DISCLAIMER: I thought of this story, therefore I own it, but I don't own the Twilight Zone. : )
"The End of the Road"
By: Imogene Amherst
"Can you hear me?" a voice is ringing in my ears.
"Answer me!" it insists.
If I could, I would. Just leave me alone.
I open my eyes. I see the face of a woman. She looks worried. I don't know why.
"Corrine! Corrine, can you see me? Can you hear me? Corrine?"
I can see you. I can hear you. I can't answer. Why can't I answer?
"Corrine?" she cries.
I can't answer her. I wish she'd be quiet. I just want to close my eyes and rest. I'm tired.
I close my eyes.
Soon, her calling is a mere whisper.
Fade-in to a hospital room. We see a woman over the bed of a young lady. As she pleads for her to answer, the view spins to the door…
The patient is Corrine Middleton. Through her eyes, you are watching an unusual event take place. You see what she sees, feel what feels and know what she knows. The woman over her is Alma, her sister. Alma is worried because she doesn't think her sister will ever be the same again, if she wakes up. What Alma doesn't know is that her sister will wake up, but before she does, she will be going on an unforgettable journey… into the Twilight Zone.
"Corrine, Corrine. Glad you could come back. Glad, glad," a short old man says to me.
He's a few steps away. He's standing in front of me on… a dirt road! How did I get here?
"Well, aren't you going to say something? Something?" he continues.
"Where…" I begin to say.
I can speak. At least here I can. Where ever "here" is.
"Where are we?" I ask him.
"Well, well, finally, I do say, finally you say something. I was beginning to wonder if you could even talk, I was," he answers.
"He talks in a very odd manner," I think to myself.
"We are in Veer Harbor, dear lady. Veer Harbor is where we are," he says to me.
I turn to my left. There's water like that of the ocean. To my left, over a ridge of dirt and gravel, is the shore.
The air is crisp and cold.
Across the water, I see a town. There are many houses.
I turn facing the man again. Ahead of him on the dirt road, there is a turn to the right. I can't see what's beyond it. My guess is that it is a dead end.
I turn to my right. There are trees all up and down the road on the right side.
I turn back, facing the man.
"This is Veer Harbor?" I ask him.
"That it is," he answers, "Veer Harbor. The main part of the town is there across the water. Yes, Veer Harbor it is."
I turn around. There is a fork at which to get to this dirt road, you go right, or to get to the main road of the town, you go left.
I turn back to the man.
"Where is Veer Harbor?" I ask him.
"Here is where Veer Harbor is," he answers.
I'm annoyed by this man.
"You know what I mean. What country is Veer Harbor in? Is it in the United States? Where is it?" I ask him. I'm starting to get worried.
The man is smiling.
"Veer Harbor is not apart of any country dear lady, I say," he answers.
I give him a look of disgust. I know he is making fun of me.
I turn and walk toward the fork in the road. I'm going to the main part of Veer Harbor.
"Nice talking to you, dear lady, nice indeed. Bye, now, I say," I hear the man calling to me as I walk.
I turn my head to look back at him. He's now turned around walking toward the turn at the end of the dirt road.
I wave my hand in the air as if to wave goodbye to him, knowing full well that he can't see me with his back turned.
"Veer Harbor," I think to myself. "I hope not everyone in Veer Harbor talks as that man did."
I'm walking to the fork. I'm walking up on a dead jellyfish lying in the gravel.
As I look down at the jellyfish, I hear children laughing and playing.
I look around, but see no one.
Now, I am at the fork. I'm standing here; of course I know which way I want to go. I want to go to the main part of town. But, I see the children that I heard while I was looking at the jellyfish.
It's a group of about five young boys. They are wearing overalls and golf caps.
"Welcome to Veer Harbor," they call to me in unison as I walk by.
I look at them. I don't answer. They're just staring at me. I turn my head and look forward on. Now, I can hear them playing again.
"Odd boys," I say to myself.
As I walk by the houses, I see no one. No one is in their yard. No one is on their porch.
How strange.
I don't hear the children anymore. I turn around and look to see if I can spot them, but I cannot.
There's no one around.
"Young lady," I hear a voice say.
I spin around to see a woman. She's beautiful! She's wearing a long jade colored dress. She has curly blonde hair pinned up, I suppose, to keep it out of her face.
She's fanning herself, as if it isn't cold enough outside already.
She is about 10 steps in front of me.
"Why it's Corrine!" she says, in a surprised manner.
"How do you know my name?" I answer back.
The woman smiles, continues to fan herself, and walks toward me.
"We all know what your name is, Corrine, and we know who you are," She says to me.
"I've been trying to get some to tell me where Veer Harbor is," I ask her in an insisting manner.
"Ah, yes," she says (she's directly in front of me now), "Oliver told me about that."
"Oliver?" I ask her.
"Yes," she answers, "Oliver is the man you met on the dirt road."
"Oh, yes, the odd talker," I reply.
The woman laughs, "Come. Let's go have some tea."
She turns as though to lead the way. I follow her.
"Main road Veer Harbor," I think to myself, "What an odd place."
There is still no one around as she and I walk into town. There is no one to be found.
"Here is my cottage, to the right," she says to me.
It's a lovely stone place. It appears to be quite old.
We step inside. It's quite warm in here! I was starting to get cold out there.
"Would you like milk and sugar in your tea?" she asks me, getting the kettle ready.
"Yes," I answer.
"What is your name?" I ask. Oliver had a name, why shouldn't she?
"My name is Adeline, dear," she replies.
I look around her cottage. There is no furniture in it but the kitchen table and the chairs around it. I see no other door that could lead to a bedroom. I won't say anything about it. I just want to know where Veer Harbor is.
"Adeline," I begin, "Where is Veer Harbor? You seem like an honest person. Just tell me. I'm starting to get frightened."
Still fiddling with the kettle, she has her back to me and says nothing.
I look down at the table. Despair is setting in on me.
"You see, Corrine," she begins to say. I lift my head, listening in excitement, for maybe she will tell me where I am. "Veer Harbor is not a place you can get to by walking or any such thing."
She puts the kettle down and turns to face me.
"Veer Harbor is a state of mind that you get to only by chance. Sometimes, it's much better that you completely avoid coming here at all. Corrine, what I mean to say is this. If you cannot remember how you got here, you cannot go back to where you came from. You have to remember what it was that brought you here. Can you remember, Corrine?"
"I may never leave this place?" I think to myself. "But I must. I can't stay here."
"I don't remember." I tell her as I look down at the table.
Fade-out.
Fade back in to the hospital room. A doctor is talking to Alma about her sister.
"Alma, we're not sure about how severe your sister's condition is. She may wake up any time, or she may never wake up again. Now, you say she opened her eyes earlier?"
Alma pried her eyes away from her Corrine, who was lying on the hospital bed in a deep sleep.
"Yes, doctor, she opened her eyes. I was begging her to talk to me, but her eyes never seemed to see me."
"There is some hope then. If she opened her eyes today, she may do it again. All I can tell you to do is wait."
Fade-in to Veer Harbor, main road. Corrine stands outside Adeline's cottage with her head in her hands. The view slowly zooms in. Quickly, she turns her head to the left and glares. She turns around and begins to run back toward the fork…
I have to get away. I have to get out of Veer Harbor. I hate this place. I don't know where I came from, but I have to remember.
I'm to the fork and I haven't seen a soul. I am running to the dirt road. Something in me wants to see that aggravating Oliver again.
"He can help me," I think to myself.
The last I saw of him, he was headed toward the end of the dirt road. I'll find him.
As I approach the turn at the end of the road, I begin to get dizzy.
I stop running. Everything is spinning. I hold out my arms as if there is something to hold on to. There is nothing and I fall to the ground.
As I lie there, face to the sky, I hear footsteps coming toward me from the turn at the end of the road.
"Dear lady," I hear Oliver say as he approaches me, "I do wish you had never gone over to the other side of Veer Harbor. It would have saved you a lot of unnecessary fuss."
I lie there, waiting for Oliver to come into view.
There he is. The short little man looking down at me.
"I do say," he begins, "Get up child."
I squint my eyebrows at him and decide not to argue. I sit up and Oliver helps me to my feet.
"Never thought I'd be glad to see you," I say to him, not concerned about sounding rude.
Oliver just looked at me in the blankest way.
"Come on; let's get you back to where you belong. Heaven knows we've had enough of you."
Oliver motions me to follow him.
Now, we're to the turn in the road. It's not too sharp of a turn and it straightens out quite quickly.
It leads to a cliff and directly below it is the ocean.
"The wind is terrible up here," I say to Oliver.
He waves his hands at me.
"Never mind the wind!" he shouts, "Look into the ocean below."
I'm desperate. I head over to the edge of the cliff and I look down.
"What on earth is the point of this, Oliver?" I ask. I can't believe he's doing this to me. I might get dizzy again and fall into the water.
"Stare into the water!" he shouts to me over the wind.
I stare, not blinking. After a while, a face seems to appear just under the surface.
It's the face of a woman. I recognize her. Her mouth is moving as if she is saying something.
She reaches out her hand as if to touch my cheek.
Slowly, I begin to remember who she is.
She is my sister, Alma. She's over my hospital bed. I'm in the hospital because I was in the third car of an eight car pile-up. It knocked me unconscious.
Now, I know. I can go back now.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, I reach for her as she's reaching for me. Slowly, against the wind, I fall forward.
Fade-in to the hospital room. Alma is waiting for her sister either to wake up, or to lie there for the rest of her days.
Alma, touching her sister's cheek, realizes that Corrine is about to open her eyes. She knows because Corrine is squinting with her eyes closed and fidgeting as she did when she opened her eyes earlier that day.
"Doctor! Nurse! Someone come quickly! She's waking up!" Alma yells in excitement.
The doctor bursts through the door just as Corrine opens her eyes.
"Corrine! Can you hear me? Corrine?" Alma begs.
Corrine's eyes cleared.
"Alma, my dear sister," Corrine thought to herself.
"Say something!" Alma yelled.
"Hello, Alma," Corrine uttered with a weak smile.
Alma burst into tears and kissed her sister's cheek.
"Stay awake, Corrine! Don't go back!" Alma ordered.
Corrine's eyes are getting clearer and brighter ever second.
"I'm not going anywhere, Alma," Corrine assured with another smile.
"Welcome back," the doctor says, "Congratulations, Alma."
Corrine Middleton. She's just gotten back from a journey. Corrine is back to earth and back to stay. She will tell many about her journey, but only one person will believe her. That one person is Alma, because Alma was there by her side the entire time. Alma didn't see Veer Harbor, but she felt its fear… through the Twilight Zone.