Months had passed since Donny's trial and Bryson couldn't help but feel like a complete failure over the whole thing.
What was it about Oz, a land of magic and supernatural wonder to it that was so easy to save compared to a real, more plain world in comparison? How exactly could he save Oz but not one individual on Earth? A man he had known since childhood.
The whole situation had culminated into Bryson practically removing himself from society, in a sense.
He moved states.
Not far, only to North Carolina.
With everything going on around him, he just wanted to get away.
He had considered going back to L.A to see Claire and Tommy, but he didn't exactly have enough money saved up to move there again.
Now, he lived in a cabin in the woods that he had spent months building himself.
His mother and father had talked to him on the phone, discussing their divorce. It wasn't something Bryson wanted to be caught in the middle of.
He wasn't completely shut off, a few other houses scattered out around the area.
He just wanted to feel at peace.
To take his mind off Donny's prision sentence.
He had done everything he could. He sent letters, started a petition, tried to spread the word. Nothing came of it. He had been relentless, really. He finally gave up when he saw there was no resolution in sight and had been told off from a personal phone call from the judge.
He still thought about the whole thing religiously, but what was there to do? Donny had already been in jail for months. Thinking about him locked away in a cell with a bunch of other broken people, being treated like he was below human sent a shiver down Bryson's spine.
To make matters worse, he was still getting sick.
It'd happen a little less frequently, but it was worse every time. He'd get dizzy, vomit all over the place, cough up blood if it was bad enough, and his whole body would just ache.
He sometimes wondered if there was any end in sight. He had his fairy tale story play out, hadn't he? He went home. Twice. Things were supposed to get better after the story ends, right?
But this wasn't like the books or the movies. This was his real life.
"To be fair, Dorothy's life might've sucked after the movie ended, I guess." He mumbled himself while thinking it all over once. It had been a joke but it led to him wondering how she was doing, as he often did.
He still kept his job at Connelly Publishing, close enough to his home state to drive there on occasion but working from home more often than not.
He ended up getting the story delayed by request. The company wasn't happy, but trusted Bryson's instinct.
Months later and Bryson still hadn't perfected the story.
His obsession with perfection would end up screwing him over royally, he sometimes felt.
That along with thinking of his parents, Donny, and his persistence sickness just made it all so challenging.
If he kept stalling, he could get fired. Bryson didn't think he could take another awful occurrence like that.
He finally felt a bit of comfort when Claire called him one night.
They hadn't spoken much since the trial, only brief calls and texts. They had both been so busy communication could sadly be scarce.
Bryson had been outside that evening, merely admiring the scenery around him. While no match for what could be found in Oz, it brought him comfort.
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and excitedly answered when he saw it was Claire.
"Claire! Hey! Wow, I'm so glad you called. Been a few weeks. How are ya?"
"Bryson, hey! I finally got some down time. I thought we'd catch up. I'm okay, the usual and all. How are you? Any luck with the Donny thing?" She asked.
Bryson sighed at the thought and bit his lip, shaking his head.
"I'll take that as a no. I'm sorry, Bryson. I know you did everything in your power to get him out of there." Claire frowned.
"I just don't understand how I can save talking animals and scarecrows but I can't save one guy." Bryson scoffed, a joking tone to his voice, even though it was something that had genuinely upset him.
"Life is strange, isn't it?" Claire sighed through the phone. "I'm still at a loss for words. Just sending an innocent person to prison.."
"I guess that's our legal system for you." Bryson said bitterly.
"I know I had a lot of trouble with getting custody of Tommy. A bunch of things I shouldn't have had to go through.. it was hell." Claire said lowly.
"Did I ever tell you I marched in there and yelled at the judge? They had to escort me out of there. I was maybe a little too aggressive.. but I just had to stand up for him. I couldn't believe it. I was so heated." He sighed.
"You yelled at him?" Claire giggled. "Wow, could've used you when I was trying to get custody of Tommy." She laughed, joking around with him. "No, but really. I don't blame you for going off on him. You stand up for your friends and what you believe in without hesitation and it's very admirable."
Hearing someone say that about him made him feel strange. He remembered how he used to say those things to Dorothy when they met, being envious of her. Maybe he had become the person he wanted to be since then. He just still felt like he needed a lot of work to do.
"Well, thank you. Sometimes it's weird.. hearing people say that. I just used to be so.. meek about these things." Bryson shrugged.
"I can't imagine that, you've been like this since I've known you. You're a great person, Bryson. Don't put yourself down over this whole situation." Claire said in a comforting voice.
"Thanks, Claire. I know I can always count on you." Bryson smiled.
"This all kind of reminds me of my own situation with my friend down here, actually. I-" Claire began speaking, but stopped suddenly as a beep was heard on the other end. "Oh, gotta go, getting a call." Claire sighed. "Probably someone at the office, you mind if I take this?"
"Of course not." Bryson smiled.
"I'm sorry again about Donny. I'll talk to you soon." Claire said before she hung up.
Bryson sighed once the line was disconnected. He wished their busy adult lives didn't have to put a damper on everything.
He walked back in his cabin. It wasn't very large, but not terribly small. Just a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It was small compared to the fairly large house he lived in with his family, yes, but at least he was alone and more at peace. At least it wasn't his dorm back in college.
He turned on the TV to try and take his mind off things, slumping on the couch.
He flipped through the channels and found the movie "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return" on the TV. He scoffed. Oz followed him everywhere.
He ended up dozing off despite it not being too terribly dark out yet.
...
Bryson woke up in his old bedroom in his old family home.
He just kept laying there, confused in his own dream state.
He got up a few minutes later, calling out for him.. only to receive no answer.
He wondered throughout the place for a few minutes, looking at his surroundings. It felt strange, being back at the house after a few months.
He then wandered into the kitchen. He called for anyone. His mom, his sister, his dad.. no answer.
He looked around before he could spot himself in the fridge.
Something looked off.
He searched for the bathroom, stepping in and seeing his reflection.
He was younger. A child again.
Before he could react, the scenery around him changed.
Suddenly, he was in the ocean.
Not too far out, just a bit so the water went up to his stomach.
He looked around and could see no visible land, however. Just the ocean.
He simply looked around before suddenly, something out from under the water yanked his leg.
Underwater, Bryson looked around for any sign of the thing that was pulling on him, but he couldn't see anything.
The warm water on Bryson's body suddenly went cold, and he felt every muscle within him completely come undone. A horrible, foul smell ascended up through the water's surface, invading Bryson's nostrils. It smelled ike a mixture of rotting fish, acid and a decaying body. Bryson then felt something grab his foot and pull him under, only for him to re-surface. Something then grabbed his ankle and pulled him back under and he re-surfaced again. He then felt something grab him by his thigh and pull under again and drag him down deep into the water. Bryson struggled to free himself, but he couldn't. He ended up blacking out.
...
"Ah!" Bryson sat up on the couch.
He looked around. He was 24, not a child. He was in his cabin, not his old house or an ocean.
"One of the weirdest dreams I've ever had.." he mumbled to himself.
He hadn't such a strange dream since the time leading up to his second Oz visit.
He reflected on the strange dream for a moment, remembering something pulling him in the ocean down to meet his demise, something he couldn't place.
As he spent a minute or two thinking about it, he felt a sudden and intense surge of pain shoot through his stomach.
"Oh!" He grunted out, gripping his stomach in shock.
Soon, his body began to felt weak.
Bryson squinted, knowing he was having another sick fit.
His legs trembled and he tried to stand up, but his legs kept shaking. He almost fell over before rushing over behind his couch and catching himself, kneeled over on the floor. "Aaaah.." He grunted.
Soon, his head began to pound with incredible force. It felt like it had been placed in a jar or something.
He felt a migraine coming on and he tried to crawl to the bathroom as he felt his stomach rise.
It was gonna happen again, he was going to vomit.
He couldn't reach the bathroom, throwing up all over his floors.
His stomach lurched and his eyes widened, seeing blood come out of his mouth.
What was happening to him?!
His heart began to race.
It pounded in his chest and it just went faster and faster, a burning sensation beginning to arise in his heart.
Was this how heart attacks felt?! What was happening?!
Bryson felt his body weaken further and he began to rock back and forth on the floor in an indescribable amount of pain. He didn't know if he could take much more before...
Nothing.
He blacked out.
...
Bryson felt like he had been run over and brought back to life.
Everything felt fuzzy, he couldn't form a coherent thought outside of knowing he had woken up and the immense pain had been replaced with an odd sensation of numbness coursing throughout him, barely feeling like he could feel his own body.
"He's waking up.." A female voice said.
Bryson was too tired to recognize the voice, but he knew it seemed familiar.
"Hurry. Strap him in before he's fully up and realizes.." Another familiar female voice said.
Bryson tried to contemplate what was going on, but his body was too weak and numb.
His eyes fluttered open slightly. He couldn't see the people who owned the voices speaking, but he could see he was in some sort of house and could see a large window.
Outside he could make out... a road, lush and bright green grass surrounding it.
The road was yellow, looking it was made from br-
Wait.. the Yellow Brick... wait... am I... am I back? Am..
His body gave in to the soreness before he could understand what was happening.
...
A/N: So Bryson is indeed back in Oz already. But where in Oz is he? Why is he getting sick? What voices did he hear? More to come, stay tuned!