Title: The Sign Post
Episode: The Long and Winding Road (1:5)
Writer: Sasha Shuka
Spoilers: "It's a God Life" and "In His Image" from the Twilight Zone and
probably every episode of the X-Files.
Summary: Some on is playing a naughty trick on the gang from the X-Files.
This Chapter: things aren't, as they seem for Doggett.poor bastard.
Disclaimer: I do not own John Doggett, or Luke Doggett or Monica Reyes.
They, as you know, belong to 1013 productions and Fox Entertainment. I do
not own Rod Serling, the character from the Twilight Zone not the man, who
clearly belongs to himself and the good town of Binghamton. The Twilight
Zone which are the episodes taken from belong to CBS and so on and so
forth. I am not making any money off of this. In short.don't sue me.
DVD Commentary: This is what happens when Mono and a Twilight Zone Marathon
interact. The idea was that we put the basic X-Files Characters (i.e. the
four main protagonists of the show. If I feel like it I'll write one where
CSM and Skinner get their Karma Bitch slap.just not now.) are put in
episode(s) of the Twilight Zone as a cosmic form of torture from person(s)
unknown at this time. I promise I don't mean this to be bad. Love Me.
THIS CHAPTER: In case of this one I'd like to point out is mostly playing
on Doggett's guilt over the death of his son. So before all you Doggett
fans start to attack I have a reason fro all of this..I promise.
Suggest Music: Pink Floyd and/or Marcy Playground.
Feed Back: Two please.
"Every Mistake I've ever made comes back to haunt me." ~Marcy Playground "Bye Bye"
The sun kept hitting John Doggett on the back of his dust covered suit jacket as he walked down unfamiliar dirt road. He wasn't sure how long he'd been walking down this road but he was. He wasn't sure where he was going or where it was leading but no doubt he'd been walking down the road for a very long time. It would explain why his feet were hurting and he grew concerned about sunburn. He sighed as he continued to walk down the road. He figured that he should have stopped and tried his cell phone. Maybe he could call some one. He had to be missed by someone, the FBI, Monica, someone. But for some reason he couldn't stop walking and kept down the path he had been going now. He'd even reached into his jacket pocket to see if he had his cell phone. The answer was no, he didn't have his cell phone. "Huh" he thought. "Must have left it in the car but where is the car." This thinking wasn't going to help him get back to his car or figure out where the hell he was. This line of thinking was interrupted by a kid, about 16-17, in a uniform whizzed by him on a bike.
"Hey Kid come back. Where the hell am I?" he yelled following him. It's a shame he did that because he then missed the entrance of a man in a dark suit, cigarette smoldering in his fingers (Pall Mall's in the red Carton of course!) who had stepped into the road.
"Witness Mr. John Doggett, 35, divorced, only son dead and buried. He stepped out one day and started walking down a long dusty dirt road in the heat of summer with no way to contact the world he knows. What Mr. Doggett doesn't know is that he has just made a turn down the road into the Twilight Zone."
However, Doggett didn't see the gentlemen but he did hear him. "Twilight Zone?" He thought. "What the hell?" He did turn to where he thought he heard the voice from but there was no one there. This wasn't anything new. Since he had started working in the X-Files plenty of weird stuff had happened. This was starting to take the proverbial cake. He thus continued to chase after the kid on the bike. "Hey Kid Slow Down." He produced his badge. "FBI." The kid stopped for a moment and turned to Doggett. "I don't want to make any trouble Mister. I just want to get my delivery done. Luke doesn't like it when I'm late." "I just want to know where I am." "Happy Valley." "Yea but where's that?" "You don't know where it is. Its here." The Kid motioned around. ".right." Doggett. "You don't know where I could find a phone do you?" "Well most of the phones are gone but I'm sure the Henderson's have a phone. There up the road. That's where I'm going right now." "Great." Doggett followed the kid up the dusty dirt road. It still bothered him that he didn't know where he was. Yea that was going to sound great. Hey Monica I'm kind in pickle. I'm in some town called Happy Valley and I don't know how I got here. He sighed as he continued to walk up the road until reaching a farm. The place looked old and run downed like it had been years since anyone did any up keep. The motif was dryness and dust as if the earth was screaming out for some water to hit it and relieve its parched and cracked body. A layer coated his shoes and pants from walking down the road for however long he had been walking. He could really have gone for a beer at that moment. He turned his attention to the house itself. It was in a bad need of upkeep, paint bleached from the sun and chipped. The porch could use the replacement of some boards and maybe the replacement of the whole porch. There was an old woman fanning herself with one of those fans he'd seen as a child sitting in a church in Georgia. "Hello Aunt Becky." Said the kid. "Sure a hot day." "Yes it is Andy." Replied Aunt Becky "A real hot day. But it's good that it's a hot day. Who's your friend Andy?" "My name is John Doggett." Said, well duh, Doggett producing his FBI I.D. yet again. "I was wondering if there was a phone around here I could use." "Oh there is no phone. Luke wished them into the corn field yesterday."
Luke? That had been the second time he had heard that name. It couldn't have been his Luke. His Luke was dead. Had been since 1991, there was no way that it could be his Luke. But it was becoming one too many times to be a coincidence for it to be someone else. He then shrugged it off since he didn't believe in that kind of nonsense. "What do you mean he wished it out into the cornfield? You can't just wish things out into a cornfield." "Shh." Said Andy. "Don't say such things you'll make Luke Mad." Just then, like on cue from some cosmic force. A little boy rounded the corner of the house giggling and happy and then he plopped down in the middle of a patch of flowers which looked rare on this barren waste land. Doggett watched for a moment with an expression of shock on his face. It was him, the way he remembered him down to the freckles on his face. A rare tear escaped from Doggett's eyes but how could it be. Andy approached the boy. "Why Hi there Luke, Whatcha doing?" "I'm making a talking one armed rat. Wanna See?" Luke pulled up a sad looking animal by the tail. Its features were rat like but there was also a human-like feature to this animal. Doggett recognized them almost in two seconds. It was those sharp green eyes or maybe it was the black leather jacket. "You'll pay for this Serling." The animal said in a high-pitched familiar raspy voice. "I'm going to make it dead." Said Luke and he stood up. "Be dead now rodent dead." "That's good Luke that you made that animal dead and all." Said Andy in a semi-quiet voice. "I've got to make the delivery. I'll talk to you when I'm on my way out." "Ok." Said Luke as he went back to playing in the flowers. Doggett didn't want to interrupt this moment he watched him for a moment. It had been like some of the dreams he had after Luke died. That he'd be playing and healthy and alive like nothing ever happened. This seemed to just like those dreams. Well, with out the disturbing talking rat that was vaguely familiar. Luke looked up from the flowers and looked over at Doggett. For a moment they stared at each other not sure what to make of each other, then it was broken. Luke let a smile pass his lips. "Daddy!" he squealed as he ran towards Doggett. "I knew you'd come. The man and lady said you'd come." There had been only three times in his whole life that Doggett had been completely speechless and this was number four. "Luke what happened?" "Well I was just waiting for you to come. They told me I could wish for anything I wanted and well I wished for you to come and here you are. Daddy I missed you." "Luke.let's go home. I'm sure your mom would like to see you." "But," Luke said. "I am home." Doggett blinked at this statement. How could he say he was home? This wasn't not for him not for Luke. Home was that small house in suburbia that Luke had been raised at. "You know what I mean. Home with your mom." "And I am home with my mom." This confused Doggett even more. Not only had he been lost for the better part of the day he found himself at an old farm house with his son who had been dead and none of it was making sense. Of course for some reason he couldn't accept that idea that he sucked into the Twilight Zone. That, of course, would mean that some one would have to have told John Doggett that he was sucked into the Twilight Zone and that would have ruined the story and I'm not about to do that since I'm putting all this hard work into a short story that may or may not be brilliant.anyway, back to the story. As I said Doggett was perplexed at his current situation which in all fairness anyone would be given this situation. However, things were about to get weirder and a little bit on the Dipper side (god please forgive me for putting some dipperness into a fic.) because a woman stepped out on the porch of the old farm house. "Mommy!" said Luke in an excited voice. "I told you he'd come." "Yes Luke and It's a good thing that he did come." Doggett turned as the recognition of the voice behind him. This is where the writer shelves all since off moral decency and goes into a semi-shipper like turn of events because dammit it's my fic. There was Monica in the "June Cleaver" type of uniform. He wasn't sure if he was going to laugh or cry. It wasn't something he'd expect to see her in, well, ever but there she was standing in this dress when she looked at Doggett with an expression that said Shut up John but also echoed his own confusion on the series of events that have happened. "See, daddy," Said Luke. "The man told me I could have anything I wanted here you are." "What man, Luke?" "John," Reyes. "Its better that you not ask." He looked at Monica with astonishment. Clearly she knew or had some idea of what was occurring and she wasn't going to share that information. Well, not at this point. He watched her muscle up a smile. "Dinner is ready." This is where the scene dissolved to inside of the inside of the farmhouse which looked about the same as the outside. Old, run-down, needing of new wall paper and maybe a few new things such as a refrigerator and modern comforts of society in the later half of the 20th century and the dawn of the new one. "Where's all your electronics?" asked Doggett naively. "Oh.those." Said Luke. "I wished them into the cornfield because they were annoying." "Yes," Reyes's voice trailed off. "A lot of things get wished into a cornfield." "But it's a good thing you did that Luke." Said Aunt Becky "Like the Wilson's collie. It was thinking bad things about me." Said Luke his voice turning sinister. "Things I didn't like I wished it into the cornfields." "Luke it's a dog. It can't think anything about anyone." "But this one did. Just like the kids next door and Perry Como." "Luke, that isn't very nice." "But it's a good thing you wished Perry Como out into the cornfield." Said Aunt Becky and Reyes said in chorus. "I'm not disputing that at all." Said Doggett. "But Luke what are you going to do when you don't get your way?" Luke narrowed his eyes unhappily at Doggett. This was something he didn't want to here. In the seven years on this planet several of them in this environment he didn't here some one told him no. It was at this point that Luke Doggett had made a very large jump to a conclusion. "You don't love me do you?" "Luke that's abused you know you I love you." Doggett said with a half laughed. "Why would you get such a silly idea like that?" "I can read your mind.and it wasn't good." "What?" "You're thinking bad things about me." Yelled Luke. "I'm going to.to.to." Luke curled up his nose and with in minutes Doggett was turned in to John- in-a-box. Reyes sort of blinked and Aunt Becky shrieked in horror. In spite of his current state, Doggett could see a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Go Luke.wish it into the cornfield." Said an all too familiar voice.
And.
"Mister, Mister! Are you listening to me?" "Huh? What?" Doggett then found himself standing in the subway tunnel. The Farmhouse and everything had been a bad day dream brought on by the nagging of this old woman who was shoving a crumpled piece of paper into his hand. He couldn't hear what she was saying. Every third word seemed to be coming through. He was sure he heard the word Jesus and immortal soul. Suddenly not even that was coming though only a high pitched wail screamed through his head and suddenly the old woman had faded black. This was for the better since the old woman had taken to shaking Doggett. Good for Doggett, bad for the old woman because then she was flung into the tracks to the oncoming subway train. Needless to say Doggett panicked when he realized what he had done and ran out of the tunnel into the night air blinking and confused. He could hear some pounding cords of music pulsing (Pink Floyd Run Like hell?) through his head. Suddenly hitting the concrete and look around. The streets were a wash of light and spanned around him. He could his breath and the pounding of his heart in his chest. Was that his heart? "John.Joooooohn.Jooooooohhhhhhnn." Said a voice inside his head. Doggett looked around confused but still looking around. "What? What?" "Joooooooohhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnn" "What the hell do you want?" "Put the scissors down John." "What scissors I'm not holding any damned scissors." "NOOOOOO. John No." This caused Doggett to start running down the darkened streets. It wasn't to long before a hand grabbed him. He didn't recognize this hand or the voice. "John comes in here and you'll be safe." Perhaps he shouldn't have done that since he walked into the room and then realized that the voice and person that voice belonged to wasn't there. He tried to open the door realizing that it was locked. He then looked around and then realized that the door but a round room. "Well what now?" "I don't know." Said a nonchalant Smokey voice. "Try to find the corner in the room. The others will be here soon."
~Fin
"Every Mistake I've ever made comes back to haunt me." ~Marcy Playground "Bye Bye"
The sun kept hitting John Doggett on the back of his dust covered suit jacket as he walked down unfamiliar dirt road. He wasn't sure how long he'd been walking down this road but he was. He wasn't sure where he was going or where it was leading but no doubt he'd been walking down the road for a very long time. It would explain why his feet were hurting and he grew concerned about sunburn. He sighed as he continued to walk down the road. He figured that he should have stopped and tried his cell phone. Maybe he could call some one. He had to be missed by someone, the FBI, Monica, someone. But for some reason he couldn't stop walking and kept down the path he had been going now. He'd even reached into his jacket pocket to see if he had his cell phone. The answer was no, he didn't have his cell phone. "Huh" he thought. "Must have left it in the car but where is the car." This thinking wasn't going to help him get back to his car or figure out where the hell he was. This line of thinking was interrupted by a kid, about 16-17, in a uniform whizzed by him on a bike.
"Hey Kid come back. Where the hell am I?" he yelled following him. It's a shame he did that because he then missed the entrance of a man in a dark suit, cigarette smoldering in his fingers (Pall Mall's in the red Carton of course!) who had stepped into the road.
"Witness Mr. John Doggett, 35, divorced, only son dead and buried. He stepped out one day and started walking down a long dusty dirt road in the heat of summer with no way to contact the world he knows. What Mr. Doggett doesn't know is that he has just made a turn down the road into the Twilight Zone."
However, Doggett didn't see the gentlemen but he did hear him. "Twilight Zone?" He thought. "What the hell?" He did turn to where he thought he heard the voice from but there was no one there. This wasn't anything new. Since he had started working in the X-Files plenty of weird stuff had happened. This was starting to take the proverbial cake. He thus continued to chase after the kid on the bike. "Hey Kid Slow Down." He produced his badge. "FBI." The kid stopped for a moment and turned to Doggett. "I don't want to make any trouble Mister. I just want to get my delivery done. Luke doesn't like it when I'm late." "I just want to know where I am." "Happy Valley." "Yea but where's that?" "You don't know where it is. Its here." The Kid motioned around. ".right." Doggett. "You don't know where I could find a phone do you?" "Well most of the phones are gone but I'm sure the Henderson's have a phone. There up the road. That's where I'm going right now." "Great." Doggett followed the kid up the dusty dirt road. It still bothered him that he didn't know where he was. Yea that was going to sound great. Hey Monica I'm kind in pickle. I'm in some town called Happy Valley and I don't know how I got here. He sighed as he continued to walk up the road until reaching a farm. The place looked old and run downed like it had been years since anyone did any up keep. The motif was dryness and dust as if the earth was screaming out for some water to hit it and relieve its parched and cracked body. A layer coated his shoes and pants from walking down the road for however long he had been walking. He could really have gone for a beer at that moment. He turned his attention to the house itself. It was in a bad need of upkeep, paint bleached from the sun and chipped. The porch could use the replacement of some boards and maybe the replacement of the whole porch. There was an old woman fanning herself with one of those fans he'd seen as a child sitting in a church in Georgia. "Hello Aunt Becky." Said the kid. "Sure a hot day." "Yes it is Andy." Replied Aunt Becky "A real hot day. But it's good that it's a hot day. Who's your friend Andy?" "My name is John Doggett." Said, well duh, Doggett producing his FBI I.D. yet again. "I was wondering if there was a phone around here I could use." "Oh there is no phone. Luke wished them into the corn field yesterday."
Luke? That had been the second time he had heard that name. It couldn't have been his Luke. His Luke was dead. Had been since 1991, there was no way that it could be his Luke. But it was becoming one too many times to be a coincidence for it to be someone else. He then shrugged it off since he didn't believe in that kind of nonsense. "What do you mean he wished it out into the cornfield? You can't just wish things out into a cornfield." "Shh." Said Andy. "Don't say such things you'll make Luke Mad." Just then, like on cue from some cosmic force. A little boy rounded the corner of the house giggling and happy and then he plopped down in the middle of a patch of flowers which looked rare on this barren waste land. Doggett watched for a moment with an expression of shock on his face. It was him, the way he remembered him down to the freckles on his face. A rare tear escaped from Doggett's eyes but how could it be. Andy approached the boy. "Why Hi there Luke, Whatcha doing?" "I'm making a talking one armed rat. Wanna See?" Luke pulled up a sad looking animal by the tail. Its features were rat like but there was also a human-like feature to this animal. Doggett recognized them almost in two seconds. It was those sharp green eyes or maybe it was the black leather jacket. "You'll pay for this Serling." The animal said in a high-pitched familiar raspy voice. "I'm going to make it dead." Said Luke and he stood up. "Be dead now rodent dead." "That's good Luke that you made that animal dead and all." Said Andy in a semi-quiet voice. "I've got to make the delivery. I'll talk to you when I'm on my way out." "Ok." Said Luke as he went back to playing in the flowers. Doggett didn't want to interrupt this moment he watched him for a moment. It had been like some of the dreams he had after Luke died. That he'd be playing and healthy and alive like nothing ever happened. This seemed to just like those dreams. Well, with out the disturbing talking rat that was vaguely familiar. Luke looked up from the flowers and looked over at Doggett. For a moment they stared at each other not sure what to make of each other, then it was broken. Luke let a smile pass his lips. "Daddy!" he squealed as he ran towards Doggett. "I knew you'd come. The man and lady said you'd come." There had been only three times in his whole life that Doggett had been completely speechless and this was number four. "Luke what happened?" "Well I was just waiting for you to come. They told me I could wish for anything I wanted and well I wished for you to come and here you are. Daddy I missed you." "Luke.let's go home. I'm sure your mom would like to see you." "But," Luke said. "I am home." Doggett blinked at this statement. How could he say he was home? This wasn't not for him not for Luke. Home was that small house in suburbia that Luke had been raised at. "You know what I mean. Home with your mom." "And I am home with my mom." This confused Doggett even more. Not only had he been lost for the better part of the day he found himself at an old farm house with his son who had been dead and none of it was making sense. Of course for some reason he couldn't accept that idea that he sucked into the Twilight Zone. That, of course, would mean that some one would have to have told John Doggett that he was sucked into the Twilight Zone and that would have ruined the story and I'm not about to do that since I'm putting all this hard work into a short story that may or may not be brilliant.anyway, back to the story. As I said Doggett was perplexed at his current situation which in all fairness anyone would be given this situation. However, things were about to get weirder and a little bit on the Dipper side (god please forgive me for putting some dipperness into a fic.) because a woman stepped out on the porch of the old farm house. "Mommy!" said Luke in an excited voice. "I told you he'd come." "Yes Luke and It's a good thing that he did come." Doggett turned as the recognition of the voice behind him. This is where the writer shelves all since off moral decency and goes into a semi-shipper like turn of events because dammit it's my fic. There was Monica in the "June Cleaver" type of uniform. He wasn't sure if he was going to laugh or cry. It wasn't something he'd expect to see her in, well, ever but there she was standing in this dress when she looked at Doggett with an expression that said Shut up John but also echoed his own confusion on the series of events that have happened. "See, daddy," Said Luke. "The man told me I could have anything I wanted here you are." "What man, Luke?" "John," Reyes. "Its better that you not ask." He looked at Monica with astonishment. Clearly she knew or had some idea of what was occurring and she wasn't going to share that information. Well, not at this point. He watched her muscle up a smile. "Dinner is ready." This is where the scene dissolved to inside of the inside of the farmhouse which looked about the same as the outside. Old, run-down, needing of new wall paper and maybe a few new things such as a refrigerator and modern comforts of society in the later half of the 20th century and the dawn of the new one. "Where's all your electronics?" asked Doggett naively. "Oh.those." Said Luke. "I wished them into the cornfield because they were annoying." "Yes," Reyes's voice trailed off. "A lot of things get wished into a cornfield." "But it's a good thing you did that Luke." Said Aunt Becky "Like the Wilson's collie. It was thinking bad things about me." Said Luke his voice turning sinister. "Things I didn't like I wished it into the cornfields." "Luke it's a dog. It can't think anything about anyone." "But this one did. Just like the kids next door and Perry Como." "Luke, that isn't very nice." "But it's a good thing you wished Perry Como out into the cornfield." Said Aunt Becky and Reyes said in chorus. "I'm not disputing that at all." Said Doggett. "But Luke what are you going to do when you don't get your way?" Luke narrowed his eyes unhappily at Doggett. This was something he didn't want to here. In the seven years on this planet several of them in this environment he didn't here some one told him no. It was at this point that Luke Doggett had made a very large jump to a conclusion. "You don't love me do you?" "Luke that's abused you know you I love you." Doggett said with a half laughed. "Why would you get such a silly idea like that?" "I can read your mind.and it wasn't good." "What?" "You're thinking bad things about me." Yelled Luke. "I'm going to.to.to." Luke curled up his nose and with in minutes Doggett was turned in to John- in-a-box. Reyes sort of blinked and Aunt Becky shrieked in horror. In spite of his current state, Doggett could see a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Go Luke.wish it into the cornfield." Said an all too familiar voice.
And.
"Mister, Mister! Are you listening to me?" "Huh? What?" Doggett then found himself standing in the subway tunnel. The Farmhouse and everything had been a bad day dream brought on by the nagging of this old woman who was shoving a crumpled piece of paper into his hand. He couldn't hear what she was saying. Every third word seemed to be coming through. He was sure he heard the word Jesus and immortal soul. Suddenly not even that was coming though only a high pitched wail screamed through his head and suddenly the old woman had faded black. This was for the better since the old woman had taken to shaking Doggett. Good for Doggett, bad for the old woman because then she was flung into the tracks to the oncoming subway train. Needless to say Doggett panicked when he realized what he had done and ran out of the tunnel into the night air blinking and confused. He could hear some pounding cords of music pulsing (Pink Floyd Run Like hell?) through his head. Suddenly hitting the concrete and look around. The streets were a wash of light and spanned around him. He could his breath and the pounding of his heart in his chest. Was that his heart? "John.Joooooohn.Jooooooohhhhhhnn." Said a voice inside his head. Doggett looked around confused but still looking around. "What? What?" "Joooooooohhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnn" "What the hell do you want?" "Put the scissors down John." "What scissors I'm not holding any damned scissors." "NOOOOOO. John No." This caused Doggett to start running down the darkened streets. It wasn't to long before a hand grabbed him. He didn't recognize this hand or the voice. "John comes in here and you'll be safe." Perhaps he shouldn't have done that since he walked into the room and then realized that the voice and person that voice belonged to wasn't there. He tried to open the door realizing that it was locked. He then looked around and then realized that the door but a round room. "Well what now?" "I don't know." Said a nonchalant Smokey voice. "Try to find the corner in the room. The others will be here soon."
~Fin