Hysterical #atozchallenge

Read part 1: Fuzzy
Read part 2: Gyroscope

Cherise stared at him. “You mean I’m stuck here forever?” She grabbed his lapels frantically. “I can’t be! I'm only twenty. I have my whole life to live and my boyfriend is waiting for me at home and he must be really worried by now -”

“Would that be George or Mike?” he asked, gently prying her fingers off him.

“Fine. I don't really have a boyfriend.”

“No, you seem to have several.”

“God, how did I get caught up in this?”

“By calling His name in vain, I suppose.”

Cherise fell on her knees. “Dear God, I really promise, if you would just let me get back home again, I'll be good. I'll go to church every week. I'll... I'll even read my Bible - when I can find it. I'll - “

Cherise scrambled to her feet as a loud siren blared in the distance. Footsteps pounded in the hallway and a young officer dashed through the door.

“Emergency in the bridge, Sir!”

“I’m coming.”

“Wait! Wait! Don’t leave me here!”

“Sorry, my dear. You can’t come to the bridge.”

“But - you said I was free to go anytime, right? Like even right now?”

“Yes, you’re free to go anywhere you wish on this ship, except the bridge. That is strictly off-limits to everyone except the crew.”

“But -”

“I’m sorry, I really do have to go.”

She watched as the man calmly walked out of the room, then fell back on the bed.

“Oh, God, what do I do now?”

“You could try using your brain a little,” a voice said out of nowhere.

Cherise sat up in a fright. “Who said that?”

“Me, of course.”

“Who’s me? Where are you? Are you a ghost?”

A low amused chuckle came out of nowhere.
“I’m the one who brought you here, Cherise.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know everything about you.”

“You do? Who are you? A maniac? A stalker? Oh my goodness, I have a stalker! I’m going to die!”

“Hush, child. You panic so easily.”

“But I’m scared.”

“Don’t get hysterical about it. Look, I brought you here for a reason.”

“You? Are you… who are you?”

“I am me, as you are you. For now, you can just call me Ship.”

“You brought me here? You? You crazy… thing!” Cherise started kicking at the nearest wall.

“I don’t feel pain like you do, you know. The only thing that will come out of that is the Captain will be quite upset if you damage anything. He does like a neat and proper ship. And I don’t want him to be angry with you.”

“What do you want?”

“The Captain is a good man. Just a little reserved sometimes, but very kind hearted. He called me soft-hearted, didn’t he? I’m very mean compared to him. I am being mean now, after all.”

“And your point is?”

“He needs a good woman -”

“And you think I’m the one? You must be crazy! You can’t just kidnap me like that and ask me to marry him! Why don’t you use your brain? Or whatever it is you have?”

“Stop being so silly!”

“But you -”

“He wouldn’t like you. You’re so… so… hysterical. And besides, you’re too young for him. No. What I want for you to do is to let him take you home and introduce him to your sister.”

“My sister?”

“Yes, your lovely sister.”

Cherise though about it slowly, a smile spreading on her face. “She does need a man, after all.”

---

 Hysterical:

1. Of, characterized by, or arising from hysteria.

2. Having or prone to having hysterics.

3. Informal Extremely funny: told a hysterical story. 

 

---

 

This will be the last instalment of this mini space opera series. I hadn't intended to do it this way, but there it is. The words take you to places you've never dreamed of. (And I discovered I can actually write something sci-fi-ishish. Double ish because it's not quite quite, but somewhere there, if that makes sense.)

I actually re-drafted this short story (well at least the Fuzzy and Gyroscope posts) into script format last Saturday night as a submission for the Short + Sweet acting, directing and playwriting workshops we were having and the actors loved it, or so they said. I don't know about Alex though, he didn't give much feedback.

Well if all goes well I'll probably be reworking that script, plus the extras from today's post, into a final script for submission. Rahr.