Crampton (8 page)

HELEN

What truth did they get?

RICKY

That nothing is real--nothing but Them. And They can do anything They want. They can change the entire landscape of things--make things happen that couldn't possibly happen. Or even undo something that's already happened. Not just here, but anywhere, everywhere they can put on the act. What do you do when you can do anything? Eventually you go insane, until all you want to do is play. Push a button, pull a string, just to see what moves on the other end.
That's
what the truth is, Agent Sweeten. That the world as we know it is nothing hut a cheap little circus

(he holds up the magic show flyer)

... and this is going to be the center ring. Unless you want to end up like me, you'll get as far away from here as possible.

HELEN

If it's going to he as bad as you say, why are you still here?

RICKY

(with a humorless smile)

Because there's nowhere to go, not for me. Besides, I think my part of the game is just about played out.

(he looks at his watch)

It's getting late. If you two are going to make Cincinnati tonight, you'd better leave now.

EXT. YELLOW HOUSE - NIGHT

A strong wind has kicked up. Brady and Helen get into their car.

INT. CAR

Brady and Helen both need a few seconds to get their thoughts straight.

BRADY

Well, Sweeten, what do you think of
that
?

Silence from Helen.

BRADY

Yeah, that's what I think, too. So what do we do now?

HELEN

I say we bag it and head home.

BRADY

What do we tell the chief?

HELEN

Fuck him. I've had it with this case. I'm tired.

BRADY

Okay. We'll just report that Ricky was a dead end. All right?

HELEN

Just drive.

EXT. YELLOW HOUSE - NIGHT

The agents' car pulls out of the driveway just as the rain starts. Ricky watches from the doorway. A look crosses his face--hope, perhaps--and a second later is gone, replaced by weary resignation. He closes the door.

EXT. ROUTE 7 - NIGHT

The rental car, heading out of town, away from Crampton. The storm has gotten pretty bad--rain is slashing across the road nearly horizontally, throwing bits of debris around.

Helen turns on the radio. STATIC. She zips up the dial.

Nothing hut SQUELCH and SNOW, with vague hints of VOICES underneath.

HELEN

Looks like we're out of luck with the--

A BOLT OF LIGHTNING smacks into a tree ahead of them with a BOOM. The trunk nearly EXPLODES, hits of wood fly everywhere. The tree drops into the road.

Brady SLAMS on the brake. The tires lock up. The car skids on the slick road, toward the fallen tree.

Wrenching at the steering wheel, Brady manages to guide the sliding car toward the shoulder, but not quite enough--the front bumper grazes the tree, turning the car sideways in the road. Finally it stops.

Brady and Helen are frozen, their bodies still locked in crash positions. Slowly they loosen up.

HELEN

(looking out the window at the front bumper)

I hope the Bureau sprang for insurance.

BRADY

Christ, look at it out there.

Outside the windows, it looks like the apocalypse--rain pounding down, wind tearing at the land. As they watch, hailstones begin to THUMP against the car's body.

HELEN

Is that hail?

BRADY

That's it--I give up. There's no way I'm driving another three hours to Cinci in this shit. And then get on a fucking
plane
? Fuck that.

HELEN

Listen...

They sit, silent, still for a few seconds.

BRADY

I don't hear--

HELEN

SHHH!

From outside we hear a FAINT ROARING sound, slowly increasing in volume.

HELEN

I know that sound.

The ROARING gets a little louder. Brady recognizes it, too.

BRADY

Okay, let's go. My obit is not going to say "FBI agent was too stupid to get the fuck off the road."

He gets the car turned around and starts heading back toward Crampton.

EXT. ROUTE 7 - NIGHT

The rental car's headlights barely cut through the torrential rain.

INT. CAR

Brady concentrating on the road. Helen drifting off. Through the windshield, we see the yellow house, brightly lit, like a beacon in the storm.

BRADY

Sweeten?

HELEN

What?

BRADY

Do you think we should pick up Ricky?

HELEN

Why? So the two of you can swap Freemason theories? I don't feel up to another performance of the Ricky Show tonight. Besides, he said it himself--he's not going anywhere.

BRADY

I guess. We can swing by and pick him up on our way out of town tomorrow.

EXT. ROUTE 7 - MIGHT

The car drives past the yellow house, its tail lights disappearing into the storm. A second later, the lights inside the yellow house ALL GO OUT.

EXT. OASIS MOTEL PARKING LOT - NIGHT

The rental car pulls into the parking lot, dripping with rain. Crampton is bone dry, like the storm never even happened.

INT. OASIS MOTEL LOBBY

A cigarette machine, the kind with the pull-knobs. Two faux-leather chairs, cracked by age and sunlight. A gumball dispenser, with a small sign saying the proceeds benefit the local Knights of Columbus.

Brady and Helen enter, their overnight bags over their shoulders.

HELEN

We'll be lucky if anyone's here to check us in.

Brady RINGS the service bell.

TOURIST WOMAN (O.S.)

(in a British accent)

Excuse me, could we take your picture?

Brady and Helen are a little startled--they didn't know there was anyone else in the lobby. Standing across the room from the agents is the OLD COUPLE from the diner.

HELEN

I'm sorry?

TOURIST WOMAN

We, my husband and I, are on a photographic excursion. We'd like to take your picture--you and your husband.

BRADY

We're not married.

TOURIST MAN

(also in a British accent)

But you make such a lovely couple. So natural together.

TOURIST WOMAN

May we take your picture? We're on a photographic excursion, you see. My husband and I.

TOURIST MAN

It would go so nicely in our collection. You make such a lovely couple.

HELEN

I'm not sure that's--

Too late--the woman's camera FLASHES, an explosion of white light. Brady and Helen blink in the glare. By the time they've gotten their vision back the tourist couple is gone, the door slowly closing.

The MANAGER appears from a back room. He's wearing a drab suit with a drab tie. He speaks in quiet, sonorous tones, like an undertaker speaking to the bereaved.

MANAGER

Good evening. How can I help you?

HELEN

We'd like two rooms please.

MANAGER

Certainly. Would you like them adjoining?

Helen looks at Brady, who is fiddling with the gumball machine, trying to get a gumball without paying.

HELEN

That won't be necessary.

MANAGER

All right. Have you stayed with us before?

BRADY

Sweeten...

Helen looks toward Brady. He's holding up a leaflet, an advertisement for the magic show. There's a stack of them on a small table near the entrance.

MANAGER

Ah, yes. Our little magic show. You don't want to miss that. It's the only show in town ... so to speak.

(Flipping open a large ledger book)

Would you please sign here? I'll get your keys.

The manager disappears through a curtain into a back room. Helen takes the pen that is chained to the counter and starts to write in the ledger, then stops.

HELEN

Wells, come look at this.

Brady steps over to the counter.

CU LEDGER - the pages are stained and wrinkled, like someone once spilled water on them. Many of the signatures of past visitors are blurred or smudged to the point of illegibility. The names we can read are all suspiciously anonymous--lots of Smiths, Joneses, and Johnsons.

HELEN

Seems a little odd, don't you think?

BRADY

I'm too tired to tell anymore. Can we just get checked in?

The manager returns. He hands them each a room key.

MANAGER

If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'm always at the disposal of my guests.

EXT. OASIS MOTEL

Brady and Helen, tired as hell, trudge up the stairs to their second-floor rooms. They reach their doors--numbers 207 and 208.

BRADY

This is my stop.

HELEN

Yep.

BRADY

I should warn you, I like to have the t.v. on at night. It helps me sleep. I'll try to keep the volume down.

HELEN

That's okay--if it's too loud, I'll just come over there and kick your ass.

They unlock and open their doors. The rooms are like mirror images of each other--a sagging bed, an old t.v., a small nightstand supporting a crooked lamp and a clock.

They step into their respective rooms.

INT. BRADY'S MOTEL ROOM

Brady dumps his overnight bag on the bed and turns on the television.

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM

Helen surveys the room, not looking too happy. She switches the television's ON-OPF switch to ON. Nothing. She snaps it back and forth a few times. No deal.

CUT TO:

INT. BRADY'S MOTEL ROOM - LATER

Brady is lounging on the bed watching television. Through the thin wall, the RING of Helen's phone can be heard. Brady doesn't seem to notice.

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM

From the amount of steam in the room and the sound of RUNNING WATER, it looks like Helen is finally taking that shower.

The phone is still RINGING. It's an ancient princess model with a ring like a fire alarm. After five or six RINGS there is a MUFFLED CURSE from inside the bathroom. The WATER STOPS.

INT. BRADY'S MOTEL ROOM

Brady flipping through channels...

Click: An old black-and-white cartoon.

Click: Some artsy-looking thing, shot in negative exposure and accompanied by AIRY SYNTH MUSIC.

Click: STATIC, with a hint of a human image behind.

Click: Another old cartoon.

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM

Helen comes out of the bathroom wrapped in a long bathrobe, hair in a towel, looking pissed. The phone is STILL RINGING.

The steam seems to have thickened. She's trying to reach the phone, but can't quite seem to get there. It's as if she keeps getting set back. The phone is STILL RINGING.

Suddenly time jumps--Helen's got the receiver in her hand, held up to her ear. She looks surprised. We never saw her actually pick up the phone.

HELEN

Hello?

VAGUE NOISES on the other end of the line--static, pops--but no reply.

HELEN

Is that you, Brady?

The NOISES seem to coalesce into something like a VOICE, or SEVERAL VOICES not quite in sync. It doesn't sound like English. It barely sounds human--full of HISSES and GRUNTS.

Helen seems mesmerized for a moment. Then the spell breaks, and she SLAMS the phone down.

INT. BRADY'S MOTEL ROOM

Brady is still channel surfing. He stops on a--

COMMERCIAL

Poor reception, lots of static. Gaudy yellow letters--"The Encyclopedia of the Unknown"--dissolve into a forest scene--someone with a HAND-HELD CAMERA running headlong through the woods, as though running for his life.

MAN'S VOICE (V.O.)

Do you really want to know the truth about Bigfoot?

... the picture changes to a collection of sunken ships, their hulls split and broken ...

MAN'S VOICE (V.O.)

... the Bermuda Triangle?

... changes to a YOUNG WOMAN standing in a crowded elevator, casting terrified glances at a MAN IN A SUIT standing next to her ...

MAN'S VOICE (V.O.)

... extra-sensory perception?

... and finally dissolves into a blandly handsome BLOND MAN sitting at desk, a set of encyclopedia-type books stacked in front of him. The poor reception makes the man look gruesome, cadaverous. He stares piercingly into the camera.

BLOND MAN (ON T.V.)

"The Encyclopedia of the Unknown" can give you the answers. There's only one question: Do you really want to know?

The man on screen holds his pose uncomfortably long.

Brady finally changes the channel--CLICK. It's the commercial again.

BLOND MAN

Do you really want to know?

Click: the commercial.

BLOND MAN

Do you really want to know?

Brady scans through the channels faster. Click.

BLOND MAN

--really want to know?

Click.

BLOND MAN

--want to know?

Click.

BLOND MAN

--to know?

Click.

BLOND MAN

--know?

Click.

BLOND MAN

--know?

Click--

The blond man is replaced by a GRAINY VIDEO of a man and a woman talking. The angle is odd--shot from about waist level and looking almost straight up. It is dead silent.

Because of the odd angle, it takes Brady a moment to recognize the two people--himself and Helen, talking in the autopsy room two days before, as seen through Larry Johnson's dead eyes.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM

Helen, in sweats, opens the door to her room. Brady is outside with his overnight bag.

BRADY

Okay, I know you're going to call me paranoid, out I think it might be a good idea if we didn't stay in separate rooms tonight. If it's a problem for you, that's okay, but with all--

HELEN

Come on in.

Brady is surprised to hear Helen agree so quickly. He steps into the room.

HELEN

I'll warn you, the t.v. doesn't work.

BRADY

No problem.

The door SLAMS shut.

CUT TO:

INT. HELEN'S MOTEL ROOM - LATER

Helen is on the bed, doing some paperwork. Brady comes out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms with a toothbrush in his mouth.