After me ~ Pretty Little Liars Fanfic

thirty two

I hit the ground with a loud thump and a slight crunch as the building concaves behind me. I open my eyes to see Mr Cavenaugh hugging his two children tightly. He's steered over to the ambulance as water sprays over me. I spit out the liquid that was previously in my mouth as I stand myself up. I pat myself over to find that I'm actually completely okay. As if I just jumped from a two story window to be perfectly fine. I hear a round of applause start to sound as I shake the ash off and look over at my neighbours. A paramedic leads me to the ambulance where he checks me over before giving me the all clear. I make my way over to my family as Spencer pulls me into a hug.

"You're an idiot."

"A lovable idiot though" I laugh with a cough. "Maybe now people will stop looking at me as the murderer they think I am"

"You saved his life Kenz. I think that trumps convicted murder."

"About time my rep was a bit better." I laugh. "I think that saving a man's life proves I'm not a killer don't you?" I shrug. She gives a small smile and a nod before looking at the building that's now in a heap on the floor.

"Mom's making your favourite dinner tonight." She says out of the blue. "Tomato pasta with bacon in it."

"That's not my favourite." I look to the ground. That's Melissa's favourite; of course my mother doesn't even know my favourite meal. "It's actually pizza rolls and salad but whatever floats her boat."

"I guess we don't know you as well as we thought we did." She looks guiltily at me. "None of us expected you to help Jenna or to help Mr Cavenaugh."

"I'm not as bad as this town has made me out to be. I spent 3 summers volunteering in England you know." I exclaim. "One stupid A game and my whole life's been ruined."

"It's not ruined Kenz" She says sympathetically.

"I can't even wear a short sleeved shirt in public Spencer. I can already feel the neighbours stares burning holes in my skin. I'm pretty sure someone already snapchatted a picture of the 'butchered girl from rosewood'" I say suddenly becoming aware of the lack of clothing I have on. A vest and shorts isn't exactly public attire for the Hasting's family.

"That's not what people think of you" She tries to assure me. I shake my head and try to think of a way to change the subject.

"You know, I'd kill for a cheeseburger right now." In hindsight I probably should have chosen my words more carefully but I'm past caring now.

"At 5am?"

"I just jumped from a burning building. It's hungry work."

"I can help that." Mike says rubbing his hands on my shoulders, massaging them slightly. He places his jacket from inside over my shoulders before hugging me from behind as we look at my sister.

Spencer smirks before heading over to Mr Cavenaugh. None of us have ever seen this man in our lives. He's one of those people that go at the crack of dawn and get home when it's too dark to see out. I turn to Mike before burying my face in his shirt. At least he's clothed now. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"I couldn't just let him die"

"But you could let yourself get killed?"

"I didn't die though so we don't need to think of that." I smile, trying to get away without the conversation I know I'll be having with my parents. Holbrook walks over to us, waiting to talk. My whole family, including Toby and Jenna all crowd around to hear what he has to say.

"This wasn't your ordinary house fire. Someone planted a bomb under the house. We've found another one that's already gone off but didn't cause an explosion. It was faulty. Mackenzie, that was a brave thing you did. I can't say I condone civilians running into fires but you saved that man's life."

"I wouldn't have had to if you'd gotten here faster."

"Well 'explosion. Fire. Cavenaugh house.' Wasn't exactly clear." He rolls his eyes.

"Don't give me that. Everyone in this town knows the Cavenaugh house."

"She's not wrong. How could you not know the house of the blind girl and the young offender?" Toby backs me up.

"There's more than one young offender in this town." Holbrook looks straight at me.

"Maybe next time I'll just let the person die and let the family sue you for not getting there in time." I shrug. "I'm sure the Cavenaughs here would have loved to hear the news that their dad was burnt alive because you were fannying around."

"Watch yourself Hastings."

"Don't worry, I already have enough people to do that for me" I smile sweetly. He narrows his eyes before walking away shaking his head.

"You can't talk to the police like that" Mike exclaims.

"Well I just did" I shrug. "He hardly counts. I'd do a better job then he would. I already know who planted the bomb."

"A?" Spencer says quietly.

"It has to be" I shrug. "You didn't really think A would disappear completely did you?"

"I hoped he would have."

"The one thing I don't know is why would A want Mr Cavenaugh dead?" Mike interjects.

"Call for an SOS. Aria's house. There's too many people here." I tell Spencer before heading inside. I change my scorched clothing before heading over to Mike's house quickly.

***

"I don't get it. How are you alive right now?" Hanna exclaims as we sit at the Montgomery dinner table.

"That's not the big question here." I shake my head.

"Why does A was Mr Cavenaugh dead?" Emily repeats Mike's earlier question.

"I've been thinking" I tell them. "Jenna appeared in my back yard less than an hour before the explosion. She said that Shadow kept barking so she took him out for a walk."

"How can you walk a shadow?" Hanna asks. I swear to god, I've never met anyone as ditzy as her.

"It's her blind dog." Spencer explains.

"Anyway, when I went out to look for Shadow I could have sworn that I saw someone running through the forest away from the house." I explain. "What if Shadow saw A planting the bomb and made Jenna get out of there. A would have known that Toby wasn't there."

"And none of us knew that Mr Cavenaugh was home. Not even Toby." Aria continues.

"So it's not a matter of who wants to kill Mr Cavenaugh." Emily adds.

"It's who wants Jenna dead." I finish. "And why"