THE TRAVELER - A SHORT AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BLOG STORY


By Lex Forge

Character Description:
Lex Forge (male) – 21 Years Old
A Pennsylvania State University film major seeking inspiration

INT. BEDROOM – DAY

A man — early 20s, unshaven, disheveled hair — sits on the floor leaning against a bed. He’s occupied the same position for some time now. He sits unmoving, his eyes staring forward into space — they seem to be focused on everything and nothing at once. But his outward stillness is deceptive. 

INT. THE MAN’S HEAD – DAY

He’s wading through a thick haze. The room is quiet but a low rumble fills his ears. It sounds like a muffled chattering, an ensemble of indecipherable voices. They coo, they hiss, but they remain unclear. There’s too many, only the occasional word cuts through the noise. The man is tempted to listen closer, to try to understand them. But he knows following them will only pull him further into the fog.

The ever present fog. It envelopes him. In every direction there only seems to be more of it. It’s beginning to slow the man down. Moving through it is disorienting. There’s no tether to follow back to where he started, no indication of where he’s going or where he’s been. Has he always been in the fog? Was there ever a time without it? He just knows he has to keep wandering. He has to keep wandering through that oppressive uncertainty. But suddenly he stops. He has the distinct sensation that he’s reached a precipice. That one more step will send him plummeting over an edge and into that fog forever. Then the whole struggle will have been in vain. There’s a reason he’s reached this point. He believes that. He was meant to reach it. He doesn’t dare move. The rumbling has stopped. There’s an eerie sense of quiet. Is… is the fog thinning?

Then a bright flash erupts through the fog. It explodes with such force that everything is instantly illuminated. There’s nothing but the light now. It washes over the man and for a moment everything makes sense. The fog is gone. The journey is complete. Then as quickly as it appeared, the light vanishes. The fog descends once more.

INT. BEDROOM – DAY 

The man snaps back to reality, feverishly scribbling an idea down on a piece of paper. It was only a brief glimpse but there’s no mistaking it: inspiration has struck. He knows he will have to travel into the fog once more. But at least, momentarily he has silenced his doubts and remembered why he chose to be a filmmaker.

This project was created as part of the JTWO [INC]ubator Project. A semester long internship program built from the ground up to give young filmmakers, content creators, and all around hungry for a challenge individuals a place to stretch their creative minds while preparing them for the road ahead.

Learn More