Pretty Little Liars- 20 Years Later (A Next Generation Story)

Four | The New Normal

Despite all the years that had passed in Rosewood, the Apple Rose Grille had attracted many customers, and had therefore stayed open until the present day. As the sun came down on Rosewood, giving the illusion that everything was fine, the reality inside the restaurant was different.

Four teenagers- two boys and two girls, sat around a rectangular table, with glum faces. All were thinking about the same things. Alice's disappearance, her murder case, but more importantly, -A. Who was this freak? Each of them knew that only Alice could know these secrets about them, unless she had opened her big mouth whilst she was alive and told the entirety of Rosewood.

Julia spoke first. "This is crazy!" She said, breaking the silence. "I mean, this is crazier than crazy! Someone knowing all of our secrets whose name begins with an A? I mean, who else could that be?"
"What did yours say?" Tori asked. Julia met her question with a stony silence. "Let me guess, it was private?"
"Yep." Julia responded.
"Me too." Adam added.
"Same here." Leo added, again. Victoria nodded as if she knew the answer all along, eventually chiming in with "Yeah, I don't exactly feel like sharing mine."

A waiter approached the table, interrupting their thoughts, and asked what they would like to order. As soon as the waiter had spoken the words, Leo bolted up out of his chair.
"Order for me?" He requested. "I need the bathroom."
"Sure." Julia said. "Chilli cheese fries, right?"
"Right." Leo confirmed.

Leo walked away, darting in between various tables and avoiding waiters carrying fragile loads of plates. He arrived at the bathroom door with a small image of a man on, and swung the door open and stepped inside.
"Hello?" He asked, speaking to thin air. Leo didn't get a response, so he figured the bathroom was empty.

The muscular boy stepped towards the mirror which ran along the length of one of the grey bathroom walls. Beneath the mirror were five basins on top of a counter, and Leo leaned against it, exhaling a deep breath.

He wasn't coping well. Leo pushed his blonde hair to the side and shoved his hand in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled something out of it. A tube.

The tube was white and made from cheap plastic. The plastic wasn't transparent, so no one could see what was inside. The tube fit comfortably in the palm of his hand, and had a plastic lid, which he easily pulled off. Inside were a load of pills. Each pill was cylindrical in shape, and half orange, half blue. Leo tipped two of the pills from the tube into his hand and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them without hesitation. He placed the bottle back in his pocket and stared at himself in the mirror.

That felt better. Leo felt the drugs working, his body and mind calming down at once as he began to sink into a more relaxed state. Leo looked at himself in the mirror and forced an 'everything is fine' smile to try and convince himself.

But everything wasn't fine. Leo's phone buzzed, letting him know of an email, and he opened it, dreading what it might say.

I wonder what Alice would have to say about you going back to drugs after all this time... -A

The group's food arrived shortly after Leo returned to the table. As the evening passed, it felt like old times. The four laughed about funny moments they'd had in the past, shared the recent news they'd heard around school, and discussed the things they loved. They laughed. A lot. Despite the circumstances, they laughed a lot.

Once they had payed the bill and finished their food, the group started for the door. The cold autumn air greeted them as they stepped outside of the grille, and the four stood on the street corner saying their goodbyes. It felt good to be friends again. Just as the teenagers were about to go their separate ways, their phones beeped, buzzed, rang, and dinged. Knowing what they'd see on their phones, the Liars unlocked their devices nervously and read the message on their screens.