chapter fifteen:
If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again

The next few hours were silent, Charlie didn't move a single inch the second she went into her room. Not until she felt her skin shiver with anxiety and her throat became dry. She'd vomit if she could but all they would come out with was nothing but guilt and lies. Her phone kept ringing and she ignored it as she quickly locked her door.

She flinched at the knock on the window, she licked her lips nervously as she moved towards it and tugged her curtains back. "Hey, open the window. Your damn roof is slippery and I'm not trying to break my leg again". She unlocked the window and pushed her window open "Hanna, what are you doing here?".

"You didn't show up at school, we normally go together and you were ignoring my phone calls and text messages. So I came the second I could, is it true what they're saying on the news". Charlie sighed "mom didn't want us going today, since the press keeps trying to interview us. My phone was dead anyways, I forgot to charge it last night".

If there was one thing Charlie was really good at, it was lying. In fact sometimes she would scare herself with how good she became at it. It's not like she was fully lying, her mother did want her to stay home after the girl faked vomiting all morning. Her phone was shoved under her pillow and ignored, she didn't really care if it actually died or not.

"Oh well I came to check in on you, I can't believe your brother is dead" Charlie tried her best to seem sad but in reality she wasn't. She had dealt with this guilt for years, sure Jason technically killed him but she helped hide the body. She had the bloody shoes hidden under her floorboards to prove it.

"My mom has been running around all day panicking, she thinks some crazed asshole is gonna come after us next. I told her it can't be anything remotely that bad, maybe it was an accident or something". Hanna sighed "well your dad was murdered and then turns out your brother might have been too. Wasn't he sending postcards though? He sent you birthday money literally a few months ago".

Charlie wanted to laugh almost at the thought, because she reuses the same cash every year like clockwork when she sends those cards. "Yeah he was, but I don't really wanna talk about this anymore".

"Wait, you don't think it's..." Charlie tensed "it's not A, not everything around here needs to involve that psycho. Besides, according to the police he's been dead for a few years, so I doubt A did it". Hanna sat down on the girl's bed and Charlie noticed the stress hidden beneath her eyelashes.

"You alright?" Hanna nodded as she looked at Charlie "yeah, just have detention for the week and that place is so depressing". Charlie sat down beside the girl "you're a really bad liar, your eyebrow twitches and you get all jittery when you try to cover it up".

Hanna sighed "of course you'd notice that, it's just... well some stuff with my mom. Something that can get her in really big trouble and I don't know what to do". Charlie looked at her door when she heard the knock "wait, is A blackmailing you or something?" Hanna stood up quickly moving towards the window.

"Look, don't worry about it, I'm gonna figure it out. I just wanted to make sure you were alright before I went home. I don't need your mother catching me in here, she'd probably think I'm a burglar".

"Not in that outfit" Hanna smiled before she slipped out the window and disappeared. Charlie opened her door and tensed "Jason... what the fuck are..". He pushed her into the room pushing the door shut "I don't have a lot of time, your mother just left so I used the spare key. You really need to hide that better by the way, anyone could come in here".

She rolled her eyes "my mother changes it every morning and night, so I don't think someone would be that desperate to break in. Besides she's probably gonna change the locks again with everything going on around here". Jason sighed "they're investigating, which means we need to lay low if we don't wanna get caught. I'm gonna be staying in town for a few days, just until this all goes away".

"If only it were that easy, but I mean... we were careful and we got rid of all the evidence" Jason glared at her "did we?". She sighed "don't give me that look, I've kept this hidden for years, I sent those stupid postcards for every holiday and birthday! I lost my brother and I had to keep it a secret".

"Did you get rid of the shoes or not? I told you to burn them that night and we both know we weren't in our best headspace. So did you remember or not". She scratched at the back of her neck "I didn't. But I mean no offense, who the hell lights a fire that late? My mother would've known the second I walked into my room reeking of ashes".

She moved into her closet tugging her floorboard open "they're in here, no one's gonna check". She tensed when she saw the shoes were gone, she quickly grabbed the bright yellow envelope. "Get rid of them, tonight or else we're screwed" she pushed the floorboard shut and stood up. "I will, don't even worry about it. Look you better get out of here before my mother sees you, she'll lose her shit".

Jason sighed "I will, just making sure you don't fuck this up. So if they start asking questions, lie". He left her room and she gulped nervously as she looked down at the yellow envelope. Her name was written in beautiful hand writing and she felt like throwing up as she quickly ripped it open.

Don't want to end up behind bars, you have two options take it, all of it or get rid of Hannas little family issue, I'll be watching-A

Charlie gasped as she tossed the bag of pills away from her when it slipped out of the envelope, going down that dark path wasn't something she wanted to endure again. She'd rather die than ever become that girl again, but then again she knew she had no choice.

She frowned as she looked at a photo of an older woman, "what the fuck... what did you get yourself into Han". She flipped the photo over and an address was written on it along with a message.

Save Hanna's mother from going behind bars, and you just might get those shoes back. I left a present for you under your bed, you'll need it-A

Two shitty options and it made Charlie feel nauseous as she looked outside. The sun was still out so whatever she picked it would have to wait till it was dark outside, otherwise things would turn shitty.

—

Charlie could cross off sneaking into an elderly woman's house off her nonexistent bucket list. She felt like an idiot as she tugged her hood over her head and quickly slipped into a window. She moved quickly as she moved into the bedroom, she could hear the woman inside the bathroom. Charlie sighed deeply as she reached into her pocket grabbing the pills A put inside the envelope.

She didn't need to hurt this woman let alone even bother trying to stop her, yet all she could see was Hanna. The girl alone and scared, maybe deep down Charlie enjoyed this a little too much. She crushed the pills and let them fall into the woman's cup of tea.

One would've worked just fine, making her fall asleep until the appointment was done. It would end bad regardless, she'd go back to the bank the second she could and Hanna would still suffer. She let the empty plastic bag slip into her coat pocket as she moved to leave the bedroom. The elderly woman screamed at the sight of the girl when she accidentally walked out of the bathroom. The second Charlie was almost out the kitchen back door.

"Fuck" Charlie watched as the woman ran for her phone, time felt slower as Charlie panicked and grabbed a kitchen knife off the counter. The woman nearly slipped as she grabbed her phone off the wall and began to dial, then she turned and gasped when a knife slammed into her throat.

Charlie cringed as blood hit her face, she exhaled so fast she nearly choked as she watched the woman fall into the ground and sink into herself. Charlie dropped the knife and moved back "oh god, what did I do".

She gagged as she looked down at the woman's body, she quickly grabbed the knife off the ground and tossed it into the dishwasher before she slammed the door shut. "The cup..." she looked towards the stairs and she sighed as she ran up them going into the bedroom. She approached it and grabbed hold of it. Part of her wanted to down all of it and just forget this even happened but another part of her enjoyed it.

Hanna was safe, and that was truly all that mattered wasn't it? No one would find out anyways, Charlie was at home sleeping. She dumped the cup into the kitchen sink and then placed it into the dishwasher.

The phone began ringing and Charlie climbed out the window quickly running off back home. She climbed into her bedroom window and slammed her window shut. She cringed as the blood on her face dried, she quickly took her clothes off tossing them under her bed before she went into the bathroom.

She gasped when she saw writing on her mirror, the same lipstick shade from before.

I knew you were my favorite for a reason-A

—
authors notes: (me updating twice! Gasp!)

In conclusion I'm proud of myself for managing this chapter, I literally watched the episode and then got straight to writing afterwards. It's 4am.... Yeah I gotta fix my sleep schedule desperately lmao. I mean regardless we got our babies updated again so... also god this episode had me cringing whenever Aria was defending Ezra (he can catch these fucking hands) that's a literal minor and it's so gross to watch now that I'm older and understand it. It's just weird and if I were her friend girl, I'm going straight to the police.