S1, E4 | Nova

“Oh, fuck” Scarlett exclaims, sat in the passenger seat as she and Victoria listen into the flood of sirens engulfing them at seemingly every angle. “We’re late!” Vic mutters, gritting her teeth, angered at the missed window, with the focus of still seeing the sight for sore eyes herself. “Hurry before we’re swarmed out!” Scarlett shouts, watching Victoria ferociously pull down a few streets before arriving at the scene of the chaos.

“Oh my god!” Scarlett shouts, joining Victoria in gazing at the dismantled building, noticing the rubble of the formerly-intended skyscraper not even reaching past three stories. “It’s so much worse than I thought!” Scarlett says, watching Victoria climb out of her car and race towards the scene of the destruction. “Vic, wait!” Scarlett shouts, hopping out of the car and running after the woman, hell-bent on getting to the man stranded in the place they once met him in.

“Victoria, wait!” Scarlett shouts, barely dodging a car coming within inches of mowing her down as her friend disappears into the collapsed remnants. “Fuck!” Scarlett mutters, continuing her run, coming to an understanding that it’ll take throwing herself into the carnage to save her friend from eminent demise. “Victoria, where-” Scarlett begins to shout, forced to leap back to the ground as the earth beneath her begins to shake, and the remaining debris huddled higher than the rest begins to slowly sink inwards.

“Victoria!” Scarlett shouts, standing up and beginning to race for the building until the rubble caves in the rest of the way, crushing whatever remains below it as the dust litters the air. Stuck in place as if she were encountering the realm beyond for the first time all over again, Scarlett watches the dust raise in the air without worry over being caught in whatever flutters out. Mouth dropped and eyes wandering from one side of what remains of the building to the other, Scarlett whispers Victoria’s name once more, knowing the way she came in is no longer viable as an escape route.

The events having happened so soon, Scarlett turns around and slowly walks back to Victoria’s car as the civilians at every end of her scream in horror, pointing the first responders towards where the girl entered. Distraught and not yet understanding how to cope with the sights she’s just witnessed, Scarlett silently returns to the vehicle and climbs into the driver’s seat, turning the key in the ignition and staring at the building, mouth still agape.

After a few moments of sitting in complete silence, Scarlett notices something out of the corner of her eye, watching two people covered in the dust of the broken rubble escaping through another gap in the bricks. Staring at them for a moment before their identities dawn on her, Scarlett turns the key and shuts off the vehicle, rushing up to the pair and directing them towards ambulances.

“Victoria!” Scarlett shouts as she hurries up, assisting her friend in helping the injured man towards help. “What the fuck did you do that for?” Scarlett asks, looking at Victoria with tears weltering in her eyes as the pair watch the man comply with the paramedics. “That’s the guy I put down” Victoria replies, watching him nod at the question of his well being, assuring the medics he had nothing more than a few cuts and bruises.

“You’re a goddamn hero, kid” one of the many paramedics says, patting Victoria on the shoulder as he rushes towards the remaining rubble, with a few pedestrians applauding the woman for her efforts. “Let’s get back to the motel” Victoria says, leading Scarlett back towards the car, assuring her that they have some work to do.

= Dream Sequence is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

“There’s gonna be something here, I’m sure of it” Vic says, ascending the staircase alongside Scarlett, expecting the realm beyond to hand them a case file for their next great disaster in it’s usually screwed up way. Stumbling across one of the many disfigured with their backs turned, Vic looks to Scarlett to take the opportunity to harness their newest ability, using this newfound telekinesis to pick up a small plant and launch it across the room, dropping the disfigured before putting it down with a well-placed bullet.

“You done, Scarface?” Vic asks, walking past Scarlett and heading for the center piece of the building. Turning towards the hall of the faceless, the pair proceed to open the double doors and find another puzzle to solve. Pulling them open without a countdown, Vic and Scarlett both walk into the hall as if nothing had ever changed. Gone are the double doors in the back, replaced with another slate of drywall as the faceless return to their business as per their normal.

“Did we have the wrong floor?” Scarlett asks herself, walking out of the hall and seeing the same scenery lining the walls outside the hall. Taking the liberties of addressing the absence of the double door entry, Vic tells Scarlett to keep an eye out for anything out of place whilst she shifts through cabinets of useless garble. Eventually, Vic stumbles upon a book she recognizes the cover of, unable to put her finger on it, but realizing that the piece belongs to their realm of reality.

“I know it seems barebones, but I’ve seen this cover a million times before” Vic says, handing Scarlett the book as she shifts through whatever else she can find. “Come on, there’s gotta be something here” Vic says to herself, resorting to invading the worker’s personal space, looking through the cabinets on their desks for a new lead. “Goddamnit!” Vic shouts, slamming the drawer shut, and taking in a couple deep breaths as her hair covers her face.

“This is fucking bullshit” Vic says, looking over to Scarlett, who leaves Vic to spazz out, assuming she needed some way to cope. “If it’s not here, there must be places we have to look through” Scarlett suggests, telling Vic to calm down and think this through. “We’ve got the entire day to find something, we’re drugged out of our minds, remember?” Convinced they’re not crunching time, Scarlett tells Vic to take it easy and let things play out the way the realm beyond intends them to.

“It’s pointing us in these different directions, it’s only a matter of time until they bring another one down on us, alright?” Scarlett asks, rubbing Vic’s back and telling her to cool off. After a few minutes, the pair leave the faceless hall and prepare to immerse themselves in the rest of the office.

Walking through dimly lit corridors in search of something calling out for them, Scarlett and Vic walk past one empty room after another, chairs and desks abandoned in the line of duty. “Left side” Vic calls out, pulling a paper weight and zipping it into the face of the disfigured stood guard by a room illuminated in a brilliant white. “After you” Scarlett says, letting Vic lead the way into a cafeteria, each seat empty and the trays upon the serving counter sparkling clean.

Taking one step into the cafeteria, the ground below begins to bend, reacting with the weight of each step taken. “I guess we’ve gotta get use to this kind of thing” Scarlett says, taking off from where Vic jumped back, startled by the feel beneath the soles of her shoes. “Holy fuck, this is trippy” Scarlett says, pulling her second foot onto the floor and steadying herself as the room begins to sway back and forth.

“It’s like I’m on fucking acid!” Scarlett says, amused as she calls for Vic to join in. Putting her concerns over her prior experience behind her, Vic steps into the room, stumbling over the waves of the floor. Suddenly, the doors behind them slam shut, and the sound of the booming thud causes Vic to fall backwards in fear, disappearing beneath the floors surface. “Vic?” Scarlett calls out, turning around the see the girl having vanished beneath the surface, poking her head out a few moments later, keeping herself afloat as she struggles to climb onto one of the cafe tables, soaking wet to the amusement of Scarlett.

“That was fucking hysterical!” Scarlett says, walking over to check on Vic before being shoved into her own pool for her troubles, jokingly referring to Vic as a bitch as she climbs up a table of her own. “I was trying to help you!” Scarlett says, resorting to the notion that it came at the price of humor at Vic’s expense. Mustering up the courage to give it another go, Vic places her foot onto the ground and steadies herself, ready to walk again as Scarlett follows suit.

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Wiping the sweat from his brow as he digs his saw into a log, Al calls out for someone knocking at the front door to meet him in the backyard. “Who’s there?” Al asks, caught off guard when Rachel greets herself. “Rachel? I thought you were with Scar?” Al asks, watching Rachel’s eyebrows lower and her head tilt, assuring Scarlett’s father that there weren’t even plans made for that.

“Scarlett said you needed her… Something urgent” Al says, again assured that she hasn’t seen Scarlett at all today as Nora climbs down the back stairs. “Rachel? Why aren’t you with Scarlett?” Nora asks, watching Rachel’s demeanor turn into one of concern. “I don’t know what Scarlett told you, but I haven’t seen her since school yesterday” Rachel replies, beginning to sound off the alarm bells in Al and Nora’s heads.

“Do you know where she is?” Al asks, watching Rachel look towards them with almost as much worry as they themselves appear to hold. “No, that’s why I came here. She isn’t answering her phone” Rachel replies, watching Al immediately rush into the house and reach for the keys as Nora tells Rachel not to worry. Walking after Nora as she locks the backdoor and exits through the backyard, Rachel watches Al frustratedly climb into his car and turn the key, unable to start it.

“What the hell is going on here!?” Al shouts, popping the hood open to find the car having been tampered with, the engine having been flooded. Grunting in anger as he slams the hood shut, Al’s anger subsides when Rachel offers to drive the pair in her car. Not one to pass up that kind of offer now, Al walks towards the car and climbs into the driver’s seat, watching Rachel state that she’s the only one allowed to drive the car.

Sighing, but understanding that the law is the law, Al climbs into the backseat, leaving Nora to the passengers side as Rachel climbs into the driver’s seat. Pulling out of the driveway and onto the main road, Rachel asks where they’re off to, finding the parents unsure of where their destination is. “Okay, I might know where to go” Rachel says, turning away from the on-ramp in favor of an alternative route at the last possible minute, taking the vehicle out of the suburbs and into the outskirts of Prairieville, Louisiana.

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“This place is pissing me off” Scarlett says, grabbing onto whatever she can find for support, each step further pulling her towards annoyance. All of a sudden, the sound of her own name being called from within the sanctum of the main dining area forces the woman to rush to Vic, watching her stare at the room surrounding her. Noticing something off about the girl, Scarlett calls out Vic’s name in hopes of a less paranoid response, only to find the woman scanning the room, looking frightened by what could come next.

“Vic, what’s going on?” Scarlett asks, watching the woman turn towards her as her balance begins going. “Look around” Vic says, playing off her fear with a composed demeanor, allowing Scarlett to view the predicament through her own lens. After a moment of gazing around the room, Scarlett notices the cafeteria line and every table having disappeared from the room, unable to figure out why the phenomenon has occurred. 

“Where’d the tables go?” Scarlett asks, watching Vic turns towards her slowly, watching the ground below her continue to shake despite Vic not moving an inch. After a few further moments, Scarlett looks towards the way they came and sees nothing more than a blank wall where the double doors once resided. Looking back to the girl and pleading for an answer, Scarlett watches Vic turn towards her and inform her that they submerged below the surface.

Looking at Vic as if she had three heads, Scarlett looks up to notice the ceiling far closer to them than it once was, suggesting that the water level below them is rising. “This room is sinking, Scarlett” Vic says, cautiously starting to walk around the room to look for a way out. Accepting that the situation won’t be changed by arguing about it, Scarlett joins Vic in looking for alternative routes out of the room, searching throughout whatever spots they can find.

“Keep looking!” Scarlett shouts, caught in the corner of Vic’s eye before she dives below the surface and begins swimming towards the double doors. The deep blue water beneath their feet already difficult to see through to start with, Scarlett fumbles her way over what remains sunken below the surface until she finally catches a glimpse of the presumed exit at the last possible moment. Going back up for air, Scarlett dives right back down and takes her shot at the doors, desperately trying to push them in to no luck.

“Damnit!” Scarlett shouts, splashing the water as she emerges from below the surface, admitting that the doors don’t budge an inch. “There’s someway else, there’s no way we’d be condemned to death without an alternative route” Vic exclaims, stammering around the room before suddenly having the where withall to look up. “What about that?” Vic asks, pointing directly overhead to a vent system, suggesting they ride the rising water level to the top and make an escape the cinematic way.

“I’ve got a better idea” Scarlett says, brandishing her firearm and sending off a shot towards the vent, popping the cover open before pulling something free from beneath the water. Like a dolphin splashing out from beneath the waves, a cafeteria table suddenly pops up and hoves beside the girls. “Get on!” Scarlett directs, watching Vic turn towards her with an amused face, her grin disappearing once she realizes that Scarlett’s suggestion is legitimate.

“You wanna drown?” Scarlett asks, watching Vic climb onto the table before joining her, pulling the table up slowly before the vent comes within arm’s reach. Climbing through the vent, Scarlett lets the cafeteria table drop back into the sea below, only to watch the previously lower water level suddenly rise with a massive surge, spilling into the vent. “Hurry!” Scarlett shouts, crawling through the system with Vic as the water below them swashes around like the tide crashing into the shore.

Taking the turns of the vent in whichever direction it opts to carry them, the pair notices the water beneath their hands and knees begin to rise, threatening to drown them out if they’re not fast enough. Despite the do-or-die situation, the girls take a much needed reprieve as they encounter a split in the path, with two separate options afforded to them. “What are you doing?” Scarlett asks, unable to see what Vic can, and just as enamored with the idea of the paths as the woman in front.

“I’m gonna trust you on this one” Scarlett shouts, waiting for Vic’s response, feeling as though the fork in the road wouldn’t exist without a reason. “It pushed us into this vent on purpose, I’m one to believe the path we take matters towards what comes next. Just trust your instinct” Scarlett calls out, waiting eagerly as the water begins to rise towards the middle of her forearms. “Preferably before we drown, though” Scarlett shouts, watching Vic take the left-most path, outrunning the water as if lifts past the bottom of her chin.

“Save your breath!” Scarlett shouts, doing her best to empty her lungs enough to keep as much air as she can contain when the moment calls for it. Struggling onwards as the splashing water throws itself into the girl’s eyes and ears, Vic manages to spot a momentary burst of light coming from the very end of the corridor roughly fifty yards out. “I see it!” Vic shouts, the task at hand now going from the search for a way out to a race against mother nature.

Still a number of yards away, the girls find their mouths and noses touching the water as a mere two inches further would completely cut them off from oxygen. A few seconds later, the rush of water lifts the level again, splitting the girls off from their supply, turning the race from one against water to one against their own lung capacity. The bursts of light growing more rapid and more visible, the girl notice the end growing closer, fighting their way until their last breath. Finally, the cold metal surface and bone-chilling waters are replaced with the sensation of water boarding as they fall through the end and crash into the compacted dirt below, their faces exposed to the swell of water joining their drop.

Gasping for air between coughs as their lungs get used to the rush of air it had quickly become unadjusted to, the girls catch themselves in the moment they find find themselves embroiled in. “Where are we?” Scarlett asks herself, the first to make it back to her feet as she walks a few feet away from the drain. “Are we outside?” Vic asks, joining Scarlett in staring off in wonder as they walk the empty streets of Baton Rouge.

“Have you found what you were looking for yet?” Esotera calls out from behind them, her clean and well-maintained appearance making Scarlett and Vic look like druggies just coming down from a high. “Where have you been?” Scarlett asks, informed that she’s been digging into whatever she could to help the girls. “I may be your subconscious, but you’ve given me a life of my own. I figured I should do something with that life” Esotera says, answering the most obvious question.

“You’re still in the realm beyond, but it’s mirroring the realm you’re most used to” Esotera informs, letting the girls know that the realm beyond is evolving into something the girls can become more perceptive to. “So they’re killing a shit ton of people, but putting us on training wheels while we figure out the puzzle?” Scarlett asks, watching Esotera shrug in response. “If you choose to look at it in that light, I will not try to dissuade you” Esotera retorts, “But if you wish to know what I view it as, I will tell you that this is just another step in your indoctrination into the realm beyond.”

Angered, Scarlett tells Esotera that she’d rather not be a part of the realm beyond if it is only going to hurt people and force her to watch. “I want out” Scarlett says, further annoyed when Esotera apologetically returns with the fact that there is no choice in the matter. “Unfortunately, there is no permanent solution from the realm beyond as far as I am aware” Esotera states, forcing Scarlett anger to further boil before it begins tipping over the edge.

“This is fucking bullshit!” Scarlett shouts, silenced by the sudden surprise of two vans pulling up to the curb and coming to an immediate stop. “What the fuck?” Scarlett mutters, the picture of the skylight dying into darkness brought to a stubborn shift as Vic shouts for Esotera to vanish. Doing as told, Esotera disappears into thin air, returning to her prior work as Vic hurries up to Scarlett’s side, pulling her by the arm as her gut instinct of something being off is proven correct.

With a sudden blast, the girls are thrown from their feet and enraptured by a massive explosion, lighting the night sky a horrifying orange, burning their flesh before their bodies can return to the ground. After a brief two second engulfed in the intense heat, both Victoria and Scarlett awaken in the realm of reality, jolting from their sleep in a traumatic daze, looking to each other for the affirmation that the experience was over.

“An explosion and getting flooded out?” Scarlett asks, looking to the other girl, who finds herself just as baffled by the combination as her. “What explosion in the middle of town sinks a building into the ocean?” Scarlett asks, Victoria wiping her eyes away before turning on the television and attempting to forget about the whole ordeal all together. Before long, Victoria is reimmersed in the events of the realm beyond, seeing news coverage detailing her own heroic actions in vivid detail, asking her to come forward so the Baton Rouge Police Department can formally thank her for her actions.

“Holy shit” Victoria mutters, with Scarlett quickly hopping out of bed and running for the television screen as the picture of both Victoria and Scarlett rushing away from the scene and escaping in their vehicle plays on a loop. “Please tell me we’re still in the realm beyond?” Victoria says, taking a seat beside Scarlett and taking in the pictures as they scroll by. “We’re definitely not” Scarlett says, joining Victoria in a state of wonder as the wounded man they heroically saved pleads for them to come forward so he can thank them.

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“Why would they be out here?” Nora asks, following Rachel through an open field in the middle of nowhere. “Scarlett and I come out here to drink sometimes” Rachel says, turning towards the two adults and assuring that they only have two drinks at maximum. “The world just gets to cluttered” Rachel continues, “It’s nice to come out and forget about it for a little bit so it doesn’t keep weighing us down.”

“You two shouldn’t be drinking” Al says, watching Rachel nod and suggest that they’ve known that for a very long time. “But I shouldn’t be one to talk” Al continues, admitting that he’s glad they remain cautious to not push it too far. Opting to stay quiet, Nora starts to ask where they are going, only to cut herself off upon the sight of a small but noticeable dip in the ground.

Coming closer to the end of the stable ground, the trio peer over the edge of a dip, leading to a small little makeshift campsite at the very bottom. Walking to a crafty dirt staircase the girls managed to craft, the trio find themselves at the bottom of an intersecting dip, surrounded by litter comprised of shattered bottles and torn fabric from weathered picnic chairs.

“This is where you guys disappear to?” Nora asks, met with a disappointed ‘yes’ from Rachel, upset at the fact that Scarlett is nowhere to be seen. “Maybe she came her earlier with someone?” Al suggests, “Maybe she’s on her way home and we just passed her at some point?” Detoured from his hopes as Rachel gets off the phone with Scarlett’s answering machine once again, the trio begin to ponder where Scarlett could be hiding out at.

Calling for his wife, Al notices her holding something in her hands, curious as to what it is. “What’ve you got there, hun?” Al asks, walking over to find his wife holding Scarlett’s journal, carefully tucked in between two trees to keep it from being dampened by any incoming rain water. “Is that Scarlett’s?” Al asks, watching Nora look up to him and admit that she doesn’t feel okay with invading her privacy like this. “Sweetheart, if this can tell us where she is, we need to read it” Al says, not one for invading one’s personal space, but changing his tone when the situation reflects a need for it.

“We can apologize to her after we find out where she is, alright? Until then, we need to know if she was here” Al concludes,gently taking the book from his wife and searching for the most recent entry. Reading the most notable entry, Al discovers something peculiar in her words that concern him, though ease his worry. “What did she write?” Nora asks, watching Al struggle to comprehend most of what the words even describe to begin with.

“Something about going to another world when she sleeps and solving mysteries or something” Al replies, tossing Nora for a turn harder than the worst of drugs can cause. “She said she saw the train wreck happen the night before it happened” Al calls out, the conversation pulled off course slightly with Rachel’s question of whether or not she mentioned the girl’s name. Upon reading the name ‘Victoria’, Al watches Rachel come to a sudden realization that she knows exactly who Scarlett is referring to.

“I don’t know anything about her, but I know she’s new at the school” Rachel replies, following Al as he works his way up the stairs. “We’re going to the school” Al says, climbing into the backseat as Nora looks through her phone, searching for Scarlett’s phone number once more. “Al, honey?” Nora calls out, “What did the end of the book say?” After taking a moment to recall, he mentions something along the lines of a building falling during construction, watching Nora turn to face him, eyes widened and her mouth dropped.

Handing Al the phone, Nora watches the man’s reaction do the same as he looks at a picture of Victoria and Scarlett on the front page of her facebook, with the request that the two girls make contact with the police department for their heroic actions. “That building collapsed while it was under construction, Al” Nora says, watching Rachel’s mouth drop at the sight of her best friend leading Victoria away from the scene.

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“What the fuck are we gonna do?” Victoria asks, begging for Scarlett to say something as the girl turns off every light in the room and tries to calm her nerves. “We don’t do anything” Scarlett replies, stating that they need to skip town. “I can’t leave the school, Scarlett!” Victoria shouts, only for Scarlett to make it clear that they have no other option. “Our picture is all over the news, Vic. If either of us go back home, everyone and their mothers will know about us” Scarlett shouts, declaring that this is their only option.

“We’ll crash at my place” Victoria says, immediately ridiculed by Scarlett. “No, I… I live alone” Victoria says, watching Scarlett take a mental step back. “My mother and father disappeared a few months back. I’ve been keeping up on the payments” Victoria says, telling Scarlett not to worry about it. “Don’t make a fuss about it, I’m much happier now, trust me” Victoria replies, refusing to allow Scarlett to feel sorry for her.

“But if these people find out who I am, they’ll find out about my parents being gone and they’ll drop me in foster care” Victoria says, pleading with Scarlett that she can’t just drop everything and run away. Refusing to take Victoria’s leas lightly, Scarlett tells Victoria that there is no way for her to go back to the school without immediately being recognized. “The only way out is by getting away until this all boils over” Scarlett says, apologizing out of guilt, but pushing forward the evasion knowing that it’s the only current option.

“Please, Vic” Scarlett asks, putting her arm on Victoria and pulling her in as the tears begin to form, telling her that it will all be alright in the end. “Alright” Victoria replies, nodding to agree to the terms, packing her things and getting ready to depart the motel room. Getting into the car, Scarlett and Victoria pull out of the parking lot and hit the road, listening to the officers begging the girls to reveal their identities to the Baton Rouge police department.

Switching the dial to cut off the feed, Scarlett puts her hand on Victoria’s and tells her again that everything is going to turn out okay. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, and then we’ll get back to normal” Scarlett says, promising Victoria that everything is going to be alright. Driving out of Baton Rouge, the girls begin to make their way up north, ready to lay low for everything to blow over, and then get on with their lives the way hey intended to.