The Door to Tomorrow

First Night Underground

The first night was painful in both the emotional and physical sense. Not only was I separated from the outside world, but I had been unconscious for about a week, meaning I was running on empty. For that whole evening, I lay in my bed writhing about, clenching my aching stomach. The extreme hunger pangs hadn't faded since I yelled at Narrator. Whenever I thought about the delayed food, I became more impatient.

A couple of times I read through the journal to distract myself. I also decided to open the book with the number two on it—the one I saw on the bookshelf earlier. That book actually turned out to be the second journal.

As I lay under the blankets, I tried to finish the first volume.

"Back at my father's house, I did actually have an assigned caregiver. He was so cheerful...

He was my father's best friend, and he became my best friend as well. He supposedly quit his job in order to take care of me. Unfortunately, we only knew each other for six or seven months before I was abandoned."

"Sometimes I still think of that page in my notepad with Dad's friend's picture glued onto it. Why did he send me all the way back here to help this one guy? The note on the next page describes the man as 'the closest friend I've ever had'. I don't think I will ever understand (even though he was my friend, too)."

I stared at the page, trying to piece together what Joseph meant. Those entries weren't written long after the ones I read in the Library, so I at least expected some better continuity than what I actually got.

"Hmm. Joseph knew his dad's friend, but for some reason, they couldn't stay together. What?"

From what I read, it sounded like the dad and the friend had something planned out. Perhaps the friend was running away from something or someone? And how was Joseph even supposed to find their friend again?

Then, for some reason, I had a despair-inducing thought. I began to question Joseph's guardians' motives. Maybe they didn't have anything planned. Maybe what they told him was all a lie just so they could throw him out, I contemplated. I sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

Before I could take that thought any further, I started reading again. A few pages later, I came across something unexpected.

"I think about my dad so often that it might be unhealthy. I miss him and I have a lot of questions for him. I'm worried this might turn into obsession. I don't think I can tell this outlandish tale to a therapist, though. There are so many details I haven't written on paper."

"Well damn," I thought aloud.

I was surprised to see something like that show up so soon. Joseph was obviously hiding something, but he never wrote it down. Not in the first volume, anyway. I only had a few pages left. I had a feeling some important answers awaited me on the final pages. Just when I was about to read one of those pages, I heard the phone in my room ring.