Episode 1

JOURNEY

EPISODE 1

WRITTEN BY JOSHUA NEARY

Snow crunched beneath his feet as he trekked onward to a fate unknown. He’d woken up in an abandoned junkyard less than ten hours ago with no recollection of the events that led him to this point. The lonely journey would continue as a solo mission as long the kindness of strangers proved to be bone dry.

The snow was falling harder, the temperature felt like it was dropping with every step, but he trudged forward. His size 11 boot was leaving deep impressions in the white underneath him. He chuckled at the thought of his beard giving off a festive look, littered with snow from the wintery conditions. As he took a moment, hands to his knees, bending over, he took a break to catch his breath.

The stocky man didn’t miss the opportunity to take in more than oxygen, standing upright, hands at his sides to absorb the beautiful scenery surrounding him. As he had just begun to take it all in, a jolt of electricity powered through him, dropping him to the pristine white surface. With his hands covering his ears, rocking back and forth and screaming in pain, an elderly man stepped out of the woods, surrounding the road he was traveling.

As the elderly man approached, the journeyman attempted to scramble away. The elderly man shook his head and whistled into the wooden depths, where two younger men blistered their way through the snow. Both wearing matching attire, a washed denim colored snow hat and cerulean blue jacket with matching pants approached the traveler.

Snow crunched beneath his feet as he trekked onward to a fate unknown. He’d woken up in an abandoned junkyard less than ten hours ago with no recollection of the events that led him to this point.

“Everything is weird now.”

“Weird is cool,” a female voice retorted, “at least I think so.”

“Not the cool weird. The weird-weird. Who the hell are you anyways?”

“Well hell, you told me I could come with you.”

“I wouldn’t have said that. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“No, you’re the one who isn’t supposed to be here. You don’t even know where HERE is, do you?”

He thought about the words she just threw at him, and realized that she was right. It wasn’t just last night that he couldn’t remember.  He couldn’t put an exact timeframe on what he was missing, but he knew it was a good chunk of his recent past.

He turned to her, lowering his backpack to the ground, and eventually kneeling down next to it, “how long have you been with me?”

“Time is relative, John. You know this. Time doesn’t change anything, your perception does.”

“So what are you, the fuckin’ Riddler now?”

His smart-ass line got a quick smirk but nothing more. She stepped closer.

“Look what you packed for yourself. You were going to anyways.”

John zipped open his backpack and as he rummaged through it, came across a cell phone with 97% charge but no service wrapped inside of a grey sweatshirt.  John shoveled through a bit more revealed a notebook and half a bottle of Jameson whiskey, as well as numerous changes of clothes for the future.

“So a cell phone, some hooch and a fucking notebook? Is that supposed to enlighten me in some way?” No response was given.  He zipped up his Jansport bag and rose to both of his feet. Behind him, he could hear the crackling of branches.

“Hey, lady! Get the fu—“

Before he could finish his sentence, a jolt of electricity powered through him, dropping him to the pristine white surface. With his hands covering his ears, rocking back and forth and screaming in pain, an elderly man stepped out of the woods surrounding the road he was traveling.

As the elderly man approached, the journeyman attempted to scramble away. The elderly man shook his head and whistled into the woods, where two younger men blistered their way through the snow. Both wearing matching attire, a washed denim colored snow hat and cerulean blue jacket with matching pants approached the traveler.

“Everything is weird now.”

“Weird how? Like, cool weird?”

“No, not cool weird. Weird-weird. Like something doesn’t fit. Like I don’t belong here.”

“Do any of us, John?”

He scowled back at her, “What the fuck do you know about anything? Any of this, what do you know about it. Enlighten me!”

She turned her back on him, planted a foot in the snow and did a deliberate spin in the icy roadway, chuckling to herself as she reached him face to face once more. “You don’t even know who you are, what you’ve been through. . .  Do you even know where the fuck you’re going?”

A jolt of electricity overcame him once more, hands to his head and head to his knees, almost in the fetal position.

The pain went away.

He looked around him to see no snow, but blue skies with just the right amount of clouds, the ones that make your imagination flutter.

“There was an elephant! And oh look, a unicorn! And a penguin!”

He shook his head and rose from the pavement, cars whizzing by his backpack of belongings. There was no five and a half foot blonde haired beauty, no more than there was a snowman, carrot and all standing a mere ten feet away.

“Or was there?” he thought to himself, turning to the left of him, which showed nothing but barren sunlight and green pasture. It was almost sundown, and if he had any chance to survive the night, he knew the cell phone in his bag would be of great importance. That was, until he spotted a warehouse a half-a-mile away.

He stepped forward, and further, until he reached the door this brown panel-sided establishment. John knocked at the door, and a man with a decorated cap answered the door.

“We’ve been waiting for you. Please, come in.”

John entered the dimly lit hallway as the door slammed behind him.