Experimentalist Writing Submission: Entry 014 / by Brandon Mitchell

"There's a whole bunch of these oldies that I'm gonna lay up in here to try to catch up. They are what they is."  -- OBS

BIG SCRIPTS

EXT. FLOATING BARGE -- MIDNIGHT

Shantie walks the plank. She gets three quarters of the way to the end. She stops and looks back at The Man.

                    SHANTIE

            The Man.

                    THE MAN

            Yes?

                    SHANTIE

            This is where it stops.

                    THE MAN

            I know. Well, I mean, a few feet from there
            is where it actually--

                    SHANTIE

            The Man, you really are a jerk ass.

                    THE MAN

            That’s what you always say.

                    SHANTIE

            Could that be ‘cause there’s some truth
            to it?

                    THE MAN

            Some, maybe. But, you’re always going
            for that effect.

                    SHANTIE

            Effect? I’m about to leap to my death.

                    THE MAN

            Well, don’t let me hold you.

                    SHANTIE

            But, I just thought you’d --

The Man turns. He’s had enough of this same old conversation. He walks off into a closed room.

Shantie looks around. There are almost a dozen of The Man’s assistants standing by with hands on their side arms. She solemnly turns and walks the duration of the plank. She looks down.

Below her is a watery whirlpool of circling sharks. A few giant octopus limbs protrude from the center of the shark ring. There is also a bundle of TNT tied to the end of the plank with a timer ticking down from 10. There is also a guy high above her on another shorter plank. He is preparing to tip over a 20 gallon barrel of sulfuric acid onto Shantie’s head. There also happens to be a cloud of mosquitos infected with the West Nile Virus hovering in the air one step in front of her and slowly moving in.

Shantie looks toward the door that The Man walked into.

                    SHANTIE

            I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.
                                        THE END