CHARISMA - the sweet unknown {PLL}

No Hearts Left To Break

Exhausted wasn't quite the word to describe how Alisha felt when she got home. After the conversation with Wilden, the girls had been sitting in the park for another one or two hours. Nobody knew what to say. It felt so unreal. They were all hoping to wake up and find out it was just a bad nightmare. The hardest part was, not being able to talk about it with anyone. Wilden had asked them to keep quiet about any details about Colin's death. All the other students were only asked questions about the last 24 hours and if they had noticed any changes. So basically only the five of them knew what had really happened.

Alisha unlocked the front door and made her way to the kitchen. Her mom was preparing dinner and smiled once she noticed Alisha. "Hey Alisha", she stirred the ground beef in the pan, "there's a letter waiting for you on the counter."

Alisha walked to the counter and found an envelope with her name on it. She took it and turned it around. There was no sender noted on the back. Expecting the worst already, she carried it to the conservatory and sat down on an arm chair. She carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet that was inside. A quick look at it and Alisha realised what it was - the list she had requested from Wright. It had taken him quite a while, she thought, but better late than never.

"Mom?" she shouted loud enough for her mother to hear her in the kitchen. "Is dad home?"

"Yes, darling", Mrs Lichtenstein waddled into the conservatory, "He's in his office."

Alisha rose from the arm chair and made her way to the attic, to hand the list to her father. She knocked at the door twice and then went inside.

"Hey dad."

Mr Lichtenstein sat behind his desk and was busy signing papers. A lot has accumulated while he was in prison. He looked up and smiled, "Hey Alisha."

"I've got something for you", she said and put the envelope on the desk in front of him. He raised his eyebrows and opened it carefully. Alisha watched his eyes follow the lines on the paper, reading every single name on it. There were about 170 people listed and it took a while for her dad to read through all of their names. After he had finished, he looked at Alisha, "Thank you."

She nodded and sat down at a chair by his desk. "How did you know I'd find him?"

The expression on his face turned serious, "I told you, I knew you were smart enough."

"Dad", Alisha wasn't satisfied with that answer, "I've never heard of code in my life before, ever. Neither have you told me anything about it."

He just couldn't fool his daughter, "Well, I also knew your friend Spencer would be a great helper. Maybe you should tell her I'm sorry about it, too. But remember, I told you to not worry about it anymore."

Alisha sighed, "Sure, dad, easy peasy."

Anybody else would have misunderstood the comment and thought she was throwing a hissy fit. But Mr Lichtenstein knew better. "Are you alright? You look tired, if you allow me the say that."

"I wish I could say yes", Alisha would love nothing more than to tell her dad about everything. Just to hear his advice and to find out what he would do. "There's just so much going on at the moment."

"You know you can talk to me about everything?" his voice turned soft and he put everything out of his hands to show he was only focussing on Alisha, "No matter what it is, if you need money or legal support, there's nothing we can't do."

"There's things money just can't buy and no law is able to fix, either", Alisha replied.

Mr Lichtenstein tilted his head, "You're probably a little too old to talk to me about this, but- " he hesitated, "are you heartbroken? I mean, I remember my first heartache, it was horrible."