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Chapter 48
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2021-02-25 06:39:55There was no time. All of it seemed to speed up and slow down, to move backward and forward at once. Beth could hear a struggle, somewhere in the water, and she recognized Ryan’s voice even though it was strained and groggy. She couldn’t make out what he was saying as every word was clipped by the sounds of splashing and gurgling. Frantically, she hunted for the entrance in the fence and was just about to give up and climb over when she spotted it—and spotted them.
Beth could see Halley in the water. It was deeper here than Beth had expected as it hit her above the waist. Either that, or the girl was on her hands and knees. Her face was lifted to the sky like she was praying, and though it was difficult to see, in the light reflected off the surface of the water that swirled past her, Beth could tell Halley’s eyes were closed.
At first, she was confused, not understanding where Ryan might be, but then his hand ca
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Pretty Little Monster Chapter 49
It wasn’t enough to scare her off, though, and Halley lunged at Beth as Ryan began to float away, still not conscious enough to help himself. Beth was aware that the creek meandered for about a quarter mile before a small, but powerful waterfall merged the creek with the lagoon. She couldn’t let him get away from her, but Halley was coming at her again, and this time, Beth was close enough for Halley to scratch her face.Beth pushed her back as hard as she could, balancing on one leg as she brought her other knee up and made contact with Halley’s gut. The smaller girl groaned, and Beth shoved her backward as hard as she could. Halley stumbled, regained her footing, and came at Beth again, but this time, Beth was out of the way, already moving toward Ryan. She dove into the water, reaching for his outstretched hand when she felt Halley latch on to her ponytail.Halley wasn’t pulling her up, though, she was pushing
Last Updated : 2021-02-25Pretty Little Monster Chapter 50
“Damn,” Beth muttered, hoping she was okay. She might be batshit crazy, but the thought of anything permanently damaging happening to her made Beth sick to her stomach, especially since she’d been the one to push her.“What happened?” Michael asked. “You’re bloody, Beth.”Beth hadn’t realized her face was scratched up so badly until she dragged her hand across her cheek, and it came back pink. Halley had made contact quite a few times while they were under the water, but she had hardly felt it at the time. Now that her adrenaline was starting to die down, she was sure it would all come back to her.Sheriff Bill Jones ran up, flashlight in hand, before Beth could answer Michael. He snaked his way through the fence. “You kids all right?” he shouted, straightening his glasses and running his spread hand across his mustache.“No, we n
Last Updated : 2021-02-25Pretty Little Monster Epilogue
The sun was sweltering the day they put Hannah Day in the ground. It wasn’t a dreary, stormy morning like in the movies, but it seemed fitting that Hannah’s funeral wouldn’t quite fit the mold either. She certainly hadn’t.Beth and Ryan held onto each other as the preacher said a few words about the beautiful girl who had meant so much to so many. There was no mention of the fact that she’d drowned trying to commit murder, and that according to the journal she kept, this was her second such act. Unfortunately for Brock Hill, there’d been no one there to save him.As the preacher finished his remarks, Beth squeezed Ryan’s hand, and they gave the casket one last look as Hannah’s mother began to wail. Beth couldn’t blame her for being unable to accept what her daughter had done—or what her daughter had been through herself. The journals were full of secrets Hannah hadn’t con
Last Updated : 2021-02-25Pretty Little Monster Chapter One
The first baseball game of the season was always memorable, though this summer it would be mundane compared to what the rest of the hottest months of the year had to hold. Later, as they pulled the body out of the lagoon on the east side of the ball park, Beth Monroe would remember back to that first game, when everyone was innocent and her worst worry was whether or not her shorts made her thighs look big. By then, Beth would long for the simplicity of life in small town Barryville 1993, before everything came unraveled.Before the new girl appeared, out of thin air, out of the shadows near the parking lot, out of a nightmare, Beth Monroe had thought her biggest problem was the fact that her older brother Shane, a senior, captain of the football team, and the shortstop on the Babe Ruth baseball team their dad coached, was an asshole who did everything he could to humiliate Beth to the point that not a single guy in their entire high school would ever da
Last Updated : 2021-02-19Pretty Little Monster Chapter Two
Beth turned and glared at her friend, but the crack of the bat had her eyes readjusting as Sammy connected, sending the perfect pitch flying toward the fence in center field. Clearly, the opposing team hadn’t been sprinting in practice because it seemed to take forever for the Silverton field man to get himself to where the ball had landed. By then, Shane, who’d doubled before Kyle came to bat, was jogging into home, and Sammy was rounding second.Holding her breath, Beth set her pencil aside and watched the third base coach, one of the other dads, wave Sammy to third. Finally having retrieved the ball, the center fielder, whose arms were as big around as barrels, rocketed the ball to his cutoff man. It was going to be close.Sammy slid into third, a plume of dust clouding Beth’s view as the third baseman, a lanky guy whose curly hair stuck out around his cap in every direction, reached in for the tag. The ump was righ
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Andi had schooled Lexy in the correct lyrics of the new hit by Tag Team while Beth appeased the plumber by day, umpire by night who still didn’t seem happy with their performance. Luckily, it was the final inning, and they’d all be out of there soon enough. She was ready to get in the minivan and crank up the air conditioning, not that she wouldn’t have to stand around and wait for her dad to load everything up and go over the game with his assistant coaches for a half an hour before he finally headed home. She desperately wished her dad would just let her take the car. She’d had her permit for a few months. But her parents would never let her drive the car by herself until she was fully licensed. Next year, her dad had told her. But then, next year her brother would be in college. This was likely their last summer for Babe Ruth League ball. A pang of sadness hit the pit of her stomach, and her eyes automatically searched for Sammy. This was the su
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The stairs creaked beneath her feet as Beth felt her way along the bannister, a can of Dr. Pepper in her free hand. Whoever decided it was a good idea to put the light switch at the top of the stairs had been an idiot, and while Beth realized said idiot probably died over a hundred years ago, she really wished the people who’d renovated their house right before they bought it five years ago would’ve considered fixing this problem with the light.And put a bathroom on the second floor.She reached the top step and fumbled for the cord that hung from the ceiling in the narrow hallway that ran past Shane’s closet of a bedroom to hers. Finding it, she gave it a tug and then breathed a sigh of relief at having reached the top without tripping and tumbling to her demise. Of course, the way the stairway curved, she would’ve probably hit a wall before she broke her neck, but reaching the top of the stairs always felt lik
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Something about Ryan’s tone sounded different, like he wasn’t really all that happy for her, and she wondered if he had something against Sammy. He wouldn’t be the only guy who felt that Sammy’s opinion of himself was a little unwarranted, but Beth couldn’t remember ever hearing Ryan say anything bad about him before. Her eyebrows knit together as she tried to determine how to respond. Should she thank him for the compliment, even if it might’ve been laced with sarcasm, correct him for essentially calling Sammy an ass hat, or explain why his reasoning was wrong? In the end, she did what she always did in similar situations and obliterate any twinkle of hope from her miserable existence.“Actually, once he said that, he walked over to a group of popular girls.” Beth could hear the misery in her own voice. “God, you should’ve seen the way Carly Lyles draped herself on him.” She shook her hea
Last Updated : 2021-02-19
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Pretty Little Monster Epilogue
The sun was sweltering the day they put Hannah Day in the ground. It wasn’t a dreary, stormy morning like in the movies, but it seemed fitting that Hannah’s funeral wouldn’t quite fit the mold either. She certainly hadn’t.Beth and Ryan held onto each other as the preacher said a few words about the beautiful girl who had meant so much to so many. There was no mention of the fact that she’d drowned trying to commit murder, and that according to the journal she kept, this was her second such act. Unfortunately for Brock Hill, there’d been no one there to save him.As the preacher finished his remarks, Beth squeezed Ryan’s hand, and they gave the casket one last look as Hannah’s mother began to wail. Beth couldn’t blame her for being unable to accept what her daughter had done—or what her daughter had been through herself. The journals were full of secrets Hannah hadn’t con
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 50
“Damn,” Beth muttered, hoping she was okay. She might be batshit crazy, but the thought of anything permanently damaging happening to her made Beth sick to her stomach, especially since she’d been the one to push her.“What happened?” Michael asked. “You’re bloody, Beth.”Beth hadn’t realized her face was scratched up so badly until she dragged her hand across her cheek, and it came back pink. Halley had made contact quite a few times while they were under the water, but she had hardly felt it at the time. Now that her adrenaline was starting to die down, she was sure it would all come back to her.Sheriff Bill Jones ran up, flashlight in hand, before Beth could answer Michael. He snaked his way through the fence. “You kids all right?” he shouted, straightening his glasses and running his spread hand across his mustache.“No, we n
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 49
It wasn’t enough to scare her off, though, and Halley lunged at Beth as Ryan began to float away, still not conscious enough to help himself. Beth was aware that the creek meandered for about a quarter mile before a small, but powerful waterfall merged the creek with the lagoon. She couldn’t let him get away from her, but Halley was coming at her again, and this time, Beth was close enough for Halley to scratch her face.Beth pushed her back as hard as she could, balancing on one leg as she brought her other knee up and made contact with Halley’s gut. The smaller girl groaned, and Beth shoved her backward as hard as she could. Halley stumbled, regained her footing, and came at Beth again, but this time, Beth was out of the way, already moving toward Ryan. She dove into the water, reaching for his outstretched hand when she felt Halley latch on to her ponytail.Halley wasn’t pulling her up, though, she was pushing
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 48
There was no time. All of it seemed to speed up and slow down, to move backward and forward at once. Beth could hear a struggle, somewhere in the water, and she recognized Ryan’s voice even though it was strained and groggy. She couldn’t make out what he was saying as every word was clipped by the sounds of splashing and gurgling. Frantically, she hunted for the entrance in the fence and was just about to give up and climb over when she spotted it—and spotted them.Beth could see Halley in the water. It was deeper here than Beth had expected as it hit her above the waist. Either that, or the girl was on her hands and knees. Her face was lifted to the sky like she was praying, and though it was difficult to see, in the light reflected off the surface of the water that swirled past her, Beth could tell Halley’s eyes were closed.At first, she was confused, not understanding where Ryan might be, but then his hand ca
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 47
Rushing over to her friends, she pressed the lid back down on Ryan’s drink. “Lexy, hold onto this. Don’t let it spill, and don’t drink it. Brittany, can you drive Andi down to the pay phone? Call your uncle, the sheriff, and get him down here, okay? I’m not sure what’s going on, but we might need him.”“Do you think it’s that serious?” Lexy asked as the other two started to move.“Maybe. I don’t know.” Beth didn’t have any more time to talk about it. If Ryan really was in trouble, she should’ve already been moving.She took off running, not sure of where she was going, but instinctively, she thought the creek would be the most logical place for Halley to take him if she was really trying to injure him. She hadn’t given him enough of whatever it was floating in his drink to kil
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 46
“Hey, where’s Ryan?” she called when she was a few feet away from them. All three stood with their arms crossed, serious expressions on their faces.“We aren’t sure,” Lexy admitted. “He got up about ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago, and walked off, that way, into the park. With Halley.”Beth was confused. She peered off into the darkness. There were no lights at all in that section of the park. Across the street that circled the ball field, there was mostly just wide open space where people flew kites or lay on blankets in the shade. A few hundred yards away, off in the distance, she knew there was a chain link fence that separated the creek from the park so that no children accidentally ran into the water, but she couldn’t see it from here.“Why? Where were they going?” Beth asked, trying to keep her voice calm.“We don’t kno
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 45
The baseball game Thursday night was at home against Juniper, one of the smaller towns in the area, and there was a pretty good chance Barryville would win by the mercy rule. Beth climbed the ladder to the scorekeeper’s box alone since her friends decided they wanted to sit on the bleachers where they could keep a better eye on things. Beth remembered Ryan mentioning he wanted to go to this game back when he’d first won his freedom, and she thought there was a possibility he might show up with Halley. Since Beth wouldn’t be able to see the bleachers from her post, her friends had volunteered to observe, even though they had no idea of the potential threat.Beth hadn’t told them about the pills or all the details of Halley’s mysterious past. They only knew that there was a chance Halley wasn’t who she said she was and that Beth thought she might be up to something no good. Telling Andi, Lexy, and Brittany that she thoug
Pretty Little Monster Chapter 44
It must’ve been a day for cleaning because that’s what her mother was doing, too. “There you are. Your phone has been ringing nonstop since you left. I really wish it wasn’t so loud.”“Sorry,” Beth muttered wondering who was calling her now. She headed to the door to the stairs, her mother still talking behind her.“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Your dad just got home from work. You really should go out in the back yard and play with him and the girls. You never do that anymore.”“Okay,” Beth said, but her hand was on the door. How was she supposed to figure out who was calling so that they’d stop and also spend time outside with her family? Her mother continued to run a rag over the old piano in the corner of the room, the one no one knew how to play, and Beth headed upstairs, hoping whoever had been calling had good news.
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Mrs. Wilson opened the door on the second knock. A surprised, yet pleasant, look crossed her face. “Beth! How nice to see you. How are you, dear?”“I’m good, Mrs. Wilson. Is Ryan here? I need to talk to him for a few minutes, if he’s not busy.”“Oh, uh, sure.” She looked worried, like she was afraid Ryan might be unduly stressed by having to talk to his unstable friend. “Come on in.” She gestured at the living room, and Beth walked in slowly. In all of the time she’d been neighbors with Ryan, she’d never come to his house before.The living room wasn’t what Beth had expected. It was clean, but the furniture looked much newer than the outside of the house would indicate. The television was small and built into a cabinet that sat on the floor, like the one Beth’s parents had had when she was little. She took a seat on a green and white ch
