024 — if these dolls could talk

season two —
episode twenty four

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ASPEN SITS IN THE BACKSEAT EATING her orange mandarin listening to Spencer telling them about the dream she had about Alison and how it felt real.

"Spencer, you're overthinking this" Emily voices, "Then why was the door open?" Spencer exclaims looking at the girls surrounding her.

"You're taking two different medications, you probably got up in the middle of the night—" Emily suggests.

"She was in my living room, Emily, I could still smell her creme rinse after she left, plus Aspen is three different medications and not hallucinating" Spencer responds seeing Aspen stop chewing her fruit looking at her stunned.

"You both think I'm losing it, don't you?" Spencer huffs, "No, I don't, I've been there, after I got locked in that barn, I woke up and she was leaning over me—that conversation felt more real than you and me talking in this car" Emily says.

Aspen looks down sadly remembering while she was in hospital after A poisoned her the conversation her and Alison had in the hospital.

"So, wait, what are you saying, that she actually was in my house this morning?" Spencer questions freaked out.

"I didn't say that, I just think that Ali is like holding all of our brains hostage, and we won't be able to sleep until we find out what really happened to her" Emily huffs looking at her house in the distance.

"I should go talk to these people, we'll be late for school" Emily sighs getting out of the vehicle and walking towards her house leaving Spencer and Aspen in the car together.

"You don't think I'm going insane do you?" Spencer pouts, "No, I don't know what to believe though—I saw Alison while I was in hospital recovering from the poisoning and my appendix being taken out, it—that felt beyond real" Aspen explains seeing Spencer looking at her shocked.

"You saw Ali?" Spencer whispers receiving a gentle nod from the blonde girl.

"Yeah" Aspen says quietly watching Emily coming out of her house after talking to the tenants since they're moving out in a few days.

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ASPEN SITS WITH THE OTHERS in the courtyard talking about certain things before Spencer rushes towards them with the newspaper.

"Guys, I figured it out, Alison took out a classified ad asking A to meet her in Brookhaven, and A responded—this was going on for like a month, look" Spencer explains pointing out some of the messages in the paper.

'DEAR A, WHAT'S IT
GONNA TAKE TO END THIS?
YOU NEED TO STOP
— A.D',

'HEY, DESPERATELY
SEEKING SILENCE,
WHO SAYS I
WANNA END THIS?
— A'

Spencer reads aloud passing one of the newspapers to Aspen so the blonde can look at them.

"Let me see that" Aria asks getting the paper passed to her off Aspen.

"What's this one?" Emily wonders grabbing the one off Spencer, "It's the last paper before Labor Day weekend, Alison was set to meet A at 235 Spruce Street" Spencer voices.

"Why do I know that street?" Aria asks looking around the table at the others.

"Because we walked on it, the creepy doll hospital?" Hanna explains while Aria looks at the papers once again in shock and mild confusion.

"Guys" Emily mumbles noticing someone—Jenna walking towards them with Toby on her arm helping her.

"She took off the bandage" Spencer whispers in realisation, "She's not using the stick" Aria says.

"Why is she still wearing the shades?" Hanna asks with a squint staring at the brunette.

"Hanna, stop staring" Emily demands in a whisper while Aspen and Aria quickly pass Spencer the newspaper to hide them away from the incomers.

"Are they all here?" Jenna quizzes quietly, "Yes" Toby mumbles looking at Spencer and Aspen.

"Thanks, Toby, I'll meet you and Jemma inside" Jenna states answering Aspen's question in her head about where her sister is.

"Sorry to interrupt" Jenna announces taking a seat between Aspen and Aria.

"Can you see or not?" Hanna bluntly asks shocking the rest of the girls.

"Han!" Aspen exclaims looking at the blonde shocked noticing Jenna shaking her head sadly.

"Wait, the surgery didn't?" Aria wonders genuinely surprised, "No, it didn't, I went in knowing the odds, so I can't be shocked, the funny thing is, I woke up this morning and, uh—I could see clearly, just not with my eyes" Jenna voices emotionally before sighing.

"You could've left me in that smoky room, Aspen, but you—you didn't, instead, you—you saved my life and it made me realize that—that people can grow, so now it's my turn, and that's why I'm here" Jenna explains while the five girls share confused glances with each other.

"I'm here to—to apologize and to let go of the anger that's been holding me back, so can we just please—move on?" Jenna questions wiping away a tear falling down her cheek.

"What exactly are you apologizing for, Jenna?" Emily asks, "For holding a grudge and, uh—for hating you" Jenna answers while Aspen shares a look with Aria across from her shocked.

"We've all done things that we're not proud of, I know what you think of me, but you're wrong, I've never been the person you really need to fear, Aspen—we were once friends, I hope someday we could go back to that" Jenna states.

Said girl takes a deep breath while getting her cane from her pocket flicking it out and walking away from the five stunned girls sitting in the courtyard.

"Please don't tell me you bought that" Emily mumbles, "I kinda did" Aria answers seeing Aspen looking in the direction Jenna just walked off to.

"Me too, she was right you know? We were friends way before the accident" Aspen responds sucking in a deep breath at those memories with both Marshall sisters.

"Guys, if that surgery didnt work, there's no way she hates us less, I still believe she had something to do with that fire at Jason's" Emily states.

"So you think she set the fire and then just walked into it?" Hanna questions in confusion.

"Yeah, I've heard of cutting off your nose to spite your face, but that's—" Aria voices.

"Cutting off your whole face" Spencer finishes the Montgomery girl's sentence.

"Well, if Jenna isn't A, then who is she talking about? Garrett?" Emily questions looking around the table.

"Melissa" Hanna suggests looking at Spencer, "Hanna, Melissa openly admitted to sending Ali angry text messages, if she was A, why would she do that?" Aria wonders.

"I don't know, I don't have the answer" Hanna mutters, "I think Vivian did, I think she found out, that's why she's not sitting with us" Spencer states grimly.

"So what? What do we do now?" Aria questions, "We retrace Ali's steps, go back to Brookhaven, we're too close now to back off" Aspen utters looking at the others.

Before excusing herself for the ladies room before she has to go to her fashion design class.

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ARRIVING IN BROOKHAVEN AFTER Aspen agreed she'd be the one to drive.

Aria explains while stomping her way towards the creepy toy store what she found when she wrote a note for her mother.

"He couldn't run Ezra out of town, so now he's shipping me off" Aria mutters pissed off with her father since finding boarding school papers.

"What did Ezra say?" Spencer wonders, "Well, he's not really surprised, my dad's turning this into a war" Aria responds, "So what are you gonna do?" Emily questions.

"Look, can you just hurry up and figure it out? Because Vermont is like Iceland the sequel" Hanna states panicked about possibly losing Aria.

Aspen looks around noticing the lack of the address they're looking for, "Wait, there's no 235" Aspen voices while looking at the shops surrounding them.

"You guys, look" Hanna states gesturing to the lady walking towards the toy store.

"Um, hi" Spencer exclaims rushing towards the lady capturing her attention.

"Hi, um, sorry, excuse me" Spencer says, "We're not open" the lady bluntly replies shocking Aspen at the rude tone she has towards supposed customers.

"Oh, well, we've tried to call you, your shop a couple of times, we just want to ask a few questions" Spencer explains.

"You can ask, but it doesn't mean I'll have the answers" the lady responds.

Aspen squints at the woman hearing Spencer nervously chuckle, "Um, we just wanted to know if you keep a record of all of the customers who purchase your dolls" Spencer voices.

"We don't sell much, it's mostly repairs" the lady responds, "Oh, um, well, you do sell some dolls, because a friend of ours might have received that one as a gift" Spencer mutters pointing at one of the dolls in the window.

"We never sold those, that was left here and never picked up" the lady explains.

"Could you tell us who might have left it?" Aspen questions speaking up from beside Spencer.

"I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch, ya'll better come inside" the lady suggests unlocking the door to the store with a laugh that sounded super creepy in Aspen's mind.

"Seth, baby, turn on the light, would ya? We got guests, my late sister did the books, I've been trying to sell the shop, no takers" the lady chuckles looking at the five girls.

"Kids these days only like things they can Google, which doll was it again? So many faces in here, they start to blur" said lady asks, "Uh, it was a small one, kind of folksy and burlap-y" Spencer explains.

"Terrifying" Hanna states, "They mean the voodoo doll, there was another girl came in asking about the same one" the kid—Seth voices standing beside Aspen scaring her.

"When was that?" Aspen wonders, "Summer before last" Seth responds.

"I can't make heads or tails out of this, let me check that stack over there" the lady voices walking towards another stack of documents.

"This girl who came in—what was she asking?" Hanna asks looking at the young boy, "She wanted to know who bought it" Seth says.

"Was this her?" Emily questions showing Seth a picture of Alison on her mobile phone.

"That's her face, but she had dark hair, lots of it, like that" Seth explains pointing to one of the dolls with a head full of dark brown hair.

"Um, did you ever figure it out? The person that she was looking for?" Aspen wonders, "No, but I told her to stop looking" Seth states.

"Why?" Aria quizzes, "There are people who wanted to hurt her, a man and a woman" Seth explains.

"Seth, hold your tongue" the lady suggests still flipping through the documents.

"What is he talking about? When did these people come into the shop?" Spencer wonders.

"They didn't, that's something he saw in his mind, he sees things—things that haven't happened yet, he's gifted" the lady—Martha explains.

"This couple who was after her, what did they look like?" Spencer quizzes, "Dark hair, like yours" Seth mumbles.

"Um, was she wearing sunglasses? Did she have a cane?" Emily asks, "Is she blind?" Hanna wonders, "Oh, no, she can see" Seth confirms.

"Seth, baby, why don't you take the groceries up to the kitchen, ya hear?" Martha orders in a low tone looking at the boy in warning.

Seth walks towards the stairs turning towards the five girls, "Sorry about what happened to her, must have been awful, breathing dirt into your lungs, I don't even like sand in my mouth" Seth voices stunning the girls who look at each other surprised.

"Seth, baby, go, you said enough" Martha voices gesturing to upstairs which the boy hurries off to with the groceries.

Aspen looks around suddenly feeling claustrophobic and walks outside leading the others behind her driving back to Hanna's in silence only with the soft hum of the radio on.

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ASPEN SITS BESIDE EMILY AND Hanna staring at the kitchen counter still in shock and experiencing minor nausea in her stomach.

"You think this will be enough to split?" Aria questions getting a pizza from Hanna's freezer noticing all of their uncomfortable looks.

"Guys, seriously, he's nine years old, he's never seen the sun, and he probably lives in a cupboard with like 600 dolls, okay? So you don't need to get all freaked out over a newsflash from Casper the friendly host" Aria comments.

"Aria, he remembers Alison, okay? He warned her that something bad was gonna happen" Emily explains.

"Well, if it wasn't Jenna and Garrett, who was the couple he saw in his head?" Aria questions.

"Melissa and Ian" Hanna firmly states, "Can you let it go?" Aspen voices looking at the blonde.

Yes Aspen cannot stand Ian for what he did to her but mentioning him and his wife all the time is getting a little tiring for her.

"No, he said the girl wasn't blind" Hanna snaps looking at Aspen.

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean that we have to go back there" Aria mutters.

"Yeah, we do, my parents thought that Melissa could've killed Alison" Spencer reveals.

"Wait what?" Aspen exclaims shocked, "Say that again" Aria voices looking at Spencer in surprise sitting down beside Hanna on the end of the counter.

"They hired a detective after Ali disappeared" Spencer mumbles, "What did the detective find?" Aspen questions.

"I don't know, but Melissa tried to convince me that my father wanted to see Ali dead" Spencer states.

"Wait, Melissa accused your father of wanting Alison dead, why? Why would he want that?" Aria wonders.

"Because Alison knew that my dad—" Spencer voices looking at Aspen and inhaling seeing the blonde nodding encouraging Spencer to continue.

"My dad is Jason's father, too" Spencer reveals seeing the girls look between her and Aspen shocked.

"She would drop hints and make weird jokes about how close our families were and then Jason figured it out and he told Aspen and I—recently" Spencer explains.

"So your father and—" Hanna mumbles without finishing her thought seeing Aspen nodding at her from beside Spencer now comforting the brunette.

"Did Ali rub this in Melissa's face, too?" Aria questions, "All I know is that Melissa hates Alison's guts, she worked in the next town over and she probably drove past that creepy doll shop every day" Spencer explains looking at the others before Aspen suggests that everyone goes home to sleep.

Spencer and Aria leave with the blonde leaving Hanna and Emily at the Marin household.

Aspen sneaks into her apartment placing her keys on the kitchen counter and taking off her shoes sighing quietly while walking into her bedroom seeing Jason sleeping with Bowie cuddled up beside him.

Aspen smiles before closing the door of her bedroom to her bathroom and showering and doing her skincare.

Before snuggling into bed alongside her boyfriend and puppy feeling arms wrap around her waist tightly locking her in place for the time being.

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MEETING UP IN THE CAFETERIA before walking out into the courtyard.

Spencer explains what her and her sister talked about last night about her knowing things that make the five of them look awful.

"She's bluffing" Hanna states walking alongside the senior, "That's a pretty big hand to play with no cards" Emily voices sitting down at their usual spot in the courtyard.

"That's what happens when you have nothing, you play big and you psyche everybody out" Hanna utters.

"Okay, but what if Melissa is telling the truth? What if there was a camera on us the night of the Jenna thing?" Spencer questions while Aspen bites into the chicken salad Jason made her for dinner last night.

"You know what? Enough is enough, if we have to trick Melissa into sending a text message to prove that she's A, then that's what we'll do" Hanna suggests looking at Aspen drinking her mineral water.

"What's up? Why are you staring at me like that?" Aspen questions seeing Hanna staring at the food wanting to see what the hype is over Jason's cooking.

"Okay, here" Aspen states handing Hanna the fork letting the others try the simple salad, all four girls moan in delight at the delicious taste.

"Oh, I get it now, he can cook and his good in bed" Hanna smirks seeing Aspen nearly choke on her piece of chicken.

Aspen looks at Spencer screwing her face up in disgust thinking about her brother and best friend in bed together.

"He is, you're right Han, sorry Spence" Aspen giggles with a blush covering her cheeks.

Walking out from her class seeing Caleb and Hanna talking or more so Caleb pleading to his girlfriend that he doesn't have to anything with Mona.

"You've got this!" Aspen states interrupting their conversation sending a smile towards Caleb who sighs and nods kissing Hanna and walking to his last class for the day.

"You know he never says no to you right?" Hanna mutters in slight jealousy over Aspen and Caleb's friendship.

"Han, his doing this, because he loves and adores you, plus Caleb has admitted to finding me scary, so win-win" Aspen smirks winking at Hanna leaving the school finished with all of her classes for the day.

Spencer quickly picks Aspen and Bowie up from her apartment driving over to Hanna's house ready to wait for the text from Melissa—A to come through.

After a while of silence and the three of them staring at Hanna's phone, "Are you sure that Melissa went—" Hanna mumbles.

"Positive, Emily followed her there" Aspen explains, "I don't know how you got him to agree" Spencer mutters.

"He loves me more than he hates Mona, that's how—however Aspen helped as well, but believe me, I'm not digging this either" Hanna states in a huff while her phone chimes on the bed covers.

Hanna gasps reading the message on the mobile phone, "Who's it from? Hanna, let me see" Spencer demands gently.

HEY HAN, YOU INTO SHARING
EVERYTHING WITH YOUR BFF?
EVEN YOUR BF?
— A

"Do we need any more proof? It's been Melissa all along" Hanna exclaims reading the text message again, "Spence, your sister is A" Aspen gasps looking at the shocked Spencer.

Hanna quickly gets off the bed and rushes downstairs while Aspen and Spencer follow her down waiting in the kitchen.

"I can't find my pen drive, so we just gonna have to give them my laptop" Hanna voices.

"Wait, who?" Spencer frowns, "The police, are you driving or me? Or Aspen?" Hanna questions.

"Hanna, this is my sister! What am I gonna tell my parents? They tried to protect her!" Spencer exclaims.

"Yeah, so did you! For way too long! We should've turned her in the second that we knew she texted Ali" Hanna mutters looking at the Hastings girl.

Aspen freezes hearing the front door open, "Mom?" Hanna calls out wondering if it's her mother returning home while the front door shuts seeing Emily rushing into the kitchen, "Where have you been?" Spencer shouts.

"I drove Caleb home, he told Mona he wanted to walk, he doesn't get why we aren't trapping Jenna and Garrett, to him, that's the enemy" Emily explains.

"Well, he's wrong, we have proof now" Hanna states, "No, we might need more" Spencer voices/

"More? I just forced my boyfriend to make out with my best friend from junior high, what's next? Hiding in Melissa's closet? Rubbing her belly until the baby confesses?" Hanna questions loudly, "Hanna, Jenna and Garrett—" Emily starts to explain.

"No, Emily! Stop confusing us! We know who A is now!" Hanna yells, "No, Hanna! We're still just guessing!" Spencer snaps angrily.

"What if we show that kid the video from Alison's room? Let Seth tell us which couple—" Emily suggests although being interrupted again.

"Have you lost your mind? We are now going to ask a nine-year-old sideshow to tell us who's been torturing us?" Hanna snarls.

"Hanna, he remembered Alison" Emily mutters, "So what? He reads the paper, it doesn't mean that he can bend a spoon just by staring at it" Hanna utters.

"He knew how she died, that was never in the paper" Aspen voices looking at the three arguing girls hearing the front door open and close.

"Hey there" Mona shouts from the front door seeing all of them standing in the kitchen together.

"So did it work? Did you guys get a text?" Mona asks, "No, no, not yet, what's in the bag?" Hanna asks looking at the bag.

"Shower gel, I need to scrub off ten layers of shame" Mona responds awkwardly smiling at the others who return the gesture.

"Well, um, I'm gonna go shower, see you before lights out" Mona explains walking upstairs to shower, "You can't tell her everything, okay, this is Spencer's family" Emily states.

"Fine, we'll show Seth baby the video, that's the only stop we're making before the police station" Hanna mutters gathering up her belongings and walking out of the house to drive to Brookhaven to go see Seth at the toy store.

Emily, Aspen, Spencer and Hanna walk along the street towards the toy store, "Do you think it's too late?" Emily wonders.

"Yes" Spencer confirms looking into the store seeing lights still on, "They could be downstairs" Hanna suggests.

Spencer pushes on the door looking at the others while Aspen exhale feeling nauseous once again from entering the building.

"Hello? Hello?" Spencer calls out announcing their entry into the store while the door creaks and shuts behind them.

Aspen and Spencer lead the other two down the staircase, "Martha? Are you down here?" Spencer calls out in question.

"Why's the light on? Looks like somebody just left" Emily mumbles nervously.

"You guys, let's just go" Hanna suggests anxiously, Aspen nudges Spencer pointing at one of the boxes.

"Wait, look, she said she didn't sell these" Aspen states shocked the older woman lied to them.

"She did" Spencer confirms looking at the box of voodoo dolls while the light above them clicks off startling all four of them.

"Martha? Um, I'm sorry, we're down here" Spencer shouts upstairs hoping the older woman will turn the lights back on.

"Okay, let's just come back when they're open" Emily suggests seeing Aspen nodding agreeing with her.

"That would be 1979, just find a light switch" Spencer mumbles.

"Let's not and just leave" Aspen exclaims standing beside Hanna looking around hearing a clicking noise before a distorted voice is heard.

...END UP
LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME...

Spencer leads the other three towards the voice while Hanna and Emily cling onto Aspen's jacket scared out of their minds, "This is how every fucking horror movie starts!" Aspen whisper shouts.

Spencer undoes the latch opening the closet seeing a doll with red soaked hair and a yellow shirt—like Alison, all four of them gasp horrified by the sight

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

FOLLOW ME,
END UP LIKE ME.

Aspen and the others flinch while glass dolls are knocked from the shelves shattering on the ground and the monkey sculpture starts chittering.

"Hanna!" Aspen shrieks dragging the others towards the exit wanting to get out of this nightmare, "Hanna" Spencer voices seeing the blonde stopping.

"No, wait, my laptop!" Hanna explains grabbing her laptop from the pile of broken dolls on the floor and running up the stairs.

Aspen is already outside taking deep breaths and rushing towards a nearby trashcan holding her own hair throwing up her dinner due to the sight down in the basement of that doll store.

"Let's go home, please" Emily begs distraught over the sight they saw of what looked like Alison with blood covering her scalp.

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ONCE BACK IN ROSEWOOD AND away from that terrifying sight.

All four girls run around Spencer's bedroom gathering Ali's stuff into the bag Jason gave them ready to hand it over to the police.

"What all should we take?" Emily states throwing stuff into the duffel bag.

"Wait, put that in the duffel bag, we have to give them everything" Hanna voices seeing Spencer with her iPad out.

"What are you looking for?" Aspen wonders noticing Hanna pacing around looking for something.

"I have no idea" Hanna replies with a sigh, "This feels really weird, giving them all of Ali's stuff" Emily voices.

"Well, maybe there's something in here that the police can use, Alison even said there was" Spencer prompts.

"What? When?" Hanna asks shocked, "Yesterday, in a dream" Spencer and Emily mumble.

"Okay, why am I just hearing about this now?" Hanna questions looking at the three girls, before any of them can respond a door downstairs closes signalling someone's arrival home,

Aspen curses quietly in her head once Spencer walks on the creaky floorboard frowning hearing a knock on the door walking downstairs slowly beside Spencer and the other two.

"Officer, hi, um, is something wrong?" Melissa questions looking at the two police officers entering the house, "Neil, well, what, uh, what's going on?" Garrett wonders curiously.

"We're here on official business, officer Reynolds, will you please surrender your weapon?" Neil demands gesturing to the weapon on Garrett's side.

"What? What the hell is this?" Garrett frowns stunned, "Why are you doing this? What has he done?" Melissa quizzes.

"Garrett Reynolds, you're under arrest" Neil states firmly, "For what?" Garrett asks.

"The murder of Alison DiLaurentis" Neil states shocking everyone in the house.

Melissa looks up seeing Spencer and the others watching in shock and Aspen sitting on the stairs surprise laced all of her face while the cuffs lock shut on Garrett's wrist and the officers lead him out of the house.

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TO BE CONTINUED...