Unwell Season 3/Episode 7- A Space Within the Walls
by Bilal Dardai
Land lines
Sometimes you get what you want
Who can you trust?
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This episode features: Marsha Harman as Dot, Kathleen Hoil as Abbie, Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Joshua K. Harris as Rudy, Pat King as Chester, Michael Turrentine as Wes, Mark Soloff as Silas, Ele Matelan as [REDACTED], Sebastian H. Orr as [REDACTED].
Written by Bilal Dardai, sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer TH Ponders, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.
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INTERIOR, FENWOOD HOUSE. THE LAND
LINE RINGS. LILY PICKS UP. RUDY IS
ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE.
LILY: Hello? Fenwood House.
RUDY: Lily?
LILY: Hi, Rudy.
RUDY: Hey, it’s Rudy. Is it just you there, or...?
LILY: Mom and Abbie are around. What’s up, you
need one of them?
RUDY: Actually, it’s perfect that you’re all
there. I have a lead on Wes.
LILY: (CALLING INTO THE HOUSE) Mom! Abbie! Rudy’s
on the phone! He says he has a lead on Wes!
ABBIE: (ENTERING) Lead? What does he mean by lead?
RUDY: Is that Abbie? Say hi for me.
LILY: Rudy says hi.
ABBIE: Are we really going to...
DOT: (ENTERING) Did I hear you right? Something
about Wes?
RUDY: Say hi to Dot too.
LILY: Rudy says hi.
DOT: Tell him hi back.
LILY: My mom says hi back.
ABBIE: (SIGHING) Right, right, listen to all this
famous Midwestern courtesy RUDY THIS IS
ABBIE. YOU SAID SOMETHING ABOUT A LEAD ON
WES. GET TO THE POINT SO LILY CAN TELL US
ABOUT IT.
RUDY: It’s good to hear their voice. I mean that.
Tell them after we’re done. Listen. You know
that I’m in with the Delphics now.
LILY: I do. I don’t know how I feel about that.
RUDY: I understand, and we should table that
conversation for another time, but the good
news is that I overheard a few of them
talking about some kind of odd occurrence,
that’s the word they used, an occurrence
over by the abandoned tool and die shop.
LILY: Abandoned what? Tool and die shop?
ABBIE: I’ve been out that way. It’s about as far
from here as you can get on the other side
of town. There’s still a sign on the outside
that says “134 Days With No Accidents” and I
want to find somebody who can tell me what
happened on day 135. What about it?
LILY: Rudy says he heard about an occurrence out
there.
RUDY: They said there was an odd sort of wind in
the air, and then they heard somebody
crying. When they went to check on it...?
LILY: They saw Wes?
RUDY: They saw somebody who, when they described
him to me, sounded a lot like Wes. He saw
them, took off running, disappeared.
DOT: What was he wearing?
LILY: What was he wearing?
RUDY: T-shirt and jeans.
LILY: T-shirt and jeans.
DOT: That’s it? It’s 10 degrees out there!
LILY: Mom. (BEAT) Did you forget that...
DOT: I did not forget that he’s a ghost, honey,
but that doesn’t mean I like the idea of him
running around in this weather dressed
like--
LILY: --but Mom, that means it has to be him!
Right?
RUDY: Exactly! I mean, it’s him or somebody else
who needs help. Either way, I thought you
might want to check it out.
LILY: We do. Thank you. Are you able to meet us
there?
RUDY: Ah...I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m a little. Well.
LILY: I see. This is because of your...
RUDY: Kinda. There are expectations, you know?
LILY: Yeah. You and I are definitely going to talk about this later.
RUDY: Sure, Lily.
LILY: And Rudy. We could have done this on
speaker. Next time call my cell instead of
the land line.
RUDY: Sorry, no! When there’s a land line, you
call the land line. One of those things you
gotta do before you can’t anymore, right?
LILY: (AMUSED) Whatever. Thanks for the tip.
RUDY: Go get him. And when you find him? Tell him
I said hello, okay?
LILY: Okay, Rudy. I will.
LAND LINE BEING HUNG UP. A SHUFFLE
AS BAGS ARE GATHERED AND SHOES PUT
ON.
LILY: Rudy said it was nice to hear your voice.
ABBIE: Oh. Well. It was nice to almost hear his
small, distant buzzing.
LILY: Ready Mom?
DOT: You’re not even going to try and stop me?
LILY: What would even be the point.
DOT: Good. You’re learning. (BEAT) Not even a
little bit? I’m your mother. What are you
doing letting your ailing mother go out
adventuring in ten-degree weather?
LILY: Shut up and get your boots on.
ABBIE: Do you need me to bring the...(SIGHS)
...ghost gear?
LILY: It’s already in the car. There might even be
room in there for your attitude.
ABBIE: Don’t worry. It folds up. (BEAT) I don’t get
it, though.
LILY: You don’t get what.
ABBIE: Why Wes would be out by the tool and die
shop.
LILY: Maybe it means something to him. Or meant
something. When he was alive. We’ll ask him
when we find him.
DOT: Less talk, more rescue. Come on.
THE FRONT DOOR OPENS AND THREE
SETS OF BOOTS WALK OUTSIDE. A FEW
DISTANT, INDECIPHERABLE BITS OF
CONVERSATION BETWEEN LILY, DOT,
AND ABBIE. THE DISTANT SOUND OF A
CAR STARTING AND DRIVING OFF. THE
HOUSE MAKES A FEW NOISES; A CREAK
OF THE WALLS, A HISS OF THE
RADIATOR, BUT OTHERWISE THE
BUILDING IS EMPTY. A FEW MORE
MOMENTS WITH JUST THE HOUSE. THE
LAND LINE RINGS AGAIN. AFTER THREE
RINGS, AN ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS
UP WITH WES’S VOICE, READING FROM
A SCRIPT.
WES: Thank you for calling Fenwood House, a
historic establishment offering comfortable
accommodations to wanderers, stargazers, and
tourists of all kinds. Dorothy Harper,
proprietor. We’re sorry to have missed your
call, but if you leave your name, number,
and the dates you’re interested in booking a
room, we will return your call as soon as
possible. We hope to see you in Mt. Absalom
very soon!
A BEEP.
RUDY: (INTO THE ANSWERING MACHINE, AFTER A MOMENT)
Hi Wes. I wasn’t...I wasn’t expecting you.
HE HANGS UP. SEVERAL MORE MOMENTS
ALONE WITH THE HOUSE, AND THEN THE
FRONT DOOR OPENS WITH GENTLE
BELLS. TWO PAIRS OF FOOTSTEPS
ENTER, CAUSING FLOORBOARDS TO
CREAK.
RUDY: Hello? Dot? (BEAT) Yup. Figured she’d go.
CHESTER: How much time do we have?
RUDY: Here to there is 40 minutes, give or take.
And they’ll stay a couple hours before they
give up. They’re good people.
CHESTER: Plenty, then. Nice work.
RUDY: Sure. Thanks.
CHESTER: Rudy, I know this is hard for you. You want
to think of this as a betrayal. It’s not a
betrayal. It’s not even breaking and
entering. You live here, and I’m your guest.
RUDY: I guarantee you this was not what Dot meant
when she said it was okay for me to bring
home a guest once in awhile.
CHESTER: The Revelator has been inside this house
twice now.
RUDY: That I know of.
CHESTER: That you know of. The Delphic Order needs to
know why, and we need to know how.
RUDY: I told you. Lily invited him in.
CHESTER: He’s not a vampire.
RUDY: Like vampires are the only ones that has to
be true for. In fact , having never
encountered a vampire--that I know of--I
can’t outright say it’s true for them.
CHESTER: He’s been barred from entering the town for
over a century by a mystical decree that
nobody in the Order fully understands, not
even me or Hazel. You think that falls apart
because Lily Harper says “hi, come on in.”
RUDY: Why not? That’s how it worked at the start,
isn’t it? He invited you in. It’s poetic ,
therefore...
CHESTER: I’m not going to stand here arguing with you
about this.
RUDY: Don’t be sour.
CHESTER: I mean that I’m not going to stand here
arguing with you. If you want to keep
arguing, fine, but we’re on the clock. I
need to examine Fenwood without interruption
or things being hidden from me.
RUDY: The Revelator is unique, right? Compared to
the rest of the town’s ghosts?
CHESTER: Sure.
RUDY: So then it’s foolish, and it’s probably
dangerous, to act like you know all of his
rules. Until you eliminate the possibility--
CHESTER: --okay, okay, I take your point. I’ll keep
an open mind.
RUDY: Thank you. So. Where should we start? Do we
split up or stick together?
CHESTER: Let’s stick together. We go room by room and
be thorough about it. Look for anything that
seems unusual or out of place.
RUDY: Bottom up or top down?
CHESTER: You said there’s some kind of vanishing door
in the basement?
RUDY: Yup.
CHESTER: Top down.
CHESTER AND RUDY WALK UPSTAIRS.
THE FLOORBOARDS CREAK, THE
RADIATORS HISS. A WHISTLING WIND
PASSES BY THE WINDOWS.
THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE HOUSE.
MORE CREAKING AND WHISTLING.
CHESTER: Is it always this noisy?
RUDY: I suppose so. I’ve never been here when it’s
empty. The stairs to the next floor are that
way.
A STRONG GUST OF WIND BANSHEES ITS
WAY AROUND THE HOUSE, RATTLING
EVERY EXTERIOR SET OF WOODEN
WINDOW SHUTTERS ACROSS THAT SIDE
OF THE HOUSE. ONE WINDOW’S SET HAS
PULLED LOOSE, AND THE WIND CAUSES
IT TO SLAM REPEATEDLY,
RHYTHMICALLY AGAINST THE HOUSE.
CHESTER YELPS AS HE HEARS IT.
CHESTER: OHmygod! OHmygod. What the hell.
RUDY: Shutters must have come loose. (LISTENS TO
THEM SLAMMING AGAINST THE HOUSE FOR A
MOMENT) Yeah, that’s gonna drive me nuts.
This way.
THEY WALK DOWN THE HALL TO DOT’S
BEDROOM, THE SOUND OF THE SHUTTER
GETTING LOUDER AS THEY GET CLOSER.
RUDY OPENS THE WINDOW AND THE
WINTER WINDS BURST IN, BRIEFLY, AS
HE RE-SECURES THE SHUTTERS AND
CLOSES THE WINDOW AGAIN. THE
SHUTTERS STILL RATTLE, BUT NO
LONGER SLAM. THE RADIATOR IN THE
ROOM HISSES AND WHINES. THE
FISHTANK BUBBLES.
RUDY: There. That’s enough outta you.
CHESTER: Is this Dot’s room?
RUDY: Sure is. And that’s new.
CHESTER: (ON ALERT) What. What’s new?
RUDY: (TALKING TO THE GOLDFISH) And what might
your name be? (SHUFFLING THROUGH SMALL
POST-IT NOTES) “Feeding schedule for
Guinevere.” Guinevere, is it? Fancy name for
a fancy fish.
CHESTER: The goldfish. You’re talking about the
goldfish.
RUDY: Yes.
CHESTER: (RELIEVED) I doubt that has anything to do
with--
RUDY: (LOOKING THROUGH A STACK OF BOOKS FROM A
NEARBY NIGHTSTAND) --crosswords, sudoku.
Shades of Gray Matter by Dr. Hans Kitzinger.
(BEAT) Oh. Okay. I get it, Dot.
CHESTER: Get what?
RUDY: Feeding the fish. It’s a routine. Like a
memory exercise.
CHESTER: ...that’s an excellent observation, Rudy.
DRAWERS OPENING, CLOTHES BEING
RIFLED THROUGH.
RUDY: What are you doing?
CHESTER: You’re right, she has to do these activities
now to compensate for the memory loss.
RUDY: Stop that.
CHESTER: So maybe she keeps, like a journal.
RUDY: (FORCEFULLY) I said stop that , Chester. You
said you wanted to examine the house , not
ransack Dot’s sock drawers.
CHESTER: If she keeps a journal--
RUDY: --which you don’t even know if that’s true--
CHESTER: --if she keeps a journal , then it might give
us the clues we need to not have to go over
every inch of the house, Rudy.
RUDY: And if we don’t find one? Or if we do find
one, but it doesn’t tell you what you want?
CHESTER: Then we try something else.
RUDY: Like taking a drill to the walls?
CHESTER: This is Delphic business. We are in this
house handling a Delphic matter and I
outrank you by generations . I’m not talking
about drilling holes in the wall, but if I
say we search, that we search this
nightstand , then we will--
STRUGGLING OVER A NIGHTSTAND
DRAWER.
RUDY: --stop--
CHESTER: --search--
RUDY: --Chester!--
CHESTER: --the nightstand!
A DRAWER HITS THE FLOOR. SEVERAL
ITEMS SPILL OUT OF IT, INCLUDING A
FEW DOZEN SMALL PILLS.
CHESTER: Listen! Will you listen! I know that it’s in
your nature to follow your own instincts but
we are in crisis right now and I need you to
please listen and do exactly what I say!
RUDY: (EXASPERATED) Fine! All right! You’re the
boss, Chester! You’re the boss and the
deputy boss and the assistant chief
secretary to the deputy boss! Now help me
pick up all these...Don-ep-a-zil.
THE SOUND OF A HASTY PICKUP OF THE
DRAWER, SCATTERED PILLS, AND OTHER
ODDS AND ENDS.
CHESTER: Keep reminding yourself, Rudy. Dot Harper is
not well.
RUDY: She’s fine.
CHESTER: No she is not . Right now we are picking
her brain pills up off the floor. I know
better than anyone how much courage she has
but Silas knows she’s vulnerable. If he
just keeps pushing on Fenwood, pushing on
Dot ...
RUDY: ...then he can work his way in further.
THE DRAWER IS SLID BACK INTO THE
NIGHTSTAND.
CHESTER: You understand me.
RUDY: I do. (BEAT) You’re afraid.
CHESTER: You are GOSHDARN right I’m afraid. (BEAT)
Before the Order banished him, Silas Lodge
wasn’t just...it wasn’t a few words on which
we disagreed. Silas Lodge was dragging men,
women, and children out to the Witch’s
Altar, and he would...! (BEAT) Not my
family...not anyone else. I won’t let him.
We won’t...ransack. But we need to look at
everything.
NO FURTHER CONVERSATION. DRAWERS
BEING OPENED AND FURNITURE BEING
SLID AROUND THE FLOOR. THE WIND
CONTINUES TO RATTLE THE SHUTTERS
OUTSIDE. THE RADIATOR HISSES
STEADILY. GUINEVERE DARTS BACK AND
FORTH IN THE FISHTANK.
CHESTER: Could use a little more light. Turn that
lamp on.
THE CLICK OF A LAMP’S TWIST KNOB
BEING ROTATED SEVERAL TIMES.
RUDY: Hm. Oh. Not plugged in. (BEAT) There we go.
TWIST KNOB ROTATED ONCE MORE.
TWICE.
RUDY: Huh.
CHESTER: What’s wrong?
RUDY: Still not... (ROTATES KNOB AGAIN) Might be
the bulb’s burned out. Or the socket. Dot
did say the electricals were wired a little
funny. (ROTATES KNOB AGAIN)
A DEEPER, HEAVIER METALLIC CLICK
IN THE ROOM; THE SOUND OF VAULT
BOLTS COMING UNLOCKED.
CHESTER: What was that? (BEAT) You heard that, didn’t
you?
RUDY: I did. It was...it sounded like the wall I
plugged the...hold on a second.
A WOODEN WALL BEING PUSHED IN. IT
CLICKS AND OPENS OUT INTO THE
ROOM. A HOLLOW WIND WHISTLES FROM
WITHIN.
RUDY: I don’t think this is an extra closet.
CHESTER: Oh my gosh. (BEAT) I knew it! I KNEW IT I
KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT! (WITH WHISPERED
AWE) A secret passage.
RUDY: Let’s not make assumptions. After all, if it
doesn’t lead anywhere it’s just a secret
room. (BEAT) Definitely goes back a bit,
though. This is ingenious. You see this? The
lamp doesn’t turn on because it’s the power
source for the door, instead of the other
way around. (BEAT) Lucky break. I don’t know
that I would have thought to--
CHESTER: --we should go in. Right? This might be
exactly what we came looking for.
RUDY: Answers.
CHESTER: Answers. Exactly right.
RUDY: Well. No time like the present. Come on.
CHESTER: Do you have a flashlight?
RUDY: We have cellphones.
CHESTER: Right. Right. Cellphones.
FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY WOODEN BOARDS.
THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE TO
THE ACOUSTICS IN THIS PASSAGEWAY.
THE WIND STILL HOWLS AROUND THE
SIDE OF THE HOUSE AND THE RADIATOR
CAN STILL BE HEARD HISSING IN THE
DISTANCE.
RUDY: Do you know when this house was built?
CHESTER: 1899. The Lyle homestead was here, but that
burned to the ground. Fenwood was built over
the ashes.
RUDY: I’ve seen houses with passages like this
that were part of the Underground Railroad.
Mt. Absalom’s not all that far from the
Virginia border. But 1899, that’s a
bit later than slavery.
CHESTER: Is it colder in here? I think I can see my
breath. (EXHALES DEEPLY) There. Look at
that.
RUDY: (EXHALES DEEPLY) Weird. (BEAT) How many
steps have we gone?
CHESTER: A dozen or so?
RUDY: Weird. We should have hit another wall or
door by now, don’t you think? (BEAT) Let’s
head back?
CHESTER: Yes. (BEAT) Rudy. Did you close the door
behind us?
RUDY: You came in last.
CHESTER: I didn’t close it.
RUDY: Chester, what are you--
CHESTER: --I don’t see the door.
THE WIND WHISTLES ONCE OUTSIDE THE
HOUSE, AND THEN CUTS OFF SUDDENLY.
THE HISS OF THE STEAM RADIATOR
SEEMS TO SEEP INTO THE WALLS.
CHESTER: Hot. Why’s it so hot all of a sudden.
RUDY: Start walking. The door has to be back
there.
FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY WOODEN BOARDS.
THE ACOUSTICS IN THE PASSAGE HAVE
CHANGED AGAIN, AS IF THE CEILINGS
ARE HIGH AND VAULTED. THE HISSING
SOUND OF THE STEAM HEAT IS
GRADUALLY TRANSFORMING INTO A FLOW
OF WATER.
CHESTER: I don’t understand what’s happening here.
17
RUDY: Listen.
THE PASSAGEWAY SOUNDS LIKE A
GENTLE RIVER IN AN UNDERGROUND
CAVE.
RUDY: That’s not possible.
CHESTER: He’s in here now, isn’t he.
RUDY: We’re still in the walls. Look.
CHESTER: He’s taken the house. We’re too late.
RUDY: Keep walking.
FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY FLOORBOARDS,
AS WELL AS THE SOUND OF THE RIVER
IN THE UNDERGROUND CAVE. THE WIND
WHISTLES OUTSIDE THE HOUSE AND
THEN DARTS INTO THE PASSAGEWAY.
CHESTER VOCALIZES HIS SUDDEN
SHIVER. THE RIVER SUDDENLY STOPS
FLOWING AND CRACKLES AS IT FREEZES
INSTANTANEOUSLY. THE CRACK ECHOES
BACK AND FORTH ACROSS A VAST
CAVERN.
RUDY: The door should be...
THE SOUND OF THE PASSAGEWAY LOCKS
COMING UNDONE AGAIN, FROM MUCH
FURTHER THAN A FEW STEPS AWAY. THE
DOOR CAN BE HEARD OPENING.
CHESTER: They must have come back. (CALLING) Dot?
Lily? It’s, it’s Chester and Rudy. Listen,
we can explain.
RUDY: Quiet a second. Don’t move.
A SILENCE. RUDY AND CHESTER’S ICY
BREATHS CAN BE HEARD IN THE
PASSAGEWAY. THE HISS OF THE
RADIATOR CAN BE HEARD IN THE
DISTANCE AND THE WIND CAN BE HEARD
BLOWING THROUGH A CAVERN. FROM THE
OTHER END OF THE PASSAGEWAY, A
SINGLE CREAKY FOOTSTEP, THEN
ANOTHER, COMING CLOSER. A DEEP,
ICY EXHALE COMING WITH IT. IN
ADDITION TO THE CREAK OF THE
FLOORBOARDS THE STEPS SEEM TO BE
LANDING ON GRANITE AND CRACKING
THE ICE ON A FROZEN RIVER.
RUDY: Can you see the doorway?
CHESTER: He’s coming.
RUDY: Can you see the doorway?
CHESTER: Yes.
RUDY: How far?
CHESTER: A dozen steps or so?
RUDY: Start moving. Now. NOW!
CHESTER AND RUDY’S FOOTSTEPS AND
BREATH WALK TOWARDS THE DOOR AS
THE OTHER STEPS AND BREATHING
WALKS TOWARD THEM. ALL SOUND
BLENDS AND CONFRONTS EACH OTHER IN
THE MIDDLE, LIKE STORM FRONTS
CUTTING THROUGH ONE ANOTHER.
CHESTER AND RUDY’S FOOTSTEPS
CONTINUE. THERE IS NO LONGER ANY
UNUSUAL SOUND BEHIND THEM AS THEY
TAKE THE LAST SIX STEPS TOWARDS
THE DOOR AND WALK THROUGH. THEIR
FEET LAND ON THE FLOOR OF THE
FENWOOD HOUSE BASEMENT.
CHESTER: What? Wait. This isn’t Dot’s room.
A LOUD, SUDDEN SLAMMING SOUND
BEHIND THEM. THE DOOR VANISHES
WITH A HOLLOW IMPLOSION. CHESTER
STUMBLES AWAY WITH A YELP,
CRASHING INTO A PILE OF KNICKNACKS
AND CLOTHING MANNEQUINS.
CHESTER: Okay. Okay. Where are we. What the hell just
happened.
RUDY: Huh. We’re in the basement.
CHESTER: The basement ?
RUDY: Yup.
CHESTER: So did we just come out through the door you
told me about?
RUDY: I’m not sure. I feel like it was over there,
last time I saw it.
CHESTER: What are you saying? That there are multiple
vanishing doors down here?
RUDY: I’m not an expert on anything. I’m telling
you what I saw. That’s it. We didn’t go down
any stairs. I didn’t even feel an incline,
did you?
CHESTER: We walked a dozen steps in and a lot more
than that back, and we didn’t go through the
same door somehow, and, what exactly did we
hear in there? What was that?
RUDY: I don’t have any answers for you. (BEAT)
Maybe we just died.
CHESTER: I’m sorry?
RUDY: Not ruling anything out. If I’m being honest
with myself, it was bound to happen this way
as much as any. As many places as I’ve
walked into blind, the close scrapes over
just the past five years? I might as well
have been running around a roulette wheel,
and now here we are. Number’s up. Double
zeroes. (BEAT) I’m guessing that’s not the
same for you. Sorry about that. I mean,
sorry about that if you and I died just now.
CHESTER: I don’t think I’m dead.
RUDY: Strange thing about this town, though,
isn’t it? You wouldn’t be the first person
to die here and not quite realize it.
CHESTER: (AFTER A LONG SILENCE) Do you think it was
him? Silas?
RUDY: I don’t. That felt different than the time I
met him. Although he didn’t kill me last
time I met him, so it’s not like I know what
it feels like if he does. If we are.
CHESTER: I need you to stop saying we’re dead.
RUDY: I said if. I said maybe.
CHESTER: Stop saying that too.
RUDY: Look, if we’re not dead, then great. If we
are dead, it’s not the best, but you and I
are still conscious, talking to each other,
figuring out, like you and Hazel said, the
greater mysteries? That’s a plus. (BEAT)
It’s funny. I remember; my mother used to
talk about death like it was a door. She’d
tell me that most of the time it was shut
and locked tight, and you didn’t have to
worry about it. Every once in awhile though,
it might come ajar, and you’d have to be
careful you didn’t trip and fall into it.
(BEAT) And some days, you might think about
picking the locks yourself. Or you might
make your own copy of the key. “That’s
the most dangerous, Rudy,” she’d say. “When
you realize you’ve made a key to that door
and you have to convince yourself never to
use it.”
CHESTER: Your mother sounds like she was a poet.
RUDY: Oh. No. She wrote a few things, but those
were sketches, for herself. She tried a
little of everything for a few months.
Poetry, pottery, ukelele. Everything except
motherhood. She held onto that as long as
she could.
CHESTER: ...we’re not dead, Rudy.
RUDY: Fine.
CHESTER: I mean it.
RUDY: Okay.
CHESTER: Stop saying it.
RUDY: I’m agreeing with you!
CHESTER: Can we get out of the basement? Which way
are the stairs?
RUDY: That way.
CHESTER: Are you sure?
RUDY: No.
THEY WALK IN SILENCE ACROSS THE
BASEMENT, OCCASIONALLY PUSHING
ASIDE JUNK TO CLEAR THEIR PATH.
RUDY: Do you want to go first this time?
CHESTER: Not particularly. But okay.
THEY WALK UP THE STAIRS AND ONTO
THE FIRST FLOOR.
CHESTER: My Grampa Art warned me about this house
once.
RUDY: Is that right?
CHESTER: Sort of. I was in the car with him and we
passed by, and I said, “that house looks
haunted.” Grampa Art, he chuckled and told
me I didn’t know the half of it.
RUDY: That was it?
CHESTER: That was it.
RUDY: Some warning.
CHESTER: He was right, though. After today I feel
like I don’t even know ten percent of it.
THE FIRST FLOOR OF FENWOOD HOUSE.
THE RADIATORS HISS AND THE WIND
BLOWS PAST THE WINDOWS.
RUDY: Maybe it wasn’t Silas in there.
CHESTER: But it was somebody, wasn’t it? Something?
RUDY: Somebody. (BEAT) The One Who Blooms?
CHESTER: Nothing about that felt like a bloom.
RUDY: No. But bloom isn’t just a word for flowers,
you know.
CHESTER: I don’t think I’m ready to follow where your
brain is going right now, Rudy.
RUDY: Yeah. Not the first time I’ve heard that . Do
you still want to keep looking?
CHESTER: No. I think we’ve learned enough tonight.
RUDY: And maybe we shouldn’t push our luck.
CHESTER: Right. (BEAT) We should tell Hazel what
happened here.
RUDY: What are you going to say?
CHESTER: I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out on the
way over. Let’s go.
RUDY: You go. I need to take care of what we did
to Dot’s room.
CHESTER: Do not go back in that passageway, Rudy.
RUDY: Roger dodger.
CHESTER EXITS THE FRONT DOOR OF
THE HOUSE. RUDY STANDS IN FENWOOD,
ALONE.
RUDY: Wes? It’s Rudy. Was that you? Can you
do...what that was? (BEAT)I know what it
probably looked like to you. Chester being
here. It’s complicated. Please trust me. I
want what’s best for Dot. Same as you. Wes,
if that was you, I’d like to talk to you
about it. What do you say?
WES SAYS NOTHING. THE HOUSE
CREAKS. RUDY SIGHS DEEPLY. HE
DIALS A NUMBER ON HIS CELLPHONE.
THE SOUND OF RINGING FROM WITHIN
THE CELLPHONE, AND THE HALF-SECOND
DELAYED RING FROM THE LAND LINE
RINGS IN THE KITCHEN NEARBY. AFTER
THREE RINGS, WE HEAR WES SPEAKING,
BOTH THROUGH THE CELLPHONE AND
ACROSS THE HOUSE.
WES: Thank you for calling Fenwood House, a
historic establishment offering comfortable
accommodations to wanderers, stargazers, and
tourists of all kinds. Dorothy Harper,
proprietor. We’re sorry to have missed your
call, but if you leave your name, number,
and the dates you’re interested in booking a
room, we will return your call as soon as
possible. We hope to see you in Mt. Absalom
very soon!
A BEEP.
RUDY: Dorothy. Lily. It’s Rudy. We should talk.
CREDITS MUSIC COMES IN
CREDITS
THE ABANDONED FAIRGROUNDS.
WES: (SINGING TO HIMSELF) Celery...fresh as a
daisy, green and amazing, celery. Sparkling
water, touch of sugar, get your greens and
tell your--
HEAVY FOOTSTEPS AND TWO CALM DOGS
HAVE WALKED UP BEHIND WES AS HE
SINGS.
SILAS: Are you all right, young man? You seem lost.
WES: Hello. I’m not...lost.
SILAS: Just a wanderer, then.
WES: Sure. I guess.
SILAS: One doesn’t tend to see people on these
grounds mid-winter. Truth be told, outside
the Celery Festival, these grounds don’t see
much use at all. I take it you’ve been to
our Celery Festival?
WES: I...have. Do I know...?
SILAS: A monument to a simpler time. A time when
celery was but a gift of the earth. Before
they corrupted it, packaged it in glass,
made industry of what once was blessing. But
that’s people for you. Nothing you can give
them already perfect as-is that they won’t
destroy by making it better.
WES: I feel like I know you.
SILAS: Better than you realize. We’re very alike,
young man.
WES: What do you mean?
THE DOGS GROWL.
SILAS: Moloch. Abaddon. No need for that. It’s a
young man’s right to ask questions.
WES: Then--
SILAS: --and it’s an older man’s right to withhold
answers. (BEAT) You have the look of someone
on the edge of leaving town. Not the first
time I’ve seen that.
WES: I don’t even know if that’s possible.
SILAS: Possible or no. You ought to consider it.
You no longer have a place here, now that
they know what you are. Even now they’re
trying to forget that you were here.
WES: That’s not true.
SILAS: They told Stella that you had gone to St.
Louis. Perhaps they feared what the truth of
you would do to her.
WES: Stop it! They wouldn’t--why are you telling
me this?
THE DOGS GROWL.
SILAS: Settle down now. Some answers are necessary
to hear. (BEAT) You were still just a pup
when life left you. You never grew to feel
the ache in your bones when the rains came
in. So perhaps you can’t recognize the storm
that’s approaching right now. It marches
towards Mt. Absalom with the fury of
judgment, and when it arrives neither living
or dead will be spared of it.
DISTANTLY, ABOVE, A SMALL FLOCK OF
CROWS CAN BE HEARD.
SILAS: About a half mile that way you’ll find a
road that leads out of town. Might be you’ll
find a new adventure, just right for a young
man like yourself. Might be you vanish as
you should have, long ago. Whatever your
fate might be, it’s time that you met it.
WES: You don’t frighten me.
SILAS: I don’t need to.
WES: I won’t. Let you. Harm them.
THE CROWS DIVE TO THE EARTH AND
LAND AROUND WES. THEY CAW WITH
AUTHORITY. THE DOGS GROWL
UNEASILY.
SILAS: Hmph. I see I’m not the only one here with
attendants. (TO THE SKY) This one? Truly?
Everything you know I am and this is the
pebble you’d place in my shoe. (TO WES) I’ll
deliver no more warnings to you. Leave Mt.
Absalom. There’s nothing left for you here
but to suffer. Moloch. Abaddon. Come.
THE CROWS CONTINUE CAWING. ONE BY
ONE, THEY VANISH.