Summer Bay’s Pretty Little Liars

[TelephotoMarigold]

Story Title: Summer Bay’s Pretty Little Liars
Type of story: Medium Fic
Main Characters: Alf, Roo, Dex, Nic, Geoff, Martha, Aden, April, Bianca, Leah, Miles, and others......
BTTB rating: A (L, SC, V/D)
Genre: Drama
Does story include spoilers: No
Any warnings: Will have mentions of death.
Summary: Summer Bay is a pretty little town teaming with pretty little secrets but secrets have a way of coming out and when they do ... not everyone stays alive ....... Two can keep a secret when one of them is dead.

Chapter One - The Blind Return

The knock at the door in the middle of the night bodied ill will. Nothing good came from the pounding on the door at 3am. Alf Stewart muttered one of his infamous sayings and grumbled as he climbed out of bed and pulled on a tartan bathrobe that was many years old covering blue striped pyjamas. He shuffled his feet into his slippers and pounded down the stairs and over to the door.

“What the flamin’ hell?” He shot out the question taking a step back when he saw the two uniformed police officers standing on his doorstep. He felt his heart lurch in his chest and the tightening across his chest that he was beginning to suspect he needed to get checked out.

“Alf Stewart?” A blond haired copper murmured.

“That’s me, what is this about?”

Flashbacks to the times that he’d ended up mistakenly being taken into police custody for one thing or another drifted through his head and he blinked before making eye contact with each of them in turn. Their expressions gave nothing away.

“Can you tell me if Roo Stewart is here please?”

“She’s in bed for gawd’s sake. What is this about?”

“Sir, if we could speak to Roo Stewart,” the other one said.

Alf picked up on the note in their voices, bad news was coming and he paled.

“What is it Dad?” Roo said from behind him.

“Not sure,” he shot back quickly before looking over his shoulder at his daughter standing behind him with her new husband Harvey.

“Roo Stewart?”

“I’m Roo, what is it?”

“We have you down as the next of kin of a Martha Holden.”

“Not Martha,” Roo gasped no doubt feeling some of the loss of the daughter that she’d had adopted out all over again. She rushed to his side and Alf put his arm around his shaking daughter.

“She was involved in an accident and is currently in Yabbie Creek hospital,” one of the policemen informed them.

“She’s back?” Harvey shot out.

Alf had forgotten that his daughter’s new husband was standing behind them and frowned at the momentary resentment of the other man for interrupting the policeman as he told them about Martha.

“It seems she was heading back into town when she came off the road. “

Roo looked up, tears appearing on her cheeks, “Can we visit her?”

“We also have to inform you that although there are no pending charges with relation to the disappearance of Hugo Austin from custody, Martha does remain a person of interest.”

“Which is all well and good but doesn’t answer the flammin’ question!”

“Sir,” directed at Alf, “Mrs Holden’s injuries were quite substantial and whilst she is in a stable condition there has been some neuro deficit. “

“Are you telling me that my daughter is brain damaged?” Roo asked slowly lifting her head and pinning them with a look. It was this that must have made them decide to tell them the rest of it.

“Ma’am, Mrs Holden is currently blind. As you can imagine details like these are normally kept confidential however we were asked to prepare you.”

Alf gave them a look before he nodded once. He thanked them for informing him and then after they’d left he guided a still visibly upset Roo over to the sofa. Harvey was by her side in an instant taking over from him and he felt suddenly redundant before shaking his head and moving towards the stairs.

“Dad?”

“We have to go see her,” Alf said quickly.

“I agree,” Harvey added, “Roo you need to go visit your daughter.”

“I know but what I don’t know was what she was doing coming back here. People have long memories and it was best if she stayed away,” Roo shuddered once more.

“We’ll find out from her,” Alf put in.

“Dad it isn’t just the Hugo stuff… what about…”

“Roo,” Alf’s strident voice cut across what his daughter was about to say and he looked over at Harvey seeing a puzzled expression cross the man’s face. Roo herself, looked suitably abashed and he felt a pang of guilt flow through him, although nothing like the guilt he carried over the secret they’d all agreed to keep years before. He was feeling his age, his bones were aching and the pang of his many mistakes prodded at him. Looking down at his hands he saw they were shaking and wondered what price they would have to pay now to keep the secrets buried.

“Let me get you both a drink and then we’ll sort out visiting her,” Harvey said after a while when they’d all fallen silent.

*****

Dotted around Summer Bay a number of people’s phones spurted into life with incoming text messages.

“Wake up Summer Bay,
The time to slumber is past,
You thought I was gone and buried
But in the Bay death doesn’t last….

- A"

[Guest]

Interesting start I look forward to reading more

[Red Ranger 1]

Interesting start, looking forward to seeing where you take this.

[strawberry]

Intriguing and interesting start. Wonder what secret Alf and Roo are hiding? Certainly looking forward to your next update

[Zetti]

Ooh interesting. Martha is blind. All and Roo are hiding things and people are getting mysterious texts?? Looking forward to more!!'

[Inactive User]

Interesting start! Update soon please Xxx

[pembie]

Oh Cool another one of your mystery stories for me to come up with mad theories for and then get them all wrong

Intriguing start look forward to more.

[strawberry]

Please update soon-really looking forward to next instalment

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 2 - The Gangs back together for the reunion tour...

Ruby Buckton looked at her phone for the hundredth time and rolled her thumb across the screen, it lurched into life and she blinked at the display before touching a small envelope icon. The messages scrolled up and she looked at the senders before her eyes read the words ‘unkown sender’ again. She blinked again as though clearing tears from her eyes but she was long past tears.

“Can I get you a coffee dawl?” Irene murmured from beside her.

“I’m waiting for someone… “ Ruby said quickly, dropping the phone to the table and hoping that Irene hadn’t spotted the message on her screen.

“Sure thing, just let me know..” with that Irene drifted away and back behind the counter.

The diner seemed the perfect place to meet. Casual encounters happened every day in the small but welcoming diner. That was her reasoning to suggesting the place but now she was suddenly worried about being seen, suddenly fearful that the conversation would be overheard, that someone would…. Would find out.

Biting back a groan at where her thoughts had spiralled to, she picked up her phone again and reread the words of the message. The dead never stayed buried, she thought with a groan.

“Ruby,” a voice called.

She looked up at Indi, blinking again before nodding at the seat opposite her. The blonde girl sat down and they faced one another.

“Hello,” Ruby said her voice sounding far from normal.

“You got the text?”

“Always cut to the chase don’t you Indi?”

“Nothing to hang around for. Who would know …”

“Quiet!”

Ruby hadn’t meant for her tone to be so sharp, knowing that her expression would be fierce.

“Maybe we’ve been quiet for too long,” Indi hissed back at her.

“Well well well….” A third voice called from the doorway.

Ruby closed her eyes before she turned her head and looked in that direction. The voice hadn’t been her imagination playing tricks on her.

“Nicole…” she breathed the name out and in that single moment it felt like time stood still at the three women looked at each other.

“What are you doing here?”

Ruby barely glanced at Indi as she uttered the question, her eyes still pinned by the intense blue gaze of Nic’s. Her breathing slowly returned to normal as they looked at one another again before Nic sashayed towards the table and sat down with them.

“If you’ve got a secret and you want to keep it…” she said so quietly that they were forced to lean closer to her to hear what she was saying.

“You got a text too?” Indi asked interrupting her.

“I bet we’re not the only ones…”

The moment froze again as they looked at one another and then Ruby’s phone which had been lying dormant in the centre of the table buzzed and vibrated along the wooden surface making them all jump.

With a shaking hand Ruby picked up the phone and read the display. One new message. She glanced at the other two as they took out their phones and looked at them and then biting anxiously on her lip she opened the message.


“Got a secret, can you keep it?
Swear this one you’ll save.
Better lock it in your pocket
Or take it to the Grave.
Surfs up bitches, time to catch the tide!
- A "

“How do they know?” Ruby shot out.

“Know what Ruby? There is nothing here to say that they know anything…”

“Surfs up?”

“You need to stop panicking. Calling me, arranging this meeting… “

“Maybe if you didn’t keep telling people what to do Indigo we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Nic said angrily.

“God stop it, I can’t…. “ Ruby moaned rocking back and forth in her seat, “We… should have come clean and not… but we didn’t so we need to ….”

“Ruby did you have your shot?”

Indi looked quickly at Nic’s face as she asked Ruby the question before glancing back at Ruby seeing what Nic saw. Ruby was moving in her seat, beads of sweat on her top lip and around her hair line. She seemed as though her expression had glazed over.

“Rubes?” Indi murmured.

Nic shook her head and reached over to take Ruby’s bag from her. Routing in it she took out the acu-blood test and quickly pricked Ruby’s finger to get a reading on the small gadget. Shaking her head at the reading she took out the injector pen and looked at the display.

“Ruby this is empty. Where is your insulin?”

“Not possib…le..” Ruby said her teeth chattering as she spoke. “In bag.. carry..”

“Is she having some kind of attack?” Indi’s question caused Nic to glare at her before she stood up and went over to Irene at the counter. She returned after a minute and sat back down.

“Irene is getting help,” Nic announced.

“I …” Indi shot a frantic glance at them before she took out her phone and slowly read the incoming message.

“Is that..”

“It’s Dex,” she said quickly with a glance at both of them.

They looked at each other realising that they were suddenly at the mercy of someone out there that knew their secrets. Someone knew they were keeping the worst secret. Someone was … going to make them pay.

Ruby looked over at her insulin kit; she fiddled with it trying to remember when she’d taken her last injection. It didn’t feel like a hypo, didn’t feel like anything she’d experienced before and she gave a slow moan. What had been in her injection pen? What…

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell from her chair to the floor, her body shook and twitched, her muscles clenching and unclenching as the fit took hold. She felt her jaw tightening and her teeth clamping together. Lights sparkled in her eyes, colours darting back and forth like tiny fireworks exploding as she fought to control as she convulsed.

“Oh my god,” Indi cried out panicking.

Nic reacted first, rushing to Ruby’s side and struggling against thrashing limbs she turned her into the recovery position, holding on to her head as the fit progressed.

“The ambulance is on its way,” Irene announced.

As they and the few other customers looked on in shock at the scene unfolding in front of them no one noticed the black hooded figure in the background watching intently.

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Whoa! I hope Ruby will be okay.

Update soon please Xxx