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| The computer screen is blank, but is not off. This is acknowleged by the surprisingly scary tinker-box music streaming from the speakers. Finally, after an irritatingly long time, the music fades away, and an image appears on the screen. The hall above the stairs is again shown. The cellar door opens, revealing AndrAIa, tears running down her face. ANDRAIA: (muttering) I can’t believe that bug. . . can’t even do a good Lance. . . doesn’t believe in ghosts and nulls. . . and I broke another nail- (she gasps) (Mouse sits in a chair, smiling at AndrAIa. A vaccant expression is on her face) ANDRAIA: Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to gasp. I’m AndrAIa. MOUSE: (doesn’t reply, but blinks, the vacant expression remaining) ANDRAIA: Excuse me? Who are you? MOUSE: (no response) ANDRAIA: (walks up to Mouse and waves her hand over her face) Hello? System to Strange and Eccentric Lady? MOUSE: Huh? (She blinks rapidly, frowns, and shakes her head) Oh, Ah’m sorry, sugah! (Sheepish smile) I guess I dazed off there. I was waiting for you to come up the stairs, so I had to have my position all ready. It’s mind-numbingly boring, so. . . ANDRAIA: (nods) Yeah, I understand. Hey! Why were you waiting for me?! MOUSE: (ignores AndrAIa and stands up) Let’s just continue this. (Clears throat) Hello, I’m Mouse. You seemed distressed. ANDRAIA: (distressed sigh) Oh, I am! I was downstairs, and I saw this horrible creature, and then that jerk Matrix laughed at me, and then I came upstairs and found you! MOUSE: (doesn’t appear to care) Would you like me to show you to your room? ANDRAIA: Shouldn’t I get back to the party? MOUSE: Oh, no. Not yet, at least. I’m not going down for awhile myself. (Sighs and shakes head) I’m afraid it’s a terribly dull party. I mean, I went down there to check on ‘em all, and my hubby’s down there playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey with them! ANDRAIA: (screams) I’m missing that game! Nooo!!!! MOUSE: (rolls eyes) Lemme just take you to your room, sugah, and you can freshen up- (starts giggling) Freshen up! That’s fun to say! ANDRAIA: Freshen up. (Also starts giggling) You’re right! (Mouse and AndrAIa walk off, and the screen changes to a hall that looks identicle but logically is an entirely different one.) MOUSE: (opening a door) Here is your room. I hope you find it to your like. (Both giggle somemore) ANDRAIA: Thank-you so much, Mouse. (She walks into the room and slams the door on Mouse’s face.) MOUSE: Goo’bye, sugah! (She walks back to the chair and puts on her vacant smile again) MATRIX: (opens the cellar door. He looks very panicked. He spots Mouse instantly, runs over to her, grabs her shoulders, and yanks to her feet.) MOUSE: Hey! MATRIX: Did you see a really pretty girl run up here? MOUSE: Yeah. (tears Matrix’s hands off her) I sent her to her room. MATRIX: (Blinks in surprise) You sent her to her room? MOUSE: AndrAIa says you didn’t believe her about the ghost. MATRIX: She had no proof. But why did you send her to her room? MOUSE: (frowns) There are many things in this house you should be cautious about. I’m sure the drunk as told you all the stories. I wouldn’t be too careful. (Suddenly, she takes his face in her hands and kisses him) MATRIX: (dazed smile) Wanna send me to your room? MOUSE: (smacks him) I’m worried about my husband. He can get jealous. Insanely jealous. So jealous he doesn’t care about anything else. Matrix, I need to ask you something. Could I count on you. .. if anything bad happens? MATRIX: (confused) Sure, I guess so. (Big grin) I can fix sinks. MOUSE: (frowns) Uh-huh. . .. (Pats Matrix on the back) Well, yeah. That’s pretty much all I wanted to say, hon. MATRIX: So. . . can I go to your room? MOUSE: (sighs and shakes head) Don’t make me smack ya again, Mr. Matrix. MATRIX: (frowns) Okay. . . fine. . . How did you know I was Matrix? MOUSE: (rolls eyes) My hubbie made the guest list. Doy. (The screen changes to the hall outside AndrAIa’s room. Bob is walking along it, and stops at AndrAIa’s door) BOB: (knocks once) AndrAIa? We’re all going to meet downstairs! (Grin) We’re gonna play Super Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey! With tackling! (The screen changes to AndrAIa’s room) ANDRAIA: Super Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey?! I’ll be right down! Let me just freshen up. (Giggles) BOB: Freshen up? (Laughs and walks off) ANDRAIA: What to wear. . . (She walks to the bed and opens her suitcase. Nestled on top of a pink dress is the head of Phong, eyes staring up at her) AGH!!! (she screams, slams the suitcase shut, and runs from the room. ) (The screen changes to the outside hall. AndrAIa runs down it, obviously panicked. The hall turns into a corner. She tries to run that, but slips and falls. She picks herself up again and continues running) ANDRAIA: (out of breath) Boy. . . I”m outta shape. . . must be all that chocolate. . . (She sees that the end of the hall is blocked off by a curtain.) I wonder what’s behind there. Maybe another head. (Shudders at the memory. She opens the curtain and sits down in the chair she sees) What a cute little chair! (She stands up and looks around the partitioned area) (Suddenly, little Enzo’s hand reached out from nowhere and clamps itself over AndrAIa’s mouth. She tries to scream and tear the hand away. The rest of Enzo moves into sight) ENZO: (panicked whisper) Come with us! Come with us now before he deletes you! ANDRAIA: (finally manages to free herself, screams, and breaks into a run. She gets momentarily entangled in the curtain, but frees herself of that also, and tears off down the hall) (The screen shows the parlor. Matrix is again at the piano, playing a Nocturne. Mike and Dot are at the bar, having a chugging contest. Ray is sitting in an armchair, frowning as he jots down some notes on paper.) RAY: Pitiful. I’ve no accounts of hysteria to report. ANDRAIA: (runs into the room, still screaming. She stops, looks at everyone, and resumes screaming) RAY: Um. . . never mind. (Writes down something else) So. . . Mike. When are we going to see your nulls? MIKE: (staggers over to Ray, alchohol on his breath) Nails? I don’t nail any haves. DOT: (clucking her tongue) Oh, dear, AndrAIa. You need a drink. (She pours a glass of wine and hands it to AndrAIa, who drinks it) BOB: (enters room) Good evening.. EVERYONE: (laughs) BOB: (shakes head) We need better lines. Um. . . I’ve called you here because in twenty nanos it will be midnight. (Lights flicker) MIKE: I really need to fix those. BOB: At midnight, the caretakers will leave the building. When they do so, they will cut off all the electricity and lock all the doors. There will be no way out until morning. ANDRAIA: No! BOB: Yes! If you wish to leave, you can leave now with the caretakers. (He gestures back toward the open door, where Hex and Enzo stand) ANDRAIA: That’s the creature I saw! MIKE: That’s the caretaker Enzo and his friend Hexadecimal. She’s insane, you know. ANDRAIA: (looks embarrassed) Oh. ENZO: (grins) I work here. BOB: Um... yeah... I’m sure you do. So... If you leave now, you can’t get the 1 million units. MOUSE: (she enters the room and smiles) Hey! I’m Mouse, Bob’s wife. (Suddenly, the door slams shut) BOB: What? (He dashes forward) It’s locked! I thought it was automatic. RAY: (raises hand) The old one Matrix tore off was automatic. BOB: Oh. ANDRAIA: Oh my User! We’re trapped here! MOUSE: Yep, sugah. BOB: (looks confused) Um, they weren’t supposed to leave yet... well, I guess we’re all staying the night. Who’s up for Super Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey? ANDRAIA: I’m not staying in here! (She runs to the door and tries to open it) Matrix, help! MATRIX: Okay. (Steps forward) DOT: Um, bro? (She hands him a copy of the script) Don’t open it. MATRIX: (reads script) Oh, okay. Um, no, I can’t open this door, AndrAIa. ANDRAIA: Why not? DOT: It’ll ruin the whole story. ANDRAIA: Drat. MOUSE: Hey, lets pass out the party favors! BOB: Huh? MOUSE: The party favors, sugah! BOB: Oh! (He walks to the table with the minature coffins) We bought party favors for you all. RAY: Candy? BOB: Nope. (he opens one coffin and pulls out a gun) MATRIX: All right! BOB: Cool, huh? (He hands Matrix a gun) Dot. (Hands her a gun) DOT: We’re playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey with these? BOB: Uh... no. Ray. . . RAY: (Takes gun) I think we should play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey with these. That’d be cool. BOB: We’re not playing pin-the-tail-on-the-doneky with these! AndrAIa. . . ANDRAIA: (hesistates to take gun) BOB: Come on, it won’t bite. ANDRAIA: (takes the gun) BOB: And for you, my dear. (He holds a gun out to Mouse.) MOUSE: No, thank-you darling, but I won’t be needing it. BOB: You sure? MOUSE: Of course, darlin’. BOB: (shruggs and puts gun away) So... any gossip? ANDRAIA; (looks at Mike) Mike, you said there were heads in the house never found. RAY: I thought they were in the walls.... ANDRAIA: Would you like to see one of those heads?! Would you?! RAY: Cool! (Scribbles some stuff down) This will be great for my hysteria research. (The screen fades out to AndrAIa’s room. The door opens, and everyone steps inside) ANDRAIA: Right over there. Look in my suitcase on the bed. (Everyone stands around, uncomfortable) RAY: (gives Mike a shove) Well, go open the suitcase, mate. MIKE: (gasps and leaps back) RAY: Oh well. I’ll open it. (He walks over to the suitcase, flings it open, and screams) EVERYONE: (screams) RAY: (picks up a pink dress) Your nail polish spilled on this, AndrAIa! ANDRAIA: (screams her hardest) No!!!!! (breaks into tears) DOT: (pats AndrAIa comfortingly on the back) There, there. I’m sure we can get it out. (Pulls out her package of Shout wipes and tosses them to Ray) ANDRAIA: (sniffs) That was my third-favorite dress. MOUSE: (shakes head sadly) That’s too bad. It’s a nice dress. But what about the head? ANDRAIA: Head? MOUSE: The head you saw in the suitcase? RAY: There isn’t one in here. You’re hysterical. ANDRAIA: I’m not hysterical!!! MATRIX: Andy. . . ANDRAIA: None of you believe me! Get out! GET OUT! (Yanks the dress away from Ray and flings it the group) Get out all of you! MIKE: All right, all right. (turns his whole face to the screen) So dramatic. . . (Everyone leaves to the hall, except for AndrAIa) MATRIX: I’m worried. Dot, you’re right down the hall. Do you think you can wait around here in case she needs something? DOT: (pulls out her data pad) Yup. (The screen switches back to the parlor. It is relatively empty. Only Matrix is there, playing a dejected “Chopsticks”.) MOUSE’S VOICE: (screams, followed by a choking noise) MATRIX: (lifts up his head) AndrAIa? Strange... that sounds like Mouse... (He dashes out of the room toward the staircase. The staircase winds up towards the ceiling, revealing several floors. Above a landing, a dangling form can be seen) To be continued. . . . |
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