Episode 26

                                    

                                          
Aiden and Ben finally showed up to the lunch table. "Hey guys, sorry we're late!"
Ashlyn scowled at them, "Where the fuck did you two go?"
"Somewhere. Anyways, where's Carlos?" Aiden asked while looking around the cafeteria.
"He got detention, but he's supposed to be here-" Ashlyn got cut off when Carlos finally arrived at the table and dropped his bag.
"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" He asked, everyone looked away from him for a moment, and he internally began to panic. "I know, I'm sorry for how I acted back there. it was out of pocket, and I don't have a reasonable answer or any excuses, but I swear it won't happen again! Don't leave me please-"
"Shut up," Tyler said, "Tay and I already told them what happened."
Carlos looked at Tayler who was still looking away. "Then...?"
"We don't see you any differently, now that Tyler and Taylor explained things. We won't leave you." Logan stated while Taylor nodded.
"Sorry for not being open-minded about what happened, we were too caught up to understand how you actually felt." Taylor apologized.
 Carlos sighed in relief. "Thank you."
"Alright, now that's over," Ashlyn moved the trays of food, "I wanna show you guys something.
---
They all leaned over the lunch table, staring at Ashlyn's shadow. Completely confused, they all share the same expression and Tyler stood up straight, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Am I seeing this right?"
In the Phantom Dimension, Ashlyn chopped off her braids, but it didn't physically transfer over to the real world. In fact, her hair was just as long before she cut it, neatly tied in her pigtail braids as usual.
Looking down at the shadow, it was clear her braids weren't visible in it, instead it was above at shoulder length almost.
Aiden laughed at the sight, lifting one of her braids and said, "Woah that's pretty rad-"
"Let go before I break your arm." Ashlyn warned, giving him a lethal glare from the corner of her eye.
Taylor groaned beside Carlos and threw her head down at the table, "Ha... another mystery..."
Carlos looked at Tyler, who was sitting on the other side of the table with her, now that was in view with Taylor bent over. The two looked at each other before Tyler turned his head away. Carlos felt strange, not expecting Tyler to react like that. From his left, Logan spoke up.
"This might have something to do with why injuries from the Phantom Dimension don't transfer over to our dimension."
"Speaking of injuries," Ashlyn tilted her head over at Logan and Carlos, "How are you guys holding up?"
"Oh, um," Logan spoke first, moving his hand down to lightly clutch his torso, "It kinda feels like I have a rash and it's pretty sore. Like I've been doing sit ups or something. But it's nowhere near as painful as it was last night."
"Yeah, strange how injuries work," Carlos said, "especially how different the level of pain is here compared to the other dimension. Sometimes I forget about my chest unless I breath too heavily."
Taylore lifted her head up from the table and nudged his shoulder, "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, like Logan said. It isn't as bad here, it just stings sometimes." He caught everyone staring at his chest before they noticed him and averted their gazes elsewhere.
Ashlyn nodded, glad they're holding up well. She turned over at Aiden and Ben, who finally decided to make an appearance after vanishing during passing period, "And what about you guys? What happened?"
Aiden chuckled nervously, "Ah- right. That."
Carlos noticed how uncomfortable Ben looked next to his cousin. "Is everything... okay?"
Ben didn't answer, instead Aiden asked him, "Ya sure you want me to tell 'em?"
Ben swiftly swiped his thumbs on his phone screen, allowing the text-to-speech feature to read aloud his message. 
"It's best to have these types of things out in the open if we're going to be a team." The robotic voice spoke through the phone.
"'These types of things'?" Taylor asked, now sitting straight up.
"But I'm putting my earbud in until Aiden's done."
He plugged them in and taps on his phone, likely listening to music to drown out whatever personal business Aiden was about to share.
Ben walked over to the other side of the table and sat down next to Carlos. He held his hand and gripped it tight. Carlos rubbed circles on his hand and looked at Aiden.
Aiden casually shrugged, "Ight, well, that's that then."
He cleared his throat, and now everyone locked their attention on the blonde.
"He is right though, it's probably best to let you guys know before you accidently set him off or somethin'."
"... Set him off?" Ashlyn questioned, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yup. But... this conversation doesn't go outside the group," He cocked his head sinisterly, being very serious about this, "Understood?"
Carlos rubbed the bridge of his nose, and everyone synchronously answered, "... Okay."
Tyler was the only one to retort, "Don't tell me what to-"
Taylor pinched him and he yelped, "Ow-! ... Fine..."
Aiden continued, "I don't think any of you realize this yet, but Ben has anger issues. Like- extreme... haha. Much worse than the half-wit over there."
"So, he also has anger issues..." Carlos thought while glancing at Ben for a second.
"And," Aiden rested his chin on his hand, "... The reason also had to do with why he doesn't speak."
"Ben was in the sixth grade when the incident happened... or was it seventh? Anyway- He's always been a big guy for his age, and his size tended to intimidate people. Despite his appearance thought, Ben was pretty timid. And more than anything, he loved singing. It was everything to him."
Carlos thought about that, what Ben's voice would sound like. He must've sounded wonderful.
"However, because his appearance didn't match his personality, he started to get bullied for it. It didn't start out as bullying. The group of idiots offered to 'fix' him first."
Carlos suddenly felt offended that someone would want to change another person when there's nothing that needs to be changed, "'Fixed'? Ben is perfect just the way he is!" His voice laced with anger.
Tyler places his hand on Carlos's upper back to stop him from interrupting any further. Carlos calmed down and sighed, letting Aiden continue the story.
"... Offering for him to join their group and they would teach him how to fight. Once ben refused though, that's when it started. they started to beat him everyday."
Carlos placed a hand on his face to keep his mouth shut but found it to be difficult. He's no stranger to it... the beating, the manipulation. People will beat you so bad that there's nothing you can do but satisfy their commands.
There's a reason for him to have his anger issues as well.
"Afterward, the leader, Shane, would ask Ben to join his group. And every time, Ben told him no. Then one day, Shane decided to take things to a drastic level."