Friday Fiction: Old Ideas

NICK'S QUEST

 

SCENE ONE: Nick's apartment. The set-up. Boss. Wife. Furniture. The Call.

SCENE TWO: Aubrey's house. Aubrey. The set-up.

SCENE THREE: Junk food. The store. Philosophy. Hints.

SCENE FOUR: The highway. Storm. The Gates.

SCENE FIVE: Darkness. The King's highway. The explanation. The book. All through, points of interest.

SCENE SIX: The arrival. Camping. Flora and fauna.

SCENE SEVEN: Morning. Driving. The first encounter. Victory. Out of gas.

SCENE EIGHT: Horses. The Alchemist. Off again.

SCENE NINE: The desolation. Talk. Beasts.

SCENE TEN: The dark castle. Entrance. Confrontation. Realization. Victory.

SCENE ELEVEN: Return. A few last words of wisdom. The happy ending. The Call.

 

[When I found this note, I couldn't make heads or tails of it just reading it. Then while I typed it up, I remembered the gist of it. Nick is suffering the angst and ennui of real life. He has the vague dream of writing a book, but his dead-end job offers no time. He is called to his friend Aubrey's house. Aubrey is a weird but wise recluse who can't drive, and has Nick take him to a store to buy junk food. On the way back a storm opens magic gates through which they drive into a fantasy realm. Nick and Aubrey take his car through this landscape on a quest; at one point they run out of gas and have an alchemist make them some. The quest ends at the dark castle, where Nick learns that the villain is a doppelganger for his boss, who is enslaving his spirit. They return, and Nick quits his job to pursue his bliss.]