Pretty Little Liars: A Timeline of the Night Ali Disappears

"A" made their presence known long before they started stalking the liars, back in 2008.

• Alison gets her (probable) first text from their stalker. The text reads, "I'm watching you."
•  Jenna meets Alison for the first time in a costume shop, both looking for Lady Gaga costumes.

"The Jenna Thing" happens, and an intricate cover-up/extortion plot unfolds.

• We first meet Vivian Darkbloom, Ali's alter ego.
• Alison also meets and seduces an unaware Ezra, convincing him she's a lit-geek like him. Oh . . . and that she's not a teenager.
• Alison visits her grandmother and makes contact with Carla Grunwald. It's unclear if that was the first time or not.
• Ali is also involved with "beach hottie."

• Alison and "A" exchange messages using the local newspaper and arrange a meeting later — probably on Labor Day.
• It's unclear who Alison thinks is "A," but the likely suspect at this time is Jenna.

Alison is in Hilton Head with Ian — and a pregnant Melissa. 

• She overhears a very unfortunate (and kinda heartbreaking) conversation between Ian and Melissa.
• Even though Alison is a side piece, she gets upset hearing how little she meant to him.
• She reacts wildly and irrationally, and makes some damaging decisions. Classic Ali.
• She copies the NAT Club videos to a flash drive — for obvious future blackmail plans — and flees Hilton Head.
• Alison then hitches a ride with Duncan Albert on his plane to Philadelphia, where he leaves her in a field.
• She winds up at the Lost Woods Resort and checks into Room 1 as Vivian Darkbloom.
• Here, she schedules a meeting with "A," to take place on Spruce Street.

We know that she later calls the police from a payphone on that same street.

Still reeling from her rejection from Ian, Alison visits Jenna in the hospital, but it's not to bring her flowers.

• Alison dangles the steamy video of Jenna and Toby in her face, and tries to blackmail Jenna into leaving her alone.
• She threatens to "bury" her if she doesn't leave town, but Alison gets a text from "A" before she's even left the room.
• This squashes her theory that Jenna is "A."
• Spooked by this new development, Alison buys a storage locker to keep the flash drive safe and to protect all her future extortion plans.

Alison arrives home to a warm welcome from all the girls. Everyone comments on that tan she's rocking, and can't believe she got it while visiting her sick granny.

• Spencer, however, notices the Hilton Head tag on her luggage and becomes suspicious.
• Ali dismisses Spencer, and tells the liars to "wait for it . . . wait for it," probably referring to all the juicy details of her trip.
• Ali goes upstairs to put on the new yellow blouse her mother bought for her, and finds a threat scrawled in Jungle Red on the mirror.
• The message from "A" reads, "I'm everywhere. And soon, you'll be nowhere."

Alison visits Emily to give her a "special present."

• She gives Emily the snow globe with the key to the storage locker, but doesn't tell her how important it is.
• Alison works her friend's feelings for her to ensure the key stays hidden.
• Alison warns Emily to take good care of it, because "it's a lot more valuable than it looks."
• Alison heads home, and walks in to find her mother on an urgent phone call (probably about Bethany's escape).
• Mrs. D distractedly warns Alison to stay away from Spencer and her family because she "knows things." She doesn't want Ali around them.
• Alison completely ignores her mother, invoking that keen sense of antiauthority she has, and when her mother's back is turned she steals her sleeping pills.

• Alison and the liars spend the night at Spencer's family's barn.
• Allison arrives late, scaring the bejesus out of them — because she enjoys their fear.
• She drugs the other girls (maybe to see if any of them are "A") and leaves when they all pass out.
• Little does Alison know, however, Spencer woke up early and realized she was gone.

Alison hops from meeting to meeting, threatening, blackmailing, and extorting her way through Rosewood's residents. Her first stop is Toby.

• Toby claims he wants to thank Alison for not releasing the incriminating video of him and Jenna.
• He insists she was very much alive when they parted ways.
• He loans her his sweater because she gets cold.
• She slips off to her next rendezvous with a strange man in a car, still wearing Toby's sweater.

The strange man turns out to be Ezra, and he is upset with her about her lies about her age.

• She tries to reassure him that everything is OK, since they never slept together.
• Ezra admits to Ali that he really liked her (eye roll).
• He breaks it off with her, telling her he doesn't want to see her anymore.

Alison meets Ian at the Kissing Rock.

• They banter back and forth, and Alison is obviously still smarting from what happened at Hilton Head.
• This doesn't stop them from making out a little, and the vibe turns playful when she pretends to die in front of the camera.
• This little bit of video causes a lot of confusion for the liars. But when the extended version comes out, it's obvious that Ian didn't kill Alison at that time.
• What it does prove is that Alison and Ian have a very toxic, dysfunctional relationship — going from threats to kisses to morbid pranks.

Shortly after Ian leaves Ali at the Kissing Rock, the NAT Club convenes in her room to search for the stolen videos (there's some pretty damaging stuff on them).

• Ian records their meeting for insurance, making sure if he goes down, they all go down.
• Melissa arrives shortly thereafter, breathy and wild-eyed as usual.
• Tempers flare, and it looks like the NAT Club is starting to come apart at the seams.
• Jenna and Garrett get the heck out of there.

Before they can get very far, Jenna and Garrett run into Alison in her backyard and they argue.

• An anemic slap fight breaks out between Ali and Jenna.
• Jenna stumbles and Garrett gets between the two girls.
• He pretends to beat Alison with a hockey stick he took from Jenna, because isn't that the next logical move?
• Garrett lets Jenna think he's beaten Alison to death, saying vaguely, "I took care of it."

Spencer follows Alison into her house and they continue an ongoing argument about Melissa and Ian.

• Alison demands Spencer tell Melissa about their affair or she will. Spencer relents.
• It gets pretty heated, and it seems Alison is mildly affected by Spencer's feelings. She tries to leave.
• Spencer follows her when she leaves, saying, "this isn't over."
• Spencer picks up a shovel to make her point, and lunges at Alison. She trips and falls, spilling her ADD meds.
• Alison grabs the bottle, realizing Spencer is on speed.
• Spencer begs her not to tell anyone, and Alison agrees, but makes her promise not to take the pills anymore.
• They reach a strange reconciliation, considering one of them just tried to kill the other, and part ways.

While Spencer returns to the barn, Alison runs into none other than Mr. Montgomery.

• Alison tries to blackmail Byron with what she knows (probably about the affair).
• She demands money for her silence.
• Byron naïvely tries to appeal to her nicer instincts.
• She responds, "Clearly, you don't know me that well."
• He goes to leave without giving into her extortion, but as he turns to leave, they both notice Melissa on the porch, hunched over her cell phone.

CeCe tracks Alison down in a last ditch effort to convince her to turn over those videos.

• Alison seems to agree and leaves to get the videos, but never returns.
• At some point, Melissa and CeCe meet up in the street.
• A drunk Jason DiLaurentis sees the two talking, but he thinks it's Alison.
• He passes out in a lawn chair shortly thereafter. This makes his account a little less reliable, especially since he thought it was Alison at first.

Alison walks home, alone, in the middle of the night, because Rosewood is a supersafe place. She is feeling very self-satisfied, thinking she got the upper hand over "A."

• As she nears her house, she sees her mother in the window.
• Her mother's look turns to shock as she clamps her hand over own mouth.
• Someone brains Alison from behind with a rock, and she crumples to the ground.
• Her mother thinks she's dead, so naturally she decides to bury her under the gazebo.
• Alison can't protest because she's paralyzed, but she can hear her mother screaming, "What have you done?"

The next thing Alison knows, dirt is being shoveled on her as she lies in a shallow grave.

Carla Grunwald has an ominous premonition about Alison.

• She heads straight to Alison's backyard, right in time to pull her from her grave.
• Carla loads the disoriented Alison into the car, but when she stops for help, Ali slips out and starts walking.
• No one thinks to ask why Carla didn't just head straight to the hospital.

Alison's backyard is the Rosewood hotspot on this particular evening and draws all sorts of folks.

• The escaped and dazed Bethany wanders into the yard, which is unfortunate for her for a lot of reasons.
• Melissa mistakes her for Alison and hits her with a shovel.
• Once again, a pretty blond girl gets buried alive in the DiLaurentis yard.

As luck would have it (probably not luck, since this is PLL) Mona happens upon the bedraggled Alison.

• She loads Alison into her car and takes her to the Lost Woods Resort.
• Mona convinces her to fake her own death.
• Mona helps Alison get all the necessary items for her full transition into Vivian.
• The two part ways. Alison drives away, leaving Mona standing in the lot with a cryptic smile on her face.
• Mona is still so nice and meek, so in exchange, Alison instructs her on how not to be a loser.

Alison didn't know she was giving advice to her possible stalker and attempted murderer. After she watches Alison drive away, Mona retreats to her "A" lair. Here she plots her own transition into the horrible version of herself we know and love.