**EPISODE ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN**
**THE LAST DAY OF THE STORY**
---
ZERO.
The machine did not explode.
It remembered.
That was worse.
For one impossible second, Milo saw everything.
Not the jungle.
Not the laboratory.
Not the machine.
Everything.
Every moment he had lived.
Every moment he had forgotten.
Every moment that had never happened.
And every moment that had happened only because somebody remembered it.
Then...
BLACK SCREEN.
Silence.
A heartbeat.
THUMP.
Another.
THUMP.
Then...
Milo opened his eyes.
He was standing in a railway station.
Empty.
No trains.
No passengers.
No announcements.
No clocks.
Only rows of benches stretching into darkness.
Milo looked around.
"Where am I?"
A voice answered:
"At the end."
Milo turned.
Tarzan stood behind him.
Milo stared.
"How did you get here?"
Tarzan looked at the empty tracks.
"I followed the sound."
"What sound?"
Tarzan pointed.
Far away...
something was approaching.
Not a train.
A page.
A single enormous sheet of paper moving along the tracks.
Milo stepped backward.
"That's new."
The paper stopped.
Words appeared across it.
PASSENGERS:
MILO FINCH.
TARZAN.
NOVA.
THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.
Milo looked around.
"Where's Nova?"
Tarzan shook his head.
"He was not on the machine."
Milo's expression hardened.
"Then why was his name listed?"
Tarzan didn't answer.
The paper began moving again.
Milo grabbed it.
The moment his hand touched the surface...
the station vanished.
---
LIGHT.
Nova was standing in a room.
A very small room.
A child's room.
There were drawings on the walls.
Trees.
Stars.
Machines.
People.
Doors.
Hundreds of doors.
On the floor was a red pencil.
Nova picked it up.
He looked at the nearest drawing.
It showed a jungle.
A boy standing beneath a tree.
Tarzan.
The next drawing showed a man beside a machine.
Milo.
The third showed a boy standing in front of seven doors.
Nova.
He stared at the drawings.
Then he noticed something.
Every drawing had been signed.
Not with a name.
With the same symbol.
A circle.
Broken in the middle.
Nova touched it.
The room changed.
The drawings became photographs.
The photographs became memories.
The memories became scenes.
Nova saw Milo.
Young.
Alone.
Building the machine.
He saw Tarzan.
Young.
Alone.
Standing beneath the first tree.
He saw the Reader.
Young.
Writing his first sentence.
He saw the Author.
Young.
Writing his first story.
He saw the Dreamer.
Young.
Closing his eyes.
And then...
he saw himself.
Not as Nova.
As the original human.
Sitting beside the woman.
Holding her hand.
She was dying.
Nova couldn't move.
He couldn't breathe.
He wanted to look away.
He couldn't.
The original human whispered:
"Don't leave."
The woman smiled.
"I can't stay."
"I'll fix it."
"You can't."
"I'll find a way."
"You can't."
"I'll remember you."
She smiled.
"That's enough."
Then...
her hand went still.
Nova closed his eyes.
A tear fell.
And the room went dark.
A voice spoke.
"You have finally seen it."
Nova turned.
The Reader stood behind him.
Older now.
Holding no book.
No pencil.
Nothing.
Nova asked:
"Why did you show me this?"
"Because you kept trying to escape it."
"I wasn't there."
"You were."
"No."
"You were the part of him that couldn't accept it."
Nova stared.
"The original human."
The Reader nodded.
"He created Nova because the human version of himself could not carry the memory."
Nova whispered:
"So I carried it instead."
"Yes."
"Without knowing."
"Yes."
"Why?"
The Reader looked at him.
"Because a memory is easier to survive when it believes it is a story."
Nova looked at the dying woman.
"What about Milo?"
"What about him?"
"He lost someone too."
The Reader nodded.
"That's why he found you."
Nova frowned.
"Milo found me?"
"He found the same question."
"What question?"
The Reader answered:
"How do you go forward when everything inside you wants to go back?"
Nova was silent.
The Reader continued:
"Milo built a machine to travel through time."
"He thought he wanted the past."
"But he was really looking for permission to leave it."
Nova looked at him.
"And Tarzan?"
The Reader smiled.
"Tarzan never wanted to leave."
"Then what was he looking for?"
"A place where survival did not require forgetting."
Nova looked down.
The broken circle appeared beneath his feet.
The symbol began glowing.
The Reader stepped back.
"What is that?"
Nova asked.
The Reader looked frightened.
"I don't know."
Nova stared.
"You were the Reader."
"Yes."
"You've read everything."
"Yes."
"Then how can you not know?"
The Reader whispered:
"Because this was never written."
---
CUT TO:
The railway station.
Milo was running.
Tarzan followed.
The enormous page moved along the tracks.
Milo shouted:
"Where are we going?"
The page answered:
"THE LAST DAY."
Milo stopped.
"Last day of what?"
The answer appeared.
THE STORY.
Milo stared.
"What happens on the last day?"
The words changed.
EVERYTHING STOPS.
Milo shook his head.
"No."
Tarzan looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because Nova is still inside."
Tarzan nodded.
"Then we go back."
Milo looked at him.
"Back where?"
Tarzan pointed toward the tracks.
A train appeared.
Old.
Black.
Silent.
No driver.
No lights.
Its first carriage had a single word written on it.
BEGINNING.
Milo stepped closer.
Tarzan followed.
The door opened.
Inside were seats.
Each seat had a name.
MILO.
TARZAN.
NOVA.
READER.
AUTHOR.
DREAMER.
ORIGINAL HUMAN.
FIRST CHARACTER.
SECOND CHARACTER.
Milo looked at the last seat.
It was blank.
He touched it.
The name appeared.
MILO.
Milo pulled his hand away.
"That's wrong."
Tarzan looked at the seat.
"What should it say?"
Milo answered:
"Someone else."
The train whistle blew.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Then find them."
Milo looked around.
"Who?"
No answer.
The doors closed.
The train began moving.
---
Nova was still in the child's room.
The Reader had disappeared.
Nova looked at the drawings.
Something was wrong.
One drawing had changed.
The picture of Milo no longer showed Milo.
It showed a boy.
A very young boy.
Standing beside a woman.
Nova stepped closer.
He knew her.
Not his mother.
Someone else.
Milo's mother.
Nova whispered:
"That's his memory."
The picture changed.
The boy was older.
Then older.
Then a scientist.
Then...
Milo.
Nova understood.
"Milo didn't build the machine to change the past."
He stared at the picture.
"He built it because he couldn't say goodbye."
The red pencil moved in his hand.
Without Nova touching the paper...
it began writing.
SCRATCH.
MILO WAS NOT TRYING TO CHANGE TIME.
SCRATCH.
HE WAS TRYING TO MAKE TIME STOP.
Nova froze.
The pencil continued.
SCRATCH.
TARZAN WAS NOT TRYING TO ESCAPE THE WORLD.
SCRATCH.
HE WAS TRYING TO FIND A WORLD THAT WOULD NOT ASK HIM TO BECOME SOMEONE ELSE.
Nova dropped the pencil.
Then...
another sentence appeared.
SCRATCH.
NOVA WAS NOT TRYING TO BECOME HUMAN.
Nova stared.
He waited.
The pencil moved again.
SCRATCH.
HE WAS TRYING TO FORGIVE THE HUMAN WHO CREATED HIM.
Nova closed his eyes.
The words disappeared.
A door appeared.
No color.
No handle.
Nova knew it immediately.
The seventh door.
But it was different now.
There was a name on it.
MILO.
Nova touched the door.
It opened.
---
Milo opened his eyes.
He was back in the laboratory.
But this laboratory was different.
It was older.
Dust covered everything.
The walls were cracked.
The machine stood in the center.
Tarzan was beside him.
Milo stared.
"This is where I started."
Tarzan looked around.
"You are sure?"
Milo nodded.
"I remember this place."
He walked toward the machine.
There was a notebook on the desk.
He opened it.
The first page said:
I BUILT THIS MACHINE TO GO BACK.
Milo turned the page.
I BUILT IT BECAUSE I LOST SOMEONE.
Another.
I BUILT IT BECAUSE I COULDN'T ACCEPT THAT SHE WAS GONE.
Another.
I BUILT IT BECAUSE I THOUGHT TIME WAS THE PROBLEM.
Another.
I WAS WRONG.
Milo stopped.
The next page was blank.
Then words appeared.
YOU WERE LOOKING FOR NOVA.
Milo whispered:
"Why?"
The answer appeared.
BECAUSE NOVA HAD ALREADY DONE WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO.
Milo stared.
"What?"
The page continued.
HE WENT BACK.
HE REMEMBERED.
HE LOST.
HE FORGOT.
HE RETURNED.
AND HE SURVIVED.
Milo slowly sat down.
Tarzan asked:
"Why did he forget?"
Milo looked at the page.
"Because remembering everything isn't the same as healing."
Tarzan looked at him.
"Then what is healing?"
Milo didn't answer.
A new sentence appeared.
LEAVING WITHOUT FORGETTING.
Milo closed the notebook.
"I understand."
Tarzan nodded.
"No."
Milo looked at him.
"You understand the words."
A pause.
"You haven't done it yet."
Milo smiled.
"You're right."
The laboratory door opened.
Nova stood there.
Milo stared.
"Nova."
Nova smiled.
"Milo."
Milo walked toward him.
For a moment...
neither spoke.
Then Milo asked:
"Did you find the beginning?"
Nova nodded.
"Yes."
"What was it?"
"Loss."
Milo looked down.
"Of course."
Nova stepped closer.
"And you?"
Milo smiled.
"I found mine too."
"Who did you lose?"
Milo didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"My sister."
Nova nodded.
Milo looked surprised.
"You knew?"
"I saw it."
"How?"
"Your story showed me."
Milo laughed softly.
"Of course it did."
Nova looked at the machine.
"You wanted to go back."
"Yes."
"Would you still?"
Milo stared at the machine.
For the first time...
he didn't reach for it.
"No."
Nova asked:
"Why?"
Milo answered:
"Because if I change what happened..."
He looked at Nova.
"...I change the person who survived it."
Nova nodded.
"Exactly."
Tarzan approached.
"Then the machine is finished."
Milo looked at him.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Milo pointed toward the machine.
"Someone else still wants to use it."
The room became cold.
Nova looked at the machine.
"Who?"
The answer came from behind them.
"Me."
Everyone turned.
The Dreamer stood in the doorway.
He looked exhausted.
The manuscript was gone.
In his hands...
was a single page.
The original page.
Milo stepped forward.
"What do you want?"
The Dreamer looked at Nova.
"To go back."
Nova shook his head.
"Back to what?"
"The first moment."
"Why?"
The Dreamer smiled sadly.
"Because I know what happens if we don't."
Milo asked:
"What happens?"
The Dreamer looked at him.
"The story ends."
Silence.
Tarzan stepped forward.
"Stories end."
"Yes."
"That is their nature."
"Not this one."
Nova asked:
"Why?"
The Dreamer looked at him.
"Because this story was never supposed to end."
Nova frowned.
"Then what was it supposed to do?"
The Dreamer answered:
"Replace reality."
Everyone became silent.
Milo stared.
"What?"
The Dreamer continued:
"The original human couldn't accept reality."
"He created a story."
"The story became a world."
"The world became memories."
"The memories became characters."
"And the characters began believing they were real."
Nova whispered:
"And you?"
The Dreamer looked at him.
"I became the part that refused to wake up."
Nova stepped closer.
"You want to keep the story alive forever."
"Yes."
"Even if everyone remains trapped?"
The Dreamer hesitated.
"Yes."
Tarzan spoke:
"That is not survival."
The Dreamer looked at him.
"Then what is it?"
Tarzan answered:
"Fear."
The Dreamer lowered his eyes.
Nova walked toward him.
"You don't want the story to end."
"No."
"You want to avoid the moment after it ends."
The Dreamer looked at him.
"What is after?"
Nova answered:
"Life."
The Dreamer laughed.
"Life is where everything is lost."
Nova nodded.
"Yes."
"People die."
"Yes."
"People leave."
"Yes."
"Memories fade."
"Yes."
"Then why would anyone choose that?"
Nova looked at Milo.
Then Tarzan.
Then the original human.
Then the woman.
Then the Reader.
Then the empty pages.
"Because it is real."
The Dreamer stared at him.
Nova continued:
"A story can preserve everything."
"But it cannot let anything change."
Milo nodded.
"Time must move."
Tarzan said:
"Life must move."
Nova said:
"And we must move with it."
The Dreamer looked at the machine.
The lights came alive.
CLICK.
CLICK.
CLICK.
The display showed:
DESTINATION:
FIRST MOMENT.
The Dreamer stepped toward it.
Nova blocked him.
"No."
The Dreamer stared.
"You can't stop me."
"I don't need to."
Nova picked up the red pencil.
"I only need to finish what you couldn't."
The Dreamer looked at the pencil.
"What will you write?"
Nova answered:
"The ending."
The Dreamer smiled.
"You still don't understand."
"Then explain."
"The ending is already written."
"Where?"
The Dreamer pointed at the machine.
"Inside Milo."
Milo froze.
"What?"
The Dreamer said:
"The machine wasn't built by Milo."
Milo's face changed.
"It was built by his memory."
Nova understood.
The machine wasn't technology.
It was grief given a shape.
Every time Milo activated it...
he wasn't travelling through time.
He was reopening the memory of loss.
The machine existed because he could not let the memory close.
Milo stepped toward it.
"So if I shut it down..."
The Dreamer answered:
"You stop going back."
Milo looked at Nova.
"And if I do?"
Nova said:
"You move forward."
Milo stared at the machine.
Then...
he reached for the red switch.
The Dreamer shouted:
"Don't!"
Milo stopped.
The Dreamer ran toward him.
Tarzan stepped between them.
The Dreamer stopped.
"Move."
Tarzan shook his head.
"No."
The Dreamer looked at Nova.
"Tell him."
Nova said nothing.
"Tell him what happens."
Nova answered:
"He already knows."
Milo looked at the switch.
His hand trembled.
He whispered:
"Goodbye."
Then...
CLICK.
He turned the machine off.
Everything stopped.
The lights.
The sound.
The room.
The story.
Even the Dreamer.
He stood completely still.
The manuscript in his hand became blank.
The walls disappeared.
The floor disappeared.
The machine disappeared.
The laboratory disappeared.
And the Dreamer...
began fading.
Nova caught him.
"You don't have to disappear."
The Dreamer looked at him.
"What happens to a dream when you wake?"
Nova smiled.
"It becomes a memory."
The Dreamer nodded.
"Then remember me."
"I will."
The Dreamer smiled.
"For the first time..."
He looked peaceful.
"...I think I can."
He disappeared.
Not into darkness.
Into light.
---
The world returned.
A jungle.
Real rain.
Real wind.
Real sunlight.
Milo stood beneath the trees.
Tarzan stood beside him.
Nova looked around.
There were no doors.
No machines.
No manuscripts.
No strange symbols.
Only the jungle.
Milo laughed.
"We're free."
Tarzan corrected him.
"No."
Milo looked at him.
"We are alive."
Nova smiled.
Then something fell from the sky.
A single sheet of paper.
It landed at Nova's feet.
He picked it up.
There was one sentence.
THE STORY IS NOT OVER.
Nova smiled.
Milo groaned.
"Of course."
Nova turned the page.
Another sentence appeared.
THE LAST DAY HAS BEGUN.
Milo stared.
"What?"
The page continued.
NINE EPISODES REMAIN.
Nova looked toward the horizon.
Tarzan asked:
"What happens next?"
Nova folded the page.
"I don't know."
Milo smiled.
"Finally."
Nova looked at him.
"What?"
"We have reached the part where nobody knows."
Tarzan started walking.
"Then we discover it."
Nova and Milo followed.
Behind them...
the jungle remained.
Ahead...
the horizon opened.
And somewhere beyond it...
the original human stood alone.
He looked at the sky.
For the first time in years...
he was not writing.
He was simply watching.
He whispered:
"I forgive you."
He didn't say who.
Maybe the woman.
Maybe himself.
Maybe Nova.
Maybe the past.
Then...
a child's laughter came from somewhere nearby.
The original human turned.
There was no child.
Only an old photograph.
He picked it up.
The photograph showed three people.
A woman.
A young human.
And a boy.
On the back was written:
SOME STORIES BEGIN WITH LOSS.
He turned it over.
A second sentence appeared.
SOME BEGIN WITH LOVE.
He smiled.
Then the photograph faded.
---
BLACK SCREEN.
A heartbeat.
THUMP.
Then another.
THUMP.
Then...
silence.
RECOVERED TRANSMISSION // FILE: N-119
STATUS: TEMPORAL LOOP CLOSED
MILO FINCH:
NO LONGER RETURNING.
TARZAN:
NO LONGER RUNNING.
DREAMER:
AWAKE.
READER:
WATCHING.
AUTHOR:
SILENT.
ORIGINAL HUMAN:
FORGIVING.
NOVA:
CHOOSING.
THE MACHINE:
OFFLINE.
THE FIRST MOMENT:
SEALED.
THE LAST DAY:
BEGUN.
Then...
a warning.
WARNING:
NOVA IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CHOSE.
Another line.
MILO CHOSE TO LET GO.
Another.
TARZAN CHOSE TO STAY.
Another.
THE ORIGINAL HUMAN CHOSE TO LIVE.
Another.
THE DREAMER CHOSE TO WAKE.
And finally...
THE STORY HAS FOUR MORE QUESTIONS.
QUESTION ONE:
WHO IS THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR?
QUESTION TWO:
WHY WAS THE READER THERE FIRST?
QUESTION THREE:
WHAT WAS BORN WITH NOVA?
QUESTION FOUR:
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE LAST CHARACTER STOPS READING?
BLACK SCREEN.
A page turns.
SCRATCH.
One final sentence appears.
THE ANSWER IS WAITING IN THE PLACE WHERE NOVA FIRST SAID:
I AM HERE.
BLACK SCREEN.
**TO BE CONTINUED…**
Written By,
Ivan Edwin
Pen Name :MAXIMUS.
©All Rights Reserved