Chris walked up the road until he reached the house Tom lived in. His friend had told him everything about his family quarrels, so he felt uncomfortable calling it "Tom's place". It never truly had been his home, and Chris knew that. Guilt, for what had happened during the gathering started nagging on the young man, for he felt like he had just destroyed the last bit of trust, that had still been in Tom. Chris felt how his heart started racing at the thought of his friend, and he cursed himself for it. We should never have gone over the borders of mere friendship, he thought in his frustration, though he knew there had absolutely been no other way to deal with their emotions. No matter how hard they tried. Trying had caused Tom to get his first burn mark, but things were different back then. The last time, Tom had provoked it with all he had. He knew and expected what was to come. But now...
Chris couldn't help but to blame at least part of the fault on himself. He felt like he had pushed Tom too far in many different ways. And still, the rules were clear. If they were to survive, they had to stick together, be a pack of wolves, a herd of buffaloes, who protected and cared for each other, and, most importantly, did not have any secrets.

Tessa heard a knock on her door. She knew that her younger son, Lenny, had retreated to bed one hour ago, otherwise she would have sent him to open the door. Just for the chance that it might be Thomas returning. She didn't want a fight with her older son, or, more precisely, wanted to leave the fighting to her husband, Robert. She loved Tom, but there was no way of denying that he was the son of a German soldier. Even though she had loved the man dearly, it put horrendous disgrace to her and her son. Not that disgrace would matter after the war they just had behind them, but nevertheless, she was a very proud woman, who cared more about her reputation than anything else.
Still, and no matter how hard she tried to twist it, she had to open the door for whoever person stood out there. So she got up from the elegant chair she sat on and walked across the room, to twist the doorknob in a swift motion.
"Hello?", she asked, not very polite, when she spotted the young, blonde man on the threshold.

"Hello ma'am. My name is Chris. Your son and I often played together when we were younger." Still do, but differently, his mind threw in, and he had the urge to slap himself. "Anyway, I... I wanted to ask wether he was at home. He seemed upset earlier this day and I just wanted to make sure that he was safe."
"Sorry to disappoint you, boy, but he didn't show up this evening", Tom's mother replied in a tone that was so cold, that Chris started to doubt the relation to his totally emotional friend.
"Oh... Okay. Do you know where he is?", Chris asked hopefully.
Just when Tessa was about to shake her head, a car pulled into the driveway.