Dinner. That was a very valid point and only then did Tom realize how starving he was. He didn’t however know how to find food in the woods. He did know that the wrong food could make you sick or even kill you. Maybe it was wiser to skip a meal tonight and hope to get some help the next day. Wherever they were… they would eventually find some help, right?

A road, a town, a random person hiking… something.

Tom decided not to share any of his thoughts: first, he didn’t want to add any unnecessary negativity into an already gloomy situation, and second, he didn’t want to look like he was taking charge in any way.

He didn’t want any of the pressure of having to take responsibility for anything moving forward.

But they couldn’t just sit there expecting to be rescued either and there was very little chance that they would work together as equals, either. So what then? Just wait and see who would rise as a natural leader? Edwin would be alright but what if it ended up being John or Lizzy?

And was this the key moment that would set their roles in stone?

To everyone’s surprise, probably, Maya’s voice said, shy but clear: “I have food.”

She opened her backpack and got out three packs of cookies and two bottles of water. Water. More than food, that was what Tom’s body was craving and it was interesting to notice how, maybe because of the situation they were in, his body only made its needs clear when someone was pointing them out or offering a solution.

This wouldn’t be a feast and they would definitely have to share, maybe ration, but they would be able to avoid going to bed – or floor – on empty stomachs.

No one asked questions about the food or why she only brought it up now, too grateful for an easy solution to a problem they didn’t want to have to face.

They sat down by the fire, passing the first bottle of water from one to the next, emptying it between them but not needing to open the second one. Something they wouldn’t have to worry about until tomorrow. Then again, Tom assumed that water would be easier to come by than food. At least in sufficient proportions.

But as they passed the cookies around, Lizzy stopped to read the packaging, and that annoyed Tom somewhat. He never better understood the saying ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ better than then.

Lizzy passed the cookies to Edwin without taking a single one.

“You will survive carbs for one night,” John teased her and Tom had to agree that this was hardly the best of times for a diet.

“I can’t eat that,” she replied.

“I promise you, we’ll walk it off tomorrow,” Tom replied. Seriously, how vain could that girl be?

“I have celiac disease. I can’t eat gluten.”

Okay. First, that definitely made Tom a jerk, and second, that would make things more difficult moving forward. Or maybe not. Was there even gluten in whatever food they would find in the woods? But what about tonight, then?

“Don’t look at me like that, I had a good lunch, I’ll survive one evening without food.”

“And tomorrow?” Edwin asked.

She flipped her hair back, in a very annoying movement that you only see cheerleaders do on bad TV, and replied, full of a wisdom Tom would have never assumed would come from her, she replied: “What is the point in worrying about tomorrow now? It’s getting dark and I’m not going back in the woods to find two blackberries and some other random stuff that might not be edible. Plus, more cookies for you guys so this is hardly an issue.”

Jamie looked down at his cookie and said in a shaky voice: “I wish I were at home. I would eat whatever my parents would have prepared for dinner.”

“I wouldn’t,” John countered. “Honestly, a box of cookies is better than my stepmom’s cooking.” Oddly, Tom was pretty sure that John was trying to lift the younger boy’s mood by changing the subject ever so slightly before everyone started talking about how much they would rather be at home and they all started feeling lost, scared, and depressed. On the other hand, Tom knew that the night would bring those feelings anyway – and he would be proven right – and it might have been a better idea to exorcise them together.

Tom vaguely heard Claire ask John if he ever offered to cook since he was so unhappy with the service provided, and he was not interested in taking part in this trite subject. There was something else that was much more important. “Where do you think we are?” he asked.

The silence felt heavy when it settled but although Tom understood the necessity of staying away from painful topics such as ‘Will I ever see my family again?’, he also didn’t see the point in refusing to discuss the situation they were in. He desperately needed to go to sleep feeling like the next day would have a purpose.

“In the woods,” John replied blankly and if Tom had paid attention, he would have seen that the other boy was not just trying to be sassy, he was deflecting. If Tom hadn’t been so self-absorbed, maybe he would have dropped it and not taken John down a path he wasn’t ready for.

But Tom didn’t see any of that and, frankly, at this stage, he might have dismissed the other boy’s anxiety anyway. So he continued: “Yeah, thanks genius, I think we all got that. But we’re clearly nowhere near home. We would know if there were some castle ruins around town and… I don’t know Edwin said that the trees are a little weird, so… what are we thinking? Europe?”

“Europe?” Claire repeated. “Why would we be in Europe?”

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. “Different flora but not massively so than what we’re used to, this kind of old architecture… I thought Scotland or something.”

“Mmh. Maybe,” she admitted. “I don’t know, I’ve never been to Scotland, but how would have we ended up in Scotland?”

“How would we have ended up anywhere?” Jamie rightfully asked. Figuring out where they were was only half of the issue. How indeed, did they end up in these woods? Tom knew that his mind kept bringing up Scotland because he was trying to rationalize an impossible situation and that he was entirely relying on clichés and a couple of pictures he saw online. But it was his way of coping.

“Isn’t it a bit warm for Scotland?” Maya asked.

The fire was definitely keeping them warm right now, but they were drawn to it for its light more than its heat now that it was getting dark. Without it, the air would be fresh, sure, but not too cold that they would truly suffer from it.

Tom had however no idea what the weather was supposed to be like that time of year in Scotland. “Are you interested in geography?” he asked Maya.

“A little. But also we have family in Glasgow.”

“Nice. So… does it look anything like here?”

Tom wasn’t stupid enough to think that they were anywhere near Glasgow even if he only knew the place by name, but if that distracted her and kept the tears away, then Tom would linger on this as much as he could.

“Not really,” she pondered. “But we always said in the city. We went to the highlands once but that didn’t look like this.”

“This isn’t Scotland,” John replied. “We’re not even in Europe.”

“And you can tell for sure because you’re such an expert?” Lizzy asked. “When’s the last time you were more than twenty miles from your house?”

“I don’t hear your knowledge of spoiled little princess coming in handy. Every time you traveled, ever went out of your all-inclusive hotels? Anyway, I don’t know where we are, but I don’t have to be a genius to know where we are not. All I have to do is look up.”

The rest of the group looked up in unison and… they were definitely not in Scotland…