105 DAYS

Chapter Thirteen

^Rosy^

Tom was lost in thought. He didn’t hear his friends laugh out loud to Kevin’s imitation of his senior manager or when Jack was acting out how his manager would shout at him for a work half done. The eerie silence in the forest was making the friends afraid and it filled them with negative thoughts, so they were trying
very hardly to break it.

But not Tom. His mind was wondering miles away from where he was. He thought about his mom. Before he had come in to the forest he had promised her
that he will be gone for just two weeks but now it had turned for three weeks. He knew that his mother would be very afraid if he didn’t turn up on time and he was
worried about her health. He knew that his sister was with their mom but still Meg wasn’t a strong girl. She loves her brother a lot and if she knew that he was missing she would be broken. Their father, Donald was also with them but he neither worries about his family nor his son. So, it wouldn’t be any difference to him if Tom had gone missing. Tom hoped that his sister wouldn’t cry and make his mother more stressed.

Tom remembered the new album and the tour he had promised to go on. His manager had taken care of all the pressing matters when he had signed himself to
the hike but Tom didn’t know how long he could postpone it. If the tour was cancelled the loss would be unimaginable. Tom even worried that if the time goes
on his manager would file a case against the company and with all the drama and Tom’s missing, he wondered what the tabloids must be printing right now. It would be a disaster for his reputation if the press got hold of a false alarm and Tom didn’t want to ruin his career. He hoped against hope that his manger would have
taken care of everything and all will be smooth when he gets out safely.

The group had reached a fork in their path. Kevin was thinking of which way to go. It was his turn to take a decision. They had all discussed and had decided that they should take turns on deciding of the path and today it was Kevin’s. Tom didn’t want to think of how many turns they had taken and how many of them had
led them away from the exit.

“Take the left one,” Kevin said after a long hour of thinking.

“Left it is” Ian said and the group moved forwards and through the left path.

Tom looked at everyone. They were all different from each other. They were a scientist, a musician, a tomboyish girl, a loving father, an adventurer and a man with no one. But still they had met and build up the beautiful friendship. They had
been kind to each other and one person’s downfall affected everyone. Tom thought that, that’s what friendship is about and that’s what friends do for each other. It didn’t take happiness, money or luxury to bring them together. It was the misfortune. The misfortune had turned to fortune when they had met. These
friends were like they had known each other since they were young. No one would say that an accident had brought them together. The friendship was one of those types which could last forever.

Tom wanted friends just like them. He wanted to be just like a normal person with them. He didn’t want his friends to look at him as ‘Tom Wilson the singer’. He just wanted to be Tom with them. And that’s why he liked to be with this group. They treated Tom just as anyone. Tom felt pleased for meeting them.

***

It was past three weeks. The rain and the stream had helped the group to collect water and no one complained about the meagre food. The oranges had been
a great help and as it didn’t get old the team had eaten half of an orange per person per day not to mention the mysteriousness. So, the biscuits and toffees were saved up.

It was getting dark and the group stopped for the day. They were in a small gathering and as the sun was getting lower the team thought to relax. They huddled in a group and with the torches lit in the middle the light reflected off
them. Ian was saying how he had been an adventurer and about the time he had slipped on the mountain and had ended up in the hospital.