By: John Silva – January 2015
The School:
Roxbury was one of those expensive, extravagant, manicured and definitely upscale communities where — well, you know what they’re like…not enough time, too much booze, drugs, drama and way too much money…and just saturated with betrayal, gossip, sex and — well, you know.
Roxbury University, although small in size, had a compelling reputation for excellence and towering standards. It is no surprise that every college and department at the school had an absolutely magnificent cornucopia of distinguished professors. Each had penned their brilliant PhDs at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions of advanced learning. Which of course meant — well, you know.
The fact that Audrey was Roxbury’s most stellar and gifted student in and out of the classroom had not escaped her consciousness or that of her peers. Audrey was also aware that she possessed other skills beyond mere academics that could be leveraged to her advantage such as…well, you know.
It was no accident that by majoring in Eighteenth-Century French literature, Audrey had lifted herself into the highest realms of academia. So much so that she was an integral part of the president’s inner circle, and she attended the school’s most prestigious social events and activities. Audrey was also asked to take part in the school’s most important fundraisers where she would impress and delight the university’s most accomplished alumni and benefactors.
In so doing, she had positioned herself as the force behind the most remarkable and extraordinary trip the school had ever sponsored. She was certain that her endeavors would be remembered long after she, her classmates, future students and even the school itself was gone. She would become a legend!
The Trip:
And, now… today was the day. It was her time to shine brilliantly, and to awe everyone around her. The live television cameras helped her realize that the entire country was watching the event unfold. The reputation of the school had jumped from being well respected and nationally recognized to an international level of prominence due to the event. TIME Magazine had praised Roxbury for its excellence in a six page, full color article, and Audry’s picture was on the front cover of the magazine proclaiming her Time’s Women of the Year.
The extraordinary double-decker bus she had personally selected had arrived. It was a singularity. Nowhere else on earth could a coach of such size and opulence be found. Each mini-suite was provided with individual temperature controls and the exquisite Baroque furniture was to die for. Additionally, there were personalized multimedia consoles, an elevator to reach the upper level, and a lavish powder room with amenities I may not mention. Additionally, guests had access to four absolutely magical and enjoyable bistros which offered a wide selection of succulent food, delicious wines and luscious desserts.
The driver guided the vehicle to where the students were waiting. He made it kneel down for them so they might board effortlessly. It was almost as if the coach were genuflecting to this privileged and pampered group.
The chrome-trimmed, turbocharged, transport roared down the road. With its mirrored windows and polished stainless steel skin, it had the appearance of a bolt of lightning streaking down the highway or a meteor rocketing across the countryside. It devoured the miles like a ravenous beast. And, before the fortunate few who were participating in this extraordinary adventure realized that the journey had begun, they had already arrived at their destination.
The Theater:
The outside of the theater was so unusual that even Audrey stopped to examine the exterior’s strange intersecting and overlapping shapes, its deep narrow openings, and oblique forms . Her gaze was drawn to the metallic liquids dripping, flowing, and oozing down the sides of the fluted minarets, and then sinking quietly into the bottoms of the deep, corbeled pools.
The profusion of shiny spheres streaming from the eyes of the gargoyles looked like tiny hot air balloons as they floated upwards. When they were about twenty feet above the ground, they slowly opened and bloomed into the most beautiful flowers Audry had ever seen.
Gargoyles swooped down from their lofty perches atop the theater’s gleaming towers and silently glided to the ground where they roamed the manicured grounds. They appeared confident and proud, as they strutted arrogantly about the lawns and flowers.
They had the appearance of spectors moving eerily through the fog… appearing and disappearing. If challenged, iridescent bubbles spewed from their eyes producing seductive auras that could be tasted, smelled, and seen.
Elsewhere, puffs of diamonds spewed from the pistils of the giant flowers that dotted the grounds. The diamonds glistened as they fell gently on the huge frogs and salamanders that were feeding on the enormous, neon fireflies.
The enormous vertical marquee of the theater towered over the coach and its passengers. It radiated blinding flashes of light illuminating the sky with the theater’s name or perhaps what was currently being shown or performed. Audrey wasn’t sure. The words, if that’s what they were, seemed to be written in an ancient script or some unknown language, but they also seemed strangely familiar ENOZ (e-noz?) THGILIWT (th-gil-i-wit?) EHT (eth?). She wondered what it all meant.
Inside the theater, there were enormous, polished mirrors everywhere. Their chamfered and beveled edges split the light into beautiful, radiant, rainbows of color. The powerful beams of light ignited the air leaving the intricately carved patterns to burn themselves onto the retina of the eye.
It was as if buckets of fluorescent paint were being heated til they exploded and then while the paint was being flung through the air in mid-flight frozen creating a three dimensional scene of spectacular chaos and bizarre shapes that blazed like miniature throbbing suns.
Great, giant, shining orbs of gold hung from the tiers of sharply jutting and jagged cornices surrounding the vaulted ceilings. The combination of the flat and curved surfaces multiplied, bent, and twisted the pulsating random bursts of blinding white luminescence emanating from the strobe lights which alternated with the deep red, orange, and yellow lights that stabbed the darkness with their blasts of plasmic energy. The result was a barrage of fantastic images, patterns, and designs that embedded their geometries into the mind’s eye for an instant and then were replaced by even more fantastic images. The constantly changing kaleidoscopic reflections contrasting with the periods of total blackness stunned everyone.
All of the theater’s staff wore smart, freshly pressed, red and gold uniforms with polished brass buttons that glowed like fire when the lights were turned down. The dress and manner of the ushers was surreal… they didn’t appear to walk, but they seemed to glide effortlessly across the floor. The cleaning crews were poised like cats ready to pounce on any bits of the complimentary blueberry sweetened kettle corn if it fell to the floor. If someone needed to be escorted to their seat or a patron was seeking directions to the toilette they were quickly serviced. The theater was so clean and so perfect that it looked like they had entered a palace prepared for an emperor or even a God. The ushers had been trained to not only be professional in every facet and aspect of their work, but they radiated kindness, gentleness, and caring, and they were polite and helpful to the extreme. All of which added to the unreal, fantastic, and eerie ambiance of the theater, almost as if being transposed into another space and dimension.
However, instead of enjoying the magnificent and opulent surroundings, Audrey was beginning to take offense at the staff and the building. It was almost as if the building and the staff were saying… “We are better than you. We are better than you… We are better than you… We are better…”
Didn’t they know who she was? It was as if they were mocking her. Of course, that is what was happening! The theater and the staff were slyly looking down their noses at her. The nerve… How dare they! Everyone and everything was trying to make her feel… well… plain and ordinary.
The Staff:
One of the unique features of the theater which contributed to its exclusivity was that every guest was assigned their own personal usher. Jerry Longmire was the usher that had been assigned to take care of Audrey’s needs and wants. He was graciously guiding her, as if she were a queen, down the long aisle to the front row of the theater. However, Audrey wasn’t feeling like a queen. Far from it! With every step she took, she could feel anger, resentment, and rage boiling up inside her, and then she felt the sweet release as she focused her rank and fetid disposition on Jerry.
Even though Jerry had done his job to perfection, and he had showered her with kindness, sympathy, and understanding, Audrey continually demeaned and maligned him. She was ruthless in her efforts to pollute, poison, and violate not only his spirit but his mind and soul as well. She wanted to destroy him! The kinder and more thoughtful, sympathetic and considerate he was; the more dreadful and appalling she became. Ire and contempt presided over her and focused her thoughts and actions.
In a final attempt to placate her, Jerry bent down on one knee and apologized profusely for his inability to please her. But, Audrey was on a roll and feeling very full of herself. She savaged Jerry with a barrage of vicious verbal attacks. And, when she was sure that no one was looking, she even gave him a little accidental/on purpose kick that knocked him over. She wanted him to know that she was beyond special…she was extraordinary! Didn’t he know that it was she who had planned this entire trip?
Very quietly and with poise, Jerry got up and went to the phone, and dialed. Audrey watched him carefully. She was a bit surprised at his cool and dispassionate demeanor. Usually, when she treated people this way they tended to be more emotional and often wept. It was a short conversation, and Jerry hung up the phone and waited quietly.
Mr. Tanner, the manager of the theater, arrived and politely asked Audrey what was the problem. Now feeling very superior, she railed at Jerry and lied about him. She said he had treated her rudely and with disrespect and that the condition of the theater was appalling and a disgrace.
After patiently waiting for Audrey to run out of words, Mr. Tanner explained to her that she would have to come with him. She demanded to know where he was taking her and why? He explained that she needed to be fitted for her uniform. Her eyes narrowed. Uniform? What uniform? When Audrey heard that Jerry would no longer be an usher at the theater, and he was free to leave the theater… and that she was going to take his place… and she was going to be an usher… and she was going to have to wear an usher’s uniform… Well, she went supernova. The air turned blue, then green, and then purple. With an ever-increasing crescendo of malevolence, the torrent of and putrid words that came from deep within her core vomited themselves onto Jerry and Mr. Tanner. Audrey’s mouth became a seething, boiling volcano spewing violence and hate.
Mr. Tanner calmly told Audrey that he was disappointed that she did not appreciate the theater and all that Jerry had done for her. But, in spite of everything that she had done and everything that had happened, he told her that he had a special gift just for her. This caused Audrey to pause, and she wondered what kind of a gift she might be getting. Quite pleased with her recent performance, which she felt clearly demonstrated her superior status and position, she felt it would have to be a very special gift…and so it was.
Mr. Tanner’s eyes locked with Audrey’s, and with grace and dignity, he slowly reached into his pocket. And, with much drama, pomp, and ceremony, he presented Audrey with a ring of well-worn keys. Instinctively, she recoiled from the keys. But, Mr. Tanner took her hand and gently but firmly wrapped her fingers around them. And, try as she might, Audrey could not unwrap her fingers from them.
Not quite so sure of herself now, Audrey asked what the keys were for and why they seemed to be getting hotter. With great kindness and patience, Mr. Tanner explained that they were the keys to the theater. When she asked Mr. Tanner why he was giving the keys to her, he smiled and explained that now he also was free to leave the theater and that she would need the keys. Again, Audrey asked why. Mr. Tanner explained that she would need the keys because she was now also the theater’s new manager. A series of explosions produced a cacophony of thoughts and events from earlier in the day, and they whipped about and flashed in her mind. At first she was afraid, then she was frightened, then she was terrified. The implications of what Mr. Tanner had said crushed her. She collapsed onto the cold, hard, polished floor and just laid there for quite some time… overcome by a fear of what was happening.
Now, freezing and alone:
Jerry, Mr. Tanner, the teachers, and all of the students, left the theater. The once bright and shiny interior of the theater slowly began a descent into a cold metallic darkness that chilled Audrey to her core. The great doors of the theater slammed shut, splitting her eardrums. And, as the light vanished the gigantic doors creaked and groaned as they bolted themselves shut. As each new set of bolts for each pair of doors bolted themselves shut, additional rounds of thunderous and deafening sounds were repeated. It was as if someone was pounding on gigantic drums. The sound resonated throughout the theater and caused it to shake. The sound was everywhere. It came from above and below. It came from the right and then the left…ahead of her and behind her. The deafening sound surrounded her…wrapping her in a cloak of fear. There was no place to hide. There was no escape.
Unable to move, she just stood there shaking uncontrollably. Her tears were freely flowing from her eyes, down her cheeks, and then they formed a puddle on the floor… which eventually surrounded her.
The recurring shock waves and vibrations shook Audrey so violently that she felt like her bones were being shattered, and her brain and eyes were sloshing about in their cavities. She screamed as the pain overwhelmed her. Her shoulders and hips felt like they were being ground into a fine dust.
She felt as if she were tumbling down a rocky mountainside and into a valley filled with huge boulders into which her body kept smashing. Her organs pummeled each other until she thought she would die. She thought how strange it was for me to be thinking about dying. At first, she was terrified that she was going to die. Then, she was terrified she wasn’t. The deep reverberations echoed and re-echoed for a long, long time.
Now, freezing and alone in the totally black and silent theater, Audrey remembered seeing her friends and teachers boarding the magnificent bus, and she also recalled the pain she felt when she realized her friends and the bus were leaving without her.
And then for just a second… just before the great doors of the theater slammed shut, cutting her off from the outside world and any chance of escape. She recalled seeing something… it was just a sliver of an image. There was a tiny whiff of air, a minute puff, a small zephyr that parted the fog… for just a moment, and there in the mirrored glass windows of the bus, Audrey saw the reflection of the towering marquee and the flashing lights spelling out those odd words…ENOZ THGILIWT EHT. Only this time she wasn’t seeing them backwards… she saw their true meaning… THE TWILIGHT ZONE!