After the Zoom Call
After the Zoom Call
Following a MANDATORY meeting, the lives of 4 colleagues diverge in this low-budget, high-concept multimedia experience.
Welcome to the show.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: Team
Chapter 2: Adam
Chapter 3: Casey
Chapter 4: Will
Chapter 5: Taylor
Prologue
The MANDATORY meeting invite slides onto Casey’s screen 15 minutes before it’s scheduled to begin.
He opens the invite. No meeting agenda. No explanation. Just MANDATORY.
Rude.
Casey glances at the clock. It’s the end of the work day. Lay-offs? Had he fucked something up? He returns to the invite to see that Adam, his boss, has also invited Will and Taylor from the team.
Lay-offs, then. So the whispers he’d heard by the virtual water cooler are true. The company really isn’t doing well.
Casey scans his home office, eyes resting on each of the rare philodendrons he nurtures daily. Misting them, dusting their leaves, checking the PH of the soil. The Ring of Fire is his most prized, its long-pointed leaves with serrated edges and colourful variegation is impressive – oranges, yellows, reds, swirling amid the natural green.
A machine beeps an alert from the other room, interrupting his reverie. Casey rolls his chair back and walks quietly down the hall, peeking in through the open door. His brother’s bedroom smells of antiseptic and sickness – a stench he can never seem to get rid of. Clint lays prostrate on the hospital bed, a breathing apparatus straight out of a science-fiction movie attached to his face. Afflicted with a rare condition, Ondine’s Curse, the machine ensures he doesn’t stop breathing during sleep.
Everything seems fine with Clint’s various machines — all readings are in the green — so Casey closes his brother’s door and heads back to his office.
A chime from his computer reminds him that MANDATORY meeting starts in five minutes.
He sighs, exhaustion blanketing over him. Maybe the meeting is nothing. Maybe it’s just a team update, or a new contract, or a thanks-for-all-your-hardwork-and-have-a-great-weekend. But even that will be defeating for him, because his weekends are anything but great. They are filled with Clint maintenance, Casey being his primary caregiver. He’d lost touch with so many friends. No dinners out, or cocktails at the end of a long week, or a date with someone cute.
His eyes land on the Jerusalem Cherry he keeps amid his philodendrons. A common ornamental plant, it produces fruit – what look like grape tomatoes. Casey isn’t sure why he keeps the plant. He doesn’t particular enjoy looking at it, and its fruit is poisonous if ingested.
Besides, there’s really no need to elaborately poison his brother. All he needs to do is turn off the breathing machine, and Ondine’s Curse will free him from the burden of his brother.
Another chime draws his attention, this one announcing that the Zoom call has begun. Casey erases the intrusive thoughts from his mind and the guilt for dreaming up his brother’s death from his face. He pulls on a toque to cover his messy hair, and straightens the shoulders of his T-shirt.
Then he joins the meeting.
Chapter 1: Team
Chapter 2: Adam
Chapter 3: Casey
Chapter 4: Will
Chapter 5: Taylor
Chapter 6: COMING SOON