What if one of the group members didnāt join the others in the sorrel weed house?
- Well. Itās likely (if not confirmed) that sheās the reason they arenāt in comas, so if she didnāt join then they all wouldāve gone under and brought to the facility. Ash wouldāve thought she dodged a bullet, and continued high school mostly how she intended in the beginningāno friends, no activities outside ballet, never truly interacting with people more than necessary. Mr Thomas wouldāve slugged her into a new group for the history project since she wouldnāt be allowed to work alone. He also probably wouldnāt know Ash is connected to the phantom dimension in some way and ignore her, since she wouldnāt know either.
- Since he would have no connection with the others outside of school work, and possibly Taylor still keeping in contact as an acquaintance, I believe Logan would be excluded from the group. Not really on purpose, but they wouldnāt see him as one of them, or someone to protect. With no one to fix his bullying problem, Barron would still be in the picture. His grandparents likely wouldnāt have been able to supply the numbing drugs for Tyler, so getting him off the tree wouldāve been so much more painful and traumatic. And with no real involvement, he wouldnāt be taken to the facility.
- If there was some reason why Aiden wouldnāt have joined, while Ben did?? I canāt think of it. Thatās not what this post is about, though. I believe that Ben would just tell Aiden whatās going on behind the scenes. The cousins are tight, theyāre inseparable, possibly some codependency in the early chapters? Regardless, Aiden would tag along everywhere the group went, because that would be everywhere Ben went. Heād end up being the uninvolved friend on the protagonists, jealous that he canāt fight whatever demon spawn his friends are facing, helping in whatever minorly effective way he can think of. Like h2o. With Ben at home sick, there wouldnāt be any indication that anything happened. Perfect for Aiden to hide the truth.
- Also, he would be lumped with Lily and the other guardians, since he isnāt sick with this supposed āsporeā like the others. And once he falls into a coma with his group, heād try way too hard to run out and find his friends, and his cousin. The adults would hold him back, but the moment theyāre reunited, heād never let go.
- He wouldnāt be awake to drag Tyler into his dumbass idea with the bus, so Tyler would continue wandering the city. Maybe heād bump into Ash and Ben, maybe heād remain alone.
- This one seems a little more plausible, I honestly doubt Aiden would skip the field trip he bombarded Ash about attending just because his cousin got sick. Of course, he would still be worried, maybe it would take a little push from Ben, some minor convincing, whatever. To get to the point, Aiden would include Ben in everything the group does, he doesn't want little Benny to feel lonely or excluded! But he wouldn't tell him. Ben wasn't suffering every night, why come clean and make him worry? He wouldnāt pry, the guy is too respectful. And he doesnāt want to be aggressive like before, I already think heās just always extra cautious about that. But despite Aidenās efforts, Tylerās death would force him to explain.
- Ben also would be grouped with his sister in the facility, maybe restrained in some way because he got violent when he learned his friends had been taken. In the coma, he also would act out of panic, I just think the person whoās calm him down and keep him from running off on his own and possibly getting himself killed.. would be Lily š„ŗ his little sister would be tearing up, terrified, but grab at his shirt nonetheless.
- He wouldnāt be there with Ash when everyone gets split up, so sheād end up on her own.
- Now. He absolutely wouldāve been woken up by the other guys freaking out and. Probably throwing up like the girls. He wouldāve heard that they were gonna check on the others, and since heās observant, he would know that means Taylor included. So of course heād follow, why wouldnāt he? If they tried to keep quiet, which I wouldnāt doubt since Taylor also wants to protect her sibling when she can, it would be for not. Tyler would force the info out of them whether they liked it or not. Then, once heās integrated into the group, heād stay awake and keep watch over them while theyāre in the phantom realm. Most of the time itād just be watching Taylor, since they all arenāt together 24/7, but I digress. Mayhaps Taylor was the one who died, since she wouldāve been thrown against the car door instead š
- Like the others, heād be in the cell. In the coma, he wouldnāt act out like Aiden or Ben, but heād still be extremely anxious and panicked. His sister wouldāve already died once, he wouldnāt be able to live with himself if she was gone forever.
- Without Tyler there, Aiden would be alone in his dumbass idea.
- Ashlyn wouldāve still thought she was dreaming when she woke up, so instead, the boys would wake her up by bursting into the room. Or maybe Ash running to the bathroom was what woke her up. Either way works. Confused as shit, sheād be asking every question under the sun, like why the boys are in their room at all, and Tyler would brush them all off. After a while, Taylor would back off, since pushing and pushing wasnāt going anywhere. Then Tylerās death happens. To give them time to pass out simultaneously, he probably had Taylor check on their mom, maybe she got swept up in conversation. Similarly to Ben, she wouldāve been told at the hospital.
- She would be a lot more cooperative and reasonable in the facility, but god would she be scared. Thatās the separation anxiety talking. In the coma, she wouldnāt be as violent as canonāwhich isnāt exclusive to her, but stillābut she would still be able to go up against a phantom. Sheās already strong as shit. Sheād likely volunteer to patrol with Mike, and once reunited, sheād cry into Tylerās arms.
- Without Taylor there to comfort Logan, he would be the sole person caught by the same guys they ran away from.
