gotten about Wilden's open casket exposing their secrets.

"Since there's a viewing, you can assume that he's been embalmed, and that would suspend decomposition and prevent the mourner from having to deal with the rotting and eventual putrescence of the corpse." Spencer responded and Hanna looked confused. "Okay, what the hell did she just say?" she asked.

"Who is that?" aria asked, making the girls look over to see a woman walking through the crowd, wearing a black veil. They watched as she walked into the church. "Guys 'closed caskets keep secrets. His is open and exposes yours' there's something in the coffin that's incriminating to us." spencer realized. 

"Are you really so sure about everything you're so sure about?" Aria asked. "Yes. And in about thirty minutes they're going to open the casket for viewing, people are going to walk past to say goodbye to wilden. whatever 'A' has on us–"Spencer started. "Okay, we didn't kill Wilden, so what could it be?" Emily asked, cutting her off. "Besides another set up." Josie said, crossing her arms. 

"Yeah, Em and Jo's right, we shouldn't even be here. If we get busted for poking around that casket—" Hanna said. "I don't think we have a choice. We have to look." Spencer cut her off. "I mean, at my grandma's funeral, they kept the casket in a private room until the service started." Aria explained. "Let's just go find it." Spencer instructed before the girls continued on their way to the church.

"Aria was right, the casket isn't here yet." Emily said as they walked into the church. "Okay, so, let's split up. And if you find it, send out an S.O.S." Spencer said and the girls split up. Josie had met up with Richie, who had been standing with his mother

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Spencer had found the casket with Mona, and they had found Hanna's mom's phone inside Wilden's suit jacket. "How did 'A' get this?" Hanna asked as the girls, plus Richie stood around. "You sure it's her's?" he asked, raising a brow as Hanna put the phone in her bag. "God, if anything happens to my mom..." she trailed off.

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Spencer asked. "This morning. She called me from the hotel." Hanna answered. "That's good. That means she's okay." Aria said, trying to comfort Hanna. "Hanna, there's no way we're letting 'A' bring down Mrs. M." Mona promised. "So is that what this means? My mom's 'A's target?" Hanna asked, scared.    

No one answered, but then Mrs. DiLaurentis walked up to them. "You girls all look so pretty." she said, smiling at them. "And you look handsome Mr. Myers." she added and Richie smiled awkwardly. "Hi, Mrs. DiLaurentis." Hanna greeted her. "Ali would be so proud of you, Hanna. You've really kept the weight off." she responded and Josie shared a look with Richie. 

"Thank you." Hanna responded after a moment of awkwardness. "Why don't you girls come and sit next to me? you're welcome as well Mr. Myers." she asked, before she began walking to her seat, and the girls followed. The girls sat down and Richie sat between Josie and Hanna, but once Hanna had sat down, they looked to see there was no more room for Mona.

She stood for a moment before walking and sitting somewhere else. "Who is that?" Spencer asked, and the group  turned to see the same women with the black veil sitting among the people before the ceremony started. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." the priest started

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"Who the hell is she?" Josie asked as the girls stood outside the church watching the mysterious women with the black veil get into a car. "Emily, Josette, Spencer, Aria and Hanna?" a voice asked, and they looked to see a man, looking at them. "Yes?" Aria asked. "I'm officer Holbrook. Pennsylvania State Police." he introduced himself as the girls walked down to meet him.

"My partner and I are investigating the murder of Officer Reynolds and Detective Wilden." he said, handing Spencer his card. "We already spoke to the police when Garrett was killed." Emily said, and Josie had a sudden feeling of Déjà vu from Alison's funeral. "I read that on the report." he said, nodding. "I've actually been reading a lot about you five. Wilden had a thing for you." he added.

"I think you mean a nasty habit of harassing us." Josie corrected him. "I read through most of his notes and I agree with you. His conduct borders on unprofessional at best." he responded. "Thank you." Hanna said. "So why did you come to his funeral?" he asked. "We're supporting our local police department." Josie answered, "I'm sure it's appreciated." he responded.

"We're probably gonna have to bring you in for questioning, but remember, we're the good guys, just here to find out the truth." he said before walking away and it wasn't long before their phones went off, causing them to grab them out of their purses. "Truth won't set you free, bitches." Aria said. "I'm gonna bury you with it." Mona said, joining them. "Kisses, 'A'." Spencer finished. "Oh, my god." Emily said, before holding her phone out for the others to see. It was a video that night after the lodge, when they found Wilden's car. "'A' was there that night?" Josie asked, confused. "She recorded the whole thing." Mona remarked.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | FIRST CHAPTER OF SEASON FOUR !! let's gooooooo !!