FIVE KANSAS

Wes woke up laying down in a church pew with the worst headache of his life. It didn't help that someone was currently flicking his temple. He looked up and saw his sister there with a bored expression on his face. Her face formed a pursed smile as she realized he was awake.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Winona spoke sarcastically as she grabbed his wrist and dropped two tablets of iburpofen into his hand and handed him a water bottle, "Come on, Cassandra has something she wants to say."

The boy groaned as he forced himself to sit up, placing the pills in is mouth and taking a sip of much-needed water. Before he knew he chugged the rest of the water and tossed it aside as he stood up, following Winona outside. There were a few scattered students, most, if not all of them hungover. Wes didn't see Sahar or Daniel anywhere, but he sat down next to Harry and Luke on the steps of the church. Winona went and stood next to Allie Pressman who had Sam next to her. On the other side of him was Will.

"Is this everyone that's awake?" Cassandra asked as she leaned against a brick pillar, "Great. I'll get a car to Greenwich and get help."

"Why you?" Harry asked, his voice somewhere between a groan and croak as he held his head in his hands. The sound of someone speaking so close to him sent a shock of pain through Wes's head. He sighed and let his head rest between his knees. Winona placed a gentle hand on his back.

Cassandra shrugged, "Someone has to find out where everyone went. We can't all go."

"I'll do it," Harry spoke again.

"You're sober?" the girl challenged.

Harry chuckled darkly, "Fuck you, Cassandra."

"Hey, chill," Wes mumbled next to him, "She's got a point."

"Whatever," the boy rolled his eyes as he nudged the half-asleep boy next to him, "Luke, you want to see if we can get some of the guys to come with? Wes, you in?"

Wes shrugged, "If I can sleep in the backseat. Luke?"

"Yeah," the boy groaned, "Yeah, let's go."

Luke stood first and held out his hand to help Harry who stumbled slightly. Next, Luke reached out and helped Wes to his feet. Luke turned to Wes as he sleepily clapped a hand on his shoulder. Winona laughed as both boys almost fell back over.

"You know this means you're probably going to have to ride with Grizz, right?" Luke asked and Wes realized he hadn't considered that. Still, a nap while the breeze from riding in Harry's convertible ran through his hair sounded too good to pass up. Besides, he was too hungover to start a fight with anyone.

Wes just shrugged, "Yeah, yeah, it'll be fine."

Sure enough, he ended up squeezed in the middle seat between Grizz and Clark, but he was in and out of consciousness so it wasn't that much of a problem. He didn't feel like fighting today, he had enough of that with Amaya last night and that was enough for him.

"Okay, so as a rule, the more bizarre a thing seems," Grizz was speaking although Wes had no idea where he was going with it, "the less mysterious it is. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?"

Clark sighed, leaning to the people in front, "You know this shit? Hey, Wes --" he nudged the blond's shoulder, "You know this shit?"

Wes shrugged, "A little bit, I think I read a Doyle book like... once in middle school."

The boy who had spoken initially looked around at everyone with disappointed expressions, "What about Sherlock Holmes? The point is, there's an explanation for everything."

"What does that have to do with the Arthur Conan Doyle dude?" Clark asked and if Wes wasn't so hungover he probably would have told him to shut the fuck up.

Groaning, Wes opened his eyes and sat up straighter, saying, "Arthur Conan Doyle is the one who originated that concept, more or less. Anything bizarre can be explained, you just have to look for the right signs. Come on, man, I know you've at least seen the version with Robert Downey Jr."

"Oh! That guy!" Clark exclaimed seeming satisfied enough, "Why didn't you just say that?"

Out of habit, Wes turned and shared a pointed look with Grizz before realizing what he had done. As soon as he had turned, he looked away and avoided eye contact with Grizz. The conversation ceased as Harry slowed to a stop. Looking out at the road, it seemed the woods had reclaimed the road -- the only thing left being the sign saying that they were leaving New Ham.

"What the fuck is going on?" Luke asked as the car turned off and Harry stepped out, observing the blockage carefully.

"Well, that wasn't there two days ago," Wes muttered, running a nervous hand through his blond hair.

"Tress don't grow that fast," was Grizz's response as Harry turned and got back in the car. He turned them around as quickly as he could without throwing them out of the car and they sped back through town to the opposite exit. There was a heavy feeling in Wes's chest, similar to the first time they realized that lights were on but nobody was home.

As they approached the bridge that led to the only other way out of town, the car screeched to a stop in the middle of the road. This time when the car stopped they all hopped out and Wes had suddenly forgotten how hungover he was when he saw what was in front of them. Just as it had at the other entrance, trees had overtaken the town line as if the road had never been there in the first place.

"Hey, look at this," Grizz motioned for Wes to come over to where he was standing, looking over at the railroad. Walking over there, Wes saw what had captured their attention. The forest had grown over the railroad tracks.

"What the fuck?" Wes murmured, the familiar wavering of nerves in his voice. He turned to Grizz, "Is this bizarre enough to the point where it stops bein mysterious?"

Grizz shook his head, "Yeah, I have no fucking idea how to explain this one."

The five boys stood on the bridge, not finding a single way out. Not so much as a footpath broke through the thick woods that surrounded them. Without a second thought, Wes pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, noticing the action.

Wes held the phone to his ear as he explained, "Calling Cassandra. We need to tell people about this. This is fucking weird. Cassandra, hey, gather up as many people as you can, get to the bridge over the railroad. Like, now. Okay, okay, see you."

He put his phone back in his pocket as he ran a hand through his hair, eyeing their surroundings. Turning to Grizz he sighed, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

"Even worse," Grizz nodded, "I think we're stuck in Kansas."

yes this chapter is short but i gave you guys wes and grizz interacting without any animosity so you better appreciate it <3