They didn't go back to the flat that evening. Sarah didn't speak a word to Ryan, or even acknowledge that he existed. She walked out of the hospital room in a daze, and Ryan had no choice but to trail along behind her. He wasn't sure why they were leaving Chloe on her own, but his mum wasn't in the mood to tell him. He hopped into the back seat of the car, and waited for the trigger that would finally set her off; the agonising silence was worse than the yelling, so he prayed to get it over with as soon as possible.

Sarah drove for hours, until even Ryan knew that they'd passed their flat long ago. He watched as the city streets turned into suburbs, and then into countryside, with the lines of trees and lit street lamps lulling him to sleep along with the hum of the engine.

Then it stopped. The humming ceased and the street lamps stilled and the engine spluttered out its last breath. Ryan was jolted awake simply by the lack of movement, and the lack of sound. His mother was sitting quietly in the front seat, hands tightening around the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.

"Where are we?" he asked. The windows were shrouded in shadows, but he could see the outlines of trees reflected in the glass.

"Get out," was all she said.

"What?" She opened her door, then his, then grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of the car. He fell roughly onto the ground, which was caked in mud from the days of wet weather they'd been having. It clung to his trousers and stained his skin. She didn't even wait for him to pick himself back up. The doors closed with a slam, and all Ryan heard was the sound of the engine rumbling back into life.

"Mummy?!" The car began to drive off, "Mummy!" He ran behind the receding backlights, screaming frantically for her to stop. She must have made a terrible mistake, leaving him behind, but no matter how loud he screamed or how hard he waved his arms, the car did not stop. He ran until he had no choice but to collapse onto the ground and watch as the yellow lights faded into the distance, and he was left in nothing but darkness. His cries were carried away by the whistling breeze and the creaking of the tree branches around him.

Ryan lay flat on the ground, after tripping over his own feet and landing with a thump that left him painfully winded, staring at the empty pathway as if he could will his mum's car back into existence. The clearing remained empty, and the darkness encroached upon him until his eyes saw nothing but black shadows darting all around him, watching him, mocking him, whispering their amusement at seeing him stranded there all alone.

He stood up, bunched up his shirt in his hands, and began to scream. His voice echoed off the trees and exploded out into the night sky as he waited for someone to hear his cries. He waited for his mum to realise he was missing and drive back to the forest to pick him up. He waited for Elliot's mum to come running through the trees to comfort him. He waited for a single person to hear him wailing and assure him that he hadn't been forgotten at all.

But no one came.

He spent all night wandering through the forest, lungs scratched and face stinging from dried tears, until he finally reached the road. It was just as dark and empty as the forest, but at least it was away from the misshapen tree branches that loomed over the ground like twisted fingers waiting to snatch him up. All he could hear were the dull footsteps of his trainers and the light hooting of an owl somewhere in the distance. His mind was as numb as the rest of his body. He'd suddenly found himself without his family, and it was starting to dawn on him that neither of them were ever coming back. His sister was dead. Locked away inside a cold hospital room, with bruises and bandages covering her broken body.

It was all his fault. He'd left her alone in the flat, just to play with a rocketship, and it had somehow killed her. No wonder his mum hated him. No wonder she never wanted to see him again. He'd killed his little sister.

"I'm sorry," he cried to no one. His throat was too cracked and his body too tired to produce much more than a whimper. He was cold and scared and he just wanted to go home and have someone tuck him into bed with a lullaby and a mug of warm milk, like every kid was supposed to have. Like he used to have, before his mum started leaving the flat so often that he'd rarely see her before bedtime, and before he'd followed in her footsteps and left Chloe to die.

Then again, he was starting to think lullabies and blankets and warm milk were just things he'd read in storybooks. Perhaps he'd watched In the Night Garden too many times and started to think he was the little boy being lulled to sleep by his mother. Ryan tried to remember the last time his mum had sang to him, but he was struggling to put two thoughts together. He couldn't walk anymore. He could barely keep his eyes open, and the cold was so acute that he didn't even feel it anymore. He didn't feel anything except the sweet embrace of sleep beckoning him towards the ground.

The open countryside had turned into a mismatch of shrubbery, with thick bushes lining the rickety fence that separated the road from the fields. Ryan collapsed beside them and tried to huddle underneath the prickly blanket of evergreen leaves, too exhausted to care about the dirt and the insects and the rodents that were no doubt affronted by the sudden disturbance. If he focused hard enough, he could almost imagine his duvet, covered in pictures of stars and planets. He used to love space.

Now he never wanted to look at the night sky again.

He woke up inside a car.

It wasn't his mum's car. The seats were beige, instead of black, and it smelled different. The new smell stung at his nostrils and made him feel sick. The second thing he noticed was that it was warm. He was still shivering, but only out of instinct and a vague belief that he was still outside, but his skin felt only the warmth from the engine and the heater on full blast.

"He's awake!" said a voice. It was a woman's voice, one he didn't recognise, but he suddenly felt a hand on his back, gently rubbing it in small circles. "Hi, sweetheart, what were you doing outside all on your own, eh?" The woman's blonde hair was dead straight, and her eyes were too blue for his liking.

"Where's my mum?" he asked. "I need to find her."

"We'll get your mum, don't worry," the woman replied. "We're just waiting for the ambulance to arrive and make sure you're alright, then we'll help you find her. Do you remember where you last saw her?"

"I got lost," said Ryan simply.

"You were out here all on your own, in the middle of nowhere? Did your mum not know where you were?" Ryan didn't like her tone of voice. It was the same voice adults used whenever they were about to ask a million questions he didn't have an answer to.

"I got lost," he repeated irritably, as if this woman wasn't worth his time. The more time they wasted, the more his mum would be looking for him. "I want to go home."

"I know, darling, we'll get you home soon, but how—?" She was suddenly interrupted by the blue lights of an ambulance cutting through the night sky. They flashed in Ryan's eyes, blinding him momentarily, and he froze up as he remembered the last time he'd seen those lights.

"No!" He ducked underneath the backseat and tried to hide himself from view of the windows.

"It's okay, they're not going to hurt you!" assured the woman, leaning over and trying to prise him away from the dusty, felt-covered ground. "They're just here to check you over and make sure you're alright." There was a knock on the window just above him, and the door opened without a second warning.

"Heya mate," said a cheerful voice. "What are you doing down there, eh?"

"He's a bit nervous, I think," replied the woman. It was the last thing Ryan heard her say before he purposefully blocked his ears and pretended that none of them existed. A hand was placed on his back, and the suddenness of the touch along with the rest of Ryan's overwhelming emotions mixed up into a Molotov cocktail of fear and anger, until he lashed out at the paramedic. He pulled back and kicked the man's legs, screaming and hitting and scratching and biting. The paramedic cried out before quickly composing himself and trying to grab him out of the car away from the other people. He held the struggling Ryan tightly against him, pinning his arms to his side and carrying him towards the ambulance.

"Get off! Get off! Let me go!" Words soon failed him, and Ryan resorted to screaming at the top of his lungs instead. He refused to go into the ambulance. Chloe had gone into one of those things, and she'd ended up dead. He screamed until his throat hurt, until his voice gave out, until he threw up down himself and the paramedic, and yet still they bundled him into the back of the ambulance with a grip strength he had no chance of fighting against, no matter how hard he tried.

Blood rushed through his ears, blocking out the sounds of the ambulance, but no one could hear anything anyway over the sounds of him thrashing about. The paramedics had no choice but to keep ahold of him, lest he make a run for it, and if Ryan had been paying attention, he'd hear the shouted instructions flying over his head. As it were, the only thing he managed to process was the moment a needle was stuck into his backside, and only then was he shocked out of his crying. He tried to look down at what had happened, but his vision was already going blurry, and his brain started to move along like mush. This must have been what had happened to Chloe. The aliens had got to her, and poisoned her with their needles.

He briefly wondered if his mum would care about him dying, before the world spiralled down into darkness, and Ryan's thoughts stopped.

Muffled voices bounced around the hospital room. They hummed in and out of cohesion, until Ryan's ears pricked up at the sound of his mum interrupting them.

"He always does this," she was saying. "Just ask the neighbour, Ryan's always wandering off on his own. It's a bloody nightmare."

"Right, but you understand that Ryan was found in the middle of nowhere, in the early hours of the morning, miles away from where you both live… how old did you say he was?"

"He's nearly five, but he's very independent for his age. I keep the front door locked to make sure he doesn't leave the house at night, because he's prone to doing that, but he must have figured out how to unlock it. Believe you me, I was just as shocked to hear where you'd found him, but this isn't the first time he's ended up miles away from where he should be."

"It isn't?" There was a pause, and his mum cleared her throat.

"I try my best with him," she replied finally. "I try to keep my eye on him 24/7 but that's just not always possible, and what with… ." Her voice wobbled, and she audibly sniffed. "What with my daughter, you know… it's been so hard to keep track of him, and clearly… clearly this has all been too much for him to handle."

She sounded so close that Ryan thought he could reach out and touch her, but every inch of his body felt too heavy to move. It was as if he'd been fused to the bed, and his eyes were glued shut. The only indication of where his mother was sitting was when he felt her hand clasp his and squeeze it tightly.

"I know I failed him, but my mind's been so out of it since my daughter died." Her voice broke away, and he heard her crying. He wanted to tell her not to, that everything was going to be okay, but his own voice had seemingly vanished. All he managed was a slight whine from the back of his throat. It was enough to alert his mum, however, and she gasped lightly.

"Ryan?" He felt a hand on his forehead, cold but gentle. "Hi, sweetheart, I was so worried about you… ."

"Mum?"

"Yes, that's right, I'm here!" he forced his eyes open, and his mum's face blurred into focus. She was smiling, widely enough to reach her ears, but her eyes looked untouched. "How are you feeling?"

"Hm… mm." She gave a sympathetic frown and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"You poor thing, you must be exhausted." She'd changed again. It was starting to make his head spin, like he was switching between two parallel universes without ever knowing when he'd switch back.

"Hello, Ryan, isn't it?" A man strolled up to the bed, wearing a police uniform and tipping his hat politely. He'd been sitting by the window of the hospital room, which Ryan now found himself lying in, but he dragged a chair over to the bedside. "I need to ask a few questions, if that's alright?"

His mum turned to glare at him, her smile disappearing. "Can't you see he's ill? You can't expect him to answer anything like this." The policeman calmly put his hand up to stop her.

"It's nothing too intense, I'd just like to confirm that Ryan simply wandered off, like you said."

"Why else would he be out there on his own?" she snapped. "I know I was distracted, but I'm not so irresponsible as to just let him walk about like that."

"I'm not accusing you of anything, Mrs. Reeves." Her lips pursed tighter together.

"It's Ms."

"My apologies, Ms. Reeves, I'm just going to ask Ryan how he ended up so lost, that's all. Surely, you'd want to know yourself, to make sure this doesn't happen again." Sarah reluctantly fell silent at his logic. The policeman turned back to Ryan, took his hat off, and smiled. His hair sat short and thin on his head, and the light stubble on his chin looked course and scratchy.

"Hello, Ryan, my name's Officer John. I'm a policeman."

"Am I in trouble?" asked Ryan. His mum had always told him to never trust police officers. She'd strictly instructed him to say as little as possible, giving one word answers and never revealing personal information. The police officer chuckled softly, but Ryan continued to gaze steadily at him.

"No, mate, you're not in any trouble. I'd just like to know how you ended up out in the country all on your own?" No information. No information. No information.

"I don't know," Ryan shrugged.

"Well, you must have been scared. Did you wander off and get lost?" Ryan nodded. It was easier to let the policeman fill in the blanks himself, if it meant he didn't have to say a word. "How did you manage to do that?" Ryan looked at his mum, and he could see the stern look in her eye that seemingly dared him to respond. He'd heard what she'd told the police officer, and while Ryan knew she was lying, he was already accustomed to letting her lie her head off and nod along if anyone turned to him for confirmation. The first time he'd contradicted her in front of an adult, she'd locked him in his room for the rest of the night without dinner. It was a mistake he wasn't willing to make again, especially in front of a policeman.

"Took a bus," mumbled Ryan. He thought back to the last time he'd gone exploring. Sarah had taken Chloe to the public pool for a play date, and left Ryan alone in front of the TV. He'd eventually gotten bored and decided to take his pocket money, go down to the corner shop for some chocolate and bring it over to Elliot's house. The shopkeeper never asked him any questions, so he considered it to be within his mum's boundaries of where he was allowed to go, even if she hadn't said so. In truth, her strictness only came out when Ryan was in charge of Chloe. On his own, she practically forgot he existed.

The shopkeeper hadn't been behind the counter, and Ryan was too impatient to wait for him, so he'd gone outside and ended up distracted by the bus that stopped just down the road from his flat. It was a double decker bus, and he'd always wanted to ride it, but his mum had never taken him. He ran up to the bus stop to get a better look, and before he knew it, he'd stepped onboard and handed over the five pound note he'd saved up from helping the shopkeeper stack shelves on occasion. He hadn't been very good at it, but the shopkeeper had humoured him nonetheless.

"Where's your mum?" the bus driver had asked. Ryan froze for a second, then pointed at the woman who'd just gone ahead. She was climbing up the stairs to the top deck, where Ryan wanted to be. Satisfied, the bus driver let him on, and Ryan had sat upstairs at the front of the bus, pretending to drive it, for as long as it took the driver to finally notice he was on his own and call the police. His mum had used the same excuse; she'd taken him to the swimming pool, then somehow managed to lose him. He'd wandered off, and she'd been searching frantically for him ever since. The police officer took her word for it, and Ryan had said nothing.

The same thing was happening now, and Ryan stuck to the same story: he'd wandered off from his mum. He'd got on a bus. He'd ended up lost.

"He doesn't have a sense of danger, you see," said his mum, jumping in to finish the story for him. She was near tears again, and she began to stroke her fingers through his hair. It was nice, if a little disconcerting. The policeman waved a hand in acknowledgment.

"Don't worry, ma'am, we see it all the time. These kids run off to god knows where and their mums can't catch them. The paramedic said Ryan had lashed out like mad, too… autism, is it? Or some other mental disability?" She stared at him vaguely as she processed the convenient excuse, then nodded emphatically.

"Yes! Yes, exactly, he's… ." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "He's difficult, you know, especially at a time like this. The poor boy barely has a clue what's going on, which means it's up to me to keep control of him constantly, but this time it just wasn't possible to be on my guard." The tears fell as if on cue, and the policemen offered her a look of sympathy.

"I understand, ma'am, and I'm truly sorry for your loss. You've obviously had a nightmare no mother should have to go through these past few days." He patted Ryan on the arm, and Ryan resisted the urge to pull away from him. "We're just happy your lad's back safe and sound, aren't we? Make sure you keep an eye on him from now on, and you… ." He smiled at Ryan again. "You stop wandering off and worrying your mother, alright?" Ryan nodded, although he still had no idea what exactly was going on. The policeman stood up and put his hat back on. "I would say see you later, but let's hope not, eh?" Sarah smiled back lightly.

"Thank you so much for bringing him back, officer." She bent over and drew Ryan into a hug as the policeman walked away and left them both alone. As soon as the door had shut, she pulled away. The smile vanished. The parallel universe had switched back again.

She looked at Ryan, expressionless. "You're alive, then," she said flatly. She stood up and opened the slatted blinds on the window so that strips of sunlight filtered into the room and made him squint. "They're discharging you today," she continued. "As soon as they do, we're leaving."

"Going home?" asked Ryan hopefully.

"No," she said. "We're moving."