Ethan's Pov

Me and the girls were at school sitting at a table together.

We were currently looking through Ian's suicide letter that day we found his body. I still couldn't believe that he was dead.

I killed Alison. I lost my temper because she knew too much. But there's only so much you can bury. It won't be that easy but I know how to get rid of the pain. I can't run from the law come and find me.

- Ian

"Is this a suicide note or a confession?" Aria asked.

"It's both" Spencer said.

"Emily...how do you have this?" Aria asked as we all turned to look at her.

"I sent it to her. I took a picture with my phone before we called the cops" Hanna said.

"It's weird, why would Ian k*ll himself just as he was about to skip town with Melissa?" Emily asked, confused.

"Maybe he realized he was gonna get caught. He couldn't hide forever, even with Melissa and Wren's help" Spencer said.

"He was probably desperate" Aria said.

"Look, who cares why Ian did it? The important thing is, Ali's killer is dead and you girls are no longer people of interest" I said.

Hanna nodded at that, laying her head on my shoulder.

"Why am I not feeling relieved right now?" Emily asked.

"Oh, Em, come on. For months, we've been about as welcome in this town as a cold sore, and plus, now people know that we've been telling the truth. And Ian is out of our lives for good" Aria explained.

"Yeah, but A isn't" Emily said.

"Can we please just slay one dragon at a time?" Spencer asked, looking a bit annoyed.

I looked towards the door and saw Garrett walking towards us. I looked at the girls and nodded towards him.

They all looked and saw him making his way towards us and stopped talking.

"Hey" Garrett said.

"Hey" I nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Spencer asked.

"I just came to return some evidence we took from the field hockey office" Garrett said.

We nodded and just when he was about to leave he turned back around to look at us.

"Hey, um, look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you all had to be the ones who found him" Garrett said.

"Melissa's the one who found him" I said and Spencer nodded.

"I'm sorry. Then again, could have been worse" Garrett said.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked.

"Bodies decay. He'd been dead at least a week" Garrett said.

This made our eyes widen slightly as we looked at each other before looking back at him.

"Give my best to your family" Garrett said, looking at me and Spencer.

"Yeah" me and Spencer said.

When Garrett was gone me and the girls turned to look at each other.

"A week?! No, that's impossible. He was texting Melissa" Hanna said, not believing it.

"No, he wasn't. I'm betting it was A" I said, my eyes wide in realization as my fists were clenched at my sides.

"Why would "A" pretend to be Ian and then lead us there to his body?" Aria asked.

"Does it matter? The guy was scum, and now he's dead scum. Who cares if A found him first?" Spencer scoffed.

"What does A want?" Emily asked, looking more and more confused and scared.

"You know what I want? I want to enjoy my life again. Before A finds another way to ruin it" Hanna said.

"Yeah, I'm with buttercup on this one" I said.

Hanna smiled at me and I smiled back at her before we looked at Spencer and Aria.

They both glanced at each other before sighing and nodding and we all got up and gathered our stuff.

The only one that remained sitting was Emily.

"Are you coming?" I asked.

"No, you guys go ahead" Emily sighed.

"Em, what is it?" Spencer asked.

"We now know A is involved. Doesn't that make you guys nervous?" Emily asked.

"Yeah...but not as much as Ian did" Spencer said.

"Could we just please take a break from looking over our shoulder?" I softly asked.

Emily didn't look at me and merely nodded her head.

I sighed before placing a brotherly kiss to her head before leaving with Spencer following behind me.

Back At Home

After school was over me and Spencer went back home.

I was currently in the kitchen with mom, eating some strawberries she prepared for me, while Spencer was upstairs.

Melissa was currently sitting on the couch with a blanket covering her, looking completely broken.

"Well, thanks for calling Jess. I really appreciate it. Oh, we're hanging in there" Mom sighed.

I heard footsteps and turned around to see Spencer walking down the stairs.

"Yeah. Okay, I will. Bye" Mom said before hanging up.

I smiled as Spencer sat down next to me and just then the land line rings.

I rolled my eyes as mom sighed while Spencer looked confused.

"Are you gonna answer that?" Spencer asked.

I quickly turned it off, not bothering to answer it since it was probably another damn reporter.

"Reporters have been calling all day" I scoffed.

Mom sighed and nodded and just then the land line rings, again.

Mom didn't want to answer it and neither did I. So Spencer took the liberty of answering herself.

"Listen, you bottom feeding vultures, stop sucking the life out of my family" Spencer angrily spat.

A few seconds passed and her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, grandma" Spencer said.

I burst out laughing at that while mom looked shocked and a tad bit amused.

"Let, let me give her to you" Spencer said before quickly handing the phone to mom.

Mom took the phone from her and walked a little bit away from us to talk to grandma.

When I finished my laughing fit I turned to look at my sister, only to see her blushing in embarrassment.

"Can't believe you said that to grandma" I teasingly smirked at her.

"Oh shut up, I thought it was a reporter" Spencer sighed, gently hitting my arm.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes as dad walked into the kitchen just when mom finished talking to grandma.

"Did you reach somebody?" Mom asked, turning to look at dad.

"It wasn't easy. Finally got ahold of his aunt" Dad said.

He sighed and glanced at Melissa before looking back at mom.

"She wants nothing to do with us" Dad said.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Mom asked.

"Meaning she doesn't want to give him a funeral" Dad said.

"So what now? We're responsible for burying him?" Mom asked, raising her voice slightly.

Dad shushed her and gestured to Melissa, who was still just sitting on the couch.

Mom's eyes widened slightly before she cleared her throat and looked back at dad.

"Let's just...let's talk about this later" Mom sighed.

"Oh, no, no, no. Veronica. we can't put this off" Dad sternly said.

"What options do we have?" Mom asked.

"We can turn him over to the county" Dad suggested.

Me and Spencer looked at each other before getting up and walking towards them.

"I-I think...we need to give him a funeral" I said.

Mom and dad looked at me in shock while Spencer nodded.

"It's the right thing to do" Spencer said.

"Kiddos, no one expects to give him a funeral" Mom said and dad nodded.

"We'll regret it if we don't" I said, giving them a pleading look.

"Please. I think she needs this" Spencer begged, gesturing to Melissa.

Mom and dad glanced at each other before sighing and looking back at us.

"Let us think about it, ok?" Mom suggested.

Me and Spencer sighed before nodding.

A Few Hours Later

It was late at night and me and Spencer were in her room, studying.

We were both sitting on her red couch, reading our books. Spencer had her head lying on my shoulder while I had my arm wrapped around her shoulders.

We heard knocking at the door and looked up to see mom standing there.

"Hey. I made you two some tea" Mom smiled.

"Oh, thanks" I smiled.

Me and Spencer set our books down and took the mugs from her hands.

"Wren called, to see how you two and Melissa were" Mom said.

"That was nice of him" Spencer nodded.

"It's a good thing your father didn't answer. He would have hung up. He's not as forgiving as I am" Mom chuckled.

Me and Spencer chuckled at that and shook our heads.

"I thought your teachers gave you extensions on all of your homework" Mom said, looking at us in confusion.

"Oh, they did. But...exams are still next week" Spencer said and I nodded.

"You both work so hard. You always have" Mom softly said.

Me and Spencer smiled at her as she sat down on the edge of the couch with us.

"We made the arrangements for the funeral. There will be no frills, no flowers and as far as I'm concerned, no tears" Mom said.

"Yeah" Spencer nodded.

"Good" I said.

Doubt anyone would cry for someone like him.

"Your father and I were very moved by your desire to do this for your sister" Mom said.

"We just think she needs some kind of ceremony" I said and Spencer nodded.

"You both were right. We did need to do this" Mom said.

She sighed and gently placed her hands on both our knees.

"I called the girls to see if they would come to the funeral to support you. It's the least I can do. I'm the one that separated you" Mom softly said.

"Mom, it's ok" Spencer said and I nodded but mom shook her head. 

"No, it's not. It's not okay that I didn't believe either of you, and it's not okay that I...that I allowed a monster in my house. But I promise I will never do it again" Mom softly said.

Me and Spencer were trying to hold back our tears when we saw that mom was close to crying herself.

"Will you both give me another chance?" Mom asked, her voice cracking slightly.

Neither of us could hold back our tears anymore and let them stream down our cheeks.

"Of course" me and Spencer weakly chuckled.

We set our mugs on her desk and hugged mom tightly. Mom hugged us back, kissing both our heads.

"I love you so much, kiddos" Mom whispered.

"We love you too, mom" I whispered back, burying my head in her shoulder.

The Next Day

It was the next day and me and the girls, minus Emily, were in class together.

We were talking to each other about the funeral and stuff, as well as making a few jokes to cheer us up about a few things.

I turned around and saw Emily fast walking towards us and I can tell she looked worried.

"Ian didn't commit suicide. That entire suicide letter is made up of A texts" Emily said.

All of our eyes widened as we glanced at each other before looking back at Emily.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"How do you know that?" Aria asked.

"When I read it again, a couple of words stuck out to me. On a hunch, I checked my old text messages" Emily said.

She glanced around before looking back at us.

"Come here" Emily whispered.

She led us to the back of the classroom, so we were far away from the students.

She took out a sheet of paper from her folder and handed it to Aria.

Aria took it as me, Spencer and Hanna huddled around her to see it for ourselves.

"I killed Alison. I lost my temper because she knew too much. There's only so much you can bury. It won't be that easy, but I know how to get rid of the pain. I can't run from the law. Come and find me. Ian" Aria said, reading off what was on the sheet of paper.

"So these are the parts from the texts" Hanna said, pointing at a few of the sentences.

"There are only six people that know about these texts. Us and A. It means that A wrote that suicide note" Emily said.

"How did you figure this out?" I asked.

"Please. I've been watching wheel of fortune with my mom since I was 3" Emily said.

"If A wrote this, that means that Ian never actually confessed to killing Ali in writing" Spencer said.

What if he didn't even kill her at all...?

"It gets worse. Logan Reed, the guy who dropped off the money for Ian the night of the sting. Well, I know where he works. We need more answers" Emily explained.

"Hell yeah we do" I nodded.

Back At Home

After school was done me and Spencer went back home.

When we got inside the house we set our bags on the kitchen counter, and we saw Melissa sitting on the couch.

"Hey, sis" I softly said.

Melissa didn't look at me, all she did was nod her head.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" Spencer asked.

Melissa, once again, didn't say anything nor look at her.

"I know a lot has happened between us, and I realize that if I expect you to be honest with me, then I need to be honest with you" Spencer said.

I looked at her and realized that she was probably going to tell Melissa about her ring.

"I was angry when you chose Ian over me. And so that's why, when I-" Spencer started but was cut off when mom walked in.

"Kiddos, will you do me a favor and set the dining room table?" Mom asked.

Me and Spencer looked at mom before looking back at Melissa.

"I'm gonna go set the table" Spencer said.

"See you there, sis" I softly said.

I wrapped my arm around Spencer's shoulders and guided her away so we could set up the table.

The Next Day

It was the next day and it was time for Ian's funeral.

I'm surprised people are even coming when they all hate him.

Me and Spencer walked into the church and walked over to the girls.

"Hey" me and Spencer said.

"Hey" Aria smiled.

"Thanks, for being here" I smiled.

"How's your family doing?" Aria asked.

We turned around and saw Melissa standing at the back, looking completely dead both outside and inside.

We sighed and looked back at the girls and shrugged.

"What are the cops doing here?" Emily asked.

"Um...our parents wanted them here in case any uninvited guests showed up" Spencer said and I nodded.

"I thought my no-party-crashers policy was strict" Hanna said.

"I think Spencer and Ethan means 'angry mob with torches' type guests" Aria said.

This made me chuckle and nod before sighing.

"We should probably get back to our family. Thanks" I softly said.

Me and Spencer turned around to head back to our parents and Melissa when Emily stopped us.

"Spencer, Ethan, wait" Emily said.

She stood in front of us and glanced around before looking back at us.

"It turns out Ian wasn't the one who hired Logan" Emily said.

"We can't talk about this now, Emily" Spencer sternly said.

I nodded as we tried leaving but she stopped us, once again.

"Look, I know this isn't the best place, but you guys haven't called me back" Emily said.

"Because we don't want to talk about it, period" Spencer said and I nodded.

"Em, we just can't do this anymore, ok? Look, maybe Dr. Sullivan was right. Maybe we are obsessed, and maybe that's what A wants. For us to stay obsessed. Did you ever think about that?" I asked.

Emily looked at me in shock while Spencer nodded.

"Keeping us suspended in time, the years are passing us by, and we're still rereading old suicide notes and hunting down delivery boys for clues" Spencer said.

"Don't you guys want to know the truth? Don't we owe that to Alison?" Emily asked.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair while Spencer sighed and shook her head.

"It's not gonna bring her back. Nothing we ever do is gonna bring her back, and we need to focus on keeping the people that are still here" Spencer said.

I nodded and sent Emily a small apologetic smile before guiding me and Spencer away.

A Few Minutes Later

The funeral lasted for quite a while but overall it was alright, in a way.

Right now we were all outside, waiting for the casket to be lowered into the ground for it to be buried.

Me and the girls were going to be putting the dirt inside, which is why we were in front while standing next to each other.

Me and the girls looked down at the casket with no remorse whatsover.

Ian may not have killed Alison, cause I still don't believe he did, but he tried killing my sister. And for that I'll always hate him.

When the casket was inside me and the girls crouched down and picked up the dirt with our hands and began to drop it inside

We wiped our hands and sighed.

I felt Spencer lay her head on my shoulder and I rested my head on hers.

Goodbye Ian. Hope you rot in hell.

Late At Night

After the funeral me and my family all went back home to just try and relax.

It was late at night and I was just changing into some comfortable clothes when I heard yelling from downstairs.

I furrowed my eyebrows before deciding to check it out.

I left my room and walked downstairs only to see Spencer and Melissa arguing in the living room.

Seriously, what now?

"What is going-" I started but stopped.

I flinched when Melissa tossed something to the wall, I think it was a phone, causing it to break into pieces and drop to the ground.

"I will never forgive you for this!" Melissa basically shouted at Spencer.

Melissa spun around and ran upstairs, ignoring me.

My eyes were wide open in shock and my jaw was hanging all the way to the ground.

Never in my entire life have I seen Melissa angry like that.

I turned to look at Spencer and saw her in the same state as me, but her eyes were filled with slight fear and she was breathing heavily.

"Spence" I managed to say, still in shock.

I shook my head and ran over to my sister and sat down next to her.

"Spence, what happened? Why was Melissa angry at you?" I asked.

Spencer turned to look at me and I can tell she was still trying to process what just happened.

"Spence, what happened?" I asked, placing my hands on her shoulder.

Spencer didn't say anything and just wrapped her arms around me and buried her head into my shoulder.

I did nothing but hug her back and rub her back up and down, hoping it would calm her down.

A Few Minutes Later

Me and the girls were all walking together to the cemetery after Emily texted us.

Turns out the reason why Melissa got so angry at Spencer was because she had Ian's phone in her bag.

I don't know how it got there but I already know the answer. 

A, of course, planted it there. How did they do it? I don't know nor do I give a shit.

But thanks to them Melissa thinks Spencer was the one messaging her, pretending to be Ian, and now she's forever going to be angry at her.

Thanks alot, A.

"Okay, if we get caught, we are in so much trouble!" Aria whisper yelled.

"Oh, please. Like we're the first teenagers to sneak in a graveyard" Hanna scoffed.

"It's like chapter one of every Stephen King book" Emily said.

"Guys! Not helping" I whisper yelled at them.

"Ok, I think we're close" Emily said.

We were about to walk more when Aria stopped us.

"Wait. Stop. I'm...I'm not going any further until you tell me why we're here" Aria said, looking at Emily.

"I told you, I think A set us up" Emily said.

"And I do too" Spencer said.

"Emily's right. This isn't over. I thought I'd feel differently once we buried Ian, but I don't, and it's because A is still alive and calling the shots" I explained.

"But what does that mean?" Aria asked.

We continued walking as we also continued to talk.

"I think A took the body and made it look like a suicide" Emily said.

"Why would A do that?" Hanna asked.

"Because they're A and they're a freaking bitch" I scoffed.

"So that the confession in the suicide note makes Ali's murder look like an open-and-shut case" Spencer said.

"But that would mean that A was helping us. This whole time, we've been trying to convince the police that Ian killed Ali" Aria said.

"Exactly. And why would A help us when we know that A ultimately wants to hurt us?" I asked.

"Ugh! I'm confused, and I'm stepping on something mushy" Hanna groaned.

"What Ethan means is, how do we know for sure that Ian is Ali's killer?" Emily said.

"What do you mean? The kissing rock video" Aria said.

"And...and the missing tree" Hanna said.

"A gave us those things. A is the one who handed us Ali's killer on a silver platter" Emily said and I nodded.

"And whatever A gives, the bitch takes back" Spencer scoffed.

We all stopped walking and tried to process everything.

"Guys, look" Emily said.

She pointed her flashlight at a headstone.

It wasn't any headstones, it was Alison's. We were at her grave.

We sighed in annoyance and confusion, why the hell did A sent us here?

But before any of us could voice our thoughts out loud we heard Alison's laughter rang through the cemetery.

We looked up and gasped when we saw the video from the kissing rock playing in front of us.

"I know you want to kiss me" Alison smiled.

Alison turned the camera around to show Ian smiling at her.

"Come closer" Ian smiled.

"Where's it coming from?" Spencer asked, looking around.

We all began looking around but we couldn't find anything or anyone.

We looked back at the video as the girls huddled closer to me, Aria and Hanna gripping my arms in fear.

The video was the same, Ali's hand being shown in the video, her hand gripping onto the dirt before becoming limp.

Me and the girls looked at the video for a few seconds before we gasped loudly at what we saw next.

Alison began giggling as she picked her hand up and grabbed the camera before lifting it up.

The camera moved around before it turned around and we saw Alison getting up from the ground.

"Oh, my God" Emily gasped.

"She was still alive" Spencer gasped.

"Holy shit" I gasped, covering my mouth.

"Thanks for meeting me" Alison smiled.

Ian smiled at her and leaned in and gave her a kiss either on the cheek or lips.

The video cut off after that and we began looking around, trying to find something or someone.

We began walking around, trying to find anything that made the video turn on.

"I definitely think the projector's over here" Spencer said.

"I don't know. Had to be closer" Aria said.

"Are you sure it wasn't further away?" Hanna asked.

"Wasn't it on the ground?" Emily asked.

"No, it was definitely up in a tree" I said, shaking my head.

We continued walking, hoping to find something but we never did.

In the end we just decided to leave to head home, but all we know is that Ian isn't Ali's killer.