perfect little lies | jason dilaurentis

003. To Kill A Mocking Girl

"Whose idea was this, again?" Hanna asked as the group walked through the forest.

"Emily's Mom." Spencer replied.

"The shed was me." Emily corrected, "My Mom just said we should do something for us."

"Well, couldn't we do something without mosquitos?" Hanna questioned, batting the air around her.

"They're not mosquitoes." Aria said.

"They're gnats." Rachel finished. Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Whatever! They're small and annoying, and they're flying up my nose." Hanna complained. Rachel couldn't help but chuckle.

"They're attracted to your perfume." Rachel explained, "Plus your hair products and lip gloss."

"So, what are you saying, I attract flies?" Hanna asked, a look of disgust on her face.

"Gnats." Aria corrected the girl. Hanna rolled her eyes again.

"Why do I feel like this is the wrong way?" Emily asked, looking up at the trees.

"No, this is it." Spencer said, "I remember that tree. It's the halfway point. There's 136 steps left to the shed."

"Have you been out here since... Alison?" Emily asked, too uncomfortable to say anything else.

"Me? No." Spencer replied, "No way."

"But you remember that tree." Aria said curiously.

"You guys, it's not that weird." Rachel said, "I mean, we came out here in eighth grade everyday, even after."

"Plus, this is Spencer Hastings we're talking about." Hanna added.

"I think this is totally the wrong place to do this, whatever you call it, shrine." Spencer confessed.

"It's not a shrine." Said Emily defensively, "It's just a place to remember Alison. What's wrong with that?"

"Doing it way out here makes it look like we have something to hide." Spencer explained.

"You're worried what other people think?" Emily asked, arms crossed.

"Well, aren't you?" Spencer said, "Do you really want to give that creepy detective more reasons to question us?"

The girls began to walk again, but Hanna was in front of them. She seemed oddly quiet; unlike herself.

"Hanna, why are you so quiet?" Rachel asked.

"I'm trying to keep the bugs in my nose and out of my mouth." Hanna replied snappily.

"You're allowed to have an opinion on this." Emily assured her.

"You want my opinion?" Hanna said, turning around to face them, "I say we hold off and not remember her 'till we know for sure she's not still here."

Rachel quirked an eyebrow. Until they knew for sure she wasn't still here? Rachel thought the funeral and finding Alison's body in her backyard was enough to be sure of that.

"What?" Spencer said.

"What are you talking about?" Aria asked. Each of the four girls looked more confused than the other.

"You think she's alive?" Rachel questioned, "They found her body, Hanna."

"Stop. I'm officially scared. Can we just not-" Aria was cut short by Hanna.

"You asked for my opinion." Hanna said, "I don't believe she's really gone."

"We went to her funeral!" Spencer exclaimed.