Chapter 1, Episode 6

Transcript: Chapter 1, Episode 6

In a crowded bar, Blaze, wearing a long black coat, steps in to hug a taller man with numerous bracelets, loose draped pants, and blond hair in a bun. In the foreground, a dark-skinned woman with an afro and a lighter-skinned man with long hair and a bushy, square-shaped beard look on with vague smiles. Drinks and bar food sit on the table. Blaze narrates, “My morning ritual is always the same, but I never know what the afternoon will bring. Today, I went out with friends.”

Blaze holds a lowball glass and smiles while listening to a short-haired, bespectacled person beside him. He continues narrating, ““Sessions with Vern always drain me, and I needed to recharge my life energy.”

He narrates, “Ugh. Evie was right. She always is.”

As he sits surrounded by his friends, all of them laughing together, he continues, “I have lots of living friends.”

“More friends than I can keep up with.” A view of his neglected phone on the table shows a missed call from Judd Abraham, a man with white-blond hair wearing a black shirt and Roman collar.

Blaze continues, “But they’re just… more complicated than the dead.”

Blaze glances across the bar, past a living patron, to a smoky ghost seated at the counter. The ghost has a messy combover and rumpled shirt with loosened tie. Blaze narrates, “I can always read a spirit. They exude emotion, and they hide nothing. They’ve lost their façade of flesh and blood.”

Blaze props his face against his hand and stares down solemnly. “As for the living,” he continues. “Well… No one breaks your trust like the living.”

Cut to white.

The scene changes to a street view showing an urban grocery store named Windy City Grains and Greens.

Inside, Blaze stands in the plant-based food section with a grocery basket hanging from his forearm.

He reaches for a container of tofu.

A black-gloved hand reaches out toward Blaze’s gloved hand, two fingers tapping the back of his wrist.

Blaze looks over his shoulder, startled.

Standing above him is an attractive, square-jawed man in his twenties. He has medium-brown skin and black hair, a horizontal scar on his right cheek, three vertical scars on his left, and a lip ring. He wears a trench coat and a shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He stares silently down at Blaze with a vague smirk and one raised eyebrow.

Blaze stares wide-eyed at him, blushing. After a long pause, he softly says, “Hi.”

Blaze rises to his feet, and they stand facing each other. The stranger’s hands are in his pockets, and he’s half a head taller than Blaze.

Still blushing, Blaze smiles awkwardly and says, “Oh, uh… Did you want…” He holds up the container of tofu, his fingers overlapping the letter U. The container label says “Extra Firm,” and below it is a downward-pointed arrow signifying an easy-open corner.

The man glances away with a smirk and laughs, “Heh.” From close up, a few brown highlights are visible in his dark hair.

He glances back at Blaze, hesitates, and says, “Hey…”

With a charming smile, he asks, “Have we met before?”

Blaze returns his smile, blushing deeply. He replies, “Oh, I… I think I would’ve remembered that.”

The man’s smile shifts, looking slightly taunting. “Are you sure?” he asks. “Are you sure you wouldn’t forget?”

He holds out a cell phone inches away from Blaze’s stunned face and says, “‘Cause you forgot your cell phone at the bar across the street.”

As the man in the trench coat walks away, Blaze stands stiffly and stares silently after him.

Blaze turns to his left with a frown.

Down the aisle are four ghosts: a light-tinted 1970’s male grocery store manager and frumpy middle-aged man, a smoky 1940’s female factory worker with a screwdriver stuck in her chest, and a tall smoky ghost wearing a baseball cap. They cringe and say, “Ooooooh…”

Blaze replies, “Shut up.”

Cut to white.

Later, Blaze scans his container of tofu at the grocery store’s self-checkout. On the surface beside the scanner sits a small bag, opened to reveal a wallet and other odd items, including a small vial of white powder, a tiny bag of green powder, some brown sticks, and a sprig of green leaves. As the self-checkout beeps, Blaze narrates, “Ugh… That was miserable.”

He frowns as he holds a baguette. He continues, “I can’t decide if that guy was a Good Samaritan for returning my phone… or a jerk for the way he did it.”

He places a bottle in his brown grocery bag alongside the baguette and some leafy greens. He continues, “I’m just glad Evie isn’t here. She always gets on my case for forgetting things.”

He slings the grocery bag over his shoulder and walks away, leaving his small bag of essentials on the self-checkout behind him. He continues, “She’s so unfair. I’m not that bad.”