Scene: 1
"Shannon," the male voice called out, "what on earth are you doing?"
Shannon gasped as her heart skipped a beat and slammed the case shut. She took a moment to catch her breath and regain her composure before turning around to face her confronter. With an annoying voice like the one she had heard, she knew it could belong to no one but good old cousin Wiley.
Why me!? She thought. Whatever I did in a previous life, it must have been horrid!
"Uh, hi Wiley," she stuttered. "What are you doing down here in the basement? Did you get lost trying to find your way home?"
Not even noticing the anger and sarcasm in Shannon's voice, Wiley answered. "Well, I saw you come down here by yourself. I thought you might want some company, so I popped on down. From the looks of things, its a good thing that I did, cause that case you've got looks heavy. What's in it?"
"None of your business," Shannon quipped. She could feel her anger reaching the boiling point. First it was Uncle Sal's murder, then everything got worse from there: Nicole getting to be with Chris, Chris' outburst towards her this evening, Ryan being with someone else and Dean treating her like she was nothing. Comparatively speaking, Wiley's intrusion wasn't all that bad, but Shannon needed to take her anger out on somebody, and poor Wiley was the only one here.
"Grr....You are annoying beyond belief! You need a serious reality check because you have no clue how absolutely dorky you really are!"
"Shannon," Wiley started, "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible then: You are a dork, a nerd, a weirdo! And you give me the heebie-jeebies! The only reason I came down here in the first place was to get away from you!"
"Uh, I'm sorry Shannon...I mean, I didn't..." Wiley was shocked by what Shannon said. Obviously she is under a lot of stress and didn't mean what she said about me, Wiley thought, but that didn't take the sting out of what she said.
"And if you tell anyone else that you saw me down here with this case I'll...I'll pound you into tiny pieces and sweep you under the rug!" Shannon continued, this time through tears of frustration.
Wiley, still stunned at Shannon's outburst, started to say something, but thought better of it. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. It's happening again. He thought. Why do people always treat me this way? Maybe I am nothing but a loser.
Wiley stuck his hands in his pockets and started to walk back up the stairs and out of the basement when they heard the door to the basement open above them.
"Shannon," the voice called, "are you down here?"
"DAMN!" Shannon cried. "That's my sister! If she finds me down here with this case everything will be ruined!"
Scene: 2
"This is such a charming little house," Angela gushed to Dean as they awaited the start of the séance. "I really must talk to them about who does their decorating."
"I'm sure Nicole takes care of all that," Dean replied as he wrapped his arm around her, "Shannon doesn't have that good of taste. Am I right Ryan?"
"Huh?" Ryan said.
"Earth to Ryan. What's with you tonight? I was just talking about Shannon." Dean elbowed him lightly in the ribs.
"Uh, yeah, I wonder where she is. I haven't seen her for a while." Ryan replied. "I had to chase that nerdy guy away from her."
"Are you okay?" Dean asked. "I thought you were mad a Shannon and now you're looking for her. Can I have a word with you, alone?"
"Sure thing Dean," Ryan agreed. Then he nodded to Angela and Alexis, "If you'll excuse us for a moment ladies, Dean needs me to hold his hand and walk him to the bathroom."
"Ha, ha, very funny pig boy!" Dean shot back as he pulled Ryan aside.
"Okay, what do you want?" Ryan asked, a little impatiently.
"You still like her, don't you?" Dean eyed Ryan suspiciously.
"What are you talking about?" Ryan questioned.
"Shannon. Have you forgot what she did to us? She played us like fools." Dean said. "Besides, you're here with Alexis and if you don't start paying a bit less attention to Shannon and a little more attention to her, you might end up with nobody."
"I guess your right Dean," Ryan answered, "I really should be paying more attention to Alexis. I mean, she's really great…"
"Look Ryan, I thought Shannon was something special too, but it all turned out to be a lie. She tried to make us mad at each other, but it didn't work. Now we can put this behind us, okay?"
"Okay." Ryan agreed reluctantly. "Let's get back, I don't want to keep our dates waiting any longer."
Scene: 3
"Let me get this straight," Hudson mused, "all you want me to do is make friends with this Shannon chick? That sounds too easy. What's the catch?"
"I see you don't have a trusting nature," the man replied, "but you are right in thinking there is more to this little deal. All you need to do is gain Shannon's trust and confidence. You see, there is some information I need that only Shannon has access too. Once you become her friend, I will be contacting you again. By that time she should be comfortable telling you anything. That is not too much to ask, considering what I'm offering in exchange."
"And that would be what, exactly." Hudson demanded.
"A chance at true love and happiness." he answered. "I think you are getting the better end in our little bargain, don't you?"
"On the surface, yes," Hudson replied, "but there seems to be a lot more your not telling me. But even if I ignore that for the moment, how do you propose getting Willard to love me back? You may have connections, but changing a man's heart takes more than that."
"Don't worry about such trivialities," he said, "I have everything under control."
"Trivialities?" Hudson gave him an icy glare, "You think my love for Willard is trivial?"
"No, you misunderstand my dear." he cooed. "I just meant that it's nothing you need to concern yourself with. Now, do we have a deal?"
Hudson thought for a few moments before finally nodding her head. "Yes, for now. I'll make friends with this Shannon Conrad while you fix things with Willard. Once he tells me he loves me I'll find out that information you need."
"Good, good." he said as he stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to take care of."
DiMira couldn't help but smile as he left the park and headed for his car. Everything is coming together exactly as I want, he thought. Now, to execute part two of my plan.
Scene: 4
"Shannon! Is that you? I hear noise from down here and the séance is about to start!"
Wiley turned to see Shannon trying to move the case and put it into a slot on the wall. She looked at him worriedly. Finally he called back up the stairs. "Sorry, Nicole. I'm the only one here. I was looking for the bathroom, but I guess I got lost."
"Wiley? Is that you?" Nicole asked, trying to keep from laughing.
Yes. But please don't tell anyone I got lost. "Wiley requested as he started up the stairs to where Nicole was standing in the doorway. "I have a reputation to keep up."
"Of course I won't," Nicole replied, this time letting a small laugh escape her, "I know how important your reputation is around here. From what Ted and Renee tell me, you're quite the ladies man."
"I've only been here one day and they already know me so well, don't they?" he chuckled.
"That they do, Wiley," Nicole said as she held open the door for
him. "We'd better get back in the other room. The Widow Twanky can get
awfully impatient and that Joel guy is kind of weird. I'm afraid of
what he'll do if he's left unsupervised for too long."
"All right. I'm coming." Before he walked out of the door and into the
house above, Wiley looked down from the stairway and into the basement.
He could see Shannon looking back with a relieved look on her face. As
he turned to leave, he saw her smile and mouth the words "thank you".
Scene: 5
Time seemed to be standing still for Alfalfa, who sat caged up in his little cell. Sweat poured down his face as he tried once again to loosen the bonds that tied him to his chair. He was well past the point of anger and rage welled up at him as he thought of his captor, Bruce, and the way his smugness lingered on long after he left the room.
Alfalfa wasn't exactly sure how long he had been alone when he heard the lock on the outside door pop and someone enter the room. He didn't even need to look up to see who it was, as the stench of such malice was enough to tell Alfalfa that it could be no one but Bruce.
"Sprouts," Bruce purred, "good morning to you! Although you probably didn't even know it was morning, did you? Well, no matter. Soon Lilith will have done what I've requested and you can limp on home like the coward you are."
Alfalfa didn't try to say anything through the gag, rather, he glared at Bruce.
"What's the matter Sprouts?" Bruce mocked him. "Don't you have anything to add to this conversation?"
Bruce grabbed Alfalfa's hair in one hand, tipped back his head and pulled the gag off with the other hand. Alfalfa immediately spit in Bruce's eye and sat there with a satisfied grin on his face. Bruce, not expecting such an action from Alfalfa, let go of Alfalfa's head and slapped him square in the face.
"Is this the way you want to play things, Sprouts?" He questioned. "After I've gone to such great lengths to treat you so well."
"Humph!" Alfalfa managed.
"Don't be so quick to judge me Sprouts. You know Lilith has done her fair share of dirty dealing and this loyalty you have towards her is almost, well disturbing. I only do what I must to get the job done and nothing more. I admit kidnapping you was a bit extreme, but believe me, it was necessary."
"You are a selfish bastard Bruce, and you know it!" Alfalfa said, slightly slurred as the blood was only starting to return to his lips.
"Selfish, yes, a bastard, perhaps." Bruce answered. "But don't go thinking yourself so high and mighty. You and Lilith have aren't exactly angels, you know, like hitting me over the head with a frying pan and binding me to the sofa, for example. That wasn't very nice at all, was it?"
Alfalfa didn't even bother to answer that one, but just glared defiantly.
"Not so full of words now are you, Sprouts?" Bruce laughed. "Then I'll leave you to your solitude."
Bruce exited the room and Alfalfa heard the lock turn back into
place. At least Bruce left the gag off this time. Alfalfa could feel
that the blood had returned to his lips, but his jaw was sore. Slowly
he worked his jaw around until it felt a bit better and then sat back
in his chair and sighed. He was trapped and he knew it. He would just
have to hang in a little longer and hope that Lilith would come to his
rescue.
Scene: 6
"Well, that was a total waste of time," Joel remarked as everybody was leaving the house after the séance. "Not so much as a stupid comment. Not even a lousy fifteen belts, four ropes and three proposals! And it's all your fault old woman!" Joel yelled as he pointed at Twanky.
"My fault!" she screamed in reply, "It's hardly my fault, young man. You were running this show. If you had any wits about you, it would have worked. I'm starting to think you couldn't contact the spirit of my dead cat, much less a human being, God rest his soul. Especially one who walked this earth with love and compassion like Sal."
"Don't try and pin this one on me." Joel retorted. "You're the one who kept interrupting and commenting on everything I said. Sal was probably afraid to show up for fear of being criticized for not dying properly!"
"You're nothing but a hooligan!" She cried. "Be off with you! Shoo!!"
"I wouldn't be so impudent if I were you! It makes me angry. And trust me you lumbering oaf," he started with an evil look in his eye, "you cannot escape the Wrath of Joel!"
"Oh my, a bit of overacting, aren't we dear." Twanky replied, "But then again, in your profession of trickery, I could expect nothing less. Now shoo!!!"
Without another word Joel threw on his cape and stomped out the door.
Scene: 7
"Yoohoo! Lilith! Over here!" Angela waved excitedly to Lilith from her seat on the patio. "I've already got us a table."
Oh good lord! thought Lilith as she forced herself to smile. "I'll be there in a moment dear." She called back.
As she walked toward the table, Lilith reminded herself why she was there in the first place. C'mon Lilith, you need to do this so you can get access to the hospital database. Jett said he might be able to do something for you, but it was best to proceed as planned for now. So smile and try to be friendly…no matter how painful it may be.
"This is so much fun, don't you think Lilith?" Angela said as Lilith sat down at the table. "We're going to have a blast working together."
I'd like to blast your perkiness down a notch. Lilith thought. "Of course we will have lots of fun working together, my dear. Just like old times."
"I've talked with my staff about it, and they're all so excited about you coming back to work for us. I've also rearranged the lunch schedules so that we can have lunch together everyday! Isn't that wonderful?"
"That's so sweet of you." Lilith replied. If I get my hands on you Bruce for putting me through this! She thought to herself. "So, when do I start?"
"Well, hopefully by next week," Angela answered.
Next week?!" Lilith tried to remain calm, but the thought of continuing this friendship with Angela that long turned her stomach. "I was hoping to start right away."
"Don't get me wrong, I would love for you to start this afternoon, but we need to put you through a small background check." Angela smiled warmly at Lilith. "It's nothing you need to worry about. We have to do one on everybody. It's hospital policy. You remember how that is."
"Of course I do, but isn't there anyway to speed it up?" Lilith asked. "I want to get started right away."
"The world needs more people with a work ethic like yours." Angela said sweetly. "I'll see what I can do to hurry things up for you. But for now, lets just enjoy lunch and catch up on old times. Won't that be just great!"
"Lovely," said Lilith, forcing another smile.