Crampton (9 page)

BRADY

(a little slurred)

Whatcha working on?

HELEN

Our expense report. I can't figure out the difference between "general" and "miscellaneous."

Brady turns to the sink and finishes brushing his teeth.

HELEN

Wells ... can I ask you something?

BRADY

Shoot.

HELEN

Why did you join the FBI?

BRADY

Got tired of kicking in crack house doors.

HELEN

You could have taken another police assignment for that--some speedtrap out in the suburbs. What drew you to the Bureau?

BRADY

Do you really want to know? You'll laugh.

HELEN

Try me.

BRADY

You remember the t.v. show
The F.B.I.
?

HELEN

(laughing)

With Efram Zimbalist, Jr.?

BRADY

Who?

HELEN

The main guy, what's his name ... Erskine.

BRADY

Yeah, that's the show--not the later one, with the guy from
Mannix
.

HELEN

You're seriously telling me you joined the FBI because of a television show?

BRADY

No, that's bullshit. Just me trying to sound cool. I'm not sure if I can explain what led me to join the Bureau, or even what made me want to be a cop in the first place. It would probably come out something like what Ricky said, you know? Being able to do something about all the bad shit in the world.

HELEN

I think I know what you mean. Except it never seems to end--for every bad thing you turn over there's something worse underneath. And under that ... and under that.

BRADY

You never find that one big thing at the heart of it all. (Beat) Okay, so do I get to ask you something now? Since we're bonding and everything?

HELEN

Sure, go ahead.

BRADY

When we were in the car, during the storm ... you said you'd heard that sound before.

HELEN

Did I? I must have been thinking of that tornado that picked up my house when I was a little girl back in Kansas.

BRADY

Come on--no more bullshit.

HELEN

Right. No more bullshit. (Beat) Do you dream, Wells? I mean, I know everybody dreams, but do you remember your dreams?

BRADY

Sometimes.

HELEN

Have you ever had a dream where you're terrified, but you can't tell exactly what you're terrified of? Maybe it's a dark room, or a flight of stairs ... or some curtains that are fluttering just a bit.

Brady jerks a little at the word "curtains," but Helen doesn't notice--she's starting to space out a bit, caught in the spell of her description.

HELEN

Nothing especially disturbing in itself, but still you feel that fear of something infinitely terrible. And the last thing you want to know is what that something is. The knowing would be the worst part. And it gets so bad that that you have to wake yourself up before you're ripped apart by your own terror.

She comes back from her spell and looks at Brady.

HELEN

Have you ever had a dream like that? Because, lately, I have. And the sound in them is just like that storm.

Brady looks away.

BRADY

You're just overworked. We both are. Let's get some sleep.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM - LATER

The two agents are asleep, Helen in her bed, Brady in a chair. They are restless--having bad dreams.

DREAM SEQUENCE - Brady and Helen stand together in an elevator, not unlike the one in FBI headquarters. Their stance is awkward and oddly posed--they look as if they've been caught off-guard, then frozen in place. TREACLY ELEVATOR MUZAK is playing a familiar but unidentifiable tune.

MOTEL ROOM - CU ON BRADY

He is twitching slightly.

DREAM

The elevator stops. The doors open a few inches. We get a glimpse of BLACKNESS on the other side--not just shadow, but a living darkness that seems to churn like a whirlpool. The muzak is drowned out by a ROARING like an approaching tornado.

MOTEL ROOM - CU ON HELEN

Her face is twisted into a look of pain.

DREAM

The doors open a little further, revealing more of the abysmal blackness. The ROARING GROWS. In the elevator, the agents are still frozen in place. A few more inches. The roar has become a HOWL.

Finally the agents move, stepping through the doors into the roaring blackness--

MOTEL ROOM

The HOWL in the dream becomes the cacophonous RINGING of the phone. Both agents wake with a start and sit bolt upright. The phone RINGS again. Brady picks it up.

BRADY

Hello?

No reply ... at first.

BRADY

Hello?

STATICKY VOICE (ON PHONE)

Hello? Brady, is that you?

Brady turns his eyes to Helen. Though nearly lost in a storm of vague BACKGROUND NOISES, the voice on the phone is clearly hers.

The voice changes slightly--still a near-perfect imitation of Helen's, but muffled, as though spoken through clenched teeth.

STATICKY VOICE (ON PHONE)

Three o'clock. Showtime.

Brady and Helen look at the motel clock: Its green luminescent hands point to three o'clock ...
a.m.

STATICKY VOICE (ON PHONE)

You don't want to miss it.

The voice is lost in HISSES and POPS.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Helen comes out of the bathroom after hastily throwing some clothes on. Brady, already dressed, is dialing Helen's cell phone.

HELEN

Any luck with Ricky?

BRADY

I'm trying right now.

We hear a number of RINGS ON THE PHONE, then a CLICK as the line is PICKED UP.

BRADY

Ricky?

No--the unmistakable HISS of an answering machine tape. The voice that speaks is not Ricky Smith's.

ANSWERING MACHINE (ON THE PHONE)

Hi, kids! We've all gone to the magic show! See you there!

CLICK--the machine hangs up.

BRADY

(a bit dazed)

I got his machine.

HELEN

His machine? Brady, you dialed your own cell phone--how could you get a machine?

BRADY

I don't know.

HELEN

Are you sure you dialed the right number?

BRADY

Yes ... I mean, I think so.

HELEN

You
think so
?

BRADY

Would you just lay off? I don't have the number memorized, all right? I don't usually have to call myself!

Brady starts dialing again. Helen throws her head back in frustration ... then notices something near the door.

HELEN

What is that?

BRADY

(not paying attention)

What is what?

HELEN

(pointing)

That
.

Brady looks. On the floor, Just inside the door, is a large manila envelope.

Helen steps cautiously toward the door. She picks up the envelope gingerly. It is labeled "FOR THE NEWLYWEDS." We can hear FAINT RINGING over the cell phone.

Helen unfastens the envelope and lets the contents slide into her hand. It's a black-and-white--

PHOTOGRAPH

--of Brady and Helen together in the Oasis Motel lobby. They look awkward, caught off-guard. It is identical to their positions in the elevator dream.

BRADY

Helen, I had this dream--

HELEN

--about an elevator.

Brady is speechless. From the cell phone in his hand we hear the CLICK of the line picking up.

ANSWERING MACHINE (ON PHONE)

Hi, kids! We've all gone to the magic show! See you there!

EXT. OASIS MOTEL - NIGHT

Brady and Helen come out of the room and look down Main Street.

Crampton is dead but for one building--the Masonic Hall. Though still every inch a ruin from the outside, the hall is brightly lit within. We can hear strains of CALLIOPE MUSIC--that same elusively familiar tune from the elevator dream.

INT. MASONIC HALL

Brady and Helen burst through the door and stop in their tracks, stunned. The Spectacular Display of Illusion and Ventriloquism has begun.

The inside of the hall is completely restored ... no, not restored--
new
, as it must have looked sixty years ago. Intricate ceiling work, warm gas-fed lamps, tapestries depicting ancient figures--perhaps the original Freemasons.

It is a full house, standing room only. The audience is a collection of ultra-glamorous and artificial-looking men and women--a grotesque version of an Academy Awards or Broadway opening night crowd. Grinning clowns work the crowd, juggling and performing petty sleight-of-hand tricks. The CALLIOPE MUSIC is playing that same tune, over and over and just a little too loud.

BRADY

What the fuck?

ON STAGE - a VENTRILOQUIST is performing. On his knee is the dummy from Illusions of Empire--Laffo.

VENTRILOQUIST

So, Laffo, why do they call you Laffo, anyway?

LAFFO

(in a hillbilly dialect)

A-cuz I'm so funny, I'll make ya Laff yer head off! A-HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!

Laffo's head starts to SPIN AROUND as he LAUGHS. The LAUGHING becomes an INSANE CACKLING. Suddenly the dummy's head POPS OFF and lands on the floor ... but KEEPS LAUGHING, the mouth still moving in time.

BRADY

What is this?

HELEN

The center ring of the circus.

BRADY

So none of this is real?

HELEN

I don't think that matters anymore.

For a second they're both stunned into silence. Then a look of determination crosses Brady's face.

BRADY

Okay, Helen, let's split up and get a better look at things.

HELEN

What?

BRADY

The weirder things get, the more important it is to go back to the basics, treat it like any other situation, remember?

HELEN

Are you not seeing what I'm seeing? This isn't like any other situation, Brady!

BRADY

I know, but it's the only way we're going to get through this. You take that side, I'll take this side. We'll meet up front, by the stage. Got it?

Helen Just looks dazed.

BRADY

Helen! Have you got that?

HELEN

Got it.

They each draw their sidearms and start moving through the crowd in opposite directions. The audience members don't seem to notice them at all.

ON STAGE - the ventriloquist is standing and waving to the audience, Laffo's head CACKLING AWAY in his other hand. The ventriloquist ducks through the curtain. The CALLIOPE MUSIC ENDS WITH A FLOURISH. An unseen EMCEE'S VOICE fills the room.

EMCEE

(O.S.)

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, the centerpiece of our display: The Metamorphosis!

There is the sound of APPLAUSE, though nobody in the audience is actually clapping. Treacly MUZAK, cranked to distorting, is pumped into the hall.

The freckle-faced kid from the Fix-It shop pushes a wheeled platform onto the stage. On it, a LARGE-BODIED FIGURE is tied spreadeagle to a modified wheel of fortune, dressed from head to toe in a skeleton suit. An X is taped across its mouth. The kid dashes off stage.

IN THE CROWD - Brady and Helen are now on opposite sides of the room, separated by the sea of people. Brady waves to get Helen's attention.

BRADY

(shouting)

Helen! Helen!

HELEN

(shouting)

What?

BRADY

On stage! I think that's Ricky!

Helen looks. Indeed, the figure in the skeleton suit could be Ricky. Whoever he is, he's struggling against the bonds that hold him to the wheel ... but that could all be part of the act.

HELEN

I can't tell!

BRADY

Closer! Get closer!

Brady and Helen try to move toward the stage but it's slow going--the crowd seems to get thicker the closer they get to the stage.

ON STAGE - a tuxedoed MAGICIAN with blond hair and handsome yet forgettable features steps through the curtain. A white-tipped cane materializes in his hand. The magician uses the end of his cane to start the wheel spinning.

After a few spins the magician grabs the wheel, bringing it to a dead stop. With a flourish he tears the X off the skeleton's mouth. The bound man emits a TORMENTED SCREAM.

IN THE CROWD - Brady and Helen react, shoving people aside in an attempt to reach the stage. But for every person they push aside two fill in the gap.

HELEN

FBI!

BRADY

Federal agents! Get out of the way!

Their shouts have no effect--they don't even get the audience's attention. The agents can see the action on stage in glimpses from between shifting bodies...

ON STAGE - the magician starts the wheel spinning again. The pitch of the skeleton's SCREAMING seems to rise and fall as the wheel goes around.

With one swift movement the magician reaches toward the spinning figure, grasps the skeleton suit near the right shoulder, and peels the right sleeve away. There is nothing but empty air beneath. The SCREAM RISES. The crowd OOHS.

The magician repeats the maneuver three more times, peeling away the skeleton's left arm and legs. The SCREAMING turns into a HYSTERICAL SOBBING.

The magician stops the wheel. All that is left of the skeleton is a limbless torso and a head. With a final flourish the magician peels away the remaining costume. The figure disappears except for a NAKED SKULL, white and gleaming, which drops out of the space where the mask had been, landing in the magician's waiting hand.

The SCREAMING continues for a few moments before fading away. SILENCE ... then the ROAR of the jubilant crowd.

The music goes TA-DA! The crowd begins to break up, allowing Brady and Helen to finally move forward. Through the bodies they see the magician take his bows. A curtain rushes in from either side of the stage, closing in front of the magician.

INT. MASONIC HALL - ON THE STAGE

The HOUSE LIGHTS GO DIM as the agents climb onto the stage. They look at the stained and tattered curtain--the same curtain from their shared dreams. Using the barrel of his gun, Brady parts the curtain slightly. A ROARING SOUND, like an approaching tornado, emanates from behind it.