Neverwas

---

(siren)

(sound of heart beating)

Dad?

(woman) Zachary!

(dog barking)

(man) 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

un-ordinary 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.

Can you hand me that...

the whatchmacallit?

The bucket of patching stuff there on my desk?

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.

Can I get your name?

I'm 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.

Oh.

Just 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 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.

MD at Yale.

Clinical work at Cornell.

I just... I don't think you

would make a good match here.

The AMA has declared

that we're not even worthy of funding.

I'm surprised

you even heard about it.

I'm sorry that you made

a trip for no reason,

and if you'll excuse me now,

I have group in a few minutes.

(chuckles) That-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 much good.

So 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.

I mean, what can I say?

I want the job.

One month.

I'll take it.

On trial.

Fine.

No benefits.

Deal.

Come with me.

Down here we have doctors'

offices and intake rooms.

Most all our patients

are low or nonfunctioning.

Sorry to say we no longer

have an outpatient program.

All but one of my wards

shut down.

Funding cuts, of course.

Development is what

we're all about here.

I've got an insurance claim

for you, Peter.

I look forward to it,

Michael.

Hello, Bernadette.

(woman) Dr. Reed,

would you sign this?

Yeah. If you could just

give me a second, Zach.

Sure.

Just sign right

over there.

(woman) Are you

Zachary Pierson?

He's right down the hall.

(whispering voices)

(Dr. Reed) ...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.

(man) Come on, everybody,

let's join the group.

Dick. Dick?

I'd like you to meet

Dr. Riley.

Hello.

He will 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 is Dr. Riley,

but you can call me Zach

if you like.

I'm looking forward to getting to know

and talking to each of you.

This is Martin.

He's one of our interns.

Hey. Welcome to the Mill.

Thank you very much.

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.

That's a 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.

(overlapping chatter)

I can't stand

his looking at me anymore!

I can't stand it.

He's on every layer

of my fourth.

He's on the first layer

of my fifth - communication

and survival.

Blue protection shield.

I'm not repeating anything

in a way

that's not conducive

to my own free will.

(Reed) Leave her alone.

(babbling)

...body of glass.

Sally.

Don't even think about it.

Don't even think about it.

See what you did?

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 Paige?

Maggie...

From when we were little.

I was a tomboy, freckles.

Jack Paige--

Jack Paige's little sister.

You guys lived

at the Thompson house.

Yeah, my grandma.

Oh, my... What ever

happened to you guys?

Well, after that summer,

we moved to Vermont,

in with my aunt,

where we stayed.

That's right - your parents.

I forgot about that.

Yeah, no.

But I've been back here

for a while,

staying at my grandmother's,

and I was just 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 that you used to stand

outside of 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?

And 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.

Yeah, I got decorated by

a borderline schizophrenic.

She was having a bad day.

You have to go.

Right.

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