Neverwas

Dad?

Zachary!

For those of you who do not know. this is how it began.

Zachary Small was an ordinary little boy.

He lived with his ordinary father

in an ordinary house in an ordinary town.

What Zachary did not know. could not know.

was just how unordinary he was.

I had heard the stories of young Zachary and his fearlessness.

I had seen. with my own eyes. his selfless acts of bravery and courage.

And I knew. deep in my heart. that he would return to rescue me

when I was imprisoned in the dungeon that last time.

Just as the prophecy decreed.

he would restore me to my rightful place

to the kingdom he had long since abandoned.

But days turned into months.

and months into years.

And my certainty faded. until all that was left was despair.

Then again. stories are living things.

Given to turns unpredictable.

Nothing could prepare Zachary for what was to come.

for what he would become.

Like all boys. he had grown older.

But had he forgotten his purpose. had he forgotten the prophecy?

His destiny?

What follows is all I know to be true.

If there was a road leading Zachary back to himself.

it could only move in one direction:

Through the very heart of Neverwas.

This place will kill me.

It never ends.

Dr. Reed?

It's really nice to meet you.

Would you hand me that... that whatchamacallit,

- that bucket of, um, patching stuff? - Oh, sure.

I'm at war with the ceiling.

And losing, by the looks of it.

Yeah, the whole building is conspiring to fall down around me.

- Did I get your name? - Sorry. I'm Zach Riley.

We spoke on the phone a few weeks back.

I speak to a lot of people.

I'm here about the psychiatrist position.

Oh, right. You're the... You're...

Dr. Riley.

- You were on staff at Cornell. - Yeah.

Oh, thank you.

- Sit down. Move those files. - All right.

I love your clinic, doctor.

It's got a certain amount of character

that you don't, uh, you don't find everywhere.

Can I, uh, speak honestly with you, Dr. Riley?

Yeah, call me Zach. And yes, absolutely.

This is not really the kind of opening that you're looking for, Zach.

I read your proposal. It's very impressive.

M.D. at Yale, your clinical work at Cornell.

I just don't think you would make a good match here.

The AMA's declared that we're not even worthy of funding.

I'm surprised you even heard about us.

I'm sorry that you made a trip for no reason.

And if you'll excuse me, I have group in a few minutes.

That's it. We're not even gonna talk?

On your way out of town, stop at the pub on Main.

They have a great Irish stew. Massive chunks of lamb.

You don't understand. I'm counting on a position at Millwood.

No one counts on a position here.

Dr. Reed, I'm really not gonna take no for an answer. So...

Please. Hear me out.

I had an acquaintance who was a patient at Millwood a long time ago.

Whatever treatment he received, it didn't do him good.

For me, coming back here is about giving the patients what my friend never got.

I'm serious about this.

I mean, I've already rented a place in town.

Pretty confident.

What can I say? I want the job.

- One month. - I'll take it.

- On trial. No benefits. - Fine.

Deal.

Come with me.

Down here we have the doctors' offices and intake rooms.

Most all our patients are low or non-functioning.

Sad to say, we no longer have an out-patient program.

All but one of my wards have been shut down.

Funding cuts, of course.

Development is what we're all about.

I've got an insurance claim for you.

I look forward to it, Michael.

- Hello, Bernadette. - Would you sign this?

- Yeah. Just give me a second. - Sure.

Just sign right there.

Are you Zachary Pierson? He's right down the hall.

...I'd like you to handle group C.

- You can introduce yourself. - I'm sorry?

I'd like to introduce you to the group you'll be running.

I'm sorry I'm late, everybody.

Terrence. Group.

Come on, everybody. Join the group.

- Dick. Dick? - Yeah?

I'd like you to meet Dr. Riley.

- Hello. - Gonna be taking the place of Karen.

I know you all miss Karen,

but I think we can give Dr. Riley a chance.

It's nice to meet you all.

As Dr. Reed said, my name's Dr. Riley,

but you can call me Zach if you'd like.

I'm looking forward to getting to know and talking to you.

This is Martin, he's one of our interns.

- Welcome to the Mill. - Thank you. Good to meet you.

Maybe we should go around and introduce ourselves.

Gabriel, my man. Feel like joining us today?

Well, Gabriel, if you do ever change your mind,

we would love to have you join us.

Hi, Gabriel.

My name's Zach. I'm gonna be here from now on.

I'm Eleanna.

Eleanna?

- Nice name. - Do you mind if I smoke?

Jake, you know you can't smoke in group.

Dr. Riley doesn't mind if I smoke.

Dr. Riley doesn't know the rules.

I can't stand his looking at me.

I can't. He's on every layer of my fourth.

On the first layer of my fifth. Communication, survival.

Protection shield, flame.

I'm not keeping anything in it not conducive to free will.

Leave her alone.

Sally. Don't think about it!

Too much for even you!

Can I get you something to eat?

Yeah. I hear you guys have the Holy Grail of lamb stews.

You got it.

I don't believe it.

This is crazy.

- Hi. - Hi.

- You Zach Pierson? - I could be.

It's me!

Hello, you.

Oh, come on, man. Maggie. Maggie Page.

- Maggie? - From when we were little.

I was a tomboy. Freckles. Jack...

Jack Page's sister. You lived at the Thompson house.

- Yeah. My grandma's. - Oh, my God!

What happened to you?

After that summer, we moved to Vermont, with my aunt, where we stayed.

- Right. Your parents. I forgot. - Yeah, no.

But I've been back here for a while.

Staying at my grandmother's and I was up in this area doing some research.

I'm just over there. You wanna come sit with me for a minute?

All right.

The thing I remember most about you

is you used to stand outside our front gates.

Just stand there. Right?

Not exactly my proudest moment.

But, hey, what little kid didn't love your dad's books?

So what do you do now?

- I'm in grad school. - Really?

Yeah, I'm working on my thesis.

It's good to see you, Maggie.

- Yeah. You too. - So, um...

Do you wanna order something?

Actually, I gotta go. I'm running a little bit late.

But, um, like I said, I'll be down at my grandma's for a while.

Well, I'm at Millwood now.

- As a therapist, of course. - Oh.

- What? - Very interesting.

I got decorated by a schizophrenic.

She was having a bad day.

- You have to go. - Right.

So I'll be up in the area tomorrow doing some research.

I'll be here around the same time.

- Hello. - Honey! Oh!

Do you know I've left you four messages.

Seriously. Where've you been?

Ah... Yeah. Mom.

Sorry, I just...

I've been busy. Sorry I haven't called.

You're not the only one.

I tell you, this has been the week from hell.

Why? What've you been doing?

Nothing.

Which, to my constant amazement, is absolutely exhausting.

You need to get out of that house.

Take a vacation.

So, tell me, darling, how's your new place?

I took a job today,

and don't get all dramatic when I say this. Mom. but...

I'm working at Millwood.

What? Why would you go back to that terrible place?

Well, maybe to make it not so terrible.

You gave up your position at Cornell for Millwood.

Is this some kind ofjoke?

It's not a joke. It's a job.

Zachary, you know what day is coming up.

And you know how hard this time of year is for me. Always.

You know all this,

which makes your choice all the more cruel.

Of course. you're no stranger to cruelty when it comes to me.

You know what, Mom? I've got to go.

OK. Before our group sessions,

I wanted to meet with each of you individually.

I come from this real small town.