"Brothers, sisters, we need to put an end to what we do. We do it for the good but risk befalls us. The kingdom turns its back against folks of our kind. You all witnessed how those sorcerers were burnt alive, indeed a sight not to behold. We shouldn't..."
"Brother, do you suggest that we cease to render help to those who look up to us?
"Magdalene, this is a tough decision but it needs to be done. You all are my kin, your protection is my interest. I know we do what we do in secret but no sooner shall we be found out... and burnt alive. I do not want us to bear same fate as..."
"Your words reek of cowardice, brother"
"I say this to protect you, Zenon! I say this to protect you all!"
"Protect us? By suggesting that we conceal our gifts till the end of days? We came to this world with magic for a purpose, to render help, to do great things, to conquer..."
"Same manner in which those sorcerers conquered? They conquered nothing! Disgrace befell them, fire befell them, death befell them... because of the same gift you speak of"
"Raguel... I do not wish to hide my gifts" Walking away.
"Zenon!"
"I stand with him. It is obvious this meeting holds no importance. I will be at the tarven" He walks away too.
"Erasmus! Erasmus! Take not another step!... Zenon and Erasmus just walked out on me"
"Let them go, brother. Allow them a brief moment to think it through, what you ask is not little"
"Erasmus!!!"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Relax, honey. It was just a dream"
"Erasmus..." Panting slightly.
"Take a deep breath, it was just a dream. Go back to sleep, do you need a glass of water?"
"Nah... I'm good..." He exhales "Who the hell is Erasmus? And Zenon. Why do these people keep showing up in my dream?" Getting up from the bed.
"I dunno, honey"
"This is the third time, same weird dream" Rubbing his eyes.
"Lemme make you coffee instead"
"That'll be nice, please fetch my uniform while I shower"
"Your uniform? Going to work at this hour?"
"I dunno why I keep having this dream, I just need to clear my head"
"With work?"
"Yes" He takes off his vest and goes into the bathroom.
"It's 03:16am"
"I'll appreciate that coffee when I'm out" His voice echos out.
Cleave Hills High, after school. The gym.
KAREN: You're late.
"Err... sorry I was..."
KAREN: Leave my tryouts.
"I just..."
KAREN: One more word and you're suspended from the team.
The girl stares briefly, confused, before walking slowly to the exit door, everyone is silent.
KAREN: Stop! (The girl turns around) Do you have a good reason for being late?
"Uhm... I was feeling quite uneasy. It's that time of the month again"
KAREN: What time?... oh.
"Yeah. I've been in severe pain" She looks down timidly.
KAREN: I understand. (Pausing) Well, leave. Not because you're late, but because we know it sucks.
AIDEN: We? I don't even know what you two are talking about.
KAREN: Are you this clueless? (She shifts her gaze back to the girl) What's your name?
"Thea"
KAREN: Grade?
THEA: Freshman.
KAREN: Go home. Return here on Wednesday, hope you feel better by then.
THEA: Thank you. (She leaves the gym)
KAREN: Alright girls, in less than two months, we'll be out there in the courts, cheering our boyfriends to victory.
BEVERLY: What if my boyfriend is on the opposing team?
KAREN: Then you'd be off the squad till the game's over. You're either for us... or for us, I won't even let you be against us.
BEVERLY: Take a chill pill, babe. Just kidding. (She chuckles)
KAREN: You'd better be... Okay! One, two, three, four! (She snaps her fingers)
"CLEAVERS! Bring it home!" The whole squad echoes in an aligned movement.
KAREN: Five, six, seven, eight!
"RIVALS! Crawl back home!"
KAREN: Chill out, girls. What the hell are we doing? There's a football game in three weeks and here we are, rehearsing routines for a basketball game in two months.
BEVERLY: Talk about misplaced priorities.
KAREN: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve!... Shut!... the fuck up!
BEVERLY: Haha, I was just saying the truth.
KAREN: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixt...
BEVERLY: Okay okay, I'm sorry! (Laughing) I'm sorry her royal squadness. (She takes a bow, Karen scoffs)
KAREN: Let's have our routine for the football game instead.
"But we're already putting on our uniforms for Cleavers"
KAREN: I'm not blind. Take your positions, everyone!
AIDEN: Remind me again, at what point do I come in?
KAREN: This is the third time in repeating this. Why you so slow today, Aiden?
AIDEN: I'm sorry, I'll catch up.
KAREN: You'd take your cue immediately after the first tumbling so that when Mira does her stunt, you'd be right there to catch her. Is that clear?
AIDEN: Crystal.
KAREN: Can I trust you not to screw this up?
AIDEN: My head's in the game, I promise.
KAREN: Good. (Her gaze meets a girl). Hey you, blondie! You're meant to be behind her, remember? Not vice versa.
The two girls switch, taking their proper positions.
KAREN: Everyone ready?
"Ready!!"
KAREN: One!... Two, Three!... Four, Five, Six!
"TIGERS!!"
KAREN: T... I, G... E, R, S!
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
KAREN: One!... Two, Three... Come on, Gwen. Wrong move, you're going the opposite direction.
GWEN: Oh, I'm sorry.
KAREN: Let's take that again. From the top, everybody! Let's go... One!... Two, Three!... Four, Five, Six!
"TIGERS!!!"
Two hours later.
KAREN: Great work, girls.
"For God's sake, there are guys on this squad too"
AIDEN: Thank you, Tariq.
KAREN: Y'all are girls as far as I'm concerned.
AIDEN: Last time I checked, you were like "We need a few more muscles, get us some guys".
KAREN: Blah!... Blah, Blah!... Blah, Blah, Blah! Everyone's dismissed!
05:47pm, the police unit.
GORDON: Hello? (Picking up his cellphone)
"Come to the hospital now, something weird just happened"
GORDON: Who's dead again?
"You'll see for yourself"
GORDON: Why can't you just... Hello? Hello? Ugh... Can my Monday get any better? (Exhausted, he closes the file on his desk, puts it in his drawer and picks up his car key)
06:01pm, the city hospital.
GORDON: So what's the weird occurrence? (He meets Diana holding and glancing at some patient charts in a hallway)
DIANA: Whoa, did you teleport?
GORDON: Sounded like an emergency, you hung up before I even finished talking.
DIANA: Sorry, something needed my attention at that moment. Well, let's go see the weird stuff. (She starts walking but he still remains where he is, she turns around noticing he's not following her. She raises a brow) What?
GORDON: Is something gonna jump in my face?
DIANA: Dude, you're the sheriff, the number one officer in our town. Are you... scared?
GORDON: I just wanna know what we're walking into so I'll brace for impact. Would I be needing my sidearm?
DIANA: Relax, this is not a field ops or something, Jesus! (She laughs).
GORDON: Okay. (He smirks) Let's go then. After you.
They leave the hallway together and stop in front of a door where she swipes her keycard to unlock it, it is the morgue.
GORDON: Peggy Roosevelt? (He reads the name tag attached to the body she just pulled out)
DIANA: Yup.
GORDON: The corpse which the detective's kids exhumed?
DIANA: Yup.
GORDON: You didn't call me here just to yup at me, did you?
DIANA: Yup.
GORDON: ...
DIANA: Just kidding. Notice anything strange? (Taking the cover off the body)
GORDON: Looks like a normal corpse to me, nothing stra... wait, I thought she had scars?
DIANA: Yup... I mean yes. (She chuckles).
GORDON: And now they're gone? How?
DIANA: Thanks goodness, I thought something was wrong with my eyes.
GORDON: How's this even possible?
DIANA: Medically, I've no freaking idea. But looking at all the strange recent happenings, there should be an answer to this.
GORDON: Hmm... but what exactly am I doing here? This is not a crime scene, no one's dying, what's the emergency?
DIANA: I just thought you should be the first to know. Feel free to leave, I'll keep the rest of the story.
GORDON: Now what? I gotta beg you to tell me what happened?
DIANA: ...
GORDON: Fine. Have a nice day, Diana. (Turning around, leaving)
DIANA: Kindly close the door behind you.
Five seconds later, he walks back in.
GORDON: Alright you win. Tell me what happened... please.
DIANA: That's what I thought. (Smiling) The weird thing that happened... there was a spark from her fingers.
GORDON: A spark?
DIANA: Yup.
GORDON: No yups! Is it like when you crack two stones together? That kinda spark?
DIANA: That's a medieval visualization. But imagine two naked wires having sex.
GORDON: Naked wires can't have sex...
DIANA: I said imagine!
GORDON: Well, shit.
DIANA: Yeah, that kinda spark.
GORDON: And it came from her fingers?
DIANA: A part of me still doubts what I saw.
GORDON: She's dead for Christ sake! Who? I mean how can... (He exhales)
DIANA: I know... this is crazy. But if her scars have truly disappeared and we can both see it, this means I'm right about what I saw. This is bigger than us, Gordon.
GORDON: There's just so much happening, I need a vacation from all these.
DIANA: Tell me about it.
GORDON: No, no.... I need to resign.
DIANA: Don't be silly.
GORDON: Honestly, I'm tired. There's always one beast on the loose, strange deaths here and there, now what do we have? An electric corpse! (Diana laughs)
DIANA: Hey... (Her eyes fixed on his) ...are you a coward?
GORDON: (He looks at her, hesitating before responding). Never have.
DIANA: Good. It's only cowards who run from a fight. This is our town, our people, our kids... who'll protect everything if we all give up?
GORDON: ...
DIANA: This is our fight... right?
GORDON: Right. (He looks into her eyes)