Matters of the Heart

Chapter 33: All Hell Breaks Loose

Chapter 33:

All Hell Breaks Loose

While Ali sat on the floor of Emily's hospital room in a complete haze, her friends had fanned out to try and find her. They didn't want her to be alone. And even though they knew Elliott was with her, that was just as well as her being alone, because Elliott couldn't be there for her in the way they could. He didn't know what they were going through.

Spencer had sent Hanna and Aria to search one direction while she searched another. It didn't dawn on any of them to check Emily's room. They were all so shell-shocked that it was a miracle that they were all still standing. After they'd heard the news, Hanna had collapsed to the floor briefly before Spencer and Aria pulled her back up.

It hit them all hard, but it hit Hanna a little harder...because she had always gravitated towards Emily. Emily was one of the very few people in her life who could give her crap and make her laugh all in one breath. She was the person Hanna would call if her life was in shambles, which made walking through the hospital halls looking for Ali extremely difficult, because all Hanna wanted to do was pick up her phone and call Emily.

Aria and Hanna walked together, silently, neither of them having the courage to speak because they knew as soon as they opened their mouths they would start sobbing again. Spencer wasn't faring much better. She'd had to duck into a bathroom to catch her breath after she got a reply to her text telling Toby that she needed him. His response had shaken her to her core.

"Be there as soon as I can. With Em's mom, talking to the doctor. She's a wreck. I can't leave her right now."

Picturing Pam Fields falling apart was too much for her. Spencer's mother had been with Pam, Ashley Marin, and Ella Montgomery when Pam got the news about Wayne. What had started out as a girl's spa day had turned into one of the worst days of Pam's life. And now she had a day to rival that nightmare.

Spencer leaned over the sink, face in her hands, huffing in deep breaths to try and keep herself from breaking down. She knew Alison needed them. She wouldn't admit she needed them, but Spencer knew she did. She slid down in between the sink and the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest, unaware that Ali was across the hospital doing the exact same thing in Emily's room.

Ali stared at the text she'd sent to A, begging for a response, ready for a fight. She wanted this psycho to know that she was coming for them. For some reason she thought sending death threats would make her feel better.

Channeling her rage had always worked for her in the past. But this was different. She'd never felt such overwhelming emotions in her life. Her whole body was shaking. She felt like she couldn't breathe, like someone had reached into her chest and was squeezing the life out of her.

She had been angry before, but this was beyond angry. This was beyond rage. A fuse had been lit inside of her, something so powerful that she was hemorrhaging a wrath of biblical proportions. Every cell in her body was overcome with her agonizing feelings of grief. She could feel her heartbreak. But it was easier for her to feed her temper than it was for her to let her sorrow win.

She had no sooner pushed herself to her feet when she came face to face with an orderly walking through the door. He had a plastic bag in his hands, the kind that the hospital used to gather patients' belongings. He looked from Ali to Elliott and then back at Ali, his lips pressed together.

"Can I help you?" He seemed confused by their presence.

"Who are you?" Ali demanded. She didn't trust anyone anymore. For all she knew, A was on the payroll at this hospital.