Tyler: "You're hiding something..."

Aiden: "I am...???"

Tyler: "I know because I haven't told them either. And I assume it's the same for you since you didn't sleep either. About the dreams where there's a version of myself..."

Tyler looks away from the mirror and into Aiden's eyes, where in the mirror, a parallel version of Tyler appears in a distorted and disfigured way, the proportions of Its mouth and eyes in a phantom-like array.

Tyler: "...Trying to kill me"

Aiden's eyes widen a bit, his perma-smile still plastered eloquently across his light tan face.

Aiden: "..."

An image of Aiden's phantom-like self flashes through his mind, the painfully dreadful and depressing feeling from the dream fading over him as he remembers the way it choked him, forcing pained coughs and gags from him. The way his other self's eyes stare soullessly into his own makes him shiver from the faint willow of the memory. He quickly snaps out of his daze and fixes his smile to be more genuine, a trickle of sweat cascading down his face.

Aiden: "...Yeah, I've been having 'em. I thought it was just a result of what we've been going through and me dying. I didn't want to bother the others with it if it was just nightmares since I'm sure we all have them."

Aiden's hand reaches up to slick back some of the sweat-drained hair from his eyes, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

Aiden: "But if you're having the same ones as me, then we should probably let the others know."

Tyler looks down at the bathroom counter.

Tyler: "Yeah, that was my thought too, especially since they've been getting more frequent."

Tyler glances up from the counter and to Aiden, who's still staring off into space. Tyler remembers walking into the bathroom moments before. The image of seeing Aiden stare into the mirror with a look of intense feigning annoyance and depression crosses his mind. He stares at Aiden for a moment, reliving the image of such a bubbly person being so upset through his mind like a merry-go-round. Tyler then looks back down at the counter.

Tyler: "...Another thing is, I think I figured out something about how we heal in the phantom dimension. Ashlyn's scrape on her arm in the beginning only took a day or so to heal, while Logan's took over a month. It took forever for my stomach to stop bleeding everywhere, while it only took a week for you. If it's our souls or whatever that's walking around that place, then maybe instead of physical recovery, it has to do with our mental state. It took forever to recover because dying took a big mental toll on me. But... you didn't care about dying at all... Did you? Even from the beginning, you-"

Tyler gets cut off.

Aiden: "...Wow. So you really can use the pile of mush up there in that thick skull! I didn't take you for the thinking type!"

Aiden says playfully, giving off a banter that seems more friendly and showing something that pushes Tyler's original thoughts of Aiden being suicidal away.

Tyler: "Can you not be a brat for one minute?!"

Tyler says in annoyance.

Aiden: "You're getting ahead of yourself though..."

Aiden starts, his tone lighter than the previous playful exchange.

Aiden: "I liked the rush but I didn't want to actually die."

He retorts back, a shadow of Aiden's other side 'helping' him smile to keep the lighthearted comment sweet, right before whispering "Liar" in Aiden's ear... right before it dissipates into the shadows of the room.

Aiden: "You probably do have a point, though, I wasn't as scared and I got over it quickly, so how fast we mentally recover might have something to do with how fast we heal."

Aiden continues, pausing for a bit before smiling a bit more genuinely at Tyler as he puts his hat back on.

Aiden: "We should go tell the others."

Tyler and Aiden walk out to their table with Logan, Ashlyn, Taylor (Tyler's twin sister), and Ben (Aiden's mute cousin).