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It started on a Wednesday. The summer holidays had just begun, and along with them a heatwave. Tommy and Tubbo had the brilliant idea to see if they could use the heat from the pavement to fry an egg - they couldn’t and they just got told off by Tubbo’s dad for wasting food.
After that they were ushered into the back garden where the adults could keep a better eye on them and stop them from making more stupid decisions. It must have been nearing lunchtime at that point because Tommy was just about to bother one of his brothers into making sandwiches for him and Tubbo when they were called inside by Wilbur. Tommy groaned. All day he had been told what to do and where to play. But he was eight now! He didn’t need to be bossed around anymore. He tried to convince Tubbo they didn’t have to listen to Wilbur when said teen came over to them, taking both kids by the hands and pulling them inside. They were led into the living room where everyone else was, apparently waiting for them.
Schlatt and Phil were watching the news on the TV and talking in hushed, panicked voices while Techno sat quietly on the sofa. He looked over at his brothers and Tubbo, a finger raised to his lips then gesturing at the TV, as if that would be enough explanation for the two younger boys. It wasn’t. Tommy didn’t listen to the news. Instead he flopped down on the sofa, leaning against his big brother, the tension in the room making him nervous.
So for what felt like an eternity, four boys sat together in silence, as the adults stayed whispering. It was like they didn’t even realise their kids were in the room with them. When they finally did notice their boys watching them, Schlatt sighed. He turned to Tubbo and told him they needed to go home. His tone of voice left no room for argument. On their way out Tubbo shouted out a rushed goodbye to his friend and a promise that they could see each other again tomorrow.
Phil collapsed into his armchair. His sons continued to stare at him. Tommy was the one to break the silence.
“Dadza, can we have lunch now?”
It looked as if Phil was going to cry.
***
Weeks had passed since that day and nobody had explained any of it to Tommy. All he had been told was that it was too dangerous for him to go outside and he couldn’t see Tubbo anymore. Any other day he would have kicked up a fuss but after seeing the exhausted look on his father’s face, he decided that maybe this was a battle he should lose.
That being said, he was bored. Nothing dangerous had happened from what he could see, so why wasn’t his dad letting him outside? Tommy made up his mind. He was going to sneak out. Unfortunately, he was not as sneaky or quiet as he thought so Phil caught him almost immediately. Tommy was not deterred by this and continued spending his days down at the end of the garden, playing in the small creek that separated the house from the forest. Phil gave up telling Tommy off after the first few times.
From there Tommy’s summer had continued the way it had in previous years. Phil and Schlatt eventually let Tommy and Tubbo play together, only if they promised to never leave the garden. This was easy to agree to, Tommy could deal with being stuck in one place again now that he was allowed outside.
Then everything changed, again. It started at night. There were loud, crashing noises that shook the house and made it difficult to sleep, even when Tommy shoved his head under his pillow. Yet, Tommy was still given no explanation as to what was happening. When he finally got fed up with getting no sleep and complained to his family, the twins had taken up sitting in his room at night to help him sleep. Wilbur would play lullabies on his guitar and Techno would read stories to him, but neither could drown out whatever was happening just outside the window.
His father took his turns trying to help Tommy sleep too. He would take the boy to the window and teach him about the stars and which constellations they made. This didn’t happen for long as Phil seemed to realise he couldn’t find many constellations anymore. Tommy just guessed that maybe his dad wasn’t as smart as he had previously believed.
***
People in his village had started leaving. He could see them from the front windows sometimes, packing their belongings into cars, carrying pets out, taking headcounts of children. Then they would drive off, as if they were just going on a trip but they would never come back home. Tommy asked Phil once why so many people had left. Phil said they were looking for safety but didn’t say from what. So Tommy asked if they would go looking for safety too and Phil refused to continue the conversation with him. Tommy was getting frustrated with being left out of the loop so often.
More canned food had also started appearing in the kitchen. Tommy turned his nose up at this - he refused to eat tomatoes from a tin. His brothers laughed at him and told him that he didn’t have to eat them for now. Tommy realised that meant he would have to at some point and didn’t like that implication.
***
It was the last “normal” night even if Tommy didn’t know it yet.
Just after dinner Tubbo had told him they had to go and say goodbye to the next-door neighbour, Ranboo. Tommy didn’t really like him all that much but Tubbo was sad he was leaving so Tommy was sad too. They stood at the end of the driveway and waved at Ranboo’s family as they drove off. Tommy and Tubbo’s families were the last ones left on their street.
The two friends sat on the steps of Tommy’s porch after the goodbye. They both stare at the sky. There was only the moon and a handful of stars lighting up the street. Tommy wondered where they had gone. There were more when Phil tried to tell him about the constellations, weren’t there?
He wasn’t sure how long they sat there but nobody had come to get them yet. It was long enough that Tommy had gotten bored of the sky and had started picking at the long grass, poking through the steps. He took the longest pieces he could find and braided them together, making a friendship bracelet for his best friend in the whole world. He turned to Tubbo to present him with the gift when he saw his friend pointing at the sky.
“Look, a shooting star! Make a wish,” Tubbo laughed.
Tommy scrunched up his eyes and clasped his fingers together, crushing the bracelet in the process. Before now he might have wished for things like later bedtimes or to be allowed chocolate whenever he wanted, but he couldn’t bring himself to wish for something silly like that anymore. So he wished to know why his whole world was suddenly changing. An explanation as to why all his friends had packed up and left, why his dad became even more protective than usual, why his brothers were always being nice to him, why they had so many tins lining the cupboards.
He opened his eyes again to see another shooting star. And another. And another. Then the noises and shaking started up again. It was like clockwork at this point.
Tommy wondered where shooting stars went when they landed.