The First Taste

(A 1-Act Play)

SETTING: A bustling, slightly overpriced coffee shop in lower Manhattan. The clatter of cups, low murmur of conversations. ANNA (30s, sharp, impeccably dressed, a subtle intensity in her eyes) sips a latte. Across from her sits LEO (20s, nervous energy, distractedly picking at a croissant, eyes darting).

(SCENE START)

ANNA: So, you’ve been feeling… different, lately.

LEO: (Starts, nearly dropping his croissant) Different? What do you mean? Like, since… since the power went out last week? Everyone’s been a little off. My boss thinks it’s the lingering EMF.

ANNA: (A small, knowing smile plays on her lips) The power went out, yes. But it was also the first time you heard the city breathe, wasn’t it? The hum beneath the asphalt. The whispered arguments of old buildings.

LEO: (Frowns, looks down at his hands, then back up, a flicker of fear in his eyes) You… you heard that too? I thought I was losing it. Like a low-frequency radio signal, but… inside my head. And colours seemed sharper. People’s intentions… clearer. It was like I could taste their thoughts.

ANNA: (Leans forward, voice dropping conspiratorially) A very apt description, Leo. A first taste. You’re what we call a 'Chosen'. Gifted. Or cursed, depending on your perspective.

LEO: Chosen? For what? This isn't some cult, is it? Because if you're going to ask me to wear robes and chant—

ANNA: (A soft, almost imperceptible laugh) Nothing so quaint. This is… an opportunity. A reality you’ve brushed against, a world just beneath the surface of the one everyone else sees. It's buzzing, Leo. And you, my friend, are buzzing with it.

LEO: (Looks around the coffee shop, suddenly seeing the other patrons with a new, unsettling clarity. Their mundane concerns seem distant, flimsy.) The static… it's louder when you talk about it.

ANNA: That’s the Anima. The primordial energy. It’s always been there, flowing. You just developed the receptors. Now, the question is: what are you going to do with them? Will you ignore it? Let it consume you? Or will you learn to wield it? To understand the gears of this greater reality?

LEO: (Picks up his coffee cup, his hand steady now, eyes focused on Anna with a new, dangerous intensity) Wield it? What exactly does that entail?

ANNA: (Smiles, a predatory gleam in her eyes) It entails everything. A new life. A new purpose. And a very lucrative compensation package, of course. We are the Illuminati, after all. We deal in power, knowledge, and profit. What's your first instinct? Taste it, Leo. Taste the possibilities.

(Leo slowly raises his coffee cup, but his gaze is distant, as if seeing beyond the shop walls, beyond the city. The faint hum in the background intensifies, becoming a subtle, alluring thrum.)

(SCENE END)