Insanity-Sparia

A Guide to "Insanity"

Hello loyal readers, Cube here! I started this story back in high school (2019), writing a few chapters before abandoning it (as I did with most of my stories) for two years. I picked it back up in 2021 for a few more chapters before leaving it again for two years. I officially came back in 2023 with (kinda) consistent updates and I plan to finish this story.

     In continuing this story, I had to really think about the timeline and character motives. I realized that most of the details I came up with can't be explained in the story (either because characters like Noel are dead and can't explain themselves or everyone in universe already knows the information such as Mona being -A). I thought I would take this time to explain this universe's timeline because it differs from the show's canon quite a bit.

Let me start by making a few things clear:

1) This story will not be finished in 2024. There are SO many key moments I have planned and the story isn't even halfway through. Which brings me to

2) This story has two arcs. We are still in Arc 1 (Alison's murder, Spencer's motives, Ezra's trial). Arc 2 starts after Ezra's trial.

3) The ending is set in stone. Regardless of whatever random ass things I come up with while writing the story, they will not change the ending.

4) Not every character from the show will be a part of this story. Certain characters will be mentioned, but it's not guaranteed that they'll make an appearance.

Okay... what you've all been waiting for... THE TIME LINE

This is gonna be all over the place but here it goes.

Veronica Hastings killed Peter Hastings, Spencer was blamed and taken to Radley. Mellisa was at a friends house that night and after the murder she lived with distant relatives and eventually grew up and moved to London, communicating with Alex by postcards because Veronica confiscated her phone when she got home from school.

Alison met Hanna, Aria, and Emily and formed a friend group in middle school. Alison bullied Mona Vanderwaal going into high school and Mona retaliated by sending anonymous messages to Alison. Leading up to her disappearance, Alison accompanied her mother to visit her Aunt Mary, Jessica's twin sister, at Radley, where she met Bethany Young. It was only supposed to be a one time thing but Alison begged her mother to take her back so she could see Bethany. They became friends and were sort of a bad influence on each other. Alison confided in Bethany about the -A messages. During their last meeting before they disappeared, Alison told Bethany that she was using the barn sleepover to find out who -A was before the start of sophomore year. She spiked the girls' drink and snuck out of the sleepover. The events of the night Ali disappeared are pretty much the same as the show in terms of who she meets up with (Ian, Toby, Byron, Ezra). But, Alison witnesses her cousin Charlotte Dilaurentis (a cousin on her father's side, not Mary Drake's daughter) murder Bethany Young, who escaped Radley to help Alison find -A and act as a decoy to set that person up, hence the identical clothing. Convinced Charlotte was -A, Alison decides to run away and is gone for three years (beginning of sophomore year to a few months before graduation) to gather evidence.

     In that time, the liars split up (Aria still goes to Iceland for a year), and Mona and Hanna become close. Hanna also meets Alex, who keeps to herself due to the abuse she suffered at home at the hands of Veronica. Alex wasn't allowed to have sleepovers or go to the mall with Hanna and Mona, but Hanna still gave her a chance. Events play out pretty similarly to the show, with some exceptions:

Aria decides to end things with Ezra soon after the -A threats come in. They try to keep their relationship under wraps but Aria worries that they'll be found out and clearly the relationship is wrong if they have to hide it. Ezra stays as their teacher for the rest of high school. Aria forgives Mona for showing her that their relationship was wrong and they grow closer as friends when they both attend Hollis for college.

Mona is the only -A, and she stalks the liars for two years. I felt like the show portrayed -A as having way too much time on their hands and seemingly like they're everywhere and the girls can't get a break. With Mona as a student and the new "it girl" with Hanna, it just doesn't seem realistic for her to be stalking the girls in the woods, sending multiple messages a day, setting things up for the girls all while maintaining good grades and status, so I stretched her -A activities over the course of two years instead of about 9 months. I also downplayed her role as -A into nothing but a cyberbully who threatened their secrets. She did hit Hanna with her car because she was close to exposing her, but that's the most she ever did. Hanna forgives her because she's Hanna. Mona makes Emily come out to her parents then she teases her about her love for Alison. Emily forgives her mostly because Hanna and Aria does and she winds up getting Alison in the end anyways.

Why did Mona become -A?

When Alison was around, it was purely payback for her bullying. She would text Ali things that she didn't really intend on doing (like "I'm going to bury you") but still scared Alison. When Alison disappeared or supposedly died, Mona went dormant, focusing on becoming the new "it girl" with her new bestie Hanna Marin. Aria was gone for sophomore year, Emily was focused on Ben, and Alex didn't pose a threat so Mona didn't have any competition for Hanna's friendship. When Aria returned and there was a noticeable strain in Emily and Ben's relationship, Mona started to pay attention again. She started sending messages to Aria and Emily about their situations. Only when the messages start to become about Alison did they confide in Hanna about the texts, which the blonde had not yet started to receive. After talking to the girls, Hanna walks to Mona's to ask if she'd received any texts but Mona was already listening and thinks Hanna is coming to confront her so she hits Hanna with a car during her walk. After the accident, Hanna starts receiving -A texts about Alison. Her and the others get closer, she introduces them to Alex, and Mona distances herself as she starts to date Noel.

During the first year of her disappearance, Alison is looking for evidence that Charlotte is -A. What other reason would she kill Bethany other than being -A and thinking she was Alison? But when junior year started, and the messages started up again, this time to her friends, she discovered that Mona was -A. She watched Mona stage messages for the girls to find (like lipstick on Aria's bedroom mirror) and gathered evidence with the help of Caleb Rivers, who she hired to watch over the girls and trace the -A texts back to Mona. Charlotte was arrested for the murder of detective Darren Wilden and confessed to killing "Alison". She reveals to the police that girl was not Alison, but Bethany Young, who she deliberately murdered. Now that the police are looking for her again, and Alison has enough evidence, she sends an anonymous text to Hanna, Emily, Aria, and Mona, signed -A, to meet behind the Dilaurentis house. The girls show up ready to confront -A, when Alison reveals herself to be alive and exposes Mona as -A. Presented with the evidence before the meeting, the police arrest Mona and she is sent to Radley.

How did Alex leave Rosewood?

Spencer introduced Alex to Mary during one of her visits. Alex told them how Veronica treated her at home and how she maintains contact with Mellisa who moved to London. Mary, who received monthly payments from Jessica in exchange for her silence about Jessica being the one who killed Teddy (the child Jessica killed while babysitting then blamed Mary, sending her to Radley), pays for Alex to leave Rosewood to London, where she moves in with Melissa and meets Wren Kingston and Elliot Rollins.

I think that's all I'm willing to tell you for now. You'll find out more as the story goes on.

If you have any questions about anything, or need something explained further, write 'em in the comments!