SIX THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE

It wasn't long before they were joined by a handful of students at the edge of town. Well, the edge of the universe as it felt. Winona was among them, tagging along in Cassandra's car as well as a few other people. Immediately, she hopped out of the car and walked over to her brother, silently checking if he was okay.

"You and Grizz managed not to kill each other, nice," she commented in a low whisper as not to draw the attention of anyone else. Wes snorted but didn't respond.

Everyone seemed to take their turns looking at the destroyed road before they settled down against the walls of the bridge. There was a steady silence as people seemed to be coming to terms with the fact that there was something going on that was weirder than they all initially thought. Strangely enough, Wes missed his parents. He hoped that wherever they were, they missed him. He scanned the small crowd of people that had joined them and was surprised to still not see Sahar or Daniel.

"You seen the lovebirds?" he whispered the question to Winona who shook her head.

"Not since last night."

Gordie speaking drew their attention as he became the first person to speak up, saying, "I mean, there's only so many options."

"Maybe we're dreaming," Allie spoke next, her voice wistful as if even she knew that was a stupid idea. "It's the best option."

Harry scoffed in response to this, "Maybe this is all some elaborate fucking game. Like someone built an exact replica of our town and just put it in the middle of nowhere and if we just walk... like this way or that way or any way, eventually, we'll get back to the... the real world."

"Maybe we're all dead," Wes mumbled, not realizing he was loud enough for everyone to hear him. When he noticed people looking up at him he cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head, "Ya know, like the... the series finale of Lost."

"Dude, I haven't finished Lost!" Luke's voice was frustrated, "I was like one season away."

Wes shook his head as he exclaimed, "Dude! The series finale came out like ten years ago!"

"Still!"

"We're not dead!" Harry cut them off, "I mean... we didn't crash or anything we would have remembered that, right? Listen, I'm not saying it makes any sense."

"There was a smell," Cassandra spoke up as she came to stand next to Winona, joining the conversation for the first time, "and then it went away and it came back, the buses came for us."

The curly-haired boy scoffed, "You're just gonna work this out, Cassandra? Like some logic problem? I mean, not a flicker of doubt?"

"Just let her speak, dick-wipe," Winona spat, having no patience for the weird feud between Cassandra and Harry. It really annoyed everyone around them how much Harry seemed to hate the eldest Pressman sister.

"Thanks, Winnie," the blonde smiled half-heartedly, "The world doesn't just turn upside down for no reason, Harry. There has to be some sort of logical explanation for this. We're not in some play-within-a-play. Okay? Clever is not the same thing as true. There is a point to everything. There are answers."

A new voice spoke next, belonging to Luke's longtime girlfriend, Helena, "That's right. God doesn't just play games with people for fun."

"All right, look," Luke spoke next, "Grizz and I will get a group together, and we'll go hike out here through the woods, okay? Like a search party."

"I think that's a good idea," the dark-haired girl affirmed.

"Do you think it's safe?" Cassandra asked, looking concerned.

Grizz shrugged, "Yeah, sure."

"Grizz knows what he's doing. And if there's people out there, we gotta find 'em, right? You know, to get help," Luke continued, a look of certainty and confidence on his face.

There was a moment of silence as everyone seemed to consider this. It seemed like the best idea they had since no one had really come up with anything better. Wes shrugged, nothing extraordinary was really coming to mind. He was absolutely lost in this situation, not to mention his brain was still a little fuzzy from the hangover.

After a moment, the silence was broken by Harry, "I'm leaving. I'm hungry."

He began to head to his car, but Allie called after him, "You're leaving?"

"Yeah, I got a house with a refrigerator and lots of food in it," the boy shrugged, "and I'm gonna go eat it."

"You can't just leave," the other Pressman argued.

"Well, what are we supposed to do instead?"

"Not be a selfish dick?" Wes spoke up, not sure why or where the words came from. However, they did feel good to say if he was being honest. "We're trapped in our shitty town with no way of knowing how we got here, where we are, or how to leave, and you're worried about a little rumbly tummy?"

Harry scoffed as he slammed his car door and walked over to Wes, "What the fuck is your problem? I won't solve this shit on my own and I'm sure you guys will do whatever the hell you want without me so yeah, I'm gonna go eat some fucking food."

"Just let him go," Winona scoffed, tugging on Wes's arm, "We don't need him."

"We have to figure out what is happening to us," Cassandra reiterated with a matter-of-fact tone, "Wes is right."

Harry shook his head as he walked back over to his car, muttering, "You're not student council president anymore."

"God, you really, really need to get over that."

The boy ignored her, instead, he called over to his girlfriend, Kelly, who had been sitting silently throughout the whole conversation, "You coming, Kel?"

The two of them started to fight as well, but he really wasn't paying attention because Grizz was walking over to him. Away from the group, the dark-haired boy said, "I want you to come on the search party. You've always been good at outdoorsy stuff."

"Not as good as you," Wes had meant for it to come out as an insult, but halfway through leaving his mouth he realized it was probably more of a compliment. He scoffed, "You don't need me."

"I love Luke, but he won't know what the fuck to do and there's guarantee anyone else will either," Grizz pleaded, looking at him with a furrowed brow, "Please?"

Wes watched as Harry drove off girlfriend-less and Cassandra got into an altercation with Campbell Eliot. He was very much ignoring Grizz's question because the last thing he ever wanted to do was a favor for Grizz Visser.

"Stop being a dick, just go," Winona broke the silence, offering an apologetic look over at Grizz.

The blond glared at his sister before turning to Grizz with a reluctant sigh, "Fine, but you owe me big time."

Wes had a sickening feeling he was going to regret this and he was dreading finding out why.