Nowhere Boys by Elise Mccredie

was he supposed to do?
    He couldn’t open that door and walk inside like he did every day of his life. He didn’t belong there anymore. He thought about the others. Were they all feeling this way? Wanting desperately to enter a door that they couldn’t?
    The wind picked up and started shaking the branches of the old elm tree. Felix looked up. He hated that stupid tree. He fought back an urge to kick it and shout This is all your fault! But it wasn’t true. It was his fault. Everything was. First Oscar’s accident, and now this.

    Felix made his way down the driveway to the street. He had to find the others. Find out what was going on. He reached the street and turned left into town. The wind gathered force and he heard a strange noise above him. He looked up and saw the powerlines vibrating, like bars of music come to life. He listened carefully. Were they singing to him?
    He looked back at the street. It was strangely empty. No people. No cars. He started to feel uneasy. He needed to be with people, not here alone. He began to run towards town.
    He wondered where the others would be. He scanned the main street. Up ahead was a tall guy, riding a tiny bike. Jake.
    ‘Hey Jake! Wait up!’
    The bike stopped and Jake turned.
    When Felix caught up, he saw the defeated expression on Jake’s face. ‘You okay?’
    ‘Not really.’
    Jake looked as if the air had been completely punched out of him. Felix almost wished he would throw a ball at his head.
    Jake gestured to the skate park. ‘They’re probably there.’
    Sam was sitting on top of the half-pipe. Andy was standing on one leg, reaching as high as he could with his mobile in the air.
    ‘Even if you get a signal, who are you going to call?’ asked Jake as he slumped down next to Sam.
    ‘Didn’t go well, huh?’ said Sam.
    ‘You were right. She didn’t have a clue who I was.’
    Felix moved uncertainly towards them.
    Sam looked up. ‘What’s the go, man? Your mummy not tucking you in for the night?’
    Felix shrugged. ‘Guess they didn’t like me that much after all.’ He sat on the other side of Sam.
    No-one spoke. Felix tried to find the courage to apologise.
    ‘Listen, about before …’ he began. ‘I just … it’s a lot to take in and –’
    ‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ said Sam.
    Felix tried again. ‘You were right. What you said. We need to stay together. Work out what’s going on.’
    ‘And how do you plan on doing that?’
    Felix wished he had an answer, but the truth was he had absolutely no idea.
    ‘Well, we can’t stay here all night,’ said Andy eventually. ‘Two nights out in the open and we’ll probably get a pneumonic infection.’
    ‘What do you suggest, Bear Grylls?’ snapped Jake. ‘Build a shelter from the bones of tree frogs?’
    Felix looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. He needed to take control. He was the one that had got them into this mess, so he had to get them out of it.
    ‘There’s an old abandoned shack in the bush,’ he said. ‘If it’s still there, maybe we could make camp?’
    ‘What about food?’ asked Sam.
    Jake shrugged. ‘There’s an apple tree at the back of the footy oval?’
    ‘All right, then, let’s do it.’

    The shack wasn’t all that far from Felix’s house. He led the others along a couple of quiet suburban streets, that backed onto the bush, then down a grassy slope towards a bush track. The four boys walked along the track, devouring apples. Night was falling and the deepening shadows made it hard to see where they were going. Felix led the way, his mobile phone held out in front of him like a torch. At least it was good for something. He hoped against hope that the shack was still there. When he and Oscar were kids, their dad had brought them out here to fish. He’d taught them to swim in the river and they’d made campfires and spent hours playing spotlight in the bush. But they hadn’t been here for a long time. Two years and three months to be exact.
    The track