Lost In Oz

By Joshua Dudley

When four friends find themselves lost in a mysterious place, their only goal is to find a way home. When the only way home is through a young girl and her magical shoes, how much are they willing to sacrifice to catch her?

Follow Joshua, Tamara, Tommy and Laura down the yellow brick road in this all new action packed adventure. Be amazed when they meet Dorothy Gale and her gang of misfits for the first time, be in awe as they do battle with the Witch of the West, cross your fingers and hope they make it home alive.

Oz will never be the same.

www.LostinOzTrilogy.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9780557400249

Book preview

Lost In Oz

Lost in Oz

by Joshua Patrick Dudley

Copyright

Lost in Oz

Copyright © 2019 by Joshua Patrick Dudley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Edited by Laurel A. Levesque

Cover art by Joshua Patrick Dudley

Illustrations by Benjamin Kissell

First Edition: December 2006

Revised Edition: April 2007

Third Edition: November 2018

ISBN  978-0-557-40024-9

Published by JDuDs Productions

A silhouette of a person Description automatically generated

Chapter 1: Confusion and Conclusions

I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know if this is really happening. Am I sleeping? Is this all a dream? This can’t be real. Okay Joshua. Calm down and think. How did it all begin?

Thoughts race through my mind like a never-ending stream of confusion. My heart is pounding, and my palms are sweaty. Every last inch of my body aches. Beneath me I feel the cool, roughness of the brick road I have fallen onto. I try to focus myself, but nothing seems to make sense. This can’t be real.

My eyes slide back and forth in my head, searching for something, anything familiar, to give me a clue to where I am.  There’s nothing around me besides nature and a road that seems to go on for miles on either side of me. The warmth of the sun caresses my skin as I finally begin to breathe again. My eyes are blurry, but slowly they begin to clear.

Think, kid, what do you know? As I frantically try to remember anything, I feel myself becoming increasingly tense and frustrated. The hairs on the back of my neck stand in attention and I slam my hand to the ground and let out a frustrated moan.

Okay, anything will do. My name is Joshua Dudley. I’m eighteen years old; my birthday is November 15, 1987. I live in Hooksett, New Hampshire with my family. My sisters’ names are Tamara, Caitlin, and Meghan. My three best friends in the world are Tommy, Maria and Laura.

Thinking about these useless thoughts only angers me more. Of course, I know all that stuff. I don’t have amnesia. I’m just lost, that’s all—lost.

Breathing deeply, I rise to my feet and a sharp pain courses through my side. I must have broken a few ribs from the fall. This still doesn’t make sense. Where did I fall from? What I was doing? Who was I with?

Examining the rest of my body I discover a few more scratches and bruises. The most crucially in need of attention are my elbows, which feel as if they have been completely scraped down to the bone. I tear a piece of my shirt off and tie it tightly around the wound to stop the bleeding. Good thing I pay attention in all those Health classes in school.

That’s it! I shout out loud as my brain begins to function again. I was on my way home from school. I pat myself on the back in congratulations. I know where I came from, but that still doesn’t explain how I got here, wherever here is.

"Right, Josh. You were going home from school with Tamara. Mom had just called and said there was something going on with the weather. Was it the weather or something about a feather? I pause for a moment as I finally realize I’ve been talking to myself this whole time. I’m nuts. That’s all there is to it. I’ve gone off the deep end and now I’m trapped in some sort of crazy dream in my crazy mind."

Okay, who else was with you? What else was going on? It was Tamara, Laura, Tommy, and me. School had just gotten out for the day and we were celebrating our freedom. None of us had homework. All we had left ahead of us was a good time. We were going to go to the beach, but Mom said the weather was supposed to be horrible. So, we were heading home. That’s when it happened.

Laura was driving, and I was riding in the front seat—the best friend always gets the front seat. The weather had gotten really bad. It was raining like we had never seen before. The winds were so strong Laura’s car rocked from side to side, swerving back in forth over the yellow line in the middle of the road. But that’s all I know. The wind and rain got so bad we couldn’t see and then… that’s all. I must’ve blacked out and now I’m here.

Putting my own frustrated fears aside, it finally dawns on me to search for my sister and two friends. If I’m here, they have to be too. Just as I begin to run down the road in one direction, I hear a scream from the other.

I know that scream. I’ve know that scream all my life. It’s Tamara. My twin sister.

I change direction and take off down the road, running as fast as the pains in my body will allow. She’s nowhere in sight. Everywhere I look only trees can be seen—trees and this yellowish brick road.

She screams again. It’s definitely coming from the woods directly to my right. I run into the trees, forcing the branches away from my face. Some still manage to whip at me and scratch me, but I have to get to my sister. Just the thought of knowing she’s here makes me feel a million times better, but I’ve got to get to her and make sure she’s okay.

The brightly shining sun begins to disappear as I run deeper into the woods. It’s so dark I can’t see where I’m going. Trees lunge at me from every side. I duck and dive to maneuver around them. I still can’t see her. I race forward and fall flat on my face. I trip over something. Something big.

As I hit the ground for the second time, my sister’s scream echoes through my ears and her hot breath shoots all over my face.

Tamara. It’s me. It’s Josh. Calm down. Are you okay?

"What the heck? Where are we? What happened?" Her breathing is still heavy and rapid. I pull her close to me, embracing her, hoping to comfort her in any way that I can. Tamara looks a lot like me, we’re twins after all. We’re both pale, red-headed, and thin, but I think she’s prettier than me, regardless of the fact that she’s a good eight inches shorter.

I don’t know where we are, I continue, but I have an idea. It’s nowhere close to home.

What? Tamara seems more confused now than ever. She’s pulling twigs from her long, red hair in frustration as she growls at me for answers. How could we be anywhere but close to home? We live ten minutes from school.

I know, but, trust me: we’re not in New Hampshire anymore.

I climb back to my feet and offer my hands to her. She accepts them, and I pull her to a standing position. She lets out a loud yelp as she realizes her body has taken a beating from the fall.

Where are Tommy and Laura? Have you seen them?

I haven’t seen anything. I had only just started to wake up when I heard you screaming. I spent so long trying to calm myself down that I almost forgot there was a group of us. Are you okay to walk?

Tamara shoots a look of disbelief in my direction. She’s rubbing her knees and trying to check herself for cuts.

There’s much more sun over this way, I inform her as I point in the direction I had just run from. We just have to get out of the woods.

Dragging our feet, we slowly begin to walk toward the road. That road, for some reason it’s all I can think of. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve been on it before. Pushing my thoughts aside, I try to start a conversation with Tamara, but she’s stopped.

What’s wrong, Tam?

Shh.

What, why shh? I question her impatiently.

Be quiet. Listen. It’s voices.

I stand perfectly still and try to focus on the mysterious voices. They’re getting closer by the second. I look at her and whisper, There are two of them, over there.

Why are you whispering? We have to get to them and ask them for help.

Before I can argue that I think her plan could be dangerous, she takes off running toward the voices. I begin to run after her, realizing she must be in much better shape than me. I feel like I’m about to collapse. I think I may have packed on a good ten pounds eating that cafeteria food from school. Once I figure out where we are, I’m going on a diet.

Tamara bursts out of the woods and lands on the road, right in front of Tommy and Laura. They all let out a scream.

Tommy is tall and thin, but in good shape. He has dark features and blue eyes that stand out against his pale skin. Laura is also tall and thin. She has blue eyes, hidden behind her dorky glasses, and her blonde hair, that is normally neatly tied back in a bun, is now a fluffed-out mess around her face.

Oh my gosh! Laura bellows at Tamara. You’re okay!

Where’s Josh? Tommy asks.

I’m here, I shout as I hobble my way out of the woods. Relief sets in for a moment as I realize my friends are okay. Tommy has a few scratches on his face and it looks like Laura may have cracked one of the lenses on her glasses, but they are alive and well.

Oh good, we’re all here, Laura concludes, her blonde hair still blowing around the light, afternoon breeze.

Thanks for that astute observation Laura, Tamara sneers derisively. But where’s here?

That’s a good question, I think to myself. My eyes are drawn back to the road. What is it about that darn road that…

Oh, no, I murmur.

What? Tamara asks me, but I’m not fully listening. Josh, what’s up?

I think I know where we are, I offer. But I don’t think any of you will believe it. They all look at me in desperation. As they close in on me like a pack of rabid wolves, I point down to the road beneath us. They pause for a moment, staring at the yellow brick.

No! Laura shouts.

It can’t be! Tommy continues.

Tamara begins to speak, I swear if you tell me you think we’re in…

Oz, I interrupt. We’re lost in Oz.

Oz? Tamara screams. "Are you kidding me, Josh? You think we’re in Oz?"

If you’ve got a better idea, let me hear it. I demand.

Tamara goes to speak, but in her frustration turns and walks away from me. I look to the others to see what their thoughts are on our situation. Laura has dropped to the ground and is beginning to cry with her face in her knees. Tommy’s mouth is so far open I can fit my head inside of it. Clearly everyone else hates the idea of being in Oz except me.

Tommy frantically starts patting himself down, feeling his pockets.

Let’s call for help! Tommy finally chimes in. Who’s got a phone? I can’t find mine.

Laura starts rummaging through her backpack. Mine’s gone, too.

I check my pockets and find my phone. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. As luck would have it, my phone was completely crushed in the fall.

Well, my phone is broken. Tamara, do you have yours? I ask her.

Mom took mine away, I’m grounded for sneaking out to go to Rachel Arnold’s party last week, remember? Tamara huffs, still standing away from the group.

Okay, guys. I try to take command. What are we going to do about it? We need to formulate some sort of plan that doesn’t involve our phones… or lack thereof.

Laura raises her head from between her knees. A plan? You want to make a plan?

Well, yeah I reply calmly. We’ve got to do something.

Tamara returns to the group, still red in the face with anger. I’ll give you a plan, Josh. Sarcasm drips from her lips. Let’s go see the Wizard. Isn’t that what they do in the movie? Maybe he could give you a brain and maybe, just maybe, he could get me out of here.

Tam, come on, I begin.

No, Josh. Don’t say anything else. Not a word. You’re so serious about this aren’t you? You actually think we’re in Oz. Grow up.

Okay, Oz or not, we have to figure out what to do, Tommy finally adds. I mean, we can’t just sit in the middle of this road all day.

Right! Good! Now you’re thinking. I begin to get excited at the idea of someone else trying to help the four of us out of this situation. I think the best thing for us to do is just to walk down this road. We’ve got to come to something or someplace eventually.