Return to Sender
A young couple deals with the personal effects of a cosmic-born illness.
In the last few years, we’ve learned all-too-well the existential, mortal fear pandemics wreak.
How can you protect yourself – if that’s even possible? Who will be the next victim? A million futile, desperate questions come to mind: how, what, who… and why?
Now, imagine if the next plague wasn’t an “ordinary” virus? In its multitude of mutations, viruses have been a threat to human health since our species clawed our way into existence here on Earth.
Imagine if the source of the danger was the universe itself– “reclaiming” something we mere mortals need to live?
In Don Franke’s thoughtful Sci-Fi short Return to Sender, just such a scourge has hit humanity. Bewildered doctors label it “URS” – Universal Reclaim Syndrome. Such sounds benign and clinical, until one contemplates how URS plays out: the gradual extraction of hydrogen from a patient’s body. Literal, slow erasure until nothing’s left… at all.
In protagonist Emily’s case, she and partner Joe found the first sign of URS on her leg. It’s only been a week, now Emily sits helpless on an exam table as Doctor Rani gives them the grim news:
DR. RANI (40s), female, wearing lab coat and exam gloves, peels back a large gauze bandage from Emily's thigh. A sore a few inches across is exposed. It resembles the Eye of Jupiter.
Rani informs the horrified couple that, yes – it’s URS. Cold comfort, but Rani assures them of group chats she’s participating in. Doctors worldwide are analyzing the phenomenon, but at this point there’s little anyone knows. Except that URS is fatal. There’s no cure. No hope. Just medications to numb anxiety, at most...
DOCTOR
Stay hydrated.
Monitor your stress levels, and try to sleep.
Want something to help with that?
I'll prescribe ... anything.
EMILY
I'm fine.
JOE
You're not fine!
You're fucking evaporating --
Dr. Rani apologizes there’s nothing else she can do. Condolences and a sad, sincere look: that’s all Emily and Joe get as Rani walks out.
What would YOU do after being told you’re doomed to dissolve? Waste time on a useless second opinion? Rail against the unfairness of it all?
Or – just accept what one can’t change, and enjoy the moments one has left?
That night, Joe and Emily head to a park with a picnic basket and a telescope. Their plan: a quiet evening together. Because it seems they won’t have many more.
As with all good science fiction, Return to Sender isn’t about space battles or flashy FX. It’s a poignant musing about the human condition, glimpsed through a what-if lens. Directors: all you need to bring this gem into telescopic focus are two settings – and three actors with chemistry. Scoop up this little gem for production, and your return will be accolades. From the (creative) universe, and audiences too.