"Cas, is that short for anything?" Deana asked, Bryce sighed, the interview wasn't going great, Cas was being very cagey with his answers, which clearly seemed suspicious.

"Nothing you need to know." Cas replied, he had his back to Deana and Bryce, staring out the window.

"We had a boy here, he looked oddly like you. But he left, do you know where he is?" She asked, Cas froze, his muscles tensing, Bryce noticed his jaw clenching as well.

"No."

"His name was Edmund, we called him Ed, or Eddie." She pushed. When Cas said nothing, she looked at him with a guarded look. "He talked about you. His lost little brother, how he never heard from him any more. How after so many years of just hearing his voice, he had finally lost him."

"Where did he go?" Cas asked slowly, he did not move from the window.

"He left."

"He left." Cas sighed. "That's it?"

"Who are you Cas?" She asked.

Cas turned around and looked her dead in the eye. "Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

"I would like to know." She replied.

"So would I." Cas replied, he shook his head and sat back down. "What are you aiming to achieve from these interviews?"

"I just want to get to know the new people in our community." She replied. "I feel it helps me help you settle in." She looked at Cas in interest. "Do you want to be here Cas?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"There's no point holding onto the old world when it's gone. It's a lie. That's all this is, a lie."

^^^
What Cas had said in his interview made Bryce reconsider everything, yes Cas was of course, right. But why was resting in a lie for a while so bad? He wanted the world to be as it was, to have the walkers leave and for the world to be safe again, to have a safe world with the people in his life now.

He didn't know where Cas had gone, but his head was so busy that he couldn't focus. "Are you alright? You look sick." It was Carol, of course it was. She was so kind.

"Just something Cas said." Bryce replied, sitting down on the porch. Carol sat next to him.

"Don't let him get to you." She said gently, Bryce shook his head.

"No, not like that. He said this place was a lie, trying to be something it can't be any more." Bryce explained.

"Do you think he's right?" She asked him. Bryce sighed, before nodding.

"Actually I think he is." He admitted it, feeling lighter about it, but also disappointed in himself.

"That boy is dangerous, I know he wouldn't hurt us, but his mindset is damaging himself, and by extension you." Carol said. "You can't take what he says to heart. I like him, I think he's a great kid, but his mind has been twisted by fear and exposure to the walkers. He needs our help, but he won't accept that he's wrong."

Bryce sighed, he didn't like what Carol was saying. "I don't think he's going to stick around for long."

"No, maybe it's for the best." Carol replied. "I'm making cookies if you would like to help." Bryce just shook his head and got up, soon finding exactly who he was looking for, heading out the gate.

"No, you can't leave." Bryce managed to pull Cas away from the gate.

"Why not?" Cas replied. "It's clear I make people uncomfortable."

"Where did you get that impression from?" Bryce asked desperately, he couldn't lose his friend so soon.

"The looks they give me, like I'm a savage." Cas sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to go, Deana said that my brothers out there. I have to find him."

"We can help you, use this as a base, Cas you have to rest, and recover. Show them you're not what they think you are." Bryce was pulling on anything he could think of. 

"How?" Cas sighed.

"Join in, work with them. You can do this." Bryce encouraged him, Cas sighed.

"Bryce they don't like me and they never will. I'm not like them and I never will be." He looked at his friend with mixed emotions. "It's time I moved on."

"Cas please, one week is all I ask. After that if you still want to go, I won't stop you." Bryce begged, Cas sighed.

"Fine, I'll stay." He agreed, "I wish I could tell you I liked this place."

"You just have to adapt, like you always do." Bryce told him gently, he knew he was right, but Cas didn't look convinced.

"This isn't something I can adapt too, everywhere I look there are things that are so simple, but I have no idea what they do." Cas sighed. "It's like walking around all of my bad memories."

Bryce was alarmed, but he didn't let it show, instead he gestured for Cas to follow him, of which he did. "Come on, walk around with me." He said softly. "I'll help you."

"Do they always build houses so close together?" Cas asked. "Even when we aren't in the city?"

"Yeah, Cas where did you live?" Bryce asked.

"Cabin in the woods fourty miles from the nearest city." Cas answered. "Well my brother told me it was fourty miles."

"What did you do?" Bryce frowned.

"Went to school, was only an hour walk away, when not at school we were allowed to play out, usually my siblings did, I wasn't allowed." Cas replied, it was clear talking about this was bringing up memories he really didn't want to see again.

"Not allowed?"

"I was too bad." Cas shrugged, twirling a knife through his fingers. "Least that what she said."

"Who?" Bryce asked gently.

"My mom." Cas replied. "She hated me. Didn't want a fifth child, nasty shock for her when she found out she was having twins. Couldn't abort though, or she'd lose Eddie."

"Why didn't she want you?" Bryce frowned, Cas' story was making his stomach turn in anger.

"She wanted her Narnia royalty. She didn't want a fifth child, it would ruin everything." Cas answered.

"Caspian, Edmund... Cas what did she do to you?" Bryce asked, some thing not quite feeling right.

"Beat me when I was bad, which was most of the time. The others were perfect, but I wasn't. Spawn of Satan, that's what she used to say." Cas shrugged as though it was entirely normal.

"What exactly did you do wrong?" Bryce asked.

"I have no idea. Probably can't remember." Cas replied.

"I don't think you did anything wrong." Bryce said gently.

"I must have, she only ever hit us when we were bad." Cas replied, despite everything he was so innocent to the matter.

"When you were all bad, or just you?" Bryce asked. Cas stared at him, clearly not understanding him.

"Mainly me."