“Lizzy…” Tom tried after a few minutes. “If I had realized… I would have done something too.”

“You’re so busy trying to be friends with everyone, and yet you never see people for what they really are, do you?”

“Is that why you dislike me that much? It would be fair.”

“Oh, my God, Tom, seriously, get over yourself. Some people just don’t like you, that happens. I didn’t like you before and, true, I definitely didn’t like you any more after, but that was not the reason.”

“Then what have I ever done to you?” Tom insisted, definitely not focusing on the most important part of this conversation. Perhaps because she had avoided the worst, so it was in fact a non-event, perhaps simply because he was that proud.

“Nothing. I just find you irritating.”

Before Tom could reply, John pointed out: “Why would you even take a drink from that creep in the first place?”

Lizzy lazily reported her attention to him. “What?”

“Logan Kerr. He’s a douchebag and I’m pretty sure he had done something pretty similar to Anna Taylor.”

Lizzy sat up straighter and, for the first time and probably the last, Tom did see a whole other kind of ‘Princess’ in her. “And you stopped it happening, I presume?”

“I wasn’t there. I’ve just heard stuff.”

“Stuff that you reported?”

“Again: I wasn’t there.”

“So? In doubt, wouldn’t have it at least required someone to double-check?”

“You know what? Fine. I changed my mind: if we go back to Earth, the first thing I will do will be to tell someone that a guy I don’t really know might or might not have taken advantage of a girl I don’t really know either at an event I did not attend. Happy now?”

“You’re a pig,” Lizzy replied, looking disgusted. “I’m going to bed.”

After a long pause, Claire said: “Well… I don’t know any of these people, but… doesn’t Lizzy have a point here?”

No one replied. What for? They all knew that she did.

Tom had trouble sleeping that night, but he would never admit out loud that the reason was more that someone disliked him for no apparent reason than because he nearly let something horrendous happen. Although the latter did make him sick to his stomach, it was in the past and he could not go back. All he could do was feel terrible about it, and he would do that.

But the former… that he could do something about. Not with Lizzy, there wasn’t much to salvage there, probably, but in the future.

He hated it, but she had a point when she said that he was desperate for people to like him and he did not like the fact that someone could dislike him for no reason. Because how can you prevent that? How could he make sure that people wouldn’t just leave him behind again if even when he tried his best to be kind to everyone, people still would think so little of him and leave him behind?

But Tom entirely understood that this was a selfish, silly thought and that he was being ridiculous. So when the sun began to rise, he decided to do the same.

He quickly checked on Jamie, who was sleeping but whose forehead looked just a little too sweaty. Tom decided not to worry too much yet and to wait until the boy was up and could explain how he was feeling.

He went to sit on the destroyed wall and looked at the light change through the trees. That’s when he saw it: in one of the trees, on a branch, was a squirrel. Or… something resembling a squirrel, he couldn’t tell from that far.

They had heard birds, they had seen and eaten fish, but this was the first time he saw another kind of creature in the forest, and it felt somewhat magical. Especially as he was relieved that his first encounter was a cure rodent and not some sort of wolf or bear. Plus, it was a mammal. Tom did not know why that seemed important to him, but it did. Wait… he was only ninety percent sure that squirrels were mammals, actually… he should ask Edwin.

The potential squirrel suddenly disappeared, going back to his life, and Tom decided to wake the others to let them know.

In any other circumstances, he wouldn’t have told anyone about seeing a tiny animal, but right now, in this world, any new piece of information deserved – needed – to be shared.

As he walked back in, however—

“Thomas, I am very sorry, but I need to stop you there for a moment,” Dr. Stanford states.

“Want me to skip to the good parts?” the boy asks. “That would be cheating. Plus the next part is actually quite good.”

“No, I understood the rules of your storytelling pretty accurately, I believe. I have questions, however, before we move on to something else.”

“I shall answer all those which will not spoil later events,” he replies with a smile that she finds annoying, but she does not show any of it.

“There are obviously… bridges… between your hypothetical story and the truth, I believe we can both agree to that.”

“I believe we can.”

“Then this story about a teenage boy putting girls under the influence to potentially engage in non-consensual intercourse… how much of it is rooted in reality?”

“Let me put things this way,” Thomas offers, “if someone, anyone, told me something that would be a cause for concern… I wouldn’t care too much about how I was given the information. I would simply check it.”