CANARY CRY [pretty little liars]

19. someone to watch over me

Adaline sprinted through the woods, tree branches scratching her as they reached out. Her skin blemished with red scraps due to her sensitive skin. She was running from something, or someone, but she couldn't remember what. She didn't have time to think, she had to flee. Tall grass and broken twigs slapped her ankles. In the back of her head, she pondered if the years of track and field would support her now.

Suddenly, she hesitated, not exactly remembering where she was. Surely she was close to her house, or maybe close to Ali's. Maybe she was somewhere else completely. Looking down at her clothes, she wondered when she put them on. Her jeans were baggy and a light wash pair that meshed perfectly with her Clueless inspired yellow plaid crop top. Her memory failed her as to where she put her leather jacket down, but now she had a green windbreaker hanging off her shoulders.

Like a freight train, realization crashed into her -- She wasn't being chased, she was chasing someone. Ahead of her, a blur of blonde flashed between the trees, and before she could stop herself, her legs kicked off the ground and moved quickly. The yellow and blonde blur grew closer as Adaline sprinted towards it. Suddenly, the blonde was on the ground, Adaline standing over it.

Adaline looked down at her hands, her nimble fingers curled around the handlebar of a shovel. Beneath her, she saw a blonde girl laying on the ground, blood pooling at the base of the neck. She started to breathe heavily as her eyes focused and unfocused in and out. The roots of the blonde hair grew dark and the tips changed hue. Adaline was staring down at her own body.

———

With a jolt, Adaline woke up. Before the memory could escape her, she jotted down her dream into a journal she kept next to her bed. Finishing the last couple sentences, she heard knocking at her door. Getting out of bed, she swung open the door to see her father's face and a couple of cops behind him.

"They need to search your room," Adam said quietly, motioning at the officers.

Addaline grimaced and opened her door all the way, allowing the officers to enter her room and begin their search. Last night the officers were there late going to the bulk of the house before calling off their search around eleven at night. Adaline watched each movement they made. They were looking in all the wrong places. While they rummaged through her drawers, her real secrets were staring them in the face. After the police went home the night before, Adaline stayed up late hiding anything incriminating in all of her hiding spots - inside an empty multivitamin bottle, behind a framed mirror, underneath a false floorboard, inside an empty tampon box.

"Why don't you grab some clothes and get changed in the downstairs bathroom. I'll take you to school," Adam said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Adaline rolled her eyes and went to her closet to pick out an outfit, but before she could even pull a shirt off the hanger, an officer cleared his throat. "We need all of your clothes for examination," he said sternly.