worlds first trillionaire, and its about the worlds richest man and his idealist son who thinks he should give it all away. they argue, bicker, fight, the father is a recluse. and the son has no friends since he isnt allowed to go school, hes tutored at home by the worlds best and brightest, which just so happen to be his fathers “friends” some more honest, and the others, yes men, one of which is a music teacher, a woman, who just so happens to look strikingly similar to the boys grandmother when she was young, she fills his head with questions, rather than answers, all seemingly related to maintaining empathy, humanity, morals, etc. in between the various music theory topics that she draws her comparisons, always speaking in subtext and analogies. all the while the father spends his time watching the ticker get closer, and closer to one trillion dollars. day in, and day out, he watches.

sometimes his son comes to him and asks him weird philosophical questions, questions that arise from lessons with his teachers, they have conversations with which the father doesnt seem to care, or contributes a materialistic view point of the world, dehumanizes people, and the son finds that his father no longer seems to be the man he thought he was. and begins to question his own place in the world.

on the night that the ticker is about to reach one trillion dollars, his son comes to visit him, and they have a long conversation, which gets a bit aggressive and emotional and ends when his son asks him one final question.

“would you give it all away if it meant being actually happy for once in your miserable, lonesome, life!?”

he refuses to answer, sips his brandy, and returns to watching the ticker. at this point beyond his offices grand windows, the hills are ablaze with a forest fire in the distance, smoke permeates the air outside, but this fortress of a mansion is impervious to the threats of nature. “its the safest place on earth” he says to himself “no need to worry about a lil smoke and ash. at least now ill be able to see the ocean more clearly…maybe ill cover those hills in sculptures…no…monuments! haha. yea, maybe a fuckin sphynx with my face on it…or a pyramid or something. biggest one ever…s…solid…gold…with…my name…on it…” he passes out momentarily in his drunken state, and is awoken by a loud bang. its dark now, well past dusk.

he looks at the ticker, its so close. only a few million more and its official. his son is gone, he wants him to see this, to bare witness to a new wonder the world has never seen.

his father, the first trillionaire!

he runs out the door of his office, only to find his son… dead… holding one if the various antique pistols from his collection. this one, however, was his personal favourite, thought to be the long lost pistol of “Billy the Kid”… he loved that western tale as a child, his name was Billy too, and he always saw himself as a lone gunslinger, ready to take on the world…

in his silent, repressed, yet immense grief, perhaps still in shock, he grabs his son, dragging his limp body into his office. to watch the ticker hit one trillion.

he props him up next to him, and opens his sons lifeless eyes to see. “you’re gonna miss it, sleepy head” he says laughing, tears welling in his normally stern eyes.

and finally it happens. the ticker hits one. trillion. dollars.

he smiles briefly, but his focus shifts to the fire in the hills, so much closer now, than before. in fact its maybe less than half a mile away. the smoke illuminated by the flames blocks out the night sky in a big orange and black plume.

he looks at his son one more time, and says to him.

“you still want to know?..yes… yes… id give it all away…just to be happy…for once… in my miserable… lonesome… life…”

he then takes the pistol of billy the kid, and puts it in his mouth. and promptly blows his brains out. blood spatters over the ticker, a moment passes in silence, and slowly, and then very quickly, the number starts dropping, crashing.

panning out towards the ceiling, away from the scene splayed out on the floor, shows that billy the trillionaire was alone the whole time.

he never had a son. in fact there hadnt been a visitor to the house in god knows how long.

que montage of him talking to himself with several personalities as he slowly goes insane with guilt over the past year as a recluse, via security cam footage on his desktop monitor next to the ticker. which plays continuously as it counts down.

the number eventually counts down to zero as the credits role to their end, and the fire keeps burning in the background until eventually the whole mansion succumbs to smoke and flame. as no amount of riches can ever make you impervious to the wills of nature.

smoke and fire fill the screen, and then it all goes black.

FIN.