011 — i must confess

season two —
episode eleven

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ASPEN GRUNTS AS SHE'S shaken awake by Jason gently, "What? What's happening?" Aspen asks.

"Your phone won't stop buzzing, it woke me up, luckily cause I have to get to work" Jason explains handing the blonde her phone pecking her lips as a goodbye.

Aspen gasps seeing the text message and missed calls from the girls about Emily's disappearance early this morning, throwing on her shoes and a sweater.

Aspen drives over to Hanna's house seeing the others already in Hanna and Emily's room while Spencer is currently on the phone with the swim coach at the high school.

"Yeah, we weren't sure, we just thought that maybe she—yeah, thanks" Spencer states walking back into the bedroom waving at Aspen.

"She's not at swim practice" Spencer explains, "I told you, she's not allowed near the pool" Hanna states, "Guys, all of her clothes are here, you think she did something crazy?" Aria questions.

"Like what?" Spencer wonders, "Like jump in her car and burn rubber till she hits Texas" Aria exclaims.

"And leave everything behind? She didn't even take her phone" Spencer shrugs.

"I wouldn't either if I were her, A had his—her—its hands around her neck and keeps reminding her" Aria voices looking at the three girls.

"She hasn't slept in weeks" Hanna says, "Who has?" Aria asks, "Hanna, did you not see this?" Spencer questions looking through Emily's phone and handing the mobile to Hanna who frowns.

"Is that you?" Hanna demands showing Aria a photo of herself and Ezra, "Yeah, of course it's me" Aria responds.

"Well, unless you're Aria's mom, just assume it's Spencer, you know, slutting it up" Spencer shrugs, "When did she get that?" Aria asks alarmed.

"3:07am and it came with a text:

CLUE ELLA IN AND
I'LL LET YOU OUT
— A

Spencer reads aloud, "Give me this" Aria demands looking at the picture on Emily's phone.

"Aria, chill, Emily would never send that to your mother" Aspen states.

"Well, of course she wouldn't because she can't, 'cause we have her phone and she left in the middle of the night, where the hell is she?" Spencer exclaims.

"I have an idea, she told me she has an appointment with Dr Sullivan, let's go" Aspen demands rushing out of the Marin household towards Dr Sullivan's office seeing the woman surprised to see the whole friendgroup but let's them in nonetheless.

Aspen fidgets as they wait for Emily's arrival, hearing a knock on the door to the office.

Dr Sullivan nods answering the door letting Emily into the room, "Your friends and cousin have been worried about you" Dr Sullivan explains seeing Aspen's visible sigh of relief.

"Em, why didn't you at least wake me? I was sleeping five feet away from you" Hanna questions, "I can't keep asking my friends to take care of me" Emily answers.

"Emily, look, if you were seriously thinking about goin to Texas—" Aria says.

"I didn't have any plans, I just knew that the longer I stayed here, the worse it was gonna get and I'm not gonna be used as a bowling ball to knock down my best friends" Emily states.

"Emily, we're sitting here because of you, none of us think that you—" Aspen explains looking at her cousin, "That I'm the weakest link, yeah, well, somebody else does" Emily shrugs.

"Who? Who's using you to knock down your friends?" Dr Sullivan asks alarmed with the sudden news, all five girls sigh before looking at the woman.

"Somebody that's been trying to hurt us, for a long time" Spencer explains going into the threats that have been sent to all five of them and others things.

"When did these threats begin? Did the texts start coming after Alison's funeral?" Dr Sullivan asks taking notes, "Before" Emily replies.

"At first we thought they were coming from Alison" Aria explains, "But then they found her, her body" Aspen says, "And you don't have any clue who this A person might be?" Dr Sullivan wonders.

"We do" Hanna states, "But we've been wrong before, A is an expert at making other people look guilty" Spencer explains looking at Dr Sullivan.

"Do we think this person goes to your school?" Dr Sullivan wonders, "Maybe, but it's not like we go home and we're suddenly safe" Hanna reveals.

"A is everywhere, constantly on us, like a shadow" Aria voices, "And I'm the first person you've told about this?" Dr Sullivan asks receiving nods from the five teenagers.

"Why have you waited this long to say something?" Dr Sullivan wonders as all five girls explain the reasoning behind being so quiet about things and some of the secrets.

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AFTER THEIR THERAPY session the girls sit in the courtyard in the high school looking over at the table Jenna is seated at, "You don't think we should have mentioned her?" Hanna asks.

"How could we without spilling everything about that summer?" Spencer wonders, "It just kinda makes us look like we're making it all up" Aria says.

"Sullivan probably thinks we're insane" Hanna mumbles, "Guys, after the fashion show, even our parents think there's somebody out there messing with us" Emily states.

"My dad still wants to sue" Hanna states, "Sue who?" Aspen wonders.

"Everyone" Hanna responds before looking at Spencer, "Hey, did you bring them?" Hanna questions.

"Bring what?" Aria curiously asks, "I'm gifting Kate at the rehearsal dinner so she'll forget I talked smack about her and Isobel" Hanna smiles taking the books from Spencer.

"You're giving her a book of horse pictures?" Aria frowns, "Yeah, it's classier than a calendar" Hanna shrugs.

"No, classy would be buying something new, Hanna, she's gonna know that these are used" Spencer states.

"No, she won't, and besides, you have a staff that dusts your books, oh, look, horse doing a wheelie, Kate will love that" Hanna playfully mutters seeing Aspen smirk at the thought.

"Hanna, your step-sister wants to see you trampled by a horse, why do you—" Aria questions.

"It's not about her, okay? It's about my dad, we're finally getting along, and I'm not about to blow it the week he's getting married" Hanna replies overhearing Jenna's conversation.

"It's not what we agreed on" Jenna mutters into the phone, "Do we think that she sent me that picture of Aria and Fitz?" Emily asks, "Yeah, we think she had help from Garrett" Spencer mutters.

"Yeah, but why? It's not like torturing us is gonna give her back her sight, plus, the person she really wants to hurt is already dead" Aria voices.

"Yeah, well, she probably had help with that, too" Aspen snarls looking at Jenna, "No wonder I didn't recognize you" a familiar voice is heard from beside them.

"Grandma!" Hanna gasps, "You have a salad in front of you, I've never seen you eat anything green before, howdy, girls" Regina smiles, "Hey, Gran" they all respond smiling.

"What are you doing here?" Hanna frowns, "Don't we have a dinner to go to?" Regina asks, "Uh, that's tomorrow night" Hanna explains.

"Yeah, well, I guess I just ran a couple stop signs, got here early, I need your house keys" Regina states looking at the others around the table.

"They got a little girls' room near here?" Regina asks, "Yeah, it's just inside to the left" Aria answers with a smile on her face.

"Oh, perfect, Hanni, come with, she'll be right back, I just need to wipe the dew from my lily" Regina states.

"Okay, grandma, no, walking now" Hanna grimaces walking away from the group towards the bathroom.

Aspen grimaces in disgust, "What does that even mean?" Emily wonders.

"It doesn't matter, I'm now officially done eating forever" Spencer answers pushing the food she has for lunch away from her alongside Aspen who does the same.

"No, I can't deal with this right now, you figure it out, it's not what we agreed" Jenna's hushed voice explains.

"Maybe we should've skipped Dr. Sullivan and gone straight to the police" Emily suggests, "Garrett is on the force, Em, Jenna got there first" Spencer responds before excusing herself.

Aspen does the same seeing her boyfriend in the corridor finished with his group for the day, "Hi, handsome" Aspen says jumping on his back.

"Well, hello to you too, gorgeous" Jason smiles once Aspen gets off his back and stands in front of him with a smile on her face, "Date night tonight?" Aspen suggests.

"Are we cooking or take-out?" Jason wonders walking out of the high school beside his girlfriend who smiles, "We should cook, I want chicken pasta" Aspen moans in delight.

"Okay, we'll make that together tonight" Jason smiles pecking the blondes lips before getting into his car and driving away from the high school.

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THE NEXT AFTERNOON AFTER their night was cut short with Jason getting food poisoning from eating whatever he had for lunch.

Aspen hid her disappointment when he called to cancel their dinner date and him staying over at her apartment as well.

Walking into the school ready for the meeting that the schools put together.

Aspen sits beside the others mumbling under her breath as Dr Sullivan basically bombs them at school mentioning bullying and receiving anonymous texts on mobile phones.

Aspen sighs to herself looking at Hanna who looks at Aspen alarmed before the assembly finishes and the five girls stand at the entrance of the high school with wide eyes.

"Am I the only one who thinks she's made things worse?" Hanna asks, "Why would it be worse?" Emily asks.

"Because she just tore our clothes off, basically, in front of the entire school" Hanna states.

"She wasn't betraying us, Han" Aria whispers, "This is someone trying to help us take down the enemy" Emily explains, "Is your phone back on?" Spencer questions.

"Yeah, why?" Hanna shrugs, "Well, Sullivan finished ten minutes ago, and we haven't heard from the beast, so that's progress" Spencer explains.

"Or the quiet before the storm" Hanna mumbles, "What are you looking at?" Spencer asks noticing Aria looking at someone.

"Hmm? Nothing, look, Sullivan's right, it was time to speak up" Aria voices hearing Jenna coming from inside the high school, "I'll talk to you guys later" Aria states stepping away from the group.

"Aria? Did you go to the assembly?" Jenna wonders standing extra close to Aspen, "Yeah, we all did, Jenna, why?" Aspen wonders.

"Just curious, what did you think of the shrink's speech? Too little too late, huh?" Jenna smirks, "What's that supposed to mean?" Aria questions.

"Well, it's just a shame St. Sullivan wasn't around when your friend Alison was ruling these halls" Jenna states.

"I guess it takes one bully to know another, Jenna, could you please move your stick? There are people trying to get past you" Emily demands leaving the brunette standing on the steps walking alongside her cousin and the others.

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ARRIVING AT HER APARTMENT Aspen's phone vibrates in her pocket seeing a text message from A.

TICK-TOCK, THAT
BOYFRIEND OF YOURS
SHOULD KNOW THE
SECRETS YOU HOLD
— A

Aspen sighs biting her lip before seeing Jason's name light up her phone, "Hi handsome" Aspen answers her phone, "Hey baby" Jason's weak voice is heard on the opposite side of the phone.

"You feeling any better?" Aspen wonders taking a glass out of her cupboard and pouring a nice cold glass of mineral water and grabbing leftovers from her dinner last night.

"Here and there, stop throwing up though" Jason responds.

"Good" Aspen replies sitting on the living room couch talking with her boyfriend for a while, until he needs to go to sleep due to being extremely tired.

"Before I go, pack your bags, we're going away together, call it a couple getaway for a few nights since I couldn't make it to our date night" Jason demands.

"Roadtrip?" Aspen wonders smiling at the thought of a getaway for a while, "Yeah baby" Jason confirms before ending the phone call to go to sleep.

"Goodnight J" Aspen says softly, "Goodnight, Asp" Jason's soft voice replies hanging up the phone call.

Jason smiles looking down at the gift he got Aspen during the time, fibbing a little bit about having food poisoning.

"Your mom doesn't have any ideas about you" Jason says talking to the present he got for his girlfriend he adores and loves.

Ignoring the man leaving his house and smiling at his gift for Aspen once more, thinking about the getaway together and surprising her with her present.

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ASPEN LAYS IN HER BED watching her favourite tv series munching on some of her favourite snacks.

Hearing her phone vibrate beside her seeing an sos text message from Emily stating Dr Sullivan knows who A is.

Aspen gasps rushing out of her apartment meeting the others at Dr Sullivan's office, "Dr. Sullivan! Guys, where is she?" Aria exclaims.

"Okay, are you sure that she said to meet her here?" Hanna asks, "I'm positive, she said meet in her office" Emily explains confused, "So, where is she?" Aspen questions.

"She's not here" Aria shrugs, all five of their phones chime with incoming messages.

Aspen gasps reading the message.

THE DOCTOR
IS OUT
— A

Spencer reads out loud looking at the other alarmed and panicked.

Aspen breaths out deeply before suggesting to everyone that they should go back to her apartment for the night, which everyone agrees on, leaving the office belonging to Dr Sullivan empty.

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TO BE CONTINUED...