Among You (39 page)

I…uh…I…just…studying?

GAULTIER

Ginger…

HE SNIFFS THE AIR.

Wait a minute. That smell. It’s back. You’ve got someone else in here don’t you? Who is it? Ginger? Timely? Who else is in this room?

GAULTIER SNIFFS AROUND THE ROOM. EVENTUALLY HE PULLS OUT THE BULLY.

GAULTIER

What are you doing in my house?

BULLY 1

You see sir…I came because…I…oh boy. I um….

GAULTIER SNIFFS THE BULLY

GAULTIER

It’s not you.

HE SETS THE BULLY DOWN AND GOES ABOUT SNIFFING SOME MORE. HE FINALLY DISCOVERS SCOTT AND PULLS HIM OUT OF HIDING.

You! What are you doing in my house?

LIGHTENING FLASHES. THUNDER CRASHES. LIGHTS SWITCH TO SCOTT’S HOUSE.

SCENE 13: HE’S GONE

MOM

PACING THE FLOOR

What are we going to do? Our baby boy is gone. We need to call the police.

DAD

I’ll do that dear.

DAD PICKS UP THE PHONE AND CALLS THE POLICE.

Yes, I would like to report a missing child. My son. The last time we saw him was when he went up to bed. Yes that’s the address. Yes we have pictures. No he’s not prone to running away. The only time we’ve discovered him gone was…hold on.

HE COVERS THE PHONE

The Gaultier house. I bet he ran off to that haunted house again.

MOM

Oh my goodness you’re right.

DAD

Never mind. We think we might know where he is.

DAD HANGS UP THE PHONE.

Let’s go.

SCENE 14: THE STORY IS TOLD

THEY GRAB THEIR COATS AND HEAD OUT THE DOOR. LIGHTENING FLASHES AND LIGHTS SHIFT BACK TO THE GAULTIER HOUSE.

GAULTIER

TURNING TO GINGER

Ginger, you know the rules. No mingling with the others.

GAULTIER TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO SCOTT

Now tell me boy – what are you doing here with my daughter? Tell me. Tell me at once.

SCOTT

I was…I was…

SCOTT NEARLY FAINTS BEFORE GINGER SPEAKS UP

GINGER

It wasn’t his idea father.

GAULTIER

Quiet. Let the boy speak for himself.

UPON BEING YELLED AT, GINGER HIDES HER FACE.

SCOTT

I’m sorry sir. I was just interested in your house.

GAULTIER

What interest has a young boy in a house like this?

SCOTT

I like haunted houses. I came to see your haunted house on Halloween. The next day I came back to see how you did it. That’s when I met Ginger. We became friends and…

GAULTIER

Our kind are not friends with your kind.

SCOTT

What do you mean sir?

GAULTIER

Take a good look at me young man. You see my face? This is not a mask. This is not some Halloween extravaganza. This is me.

GAULTIER TURNS TO GINGER

Show your true self Ginger.

GINGER STILL HAS HER FACE HIDDEN. WHEN SHE TURNS BACK SHE IS IN FULL MONSTER MODE.

This is who we are.

SCOTT DOES NOT FLINCH.

Are you not frightened boy?

SCOTT

No sir.

GAULTIER

Why not?

SCOTT

What is there to be afraid of? You’re just different. There’s nothing wrong with being different. But may I ask?

GAULTIER THINKS

GAULTIER

Yes you may.

SCOTT

What are you?

GAULTIER

We’re monsters. Not in the sense you’ve come to know of the word. Not the monsters of movies and books. We’re not cruel, mean beasts. We lived in the European countries for centuries until it was feared we were discovered. Instead of trying to hide ourselves farther away from society, we decided to pick up our roots and come across the oceans to a new country. We’re mostly just like you.

BULLY 1

We eat.

TIMELY

We sleep.

GINGER

We love.

GAULTIER

We live.

SCOTT

But you don’t die.

GAULTIER

How did you know that?

SCOTT PULLS OUT THE BOOK AGAIN.

Where did you find that book son?

SCOTT

HESITANTLY

I took it from downstairs when I went through the haunted house.

GAULTIER

Give it back to me boy.

GAULTIER THUMBS THROUGH THE BOOK.

This is the only record of our existence. We’ve been around for a long, long time. We’ve managed, until now, to remain among you by hiding our trues selves. We wear masks every day of the year…except one.

SCOTT

Halloween?

GAULTIER

Exactly. It’s the one time of year we can afford to remove our masks and be ourselves. It’s the one time of the year our kind are actually celebrated. But as soon as the witching hour passes, we must go back into hiding.

SCOTT

But why?

GAULTIER

Do you think your kind would accept us? The answer is no. They wouldn’t. The others fear such differences. So we go about our ways accepting our lives and our fate. You are the first, Scott, the first of the others to see our true faces. And unfortunately we have laws regarding such an incident. These laws lay out very clearly what is to be done in case of such an incident. These laws are brutal and call for your death.

GINGER

No father! You mustn’t.

GAULTIER SILENCES GINGER

GAULTIER

These laws where written many, many years ago by men far wiser than myself, to protect out kind from discovery. Our elders knew that should we be discovered by the others it would only be a matter of time before we become nothing more than a plague to be studied and examined. I would wrong to not protect our kind and adhere to these laws.

THERE IS A TENSE SILENCE

But there is obviously something about you Scott that is different than most others. My daughter seems to have some affinity towards you and that says more to me about you than I could ever ask. I will spare you your life Scott in return for your promise that you’ll not tell a soul about what you have learned or what you have seen here.

SCOTT

I promise sir.

GAULTIER

And in return I will grant you access to my home whenever you like. You may visit my darling Ginger so long as she will have you here.

SCOTT

Thank you sir.

GAULTIER

Don’t thank me, thank my daughter.

SCOTT HUGS GINGER

SCOTT

Thank you Ginger.

TIMELY

PUNCHES THE BULLY IN THE ARM

Just try to come between that ya punk!