𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉? 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕?

Charpter 17.

"Shane strangled him."

"Not with the intention to kill him

But just enough to damage bens voice box

Because he knew that singing was Something precious to Ben"

Everyone's face turned shocked upon hearing that. You dug your nails into your hand as you continued listening.

"Afterwards Ben started spiralling into depression aand then depression turns into anger. When Ben finally went back to school, he confronted the group. But even after h beat up the ones who hurt him, he didn't feel any better. He didn't know what to do."

"...to make his anger go away. So he kept picking fights, even picked up street fighting. He stopped going to school and he'd always come home late."

"His parents didn't know what to do with him. Ben refused to go to therapy and would sneak out the house..at some point. A kid he fought turned out to have an older brother that had connections with a gang."

"The gang found out where he live, and well. They ended up having to move."

"Ben was ashamed of what happened and realised his temper was out of control. That was when his parents suggested he come stay with us awhile. Since we were always travelling, doing new things, and exploring new places, they thought it would help him find a new meaning in life. Something he loved just as much as singing. he agreed and also started going to therapy" Aiden says as he turns his head over to Ben.

"And that's how he ended up living with me, his therapists also suggested taking up some calming hobbies like gardening and drawing in that notebook he's always carrying around" Aiden explains his eyes turning down to the tiny carrot he was holding. "He's calmed down quite a bit, but there are times where something can trigger his anger. Like when he saw Logan and that other guy in the hallway."

"Wait, so he can still talk, right? Just not sing." Tyler asks as Aiden shrugs "I mean- he can. But he doesn't like hearing his damaged voice, so he chooses to be silent." Aiden says as he turns around over to Ben and places a hand in his shoulder. "ight bus, you can turn off the music." Aiden spoke to Ben as Ben took his earbuds out and everyone just sat in silence.

You looked out the window for a minute then your gaze got shifted over to Ashlyn as she starts to speak. "Alright, let's move on then-" she started but soon got interrupted by Taylor. "Thank you Ben for letting Aiden share that with us, I mean. You don't even know us that well, but felt like we should know as a team. I'm sure it wasn't easy. So I just wanted to let you know it was appreciated." She said as you looked over at her.

I'm glad Ben got out of his old habits.

"Ah-sorry Ashlyn! Didn't mean to interrupt you..." Taylor spoke with an apologetic tone. "Huh? No it's fine, I also agree that it was considerate of Ben to let us know" Ashlyn said back as everyone else agreed.

"M-me too..." Logan agrees. "Yeah." Tyler states. You nodded agreeing then continued listening to them as everyone falls into silence for awhile..Logan spoke up. "Um..it's a little off topic. But I have a theory of what happened in savannah." Logan said as you perked up a bit and looked over at him intrigued. "Well er- not exactly 'what happened' but how we went from savannah, Georgia, all the way back to alto, georgia on the second night."

Right we haven't figured that one out yet...

"Okay..so what's the theory?" Tyler asks and Logan answered as he fiddled with his finger, "well because of how injuries work in relation to each dimension, I think the bodies we use here and use in the phantom dimension are separate but also...connected."

"So if they are connected in some way...what if there's a distance limit?" Logan continued.

"If you travel too far from one body, then the others resets its position instead of going back where we were previously" Logan says as everyone listens carefully especially Ashlyn.

"That would make sense... so the question is 'how far' is that distance limit? And if we travel too far in the phantom dimension, would our bodies here change position?" Ashlyn adds to the theory.

"That's a possibility... but there's also the fact that things don't move the same in the phantom dimension as they do in the human. I'm not sure how we would test it though-" Logan continues on and on as you listened intently.

Bang.

You jumped a bit and immediately looked around. Turns out it was just Aiden slamming his head on the table it clearly startled Ashlyn too.

"Ashlyn-" Taylor spoke once she saw Ashlyns expressions, Ashlyn stopped herself and let out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you think of asking my parents to teach us some self defense?" Ashlyn asks as Aiden immediately shoots back up and turns his head towards her. "Really?!" Aiden worded before he thought of something. "Your hair!"

He grabbed Ashlyns shoulders. "If we show them your shadow, wouldn't that mean we have proof of what's happening to us?" Aiden exclaims excitedly.

"Let go of-" Ashlyn starts and cuts herself off when she looks down at the table at her shadow and realised something.

"Wow- so he does have a brain. Who knew?" Tyler says sarcastically while his sister beside him looked excited at Aidens idea as an 'ooohhh~!' Came out of her mouth while Logan just sat their mouth agape. You looked away from the window and over at everyone.

"I said let go." Ashlyn says sternly as she pinched Aiden to get off her. "Ack!"