I saw him. Once. That was enough.
JANICE
He’s gotten a lot worse.
BRENT
No shit.
ERIC
(angry)
Look — enough! Brent, man, I’m sorry I haven’t been around. You could have called me too, for that matter. But the fact is that we went different ways.
BRENT
Yeah. It happens.
ERIC
So let’s cut the bullshit, okay? I knew you in the fucking third grade, man. Being a grown-up sucks, cool, we’ll all agree. Now let’s get down to business. There’s something really strange going on. Janice and I have been having hallucinations, all about that night. THAT night. Nothing else. How about you?
BRENT
I don’t really want to spend a lot of time thinking about that shit.
ERIC
It doesn’t feel like we have much choice.
(a beat)
It’s happening to you, too, isn’t it? How long?
BRENT
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
ERIC
Don’t give me that, man, I know you. How long? Weeks?
BRENT
(after a pause)
Yeah. For a while. But it goes away sometimes.
ERIC
Maybe it did, but now it’s getting worse. We have to do something.
BRENT
(laughs)
Oh, yeah? What’s that? Write a little sunday magazine section piece? “High School Nightmare Reunions”? Or maybe call the cops? The dream police? What the fuck do you think we can do about it, Erky?
ERIC
It’s something to do with Topher. I could feel it when I saw him. There’s something… alive in there. Angry.
JANICE
That doesn’t make any sense.
ERIC
None of this does — but it’s happening. We have to go see him. All of us. If this is something to do with… that stuff… that stuff he took…
BRENT
Talk to him? You really have turned into liberal dickhead, Pierson, just like I always thought you would. What are we going to say? “If that’s you fucking with our minds, Topher, could you please stop?” You must be joking.
ERIC
He was our friend…
BRENT
And look at him now! You think talking to that… thing is going to change anything? Is it going to change the past? Is it going to make up for what happened to him, to… to Kimmy?
Shockingly, BRENT suddenly bursts into tears — he’s had quite a lot to drink.
BRENT (cont.)
Kimmy. Oh, man, poor Kimmy… Shit!
JANICE
It’s okay, Brent. It wasn’t your fault, either…
BRENT
Okay? It fucking well is not. And if you want to go talk to that… that thing… go ahead. But don’t expect me to come with you. I wouldn’t go within a mile of that freak.
ERIC
That doesn’t make…
BRENT
Just get out. Get out of here before my wife comes home. I used to tell her about what great friends I had. Don’t fuck it up for me.
JANICE
Brent, come on…
BRENT
(shouting)
Get out of my damned house!
We CUT TO:
INT. — ERIC’S CAR — MINUTES LATER
They are driving out of BRENT’s nice neighborhood.
ERIC
That went well, didn’t it?
JANICE
He’s terrified. What’s going on?
ERIC
Guess what. I’m terrified too…
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. — HOSPITAL — AN HOUR LATER
JANICE and ERIC are talking to an ADMINISTRATOR at the main desk, a lady in her fifties or early sixties.
ADMINISTRATOR
I don’t quite understand what you’re asking, sir. Mr. Holland’s records are private, but I can assure you he’s been getting the best possible care.
ERIC
Who DOES have access to his records? His father’s dead — he must have a legal guardian.
ADMINISTRATOR
He has an aunt in Northern California. But I’m not sure I should be discussing any of this with you. He’s been a patient with us for almost thirteen years now. I recognize Mrs. Moorehead, but I don’t think I’ve even seen you before.
ERIC
(to JANICE)
Mrs. Moorehead?
JANICE
(to ADMINISTRATOR)
That’s fine, thanks. We were mainly wondering about whether there had been any… changes. To his condition.
ADMINISTRATOR
Only the skin problem, which seems to be getting worse.
ERIC
But what did they say when they sent him here… ?
JANICE pulls him away.
ERIC (cont.)
He was in a government psychiatric hospital — under security. I still have the clippings. Would they really just let him go?
JANICE
(a little angry)
This isn’t some big investigative report, Eric. Topher hasn’t spoken or moved in years. His dad went to court and asked to have him sent here, so he’d be closer to home.
ERIC
(disgusted)
His old man must have been happy Topher couldn’t get into trouble any more.
The OLD WOMAN ERIC has seen earlier rolls out in front of them, then paces them until they stop in front of TOPHER’s door.
OLD WOMAN
(eyes wide)
You going in there?
JANICE
We’re going to see a friend.
OLD WOMAN
(grabbing ERIC’s arm)
You tell my mother I been good. Tell her I never went in there.
As they open the door, she rolls herself backward down the hall.
OLD WOMAN (cont.)
That’s where the devil lives…
The door swings open. It’s a small room, but with TOPHER at the far end it seems very large. He is sitting in his wheelchair by the bed, staring at nothing. ERIC and JANICE hesitate, then JANET at last moves forward and sits on the bed. ERIC picks up a chair and puts himself on the other side of TOPHER.
JANICE
Eric and I are here to see you, Topher. We’ve been thinking about you a lot.
ERIC
Yeah. A lot.
JANICE
We’ve been having… bad dreams. About that night. We thought… you might be having bad dreams too.
ERIC looks at her, a little surprised; this is an unexpected approach. He struggles to find the wavelength.
ERIC
We… want to help you. God, man, we’re so sorry that this happened to you. To all of us.
TOPHER is rigid as a statue, staring past them.
ERIC (cont.)
But it isn’t anybody’s fault. It just… happened.
JANICE hesitates, then reaches out and takes TOPHER’s hand. It’s a brave act — we can sense how weird it must feel.
JANICE
I haven’t slept well in months, Topher. You know I’ve tried to help you, come visit you. How can I do that if I’m scared all the time? If I can’t get any sleep?
ERIC
We were all friends, remember? Before that… that bad night. We’re still your friends. We… we miss you.
(after a long moment, he touches TOPHER’s other hand.)
Please, man. Please.
The strange tableau falls silent, two people holding hands with a rigid monstrosity, as we DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. — BRENT’S HOUSE — SAME TIME
ADULT BRENT is loading things into his SUV. It looks like he’s getting the family ready for a camping vacation, but not a happy one: he’s very blank and silent, even though his wife TRACY is standing at the front door, talking to him.
TRACY
Brent? What are you doing? Are we going somewhere?
&
nbsp; He continues to load the SUV, not answering.
TRACY (cont.)
Whatever it is you’re doing, we’re not going anywhere until you talk to me. What’s going on? It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore… !
BRENT slows and then stops in the middle of the driveway like a toy winding down. He puts his hands over his face, shoulders shaking.
TRACY
Brent? Brent, you’re scaring me…
INT. — ERIC’S CAR — LATE AFTERNOON
They are driving along a tree-lined road. Both look troubled.
ERIC
… I mean, what was that all about? Are we saying that it’s Topher who’s making us see these things? There are a lot of better explanations, Janice. Janice?
JANICE shakes her head, too tired to talk about it. We close on JANICE’s face, her eyes closed, thinking, hand on head like she’s got a migraine coming on. The sound of The Doors’ “Riders On The Storm” comes up slowly, filling the car.
JANICE
I don’t want to hear any music, Eric. Could you turn the tape off?
ERIC
(sounding strange)
It’s not the tape player.
JANICE
(opens eyes)
Then turn off the fucking radio! My head hurts.
ERIC
I didn’t turn it on. It’s not on.
As they both stare at the dark radio dial and the music grows louder, something suddenly appears for an instant in front of the car — a dark shape. JANICE and ERIC both shout in terror and ERIC jams on the brakes, sending the car squealing and sliding. Something THUMPS against the car as they screech to a halt, halfway across the road.
JANICE
We hit somebody! We hit somebody!
ERIC is sitting stunned in his seat, trying to get his breath, when something large and dark lands on the windshield. For a moment there’s a dim glimpse of YOUNG TOPHER’S face, distorted against the glass, then he bursts into roaring FLAMES which surround the car.
TOPHER
(screaming with laughter in the flames)
I see you! I see you!
An instant later the flames vanish. Everything is NORMAL, the car still skewed across the empty road, but no sign of anything else. ERIC turns to JANICE, bloodless, shocked. She’s just as devastated.
JANICE
Oh, my God, Eric, what’s happening to us… ?
We pull back slowly from the pair of them, back until we see the car in the middle of the country road, back and back as we DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. — HOSPITAL – NIGHT
The wind is blowing the trees, hard. Except for a light in the front lobby, the hospital windows are all dark. The wind gets stronger, the tree-shadows flailing along the walls.
INT. — BRENT’S HOUSE — SAME TIME
BRENT is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the television. The sound is off. As we pan around we see that he has a bottle and glass on the rug in front of him. The glass is upside-down. BRENT has arranged five BULLETS in a little circle on the bottom of the glass, and is holding the sixth in his hand, looking at it. A gun is lying on the carpet next to his leg.
INT. — JANICE’S HOUSE — SAME TIME
JANICE and ERIC have finished a meal of take-out food. JANICE is washing the few dishes while ERIC wanders around in the kitchen/dining room. We can hear the wind getting LOUD outside. He picks up a picture of JANICE’S CHILDREN and looks at it.
JANICE
I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think I could have faced spending the night here by myself.
ERIC
I felt the same about the motel. So… tell me about your marriage. Was he a good guy?
JANICE
Terry? I don’t know. He’s an engineer. Not the most talkative guy in the world. I thought I could make it work. It seemed like a good idea at the time…
ERIC
What went wrong?
JANICE
Nothing, really. But nothing went right after a while, either. Another guy I cared more about than he cared about me.
(turns, drying her hands)
But it’s different when a marriage goes off the tracks and you have kids. It’s… there’s still something that worked. I love my children. I miss them so much.
ERIC
I can’t seem to get a handle on it. You married. Children.
JANICE
It’s been a quarter of a century, Pierson. You haven’t exactly stayed in touch.
ERIC
All I’ve been doing since I came back here is saying I’m sorry, and it doesn’t seem to be working on anyone. But I am sorry, Janice, especially about the way I treated you. Shit, I didn’t know what was going on — I was numb, crazy. I was a kid! We were all kids. I just wanted it all to go away.
JANICE sits down on the couch. ERIC joins her.
JANICE
I used to call you. You never called back. It was horrible, having to keep leaving messages with those guys in your dorm — I could just hear them thinking, “Oh, no, it’s that pathetic hometown chick that Pierson dropped… ”
ERIC
It wasn’t like that…
JANICE
But you know what the worst thing was? Do you remember that stupid song about the telephone? It was playing every time I turned the radio on that fall.
(She sings, a little hoarse)
“Okay, so no one’s answering… so I’ll just wait a little longer, longer… ” I couldn’t get away from that fucking song.
JANICE blinks angrily, fighting tears.
ERIC
I never liked Electric Light Orchestra, anyway. Brent really hated ‘em. Said they’d gone downhill after Roy Wood left the group.
JANICE
Boys. You can talk about guitar solos, but anything else just paralyzes you, doesn’t it?
ERIC
Look, for years there wasn’t a fucking day that went by when I didn’t think about how things went so wrong — with you and me, that night… everything. Over and over. Thinking about how if I’d only done this thing different or that thing different…
JANICE
(after a pause)
What are we going to do, Eric? I’m frightened.
ERIC shakes his head, then moves closer to her and puts his arm around her. She relaxes into his chest.
ERIC
I have no idea at all. I’m scared shitless myself. But this feels good. It’s the first thing that’s felt that way for a while.
(a beat)
I haven’t really been able to make it work with anyone. Scared I never will. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting paid back for being a shit to you, back then.
JANICE lifts her face to look at him. She has a tear on her cheek. ERIC gently wipes it away with his finger. After a moment, he touches her cheek again, letting his hand stay. She leans forward and they kiss. What starts out careful and tenative begins to turn passionate — JANICE is crying as they kiss, almost climbing onto his lap. Then she pulls away.
JANICE
No. No, it’s not right.
ERIC
If you want…
JANICE
After all these years, I don’t know what I want. But you don’t know me any more, Eric. I’m not the same person, and neither are you. We can’t just fall into bed. We’d be… I don’t know, fucking our past, not each other.
ERIC
Seems like its our past that’s fucking us. In more ways than one.
JANICE slowly moves back against his chest.
JANICE
You’re still pretty funny, you know? Too bad it’s true.
(after a moment)
I was so scared.
ERIC
It’s been a weird day all around.
JANICE
No! Back then. That night. I was acting cool because I hated you guys treating me like a wimpy girl, but I didn’t really want to take that stuff…
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. — PIERSON HOUSE, 1976 – N
IGHT
CLOSE ON: BRENT’S PALM
YOUNG BRENT is shaking a little bit of something out of a pill bottle onto the cotton wadding in his hand. As we pull back, we see that everyone is sitting in a circle on the living room floor, except TOPHER who is lying on the couch with his feet up.
YOUNG BRENT
Four-way windowpane. Decks are cleared. Ready to beam up, Mr. Spock.
KIMMY
(nervously)
I thought acid came in, like, a sugar cube.
YOUNG BRENT
That was in the old days. This is the latest and greatest. Come on, you don’t know who your friends really are until you trip with them — right, Erky?
YOUNG ERIC
(singing)
“Oh I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener, that is what I’d truly like to be-ee-ee, ‘cause if I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener… ”
YOUNG BRENT
Five hits. Kimmy, put a record on so we don’t have to listen to fucking Pierson.
YOUNG ERIC
(finishing)
“Everyone would be in love with me!”
YOUNG JANICE
You wish.
KIMMY
What should I put on?
YOUNG BRENT
I don’t know. You got anything decent, Pierson? You got Yes? “Fragile” would be pretty bitchin’.
KIMMY