Second Chances: The Alison Dilaurentis Story

Chapter 9: The Belltower

Alison stays close to Rosewood in case A decides to try and kill another one of her friends. She hired three of her patients from Maryanne's to help her. Andi tailing Spencer, Mel trailing Hanna, and Tara tailing Aria. Alison sticks close to Emily, even though it hurts seeing her with somebody else.

Maya notices Alison one afternoon and excuses herself from Emily for a moment, saying she is going to the restroom.

"Are you spying on us, Alison?"

"I'm watching out for Emily. It has nothing to do with you, Maya."

Maya furrows her brow and lowers her voice to a whisper.

"Wait...are you talking about A?"

Alison nods.

"I came back when Hanna got run over. I decided to stay so I can keep A from killing any of them. I have eyes on the other three."

"I can be your eyes for Emily. I know it probably hurts you to see her with me."

"That will just make you look suspicious to the others. It requires you to trail her. To blend in. You can't constantly be watching your surroundings because then you stop paying attention to her. You be with your girl."

Later that day, Alison gets a call from Andi.

"There's a sketchy guy following the nerdy one."

"Her name is Spencer. We've been over this, Andi. Where are you?"

"The church."

"I'm right down the road, switch with me."

Alison switches with Andi, putting up her hood and sees Ian following Spencer up the bell tower. She follows them up and sees Spencer dangling over the edge. Ian looks up at her.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Alison shoves Ian and makes sure Spencer steadies herself before disappearing back into the shadows. All the girls show up and they try to tell the police that Ian is dead in the bell tower. Alison hears the cops say that Ian is gone. She turns to her little team.

"How? He was hanging from the ropes by his neck when I left."

"You tried to kill him?" Mel asks.

"Not on purpose. But it was him or her and given the choice I will always choose my friends. I would gladly go to jail for them."

"I wish I had friends like that." Tara joins in.

"What? Friends that bully you to no end, fake their death, then stalk you to save your life?"

"But it wasn't your fault you were a bully."

"Nobody held a gun to my head. It doesn't matter what I was going through at home, I still didn't have the right to behave the way I did. I made a choice and choices have consequences. Everything I went through before coming to Maryanne's was self punishment. Nearly dying and now having to live in the shadows while I watch my friends try to live their lives is my karmic consequence."

"What did you do that was so bad anyway?" Andi asks.

"There are too many things for me to list. I was a very bad person before I left this place."

"What was your worst?"

"To each of my friends? Fat shaming Hanna, insulting Spencer's intelligence, forcing Aria to face her father's infidelity, and telling Emily I had no feelings for her at all simply because my father told me I can't be gay. To a non friend? I accidentally blinded a girl and blackmailed her stepbrother into taking the fall. A close second would be spreading a rumor that this boy in school was a hermaphrodite because he spilled a drink on me."

"How do you accidentally blind someone?" Tara asks.

"You throw a lit stink bomb into a garage. It was a prank gone very wrong."

"You have to know you deserve a second chance."

"And when the time comes, I'll get it. I need to save them from A first. I am of no use to them if I am focused on making amends."