Collide

Chapter 21

After Alison was assessed in the Emergency Department, the on call physician decided to admit her for further observation and brain scans. "Alison," the petite nurse says softly as she rests her hand on top of Alison's, "I'm going to give you some pain medication. You have a few facial fractures and I'd like to relieve your pain".

"Thank you," Alison whispers as she relaxes into the plush pillows, "I'd like to fall asleep and forget this night ever happened".

"You know," the gentle nurse says after she administers the IV pain medication, "It's my job to medically treat you but I also serve as a listening ear. If you'd like to talk about what you went through, I'd be happy to listen".

"I appreciate that," Alison sighs as she stares into the concerned eyes of her caring nurse, "Maybe after I have some time to process things".

Releasing a cleansing breath after the nurses dims the lights and closes the door, Alison begins to feel the sedating effects of the pain medication and steadily drifts off to sleep. Without the assistance of heavy doses of medication, Alison surely wouldn't have been able to quiet her mind and her conflicted heart. In such a short amount of time, everything she thought she knew was flipped completely upside down. One minute she thought she'd successfully infiltrated Rosco's drug ring and the next minute, she's staring down the barrel of a gun, just seconds away from death. But death never came for Alison due to the shocking presence of her girlfriend aiming a rifle at her captor all the while donning a police uniform. To make matters even more complicated, the woman she thought she knew had not only lied to her about her real identity but she also turned out to be the one Alison desperately sought justice for. The orphan girl, Emily Fields, was no longer a ghost in the wind. She was alive and thriving without Alison even realizing it.

"No, please, don't hurt me, please," Alison screams at the top of her lungs, horrifically reliving her real life nightmare in her drug induced sleep. A warm set of hands quickly attempt to calm her by squeezing her hands and calmly coaxing, "Ali, peanut, wake up. It's just a bad dream".

"Mommy," Alison whimpers the moment she opens her eyes and sees her mother hovering over her bed and softly stroking the top of her head.

"Hi baby," Jessica Dilaurentis replies as her lips begin to quiver in reaction to seeing her battered daughter's face and hearing her childlike cry. "Mommy's here now, let it all out," she encourages as she crawls into the bed with her and holds a sobbing Alison close to her chest. After an lengthy period of time, Alison's uncontrollable sobs begin to fade to sniffles as she relaxes into her mother's comforting embrace.

"How did you know," Alison inquires, finally breaking the unspoken silence of the room.

"I think you know the answer to that question," Jessica replies lowly, still rhythmically stroking Alison's blonde locks.

"Oh," Alison manages to reply, feeling a sharp pain in her chest at the indirect mention of her.

"How did you get involved in such a dangerous situation," Jessica asks, still struggling to process the situation herself. 

Alison pauses for a moment, contemplating how to explain the situation as concisely as possible, "Our semester project was to work a current case at one of the local precincts. I was assigned a cold case and began working with a detective assigned to the case. I don't know why, but this case began to affect me in ways that I'd never expected. It became crucial for me to prove that this man, Wayne Fields, did not kill himself and leave his daughter an orphan. I believed he was murdered and even though I couldn't prove it at the time, I had to make an effort. With a lot of detective work, I finally broke the case and shockingly discovered that the man who murdered Wayne Fields was actually the man I was currently working for. Long story short, I made a deal to serve as an informant to the police so we could nail him for the murder and his entire drug operation. I thought I was being careful and had gained his trust. I guess I was wrong".