There, just on the line of what they could see, the moon was shining, bigger and bluer than it usually is and, slightly to its right, shone a massively larger one, pale red.

Two moons. There were two moons in the sky.

That didn’t just rule out Europe, that ruled out Earth. That ruled out everything they knew. Apart madness, maybe. Were they going crazy?

Was Tom going crazy? The others might not even have been there at this stage. Because none of it was possible, right?

“It’s impossible,” Edwin whispered, mirroring Tom’s thoughts.

But, at almost the same time, preventing Tom from finally succumbing to panic, Claire murmured: “It’s beautiful!” That’s when Tom truly looked.

It really was beautiful. Before he even knew it, all seven teenagers had stood up and out of their little shelter to properly look at the sky.

No other moon was in sight, but the two they could see were mesmerizing, silver blue and faded red, resting in front of a sky full of stars they could see better than ever before and Tom didn’t know if it was the lack of light pollution or if it was simply because it was a different sky.

The sky wasn’t just stars, moons, and a couple of clouds, though, there were some colors to be seen, like nebulas or whatever that could be. Astronomy club had been fun, but the little time Tom spent there was mostly about the solar system. And nowhere in it would the sky look like that.

The meaning behind it was still terrifying but the vision was, indeed, beautiful. Probably not enough to call it ‘worth it’ but definitely enough to distract them from their terrible new reality.

Tom wouldn’t be able to say how long they stared at the moons, but John was the first to break away from them – out of boredom or tiredness – to get to sleep. Jamie followed soon enough, looking exhausted but clearly not wanting to be the first one to take that step.

Then Maya told Claire that she was tired in a barely veiled attempt to get the older girl to go with her, probably holding on to what felt the most familiar in this unfamiliar place, and Tom was hit by the realization that if he didn’t know so well the people here, not even Edwin with whom he was friendly more than friends even if they did hang out a few times, Claire and Maya were literally lost in an unknown land with strangers.

So he could definitely understand the need to hold on to each other. To be honest, and even if it hadn’t manifested yet, Tom knew he was holding on to Edwin. He was the person he knew the best and, out of the people he did know, he was the only one he would even remotely trust.

“Are you heartbroken?” Lizzy asked Tom.

“About what?” he queried, puzzled.

“Two kids in the group and neither of them likes you better. Jamie is trying to become John’s shadow and Maya didn’t pick you as her substitution parent. Don’t you usually thrive on being Mister Popular?”

Coming from her, that was rich. “Don’t you?”

“There is a real difference between you and me, though. I like the attention, I don’t care about the intent behind it. Social media is the fakest world, right? It still creates real dopamine. But you actually want people to like you.”

Tom wasn’t entirely sure why she would say that. He didn’t know her that well, but he knew that although calling her a mean girl would be pushing it, she had bitchy tendencies. Perhaps the reason was in her answer: she likes the attention, pretty much any attention, and her barb was a way to avoid going to bed silently and unnoticed.

Tom could have decided to remain silent and let her pathetic attempt fade into the night, but he never liked a bully, even an insignificant one, so he replied: “Let me guess. That didn’t work on you?”

She glared at him and walked away before answering, leaving Tom there, confused as to what just happened.

“Don’t listen to her,” Edwin said softly, still looking at the moon. “It’s been a long day for everyone.”

Tom nodded. “And tomorrow might be longer still.”

“I still have this crazy wish that we will all wake up in our beds. I’ll even settle for a hospital bed.”

“That wouldn’t be crazier than whatever happened today. Like, honestly… what even happened today?”

Tom knew it was an unfair question: if there was an answer, Edwin clearly wouldn’t have it.

He therefore wasn’t offended when Edwin simply changed the subject: “Lizzy will be difficult.”

For some reason he wouldn’t be able to explain even today, especially as he completely agreed with that statement, Tom’s mouth decided to defend her: “Look, I know that she can be a lot but she’s been okay so far.” That wasn’t totally untrue either: one snarky comment at the end of an impossible day doesn’t make you a bad person. Nor a difficult one.

“No, I meant… if we have to feed ourselves, how are we going to feed her? I don’t want to take on the responsibility of potentially killing her every time I bring some food.”

“I don’t want the responsibility to have to bring any food,” Tom replied. “I don’t know how what we can eat in the woods.”

“We might have to hunt. I haven’t seen any animals so far but we’ve heard birds.”

“I don’t know how to hunt,” confessed Tom.

“Me neither. But Jamie might.”

“He’s fourteen. And even if he had been hunting, I’m pretty sure that would have been with guns, not… traps or whatever…”

“John?”

“The most dangerous thing we could find in his pockets would be recreational.”

“Good point.”

Edwin then looked at Tom and asked the one question Tom had worked really hard to keep his mind off all day. “What do you think is happening at home?”

“I don’t know. I… I suppose the police are involved now. DO they even do AMBER alerts for teenagers?”

“No idea,” Edwin admitted. “I hope my family isn’t too worried.”

Tom tried to sound convincing when he delivered a line he didn’t believe in himself: “For all we know, time stopped there and a day for us is a second for them. Or we’re all in a coma and our families are worried but at least doctors are working on bringing us back. Or it’s a dream.”

“If this is a dream, I’m definitely telling you about it tomorrow!”

“Same.”

“Come one. Let’s go to bed.”

Bed… Tom didn’t want that. Not that he wasn’t tired – he was exhausted enough that the floor would feel like the most expensive of mattresses. The problem was actually that he wasn’t sure he was tired enough to fall asleep right away and he would have to face the silence and his demons…