Moth Wings and Monster Trees, Scene 3
Hey hey hey! This is the third scene of a radio play.
SCENE 3
WE OPEN ON THE GROUP STRUGGLING TO HAUL THE CANOE ASHORE IN THE STORM. RAIN AND WIND WHIP THE LAKE, AND THUNDER STILL BOOMS OMINOUSLY IN THE BACKGROUND.
DEKE: Come ON! Just pull! We’ve got to get the canoe under cover!
HAZEL: It’s filling up with water, it’s too heavy!
EVELYN: Will you quit whining and just pull?
DEKE: Oggie! Don’t just stand there, get behind the boat and start pushing!
[PAUSE]
Okay, 1 - 2 - 3 - heave!
EVERYONE STRAINS TO DRAG THE CANOE UP THE BEACH.
OGGIE: (panting) Now what’re we going to do?
DEKE: Let me think a second.
HAZEL: We’re certainly not going to find any mysterious campfires in this weather.
EVELYN: (sarcastically) Great. Thanks for the update, Hazel.
DEKE: Everyone just be quiet for a minute so I can think.
EVELYN: Why should we be quiet? There’s nothing to think about; find shelter, set up the -
DEKE: Just shut up, dammit!
HAZEL: Deke…
EVELYN: Fine! I’m taking the tent and finding a dry place to spend the night. Oggie, get the flashlights out of the backpack.
OGGIE: Evelyn’s right. We should wait this out and start hunting in the morning.
DEKE: Whatever. By time we get there the treasure will be gone anyway.
HAZEL: Come on, Deke. Whoever’s camping on the island probably isn’t looking for treasure right now, either.
THEY TROMP INTO THE WOODS. THE WHISPERING WIND FROM THE LAKE STARTS AGAIN, ALMOST TOO SOFT TO HEAR UNDER THE STORM.
OGGIE: I don’t like it…there’s something weird going on tonight.
EVELYN: You’re the one acting like a weirdo tonight, Oggie.
OGGIE: I’m not! I swear I heard something out on the lake!
HAZEL: Let’s all just try and keep it together long enough to get the tent set up and get out of the rain.
EVELYN: (ignoring Hazel) How come no one else heard it, then?
OGGIE: I don’t know! Like I said, something weird’s happening!
HAZEL: Quit bickering, you two. Fighting’s not going to help us find a place to sleep tonight.
DEKE: Will you two stop fighting already? Right now we need to just concentrate on finding a place to sleep.
HAZEL: That’s what I just said -
OGGIE: (On top of Hazel) Hey guys, stop. I think we lost Hazel.
HAZEL: What do you mean? I’m right -
DEKE: Oggie’s right. Crap! How could she have gotten lost between here and the shore?
THE EERIE WIND HAS INCREASED TO BE NOTICEABLE OVER THE STORM.
HAZEL: I’m not lost! I’m right here!
EVELYN: (calling out) Hazel! Hazel! Where are you?
OGGIE: Maybe we should go back to the canoe. If she got lost she might have headed back there.
HAZEL: (getting desperate) Look at me! I’m here! Why don’t you see me?
DEKE: Hazel!
SPECTRAL VOICE: Lovely little bug…I see you.
HAZEL: (panicking) Deke! Oggie! I don’t like this!
EVELYN: Let’s split up. We can all meet back here in ten minutes.
OGGIE: No! Then we’ll all just get lost! We need to stick together.
HAZEL: (screaming, on the brink) Don’t go! Don’t leave me! I’m so scared, please, someone…!
SPECTRAL VOICE: (getting louder as it speaks) It sings! Screams! Calling to me. Such a beautiful song. Can it hear me, little bug? Your song fills me!
HAZEL SCREAMS, AND THEN THERE IS SILENCE EXCEPT FOR THE SLACKENING RAIN.
EVELYN: (loudly) Hey! I hear something - listen.
WE CAN HEAR HAZEL SOBBING FROM A DISTANCE. THE GROUP RUNS TO HER.
HAZEL: (sobbing) Someone…Deke, anyone…please…
DEKE: Hazel!
EVELYN: What happened?
OGGIE: Was it the monster?!
HAZEL: (after a shuddering breath) I don’t know. I think it was the same thing as the voice from the lake, Oggie.
OGGIE: (whispered) I told you!
HAZEL: But you couldn’t see me! Or hear me! I was right there, right with you, and you couldn’t…
BEAT.
It started whispering to me. Horrible things. And I screamed, I tried to get your attention, but it just laughed and said we’d all be together soon…
DEKE: All together soon? What’s that supposed to mean?
OGGIE: I don’t think I want to wait around here long enough to find out.
A DEEP, HORRIBLE MOANING NOISE CUTS THROUGH THE NIGHT.
EVELYN: What the hell was that?
HAZEL: Oggie’s right, we should get off Skull Island before anything else happens.
ANOTHER MOAN, FOLLOWED BY AN AWFUL SCREECHING NOISE.
OGGIE: No way! That’s it! It’s time to go now, guys. I don’t care what anyone says, that has to be the monster.
HAZEL: (shrilly) We made up the monster!
OGGIE: You what?
EVELYN: (laughs once, unable to stop herself)
DEKE: (quickly, irritated) Yes, Oggie. We made it up ‘cuz we thought it would be funny to scare you. Can we just forget about the monster already?
HAZEL: Then what was that noise? And what’s with the voice Oggie and I heard? We didn’t make those up.
EVELYN: (belligerently) How do we know you didn’t make up the voice thing to try and scare us?
OGGIE: Oh, come on!
DEKE: Everybody shut up! I mean it!
HE PAUSES WHILE EVERYONE QUIETS DOWN, EVELYN RELUCTANTLY SO.
Okay. Listen. One: with everyone yelling at each other, whoever else is on this island has got to have heard us by now. Two, if you were them, wouldn’t you want to scare us away and take the treasure for yourself? Three: quit arguing and follow me.
HAZEL: Where?
DEKE: Where do you think?
EVELYN: (mockingly) The treasure?!
DEKE: The treasure.
DEKE WALKS OFF INTO THE WOODS.
OGGIE: Did you really make up the monster just to scare me?
HAZEL: Yeah, Oggie. Sorry about that.
EVELYN: I can’t believe you bought it for so long.
THE THREE FOLLOW DEKE DEEPER INTO THE WOODS. THE TERRIBLE NOISES CONTINUE TO SOUND INTERMITTENTLY.
END SCENE 3.