The Girl Who Lived There Before
Title: The Girl Who Lived There Before
Fandom: Pretty Little Liars
Characters: Maya, Ali, Emily.
Pairings: Maya/Emily, Ali/Emily.
Rating: PG
Summary: She sometimes wondered about the girl who used to live in her house.
The movers had screwed up, that was how it started. They’d been meant to clear everything out before Maya’s family got there, but somehow it happened that a couple of the boxes in what had been Alison’s room never made it on to the DiLaurentis moving van. Maya’s mother had called the removal company and given them an earful, and they’d told her that they would contact the DiLaurentis family and ask what they wanted doing with the boxes. When they came back saying it was okay to just throw those ones out, because they were the things that their owner would be least likely to want, the person on the phone had said something about how they hoped there hadn’t been too many problems with reporters, and Maya’s mother had shrieked “Reporters?” so loudly the new owners of their old house could probably hear it.
As soon as Maya’s mother had heard the story about the girl who had lived there before, who had gone missing a year ago and whose disappearance the press were now raking over again, she immediately started ranting about how they should look for somewhere else immediately. Her father eventually calmed her down, said it was only an issue at all because that week was the anniversary, the whole thing would eventually die down. When Maya knew about it, she understood a bit better why her new friend Emily had reacted the way she did at seeing those boxes all ready to be tossed out. She decided not to push Emily on it, let her talk when she was ready. And Emily did, eventually; she confided in Maya about how she had realised that she loved Alison, but she understood now that that would always have been one sided, and it was time for her to shut that particular door and move on.
After the body was found underneath the gazebo, Maya had nightmares about Alison, imagining her coming for her, pointing to her, telling her this was her, Alison’s, bedroom and for Maya to get the hell out. Sometimes she would wake up in the room she knew was hers, but with pictures she didn’t recognise on the walls, with Alison’s stuff scattered all over the place. In some versions of the nightmare, Emily was there, and Alison would tell Maya to stay away from her as well, that Emily had loved her first and Maya was just some interloper. Sometimes, Maya would open a cupboard or something and find some item of Alison’s that her family had missed packing up, and every time that happened, the item would appear in her nightmares. Whether it be people stopping to leave something at the Alison shrine, or just stopping to stare at the house where the missing girl had lived, or even something as silly as one of Emily’s friends talking about “Ali’s house” in front of Maya, it all combined to make Maya feel as though the house would never be her home, that she would always be the intruder. She’d thought it might get easier once the police were done with the crime scene, but even once they were gone, the house still didn’t feel like a place where she belonged.
Logically, Maya knew that this didn’t mean anything. She’d never met Alison, she hadn’t taken anything from her. The dreams were stupid. Alison was dead; she wasn’t coming back. And honestly, with some of the things Maya had heard about Alison, she wasn’t sure she would have liked her very much. It hadn’t even just been the kids Alison hadn’t liked; Hanna had let slip something about Alison having renamed her Hefty Hanna, and they had been supposed to be best friends.
Her mother still carried on looking at the rentals in the hope of finding somewhere that didn’t have the same tainted history, but so far without success. By the time she did find somewhere, Maya had already been shipped to True North. But in a way, it was partly a relief, to be somewhere she wasn’t living in the shadow of a dead girl.
Sometimes Alison wondered about Maya, the girl who had lived in her house while she’d been gone. She knew what Maya had looked like; Emily had shown her pictures, and she’d told Alison enough about Maya that Ali felt like she had some idea of what she had been like as a person. It felt weird to Ali to think of this other person who’d lived in her house, slept in her room, that whole time she’d been gone.
When Alison first came home, a lot of her stuff had been put back in her room, but in different places from where she had had it before, and some of it hadn’t even made it back. Jason explained that the movers had screwed up and left it behind when they first left, but those boxes had been things that Alison had outgrown anyway and wouldn’t have been expected to want if she had come home, so Jessica had told the new owners to get rid. And okay, once she’d sorted properly through her stuff she knew that Jason was right about it being all her outgrown stuff that was gone, but the thought of this Maya person, going through it, tossing HER stuff out with the trash…it made her itch with irritation.
She knew that when she had lived here, Maya had been Emily’s girlfriend. Sometimes Alison still thought about that time in freshman year when she’d found out Emily had liked her in that way, and she’d turned her down, but had then made sure nothing ever happened between Emily and Paige. Shana and Cece had even called her out on it a couple of times. If you’re not going to do anything, what do you care if this Paige person does? Alison used to brush that off with some remark about how they didn’t know Pigskin and couldn’t possibly understand. But if Alison had been around when Maya first moved to Rosewood, if she was honest with herself, she would probably have done something to try to stop that, too.
It had always mattered to Alison before that she was Number 1 in everyone’s lives, and she was no longer proud of some of the things she had done in order to stay that way. But in denying her feelings for Emily, in saying she liked guys, she’d ended up making sure that she wasn’t the first girlfriend in Emily’s life, that Maya had got there because she had been honest about her feelings while Ali had been…what exactly? Worried about what would happen if people knew the Queen Bee Alison DiLaurentis liked girls as well as guys? Or worried about the reaction of her father?
It hardly mattered now, since Em was barely talking to her anyway. And Maya, well, she wasn’t coming back. Ali didn’t have to think about her.
But she still couldn’t help but sometimes wonder about the girl who lived there before.
Fandom: Pretty Little Liars
Characters: Maya, Ali, Emily.
Pairings: Maya/Emily, Ali/Emily.
Rating: PG
Summary: She sometimes wondered about the girl who used to live in her house.
The movers had screwed up, that was how it started. They’d been meant to clear everything out before Maya’s family got there, but somehow it happened that a couple of the boxes in what had been Alison’s room never made it on to the DiLaurentis moving van. Maya’s mother had called the removal company and given them an earful, and they’d told her that they would contact the DiLaurentis family and ask what they wanted doing with the boxes. When they came back saying it was okay to just throw those ones out, because they were the things that their owner would be least likely to want, the person on the phone had said something about how they hoped there hadn’t been too many problems with reporters, and Maya’s mother had shrieked “Reporters?” so loudly the new owners of their old house could probably hear it.
As soon as Maya’s mother had heard the story about the girl who had lived there before, who had gone missing a year ago and whose disappearance the press were now raking over again, she immediately started ranting about how they should look for somewhere else immediately. Her father eventually calmed her down, said it was only an issue at all because that week was the anniversary, the whole thing would eventually die down. When Maya knew about it, she understood a bit better why her new friend Emily had reacted the way she did at seeing those boxes all ready to be tossed out. She decided not to push Emily on it, let her talk when she was ready. And Emily did, eventually; she confided in Maya about how she had realised that she loved Alison, but she understood now that that would always have been one sided, and it was time for her to shut that particular door and move on.
After the body was found underneath the gazebo, Maya had nightmares about Alison, imagining her coming for her, pointing to her, telling her this was her, Alison’s, bedroom and for Maya to get the hell out. Sometimes she would wake up in the room she knew was hers, but with pictures she didn’t recognise on the walls, with Alison’s stuff scattered all over the place. In some versions of the nightmare, Emily was there, and Alison would tell Maya to stay away from her as well, that Emily had loved her first and Maya was just some interloper. Sometimes, Maya would open a cupboard or something and find some item of Alison’s that her family had missed packing up, and every time that happened, the item would appear in her nightmares. Whether it be people stopping to leave something at the Alison shrine, or just stopping to stare at the house where the missing girl had lived, or even something as silly as one of Emily’s friends talking about “Ali’s house” in front of Maya, it all combined to make Maya feel as though the house would never be her home, that she would always be the intruder. She’d thought it might get easier once the police were done with the crime scene, but even once they were gone, the house still didn’t feel like a place where she belonged.
Logically, Maya knew that this didn’t mean anything. She’d never met Alison, she hadn’t taken anything from her. The dreams were stupid. Alison was dead; she wasn’t coming back. And honestly, with some of the things Maya had heard about Alison, she wasn’t sure she would have liked her very much. It hadn’t even just been the kids Alison hadn’t liked; Hanna had let slip something about Alison having renamed her Hefty Hanna, and they had been supposed to be best friends.
Her mother still carried on looking at the rentals in the hope of finding somewhere that didn’t have the same tainted history, but so far without success. By the time she did find somewhere, Maya had already been shipped to True North. But in a way, it was partly a relief, to be somewhere she wasn’t living in the shadow of a dead girl.
Sometimes Alison wondered about Maya, the girl who had lived in her house while she’d been gone. She knew what Maya had looked like; Emily had shown her pictures, and she’d told Alison enough about Maya that Ali felt like she had some idea of what she had been like as a person. It felt weird to Ali to think of this other person who’d lived in her house, slept in her room, that whole time she’d been gone.
When Alison first came home, a lot of her stuff had been put back in her room, but in different places from where she had had it before, and some of it hadn’t even made it back. Jason explained that the movers had screwed up and left it behind when they first left, but those boxes had been things that Alison had outgrown anyway and wouldn’t have been expected to want if she had come home, so Jessica had told the new owners to get rid. And okay, once she’d sorted properly through her stuff she knew that Jason was right about it being all her outgrown stuff that was gone, but the thought of this Maya person, going through it, tossing HER stuff out with the trash…it made her itch with irritation.
She knew that when she had lived here, Maya had been Emily’s girlfriend. Sometimes Alison still thought about that time in freshman year when she’d found out Emily had liked her in that way, and she’d turned her down, but had then made sure nothing ever happened between Emily and Paige. Shana and Cece had even called her out on it a couple of times. If you’re not going to do anything, what do you care if this Paige person does? Alison used to brush that off with some remark about how they didn’t know Pigskin and couldn’t possibly understand. But if Alison had been around when Maya first moved to Rosewood, if she was honest with herself, she would probably have done something to try to stop that, too.
It had always mattered to Alison before that she was Number 1 in everyone’s lives, and she was no longer proud of some of the things she had done in order to stay that way. But in denying her feelings for Emily, in saying she liked guys, she’d ended up making sure that she wasn’t the first girlfriend in Emily’s life, that Maya had got there because she had been honest about her feelings while Ali had been…what exactly? Worried about what would happen if people knew the Queen Bee Alison DiLaurentis liked girls as well as guys? Or worried about the reaction of her father?
It hardly mattered now, since Em was barely talking to her anyway. And Maya, well, she wasn’t coming back. Ali didn’t have to think about her.
But she still couldn’t help but sometimes wonder about the girl who lived there before.