PAGE 1 (THREE PANELS)

PAGE 1, Panel 1.
A blank white panel, narrowing towards the right side. It is straight along the top of the page, but the bottom edge is angled upwards, tapering towards the other end.

CAPTION 1:
In my dream, I see a man.

PAGE 2, Panel 2.
Another white panel, it is narrower on the left side than the right, and widens like a wedge. It’s a blank field, like the previous panel, but there is something appearing in the far distance; a small black square, almost like a window. It is outlined in a small starburst-like effect. It has the sensation that it’s rushing towards the reader.

CAPTION 2:
He is a young man.

CAPTION 3:
He is sitting in his apartment, watching television.

PAGE 1, Panel 3.
The final panel on the page, wider on the left edge than the right, filling in the rest of the space on the page. We are looking through a window into a dark room, illuminated only by the light of a small TV. On the left side of the room is the TV, on the right is the young man, looking extraordinarily bored.

CAPTION 4:
Whatever that is.

PAGE 2 (THREE PANELS)

PAGE 2, Panel 1.
A large panel along the top half of the page. The man, a young, averagely handsome sort of man, sitting slovenly in a worn easy chair, the only light on him coming from the TV, casting him in uneven shadows. He’s resting his tilted head on his hand, and looks bored out of his mind as he watches the TV.

CAPTION 1:
Whatever he’s doing, he looks like he’s terrifically bored. He stares at the box, lazily.

PAGE 2, Panel 2.
A long panel of the man answering the door, taking up a quarter of the page, and stretching across its width. Three of his friends are there, two young girls and a young man, all looking like they’re dressed for a party. They seem to be grinning and look happy, while the man answering the door looks, at best, impassive. They are on the left side of the panel, the caption takes up the right side.

CAPTION 2:
Earlier, a few friends of his came by, saying they were going to a party, and wanted him to come along. He says he doesn’t feel like it; he’s tired, he’s not in the mood, the usual excuses.

PAGE 2, Panel 3.
Another long panel, taking up the last of the page. A side shot of the man watching TV in the dark. He is on the right, the caption is on the left.

CAPTION 3:
But I can tell he’s not tired, or not in the mood, because it looks as though he would rather be anywhere than sitting on that chair doing nothing.

PAGE 3 (SIX PANELS)

PAGE 3, Panel 1.
A large panel taking up the top-left quarter of the page. An establishing shot of an enthusiastic house party, people dancing and drinking and talking excitedly.

CAPTION 1:
A flash, and I see the party he’s missing out on. It looks like a fantastic time.

CAPTION 2:
Wine (well... beer), women, and song. The drink flowed, the music played, the company was good. It looked like a classic party.

PAGE 3, Panel 2.
A small panel to the right of panel 1, a picture of two smiling women, one dancing with her hands above her head, another with a beer in her hand.

CAPTION 3:
Not going to this party seemed regrettable, but not exactly life-changing.

PAGE 3, Panel 3.
Another small panel, under panel 2. A man and woman making out on the couch.

CAPTION 4:
Maybe he was tired, maybe he wasn’t in the mood. Seemed reasonable.

PAGE 3, Panel 4.
A small panel, the first of three under panel 1. This panel is border-less, to show that the events transpiring in them aren’t real. This panel shows the young man, looking as though he’s just seen something amazing in the middle distance, and is momentarily stunned.

CAPTION 5:
But then I saw what would have happened if he had gone.

PAGE 3, Panel 5.
A small panel, a young girl chatting excitedly to some friends of her on a nearby couch. She has short-ish dark hair and a couple of earrings.

PAGE 3, Panel 6.
The young girl looks over her shoulder, and she also looks mildly surprised (draw a small burst effect next to her face) at the young man, off-panel.

CAPTION 6:
This party would have changed the course of his life.

PAGE 4 (FIVE PANELS)

PAGE 4, Panel 1.
Wide border-less panel, the young man sitting next to the girl on the couch, his arm resting on the back of the couch, behind her. They’re talking contentedly to each other. The rest of the crowd at the party has gone out of focus.

CAPTION 1:
He meets a girl there, and they immediately hit it off. I’m not sure what they’re actually talking about, because they never actually had this conversation.

PAGE 4, Panel 2.
Wide panel, slightly narrower than the panel above it, border-less. The boy and girl are holding hands, walking along a path in the park, the sun setting in the distance. They can’t take their eyes off each other.

CAPTION 2:
They started seeing each other more after the party. A lot more.

PAGE 4, Panel 3.
Square panel, under the wide panel and to the left, still border-less creating a space on the lower-right of the page. The young man and the girl standing before the alter, getting married.

CAPTION 3:
They got married.

PAGE 4, Panel 4.
Tall panel, under the square panel, border-less. Rear view of the two, now old, watching the setting sun while sitting on a porch, mostly in silhouette. They’re holding hands.

CAPTION 4:
They lived a long and happy life.

PAGE 4, Panel 5.
A rounded panel, taking up the empty corner of the page. The border is back. It’s the man still watching TV in the dark, looking almost disgusted with himself.

CAPTION 5:
But none of that actually happened. He was still there, at home, doing nothing.

PAGE 5 (THREE PANELS)

PAGE 5, Panel 1.
An “invisible” panel, along the top of the page. No border, and the only thing in it is a small caption.

CAPTION 1:
Not going to this party was a mistake.

PAGE 5, Panel 2.
A large square panel, taking up most, but not all, of the page. It’s a huge, white cosmic burst, almost like the Big Bang. It looks chaotic and powerful.

CAPTION 2:
There is a certain way things are supposed to go. It’s not exactly fate, it’s just... an optimal way of things, I guess.

CAPTION 3:
But things don’t always go as expected, obviously. And when that happens, the universe goes through an upheaval. It splits into two different paths: how things should have gone, and how things did go.

PAGE 5, Panel 3.
A wide panel, along the bottom of the page. A small, white, glistening ball is seen against black, almost like a raindrop.

CAPTION 4:
A lot of cosmic energy is released when the universe splits like that. And some of that energy is left behind.

CAPTION 5:
In my dream, I see that bit of energy.

PAGE 6 (FIVE PANELS)

PAGE 6, Panel 1.
A tall panel, along the left of the page. The white, glistening ball is falling through a black space, towards a distant, glowing light at the bottom of the panel.

CAPTION 1:
I see it falling through the void, falling out of the universe, towards something else.

PAGE 6, Panel 2.
Small panel, on the right side of the page, next to the tall panel. A closer look at the white ball. A faint shape is starting to form in it.

CAPTION 2:
It’s not a lot of energy, but in the right conditions, it could create something.

PAGE 6, Panel 3.
Small panel. An even closer look at the ball. The shape in the ball is now clearly outlined: it’s a naked woman in the fetal position, seen in profile. She is only a vague outline, however; a shimmering image, descending through the void. We can see her eye, and it’s closed.

CAPTION 3:
It could create life.

PAGE 6, Panel 4.
Small panel. A close-up of the woman’s eye, closed.

PAGE 6, Panel 4.
Small panel. The woman’s eye, now open slightly.

PAGE 7 (ONE PANEL)

PAGE 7, Panel 1.
Double-page splash, of a bedroom. It’s a rustic-looking bedroom, made of unpainted wood. The left wall is curved, as if it’s the exterior wall of a round-shaped house. To the right is a wardrobe, and against a flat wall, is a large bed, draped in what looks like a blanket sewn together from large leaves. Two characters are lying in it, to the left, a woman, and to the right, a man. The woman is awake, her eye open like the one seen in the dream, the man is still asleep. Sun rays filter in through a window to the left, casting the scene in sunlight.

CAPTION 1:
And then I wake up.