Short Story Excerpt: The Others - Scenes 13-15

Overview: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-hero-s-journey-the-others-pt-1\

Previous: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-excerpt-the-others-scenes-10-12

Content warning: mention of firearms; improper portrayal of mental illness and how to treat one with such

SCENE THIRTEEN

(Outside of the Rebel base. It is night. Jason is lying on the hood of a broken down car, gazing at the sky. Sadie enters and climbs next to him.)

Jason: Sadie, I don’t want to talk right now.

Sadie: I do, J-Gray.

Jason: Please, leave me alone.

Sadie: You want me to help. Sea Bass said so.

Jason: I can’t talk to you.

Sadie: Why?

Jason: I-- I just can’t. You wouldn’t understand.

Sadie: Do you not like me?

Jason: No! Uh, I mean, yes! I mean, I do like you--

Sadie: Then what is it?

Jason: Nothing!

Sadie: Then what--

Jason: (sits up and slamming his hands on the hood) Will you just stop, Jessie!?

Sadie: Who’s Jessie?

Jason: (realizes his mistake and calms down) No one. I meant Sadie. Just don’t-- Don’t mention her again.

Sadie: Yes, J-Gray.

Jason: (lies back down) The stars are pretty, right?

Sadie: Singing tangerines are running.

Jason: Yes, I know, they’re running left in north Germany, I get it.

Sadie: No. (points at the sky) Singing tangerines are running.

Jason: (looks at the sky) Singing... tangerines... are... running…. S-T-A-R. Star? (Sadie nods) Then left in north Germany is L-I-.. Oh my God. Sadie, tell me, who is the leader of the Others?

Sadie: Singing tangerines are running left in north Germany.

Jason: I have to tell the rest. (jumps off the car and runs off) Thank you, Sadie!

SCENE FOURTEEN

(Medical Bay. Aaron is at a computer with Astrid, Seb, and Lincoln leaning over his shoulder. Jason enters, running)

Jason: It’s Starling!

Astrid: Jason, whoa, Jason! Take a deep breath! What happened? What’s Starling?

Jason: (gasping for breath) The leader of the Others! It’s Starling!

Lincoln: What? Jason, that doesn’t even make sense!

Jason: Sadie’s song! “Singing tangerines are running left in north Germany.” It’s an acronym! S-T-A-R-L-I-N-G. Starling! She was trying to tell us it’s Starling!

Seb: What about the kittens?

Jason: I don’t know, but her jumbled brain is trying to tell us something!

Starling: Tell us what?

(everyone turns to see Starling entering)

Jason: Uh, hey, sir. Sadie was trying to tell us where the Others’ base was located.

Starling: I though she already broke in there.

Jason: That was just a facility. Their main base is in Germany. That’s what her song meant.

Starling: Do you know where in Germany exactly?

Jason: We’re working on it, sir.

Starling: Work quickly. (he exits)

Aaron: What do you suppose we do?

Jason: We try to crack Sadie’s other messages. Then we get Starling to break.

SCENE FIFTEEN

(Holding cell. Sadie is sitting crossed-legged in front of the Other’s holding cell.)

Sadie: Yes won squabab Nealarts. We fah tsowl, Owecalak! (enter Jason)

Jason: Sadie! Sadie!

Sadie: J-Gray?

Jason: Sadie, you need to tell me everything you know about this man! (points at the Other)

Sadie: (looks at the Other) Kitty. Kitty. Kitty.

Jason: (grabs her shoulders) Look, I am not messing around! Tell me ALL YOU KNOW!

Sadie: I-- I can’t….

Jason: Yes! Yes you can! Reach in there, Sadie! You told me about Starling, now tell me about him!

Sadie: (starts to cry) I...can’t, Jason.

Jason: Wait, did you just call me Jason? Sadie, focus on that. Please, focus on that genius girl you were before all of this. She’s still in there. I know she is. Please! Do this for the Rebellion! Do this for me! Come on, Jessie, don’t let me down!

Sadie: Who’s Jessie?

Jason: What?

Sadie: You called me Jessie again. Who is she?

Jason: (sighs) My little sister. She was the smartest girl I knew. The last time I saw her, she was your age. She was working on a program to hack the Others’ system, not unlike what you were doing. She was almost there when she was taken by them. The Others. She was soon returned to us, only, she came back to us insane. The Rebellion took her off to a mental institution, and I never saw her again. That was four years ago. I became a fighter in hopes to avenge her, and that’s what I hope to do.

Sadie: Calico.

Jason: What?

Sadie: (points to the Other) Calico.

Jason: Is that his name? (Sadie nods) Calico. As in the orange-and-black cat. Kittens. Right? (Sadie nods again) Well, can you talk to him? (Sadie turns to the Other, Calico)

Sadie: Wet heem nifyerfat we won.

Calico: Ya henah snon. Heroh yes liwil wick heem.

Sadie: Seal, WET HEEM! (she slams her hands on the bars) ***Or I will make sure you never see the light of day again. [Hey, it's Kaylin. I hadn't translated this line into Other-speak yet, so it's still spoken normally here oops.]

(Calico gestures for Sadie to come closer. He whispers something in her ear. Sadie turns to Jason.)

Sadie: The code.

Jason: The what?

Sadie: I can do it! (she runs off)

Jason: What? (turns to Calico) What did you tell her? What are you? (a gun fires, and Calico slumps to the ground. Jason spins around. Starling enters with a glowing purple gun.)

Starling: I wish you weren’t here, Mr. Grayson. (He drops the purple gun on the floor and kicks it away. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a normal gun.) I would have prefered that you stayed alive. (Jason backs up, running into the bars of Calico’s cell.) However, he already gave out too much information. Well, I guess that’s what happens when you trade out brain cells.

Jason: What?

Starling: Oh, didn’t you know? Sadie didn’t tell you? Oh, that’s right. She couldn’t. She can’t. I guess I could give you the details myself, but that would be a waste of time. Oh, well. Good-bye, Jason. (he raises his gun, but before he fires, a PEW! sound is heard, and Starling collapses. Seb has fired the purple gun that Starling had used on Calico.)

Jason: Seb, you’re a lifesaver!

Seb: No, not really. I just heard something, ran in here, and this was on the floor. I didn’t even know if it would work on him. I thought it only worked on Others due to its purple glow.

Jason: Who’s to say it doesn’t?

Seb: What do you mean?

Jason: Who’s to say he wasn’t one of the Others?

Seb: But what would the proof be? And how? How was one of the Others the leader of the Rebellion for so long?

(Lincoln suddenly runs in, panting)

Jason: What is it?

Lincoln: Sadie’s cracked them. She’s hacked into the Others’ data again.

I don't like how I portrayed Sadie's illness, as I've mentioned in my content warnings. Especially how Jason gets angry with her. I think him calling her by his sister's name is a little cliche, and I think both aspects are done much better in the next draft. I'm also pretty inconsistent with what Sadie's able to communicate, and I should've made that clear.

For the record, the Others' language was made by me speaking into an app that reverses whatever is said. I then dictated what the language sounded like reversed, instead of simply flipping the words backwards.

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