Actual Play
ERA: Proximate Past. 1950s Mississippi.
HOUSE DESCRIPTION: The house sits alone at the top of a small hill at the end of a lane off the main highway through town by a small pond.
FAMILY
FLEEING: Mya sacrificed for her job. Spent too much time there. When she got sacked it was like she didn’t know who she was any more.
SEARCHING: Time to rekindle her relationship with her son.
MYA GOMEZ, AGE 40
GUILLERMO GOMEZ, AGE 8
GOMEZ GOMEZ (DOG)
OVERTONE: Dark
Undertone: Dark
Hand:
Description:
Mya and Guillermo move into the house on the hill. It’s gloomy. Just like their moods after the move and the long drive. Mya throws open the windows and the doors to brighten the place up but the shadows continue to pool and deepen. The doors close of their own volition no matter what she does. The wallpaper in the foyer peels off in ribbons. Mya blames Guillermo. Guillermo blames Gomez. Everybody is resentful.
Reactions:
Outcome:
Tensions run high. Mya’s remorse and the gloom of the house leaves her obviously struggling with depression. Guillermo avoids her and hides, playing with Gomez outside. Mya wonders if this was a mistake.
Undertone: Bright
Hand:
Description:
Guillermo is playing with a ball and watches it roll from one end of the great hall all the way to the other. Soon he is skateboarding through the house, Gomez nipping at his heels. Mya warns him to stop but he doesn’t listen. He keeps at it until he hits a bump in the uneven floors that wasn’t there before and falls and breaks his wrist. Mya confiscates his skateboard and is convinced that Guillermo has been peeling the paint as retribution for his punishment.
Reactions:
Outcome:
Guillermo blows up and insists that he’s telling the truth. He’s tired of being blamed for the wallpaper and the paint. Mya’s mood continues to darken.
UNDERTONE: Dark
HAND:
DESCRIPTION:
Water is leaking from somewhere near the upstairs guest bathub. There is a water spot on the ceiling in the foyer and it is starting to split the ceiling and drip. Mya is busy trying to get a hold of a plumber who can come out and fix the leak and also a handyman who can repaint the ceiling and repair the damage to the house. Guillermo noticed a weird draft and a slight whistling coming from behind a wallpapered door in the kitchen and discovers the stairs down to the basement.
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME:
Mya and Guillermo avoid each other. She’s busy working on the house, and he has disappeared into the basement.
UNDERTONE: Bright
HAND:
DESCRIPTION:
Mya makes dinner and tries to spend some quality time with Guillermo who continues to be withdrawn. The lights keep coming on during the night when she’s trying to sleep waking her up. And when the lights aren’t flickering there are strange thumps and thuds that keep her up. She is sleep deprived and on edge during the day.
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME:
Mya has three different electricians out to the house. There is nothing wrong with the wiring. The plumber has fixed the pipes and the handyman has repaired the ceiling. She has painted over the spot herself 3 times, but it keeps coming out. She has a carpenter come out to level the floor where Guillermo fell, but the board keeps popping back up.
UNDERTONE: Dark
UNDERTONE: Dark
HAND: 3 / 2 = 1
DESCRIPTION: Mya hears voices coming from the attic and thinks that Guillermo is up there playing by himself. But she hears a voice she doesn’t recognize. Later asks him who was up there with him and he says he wasn’t up there at all.
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME: The tension continues to build. Mya accuses Guillermo of lying to her about stuff. But also starts to believe that something else is going on. Guillermo resents that his mom seems to keep blaming him for stuff and won’t listen to him or believe him.
UNDERTONE: Bright
HAND: 8 = 4
DESCRIPTION: Mya still can’t sleep and decides to embrace it, staying up all night cooking and cleaning and trying to paint and patch stuff. She’s a little manic and a little frantic and keeps having late night experiences where she swears somebody is watching her. She can’t shake a creeping sense of deja vu, like this has all happened before.
Guillermo has been acting weird and keeping to himself and talking to himself, and the neighborhood kids have started calling him names and staying away from him. Those who don’t, their parents keep them away anyway.
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME: The family continues to fracture and isolate. Mya’s insomnia is leading her to question things. Guillermo is growing weirder and more peculiar and more angry.
UNDERTONE: Dark
HAND: 5 / 2 = 2
DESCRIPTION: Guillermo is starting to venture more down into the basement. Mya starts sleepwalking, will suddenly come to in the middle of the night out on the lawn in her nihgtgown
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME: Mya tries to get help by seeing a doctor. Is this carbon monoxide poisoning or something? She gets some professionals to come out to test the house for a gas leak.
UNDERTONE: Dark
HAND: K / 2 = 6
DESCRIPTION: (whew this is a lot to tie together. let’s see..) Gomez Gomez has taken to acting weird: standing in the hallway growling at nothing, barking randomly during the night, suddenly getting up and running out of the room. Refuses to go into the basement with Guillermo. One night, a pair of friggin wild, aggressive coyotes break into the house. It is terrible and terrifying! They attack and injure Gomez while he was trying to protect them. Mya grabs a large knife to protect herself. Her cell phone is dead so she runs into the other room to use the phone. She puts down the knife to dial 911 but the landline is dead. And the knife isn’t there any more where she put it down when she hangs up. From the upstairs window they see some neighbors standing out on the sidewalk just watching, possibly alerted by the shouting. They bang on the windows and call for help but they just stand impassively and watch and don’t move. They get chased through the house and eventually realize they won’t go near the basement. Mya hasn’t known about it up to now, but Guillermo leads her to the papered over hidden door and they go down there and spend the night. In the morning the coyotes are gone and the house, and the kitchen especially, looks like it has been ransacked.
REACTIONS:
OUTCOME: In the aftermath of the attack, survivors trauma does more to mend Mya’s and Guillermo’s relationship than moving across the country into this house, or anything else they’ve done. Not that it does that much. There’s still plenty of distrust and resentment there. But it’s a start. They seem recommitted to each others safety and well being. Guillermo has brought Mya into his increasingly private world by showing her the basement. She is thankful that his quick thinking was able to save them. Mya buys a gun. Gomez Gomez has some superficial wounds treated and is physically fine. But he grows very anxious now if Mya and Guillermo aren’t together in a room, and always at their side, even refusing to sleep anywhere but in bed with one of them.