Hold Me Close: An Ezria Story

Fatal Encounter

Ezra's POV:

I heard Aria scream my name as I turned the corner into the other room. I whipped around and ran back into the living room. It was dead silent. Everything was in it's place. There was nothing knocked over, no signs of someone struggling to get free. My phone rang. I just stared at the text message on the screen, this couldn't be happening. I looked around, holding back tears.

"Aria...? Aria!?" I got no response. Then I noticed the door to the apartment was wide open. I pulled up my phone and called 911 while I ran out the door.

Aria's POV:

I woke up not knowing where I was or what was going on. The last I remember I was in Ezra's apartment and then... I looked up and noticed I was flung over someone's shoulder, and they were running, fast. I tried pounding my arm on their back to get free but that only tightened their grip around my legs. They took a sudden turn into a back alleyway. I looked up. The street was completely empty.

I was thrown off their shoulder, landing on the cold concrete on my back. I tried to get up but my head still hurt and I was dizzy. The person grabbed me by my hair and pulled me over to the wall. They threw me against the wall and I tried to scream again but the noise that came out was more of a groan. There was a single streetlight to the right of us that illuminated his shadow and made it tower over me. The person picked me back up and tied my hands tightly behind my back. They threw me back against the wall and held me down with their foot. Then, they crouched down in front of me. As I saw the black hoodie and mask I thought "this has to be -A. -A is going to kill me just like he killed Alison."

I was losing energy. I couldn't fight back much longer. My whole body throbbed with pain. Then, I felt a hand on my knee. It crept up to my lower thigh and squeezed. I started to panic again. "No.. Not this.. Anything but this." I thought. The hand moved farther up my thigh and crept under my skirt. I flung my leg up and kicked his shin with the heel on my stiletto. -A stumbled back for a second but stood up and grabbed me by the shirt. -A tried lifting my shirt up but I kicked his shin again. -A didn't even flinch. He threw me against the ground and kicked me multiple times in the stomach. Hard. All I could do was lie on the ground, clutching my stomach. I couldn't speak or breath. All I could do was whimper.

I opened my eyes to see the glint of metal. I felt another pain in my stomach. It felt like my insides were being ripped apart and torn out of me. I forced a scream before everything went black.

Ezra's POV:

I was outside the apartment building surrounded by about 20 cop cars. The red and blue lights flashing everywhere. The area was blocked off by yellow police tape. A crowd of people had gathered around murmuring to each other and looking around. I was being questioned by a police officer when I saw Aria's friends getting out of the car. They shoved their way to the front of the crowd and ducked under the police tape.

"What happened!?" Hanna almost shouted as I looked over to them.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked one of the police officers.

"Mr. Fitz!?" Emily yelled as I started walking over to them.

"Please... Just call me Ezra." I said looking down.

"What's going on!? Where's Aria!?" Spencer squeaked as I looked up. She looked panicked. I could tell they all were. They knew she was with me tonight. "Mr.. um... Ezra... Where's Aria? She was with you tonight wasn't she?"

I knew I had to tell them. I took a deep breath through my nose. "She..." I could feel the tears coming. "She was..." I couldn't help myself. I let out a silent sob.

"She was what!?" Hanna shouted back at me. All three of them looked terrified.

"Sh-she was kidnapped..." I cried as I nearly fell on my knees. I put my face in my hands. I couldn't bear to look at their faces. This was all my fault. If I had just listened to Aria... If I had just stayed with her... This wouldn't be happening. I looked up. They were all just looking back and forth at each other, holding back tears themselves.

"How could this happen?" Emily practically whispered.

"I- I don't know.." I said. "But..." I pulled out my phone and brought up the text from earlier. "I got this after I realized she was gone.." I showed them the text and Spencer read it out loud.

She's going to the grave. Just like Alison.
Kisses, -A

"Oh my god." Emily whispered. She looked to the other two. They all looked so afraid. I was so confused. Everything had happened so quickly.

"We have to find her." Spencer said to the other girls. "We have to look for her."

"You can't.. They've already sent out 2 search parties. You can't interfere with the police." I said

"We have to. Aria's in trouble. We have to find her. This person is capable of a lot." Hanna said. Both girls looked at her with wide eyes.

"Wait... You know who took her!? You have to tell the police!" I shouted at them. I didn't mean to be so loud, I just couldn't help myself.

"No.. We don't know who it is...we just know that this person has done stuff to us before. We know what they're capable of.." Emily said. She looked like she didn't want to tell me this. And by the looks on the other girls faces, they didn't want her to either.

"Look..I just don't think you girls should be out there on your own, in the dark, while we know there's a kidnapper loose!" I said. I knew they wouldn't listen to me but it was worth a shot.

"We'll be fine. We're just gonna drive around. Let us know if you hear anything." Spencer said as they started walking back to their car. I just nodded as I watched them get in the car. Another policeman started asking me questions and all I could think is that something terrible had happened to Aria and I couldn't be there for her.