chapter eleven
moments later
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Josie had stopped crying by now as they watched Hanna be put into an ambulance but she was still in shock. They all were. "We have to get to the hospital. Are you okay to drive?" Spencer asked Josie, who was the one who drove them here in the first place. "Ye-yeah, come on." Josie replied as she cleared her throat. When the girls got there they made phone calls to their parents to tell them, Josie had another call to Richie to let him know what happened.

Soon enough Ashley Marin came into the waiting area. "Is she okay, Mrs. Marin?" Aria asked right away. "She is going to be alright. She, um...she has a broken leg and a broken ankle, bruised ribs, and uh, they might have to remove her spleen and..." She trailed off as she took a breath. "What happened?" she asked,

"Hanna was coming across the parking lot and this car just came out of nowhere." Aria said shakily. "Well, the police found the car. They said it was stolen from a campground lot." Ashley told them. "Did they catch the driver?" Emily asked. "No, not yet." She replied.

"Well, the cops should be looking for Toby Cavanaugh." Spencer muttered. "It wasn't Toby Cavanaugh. The police picked him up last night." Ashley revealed. "What?" Emily asked worriedly. "One of the officers told me they found him hiding in town and they were bringing him into the station when they got the call about Hanna." She told us. "You girls should go home. I will call you when Hanna can have visitors." she added as she looked at her daughter's friends. "Just let Hanna know that we were here." Josie asked softly as she messed with her necklace. "I will when she wakes up." Ashley nodded and walked off.

Emily turned to her friends. "Toby isn't A." she said. "Well, Hanna knows who is. That's why A tried to kill her." Spencer replied. "You think they're just trying to scare us?" Emily asked. "Well, it worked." Aria huffed. Josie shook her head. "This was never about scaring us. That was just a bonus. This started with murder. We were crazy to think that it wouldn't end up like this." Spencer said, making Josie rub her forehead in stress.

"So should we tell the cops?" Emily asked. "Tell them what?" Aria whisper-yelled. "Everything." Emily replied. "And what is everything exactly?." Josie asked as she faced Emily. "So what do we do?" Aria asked. "Well, we talk to Hanna before we do anything." Spencer replied. "Is Hanna safe here?" Aria then asked, making Josie sigh, they never know anymore. "Yeah, I mean nothing will happen to her while her mom is with her." Spencer said, making them nod as they were about to walk off when Josie heard someone call her name. "Josie!" Richie exclaimed as he walked into the hospital, spotting her with her friends.

Josie turned around, hearing her name to see Richie standing there. She let out a breath and walked over to him and he instantly pulled her into a hug as her friends watched, with soft smiles. Richie loved Josie, that much they knew, and they just hoped that he would man up and tell her.

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"Oh poor Hanna," Jennifer Carmen said as she set a tea on the coffee table in front of where her daughter was sitting with Richie. "Whoever it was just kept going, they didn't even stop." Josie said sadly as she rested her head on Richie's chest as he held her while her mother sat on the other side of Josie, rubbing her back. "She's gonna be just fine pumpkin, Hanna's a tough one, with all that girl has gone through, she'll be just fine." Jennifer said before standing up, kissing the crown of her daughter's head before heading upstairs, leaving the two of them alone, hoping Josie would soon fall asleep.

"Your mum's right, Hanna is gonna pull through," Richie said as he ran his hands through her hair, which he had taken out of its ponytail, making sure Josie wouldn't get a headache. "Yeah, I know it was just so scary, seeing her get hit." Josie sighed out as she looked up at Richie who sent her a smile, to which she sent one back. She noticed his eyes flickered to her lips for a brief moment, as hers did the same, without meaning too. Richie sighed quietly before kissing the crown of her head making her blush lightly, she knew they both wanted something else.

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The next morning Ashley Marin had contacted the girls, letting them know that Hanna was awake. "Does it hurt?" Spencer asked Hanna as she and the girls stood in her hospital bed. "Yeah, kind of," Hanna shrugged. "Do you remember what happened?" Spencer asked vaguely. She didn't want Hanna's mother to ask questions. "Eh, yeah I remember" Hanna answered, understanding what she really meant, "Ehm, mom. You have been here the whole time. Do you want to take a break?"

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked. "Yeah." Hanna answered. "I will be back in a couple of hours" Ashley said before leaving the room and Aria followed her to close the door behind her. "Noel Kahn is A." Hanna blurted out. "What? Are you serious?" Emily asked. "Yeah, I saw him in the woods and he left an A message." Hanna replied. "You saw him leave a message?" Josie asked, confused. "He wrote something on the back of a car window." Hanna answered. "What car? What did he write?" Emily asked. "I see you." Aria replied, making everyone look at her confused.

"How do you know?" Spencer asked. "I was in the car." She admitted making Josie and Spencer share a look. "Who's car was it?" Emily asked. Aria hesitated for a moment. "Ezra Fitz." she admitted making Josie's eyes go wide in shock. "Mr. Fitz?" Spencer questioned but Aria didn't say anything. She just nodded. "Aria..." Emily let out in disbelief.

"Hanna?" Spencer asked. Hanna looked away from Aria to Spencer. "It was Mr. Fitz." she said as she nodded Emily looked at Aria and got off of Hanna's bed. "You and Mr. Fitz?" she asked. "You met him there?" Spencer asked. "Since when?" Josie asked as realisation came across Emily's face. "The call you got at the party, that was from him?" Emily asked. "I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell anyone. I promised Ezra." Aria defended. "Ezra? Whoa, hold it. This is something that's been going on? You and a teacher?" Spencer questioned. The thought made Josie sick to her stomach. "I didn't just get into his car last night. Who do you think I am?" Aria muttered sarcastically.

"How long have you been seeing him?" Emily asked. "Um...since right before school started." Aria replied, making sure not to look her friends in the eye. "Oh my god, since Labor Day?" Spencer asked and Aria nodded. "Okay, so you don't have a boyfriend in Iceland?" Hanna asked, making Josie turn to her confused. "No, I did. Yeah, but it's not like that." Aria said. "And you were seeing a teacher when I fixed you up with Noel?" Hanna asked, causing Aria to nod as realisation struck Hanna's face. "Oh my god, I fixed you up with Noel."

"And why did you get in his car last night?" Spencer asked Aria. "Well, he um, called me and.." Aria trailed off and Spencer stared at her. "Oh, don't look at me like that." Spencer rolled her eyes and looked away. "My head hurts as much as my leg, now." Hanna muttered. "What exactly did you see?" Josie asked as turned away from the conversation about Aria and Mr, Fitz.

"Well, I saw Aria go into a parked car and then I saw someone in a black hoodie write something on the back of the car window. And when he turned around, it was Noel." Hanna said as Aria scoffed and shook her head. "It can't be Noel." Aria said in denial. "Aria, I saw what I saw." Hanna huffed.

"And A tried to kill her for it." Spencer said in annoyance. "Okay, but I mean, none of us saw who was driving the car." Aria replied but none of them could reply, there was a knock at the door. "If that's someone with pain killers, just let them in," Hanna said as Aria went to check who it was, turns out it was Noel Kahn. Aria went out and talked to him. She came back in with a basket a few minutes later. "He lied to me about being there. He-he said he was with Sean."

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After that was done, the girls went back to Josie's house to further discuss things. The girls sat in her room with coffee. "Are you sure about what you saw on that tree?" Aria asked as Josie went and sat on her bed. "We all saw it, Aria." she told her as everyone sat down. "Well, I know, but, I mean do you think that maybe Ali just put it up there to see what it might look like?" Aria asked.

"No. Ali may have done some psycho things but she would never do anything tacky." Spencer replied. "Anyway, Ian was with Melissa that night so he couldn't be A. Which brings us back to Noel." Emily spoke as Josie nodded, Emily had a point. "He had means. He had an opportunity. Those pictures of Emily and Maya were stolen at Noel's party, right?" Spencer said, making a statement as Aria nodded. "Yeah, I know." Aria sighed.

"And Hanna saw him write that message on the back of Mr. Fitz' car." Spencer continued. "Uh, no, just-just slow down. You flipped over to Noel awful fast. Just 12 hours ago, you were so sure that it was Toby. What happened to that theory?" Aria questioned, Josie could tell that she didn't want Noel to be A. "A or not, you still need to know what Noel saw. And what he plans to do about it." Josie said making Aria sigh

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After school, Aria, Spencer and Josie went into the woods to find the tree while Spencer was interrogating her about her and Ezra. "Bar? You met him in a bar?" She asked. "It's not a bar. It's a pub." Aria replied, not making eye contact. "And he hit on you?" Josie asked, jumping into the conversation. "Yeah, we were talking about writing." Aria answered. "Yeah, read any good books lately?" Spencer mocked making Josie snort. "Hey, seriously." Aria huffed as she hit Josie on her arm. "Boy part of me thinks this is really self destructive behaviour but most of me just thinks it's really hot." Spencer replied which caused Josie to laugh once again as Aria turned to her.. "Spencer, don't tease, okay? It's not funny. It's the opposite of funny." Aria pleaded.

"I'm sorry. It's just...I don't know how I'm supposed to react to all of this." She said as she sighed. "Yeah, neither do I." Aria shrugged as Josie nodded in agreement. "Can you just show me the stupid tree?" she asked Spencer and Josie who nodded and walked in the direction of the tree. "You've got to be kidding." Josie snapped as she looked at her friends. "You are not gonna tell me that–" Aria said but cut herself off. "No. This was it." Spencer defended her and Josie. "It was right here," Josie said as she pointed at the tree stump. "Wait, are you sure that you guys have the right spot?" Aria asked. "I'm sure." Spencer said frustrated. "It's gone," Josie said in disbelief.

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"You told them?" Aria asked Emily as they sat in Hanna's hospital room. "Yeah," Emily said as she nodded as Josie sighed. "How was that?" she asked as looked towards Emily. "Rough." she replied, making Josie sigh. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, Em." Aria said as she gave Emily shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I don't know what it's gonna be...but it's gonna be different." Emily muttered as she looked up at her friends. "Guess so." Josie said as the three of them clued back into the conversation about the missing tree.

"So the whole tree?" She asked. "Yup. Lock, stock and bird's nest." Spencer said with a huff as Josie stood at the end of Hanna's bed. "Why? Why show something like that and then just take it away?" Hanna asked. "Like A had a split personality." Emily said as she sighed. "That's great. Homicidal and nuts." Hanna muttered. "We've been thinking," Spencer said, looking at her friends before looking back at Hanna. "Maybe we're dealing with more than one person." Spencer spoke.

"A and Ali's killer are two separate people?" Hanna asked, as they all nodded. "You are freaking out the invalid.'' Hanna said. "No, think about it." Aria urged. "No, you think about it. I mean, aren't we in enough trouble? I know I am. Just look at me." Hanna said as Josie's eye caught something on Hanna's cast. "Hanna, who wrote this?" Josie asked, gaining the attention of her friends.

"I don't know. People have been in and out all day and so have I." She shrugged. Aria looked over, seeing what Josie was and was just as alarmed by it as Josie was. "Oh god." Aria gasped. "What? What's on there?" Hanna asked frantically as she sat up. "Sorry about losing my temper. My bad. Love, A." Josie said in a rush, making Hanna freak out as she looked around at her friends. "Who put that on my leg?" Hanna asked as Spencer stood up. "Who wrote that?" she asked as the rest of the girls started panicking. "Did somebody come in here while you were asleep?" Emily asked as she looked towards Hanna. "I don't know. Just get it off, just wipe it off" Hanna exclaimed in panic. "Han, easy easy," Josie cooed, trying to calm her down. "Get it off me." Hanna demanded.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter, enjoy! <3