_‘*    AUDREY JENSEN.

_{IT’S NOT ABOUT SPENCER,    it’s not about who she is to audrey either.     it’s not about noah,   emma,    or any of her friends    —–     it’s about audrey and only her.      she knows that.      this isn’t something she ever planned to uncover to anybody,      nor was it ever supposed to be some milestone in their friendship they had to be at some level to achieve.     SHE PLANNED TO TAKE THIS SECRET TO HER GRAVE.     why would she ever try to tell someone what happened if she got away with it?     piper’s dead now,    and she thought there was nothing that tied her back to the letters she once sent her.      all she had was her GUILT that remained,     the kind she was willing to do anything to cover up     (    even smash her best friend’s head in if it meant maintaining her secret.    )         she doesn’t want spencer to be mad at her for not telling her    —–      wouldn’t she understand why?      she knows how bad it looks and how WORSE it really is,    beyond the story she’s telling.       she wasn’t going to try to avoid this anymore;      she would admit to it,     but giving the full story wasn’t in the cards.    it couldn’t be.      eyes shut tightly,      hands in her hair tugging on strands.        ❝    i do,    i do   —-     ❞       she quickly insists,     but even though it’s a good explanation,    it’s not the real one.     no one will hear the real one.     ❝    it looks bad because it IS bad,    i’m not denying that.      not anymore.       i don’t know,    spencer!     the killer is always trying to make everyone else look bad so they can keep twisting our emotions and throwing us off,     you know that!   ❞       words are panicked,    spilling from her lips all too quickly.       ❝    they know i knew piper,     and they’re using that against me.      it makes sense.     they know how easy it is to frame me for EVERYTHING   —–     but that’s not true.     i’ve never hurt anyone.   ❞       NOT PHYSICALLY,      but the emotional hurt she’s left on her friends because of what she has done would always remain.          ❝   —-     i was pissed when emma ditched me.      i had to focus on something else.     i wanted to make a documentary about brandon and who he left behind.   ❞      it’s a lie,    but she plays it off as it’s real.     she’s gotten good at it.}

❛    A DOCUMENTARY?   ❜     _{words echoed   ,    after listening in another bout of silence.    said in a sense in which she just wanted to be clear.    IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE MUCH   ,   but it at least explained why audrey’s behaviour had recently gone completely haywire over the past weeks.    and why the killer was}    AFTER HER.   _{playing detective!    with noah to further investigate seemed like a great deal of a waste of time.   admitting}   that yeah   ,    _{audrey was acting weird.    no questioning about that.    even hearing the paranoia in her voice right at the very second.    but before just chalked it up to results of past gorey events.   no theory despite its evidence that pointed to one of their own being the killer made any sense.    (   but again   ,   everytime spencer thought she had the answer she was always}   proven wrong.   )     _{❛     you were friends with piper.    yet you had no idea she was planning a whole murder spree?    is this the same thing you told everyone else or am i getting a}    different version?    ❜     _{expression remained somewhat stoic    ,    appearing storm calm.    only desperate for answers.   THERE WAS ONLY SO MANY LIES SHE COULD TAKE.   especially with a whole past year of being manipulated by a faceless stalker.    only to be placed right back in a similar situation}    all over again.     _{now recalling their past conversations over who could it be with a realization that they were in contact at the time.    everything was already screwed the moment when stepping foot in murderville.     ❛     please.   audrey please.   look  i  ——-    ,   i get there’s some things you probably can’t tell me   ,   okay?   but   ——    ,}    don’t lie to me.    _{please.   i can’t take anymore lies.    ❜      without meaning to    ,    there was a begging dancing on the cusp of her tone.   thick with emotion as head shook along with desperate pleas.    approaching differently than the rest of their friends who offered cold fronts.   (   with the exception of light-haired OTHER BRAIN of the group.  )    being secretive she understood.    understood it like a second language.   like an abstract equation.   she understood abstract.    past experience making it easier to.   but something about all this felt somewhat unsettling.}