A castle? Now that would be ridiculous. Tom walked back to be able to look at whatever she thought was a castle.

To be fair, it wasn’t exactly a castle. There were the ruins of what most likely had indeed been a castle. As in fantasy film or medieval European castle…

And there it was, the proof right in front of him that they were nowhere near home anymore. Were they still even in the country? And if not… how?

Tom looked at the trees again and, now that he was willing to stop hiding from the truth, he could see what Edwin was talking about. They looked like trees, but… they looked like a mix of trees he knew. As if someone tried to replicate a tree from memory without being particularly versed in the subject. It looked real enough but the details were off. Tom just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Let’s go there,” John suggested.

"It’s not the time to go sightseeing,” Edwin pointed out.

“No. But best-case scenario, this is some sort of tourist attraction and we find people. Worst-case scenario, it used to be a place people lived. There will be a road to somewhere.”

That was actually a decent point and they started walking again, to another goal this time.

The castle didn’t look that far when they decided to get there but it took them almost three hours. When they got there, the sky was a dusty dark blue and Tom was using all his willpower not to wonder what would happen if the one lead they had didn’t take them to safety.

But his hope wavered if not shattered when he discovered the building up-close. They could see that those were ruins from afar, that it would therefore not be inhabited, but this was left alone ages ago. It was definitely not a museum and the road that had once led to the main gate was now dense vegetation blending seamlessly into the forest.

They entered the yard through a hole in the wall. The building looked as if it could collapse at any moment.

Although the entire experience had been stressful, they had all managed very well to keep their emotions under control. Of course, it had meant that their walk had been silent and moody, none of them willing to share their fears and anxieties, but suddenly, it was different. Because not only were they not going to get home any time soon, they were also not going to get any help before nightfall.

Tom turned to Edwin and saw his own fear reflected in his friend’s eyes. What now? What could they possibly do?

Tom, who had tried so hard all day not to think about his father, started to worry. Not particularly about himself, but about his dad: did he know his son had disappeared? Was he looking for him? Was he feeling lonely? Was he sad? Did he cope alright, alone in their house? Tom knew that when he had to be there alone because his dad was working, the house felt big, dark, and cold. He needed his father for the house to feel like a home. A warm, light, cozy home. Was that feeling mutual?

Tom had to put his own problems aside though when Maya started crying. She wouldn’t be the only one to cry that night, just the first one. Tom was an expert at putting his loneliness and worries aside to offer the world a happy and supportive persona. That was why he was so popular, he supposed, but that was also how he coped with his own loneliness, sometimes. Just as focusing on Maya now was allowing him to put aside his panic.

He kneeled in front of her and gently rubbed her arm. “Hey, Maya, it’s okay. It’s just a little setback. We’re going to find help super soon.”

She sobbed back that she wanted to go home and no one commented but, really, they all wanted to get home. Although Tom would have settled for finding someone at this stage. Or even just find out where they were.

“I know you do,” Tom carried on, thinking that he had to give her some hope even if it was with lies. “And we’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, we need to be strong and be there for each other. So I need you to be super brave. Can you do that for me?”

She sniffed, nodded, and wiped her eyes, her bottom lip still trembling. Tom couldn’t possibly have known that yet, but she would prove to be so incredibly brave through everything they would have to go through.

“What are we going to do now?” Jamie asked, staring at Tom with eyes almost too big for his face, visibly trying to stay strong too. That’s when Tom realized that everyone was looking at him. When he took the lead to comfort Maya, he might have sent the signal that he was taking charge, period.

The issue is that he had no idea what they were supposed to do, and that even if he did, he wouldn’t want that role anyway. Other than the overwhelming responsibility that would come with having to make decisions in this almost impossible situation, taking on that role would also mean having to take care of the youngest ones and making sure that the group stays united when he already knew that they would fall apart at some point.

John was an annoying idiot that, from what Tom knew, was a bit of a bully and a stoner – not even the fun kind. Lizzy was a basic princess. Claire was… okay, he didn’t know Claire, but he wasn’t ready to take responsibility for the survival of a stranger. Maya end Jamie would soon need more than the others would be able to give, especially as they would have to find a way to survive and they could end up becoming a deadweight more than anything and create even more tensions… No, the only person that Tom was happy to trust here was Edwin and, even then he wasn’t ready to take responsibility for leading him anywhere.

But everyone was looking at him and it felt like the next thing he would say was going to set their dynamics in motion. That alone felt like too much.