DRAMADIES (cont.)
The 4 Act Story — A three-part narrative where part 2 involves the characters of parts 1 & 3 but follows a separate protagonist. (Part 3 is cut in half due to size.) Act 2 ends with its protagonist getting executed ("Tony DeVito sends his regards") by two of the protagonists from Acts 1 & 3, who then carry on from there. (Act 2 protagonist is a snitch.)
The protagonists from Act 1 & 3 are two opposing pairs working towards the same goal: kill a snitch (former hitman) employed by the mafia, cos the snitch was courting the FBI. The two pairs don't know about each other until Act 2, when they find that they're both tracking the same guy, both trying to keep him from ratting on the mafia: the mafia is working towards setting up an assassination of the Governor, and, while Pair 1 is trying to make sure that goes off without a hitch, Pair 2 is trying to stop them personally (involving the cops takes the victory from them and also gets them jailed for being vigilantes; the mafia killed their third compatriot at the beginning of Act 1 when he was investigating a murder). The snitch sets out to ruin both plans, so both try to dispatch him.
Pair 1 are an Irish and an Italian mobster, who are together trying to capture and kill the snitch. They later succeed at the end of Act 2. They are greasy fellows who look and act incompetent, but are smarter than they seem. The shorter (Irish) with the sideburns is The Bellhop and the taller (Italian) with the mustache is The Busboy.
Pair 2 are comprised of two men united together by their disgust for injustice (vigilantes, I suppose). One (Sylvester "Sy" Coven) used to be a defense attorney for criminals (worked for money) but after his brother was killed by a robber (when his brother tried to stop the theft) the attorney quit and used his money to fund an investment and venture capitalism company (whose funds went towards vigilante investigations); he also discovered faith in God and was re-baptized as Catholic (he was baptized as a kid into a Catholic family but never believed in it). The other (Brandon Temple) was a former contractor whose poor upbringing desensitized him, made him indifferent, and turned him into a nihilist who believes that life has no meaning (eventually he becomes a predeterminist and realizes that his meaning for being was to lead him to this point, to stop the mafia (this is instilled in him during the diner talk with his partner)); he was fired wrongfully after becoming the fall guy for a building that was designed poorly, which collapsed inward and injured four people (he wasn't found guilty in court but still lost his job), so he joined his friend's investigative company and became his partner. (The third compatriot was Rob Kettle, a former bouncer and former-former All-State high school wrestling champion.)
The FBI agents are both clean-cut and former military. The one with the tall crew cut (Tchaikovsky) does most of the talking while the one with the shaved head (Rhodes) is more of the enforcer, being good cop and bad cop respectively.
Mack Day is an unorthodox man and a snitch on the mafia for the FBI. He's a crazy cat lady in hired-murderer-form. He's greedy and loyal to only himself. He's balding and has large glasses, almost looking like a homeless pedophile.
Act 1 begins with the two FBI agents discovering the corpse of the third compatriot, Rob Kettle, who was killed by the mafia. The compatriots deduce that the mafia did it because the third compatriot was investigating one of their murders: the Governor's secretary.
The mafia works towards assassinating the Governor by planning a route and timeline, assigning roles, and running through the plan; this required the interrogation and murder of the Governor's secretary (which the third compatriot investigated) for information [on security, times, and locations], which was then covered to look like a suicide. The Governor will take a parade ride to a stage where he'll give a speech announcing his new plan to crack down on organized crime, which he'll initiate with the help of the mayor of the city that the mafia resides in. The mafia's original plan is to ram the motorcade and have that Ground Zero surrounded, to gun down all in the area: plan B, a backup, is to detonate a small dirty bomb constructed underneath a manhole along the parade route, and Plan C is to stealth-kill one the government's snipers and shoot the Governor with the captured rifle when he was on stage; somehow, some way, the Governor would die.
The Pair 2 are figuring out how to eliminate the mafia, considering a St. Valentine's Day Massacre scenario, so that they can kill them all off, or setting them up for a bust, to remove their presence (but they're respectfully too risky and not fulfilling enough); they investigated and eavesdropped, and they figured that when the majority of their footmen are out orchestrating an assassination, they can infiltrate the main headquarters and kill the capos and the boss: they design the plan.
Both plans are interrupted when...
Act 2 begins with the snitch, Mack Day, informing two FBI agents in an interrogation room: he volunteered to come in and disclose information to the FBI in exchange for fees and lenience, and each tidbit of info will cost the FBI, as Mack Day is more greedy than loyal, and the mafia didn't pay all too well. Tchaikovsky asks what happened to Mack's nose.
Mack recently (vignette flashback) broke his nose in a scuffle with the secretary's boyfriend when the mafia was abducting her, and Mack had to beat him to death with a ceramic dog statuette, and then forced to stay behind and bleach the carpet while the Pair 1 left to interrogate the secretary (this was the last straw for Mack); he suavely tells the FBI that the busted nose came from falling down some stairs [at the kidnapping site].
The FBI agents reach their daily per diem and have to petition for more from their boss, so they say they'll reconvene on Monday, and Mack leaves; FBI knows he’ll come back because he wants to, and staying the weekend will be suspicious—except the mafia already knows he’s defected. Pairs 1 and 2 both tail Mack not knowing of each other's presence, although briefly acknowledging that it's coincidental/suspicious that a car is going the same places that Mack and they are: both think the other car is either the police following Mack home in front of them or following them as they follow Mack; when Mack gets home, the two cars keep driving and split apart from each other, afraid that if they also stopped, the unmarked police car would spring on them to defend Mack.
Both pairs gear-up that night and plan to infiltrate Mack's home and kidnap him: we see both pairs' infiltrations happen simultaneously, but Pair 2's end with them opening the bedroom to find no Mack, while Pair 1's half of the moment ends with them nabbing Mack from his bed, kidnapping him, and driving away just in time for Pair 2 to show up; Pair 1 did such a good infiltration that they left no sign of it, and Pair 2 believed they were breaking into an occupied house.
Pair 1, the mafia men, interrogate Mack and learn what the FBI know by asking whether he told them of this or that, asking what parts of the plan are compromised. Pair 1 executes Mack at the end.
Act 3 begins with the FBI agents finding Mack Day's body, still tied to a chair ("...shit"). Cut to Pair 2 reading the newspaper and seeing a small article about Mack's death and the lack of evidence found to know of any suspects.
The mafia has to tweak the plan in order to avoid using schemes that Mack snidely remarked to the FBI for them to "be on the lookout for"; the ramming truck was going to be a reinforced ice cream truck, so they have to scratch that plan, and Mack also remarked to inspect the sewers, so that plan is scratched; the mafia decide on the sniping plan, but keep the construction going on the dirty bomb, in case they come up for a use for it (it's stored inside of the unused ice cream truck, for now).
Pair 1 vignette, realizing yesterday was odd—no FBI response to Mack Day being kidnapped, and only a little story in the paper—and begin trying to figure out who that second car was.
Pair 2 is at a diner for breakfast on the day of the parade, before going to begin their plan; Sy says it's weird that Temple likes ketchup on his eggs (Temple hits the ketchup bottle too hard and splatters some on his clothes—symbolic foreshadowing) and they talk about their differing ideologies and ‘destiny’. Pair 1 comes in and gets the table right next to them; Pair 1 realizes that Pair 2 is talking about killing their boss and they listen in; Pair 2 leaves and Pair 1 follows, leaving a $50 to more-than-cover the food they ordered but hadn't received yet. Pair 2 is getting into their car when Pair 1 sticks their pistols in Pair 2's backs and asks them to walk to the alley with them; they walk into the alley, are calm and steady: Pair 1 asks them who the fuck they are, and Pair 1 divulges; then, Pair 2, ignoring Pair 1's upper hand, spins around to fight Pair 2 to the death, winning but sustaining slight injuries.
Act 4: The mafia men are getting ready to go, and setting up at the scene. Pair 2 is simultaneously prepping to invade the mafia headquarters. The cocky, showy Governor's parade begins and the mafia men dispatching snipers as some on the ground disguised as cheering citizens communicate with the killers raiding rooftops to tell them where they see snipers placed throughout the city. Pair 2 secretly breach the compound and begin killing capos quietly, but one capo (the Weenie Man) is alerted and fights back, abusing the injuries afflicted on them earlier (and Pair 2 abuses the injuries the Weenie Man has from the car accident) to his advantage, but to no avail, other than alerting the remaining capos. The mafia men on the rooftops set-up their rifles as the Governor approaches the stage. Pair 2 engages in a firefight with the capos, barely coming out on top; the boss and two surviving capos surround the Pair 2 on the third story of the building, and both parties monologue a bit about what they seek, and the boss shoots Temple himself, and Sy shoots the other two capos; this prompts the boss to flee through the back and through a storage yard; Sy runs to a window and looks down at the storage yard, and shoots at the boss, but his bullets hit a second late and only follow the boss, but the boss runs past an ice cream truck and the bullets may have not hit the boss but they hit the ice cream truck (and the dirty bomb stored inside the ice cream truck) and it explodes, obliterating the boss and knocking Sy off of the second-floor walkway and onto the ground-level concrete below.
The mafia men take aim and fire upon the Governor, the mayor, and a Senator in the same moment; the FBI rush the stage and protect them; when the mafia men try to escape the rooftops or flee the crowd, they are captured by FBI agents, including Tchaikovsky and Rhodes.
Sy wakes up in the hospital and is handcuffed to his bed, and he watches a newscast about the shooting, and learns that the Governor and Senator will be fine but the mayor remains in critical condition. Tchaikovsky and Rhodes enter the hospital room and list the crimes that Sy committed, and list the punishments for each, but then merit that the media believe his partner Temple to have been an FBI informant (therefore hero) and that the FBI conquered the mafia, so, since Sy did a good job (civic duty and whatnot to defend his country) and isn't in the spotlight, they'll call it even and let him off the hook. The FBI agents uncuff Sy, go to leave, and lastly tell him to tell anyone who asks that he got his injuries from falling down some stairs.
Rework the outline to include a bevy of flashback vignettes:
Pair 1 vignette 1: (flashback) — Mack and Pair 1 knock on an apartment door (covering the peephole with a hand) and a guy (Gui) answers, but quickly realizes who it is, and tries to close it, but the Busboy forces it open; they tackle the guy and pin him; they pull off his pants and lie him mostly on a coffee table, pinning him, so that his genitals hang off of the table; Bellhop plugs-in a steam iron and starts asking the guy why he hasn't rerouted the sewer system yet, because they have a manhole shaft that isn't dry yet, and it's hard to build on a concrete slab when it's covered in twelve slick layers of human shit. The guy pleads that he'll get it done soon, he promises; the Bellhop holds the steam iron near the guy's crotch, and he promises more fervently; the Bellhop doesn't believe him and says "Tony DeVito sends his regards" and moves the steam iron so close that steam is heating up the genitals (but the metal isn't on the genitals) and the guy screams pleas and promises. The Bellhop concedes and believes the guy, so he unplugs the steam iron and sets it down, and the Busboy and Mack ease off, letting the guy calm down, lying defeated on the coffee table. The guy pulls his pants up and stands up, and the Busboy punches him in the face with weighted gloves; the guy topples, and Mack overhears the Bellhop tell the guy that if anyone asks he should say he got his injuries from "just falling down some stairs." The Bellhop says "alright we have one more stop to make tonight," meaning the secretary's house. Mack reaches into the guy's pocket for his wallet, but the Busboy stops him and gives him a look like "...really?!"
Pair 1 vignette 2: (put before diner scene, so we know where they arrive from when they sit down next to Pair 2 and order food; have them reference how hungry they are now for cooked ham and eggs) — An egg timer ticks down to zero and dings, so the man in the tanning bed tries to push up on the door and exit, but it's stuck. He cries out for help a number of times before we see Pair 1 sitting in metal folding chairs facing the tanning bed, nonchalantly watching; the Bellhop speaks up: "you know, the World Health Organization classified tanning beds as a Level 1 carcinogen." The tanner is startled and asks for their help, and asks who they are ("I'm the Bellhop, and this is the Busboy"); Pair 1 start asking him about the borrowed money he was supposed to buy an ice cream truck with, and the tanner says he was working on it; the Bellhop remarks about the nice new tanning bed, and the tanner slows down to try to explain, but the Pair 1 know it's all lies and that the tanner thought buying a tanning bed was more important than paying back their boss, since they had to find a second guy to buy them an ice cream truck; the Bellhop says that if he wanted a tan so badly, he could've gone to a salon. The Bellhop says his standard pre-execution phrase ("Tony DeVito sends his regards") and they lean back in their chairs, sunglasses on to protect against the glare, and they eat skittles while they watch the tanner cook to death.
Pair 1 vignette 3: (flashback) — Pair 1 are in the same bar that the compatriots (Pair 2 + Rob Kettle) are in, but are seated on opposite sides of the room and have no knowledge of each other even existing. They have a witty conversation and decide to leave to go smoke cigarillos outside; as they're at the bar paying their tab, five Irishmen enter the bar; to the right of Pair 1 are the three compatriots, drinking together, and to the left are three preppy college students; the preppy guys lament to each other that the ruddy Irishmen are here to muck up the joint, make it sloppy and loud, and ruin the night. As the Pair 1 exits the bar, they comment to the Irishmen that the three guys over at the bar were ridiculing them: Pair 1 leaves and the Irishmen look over to see the rowdier compatriots seated next to the calm preppy guys, and believe the mockers to be the compatriots—and make their way over...
Pair 2 vignette 1: (flashback) — Open with Rob Kettle punching a man across the face and knocking him onto the floor while "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes plays on the bar jukebox; the three compatriots are tussling in a bar with four goozed Irishmen (the fifth lies on the floor); the Irishmen each pull out a different hammer (ball peen, framing, drilling, upholstery); the Pair 2 each clutch a beer bottle, and Sy breaks his on the bar to use as a weapon but it shatters completely so he drops it; Temple takes a swig from his and chucks it at the Irishmen to cause them to flinch while the Pair 2 rush them. The fight continues as Pair 2 narrowly avoid being hammered (which is ironic because they're in a bar) to death. (The Ball Peener and Driller get incapacitated, due to actions involving a dart board and a glass mug.) The fifth Irishman has a screwdriver (because he's trying to screw-over Rob Kettle? Eh?) but Rob Kettle gets him in a headlock and starts punching him in the face. The next song on the jukebox comes on and it's "Careless Whisper" by Wham!, and Rob Kettle stops punching to raise a confused face, then accepts the song humbly, and resumes punching until the Screwer can't fight back. (Time should be slowed down from here on out.) Sy is on the Framer's back, fully supported, and trying to keep him in a sleeper hold, while Temple dances around a table with the Upholsterer who wildly swings his hammer; Rob Kettle comes up behind the Upholsterer and suplexes him; the Framer rams Sy against a wall until he falls off, then turns to hit Sy with his hammer, but is knocked down by a barstool swung into the side of his head by Rob Kettle.
Pair 2 vignette 2: (flashback) — The three compatriots exit the bar; Sy and Temple depart from Rob Kettle to walk home, and Rob Kettle goes the other way. Rob Kettle passes the Pair 1 (smoking cigarillos against a wall) and they are shocked to see his battered visage ("shit, man, what happened to you?") and he says that he just fell down some stairs. He carries on and sees a steakhouse closing-up for the night and the Weenie Man exits the front door, departs his friends, and begins walking home. Rob Kettle starts following the Weenie Man, and turns into the same alley, except Rob Kettle turns the corner and doesn't see anyone—but he keeps walking (just slowly) until a punch comes swinging out of a dark doorway; Rob Kettle blocks but stumbles, then they start to wrestle; the Weenie Man is more powerful because Rob Kettle is weak and bruised from the bar brawl; eventually the Weenie Man pulls out a small knife and tries shanking Rob Kettle but he blocks each one, until he stumbles and misses a block, and the knife penetrates him, and again and again and again, and Rob Kettle buckles and collapses as the Weenie Man continues to stab Rob Kettle, getting Rob Kettle's blood all over his clothes (which is why he goes to the laundromat).
FBI vignette: (earlier in the film) — The two FBI agents are sitting in their unmarked car eating donuts when a call comes in about an assault involving a thick dusky fellow; Tchaikovsky and Rhodes look at each other and wonder if it's The Weenie Man (a butcher-by-trade and brutish hitman in the Italian Mafia who's talent is cutting-up snitches and grinding them in the meat grinder to pack their flesh into weenie cases and deliver their weenie-shaped corpses to their families) since the descriptions match (especially the facial scar, as Weenie Man has a cut through his nostril and lips). They take the gamble on it being the Weenie Man, and they drive off to the reported scene. They arrive at a laundromat and find the Korean old woman who runs it frantically yelling in Korean, and there's bloody clothes half-loaded into a washer, and her Korean son sits on the counter covering a bruised face with an ice bag: the agents ask him what happened and he says he tried stopping a man from loading his blood-soaked laundry because it's disgusting and bad for business if other people see, and the guy hit him and ran off when he saw the old woman was already on the phone with 911 (“which way?” “that way”); the FBI agents get back in their car and drive off, while the old Korean woman shouts confusedly about why the cops are leaving, cos they need to take the bloody clothes out of the washing machine. The FBI agents come to a red light and are stopped behind a truck; they pull out their siren and attach it to the roof but the battery is dead, so they pull it in and Tchaikovsky asks for the backup, which Rhodes says is back at his desk; Tchaikovsky (driving) honks repeatedly, and the driver of the truck gets out angrily and comes to Tchaikovsky's window to vent, and the FBI agents are shocked to see that it's the Weenie Man, and the Weenie Man realizes they're cops, so he runs back into his truck as the FBI agents get out of theirs to grab him, but he gets in and drives off before they can grab him, so the FBI agents run right back to their car and begin to chase his truck. The two cars race and get closer until the FBI bumps the tail of the truck and causes it to fishtail, and it slows and spins and smashes into the FBI car, and they both crash (airbags go off). The FBI agents wake up from their blackout and see that the truck is empty, and the Weenie Man is climbing into a commandeered car down the road; Tchaikovsky pulls out his gun and goes to shoot, but the clip fell out in the crash and there are zero bullets in it: the car drives off. Cut to the two FBI agents sitting in a second unmarked car, silent and stoic, driving back from the event, battered and bruised, after having been treated by paramedics at the scene but declined to go to the hospital. (07/13/2014)
Indie-type film about a crotchety grouchy leeching grandpa who doesn't want to take care of himself after his wife dies; he is truly sad but he has an idea to exploit this and get treated well forever: says he wants to kill himself, threatens to, and is thusly locked in a psych ward by some doctor, so now he just gets waited-on and lives in peace, grouchy and looking out the window and watching Fox News—except he's locked-in with a bunch of actual-psychos. There's one semi-normal old guy who has dementia, but everyone else (generally all older) is loony. There's a woman who seems all normal until she turns around and snaps at nothing for interrupting her (hears voices; sees things) and will have polite conversations with the fridge. There's a catatonic man who screams a sharp yelp every thirty minutes on the nose, and nobody knows how or why; one of the other old folks uses this as a timekeeping device, so he can know when-about to leave his card game and turn-on the TV for certain things he’s intending to watch. The grouch's granddaughter (returning from a Caribbean cruise) visits him begrudgingly and experiences all that he does daily, and she's unsympathetic initially because he's an asshole but something prompts her to keep returning for visits... eventually warming-up to each other, and in the end she offers for him to leave and come stay with her, except he’s also warmed-up to his fellow diminishing old folk and wishes to stay there, since they depend on him for certain things in areas where they’re deficient (which makes him feel valuable instead of burdensome) and both because of and despite these folks’ peculiarities. (04/21/2018)
“The Toronto Five” - A businesswoman is stuck in the Toronto airport when all planes are grounded by bad thunderstorms. Thousands of people are stranded, but the guards say they're going to sweep the area for safety purposes, and so everyone needs to leave. Where? The guards and admins don't care. - So the woman (trying to get to NH, north of Boston) meets another businesswoman trying to find her way out (back to Boston), and they are waiting in line at the airline customer service to find a way out of the country, but customer service is just telling each person "you're on your own"; they could've made an announcement for this but telling each person individually makes it more personal and less like a giant corporate middle finger—or so it seems. - So they keep each other company, going off to solve their dilemma together. Getting a real breakfast together, they get to talking with a newlywed couple who need a new way to their Caribbean honeymoon. They decide they'll rent a car together, and drop the couple off at Boston's Logan Airport if they can change their flights. - They are waiting in line to rent a car beside a big shot businessman, and they get to talking; the guy offers to rent their car (as a "business expense") and he'll even drive, as long as they all keep him company. Deal. They call themselves "the Toronto Five." - They all cancel their flights out of Toronto after they've loaded up their borrowed SUV. - The guy drives and they go over the border, and through NY, and into Mass, and to Boston, where the couple are dropped off, and the businesswoman at her suburb-north-of-the-city home, and then the guy drives the woman north to her NH home, and he drives onward to Manchester, NH. - Interesting occupational, external, interpersonal, and introspective things happen on the drive. (Based on my mom’s actual experience.) (09/11/2017)
“The Warning”, a short film in the vein of The Twilight Zone — He finds an envelope in the mailbox contains a letter from himself, warning him. A phone call from a blocked number is himself calling, warning further. His reflection talks back, warning him again, but he freaks out and leaves. He speeds away in his car and crashes into a truck or runs into a little girl or something and he snaps to and is frantic and he looks in the rear view mirror and sees his reflection in a seat behind him who says “I tried to warn you…” (05/24/2014)
“The Street Preacher Spreads the Word of the Doge” — I don’t know why I wrote this…
“Come, gather round. Come from hither, thither, and yon. Come and listen, you invalids, you swine, you beggars and courtesans, you thieves and adulterers, sinners alike, citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, vice-delvers and devil-worshippers, come and listen to the Word of the Doge.
“You have chosen a life of sin and suffering, but the good Doge forgives you of your misdoings. You have forsaken him, the Doge, but he forgives; you are his flock and he will tend to you whether or not you allow him.
“You have traded him for Mammon, and what did it get you? Come back into the Light of the Doge.” (02/25/2014)
“Drunk in Bushnell” - A college student sobers up on his walk away from a fraternity party and recalls the events that occurred hours earlier, slowly realizing that his believed-great night was actually terrible. Example: The bouncer he remembered as chill, signaling him to use the VIP side entrance, was actually barring him from entry, and he had to sneak in the side when someone stepped out to pee on the side of the house. Also: his various conversations were actually yelling; his dance circle was made by people getting away rather than giving him space to entertain; his dancing with a girl “playing hard to get“ was actually trying to “not get” anything at all; the girl he made out with was actually borderline passed-out and not consenting; his crowd-alerting belch was actually throwing-up that got everyone’s attention, and that’s why everyone laughed; his beer pong skills were actually him interrupting a game he wasn’t a part of (and slam-dunking one cup); etcetera. (05/17/2014)
“We Got Along In Texas“ - A boyfriend and girlfriend drive through the night in a wooded area; they are stern and silent. The boyfriend pulls the car over, turns on the hazards, exits, and throws-up on the side of the road; he gets back in and they continue driving, silently. Eventually the boyfriend chimes-up, “I feel violated; it wasn’t even me, but I feel violated.” His girlfriend is quiet, but replies that it isn’t about him; he knows that, but he doesn’t know what to say. She asks him to apologize, and he is livid and confused; she says he overreacted, but he says that she was taken advantage of and disrespected and sexual assault is nothing to “overreact” to. She says that the guy didn’t know she didn’t want to, to which he says that it should be a blanket understanding that, unless a “go ahead” is given and consent is displayed, it’s not ok: it’s rape; “did you resist?” “No, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings-” “I swear to God if that is a true statement, there is something seriously fucked up with you; how could you allow yourself to get raped because you didn’t want him to feel bad?” “He’s my friend! I didn’t want to do that to him!” “No ‘friend’ rapes their friend! That’s not how friendship works!” He describes that this guy is vile and evil and she let him, which is wrong, so they both did wrong; he apologizes for yelling and says he isn’t blaming her or calling her stupid or saying she deserved it, but she totally let it happen; in which case, he is blaming her partially, even though he doesn’t want to; he blames himself for trusting her to be around that friend even though he knew the friend was bad news. Silence again, until he takes back all apologies but apologizes only for letting it get out of hand; he then cancels that apology, saying that the friend got what he deserved. The girlfriend protests, to which the boyfriend stops the car and explains that, besides eye-for-an-eye, the friend destroyed her feeling of security and sanctity and peace of mind and he tainted her and scarred her and disrespected her and committed a crime against her, and that the friend did the same to him by doing it to her—so the guy deserved it. He’s conflicted because he knows the blame belongs partially to her but he doesn’t want to blame her because she was the victim and he loves her. She asks if he does still love her, even though this happened, and she allowed it to happen; he asks, begrudgingly, if she actually wanted it to happen; she says she didn’t; he pauses, but answers that he does still love her. Etc. (05/16/2014)
A college junior Cal has an apartment and throws a party, with roommate Victor. Attending are school friend Hollywood, best friend Ryan, their old friend Sarah and her boyfriend Luis, and Cal's younger sister Katie. Also attending is Victor's odd gf Ella, Cal's mom's young French coworker Romaine (who, being from France on a work visa, has no friends in the States), Katie’s friend Brie, Vic's friends Bruce, Cammie, and Packrat, and [last minute, showing-up on the doorstep with Luis] Luis' cousin Silvio. Silvio was not invited, but when Luis arrives [much later] he has his thug cousin with him and asks then if he could bring him—and Silvio is standing right there (and Cal really doesn't want to, because Silvio seems the type of guy who will cause trouble; he is visiting from a shitty part of urban Florida) but Cal begrudgingly said ‘Yes’ since Luis is his friend’s boyfriend and he wants to be nice.
At beginning of the party, Cal says the one rule was not to take photos for social media that included his sister Katie or her friend Brie, because they’re not supposed to be there; Sarah jokingly says "Cal it's illegal to serve minors alcohol," and he replies "I'm not serving anyone; they are just here and alcohol available, so..."
Early in, Sarah vies for Cal’s chair and they wrestle for it, and it gets really close to flirting; and they also do some vague flirting as the party ramps up. (Note that, secretly, Cal and Sarah are falling for one another.) Brie is crushing on the “exotic” Romaine and is practically glued to him all night, essentially forgetting about Katie entirely. Also, Ella acts like a cat.
Conversation before Luis arrives is split between two rooms, and Sarah reveals to her congregation that her bf is cheating on her for the second time, and after the first time (which was a depressive period) she tried to kill herself, but her sister got her to the hospital ASAP. Woof. We never knew.
There's then games of CAH and Cheers Governor, for the sake of having fun while drinking socially, and Katie becomes so goozed she accidentally spills Silvio's drink on him. (When he lifts up his shirt to clean his pants, a switchblade is clearly visible in his waistband.) Whilst raising a glass for a toast among friends, Cal says "up your bottom," and the reply is "up yours, too." Drink.
Later, Ryan and Cal are kicking a ball around in the separated living room and their stomping puts a crack in the wall, so they quickly leave the room, unintentionally leaving Katie and Silvio alone, and Katie goes to leave as well when Silvio pins her to the wall and says she “owes him” for spilling his drink on him, and he cups her crotch and forcefully kisses her against her will. (Upstairs, Cal finds Sarah doing karaoke in the den, with Cammie and the others; he immediately turns around to go downstairs to inform Katie that karaoke is going on in the den.) As Cal descends the stairs, Silvio hears him coming and stops, turns, and walks out the room just as Cal turns into the hall, and Silvio passes him without acknowledgement—and Cal can feel the tension in the room as Katie turns into the doorway, and Cal doesn't know what happened but he informs her that karaoke is upstairs, and she says, simply, ‘Okay’.
As the night draws on, Luis and Sarah are tense towards each other, as booze loosens their inhibitions and they bring up the fact that she checked his phone recently and saw the texts sent to “Corinne”, requesting nudes and etcetera. They exchange heated words and he goes into another room, leaving Sarah tense in a room of people trying not to stare and pretending to have heard nothing, but she feels the heat and leaves the building entirely, without a jacket or shoes, and walks down the snowy road, into the night...
Also, Katie has doubled-down on getting goozed (now out of pain instead of pleasure) and is in the tiny bathroom, with her brother Cal holding her hair back over the toilet while she contemplates throwing up, and Cal asks her jokingly if she enjoyed the party; Katie just starts sobbing, and he asks why. She says she won't say, over and over, but he pries further, and she says "Silvio touched me, and kissed me, and I didn't want him to," and Cal‘s face goes flush. He calls Ryan from the other room (hollering down the hall; he somewhat heard the verbal exchange between Luis and Sarah but didn't know Sarah left) and Ryan comes into the bathroom and Cal asks him to sit with her and hold her hair back. Cal then leaves down the hall, passing the den (as Victor leaves the apartment, having noticed that Sarah hasn't returned) and spying Silvio within, on his phone; he goes back to his bedroom, grabs a baseball bat from behind his door, and walks back to the den; he strides into the room and swiftly clocks Silvio against the side of the head with it; Silvio falls out of his chair and Cal tells him to GTFO of his apartment; the others sharply ask why Cal did that, and Cal says why, and Silvio gets on his feet and pulls his knife, and he goes at Cal with it but Cal swats at Silvio and the knife mostly misses but grazes Cal’s arm, and Cal counters with another smack to Silvio's face with the bat, and Silvio stumbles, and Cal swings heavily downward onto Silvio's crouched back; Packrat and Hollywood pull Cal away from doing a second smashing as he screams "GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY HOUSE", and he notices that neither Victor nor Sarah nor Luis are there, and he yells outwardly for Luis to hear to "come get his fucking cousin", and Ella runs out of the room to find Luis and retrieve him, and Cal hovers over Silvio with bat primed as Bruce grabs the knife and the other two join him and Cal to stand around Silvio as Cal says "stay down, shitbag," and Cal shakes with adrenaline.
Ella brings the retrieved Luis who asks what's going on, and Cal tells him to remove Silvio from the house and to go home; Luis complies (realizing Silvio did some shit that Silvio tends to do often) and walks Silvio out, and they leave.
Bruce and Hollywood bring Cal to the bathroom and clean his wound, and Hollywood and Ryan switch places (Hollywood nurses and comforts Katie for the remainder of the night, growing close) and Ryan and Bruce clean Cal’s wound while Bruce tells Ryan what happened and Cal tries to come down from his rage-high.
Meanwhile, Luis and Silvio drive off, not noticing Victor walking on the sidewalk as they pass him; Victor is following a lonely trail of bare footsteps in the freshly-falling snow, and they lead him to Sarah, and he catches up to her and gives her his jacket and they walk together in silence, around the block and back to the apartment.
By this point, Hollywood has brought Katie to her bedroll in the living room and they're talking; Cal and the others are back in the kitchen, eating and trying to get the party back to normal; nobody notices Sarah come back and go upstairs, into the bathroom to shower, and Victor joins the kitchen.
Talking in the kitchen; Victor quietly excuses himself and goes to Cal’s room after Sarah's shower, and she's sitting on his bed wrapped in a towel and crying. Victor sits beside her and puts an arm on her shoulder and is silent, and some time passes, and he leaves (unsure of what to do). Romaine leans so far backward in a kitchen chair that its back snaps off, and they all convince themselves it was “always a stool”.
Sometime later Cal realizes Sarah is still missing, so he goes to his room and finds her there; he holds her and lets her cry on his lap, and she explains how alone she feels, and how her bf and her dad and her mom all don't love her, but Cal says that while her blood family might degrade her or not appreciate her, she has a family here with her friends: Ryan, Victor, Katie, himself... She is soothed and says he's right, and she struggles to say "can I ask you something?" and he says ‘Yes’, and she asks to kiss him, and he nervously says ‘Yes’, and they kiss somewhat and then lie down together, quiet together (and she fixes her falling towel) and…
In the kitchen, Ella falls asleep atop the table (curled-up like a fucking cat) and the others (Ryan, Bruce, Packrat, Cammie, Romaine, Brie) quietly have a conversation (mouthed whispers) telling Victor that his gf is psycho, and he says he knows and wants to leave her, but doesn’t know how; he only started dating her for her big boobs (and this makes everyone laugh loudly, and she wakes up, and they pretend they were talking about something else).
…Lying together, Cal eventually says "that was my first kiss." And Sarah realizes she's just cheated on her bf, and she panics briefly but realizes she's allowed to, because of the torment Luis has given her and the cheating he's done on her, and she's okay with it but now Cal is conflicted. She talks to him and he comes to agree with her.
The group reconvenes for some kinda party stuff further, and there's closure. Other characters get little moments and their own little side-stories, so that it's clear that there's many people living many lives all there that night and not just the ones I was privy to or a part of. (This is an amalgamation of related events from two different nights, quite some time ago, with one elevated indulgence. Names have been changed.) (03/09/2018)
Original documents created on the dates parenthesized following each item.