Chapter 2
“Why can’t I see my friends?”
That had been the argument all morning. She was frustrated. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t see them. Why she couldn’t even call them. She wasn’t even saying she had to leave . She argued they could come to her home. Her friends brought her home, she wanted them . She’d been home for three days now and hadn’t seen or heard them since they left the police station with her father taking her phone from her the first night for “safety” he had said.
“We’ve been over this, Alison,” Kenneth argued back in frustration.
“No, we haven’t! You keep saying no. I don’t even get why! They're my friends . I only came home because they made it safe for me to!”
“ That’s exactly why, Alison! You’re staying here and spending time with your family , not your friends . The family you let think you were dead for two years! ”
“ Kenneth .” Jessica’s voice came from behind them, a warning in her tone. She inwardly scoffed. She only came to her daughter’s defense because she knew very well why she stayed “dead.”
“Do you not remember the mess you were, Jessica? Her disappearance ruined you. Ruined us! We're only divorced because she —"
“Kenneth!”
“If everything is my fault, why don’t you just let me leave, then?” Her voice was rising, frustration turning into anger now. “I was just fine out there by myself before I came home! I can handle myself. I'm not a kid anymore! I don’t need parents to parent me anymore and you clearly don’t want your kids anyways!”
He grabbed her arms roughly and gave her a sharp shake. “Listen here, Alison. You have no right— no right to talk to me like that, not after what you put this family through!”
“What she put this family through?” Jason demands as he storms into the room. He could hear his father screaming at his little sister from the driveway. “Take your hands off of her now.” There was an edge to Jason’s voice that Alison had never heard before. Their father was shocked at the tone and released her arms. “Why don’t you go look in the mirror, dad! Or look at her! ” he points at his mother. This was his first time ever throwing his mother under the bus. His mother was always on his side, and he was always on hers. But after what he learned happened from his little sister, his loyalty had shifted. He wonders if it should have shifted a long time ago.
“Jason!” Jessica scolded in shock.
He ignores her, his anger staying pointed at his father. His father always treated him awfully, he was used to it. But he wasn’t about to watch him go down the same path with Alison. He used to wish he'd yell at her, hurt her. But now that he was witnessing it, he took every bad thought back. Nobody deserved to be treated like that by their parents. Nobody .
“I’m not your son. Not biologically, anyways and I'm pretty sure you know that. That’s why you’ve always treated me like I'm not as important as Ali. She cheated on you with the neighbor. And you—you've fought with her and me constantly since! You always treated Ali like your sweet little princess her entire life but because she’s not the perfect angel you wanted her to stay forever, you’re turning on her? You've ruined this family. Mom has. You cannot blame me or Ali for it.”
“You do not speak to me like this in my house,” Kenneth says in a low voice. Alison took her chance to bolt over to her brother, ducking behind him slightly. She never showed fear or weakness, but her father’s low, angry voice was scarier than his yells. She had never witnessed this side of her father before, not even towards Jason.
“ My house. I bought it after the St. Germaine’s decided to leave after… someone’s body was dug up in the backyard. Mom might live here primarily but it’s still legally in my name. So, if you want to yell or threaten anyone, you can find the door.”
“Alison, go pack a bag. We’re leaving,” he says quietly, calmly.
“No!”
“You’re not taking her,” Jason says, shielding her with his body.
“I won’t let you,” Jessica finally spoke up, “I will go straight to Lieutenant Tanner if you do, I swear to god.”
“I will be back for my daughter,” he warns his ex-wife before storming out.
****
“I don’t want to go with him. He goes from loving me to hating me in seconds.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Ali. I don’t even think he hates me . He just has a lot of expectations and hates being disappointed.”
“I think I've surpassed you in the disappointment part.” Her voice cracks and she wants to smack herself for it.
“Hey, don’t say that. I mean, faking your death was big, but you had reason at least. He just doesn’t know.”
“And he never will…I don’t want to stay with Mom either, Jason. She knows who hit me. She buried me alive and is still protecting whoever did it.”
“She’s not going to do anything to you, Ali.”
“ You’re an adult.”
“No judge would let me be your guardian when you have both your parents and no known reason why they can’t care for you, and you know that.”
“I know,” she sighs. “ You’d let me see my friends.”
“I don’t see anyone here right now who’ll stop you,” he says with a hint of a tired grin. He was a pretty shitty brother when she was littler—he wasn’t sure how to take care of his nearly adult, just came back from the dead little sister. He was going to try his best though. “C'mon, I’ll drive you. Just tell me who’s house.”
“Emily,” she says instantly as she shrugs her jacket on and shoves her feet in her shoes.
****
Emily was thankfully home when they pulled up. Pam had greeted the sibling pair and after an awkward hug and check up from her, Pam sent her upstairs.
She knocked on Emily’s door, creaking it open. “Hi, Em.”
Emily’s eyes widened and she got up off the bed. “Ali!” She threw her arms around her, hugging her tight. She looked her over when she let her go. “Are you okay? You just disappeared on us. We brought you home and you completely disappeared.”
“My dad had me basically on house arrest and he took away my phone. He’s so pissed that I was out there and never came home.”
“You didn’t tell him about your mom?”
“No! And nobody can. Ever .”
“Why?” Emily asks with a frown. “She buried you alive, Ali.”
She runs her hands up her arms, chest tightening with anxiety. She felt more trapped these past few days than she had in the past few years like a wild animal trapped in a cage. She winces when her hands brush against the bruises from where her father grabbed her, his fingers digging into the flesh of her arms like talons.
“I feel safer staying with my mom than my dad.”
“Wait, they aren’t staying together? I thought they were since you were home.”
“They fight. A lot. They did a lot before, but it’s worse now. Today my dad told me it’s my fault their marriage is ruined. Jason kicked him out after that, I guess the house is in his name. He tried to take me away to where he lives. My mom and Jason wouldn’t let him. He basically said he’d be back to take me. He's going for custody, which is stupid because I'm seventeen . I'll be eighteen and a legal adult by the time a court would sort it out. And wouldn’t the court ask me anyways who I want to live with? They do that, right? But anyways, with my dad, there’s no one to keep me safe. At least with my mom, I have Jason.”
“Jason doesn’t know how to protect you, Ali!”
“I told him. Just him. He knows and he promised he won’t let anything bad happen, at least from my mom.”
“I thought you didn’t want anyone to know?”
“I don’t. But I need him. I trust my brother, Emily. I need someone in my corner at home. Just us knowing isn’t enough,” she sighs. “Can you ask the other girls not to say anything?”
“I could text them all, they could all come here?” Emily offers. As much as she wanted to have Alison all to herself, she couldn’t be selfish and keep the other girls away. They all missed her and were worried about her radio silence since she’s been back.
“If you don’t mind...I’d rather just be with you right now. My dad left so Jason can bring me another time to see the others. Or maybe I can see them later today. If that’s okay?”
Emily smiles, a little relieved she doesn’t have to share her right away. “That’s more than okay.”
The two perch on the window seat, finally able to begin to reconnect after two long years apart.