Central Park Unit: Digital Anarchy and the Phantom Feline By BEN GAVARRÉ

 

Central Park Condo: Digital Anarchy and the Phantom Feline

Characters:

 * Leo (20s): The older brother, a video game influencer.

 * Elías (15): The younger brother, a computer genius.

 * Leticia (50s): The mother, addicted to social media.

 * Ricardo (50s): The father, a bureaucrat obsessed with order.

 * Karen (30s): The new neighbor, an experience designer... with a cat?

<center>Act I</center>

Scene 1: The Tech Sanctuary

(The scene opens in a minimalist apartment. The living room is a tech shrine. Giant screens on the walls, color-changing LED lights, consoles, and gadgets everywhere. Leticia is on the couch, glued to her phone, filming an Instagram video.)

Leticia: (Into her phone) OMG, my followers! Good morning from my chill oasis, my chic Central Park pad! Just sipping my organic coffee... You guys are the best!

(Ricardo enters, in a suit. He navigates around cables and stands in front of Leticia. She doesn't see him. Ricardo tries to get her attention.)

Ricardo: Leticia, please.

Leticia: (Talking to her phone) Ricardo, babe... Say hi! People love seeing you.

Ricardo: No. I've told you I don't like this... exhibition. Leticia, remember, the condo board meeting to elect a new manager is today. It's important.

Leticia: Ugh, so boring, sweetie. Not getting any likes on that! Ricardo, can you tidy up these cables? They're an eyesore.

(Ricardo sighs. He bends down to straighten the cables. Elías, the youngest son, enters without taking off his futuristic headphones and sits down at his computer. Ricardo looks at him, exasperated.)

Ricardo: Elías. Take off those headphones! It's not normal that you can't hear me.

Elías: (Without turning around, his voice coming from a synthesizer on his computer) My auditory field is optimized for low frequencies. Your voice is not a priority, father.

Ricardo: (To Leticia) Look at your son! He's going to walk into traffic one of these days.

Leticia: Ricardo, don't exaggerate. Look how cute! He got a thumbs up on his story.

(Ricardo stands in the middle of the room, resigned. The doorbell rings. No one notices. Elías doesn't react. Leticia keeps filming. Leo adjusts a gaming headset.)

Ricardo: I'll get it. (To the door) Who is it?

Karen: (From outside) It's the new neighbor! From 301, right next door! And... I think my cat has gotten out. Have you seen him? He's a Siamese with one blue eye and one green eye... His name is Schrödinger.

(Ricardo opens the door. Karen enters. She's dressed in casual clothes, but with a modern designer flair. She carries a backpack with a logo that says: "Reboot Reality". She looks a little flustered.)

Karen: Hi! I'm Karen, your new neighbor! Sorry to intrude, but I'm looking for my cat. He's very elusive.

(The silence is absolute. No one pays her any attention. Leticia keeps filming.)

Leticia: (Into her phone) OMG! I think we have an invader! She says she's looking for a... a monster with weird eyes? So scary!

Leo: (Headphones on) Did someone say horror stream? My followers love that!

Elías: Analyzing feline escape patterns in high-density buildings... Probability of reappearance in ventilation ducts: 78.3%.

Ricardo: (Frustrated) Hold on, everyone! Welcome, neighbor Karen. Please excuse my family, they're a bit... self-absorbed. We haven't seen any cat.

Karen: Oh, what a shame. I could have sworn I saw a flash of strange eyes just now... Maybe he slipped into a corner.

(Karen starts looking around, moving cushions and peering behind furniture.)

Leticia: (Screaming) Ahh! I felt something furry on my foot! Ricardo, get this creature off me!

(Leticia jumps up, looking at the floor in horror. There's nothing there.)

Leo: Mom, chill! It's probably your imagination. Although... a radioactive mutant cat would be a good plot twist for my next gameplay.

Elías: Logging anomalous thermal fluctuations near the couch... Could indicate the presence of a small homeothermic body.

Ricardo: (To Karen, with a forced smile) Don't worry, neighbor. If we see your... Schrödinger, we'll let you know. Now, if you'll excuse us...

Karen: Of course. Thanks. Anyway, if you hear a strange meow... that's him! (Karen hands him a card with her number.) Let me know!

(Karen leaves. After closing the door, Ricardo sighs in relief.)

Leticia: I still feel tickles! She probably left fleas! I'm going to have to disinfect everything!

Leo: Gamer fleas! They could be the new online epidemic!

Elías: Initiating parasite scan protocol in the electromagnetic spectrum... Negative results. The sensation could be psychosomatic in origin.

Ricardo: (Yelling) Enough! There's no cat! She's just a new neighbor!

(Just then, a faint meow is heard, coming from an unknown location.)

Leticia, Leo, and Elías: The cat!

Ricardo: (His face distraught) This... this can't be happening.

<center>Act II</center>

Scene 2: The Feline Mystery and the Unexpected Blackout

(The scene continues the next day. The search for Schrödinger has become an obsession for the Santoyos. Leticia sprays every corner with disinfectant, claiming to have seen "feline shadows" in the reflections of the turned-off screens. Leo is recording videos theorizing about the cat's quantum nature, suggesting it could be in multiple dimensions at once. Elías has dedicated all his computing resources to tracking any sign of the feline's presence on the condo network.)

Leticia: I saw it! I swear I saw its tail between the couch cushions! It was... like a long shadow with a hint of Siamese color.

Leo: That confirms my theory! Karen's cat is an interdimensional entity that briefly manifests on our plane of existence! I'm going to title my next stream: "Schrödinger: The Central Park Ghost Cat"!

Elías: Analysis of meow patterns recorded by neighbors in recent months... 92% correlation with Siamese feline vocalizations. The presence of subject "Schrödinger" in the building could be a recurring event.

Ricardo: (Enters with a newspaper, visibly upset) This is ridiculous! There's already a Facebook group dedicated to the "Central Park Mystery Cat"! People are organizing search parties! They're going to invade our apartment!

(At that moment, the lights flicker and the entire apartment goes dark. The electronic devices turn off.)

Leticia: The blackout! It must have been the cat! It sabotaged the electrical system with its psychic powers!

Leo: A gamer blackout! This is a sign! The universe is conspiring for me to get back to streaming! Although... without internet...

Elías: (In the dark, his voice slightly scared) Initiating emergency protocol... Activating tactical flashlight... Detecting energy spikes just before the failure... Possible overload caused by... a cat?

Ricardo: (Fumbling) Enough! It wasn't any cat! It must have been a problem with the building's transformer. This is chaos! And I had another crucial meeting today! My slides were in the cloud!

(Karen's voice is heard from the hallway.)

Karen: Neighbors! Are you okay? There's a general blackout in the building! Has anyone seen Schrödinger in the dark? He's even harder to find like this!

Leticia, Leo, and Elías: Karen! Your cat caused this!

Ricardo: (To Karen, trying to keep his composure) Neighbor, good evening. Yes, we're fine... Do you think your cat...?

Karen: (With a tone of mystery) Schrödinger is a very special cat... Let's just say he has a very particular way of interacting with energy.

(The Santoyo family looks at each other in the dark, with the growing sense that Karen's arrival and her cat's disappearance (or not?) have altered their lives in an unexpected way.)

<center>Act III</center>

Scene 3: The Disconnected Reality and the Mysterious Departure

(A week has passed since the blackout. The power has been restored, but the Santoyo family is strangely disconnected from their devices. The modem seems to be broken without explanation. Leticia has discovered the pleasure of observing the plants on her balcony, though she's still convinced the leaves move on their own due to the spectral presence of the cat. Leo tries to draw, frustrated by the lack of instant likes. Elías is building a rudimentary device with antennas and cans, "to detect Schrödinger's ethereal waves.")

Leticia: Look! The flowerpot moved again! It's him! He's playing with us from the digital afterlife!

Leo: Without internet, my online existence is null! It's like I've disappeared! Although... I've had an idea for a live action about a gamer trapped in the real world by a ghost cat.

Elías: Analysis... Capturing weak signals... Could be fluctuations of psi-feline energy... Or the neighbor's washing machine.

Ricardo: (More relaxed than usual) Curiously, without internet, I've been able to read that report I've had pending for months. And I've talked to my children... face to face! It's... different.

(Karen enters the apartment without knocking, with a small box in her hands.)

Karen: Hello, neighbors! I have good news... and maybe an explanation.

Leticia, Leo, and Elías: The cat! Did you find it?

Karen: (Smiling enigmatically) Let's just say Schrödinger has a very particular way of manifesting. And sometimes, when his work here is done... he just leaves.

Ricardo: His work? What do you mean?

Karen: I came to Central Park with a purpose: to remind you of what's important beyond the screens. Sometimes, a little... reboot is necessary. And Schrödinger is very good at that.

(Karen opens the box. Inside, there's no cat, but a small electronic device with a blinking light.)

Karen: This is a low-power quantum interference generator. I activated it temporarily. The blackout, the broken modem... were all part of the experience.

Leticia: Experience? Was all of this planned? And the cat...?

Karen: Schrödinger is a metaphor. A way to make you pay attention to the invisible, to what really matters.

Leo: So there's no interdimensional ghost cat?! My live action!

Elías: Analysis... Sophisticated deception with elements of technological disruption and psychological suggestion... Fascinating.

Ricardo: (With a faint smile) Karen... you're... peculiar.

Karen: (Winking) Let's just say I'm an experience designer who takes her job very seriously. Now, I have to go. I have other reboots to perform in other universes... I mean, condos.

(Karen says goodbye and leaves, leaving the Santoyo family in silence, staring at the blinking device. Suddenly, the main screen in the apartment turns on, showing the same image Karen put up at the beginning: "WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD".)

Leticia: The screen turned on?

Leo: Yeah, Mom. No more digital blackout.

Elías: But it doesn't matter anymore.

Ricardo: (Smiling) No, it doesn't matter. Now we have a life to live.

(The three of them approach their screens, but for a moment, they hesitate. In the silence, a soft, very faint meow is heard from somewhere in the house. The four of them look at each other.)

The End