Escaping Ordinary

by Scott Reintgen

  Indira read:

  Welcome to the Hero’s Journey tutorial! The concept of a Hero’s Journey was first made popular in the Real World by Joseph Campbell. His theory was that nearly every great story in the world followed the same predictable pattern. The Wizard of Oz? The Hobbit? Star Wars? The Lion King? All those stories—and so many others—follow a standard plot pattern that he called the Hero’s Journey. We believe that taking this tutorial will sharpen your instincts and give you a natural sense of where an Author is heading in any story. Ready to begin?

  Indira saw that the last sentence was underlined. She stared at those words, and the device seemed to read her mind. That paragraph vanished, replaced with a new set of instructions:

  Head to the town of ORDINARY. You live in the brick house with the frog statues on the front porch. Open the door and head up to your room on the second floor. The scenario will begin in the morning after you get a good night’s sleep.

  The device must have sensed she was done—because the second she finished reading, the text vanished from sight. Her actual vision shifted back into focus and her eyes found Phoenix’s.

  He grinned at her. “I’m a farm boy.”

  “Flames and hay.” Indira winked. “That’s a dangerous combo.”

  Squalls was still blinking at his own instructions. Gadget actually groaned.

  “I’m apparently the town outcast?” she said.

  “And I live in the frog house,” Indira said with a smile. “Let’s get started.”

  Beginning let out a little squeal at those words. The emissary led them excitedly out of the forest. Rolling hills waited in the distance. The countryside was dotted with rather average-looking farmhouses. Beyond those stood the town of Ordinary. A single stone wall circled fifty or so buildings. The gates of the little town stood open in welcome.

  “Ordinary,” Gadget pronounced. “Pretty fitting name choice.”

  She wasn’t wrong. The place looked plain as sand.

  “That’s how it should be,” Phoenix replied. “Look at the status in the left corner of the tutor device. We’re on the Ordinary World step. Isn’t that how most of the stories start? Heroes are always living such normal lives in the beginning.”

  Beginning nodded her approval. “Ten points to you! As you advance through the tutorial, you’ll notice that the bolded step will change to indicate where you are in the Hero’s Journey.”

  Indira was still thinking about the Ordinary World step. She knew that was how the story she’d been chosen for had begun. Everything had been pretty plain. It had taken several scenes to get to the cool stuff. As the crew approached the town, it was hard not to notice just how empty it was. Not a soul could be seen. Farm tools were scattered at random. The lone guard post had been abandoned.

  Her mind started racing through clues. Was this the start of their practice journey?

  “So the townspeople went missing,” she guessed. “And it’s up to us to figure out what happened to all of them?”

  A little red −10 appeared in Indira’s vision. She frowned.

  Beginning explained. “Not exactly! The Hero’s Journey starts in the morning. When you wake up, the town will be full of people. All of you will have temporary families. Most of the actors are unfinished characters. Some very talented characters in the bunch. Just remember that everyone in the scenario with you is playing a role. Your job is to trust your instincts and practice.

  “Which brings me to the point system. Right now Indira is in the negative. Phoenix is in the positive. This is just practice, though. The points will wipe clean at the start of the scenario. You’ll find as you move through the Hero’s Journey that good story instincts earn you more points. Every time you do something well, you’ll be rewarded. Going off track or slipping out of character will be scored negatively. Your brainstorms will use those scores to assess your performance at the end.”

  End offered a queenly wave.

  Indira found herself nodding, grateful that her negative score would be reset. She was very familiar with practice roles. It was kind of like living with the Penningtons. They’d started out pretending to be family, and after a time, she’d fallen into character and become their actual family.

  “This is where we part ways,” Middle said quietly. “But do not fear, it will not be long.”

  End smiled. “Longer for some than for others! See you at the close! No spoilers!”

  “I’ll be around if you need me,” Beginning said. “Any final questions?”

  Allen’s hand shot into the air. “I’m pretty sure my device is broken. It says that I’m Phoenix’s guardian. Which is fine, I guess. I’m not sure if I’m really cut out for guard duty. But then there’s this footnote….” He squinted to read text the rest of them couldn’t see. “It says I have a seventy-five percent chance of dying to protect him during the tutorial! That’s like…a lot of percent. Isn’t it? That’s more than half! I’d have a better chance of surviving a coin flip! I guess I’m just wondering if it makes sense for me to trade for a different role? Maybe I’m the kid at the start of the story who makes a joke and you never see him again?”

  Beginning smiled. “You have a role to play. We all do. And keep in mind that the story will change as you go along. There’s always that twenty-five percent chance you survive! Trust the tutor device to guide you. I promise that it will explain everything. Any other questions?”

  Squalls was still muttering to himself. “…seventy-five percent. That’s like really close to one hundred percent….”

  When no one else spoke, Beginning dipped into a gracious bow. The three sisters walked arm in arm toward the woods. Indira watched and thought she saw them become one person again as they reached the edge of the woods. Turning back, she found the others waiting for her.

  Right, she thought. I’m supposed to lead.

  “Any other special instructions?” she asked. “Mine just says to go to bed.”

  Gadget grinned. “Mine says I get to tinker with some inventions tonight. Sweet!”

  “I’m apparently not allowed to use fire,” Phoenix said.

  Indira frowned at that. “Weird. That’s kind of what you do.”

  “It actually says fire is forbidden,” Phoenix corrected himself. “That’s the exact wording.”

  Indira considered that. It felt good to stand on the edge of a fresh new mystery. Last year, her adventure had involved a lot of bad grades and failure and frustration. She had a feeling that this adventure would be a lot more fun. Excitement raced through her veins.

  “I’m sure it will make sense in the morning,” she said. “Let’s get some sleep.”

  Overhead, the light was fading fast.

  “I’m up there.” Phoenix pointed. “The house on the hill.”

  “Me too…,” Squalls said, his voice full of concern. “There’s probably a monster hiding in that barn. Or the house will be haunted by vengeful ghosts. It looks very exposed. A good wind might knock the whole thing over on top of us. We’ll have to test every floorboard to make sure it’s all structurally sound….”

  Phoenix threw an arm around him. “Squalls. It’s going to be okay. Come on. We’ll go up there together and check everything out.”

  Allen’s steady stream of fears went quiet. Their crew exchanged goodbyes. Indira walked into the center of town with Gadget at her side. It took a few minutes to find their assigned houses. Gadget’s home looked like it was located right above a strange workshop.

  Before Indira could say good night, Gadget nodded to her.

  “What’s it like?” she asked.

  Indira frowned. “What’s what like?”

  Gadget stared down at her own feet. “Being in a story? A real story?”

  It took her a moment to remember Gadget’s file. The girl had been in school for years now, and still hadn’t found a story o
f her own. This was one of her last chances to prove she had what it took. Indira waited until the girl looked back up. She smiled, trying her best to sound confident.

  “I could tell you,” she answered, “but after we crush this tutorial, you’ll land your own spot with an Author. And then we can compare notes. How’s that sound?”

  Gadget didn’t look like she believed it, but she nodded.

  “Sounds good.”

  Indira wished the girl a good night, found her house, and headed inside. As she walked up the stairs to her bedroom, steps echoing, she felt a change in the air.

  Adventure.

  She couldn’t have been more ready for it.

  Indira woke up to a very distinct sound.

  “Is that…”

  Instinct saved her from a sharp peck on the cheek. She thrust the covers up, barely turning the blow away, and retreated to the corner of her bed.

  “Why is there a rooster in my room?”

  The bird’s bright tail twitched as it tried to find a way around Indira’s quilt barricade. It pecked once more at the covers before leaping to the floor in a flutter of wings. Indira stared as the rooster darted through a little handmade opening at the bottom of her closed door.

  She almost laughed. “Seriously? Is that a bird door?”

  It was a little disorienting. She rubbed her eyes and realized she wasn’t in the Story House. This wasn’t the Penningtons’, either. Indira looked around the sparsely decorated room and couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. “Where am I?”

  In answer, her vision doubled. She was still looking around the random bedroom, but now video-game graphics were imposed over her vision. Of course! The tutor device. She watched as little glowing arrows appeared, all pointing toward the door. She saw her name printed right where it had been the day before, and a fresh score of zero.

  In the right corner of her vision, she saw that the Hero’s Journey steps were still waiting in their orderly column. And the current status—THE ORDINARY WORLD—appeared in bold.

  A paragraph of text flashed into view:

  Your story begins in the Deacon household. You are the only daughter of the town’s recently elected mayor—Minerva Deacon. You are expected at breakfast shortly. Note: You have a rocky relationship with your mother because of how busy her new role as the mayor has made her. Feel free to show a little annoyance and flash a little sass!

  Walk through the door to initiate the scenario. If you struggle with the stages of the journey, you’ll be given clues to help you get back on track.

  As Indira finished reading, the paragraph faded from sight. Cool. The glowing arrows were still there, though, so Indira took a deep breath and reached for the handle.

  “Here we go.”

  There was a little noise—like a digital swoosh—and the tutor’s visuals faded to the background. She found herself staring down a rather steep set of stairs, and couldn’t help wondering how the chicken had survived the descent.

  Noises echoed up the stairs from the kitchen. There were a number of voices darting back and forth in conversation. Indira also heard the telltale squawking of the aggressive chicken that had woken her. It was the scent of smoked meat, however, that lured her down into a rather busy kitchen. Indira took in the most unusual breakfast scene she’d ever encountered.

  A woman in a lovely but old-fashioned business jacket sat at the head of a farmhouse table. Assistants were rushing around the room, exchanging papers, arguing with one another. Most of the food sat untouched on the kitchen counter behind them. Indira noted the chicken darting under legs and squawking whenever someone brushed too close to it. She was still taking in the scene when the woman in charge—Minerva Deacon—noticed her.

  “Oh! Look who it is!” Minerva smiled. “I sent Peck to wake you up. I knew he’d get the job done. Why don’t you grab a plate of food before school, Indira?”

  Indira blinked. She hadn’t expected the woman to know her name, but that made plenty of sense. Minerva was an actor. She was here to play the role of Indira’s mother throughout the tutorial. It took Indira a moment to recover from her surprise and fall into character. She remembered the note the tutor had provided her about their rocky relationship and decided to show a little of the suggested annoyance.

  “Sure,” she said. “Nothing like a quiet meal to start the day.”

  Minerva frowned as Indira crossed the room. The assistants didn’t break character once. They continued swirling busily around the table. “Ms. Deacon,” one was saying. “Here’s the speech. Want to look at the final lines before we send it to the typist?”

  Indira quietly gathered a plate of food. The rooster—named Peck, apparently—walked proudly over to her and ruffled her leg affectionately. She smiled down before returning to the table, dodging past a few of her mother’s assistants, and taking the farthest seat from all the chaos. She couldn’t help feeling a little impressed by the performance the group was putting on so far. It had her wondering how many times they’d done this particular quest tutorial.

  “Let’s take a break,” Minerva announced, eyes settling on Indira. “Everyone meet me at the courthouse. We’ll resume there. Someone check on Jarva, please. I know he was feeling ill last night.”

  Indira forked a bit of the eggs as the assistants gathered their things and began filing out of the room. She was starting to understand what Phoenix had been talking about the day before. This was how a lot of stories began. Setting the reader’s feet down gently. Offering up a picture of the ordinary world.

  As the others left, the room fell silent. Her playacting mother caught her eye and offered a forced smile. “So the festival is coming up.”

  Indira shrugged before taking another bite of food. It felt like an appropriately annoyed-teen gesture. Indira was pleased to see a +50 appear in her vision. Apparently, the tutor device liked her use of sarcasm and sass. Minerva didn’t look like the kind of woman who gave up easily, though.

  “You’re really going to pretend to not be excited?” she asked. “Come on, Indira. It’s your favorite time of the year. All the gamble-games. Those sea-salt taffies you love so much.”

  Indira meant to respond, but she’d taken a rather large bite of meat that was a little tougher than expected. The resulting silence drew a little frustration into Minerva’s expression.

  “Honey. I know this hasn’t been easy.” She gestured to the sprawl of papers. “I promise that it’ll get easier. Once I’m settled into the position, I’m going to have more time to spend with you. How about at the festival next week? We’ll go together. Just the two of us.”

  The front door of their house flew open. Both of them looked up as one of the assistants came bustling back into the room. At the same time, Indira’s tutor device flashed a little note of advice. Indira eyed the highlighted suggestion as her mother’s assistant offered an apologetic look.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Deacon. There’s a small emergency at the courthouse. We could use your help with it. I didn’t want to interrupt….”

  He trailed off. Indira stood angrily. She shoved her plate away with the appropriate amount of annoyance before looking directly at her pretend mother.

  “It’s fine. You’ve got more important things to do.”

  “Indira…” Minerva stood, looking concerned. “Wait.”

  Indira rounded on her and read the glowing line the tutor device had written for her.

  “I’m going to be late. Oh, and sea-salt taffies? Those are your favorite. Not mine.”

  She lingered long enough to see that her words had struck true. There was a stung expression on Minerva’s face. Indira pushed past the assistant, through the door, and out into the streets of Ordinary. As the door shut, she allowed herself a sigh of relief.

  That had been a strong opening scene. She never liked being mean, but she’d learned in her own
Story House that there was a time for every emotion. Good characters had range. They could be mean and kind and curious and sad—depending on what the plot called for. She was really impressed with Minerva. It was hard to believe someone so talented was an unfinished character.

  She watched as the device funneled points into her score. Thirty points for the dramatic plate shove. Another hundred points for using realistic mother-and-daughter dialogue. Her score was heading in the right direction. Excitement chased through her.

  This was definitely her kind of adventure. Overnight, the town of Ordinary had come to life. Indira noticed that the tutor device was providing more directions. Arrows pointed down the front stoop before swinging left. She followed, enjoying the slight breeze. Neighbors were out and about for morning activities. One man was hanging clothes on a line to dry. Another stood by the mailbox, flipping through letters.

  Indira waved at both of them, enjoying all the little details. The tutor’s directions led her to the end of the street. Another paved road ran perpendicular to the first, but was lined with businesses instead of homes. She remembered it from the night before. Gadget’s “home” had been this way. Sure enough, Indira’s route led her past the workshop.

  A glance inside showed that the store was already busy with movement. Electric lights glowed in every corner. Little machines whizzed into the air. Customers were walking around, looking delighted. Employees stood in fine navy-blue aprons, waiting to help them with purchases. Indira didn’t see Gadget inside.

  She looked up and found that the arrows were flashing a little brighter now. Indira guessed she wasn’t supposed to stray too far from the plan. She followed the path again, past businesses and vendors. It took a few seconds to realize everyone recognized her.

  “Good day to you, Miss Deacon!” One man tipped his cap. “It’s a fine morning, isn’t it?”