Dirk has been missing for three days now. After Dirk’s attackers peeled off down the street, the chief of police arrived with its deputies. The house was trashed, blood was all over the floor, and no sign of Dirk could be found. The house was searched and dusted—nothing. Dirk’s attackers were obviously professionals.

When Eliza was told what happened to Dirk, she was in the middle of a massage. Lizzie came in, followed by Police Chief Johns. Lizzie broke the news, matter-of-factly but full of compassion. Eliza’s customer, Travis Johns, had to jump up to catch her when she fainted. She awoke crying ten minutes later and hasn’t stopped since.

The camera brightens with a view of Eliza curled up on her sofa, watching an old black and white film. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying; her hair is pulled back in a short, messy ponytail. She is dressed in baggy pajamas with bare feet.

Her hand mechanically stuffs handfuls of buttery popcorn into her mouth. The phone rings; she doesn’t answer it. The machine kicks in after four rings:

Hi. This is Eliza. I’m not answering the phone right now, due to a personal tragedy I’m sure you all know about. There’s a good chance that I won’t get back to you, but if you want, you can leave a message. Have a nice life…enjoy it while you can. BEEP

Hi, honey, it’s Lizzie. Look, Eliza, I think that you need to get out of the house. Business is way down without out; all of your customers are painfully loyal to you. As your friend, as your employer, get out of the house. Come see me…we’ll talk. If you don’t come sometime today, I’m coming to your house, and I’ll drag you out by your heels, kicking and screaming if I have to. I’m out. You know where to find me. BEEP

Eliza doesn’t even glance towards the machine; she just keeps watching the movie and eating popcorn.

Cut to Lizzie’s house. She hangs up the phone and runs her fingers through her hair. She sighs audibly, then turns around.

Lizzie: “She didn’t answer. It was just her machine. That’s the third message I’ve left today. I’m worried about her.”
Jonathan: “Lizzie, darling, you need to calm down. The girl went through a traumatic event; she’s not going to get over this for awhile.”

Jonathan thoughtfully twirls his fingers around his pink pearls and takes a sip of his herbal tea. He’s dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, so the feminine pearls stand out even more than usual. He looks calm on the surface, but it is apparent that underneath, the elections have begun to take their toll. Still, he contemplates Eliza’s problem as though his own doesn’t exist. He turns back to Lizzie and smiles a humourless grin.

Jonathan: “All you can do, really, is to be there for her when she comes around.”
Lizzie: “My problem, Jonathan, is that I don’t think that she’ll ever come around. She’s been damn near catatonic for three days, and it disturbs me. I mean, she was never Little Miss Happiness and Sunshine, but at least before all this happened, she at least spoke. I’m just…I’m just worried about her is all.”

Jonathan takes Lizzie’s arm and directs her to sit next o him on the couch. She does so and leans her head on his comforting shoulder. He pats her hair paternally (maternally?), and they sit that way for a few minutes in silence.

Jonathan: “Give her another day, and then we’ll get her some help. All you can do is wait and hope honey. That’s all you can do.”

On the other side of town, at Dominica Beach, the Dominica High scuba club is having their last meeting of the year. A few familiar faces are in the crowd: Jaime, Cathleen, Scotty, and Allison. Many of the members of the club are unrecognizable freshmen who will probably never again appear in this soap opera.
Jaime is looking particularly good in his tight wet suit, and of course, Cathleen has noticed this. She is sitting next to Allison on the sand, and they are busy gossiping and putting their flippers on.

Cathleen: “Oh, God, Ally, doesn’t Jaime just look so freaking hot in his wet suit? I mean, that’s not the only reason I joined scuba club; I love the water, but I have to admit that it is an added plus.”
Allison: “Yeah, I have to agree with you, he is looking nice. He’s a popular guy, right? The kind of guy all the girls want?”
Cathleen: (a little confused) “Yeah, I guess that he is. I mean, pretty much everybody loves Jaime…”
Allison: “That’s what I thought.”

There is a pause in the conversation. Allison is absent-mindedly looking at Jaime, and Cathleen is looking very worriedly at her.

Cathleen: “What are you thinking about, Ally?”
Allison: “Don’t call me that, and I’m not thinking about anything in particular.”
Cathleen: “You’ve got that look in your eyes…the one where your coming up with some scheme or plot or whatever phrase they use on television. You look like you’re up to something.”
Allison: (turning to Cathleen) “We’re friends, right, Cathleen?”
Cathleen: (almost eagerly) “Best friends, Ally…Allison.”
Allison: “And I’ve always helped you out when you had a problem…especially a boy problem, right?”
Cathleen: (warily) “Yeah, I guess you always have…”
Allison: “So if I had a boy problem, you would help me any way you could right?”
Cathleen: (almost exasperated with curiosity) “Allison, you’ve never been one to be evasive. What’s your problem, and how can I help?”
Allison: (trying to hide a smile) “Oh, I knew that you’d help me. Here’s the problem: you know how I broke up with Bryce, right? Well, now he’s going out with a bunch of girls and ogling all over Nydia Alvarez, in a sad little attempt to, I don’t know, make me jealous.”
Cathleen: “I thought that Bryce broke up with…”
Allison: (interrupting) “Oh, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he’s trying to hurt me, so I have to try to hurt him back. An eye for an eye or whatever, right?”
Cathleen: “I suppose…” (As an afterthought) “We’re not going to break his legs or anything gross are we?”
Allison: (almost disgusted) “Of course not, Cathleen. God, you’re morbid. No, we just need to make him jealous. That’s where you come in…”
Cathleen: “What do you want me to do?”
Allison: (trying to choose her words carefully) “Well, actually, it’s what I don’t want you to do.”
Cathleen: (confused) “I’m not sure I’m following you…”
Allison: “Like you said, Jaime is the second most popular guy at Dominica High, after Bryce of course. With Bryce, jealousy comes from quantity not quality. Rather than make me jealous by dating some drastically popular girl, or some little richer-than-me tart, he’s going after numerous girls in a short period of time. With me, it’s just the opposite: I’m not going to date a bunch of guys and get a reputation as a desperate slut. Instead, I’m going to go…”
Cathleen: (with sudden realization) “…Going to date the second most popular guy in school. You’re going after Jaime!”
Allison: “Hush, Cathleen! Don’t be so melodramatic!”
Cathleen: (still shrieking, but now in a hoarse whisper) “You’re trying to get with the guy I am in love with, and you’re telling me to calm down?! How can you do this to me, Allison?”
Allison: “But, Cathleen, you said you’d help me however you could. All I’m doing is to ask you to put in a good word for me with Jaime. I only need him to make Bryce jealous, and then he’s yours again. Trust me, it’ll mean nothing to me.”
Cathleen: “But what if it means something to him? What if you end up hurting him? He’ll blame me, and I’ll never have another shot at making him mine again.”
Allison: (pouting) “I thought you were my friend…”
Cathleen: (weakening) “I am, Ally…I am your friend, but this is asking an awful lot…”
Allison: “I’m not asking you to do anything illegal or immoral. I’m just asking you to help me get my boyfriend back. Don’t tell anybody this, but…” (quiets) “…But I miss him something awful. I don’t feel whole without him, and if this’ll make him come back to me, then I’ve got to try it. Don’t you understand?”
Cathleen: (sighing with sympathy) “Of course I understand. Fine, I’ll help you. I’ll spend all of today near him, talking you up, and I’ll let you know what he thinks of you by the end of the trip, okay?”
Allison: (a little teary-eyed) “Thanks, Cat. You’re such a great friend. Thanks…wow…”

Allison watches as Cathleen walks off in Jaime’s direction. When she is sure she is out of hearing distance, Allison wipes the fake-tears off of her cheeks and grins.

Allison: “Wow…you’re such a sucker.”

Meanwhile, Cathleen is approaching Jaime, who is doing his best to pretend that she isn’t approaching him, but is simply walking in his direction for some other, greater purpose.

Jaime: (whispering) “Please don’t let her be coming over to talk with me, Lord. Please, Lord, spare me her idiocy…Please, Lord, oh please oh please oh…” (voice rising as Cathleen finally arrives in front of him) “Oh, hi, Cathleen. What’s up?”
Cathleen: (sitting down next to Jaime) “Oh, nothing much, Jaime. What’s up with you?”
Jaime: “Nothing…just chilling here with Scotty-boy is all. You all ready for today’s swim?”
Cathleen: “Yeah, about that…I was wondering if you’d switch partners today. You know, let me be your partner. There’s some stuff I wanna talk about with you.” (turning to Scotty) “Would you mind, Scotty?”

Scotty turns to look at Jaime, who shrugs in final surrender, almost as if to say ‘Why bother fighting the girl anymore?’ Scotty turns back to Cathleen.

Scotty: “Naw, I wouldn’t mind at all. I’ll see ya later, Jaime.”
Jaime: “See ya, Scotty.” (to Cathleen) “You’re not going to drown me or anything are you?”
Cathleen: (a little hurt, but trying to hide it) “Not intentionally, no. I just wanna talk.”
Jaime: “About what?”
Cathleen: “About Allison. You know, she thinks that you’re really cool and cute.”
Jaime: (a mix of disbelief and pride) “No way…”
Cathleen: “Seriously. She wants to go out with you and all, but she doesn’t know how you feel about her, and she doesn’t want to, you know, look stupid in case you don’t like her like that.”
Jaime: “How could I not like her like that? She’s gorgeous, smart, the most popular girl in school…all she has to do is ask, and I’d be hers. Hell, she doesn’t even have to ask. She could just walk up to me and say, ‘Be my boyfriend,’ and I’d say yes, roll over, play dead, and speak!”
Cathleen: (a little dejectedly) “See, that’s what I told her, but she’s the old-fashioned type—she thinks that the guy should be the one to ask the girl out.”
Jaime: (standing) “Dude, then I’ll ask her right now.”
Cathleen: (also standing) “NO! I mean…” (sighs) “Just, wait until the end of the swim, okay?”
Jaime: (picking up Cathleen’s mood) “Sure, okay…hey, are you all right?”
Cathleen: “Yeah. Come on, let’s get this show on the road.”

Jaime shrugs in agreement, and they join the group heading towards the large boat that will take them out past the reefs, about a half mile from the shore. They look like a large flock of sea monsters all returning to the ocean after a long day of mating on the beach. Their flippers make long, dragging prints in the sand, and they sound like Darth Vader in their breathing apparatus.
The boat ride is over quickly, and everyone falls off the boat backwards into the water. Jaime and Cathleen stay close together, and it actually appears that he is having a good time with her as they discover fish and corals and such and the like in the water of their hometown.
Just as they are swimming back to the boat to go in, an odd-shaped shadow catches Cathleen’s eye. She motions for Jaime to follow her, and they swim down to the floor of the ocean, towards the long, swaying shadow. The shape is covered in sea weed and fish and crabs. In order to get a better look at their discovery, Jaime and Cathleen take turns brushing aquatic life off of its surface.
When most of the animals and plants have been brushed off, Cathleen moves in for a closer look. She runs her bare hand down the top-front of the object, then her eyes widen behind her goggles as she slowly begins to recognize the object…

It’s Dirk’s corpse. His skin is greyish-blue, puffy, and missing in the places where the fish and crabs were slowly gnawing away at the flesh. His hair is matted with blood in some places, wispy in others. His hands are tied behind his back with a thin, lead rope, and his body is held in place on the ocean-floor by a large block of speedily-made concrete. Dirk’s body is swaying with the current, and one such wave abruptly pushes his corpse towards Cathleen. His face brushes up against hers, and she drops the mouthpiece as she feebly attempts to scream underwater. Her lungs fill up with the salty liquid, and Jaime acts quickly to swim her to the surface so she can breathe. They emerge, both frantic, Cathleen choking and sputtering.

Cathleen: “OH…MY DEAR…S-S-SWEET L-L-L-LORD!!!!! H-H-HOLY GOD, JAIME, IT’S…IT’S…AND HE’S…HE’S…OH GOD!!!”

Jaime grabs Cathleen and drags her to the boat. She climbs into it, then collapses in a wet, frazzled bundle on the deck.
The camera slowly backs upwards and watches as Jaime climbs aboard, tries to revive Cathleen, and tries to tell the adult in charge what he and she saw in the water. The view fades into a bright white glow…