One Way Ticket
[We hear bedsheets ruffling. A glass of water being placed on a dresser. Pages turning in a book. A man getting comfortable in bed.]
MAN:
You want me to turn the lights off or you still reading?
WOMAN:
Uhhh . . . you can turn it off I’m done.
[The man reaches across the bed and flicks the light and she puts her book away. Pillows and bodies are adjusted for utmost comfort in the dark room. The woman yawns.]
WOMAN:
I’m sleepy.
MAN:
Wanna hear a crazy story first before you go to bed?
WOMAN:
Sure.
MAN:
It’s about this little boy. His family was taking him on a vacation to some remote little island in the Caribbean or something. They’re flying over in a little prop plane
[We hear the distant sounds of propellers splitting through the sky and the hum of the inside of a plane.]
MAN:
Parents are like 40-something and the kids are in the 10, 11, 12 range. Two brothers and a cousin. So, first thing that happens, they’re flying over this island and it’s like all thick, green jungle and there’s a crystal-blue river curving through it towards the ocean - so, the youngest boy - the cousin, he looks out of his window straight down at the river and he sees 3 sharks swimming along, right next to all of the vacation huts where they’ll be spending their vacation.
WOMAN:
Shit.
MAN:
But supposedly when he tries to show his aunt, who was sitting next to him, the planes levels off and they can no longer see the river. And sharks can’t swim in rivers, right?
WOMAN:
Bull sharks.
MAN:
True, well are they in the Caribbean?
WOMAN:
I’ll look it up.
[We hear her reaching for and grabbing her phone where she begins her search.]
MAN:
Either way, we’ll get to that part later.
[We hear a family walking into a house. Kids running and yelling and keys jingling. Slower, relaxed, appreciative footsteps from adults.]
MAN:
They get to their cabin or resort hut thing and it’s actually the coolest looking place. Two floors and the bedrooms on the bottom floor are underground and one wall is a legit aquarium-window looking into the river going by. It’s insane. You should google it after I finish the story.
So everyone’s pumped and it’s all good. The next day they wake up and the hotel staff brings them to a spot on the river where there’s a beach and a little boardwalk-pier thing. So, the boys start playing a game where they’re dangling their feet over the river on the pier. But the youngest one is still scared about the sharks. And they’re pressuring him to join them, hanging their arms in the water, dipping the tops of their heads in as the stream pulls their hair by. Laughing, having a blast. And the young kid finally puts his feet over the edge with his cousins, but as he does he looks downstream and sees a dark, fucking matte-black fin slicing through the water. A massive shadow below the surface of the water getting larger and closer. He’s breathless, but just as it’s in striking distance he hits his cousins across the chest and they all fall onto their backs on the boardwalk and watch the shark lunge in the air in front of them. Teeth fucking ready to chomp where their little legs were just dangling.
The kid is obviously terrified, but when he looks over at his two cousins expecting them to be paralyzed by the same fear, they burst out laughing. As if the near-death experience they all just experienced carried the same weight of a clumsy tumble off of the bottom-bunk.
WOMAN:
These kids are way too old to be that dumb, who are their parents? Where did you even hear this story?
MAN:
Someone at work showed it to me, it was like this old local news story that got no attention, but-
WOMAN:
Oh, Bull Sharks do inhabit the Caribbean, by the way.
MAN:
Well that makes sense…Where was I?
WOMAN:
The kids laughing about the shark nearly ending their lives.
MAN:
Right, well according to the kid, his cousins usually weren’t “shitheads.” They were just acting out of character or changed in some way. But, later on or the next day or something, they’re on the beach by the river and close to the delta where it flows into the ocean. It’s just beautiful.
[We hear waves crashing on a beach. Young boys talking and playing. Birds chirping from inside the jungle and out over the sea.]
MAN:
And even more importantly, there’s now a smoking hot babe who’s essentially the new nanny so the adults can actually feel like they’re on vacation. And for some reason, the kid trusts her unlike the rest of the resort staff. Totally nothing to do with her jaw-dropping looks, I’m sure. Anyway, Hot Nanny plays with The Kid on the beach while his cousins are play-fighting and jumping into the crashing waves a few yards away. The adults are reading celebrity magazines in the sunshine. The tide is going out and The Kid and Hot Nanny are trying, unsuccessfully, to dam the escaping waters with hand-dug reservoirs and sand-walls. It’s just a dreamlike scene that we’re watching.
WOMAN:
Sounds amazing. Any chance you were The Kid who was in love with Hot Nanny?
MAN:
No, no it’s just so insane I made my coworker tell it to me twice. But I am in love with Hot Nanny.
WOMAN:
Fair enough.
MAN:
Time lapses, beach day is over, they’re back at their resort cabana, hut, thing. The staff is setting up dinner for them and everyone’s cleaning and changing from beach to indoor clothes. Amid all of the chaos, The Kid notices one guy with a creepy mustache-beard combo that keeps looking at him.
WOMAN:
Eww gross.
MAN:
I know, it’s like a french mustache that doesn’t connect to his goatee, it’s kinda slimey -
WOMAN:
I was referring to the staring at a young boy part, but I guess that too.
MAN:
Right. Anyway, the staff was already making The Kid feel uncomfortable and now Creepy-Mustache is taking it to another level. As they sit down for dinner, The Kid just observes. The staff is machine-like. Dressed in identical white suits, it seems like there are a dozen of them buzzing around with plates and drinks and platters. The lack of emotion on their faces counter the expressions of amazement on his family’s faces at the extravagance of it all. Meanwhile Creepy-Mustache stands and watches it all as if he’s conducting an orchestra without moving a muscle. And then, boom. His gaze meets The Kid’s eyes. The only two observing the scene. And the kid breaks and starts eating his meal.
Nothing happens that night. They play card games, the staff cleans, they brush their teeth and head to bed. The kid hopes that the man is gone when he wakes up, but his wish isn’t met. He gets out of bed to the view of the aquarium wall as predatory fish swim by -
WOMAN:
More sharks?
MAN:
Fuckin probably. Shit is getting ominous. He gets out of bed and hears footsteps above him so he walks upstairs and sees the staff moving in unison again as they prepare breakfast for the fam. His unease is temporarily settled by Hot Nanny who takes his hand and he smiles at her. They go to the table and eat their breakfast and he wonders what they have in store for today. Hike through the jungle? Sandcastles by the beach? Pizza Party, idk?
The staff clears their plates and they lounge around in their livingroom. Creepy-Stache is by the door. Watching everything. Finally, The Kid mentions him to his cousins, but they don’t seem to register as they play some dice game.
A few hours go by and they’re still in the cabana. The Kid thinks this is strange because his aunt and uncle hate staying in the house, but they seem perfectly fine reading their books and magazines even though the sun is shining outside. Before he knows it, a sandwich is brought to him by one of the staff members and the day continues to waste away. Several more hours pass and no one makes a mention of going outside. He asks his aunt if they’re gonna leave their room at all today and she smiles and ruffles his head.
WOMAN:
Ok, are they fucking brainwashed?
MAN:
Dinner is prepared and served and the table is cleared. The Kid is barely interacting with his family anymore, but is afraid to tell them that...well that he’s starting to be very afraid. They get into bed and watch the moonlight flicker through the river on their glass wall and he hopes that things will be different tomorrow.
He wakes up to noises in his aunt and uncle’s room next door. His cousins aren’t in their beds anymore so he figures they’re in there as well. When he opens the door he finds not only his family, but the staff as well. Cleaning, attending, moving around with a purpose whatever that purpose is. His aunt and uncle’s bed is to his left and the stairs are in front of him. They appear as though they lead to nowhere, but that’s because they lead to a trap door that is part of the second floor floorboards. His unease continues to grow. Luckily, Hot Nanny is here. Her warm glow -
WOMAN:
Oh she’s Warm Nanny now?
MAN:
Yes, Warm Nanny’s glow gives him calm. His aunt gives him calm. His aunt who practically raised him. He walks over to her and asks if they’re going to go outside today while trying to mask his claustrophobia. With her typical cheery smile she asks what’s wrong with his cabana? That it’s really nice and that they paid a lot of money for him to stay there. That he should enjoy it because not a lot of kids get the chance to have such a rare vacation. As she says this, The Kid’s unwavering trust in her begins to erode. That her true self is hidden somewhere beneath the surface, but can’t come out because of something this island has done to her. He doesn’t want to give away his suspicions so he agrees with everything and says he’ll have fun inside. He needs someone to that he can trust to help him escape and find out what has happened to his family.
WOMAN:
Don’t tell me -
MAN:
So he pulls Hot Nanny out of the commotion...
WOMAN:
Jesus Christ, men are predictable even before they get hair on their balls.
MAN:
...and into the doorway of his bedroom. He needs to tell her everything that’s happened, but he doesn’t want to sound crazy so he just asks her if she’s noticed how everyone is acting a little weird? Like how his family has changed since they’ve come to the island and how it seems Creepy-Mustache doesn’t want them to leave their rooms? She shows no emotion on her face and tells The Kid that nothing strange is happening. That he should just enjoy his time here.
That’s all she had to say for him to know that he should’ve never trusted her either. That he was all alone now. He stands in the doorway and looks back at the crowded movement of the room like a ballet with a packed stage. Hot Nanny leaves his side to join them and he doesn’t care because she was never there to protect him anyway. If he’s going to escape he’s going to have to do it on his own. He looks at the stairs directly across the room from where he’s standing. His aunt and uncle’s aquarium wall to his right and three walls of burnt clay to his left. Before he can make his move to the stairs and the trap door to the second floor,
and he watches her whisper to another staff member who whispers to another and soon the trapdoor to the second floor is being opened and black shoes turn to black pants and a white shirt with a black tie and finally a face with a creepy-ass motherfucking mustache and goatee.
The man walks deliberately down the stairs as the rest of the room slows down and looks up. The Kid watches from the doorway as Creepy-Mustache Guy meets his gaze from the stairway directly in front of him. A staff member places two chairs in between them that are facing each other and the group forms two walls so there is nowhere to go. It’s time for The Kid to be brainwashed and initiated into the island.
He’s ushered into the chair facing Creep and then sits down. the Kid asks who he is, but he won’t answer him and instead asks his own, “Why are you so nervous?”
They never gave in. They wanted the Kid to be the first to admit his fear. If he didn’t say anything, then nothing would happen. It was only when the Kid admitted what he knew, that everyone had been brainwashed and that he was next, that they would destroy every ounce of his free will.
But just as The Kid was about to give up, something changed. He sat there trapped and observed the Creep’s smile and mustache and stupid facial hair; His flickering, confident eyes and dark eyebrows and he began to recognize a face. Deja Vu of a distant nightmare.
As The Kid’s expression changed so that of The Creep as he started to lean back in his chair with caution and curiousity.
“I know who you are,” said The Kid with a fearless smile.
The Creep was puzzled, but knew he still had The Kid trapped.
“Why are you so scared that I’m going to leave? You know I’ve been here before.”
The Creep’s bewilderment turned to fear as The Kid began to laugh. “I’ve been here before and I’ll probably be back again. You don’t need to trap me.”
As The Kid spoke these words he began to float out of his chair and the faces of the staff and his family and The Creep became smaller and more amazed. The burnt clay walls got lighter and brighter and blended in with the blue river and green trees until everything was white and The Kid woke up. Then he rolled over in his bed and grabbed his notebook and started writing.
So far, he’s yet to return.
WOMAN:
Wait a minute...I’ve seen you before…
MAN:
Yeah, well I’m your --
WOMAN:
You can’t trap me here.
[She reaches over and turns off the light.]
MAN: Are we about to have sex?
WOMAN (whispers): No, I’m floating away to sleep so I don’t have to listen to you anymore.
MAN: Tight.
End.