Toad Road 2013

In a haze of apathy and substance abuse, James drifts through life alongside his cohorts, their days a blur of intoxication and nights a haze of revelry. That is, until the arrival of Sara (character A), a collegiate seeker of enlightenment who becomes fixated on the supposed mystical properties of drugs. Initially, James attempts to deter her from this path, but ultimately succumbs to her persuasion, and together they embark on a journey that will forever alter their trajectories.

As Sara’s dependence on drugs deepens, so too does her fixation on Toad Road, a fabled thoroughfare in York, Pennsylvania, rumored to harbor seven gates leading directly to the underworld. According to local lore, each gate, once crossed, precipitates an escalating disorientation and eventual loss of self. Entranced by this notion, Sara convinces James to join her on a pilgrimage to Toad Road, where they take acid and become separated. James succumbs to unconsciousness, only to awaken six months later, finding that the world has moved on without him.

Sara’s disappearance has been reported, and James is now a person of interest in the investigation. As he grapples with the weight of his perceived complicity, his friends have long since returned home, leaving him without a place to call his own. He takes up residence in a dilapidated shack owned by his uncle, where the pressures of the police and locals’ scrutiny drive him to destructive tendencies, including goading others into physical altercations.

Haunted by visions of Sara, James becomes consumed by guilt and self-loathing, tormented by the prospect that he may be responsible for her vanishing. In a desperate bid for answers, he implores Sara’s spirit, only to receive an eternal silence, leaving him trapped in a labyrinth of his own making.