The Very Best of Tad Williams (39 page)

JANICE

But you said he couldn’t move—that he couldn’t even get into a wheelchair by himself!

NURSE

It’s so strange—I’ve never heard of anything like it. In a way, it’s a kind of miracle...oh, but I hope he’s all right! Poor Mr. Holland. Poor, poor Mr. Holland...

The OLD WOMAN that ERIC had met previously is standing in the hall, wearing a jacket over her nightgown. As they push through the door of TOPHER’S ROOM she calls after them:

OLD WOMAN

He’s gone home! I heard him when I was sleeping! Tell Mama I’m all right, ’cause he’s gone home!

TOPHER’s empty “shell” is still lying on the bed. JANICE muffles a noise of fear and disgust behind her hand. After a moment, ERIC steps forward and hesitantly touches it. He lifts the masklike skin of the face, staring at the hollow eyeholes. It breaks apart in his hand, as we

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—LATER IN THE MORNING

ERIC and JANICE are walking up BRENT’s walkway. There’s only one SUV in the driveway now.

JANICE

He can’t be more than a few hundred yards from there, Eric. He’s crippled! He’s been mostly bedridden for years!

ERIC

A chrysalis—that’s what the nurse said the first time I saw him. Like a cocoon. And now he’s hatched.

ERIC knocks at BRENT’s door.

ERIC
(cont.)

You don’t think all that’s a coincidence, do you? The power failures, all that shit, and Topher just sheds his skin and walks away? After all these years?

JANICE

What are you saying? That he did it, somehow? I thought you were supposed to be the rationalist.

ERIC

When the facts themselves are irrational, you still have to work with them. Just think about it for a second. Think! What night is it tonight?

JANICE stares at him in incomprehension as the door opens. BRENT is standing there clutching his hand, with blood on his arms and shirt. He looks numb and half-dead. JANICE and ERIC gasp.

BRENT

I was wondering when you’d show up.

(their expression finally penetrates; he looks down at the blood)

Oh. I broke a glass. Guess you might as well come in.

He turns as if he couldn’t care less and walks inside. After a moment, ERIC and JANICE follow him.

INT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—HALF AN HOUR LATER

BRENT is pretty drunk. He’s sitting on the couch with his head in his hands while ERIC and JANICE make coffee on a camping stove they’ve set up on the counter.

BRENT

I sent Tracy and Joanie away. Tracy didn’t want to go, but I think she thought I was going to get violent or something... Joanie wanted to take all her dolls.

(fighting tears)

Oh, God, I sent them away...!

ERIC pours a cup of coffee for himself, sips it and burns his tongue. He blows and sips it again gratefully while JANICE takes a cup to BRENT.

BRENT
(cont.)

I should have gone with them. I don’t want to be here. It’s all going to hell.

ERIC

Shut up and get some coffee into you. Jesus, Brent, do you always drink like this?

BRENT

(indignantly)

What? Are you going to tell me everything’s normal? That it’s fucking inappropriate to be drinking in the morning? You think I should just sit here sober waiting for that...thing to come kill me?

JANICE

(sharply)

You knew he got out of the hospital?

BRENT looks up with such SHOCK in his eyes that he clearly did not. His hands begin trembling so badly that coffee spatters the rug.

BRENT

(looking down at the mess)

Jesus. Jesus, look at that.

ERIC

Give it to me.

He sets the cup on the table in front of BRENT. As ERIC stares at haggard, shivering BRENT, his face softens.

ERIC
(cont.)

You didn’t know he’d gotten out of the hospital?

BRENT

Christ, no. But I had dreams..
.

JANICE

We all had dreams. But he’s a sick man, catatonic—a cripple!

BRENT

He’s coming for us. He wants...he’s angry. Because of...of what we did.

JANICE

But that doesn’t make any sense! We were his friends! And why now, after all these years?

ERIC

Maybe because he had to get ready. Like a caterpillar who had to wait until he could become a butterfly. He was just waiting all that time, changing inside, growing into...something else.

(turns to JANICE)

You know what tonight is, don’t you? Don’t you? Why are your kids coming back tomorrow?

JANICE

Oh, shit, I never called them. What do you mean, why are they coming back? Because they have to be back for school...

(it finally hits her)

Oh. Oh, God, tonight is...

ERIC

Yeah. The last Saturday night of the summer.

They look at each other across the sunlit living room of a nice, ordinary house, as we

DISSOLVE TO:

INT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—HOURS LATER

The living room is beginning to look a bit like a cage. A house of cards has fallen over on the coffee table. BRENT and ERIC are smoking. BRENT has sobered a bit—he just looks hellishly depressed. JANICE is clearing up in a sort of obsessive way, straightening things on shelves, etc.

ERIC

Leave it alone. It’s okay.

JANICE

It’s driving me crazy. All this mess... It’s something to do, for God’s sake. What are we waiting for?

ERIC

The power to come back on. The phone to start working. A monster who used to be our friend to knock on the front door. Who knows?

JANICE

If you really think this is going to happen, why don’t we just leave? Let’s just get in the car and go!

BRENT

Won’t do any good...

ERIC

For once I agree with Zenger. What if the engine just happens to die while we're driving down some back road somewhere? There we'll be, out in the woods somewhere, stuck, no walls, no locked doors...

JANICE

It just seems...it just seems so stupid. All of it. This is stuff that happened years ago! What's it doing screwing things up now? I just want it all to go away so I can have my kids and my life back.

ERIC

There has to be some kind of sense to this. He was in that psychiatric hospital for years. What did they find? What the hell was in those pills?

BRENT

(shaking his head)

Doesn’t matter now.

ERIC

But it does! Was it some kind of psychic warfare experiment? Some kind of biological modification thing? The CIA, a bunch of other government groups were working on all kinds of crazy shit in the Seventies. What did Topher get his hands on?

JANICE has finished nervously clearing the living room. She wanders into the hall and through the open bathroom door. We can still hear ERIC's voice.

ERIC
(cont.)

For a while, about ten years ago, I thought I might write an article about it—I even started researching. Nobody wanted to say a fucking word—total blackout. It was definitely something big. But I just couldn’t go through with it, you know, dragging all that stuff back out again...?

JANICE is staring at herself in the mirror, hands on the sink. ERIC’s voice has become a faint murmur. As she stares, the radio beside the bath begins to play Cat Stevens’ “Moonshadow.” She stares at it in shock. When she looks back at the mirror, it’s her own YOUNGER FACE looking back. At first she is terrified, but the impulse to look at this lost version is irresistible. As she lifts her hand to touch her own adult face, the YOUNG JANICE image mirrors her.

CUT TO:

EXT.—PIERSON HOUSE, 1976—NIGHT

It’s dark now, and YOUNG ERIC and YOUNG JANICE are sitting on the front porch overlooking the orchard. “Moonshadow” is wafting out the front door. There are stars in the sky and crickets chirping. JANICE is looking into the mirror of her compact, her hand in the same position we last saw it.

YOUNG ERIC

(amused)

What are you doing?

YOUNG JANICE

You know Carly Heener? She said that when she did acid, she knew when she was tripping because she looked in the mirror and her face was melting.

YOUNG ERIC

Carly Heener’s brain was already melted. Cool out, it won’t even hit for half an hour or so. You’re just high from all that weed.

(a beat)

Man, Zenger must have a serious crush on Kimmy. He’s actually in there listening to Cat Stevens with her. Like the Pope sitting down to have breakfast with Satan.

YOUNG JANICE

(laughing, high)

You’re so funny, Eric. But if you guys all think Cat Stevens is so bad, how come you have one of his records? Busted!

YOUNG ERIC

I think my cousin must have left it or something.

YOUNG JANICE

Yeah, sure.

(looks at him fondly, then frowns)

You know, you’re kind of sweating a lot.

YOUNG ERIC

I think it might be coming on a little.

YOUNG JANICE

Do you think Topher will be all right? Where is he, anyway?

YOUNG ERIC

Out running through the trees, probably. Yeah, he’ll be fine. I saw him drink gasoline out of a jug once. He thought it was white wine. Crazy fucker’s invincible. Besides, I bet he’s bullshitting anyway. His dad would beat the shit out of him if he got caught ripping that place off. I bet it’s just speed, or some psilocybin he bought off Ricky Caffaro or something...

JANICE nestles against ERIC, looking out at the orchard. “Moonshadow” ends and is replaced by Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way.” ERIC laughs.

YOUNG ERIC

Man, Zenger’s really got it bad.

(shouts toward the door)

Put on some decent music, will you?

YOUNG JANICE

I never noticed how close the trees are to the house. They look...I don’t know. Like they’re surrounding the place.

YOUNG ERIC

They are surrounding the place.

YOUNG JANICE

You already did that joke. But don’t you think they’re weird? Like they’re reaching...

YOUNG ERIC

Ssshhh. You’re just starting to come on. It’s fine. It’s all fine.

He puts his arm around her. After a moment, he starts to kiss her neck, then her mouth. She tries to respond, but when his hand moves up to her breast she pulls away.

YOUNG JANICE

Don’t...

YOUNG ERIC

It’s okay.

YOUNG JANICE

It’s not okay. I feel weird. Like...like I’ve got a battery on my tongue. I don’t think I like this.

YOUNG ERIC

Shit. You only took half a hit.

(he sits up)

I’m leaving in like a week, you know.

YOUNG JANICE

(quietly)

I know.

YOUNG ERIC

And, I don’t know, since I’m going to be in LA, and we’ll only be able to see each other on weekends...I don’t know, maybe we should start thinking about...about...

There is a loud CLATTER from just overhead, then something large and dark DROPS down from the roof above them and lands with a SLAM on the porch, making ERIC and JANICE shout and jump in shock. It’s TOPHER, very wired and grinning. He’s got his shirt off and tied around his waist. He looks like a wild man.

TOPHER

Take me to your leader!

(cocks an ear to music)

What is that queer shit?

(shouts)

Zengerdenger! Put on some Zep or some Sabbath or I’ll kick your ass into next year!

(he leans over ERIC and JANICE)

Man, I’m so fucking thirsty—let’s make a run for brews. C’mon, Erky, you drive.

YOUNG ERIC

I’m not driving, man. The acid’s just starting to come on.

TOPHER

Then we’ll walk. C’mon. Janice, make your fuckin’ boyfriend get off his ass. Come on, come on!

YOUNG JANICE

Why do we need beer?

TOPHER

Why do we need beer? Why do we need anything? Why do we need fucking music? Why do we need dope? Because life is shit and I’m so fucking high I can’t believe it!

(he laughs and shadow-punches the air, circling ERIC and JANICE like a dog excited about going for a walk)

Party time!

TOPHER throws back his head and howls like a wolf, a rising, hoarse note that turns into ERIC yelling:

ADULT ERIC

Janice! Janice!

As we

DISSOLVE TO:

INT.—BRENT’S HOUSE—EVENING

ADULT JANICE is staring at the mirror, at her own grown-up face. She looks at her hand on the counter. There’s an ANT crawling on it. JANICE gasps and flails until she brushes it off. ADULT ERIC appears in the bathroom doorway, obviously upset. The house is dark, but there’s light behind him from (as we’ll find out) a camping lantern in the living room.

ERIC

Where have you been?

JANICE

(near tears)

You were going to break up with me, you bastard! Before any of that other stuff even happened!

ERIC

What are you talking about?

JANICE

We were sitting on the porch, and you were just about to tell me we should break up...

ERIC

I have no idea what you’re talking about, Janice. Where the hell have you been? I’ve been looking for you for half an hour all over the house. I’ve been screaming your name! I was worried to death!

JANICE

I’ve been right here...

(a beat)

Half an hour?

ERIC

Brent’s not doing too well. Where were you?

JANICE suddenly grabs him.

JANICE

Oh my God. I am going crazy.

(looks around)

It’s dark!

ERIC

Yes, it damn well is. That’s why I’ve been looking all over for you—I didn’t know what happened. Where were you?

JANICE

Back there. Back there, Eric.

BRENT stumbles into the hallway, haggard, haunted.

BRENT

(even more overwhelmed than ERIC and JANICE)

Can’t get away. He’s in our heads! We’re fucked.

ERIC

Come on, pull yourself together.

BRENT

You think I’m useless, don’t you? But I know how to end this.

(he produces his GUN)

It’s easy. One bullet in Topher Holland’s brain and everything’s over...

ERIC

Jesus, Brent, put that thing away! That’s all we need, you pulling some cowboy shit like that.

JANICE

Why is this happening to us? He was our friend!

BRENT

You have no idea how hard I worked to make a life for myself. Worked damn hard. It was a nice life, too. I just wanted to forget...

BRENT pauses; then, as if he has really noticed ERIC and JANICE for the first time, he looks at them sorrowfully.

BRENT
(cont.)

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I...

He turns and staggers out of the hallway. A moment later a CRASH startles ERIC and JANICE. They run to the living room. BRENT has knocked over the coffee table.

ERIC

Jesus, you almost busted the lantern...!

(realizes BRENT is staring in horror at the front door)

Brent, what’s...

As JANICE comes up beside him, the three of them standing close together in the middle of the living room, the DOORKNOB of the front door turns a little, clicks, turns again. They stare at it, frozen. After a moment, the door clicks and slowly swings open... BRENT makes little panting noises of terror. JANICE and ERIC grab for each other’s hands.

The door is all the way open. The street outside is dark. The doorway is EMPTY.

ERIC

(hoarsely)

Who...?

He picks up a broken table-leg and the lantern and slowly moves toward the open door. JANICE grabs a heavy vase and moves up beside him. BRENT is on his knees on the floor behind them. They reach the doorway and peer out. Empty, dark street. ERIC cautiously extends the lantern, taking a step outside, looking, looking...

ERIC

There’s no one here...

ERIC glances down. A symbol written in FLAMES on the porch—a crude drawing of an EYE, surrounded by rays like the sun—is flickering out. As it disappears, the PHONE rings, making them all JUMP in shock. It takes a second for the import to reach them.

JANICE

(excited, relieved)

The phones! The phones are working!

The cordless phone is in the table-wreckage near BRENT, but he doesn’t move. JANICE picks it up and listens for a second. Her eyes widen, her jaw drops. She turns like an accident victim in shock and hands the phone to ERIC.

JANICE

It’s for you. It’s...it’s Kimmy.

KIMMY

(on phone; as if from a great distance)

Help me...! I’m lost, and it’s so dark! Come home, Eric! Come home...!

ERIC is pale and half-dead-looking as the phone drops from his hand. He looks at JANICE, then at weeping BRENT. He and JANICE turn to stare at the open door.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.—STREETS—MINUTES LATER

The ADULT versions of ERIC, JANICE, and BRENT walk down the dark, deserted suburban streets like they’re going to their own execution. All the houses are lightless and look deserted.

ERIC

I told you the car wasn’t going to start. It’s not going to work that way—none of it.

JANICE

We could wait until tomorrow and call the police! He’s an escaped patient! This isn’t just us having some hallucination—he’s real!

ERIC

You think that’s going to happen?

JANICE

It makes more sense than walking into your grandmother’s deserted house, looking for him. The lights have to come back on some time...the phones...

ERIC

Let’s find out.

ERIC suddenly steps out of the road and walks across a lawn toward one of the houses. He stops in front of the door and pounds on it.