Unwell Season 4/Episode 5- Siblings
by Jim McDoniel
Look yourself in the eye
Things were missed
Therapy can help.
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Content Advisories for this episode can be found here.
Support Unwell and HartLife NFP on Patreon at www.patreon.com/hartlifenfp
This episode features: Kat Hoil as Abbie, Julia Schifini as Gail, June Thiele as Dr. Kells, Jeffrey Nils Gardner as a Jerk.
Written by Jim McDoniel, sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer Ani Enghdahl, 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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SCENE 1
ABBIE: (VO) This is a story of family. And loss.
POUNDING ON A DOOR.
HIGH SCHOOL GAIL: Time to get up.
HIGH SCHOOL ABBIE: (GROAN)
ABBIE ROLLING OVER AND THROWING THE
COVERS OVER THEIR HEAD.
ABBIE: (VO) Eliza Ann Lyle was the second youngest of five
children—in order Marcus, Lucille, Charles, Eliza, and
Lina—born to Calvin and Eudora Lyle.
INT. A KITCHEN. DAY. THE COFFEE POT
BUBBLETH OR DOES WHATEVER A COFFEE POT
DOES. I WOULDN’T KNOW. I DON’T DRINK
COFFEE. FOOTSTEPS ENTER.
HS GAIL: Morning.
HS ABBIE: (NON-VERBAL RESPONSE)
HS GAIL: Hey. Can I check your statistics answers? Not copying or
anything. I’m like 99 percent sure I’ve got them right except
for 22 and 31. And five was so easy, I’m sure it’s a trick.
ABBIE: (VO) She was by at least four accounts I can find, and I
quote, “The oddest duck in a family of crackpots and fools.”
End quote.
HS GAIL: (READING) “To whom it may concern, if you’re reading this,
it is early in the morning and you’re trying to talk to me…”
You made a card?!
ABBIE: (VO) Most of the quotes I could find were from Warrens.
COFFEE BEING POURED.
HS GAIL: Look, I know the 7:30 rule. But last week, last week, you
broke it when you needed me to handwrite all the commas
into your English paper because of your stupid feud with Ms.
Baker over the Oxford Comma.
HS ABBIE: (SNORTS)
HS GAIL: Okay fine. You didn’t talk. You wrote it. Which. WHICH…is
more difficult and requires more cogent thought early in the
morning than speaking. So, you didn’t break the letter of the
rule, but you did break the spirit of it.
HS ABBIE: (SIGH)
PEN SCRATCHING OUT ON PAPER.
HS GAIL: No, I can’t just check the answers in the back of book. That’s
cheating!
SCENE TRANSITION.
ABBIE: (VO) Eliza never had any intention of staying at home. Nor
should she have. With three older siblings, two of whom both
self and society identified as male, with all the expectations
and inheritance law that came with it at the time, there was
no reason to think she would ever have to deal with the
family business.
HIGH SCHOOL. MORNING. CROWDS MILL
ABOUT AND TALK. OLDER MODEL CELL
PHONE BEEP.
HS GAIL: Mom and Dad say good luck with the science fair.
HS ABBIE: I don’t believe in luck.
HS GAIL: Specifically, they say, “We know you don’t believe in luck but
good luck anyway.”
HS ABBIE: (NON-VERBAL EH)
HS GAIL: I’ll tell them you said thanks.
CLICK OF TEXT BUTTONS.
ABBIE: (VO) Because of this, it is possible she did not pay as close
attention as she should have. Things were…lost.
HS ABBIE: Are you coming to the science fair?
HS GAIL: (STILL TEXTING) They’re making me.
HS ABBIE: Fine.
STUDENT: (OFF) GAIL! Over here!
HS GAIL: See you after school.
HS ABBIE: Yeah.
FOOTSTEPS WALK AWAY. ABBIE PUTS ON A PAIR
OF HEADPHONES AND THE SOUND OUTSIDE
BECOMES MUFFLED. THEY SHUFFLE THROUGH
AN OLD IPOD. IT BEEPS.
JERK: Hey look, it’s the…
ABBIE’S VOICE THROUGH THE HEADPHONES
COVERS UP WHAT WAS SAID.
RECORDING ABBIE: Hello Abbie. Time to learn.
AN OPENING BEAT DROPS IN THE STYLE OF THE
CELERY SPICY CELERY COOL JINGLE. UNDER IT
WE CAN HEAR DISTANT VOICES.
HS GAIL: (MUFFLED)…fucking shut your fucking mouth.
JERK: (MUFFLED) Jeez, it was just a joke.
HS GAIL: (MUFFLED) (MOCKING STUPID LAUGH) HAHAHA. Won’t
be so fucking funny without your stupid fucking teeth, will it
asshole?
THE VERSE HITS AND DROWNS OUT THE REST
OF THE CONVERSATION.
ABBIE RECORDING: Six. Six. Six. CO2. Six. Six. Six. H20. S-S-S-S-S-Six. C (SIX)
H (SIX) H (SIX) O (SIX). C (SIX) H (SIX) H (SIX) O (SIX). Six
O2. Six O2. Six O2. Six O2.
THE MUSIC FADES OUT AS THE SCENE
TRANSITION FADES AWAY.
ABBIE: (VO) Because Eliza didn’t want to be just “one of the Lyle’s.”
She wanted to go someplace where she could be “Eliza.”
INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY. LATER.
A PUSHBAR GYM DOOR SLAMS OPEN AND AN
ANGRY CRYING GAIL SPILLS INTO THE HALLWAY.
IN THE HALL WE HEAR STUDENTS LAUGHING.
THE DOOR SHUTS. SHE CONTINUES TO CRY AS
SHE WALKS DOWN THE HALL.
A MOMENT AND THEN THE GYM DOOR OPENS
AGAIN MORE CALMLY.
HS ABBIE: Gail.
HS GAIL: (CRYING) Go away.
HS ABBIE: I’m sorry.
HS GAIL: (CRYING) Did Mom tell you to say that?
HS ABBIE: Dad.
HS GAIL: (CRYING) Fuck off.
HS ABBIE: It’s just a school project.
HS GAIL: You put me up on your fucking cardboard.
HS ABBIE: Posterboard and I put us both up there.
HS GAIL: Yeah, but you didn’t even tell me. You didn’t even ask. Mom
told you to stop the twin studies in sixth grade.
HS ABBIE: And I did. This is merely a consolidation of the data along
with other available records to refute current
pseudo-scientific thinking regarding twins.
HS GAIL: You had pictures of me sleeping. Close ups. Up my nose.
HS ABBIE: Unrelated. That was a sleep study I did on us last year.
HS GAIL: You what?
HS ABBIE: I have insomnia. You just hit the bed and pass out. I wanted
to see if I could learn something.
HS GAIL: And you learned that I snore?
HS ABBIE: No. I already knew that. I have ears.
HS GAIL: And now so does the entire school. And if you make it to
regionals or sectionals, those schools will know too. Hell,
Abbie, let’s shoot for the moon…and see if you can make it
so everyone in goddam Vermont knows the details of my
deviated septum. (TO HERSELF) People are going to be
snoring at me for the next two years.
HS ABBIE: It’s just high school. It doesn’t matter.
HS GAIL: It doesn’t matter? It doesn’t matter? What about the fact that
my sibling thinks I’m fucking stupid? Does that matter?
HS ABBIE: That was not my conclusion
HS GAIL: You had our report cards going back…to fucking preschool.
HS ABBIE: Technically pre-K.
HS GAIL: Graphs marking out our “educational progress.” Up here,
here is Abbie and way down there at the bottom is Gail.
HS ABBIE: Within the average to slightly above average group of our
peers.
HS GAIL: Stupid.
HS ABBIE: Average.
HS GAIL: You mean normal.
HS ABBIE: What’s wrong with that?
HS GAIL: BECAUSE I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT NORMAL
PEOPLE ABBIE!
GAIL STARTS CRYING AGAIN AND STOMPS
AWAY.
HS ABBIE: Gail.
HS GAIL: Fuck off.
THE SOUND FADES OUT AS ABBIE’S VO
RETURNS.
ABBIE: (VO) Eliza Lyle moved to Cleveland in 1888 where she
became a prominent member of the Suffrage movement,
being arrested on at least three occasions under her real
name and at least two more under pseudonyms. She met
and married Gregory Lyle, a dime novel printer who let her
make pamphlets for free. It was widely known she was the
basis for his most successful character “The Siren of Scovill
Road”—a wild and tempestuous thief and murderess, out for
revenge against high society ne’er-do-wells.
ABBIE’S VOICE SLOWLY FADES FROM THE
VOICE OVER AMBIENCE TO A MORE NATURAL
SOUND AS THEY TALK IN THEIR ROOM IN THE
BOARDING HOUSE. DR. KELLS RESPONDS OVER
THE PHONE.
DR. KELLS: (D) And what is the relevance of this?
ABBIE: You asked how I’ve been since our last session. This is what
I’ve been researching.
DR. KELLS: Uh-huh.
SILENCE. TICKING OF A CLOCK.
ABBIE: Eliza didn’t get to see her sister before she died.
DR. KELLS: Her sister died?
ABBIE: Lina. Tuberculosis. The entire family succumbed within a few
years, but…Lina was the first to get sick and Eliza didn’t get
back in time.
DR. KELLS: That must have been very hard for her.
ABBIE: From her journals, she spent many years in…spiritualist
exercises…trying to contact Lina beyond the grave.
DR. KELLS: She must have felt a great deal of regret.
ABBIE: I do not care to speculate.
DR. KELLS: No, but you could admit that it is possible, even likely based
on the evidence at hand that she regretted not seeing her
sister one last time.
ABBIE: I suppose. (BEAT) It’s POSSIBLE.
DR. KELLS: What about your sister? Did you call her yet?
ABBIE: No. I mean, I called…she’s screening my calls.
DR. KELLS: I’m sorry.
ABBIE: I screen hers too. It’s fine. (CHANGING THE SUBJECT.)
Mental health: this week has been about a four out of ten.
DR. KELLS: Ten being the worst of the panic attacks.
ABBIE: Ten being everything is fine yay.
DR. KELLS: Ah. How many did you have this week?
ABBIE: A few.
DR. KELLS: A few being…I know you keep count.
Unwell 4.05 Siblings 15
ABBIE: Four. And a half.
DR. KELLS: A half?
ABBIE: I managed to calm myself down before it got too bad.
DR. KELLS: That’s good. And you had some days without any at all. Also,
good.
ABBIE: If you want to take the glass half full view of things, sure.
DR. KELLS: I just want to make sure we acknowledge the positive as well
since I know you probably won’t otherwise?
ABBIE: True.
DR. KELLS: And you still have no idea what’s triggering them?
ABBIE: (BEAT) No.
DR. KELLS: (BEAT) Okay. (BEAT) Do you know and are just not
comfortable telling me?
Unwell 4.05 Siblings 16
ABBIE: (BEAT) Yes.
DR. KELLS: (BEAT) Okay. But you do know what they are. Which…at
least YOU know. That’s a positive. Are you able to avoid
these situations?
ABBIE: Sometimes.
DR. KELLS: Okay.
ABBIE: Some of it…some of it is bound up in the research I’ve been
doing. And…some of it is environmental.
DR. KELLS: Like the boarding house?
ABBIE: Like the town.
DR. KELLS: I understand. How is the wolf problem going? I wanted to
ask.
ABBIE: Oh it’s…going.
DR. KELLS: That must be scary. Wolves just…wandering around like
that.
ABBIE: I can handle wolves.
DR. KELLS: (BEAT) Stressful then. It can’t be easy…having to be
constantly on guard.
ABBIE: I’m trans. I’m used to it.
DR. KELLS: And a new, unexpected stressor can’t be helpful on top of
what you already deal with. It might even worsen those usual
sources of anxiety.
ABBIE: I…suppose.
DR. KELLS: As long as you acknowledge it.
PAUSE.
DR. KELLS: Do you feel comfortable telling me about the incident yet?
PAUSE.
ABBIE: No.
DR. KELLS: Okay. That’s fine. Just wanted to check in.
PAUSE.
ABBIE: I had a dream.
DR. KELLS: Tell me about it.
PAUSE.
ABBIE: I was…I was at a place I used to work. And the people there
were wrong. They changed…changed is the wrong word.
They extended? Contorted…into monsters. That sounds
childish.
DR. KELLS: No, it doesn’t. Go on.
ABBIE: It does though. They weren’t like Lon Cheney Ooooo
monsters. They were…indescribable. Grotesque,
inhuman…things. And they were chasing me. Trying to kill
me…I think. And I was running down this long hallway I had
been down a million times, and I couldn’t find the exit. It just
got longer and longer and longer, and I had to lock myself in
the bathroom. I was safe for a time but…I knew they were
still there. Waiting. And I knew eventually I would have to
open the door and go back out there. And when I did…
PAUSE.
DR. KELLS: Was that the end of the dream?
ABBIE: No. But that was the significant part.
DR. KELLS: Sounds like a pretty bad nightmare.
ABBIE: Sure.
DR. KELLS: Have you had this dream before?
ABBIE: No…but it has been recurring.
DR. KELLS: Always the same?
ABBIE: Sometimes… (LOW) …sometimes I don’t get away.
DR. KELLS: Hmm. And after you have these dreams, would you say your
days are better or worse.
ABBIE: Worse.
DR. KELLS: There are some techniques we could try to get these dreams
under control. First of all, getting plenty of sleep at a
consistent time.
ABBIE: (SNORT LAUGHS)
DR. KELLS: It does help though. There is also imagery rehearsal therapy
which you can do on your own. You would take a few
minutes during the day to replay the dream in your head and
change the ending to something better.
ABBIE: Like everyone gets ice cream.
DR. KELLS: That is one way. Or you open the bathroom door and you’re
somewhere else. Somewhere you feel safe.
ABBIE: The library.
DR. KELLS: And you go over to the card catalogues.
ABBIE: Libraries don’t have those anymore.
DR. KELLS: No but it’s a dream and I know you prefer them.
ABBIE: I do prefer them.
DR. KELLS: And you flip through to some old first edition primary source
you’ve always wanted to look at and find where it is and go
and lose yourself in the stacks.
ABBIE: That…would be better.
DR. KELLS: So, you practice that when you’re awake, when you’re
meditating or doing breathing exercises. Maybe write it down
and then, hopefully, it reduces the number of nightmares you
have.
ABBIE: It doesn’t actually change the nightmares?
DR. KELLS: Just the frequency. But fewer nightmares equals less stress,
maybe fewer panic attacks, maybe a few more good days
than bad. It all adds up.
ABBIE: And if it doesn’t work.
DR. KELLS: We try something else.
BEEP BEEP.
ABBIE: Oh.
DR. KELLS: What is it?
BEEP BEEP.
ABBIE: Gail is calling me.
DR. KELLS: You should probably take it.
ABBIE: But we’re in the middle of the session.
BEEP BEEP.
DR. KELLS: We can end a little early.
ABBIE: I still have time left.
BEEP BEEP.
DR. KELLS: If you want, if it isn’t a long conversation and you get done
before our session would end, call me back and we can
discuss it.
BEEP BEEP.
Otherwise, we’ll talk about it next week.
ABBIE: Okay. (DEEP BREATH)
DR. KELLS: Good luck.
BEEP BEEP. ABBIE HITS THE BUTTON ON THEIR
PHONE.
ABBIE: Hello?
GAIL: Oh. Abbie.
ABBIE: Gail.
GAIL: I didn’t think you would pick up.
ABBIE: I called you.
GAIL: Yeah.
PAUSE.
Did you need something?
ABBIE: How are you?
GAIL: Small talk? Really?
ABBIE: I genuinely am asking.
GAIL: I’m fine. Brandon is fine. Simon is two but the “parasitic
organism” is no longer “leeching off my body” so you should
be pleased.
ABBIE: I’m sorry.
GAIL: Whatever. Anyway, what is it you wanted?
ABBIE: I…am not fine.
GAIL: Oh.
ABBIE: Yeah. And I…it made me realize that I have not always
been…the best sibling.
GAIL: Are you okay? Like…okay, okay?
ABBIE: I’m okay.
GAIL: Like…you’re not…dying, are you?
ABBIE: No. I’m not dying.
GAIL: Is there someone I need to punch?
ABBIE: No. (THINKS ABOUT IT) Nnnnno. I just…certain events
reminded me of you. And made me realize that I regretted
not seeing you. And the reasons I hadn’t seen you.
GAIL: Me getting Mom and Dad to disinvite you from Christmas?
ABBIE: Before that. I…I do not show affection well.
GAIL: I’m aware. But what does that have to do…
ABBIE: When we were young, I thought by including you in things I
wanted to do, that was…affection. But I did not always
consider your feelings or comfort…or permission. I did not
respect your boundaries. Sometimes I took you for granted
and took advantage of the fact that you were my sister and
therefore familially obligated to…[love]…deal with me. And
so…I’m sorry.
PAUSE.
GAIL: I’m sorry too.
ABBIE: You don’t have to.
GAIL: I know who are Abbie. I’ve always known. Just like I’ve
always known what it means when you say “affection” and
how you show it. It’s just…sometimes, I chose to forget. So,
I’m sorry and I love you too.
ABBIE: You will at least concede that I am right, and I have been
difficult.
GAIL: Oh no doubt. You are absolutely a pain in the ass to deal
with.
ABBIE: Thank you.
GAIL: But I am familially obligated to…[love]…deal with you.
ABBIE: Thank you.
GAIL: So…what are you working on?
ABBIE: You don’t want to listen to my research.
GAIL: But you absolutely want to tell me about your research so
spill.
ABBIE: (BEAT) Fine…let me tell you about Eliza Fenwood. I think
you’ll like her.
MUSIC OUTRO. END.