Tower 4 - S2E1: The Hangover

Episode Date: November 18, 2021

Mike wakes up outside, unsure of what to make of his headache and bruises. Amber believes the vodka kicked his ass the previous night, but Mike isn't so sure of that. Music: "Money in the Desert" by Dan Howell @ artlist.io"Ion Fields" by Musical Mandalas @ artlist.io Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Take your time. Thank you. helpless and dying. This strong woman my whole life was now weak, vulnerable, and ready. I fought back tears. I don't know if you can hear me and maybe all this is pointless, but I feel like I should say something, right? I should.

I mean, maybe this is the time that I... that I can finally get things off my chest. I mean, you have to listen now, right? You have to let me say what I want to say. I gave up a lot for you, Mom. I gave up everything, and when you got sick, I gave up even more. More that I didn't know I had. Sometimes you can just be so overbearing, and I put up with it.

Why? Because you're my mother. I don't know what changed for you after that night, but I could tell you what changed for me. I didn't have a dad anymore. And you may have picked up the slack, but you, you ended up making things harder from me. And I'll never understand why, because we both lost something when dad left, both of us. Instead of coming down on me, you could have helped. I'm not just talking about when I was a kid either, like later.

I mean, you know what I mean? I wiped tears from my eyes and stood. But don't worry. I blame Dad for a lot, too. Okay, Mom, I'm going to go now. I still love you, and I'll still miss you. The nurse was standing outside, waiting. Okay.

Okay, I'll get the doctor. I stood there alone in the hallway, feeling nothing but sadness and anger and guilt. Damn it. Seven Lamb Productions presents Tower 4. Season 2. Episode 1. The Hangover. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. ...aunt... ...their... ...their... ...and...

...and... ...and... What the hell? I woke up to a bright morning light. A small blue bird zoomed past. It was propped up against the railing of the stairs on the last corner platform before the top walkway. What the fuck? Why was I outside?

I tried to stand but felt weak and sore. My head throbbed. My arms and legs ached. What the hell happened? I rested against the railing a moment. Everything was in pain. Why? I was trying to find.

focused, but I couldn't. My mind was fuzzy. Oh, God. I threw up on the platform, some of it splashing down a few steps. Oh, Jesus. I wipe my mouth with my shirt collar. I noticed several cuts and scratches on my arms. My left arm up near my shoulder felt numb.

I lifted my sleeve to see a giant purple bruise. I tried to make my way to the cabin, but my legs were in so much pain, it was hard to walk. I ended up hobbling my way inside, keeping hold of the railing door and walls. My right foot was killing me. Inside, I had overturned chair and some fallen dishes. I looked over to my bed where I saw an empty bottle of vodka and my pill bottle. I shuffled over to it. There were several pills on the ground.

I put them back in their case. Mikey, you there? The radio was sitting beside the coffee maker. Amber. There you are. Let me guess. Slept in? No, I don't think...

Wait, what time is it? It's noon. But you were drunk, so it makes sense. It was either that or you left, but judging by how drunk you seemed last night, I assumed you probably slept it off. Slept what off? The idea of you, uh, leaving? What are you talking about? You said you wanted to leave, remember?

Oh. Are you having second thoughts? I, uh, I was drunk last night? Oh, thank God. What? You don't remember? No, I... I don't.

Told you, it was good vodka. I looked over to the empty bottle. I drink all that? No wonder I was so messed up. Mikey? Yeah. Are you okay now? Now?

You seem like you were going through some stuff last night. And maybe I didn't help. So, I'm sorry. What did you do? I didn't do anything. Remember, you ditched me. But I didn't remember. I ditched you?

When? Yesterday? Oh, were we supposed to meet up? What are you talking about? Yes, we were supposed to meet up. We were supposed to go down to Shoney. The cash? You wanted to check the cash?

Oh, uh, right, right. Yeah, I guess I forgot. Thanks. Sorry. I just feel really out of it today. I'm sore and my neck really hurts. Some things were coming back to me. I remembered walking on the trail.

I remember talking to Amber, but not sure what about exactly. Headache? Yeah. Woke up outside. Outside? Yeah, on the stairs. Jesus. You're lucky you didn't fall over the railing.

Yeah. I made my way over to the mirror by the desk and looked at myself. I had a bruised eye and my cheeks. were red and scratched. I think I still had quite the tumble. I have a black eye. A black eye? Yeah.

Ah! I grabbed my chin and squeezed my jaw, feeling how tense it was. Why was I in so much pain? What the fuck happened last night? So, you gonna apologize? For what? For ditching me? I can only vaguely recall our conversation about hiking to Shoshone, but did I?

Did I ditch her? Mike? Sorry, yeah. I, uh, didn't mean to. Okay. I'll take that. I guess. But I should apologize, too.

For what? I lied last night. I told you I went down to Shoshone to that cash and, well, I didn't. I waited for a long time on Wind Walk, but when you didn't respond, I said fuck it and headed back. To your tower? Yeah. I wasn't going to walk all the way to have cash if you weren't going to be there. Plus, I wasn't sure if I would need to call Gene in case something happened to you.

Gene? Yeah, Gene. You know, the Ranger? No, I know. Well, I guess I just said that because I wanted you to feel bad. But it seems like it didn't work because you don't even remember ditching me. No, I do. I just... I just woke up.

I'm still... I'm still... Processing? Sure. If you have a headache, make a coffee and go back outside and get some fresh air. That's what helps me after a hangover. Right. I inspected the rest of my body while standing in the mirror.

Another bruise in the crevice of my right arm and under my shoulder. My knees were red and scratched. My right ankle was swollen. I lifted my shirt to see several other red marks on my chest and stomach. All this from falling out of a chair and outside? Hey, Mikey. Yeah. Does this mean you changed your mind?

About what? About staying. Uh, I don't know. I guess. Good. I'm glad. Thank you. This is my third cup of coffee. My headache was still sticking around and I was still tired.

On the outside walkway sat my bow and several arrows. I kept trying to think back to what happened the day before. I could only remember bits and pieces. It helped talking to Amber, but still having trouble. Not only that, but the aches and pains would not go away. I leaned on my right foot a bit, testing the pressure. Still hurt. Oh, did you hear the helicopter last night?

No. There was a helicopter? It was a supply drop. Gene said he told me about it, but I don't remember that. Usually they don't drop at night, but they're always mixing things up. Anyway, they should have made a drop over by your tower. They did by me. All new goodies!

Oh. Don't get too excited, though. It was a small supply. I told them what you needed and requested, and well, it's out there waiting for you. How do I find it? They always drop it in the same area for each tower. Here should be by the field between you and site five. That's kind of far, right?

Yeah, tower four has the worst of it. The farthest walk, anyway. I'll walk to the opposite side of the tower facing south. If I were you, I'd probably head out soon. You don't want to have to walk back in the dark. How am I going to find it? I don't know. Look.

Hey, you like your little treasure hunts, remember? Remember? No. For some reason, I couldn't remember much, and it was frustrating. It shouldn't be too hard to find. The field is pretty barren, you know, because it's a field. And they usually have pretty good aim. Okay.

Should I go now? I mean, you can go whenever you want. You're not low in food, so anything out there is just extra. It's all sealed up, too, so it shouldn't attract any wildlife. That being said, you don't want to leave it out there for too long. Raccoons may not be able to smell anything, but there's still too. curious buggers, and if they see a random box out there, they're liable to mess with it. Okay, I'll have another cup of coffee and head out.

Sounds good. I walked back inside and up to the large wall map and check the trails. I ran my finger over three posts. That's right. Amber mentioned a treasure hunt. I was checking out all the caches. Why? Because of a number, that's why. The number that was on my computer.

All my papers were neatly stacked next to my laptop. I was searching the caches, but I didn't find one yesterday. Right? I walked out of here and then... Shit. My head throbbed. throbbed. I closed my eyes trying to concentrate. I ditched her because

I didn't find anything. I got back here. No, no. The vodka. Yeah, I got the vodka. That was her present for me. So I did find a cash and she left it in one. That was weird. All my scratch paper was filled with notes of my story. But everything about the tower in the woods.

And the journal. The journal. The journal. The map I made. The weird ramblings. Oh, what the hell? I went back over to my computer. Motherfucker! My document what the numbers was gone. It was saved to the desktop. I remember saving the file and now it's gone.

I checked the bin, but no. Think, Mike, think. You were supposed to meet Amber, right? You were searching caches because of the numbers, but you check the ones over here. You made a map. In the eyes, you marked. Parked the cache as you checked and the places you saw those weird freaking carvings.

But everything was gone. Mikey? Yeah. I talked to Gene. He said your drop shouldn't be hard to find. Are you rushing me? No. I told you. Leave when you want. But beware of the raccoons. Right. As I went to the wall map, my sore ankle was acting up. I looked down at the redness.

Hey, Amber, I don't know if I'll be able to go today. No? The headache's that bad? No, it's not the headache. I, uh, I twisted my ankle. I don't see me walking too far. Oh, how'd you do that? I guess last night... And you're drunk and tumble? Apparently. Well, I mean, you can leave it if you want. I think it'll be okay.

What about the raccoons? That's a chance you'll just have to take. Hey, Amber. Yes, Mikey. What else did we talk about last night? Do you mean besides you quitting? Yeah. You're not...

You're not thinking of leaving again, are you? I just want to know what else was said. You really blacked out, huh? Shit. Well, I don't know. We talked about a few things. We talked about you ditching me. We talked about the fact that you took my vodka and still ditched me.

We talked about how it wasn't cool that you decided to ditch me. Amber. Sorry. Um, let's see. What else? You mentioned your radio was broken. Really? Yeah.

I stared at my radio in my hands. It looked fine. Then you mentioned how you got lost in the woods, but eventually found your way back. And then, I don't know, you started saying you were done with this place. You wanted to quit. As she talked, I inspected the spare radio. It looked fine, too. You said you were tired of everything.

I talked it up to you being drunk, but you said no. Amber, my radio's fine. Both of them. Okay. So you lied about that? No, I mean, no. I don't remember saying that. You did.

You definitely did. What else did we talk about? One thing that was odd was that you asked me about the Gulf spill. The oil spill? Yeah, you asked me if I felt bad for not helping Oh It was super weird And what did you say

Are we really having this conversation again? Please Okay, well, I said no I didn't feel guilty I didn't cause the spill, Mike Why would I? But I think that combo was just a way for you to talk about your mom and your ex Really?

You mentioned Mel Oh Listen, Mike, sometimes this place can get to you The isolation is, well, it can force you to think about things you don't want to think about or dwell on. Combine that with the story you're working on and shit, I'm sure you can't help but think about your past. I guess that's true. Seems like it. Does that happen in your case?

Used to. Not much anymore. And, uh, not to the extent you're experiencing. Right. Mike, I mean this as a friend. I think you're going through some stuff. Stuff you don't really want to talk about, but stuff you can't stop thinking about. And maybe it's old, past problems that are being thought about because of your isolation. Or maybe it's something different entirely.

I don't really know. But you know I'm here if you ever want to talk. I promise to never call you crazy. Yeah, I appreciate that. What did I... What did I say about my mom? You mentioned a bird. Oh.

I did? Yeah. You don't remember that either? No. I don't. But now my mind was drifting. I was 12 years old standing in front of my mom's room, holding the box with the bird chirping. Mom, inside her room, crying, and me hesitating to go in.

Well, you mentioned rescuing a bird. Your mom let you keep it. You helped it. You also mentioned something else. What's that? that you found the bird not long after your dad took off I was staring at myself in the mirror from my seat my jaw clenched

mike thanks Amber I got up from the table leaving the radio behind I shuffled outside and grabbed onto the wood railing on the opposite side of the tower on the roof a small thrush Apparently, I could recall the name for my bird watching downtime. That was something else I remembered. It fluttered its wings a moment before taking flight,

zigzagging through the air and becoming just a speck on the horizon. It reminded me of the day in my front yard as a child, watching the bird disappear, filling Mom's hand on my shoulder. She cried then, too. But I knew it wasn't because of the bird. It was because of dad. After that day, things changed drastically between us.

As I sat on the bed, I stared at my pill bottle, which was only a third full now. I'm sure some fell to the floorboards, but I wondered if I possibly took a bunch last night. I didn't remember seeing any in my vomit, but how else would I feel this bad, this sore, this lost. And it wouldn't have been the first time I thought about doing such a thing. Hey, Mikey. I know it's late, but just wanted to let you know that Jean said take your time. He said not to worry about raccoons. And if they did somehow manage to break in, Gene would make a special drop just for you. Just for me. Why would I get special treatment? I wondered if Amber mentioned me contemplating leaving.

You got that? Yeah, thanks, Amber. Okay. Have a good night and hope you feel better in the morning. Thanks. Good night. I floated above the city, above the clouds. But as I got higher and higher, my ascent slowed and suddenly it jolted to a stop. I leaned over the side of my childhood bed to see chains wrapped around the frame. The chains descended below the clouds.

I was held in place. The chains hooked to something down below. I spun around to see a hallway before my bed now. A clean, sterile hallway with flickering lights. A large bay door at the far end. Help. Help. Is anybody here?

Hello? Hello? I tried to get out of bed, but that's what I realized. two was chained. I was strapped to the bed now, unable to move. Help! Hey! Help! Two dark figures came to my side. I couldn't see their faces. They were nothing but shadows. The large bay door at the end of the hallway slowly opened and there. There I saw. Jesus Christ!

What the hell? What the hell? I'd never had a dream like that before. I took a moment to relax. When I looked at my watch, it read 4 a.m. I thought about taking another sleeping pill, but something caught my eye outside. A light. I could just barely see it. I went to the window. It was Amber's light.

Why was her light on? Amber, you copy? Amber, you copy? Amber But she wasn't answering I waited a good five minutes I was about to try one more time until the light went off

What the hell Why was she up at four in the morning Why was she not answering Oh god damn it Now I remember why I wanted to leave I decided to take another pill my body was still sore but my headache was nearly gone I needed more sleep

but before I climbed into my bed I went to the door and checked it Still locked. The dream I just had, or should I say nightmare, was something I'd never experienced before. It was different. It felt real. It felt like a memory. The dark flickering lights of the hallway reminded me of a lab,

of some kind of... A bunker. Holy shit. My mind began racing. I couldn't believe it. A bunker. A bunker. And...

And... Jerry. ...tower 4. Written and edited by Robert M. Lamb. Starring Jack Austin as Mike. Gina Coyle as Amber Brian Messick as Gene Co-starring

Robert M. Lamb Music provided by Kevin McLeod of Incompetec.com and Brett Wilkins at Facebook.com slash Wilkins Music FL. If you enjoyed Tower 4, visit 7LAM.com for more podcasts

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