“Dr. Stanford!” a voice calls as the doctor enters the building, already engulfing her third coffee of the morning. If one of her patients was ingurgitating this much caffeine, she would have a stern conversation with them.

She turns around to see who was calling her name and it is the new receptionist. What is her name, again? Mary? Emily? Millie?

“This has been brought in for you,” says the nameless receptionist, handing her an A4 brown envelope. “Apparently, it was urgent.”

“Thank you!”

Dr. Stanford takes the package and opens it with her free hand. When she sees what it contains, her interest is piqued and she walks faster to her office. The transcript of what the kids said when the police arrived.

She sits at her desk, takes another sip of coffee, and flicks through it until she finds the part that interests her.

OFFICER: So where have you all been?

MAYA: It depends when, really. We moved a lot.

OFFICER: Really? What do you mean by ‘moved a lot’?

MAYA: First we were lost, so we had to find people, then we found people but we didn’t really know them, then we needed to get the island back on the land, and then we went back, but we had to move again when the war started… See? We moved a lot. But I learned how to ride a horse?

OFFICER: Wow! That’s great. My colleague said that you mentioned the war before my team arrived. Can you tell me a little more about that?

MAYA: It’s almost finished, I think. We’re probably going to win.

OFFICER: ‘We?’ You mean all seven of you?

MAYA: No. We’re not soldiers! Well… Tom kind of is, but not really.

OFFICER: You took part in a war, Tom?

THOMAS: It’s Thomas. And nope. Never enlisted, you can check. Maya, your story doesn’t make sense, maybe you should think about it before sharing it.

MAYA: Okay, but maybe we could just tell them where the others are.

EDWIN: (whispered) Remember what happened in Rio.

After that, pages and pages of the trio being prompted by various members of staff and giving nothing back.

It is a little frustrating that nothing has been transcripted as to what any of them said before that first organized officer arrived, but this is better than nothing, she supposes. At the very least, she now knows the mysterious sentence that Edwin had whispered in Maya’s ear, muting her.

‘Remember what happened in Rio’. That actually brings more questions than answers.

Thomas had spoken too, in that exchange. Told her to think about her story. Is that what he had been doing between coming back and meeting Dr. Stanford? Planning his story? What for? To hide the truth or to include clues? And if the latter, why not simply tell the facts as they happened?

What sort of trauma is sealing their lips.

Alright. She won’t figure out more by sitting in her office.

She makes her way to Thomas’ room.

Once more, he is sitting on the windowsill, looking outside. He doesn’t even turn to look at her when she comes in and barely replies to her greeting.

“You know, you are allowed to go outside if you want. Just in the park, obviously, but some fresh air might do you good. We can take our session there if you want.”

“I don’t mind being outside. I just like watching.”

“Why?”

“It’s safer.”

“Are you saying you’re keeping watch?”

“No. That would be stupid. No one is going to attack a mental hospital.”

“We don’t call it that.”

“Right. Terminology is so important. We might offend someone.”

“Thomas, you don’t seem in a good mood. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. It’s just still hard to sleep.”

“I checked with Maya. She said that she is struggling to fall asleep but it doesn’t seem as bad as you.”

“Good. Thank you for checking.”

“You’re welcome. Does that get me an answer?”

“It depends on the question.”

Dr. Stanford decided to pick wisely. Asking where the other children were would not get her an answer, he probably wouldn’t open about the soldier comment as he never mentioned it before, but there is something he might answer.

“I assume you have never been to Brazil.”

“Brazil?” he repeats, finally focusing on her, looking extremely confused. “No. I’ve never been, why?”

“What did Edwin mean when he told Maya to remember what happened in Rio?”

It takes a couple of seconds for Thomas to understand what she meant but she can spot the lightbulb moment on his face. “It’s not what he said.”

“According to the transcript—”

“I promise you we did not go to Brazil. Nor to any place called Rio.”

“What did he mean, then?”

“That’s something that comes later in the story.”

“Alright. Shall we start again, then?”

Thomas leaves the windowsill to sit in front of her. When he speaks, though, it is not to pick things where he left them off. “Have you spoken to my father?”

“No. But my boss did. He really wants to see you. It’s something we could set up for you. If you’re ready.”

“I need to see Edwin and Maya first.”

“I am talking to their doctors but it is something we would like to arrange.”

“We have different doctors?”

“We want to aboid biais. You need to understand that four teenagers are still missing. This is too important.”

Tom nods and then she tries to push her luck. “Four, right?”

“What?”

“The number of teenagers we might find… that’s still four, right?”

“You won’t find any of them. They might come back, but you won’t find them. Seriously, if someone is out there looking for them, it’s a waste of resources.”

“But let’s say everyone came back. Would there be seven of you?”

Tom doesn’t reply anything so she cannot be sure, but Dr. Stanford is convinced that his face is saying ‘no’.

“Alright. I suppose that I will know everything I need to by the end of your story, won’t I?”

“Probably.”

“Then shall we carry on? What happened after that terrible first day and night?”

“They weren’t terrible. Scary, confusing, complicated… all those adjectives would work, but in the light of what would arise later… ‘terrible’ really isn’t the most appropriate term.”

This boy really enjoys build-ups, doesn’t he? He’d better have a pretty good pay-off for all his mysteries…

But Thomas doesn’t start talking, simply staring at her as if he is waiting for something. Then she understands what he wants, takes her recorder out of her pocket, puts it on the little table by the bed, and switches it on.

As soon as she leans back in her chair, he starts talking again: “The good thing about their whole situation was that they had to survive. There was so much to do that they didn’t have time to sit down, think, and panic. They ate breakfast that morning – the rest of the cookies and water, and then they had to decide what would come next. Obviously, they couldn’t agree…”