Welcome back to another episode of Devils in Miami. In this story we follow the lives of seven rag tag mid twenties party junkies as they take on life for what it really is. Unfortunately there's someone new in the mix. This someone new doesn't intend to make a lasting impression but he will. What happens when the party's over? Does everyone make it home? Today we find out the answer to those questions. Also, side note- I hope you don't mind unexpected cross overs ;)
I present to you Devils in Miami, Episode two; Ice in Miami.
The morning after Austin's party Trish was out of sight as soon as she could be. Secrets now weigh heavy on her shoulder. Even I wonder what happened. How last night she's all smiles and today it's a smirk that wont seem to go away.
The road is a blur.
Trish, in the driver's seat of her car panned through the radio stations. It's an hour drive from Austin's house to her job on the east end of the tourist town she drags herself to six days a week. A job of handing out trays, to go bags, and sauce after sauce after sauce. A miserable place where's she's spent a good portion of the last two years, that's right Trish Delerosa can now hold down a job.
Her fingers reach up to adjust her mirrors and when she screams.
"Oh my God chuck!" She cries as she releases her foot of the break and continues on her way down the road, "What the Hell are you doing in my car?"
He groans as he pulls himself out of his slumber, "Sorry little Darlin. I think I tried to go home last night but lost my keys. Your back window was down so I popped the lock and slept back here."
"Why didn't you sleep in the house?" She asks.
He crawls up and sits in the passenger seat beside her, "I was wasted, and looking for Dez. Couldn't find him so I guess I just climbed in."
She rolls her eyes but keeps going.
"Can you take me home?" He asks.
She darts a glare at him for a second, "And be late for work? No way chuck. When we get there you can Uber home."
When she shifts the gears and pulls out onto gravel roads he gets nervous, "Where are you going."
"It's a shortcut I've been taking for the last few weeks." She admits and they pull around into a drive through a forest. Are there forests in Miami? I don't care.
However a mile down the winding lane they come to a single sign propped up on the double yellow lines. It reads, Closed for Ice.
"There's no Ice in Miami." Says Chuck.
Trish looks at him, "No shit." and she pulls around it to continue on down the road, "They probably put it up to keep tourists out. You know how stupid they can be."
She's not wrong.
Well she's not wrong about the tourists. What she is wrong about is the current climate. It may be Miami but it's December thirtieth. Winter bites down anywhere. That would explain a light, mid day frost, what it doesn't explain is the blanket of snow on either side of an abandoned back road. Abandoned apart from the goat on the right hand side chewing on some grass next to a sign that says, Ice on Roads.
"Trish. Somethings wrong? We should get back on the highway." Says Chuck.
She waves him off, "Just... shut up."
Up ahead a set of headlights beam in their direction. The radio glitches. A song comes on.
Christmas. Singing about Christmas. My heart is broken but it's Christmas.
"Christmas is over." Says Chuck.
Trish begins to feel anxious, "They play it till new years and then it's the Mexican channel."
There's no snow in Miami but we can decorate a palm tree. Christmas.
The car ahead of them begins to swerve. Back and forth into both lanes it comes faster and faster down the hill.
"Slow down!" Cries Chuch, "He's not stopping!"
Trish looks down at the steering wheel which drips liquid into her lap and she realizes it's frosting over.
Holidays and Christmas. Lights and toys from Santa. I want to sleep with Santa.
She pops the clutch and pulls the wheel hard. They speed off the side of the road and collide with a wall of snow. Her head thuds against the window. Black out.
I'm naughty. I'm depressed. I'm missing teeth. IT'S CHRISTMAS!
Fade to Black
We open on a bright pink landscape. The world is frozen but the setting sun vibrates with the chill beneath her fingertips. She groans as she rises to her feet and looks out at the horizon. All around her is nothing but the fresh powder. Then she hears it.
The faint music of Lady Gaga's latest album. The beat hits her body and she knows. It's sour candy.
A hand rises out from the snow and she gasps looking down at it's protruding digits. At first she assumes it's Chuck reaching down to clutch it's fingers in her own and pull him up but she comes short. Those fingers don't belong to a man they belong to a woman. A woman she knows. A woman she sees in the mirror every day. She unearths herself.
The two of the look at each other for the longest time. Their faces already turning blue.
Then at last the copy speaks, "You stupid bitch."
Trish furrows her brow, "Excuse me?"
I'm super psycho. Make you crazy when I turn the lights low.
The reflection begins to circle her. The eyes so accusing. The sneer of disapproval.
"Weak. That's what you are. Sleeping with a freak like him." Turns her back on Trish.
Trish scoffs, "Screw you."
The creature, without looking back, arches a brow.
If you want to fix me then let's break up here and now.
"This is my life." Trish insists.
The reflection shrugs, "Pretty sad life."
I'm hard on the outside but if you give me time then I could make time for your love.
"I am strong." Trish sneers, "I am brave. I am more than you will ever be."
I'm hard on the outside but if you see inside, inside, inside.
Stepping forward Trish reaches out to touch the reflection only to watch herself crumble as a flurry to come back in a gust of wind towards her. Small icy particles rush around her and her eyes close.
She awakens to the sound of screaming and looks over to see a metal rod sticking out of Chuck's chest.
The hood of her car is wedged in between two trees. Not a flake of snow on the ground.
Her hand moves to the feeling of wet on her face and her fingers come back bloody. Her nose is broken. A sharp pain shoots through her legs and she looks down to see a branch laying across her lap wedging her in. Another scream floods her ears.
"SHUT UP!" She screams.
He gasps and shudders.
The radio's still playing, Take a bite take a bite.
"Did you- change the- damn radio station." She manages to ask.
He turns his bloody face to look at her, "What? No."
"Where's the ice?" She whispers.
All he does is look at her crazy until his eyes catch something else to look at. A figure beyond the busted windshield coming towards them.
Navy blue scrubs, matching cap, surgical mask over the lips and nose. Brown eyes beneath bushy black brows are all this person bares in plain sight. He says nothing as he shifts the log rooting Trish into the car.
"Ow OW OWWWW!" Trish cries but he doesn't stop.
He jerks it hard unveiling her gashes beneath the tight jeans she had been wearing to toss the log away and brace the door ignoring her painful screams. The metal of the door breaks loose and she's too quick to flee the hand reaching towards her. A cloth and some chloroform press to her face and once again she's pulled under before he pulls her out.
Chuck watches him take her away with wide terrified eyes. His ears pick up on the sound of a door shutting, an engine starting, and a vehicle driving away. He's alone in the middle of an abandoned highway with parts of a sign piercing his body and holding him down against the torn leather seats. The thought comes to him that he's been abandoned to die. To die sitting in a puddle of his own blood listening to this bop of a Lady Gaga song.
Take a bite. Take a bite. S-sour candy.
Take a bite. Take a bite. S-sour candy.
End scene.
"Chuck! I need you to be still. We're about to remove the rods." Says a doctor.
His wide eyes find her and he takes in a deep breath as his eyes find the ceiling and the pressure rises. His mouth vibrates before a monstrous roar is released from the back of his throat. He begins to hemorrhage.
A blur of people in scrubs fighting to save his life floods his mind and he fears he might die. A thought comes to him, what if Trish is never found?
He reaches out to the doctor. Her hands find his. She understands, he wants to say something.
Before he blacks out he manages two words, "Austin Moon."
Then he's gone.
Trauma Surgeon Logan Mitchel looks down at the woman he spoke to, "Get him on the phone if you can. Try using TheSlap, you know how these new kids don't answer to calls anymore. Then ask that the police department send over a detective."
"Is this about the girl that was with him?" She asks.
Logan nods, removes his gloves and presses the button that allows the airlock in the door to slide open and he walks out. Rounding a corner to enter the main lobby of the hospital he comes up short at the sight of an old friend.
Propped up on his legs in a waiting chair he flips through the pages of Suzanne Collins latest; The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes. His sandy blonde hair falls over his face out from underneath a red beanie.
"Kendall." Pipes Logan.
Bloodshot stoner eyes find the surgeon and a smile spreads across those lips of his.
The boys on his feet in a flash and races over, "I wanted to check on you."
Logan looks side to side and mutters while shoving his hands into his coat pocket, "You can't be here."
"Why?" The color drains Kendall's face. Then he dares to utter the thing they both knew, "You did something didn't you?"
End scene.
Austin and Ally share a moment, as they walk into the cold confines of the local hospital. A waiting room of mostly tourist, probably injured by a few of the local attractions. It's almost as if both of them can hear the song playing. One that leaves them both trodden with sadness. It's as if they knew. Something was wrong. Something was more than wrong.
What song is that?
I wasn't built for this. My head can't make any damn sense of this and so it sings.
Oh yes. The heartrending, icy music of SYML. A haunting, "Meant to Stay Hid." floats around them like the very ghosts of this hospital.
Dez leans his head between them and his loud obnoxious voice utters, "Do you guys feel like we're in an episode of Grey's Anatomy right now."
"This is Miami." Dejects Austin, "Wouldn't that make it 'Private Practice'?"
Ally shrugs, "That shows just about mid wives isn't it."
In Unison Austin and Dez ask, "What's a mid wife?"
A cold gust of air comes down on them from the vent above and they feel so unnaturally heavy.
I found notes that you hid. Sharing secrets and fears that were meant to stay hid.
The young doctor sent that was by Chucks side when he took his final breath stands resting against the counter top with a look of worry on her face. She looked up to see her required guests were here. With a subtly she makes her way over.
"Austin Moon?" She says and when they look at her with optomistic smiles she gives them the face of bad news baring, "Do you know a young gentleman named Chuck?"
Dez steps forward with anger his brow, "What's this about? Chuck is my friend. Why would he ask for Austin? And where's Trish."
Ally and Austin share a look, their friend has never given this type of performance before. Something happened last night and no ones willing to say what.
Dr. Kenton sighs as she lets out the typical phrase, "I'm sorry. We did everything we could. Your friend Chuck was in a motor accident this morning with your friend Trush Delerosa. He didn't make it."
"Why was Chuck with Trish? Where is Trish?" Ally steps forward.
Dez steps back a little defeated, "He was looking for me. I told him we'd go shoot off bottle rockets but... but I got distracted. He must have crawled into her car to wait for me because I told him I was going to go talk to Trish. Where- where is Trish."
She points over to a couple of people in suits standing outside the vending room waiting patiently, "That's what we're trying to figure out. They're being patient, they know you'll probably want to see your friend first. However time is limited. Where ever your friend is if we have any chance of finding her they need to talk to you."
With that Dr. Kenton walked away.
If I wasn't so afraid. I'd shine a light up to space.
"Missing." Dez huffs, "How does someone... just go missing?"
Then my soul could be strong enough to see your face.
Ally lays a hand on Dez's shoulder, "Come on. Let's go say our goodbyes."
The three of them walk to the counter and get the room number from the nurse behind it then trudge to the elevator where they wait for it to open in silence. It dings they climb inside. The doors shut. The shaft descends. It opens on the desired floor and they shuffle quietly down the hallway of shadows. The lights have been turned out. They open a door and inside, eyes shut tight in eternal sleep, is Chuck McCoy.
It's known that Dez and Chuck were rivals. It's know that everything for them was a competition. What isn't known is that without chaos there is no harmony. The two of them were like brothers. Always keeping each other in check. The challenge kept them alive. Now the game is officially over. Dez win because there is no one to take him on.
And as the light of the evening sun peeks through the drawn blue curtains wisps of dust spiral around his feet. The brown and yellow sandals he wears click against the tile. How does he say even say this? Austin stands against the sill and Ally takes up the chair beside him. How happy are the blameless vestles lot? A world forgetting by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Each prayer accepted. Each wish resigned.
"Dez." Whispers Ally.
He nods, "I know... I know."
One more day. One more day.
Austin and Ally make the decision to rise and step out of the room when they see the detectives beginning to hover.
Dez, now alone with the corpse of Chuck McCoy, leans in close. Words between them have never been perfect. What to say? More over... How?
"I can't believe you'd quit like this. I thought you said you were the best. We both knew it was me but come on. How dare you just forfeit. Friends don't quit. Why would you just quit? I get that I did something bad but you didn't have to go and check out on me. Did she tell you? Where did she go? Where is she Chuck?" How sad. To know you wont get an answer yet be completely out of control when it comes to saying it, "How could you just give up on her like that? On me."
"Dez..." Ally's small voice comes from the doorway.
He's needed.
One last thing. Chuck would say, 'Not so fast Red. I was the best damn friend you've ever had.'
To which Dez would respond, 'Nu uh. My friend ship is so strong I'm going to forgive you for giving up." and with that he closes the door on Chuck McCoy forever.
I found notes that you hid
Sharing secrets and fears that were meant to stay hid
Moving stuff out your room
leaves me emptier than the room where you stayed
End scene.
That's the question; Where is she?
Trish Delarosa isn't the type of girl to just give up anymore. She's something so much stronger than that now. A brave young woman with a lot to prove and no one holding her hand. So why is it that he chose her?
Why is it that when Kendall and Lucy showed up in the purple glimmering van Logan Henderson waved them off, gave a stupid excuse, and walked away climbing in his brand new Chrysler to drive away he felt confident in his choice to test her?
Why is it that he's testing anyone at all?
As the swaying lamp above her head passes from left to right and back again she wakes. She knows before she even begins to pull on the leather straps that have her bound there is no escape. The high ceiling is littered with pipes and shafts in front of stained blue and black glass. The smell of fermaldaheit is potent. The air is cold and dead. The energy to fight is not there. The desire to run isn't either. It's just her, the sounds of metal clacking and engine whirs going on and off, the harsh reality that life is no longer what it used to be, and the inevitable feeling that this morning was the last time she got to see her best friend Ally and didn't even get the chance to say goodbye.
If I wasn't so afraid
I'd shine a light up to space
Then my soul could be
strong enough to see your face.
Give me one more day.
Give me one more day.
And If I wasn't so afraid
I'd shine a light up to space.
Then my soul could be
Strong enough to see your face
One more day
Roll credits