27. WIDER ANGLE IN THE ALLEY — a terrifying, all-out footrace 27.
between the girl and her pursuer. The MAN is fast; the distance
between them closes with each heartbeat. TINA overturns ashcans
— claws her way through a rotten back fence, hammers against a
window. Ashen FACES appear, recoil, pull curtains closed and
disappear in fright.
28. EXT. TINA’S STREET. NIGHT. 28.
TINA runs out onto front lawns, SCREAMING for help. No help
comes. In fact, the only response is for all the porch lights on
the block to be turned off. The MAN roars out from behind a tree
— a tree too narrow to have hidden him — nearly upon the girl!
TINA runs in panic — at last making her own home, only to be
trapped against its locked front door.
She hammers against its thick wood.
TINA
Nancy! Open the door — Nancy!
The MAN slows. He has TINA now and knows it.
MAN
She’s still awake. Nancy can’t
hear you.
TINA turns and looks full at the approaching MAN. Smudged by
deep shadow, he’s big and hideous. He wears the same dirty
yellow sweater from the first nightmare — from the wall-hanging
and blanket too — and has the same sagging hat and leering grin
over his misshapen face. And on his fingers are the steel
talons.
29. CLOSE ON HIM as he takes the blade on the end of his right index 29.
finger and lopes off one of the fingers of his left hand. Then
another. We SEE the PIECES OF FINGERS fall past TINA’S face in
SLOW MOTION.
ANGLE ON THE GROUND of the FINGERS squirming on the ground, one
flopping onto TINA’s naked foot.
TINA leaps back, sickened, and begins stamping on then as if they
were huge bugs.
The MAN snaps up his arm and the FINGERS fly back into place on
his hand. He leers at TINA — then suddenly lunges at her,
sweeping with his cutting hand!
TINA’s no weak sister — blocks his arm, deflecting the spines,
and grabs the MAN’s ugly face with her other hand. But the face
only slides off to the bone. The MAN presses in, and TINA
contorts in horror as the knives slash across her shoulder —
cutting her deeply.
29A. TINA staggers backward, GROANING, her foot now inexplicably 29A.
caught in bedclothes! She falls over her bed’s conformter, twists
away from the man and, like a child, pulls the cover over her!
The skull-faced MAN crushes down, and there’s a fierce grappling
— punctuated by his GRUNTS and the girl’s DEAFENING SCREAMS —
and they both become totally wrapped in the comforter — until
they’re beneath it, fighting for life and death.
30. INT. TINA’S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 30.
ROD lurches up into CLOSE UP in the lightless bedroom,
half-awakened by the tremendous struggle somewhere, somehow
inside the dark bed. ROD grabs groggily, lifting the blanket.
30A. IN HIS POV we glimpse the dark underside of the blanket — see 30A.
TWO SHADOWY FIGURES flailing and clawing under the bedspread —
TINA and the MAN — or a shape that could be a man — raging
against each other.
ROD drops the blanket and leaps from the bed, scared full awake
and terrified. Then the horrible TINA’s GASPS change to the
CRIES of a terribly wounded victim. ROD instantly jerks back the
bedspread.
IN HIS POV we SEE TINA struggling and flailing along on the
sheets, the MAN nowhere in sight.
ROD
T-tina!?
Suddenly TINA — eyes turned inward to her tormentor — give an
awful jolt — her arms and legs are spraddled as if by
overwhelming force and pinned to the bed. Next instant, her
nightgown flies apart and four long gashes chase across her
torso. From no visible instruments! A huge irrigation of blood
floods the bed.
Terrified, ROD dives for the light — but at the same moment
something invisible grabs TINA, wielding her body in the air and
bringing it around in a swift blow that knocks ROD crashing into
the light — smashing it to bits.
31. CLOSER ON HIM as he struggles around. In the blue FLASHES OF 31.
ELECTRICITY ROD sees TINA sliding up the bedroom wall in a dark
smear, dragged feet first!
ANGLE ON ROD — paralized by terror!
ANGLE ON TINA’S DYING EYES — moving with her up the wall and
bumping around the corner onto the ceiling. She’s just looking
at who’s dragging her, eyes glazing.
REVERSE IN HER POV — to the shadowy, horrendously ugly MAN,
dragging her with fierce glee across the ceiling, literally
swabbing the ceiling with her bloody body. SEEN in FORCED
PERSPECTIVE, the SHOT carries her across a great distance without
seeming to get anywhere — as if the ceiling is an endless
plane.
ANGLE DOWN ON ROD — on his hands and knees — the lamp next to
him blurting blue SPARKS and STROBING the nightmare room. ROD’S
screaming up at TINA’S invisible tormentor.
ROD
What the hell’s going ON here!
Tina!
ANGLE ON TINA — upside down, clawing at the hanging swag lamp
above her mother’s dressing table — desperate for some anchor.
But she’s dragged away from it. The lamp swings back, it’s wires
gushing more SPARKS.
CLOSER along the ceiling as TINA rakes a long furrow in the
ceiling with her fingernails. But her eyes are glazing,
glazing. And then they fall closed.
WIDE, UP ON THE CEILING, as her body suddenly flops loose,
hanging for an awful moment by the feet over the bed.
REVERSE ON ROD — staring like a terrified child.
ROD
Tina —
REVERSE IN HIS POV — as the body falls like a sack of rocks onto
the devastated bed, in SLOW MOTION, striking with a huge splash
of blood. A sick, awful GIGGLE floats around the room, then
ECHOES off into infinity. ROD staggers up, staring around as if
hoping to see this phantom.
ROD
You motherfucker! I’ll kill you
for that!
32. INT. TINA’S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 32.
NANCY is sitting straight up in bed, terrified. The CRIES of ROD
are ringing through the whole house. She forces herself to move
— bolting from the bed despite her terror and sense of dread.
33. INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT. 33.
NANCY flies into the dark hall — crashing directly into SOMEONE
who lurches out of the dark before her. She SCREAMS and jumps
back —
GLEN
What the hell’s going on!?
NANCY
Oh — jeez — Glen! Rod’s
gone ape!
ROD (OS)
(sobbing)
I’ll kill you!
NANCY grabs the door; it’s locked; she pounds on it. BAM! BAM!
BAM!
Things fall into sudden, awful silence on the other side. GLEN’s
voice cracks with fear.
GLEN
Rod?
(silence)
Rod, you better not hurt Tina…
ROD erupts into terrible HOARSE LAUGHTER AND SOBBING. Then they
hear BREAKING GLASS.
GLEN barrels into the door like the football player he is. The
frame splinters and they’re in.
34. INT. TINA’S MOTHER’S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 34.
Just inside the door NANCY slips and goes down hard. GLEN finds
her in the dark more by touch than sight.
GLEN
You okay?
NANCY
Yeah. Something slippering all
over here…
(feeling)
Tina?
No answer. The room is quiet as a tomb. Except for a stead
DRIPPING, from all over. Then GLEN finds a LIGHT SWITCH.
On the CLICK the devastation is revealed. There’s BLOOD
everywhere: up the walls, over the clawed ceiling, soaking the
killing floor of the bed, and pooling in the dark red puddle
where NANCY has slipped and fallen.
GLEN
Oh, shit…
NANCY wobbles up and sees TINA in the center of the ravaged bed.
Unmistakeably and utterly dead. NANCY presses against the wall,
then contorts and chokes.
GLEN (CONTD)
(numb)
I…I’m gonna call the cops —
He bursts from the room.
35. TIGHT ON NANCY. She turns away from the body in repulsion, 35.
sticking her head through the shattered window ROD LANE used for
his escape, sucking in the cold night air and moaning.
FADE TO BLACK
36. EXT/INT. POLICE STATION. NIGHT. 36.
FADE UP ON RED LIGHTS and SIREN as an unmarked POLICE CAR speeds
to the curb.
LT DON THOMPSON, a decent-looking man in his mid-40’s, exits and
punches a cigarette from his pack. His shaken aide, a uniformed
patrolman named PARKER, greets him. (CAMERA FOLLOWS them from
the car straight into the station and eventually to THOMPSON’S
OFFICE.)
PARKER
Lieutenant Thompson. Sorry to
wake you, but —
LT THOMPSON
I’d’ve canned your ass if you
hadn’t. What you got?
PARKER stumbles to open the door for THOMPSON as the man bulls
into the station at a furious pace.
PARKER
Her name was Tina Gray. It
was her home. Father abandoned
ten years ago, mother’s in
Vegas with a boyfriend. We’re
trying to reach her now.
LT THOMPSON grimaces as if he knows the story.
LT THOMPSON
What’s the Coroner got to say?
PARKER
Something like a razor was
the weapon, but nothing
found on the scene.
THOMPSON is already to the desk officer SERGEANT GARCIA. The big
MAN shoves him a sheaf of papers —
SERGEANT GARCIA
(wary)
Leautenant. You know who —
LT THOMPSON
Where is she?
SERGEANT GARCIA
I put her in your office…
PARKER scurries after.
PARKER
Looks like her boyfriend did
it. Rod Lane. Musician type,
arrests for brawling, dope —
LT THOMPSON
Terrific. What the hell was
she doing there?
PARKER
She lived there.
LT THOMPSON
OMIT 37. I don’t mean her — OMIT 37.
38. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM. NIGHT. 38.
THOMPSON enters his office and confronts NANCY and her mother,
MARGE SIMSON.
LT THOMPSON (CONTD)
I mean you.
(accusingly, to Marge)
What the hell was she doing there?
MARGE SIMSON is in her middle thirties; a good-looking woman
despite the hour and circumstances.
MARGE
Hello to you, too, Donald.
THOMPSON stops, the steam suddenly out of him. The girl is a
wreck and he winces to see it.
LT THOMPSON
Marge.
THOMPSON glances at PARKER and the other UNIFORMED COPS who are
in the room. As a man they head for the door. There’s no
question who the boss is here. THOMPSON turns to NANCY. She
fumbles a smile.
LT THOMPSON (CONTD)
How you doing, pal?
NANCY
Okay. Hi, dad.
NANCY’s dress is dark with dried blood, her skin clammy and the
color of paste. MARGE shoots her ex-husband a worried glance.
THOMPSON pulls a chair close to NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
I don’t want to get into this now,
god knows you need time.
(hotter)
But I’d sure would like to know
what the hell you were doing
shacked up with three other kids
in the middle of the night —
especially a delinquent lunatic
like Lane.
NANCY weaves.
NANCY
Rod’s not a lunatic.
LT THOMPSON
You got a sane explanation for
what he did?
The girl is shredding a Kleenex, staring off.
MARGE
Apparantly he was crazy jealous.
Nancy said they’d had a fight,
Rod and Tina.
NANCY
(quietly)
It wasn’t that serious…
MARGE
Maybe you don’t think murder’s
serious —
NANCY sits bolt upright in her chair, her eyes flashing.
NANCY
She was my best friend! Don’t
you dare say I don’t take her
death seriously!
(lower, near tears)
I just meant their fights
weren’t that serious.
The girl holds the woman’s eyes a moment, then looks away.
NANCY (CONTD)
(to herself)
She dreamed this would happen…
LT THOMPSON
What?
NANCY
She had a nightmare about somebody
trying to kill her, last night.
That’s why we were there; she was
afraid to sleep alone.
A tear splashes off the arm of her chair.
MARGE
She’s been through enough for one
night. You have her statement.
The mother and daughter rise; THOMPSON raps on the door and
PARKER opens it.
LT THOMPSON
(to MARGE)
I suggest you keep a little better
track on her — she’s still a kid,
y’know.
MARGE wheels on him.
MARGE
You think I knew there were boys
there!? You try raising a
teenager alone.
Then she and the girl are gone. THOMPSON glares at PARKER.
LT THOMPSON
(low to PARKER)
See they get home okay.
PARKER shoves his hands in his pockets. ON HIS FACE we
FADE TO BLACK
39. INT. NANCY’S KITCHEN. MORNING. 39.
BURN ON
THE SECOND DAY
FADE UP ON MARGE SIMSON opening a new bottle of gin, pouring
herself a careful shot, drinking it, then chasing it with
coffee. Nearby a TV drones the morning news. We can’t yet see
the SCREEN.
TV NEWSCASTER (OS/FILTER)
In the headlines this morning —
a local teenage girl was brutally
murdered during an all-night party.
MARGE TURNS, startled, seeing NANCY coming downstairs.
The girl looks a little better than she did in the Police
Station, but her eyes are still red-rimmed, and a vacant stress
masks her face. She looks to the TV. Stops.
TV NEWSCASTER (CONTD)
Police say the victim, fifteen-year
-old Christina Grey, had quarrelled
earlier with her boyfriend, Rod
Lane, a punk rocker with a history
of delinquency. Lane is now the
subject of a city-wide manhunt.
According to —
39A. The TV PICTURE has begun featuring a HANDHELD NEWSREEL SHOT of a
dark rubber BODY BAG being carried to a CORONER’S VAN. Just
before the thing is lifted inside, TINA’S bloodied, white ARM
slips from its zippered side and lolls into the dark night air.
A man rudely shoves it back inside and pulls the zipper up the
rest of the way.
39B. WIDER — as NANCY pales visible. MARGE darts to the TV and slaps
it off, then turning to NANCY. She looks at the girl a moment,
then goes to her and hugs her.
MARGE
(kind)
Where you think you’re going?
NANCY
School.
MARGE
I could hear you tossing and
turning all night, kiddo. You’ve
no business going to school.
NANCY pulls away, determined.
NANCY
I gotta go to school, Mom.
Please. Otherwise I’ll just
sit up there and go crazy
or something.
MARGE studies her face a moment.
MARGE
Did you sleep?
NANCY
I’ll sleep in study hall, promise.
I’d rather keep busy, you know?
She absently drains the woman’s coffee cup — then pecks her
cheek.
MARGE
Right home after.
NANCY (cont’d)
Right home after. See you.
MARGE watches the girl disappear outside, then lights a cigarette
from the one already burning in her fingers.
40. EXT. STREET. DAY. 40.
MUSIC slips back in, subtle but tense as we TRACK with NANCY as
she walks alone down a sidewalk edged with thick flowering
Oleander. She cocks her head, puzzled, as if sensing something.
MUSIC mounts. NANCY looks across the street.
40A. REVERSE IN HER POV. A MAN is over there in dark clothes, reading 40A.
a newspaper, but really watching her.
40B. NANCY shrugs and continues on, then stops and looks back again. 40B.
40C. IN HER POV we SEE the MAN is gone. 40C.
40D. Next moment — with a MUSIC STING — a BLOODIED HAND jumps out 40D.
from the opposite direction, clamps over NANCY’S mouth and drags
her into the bushes.
41. EXT. BUSHES. DAY. 41.
NANCY struggles, twisting against the powerful assailant.
A WIDER ANGLE REVEALS ROD LANE — barefoot, clad only in jeans
and leather jacket, still caked with dark blood. The rest of his
skin is pale as a ghost’s.
ROD
I’m not gonna hurt you.
He releases her warily. NANCY makes no move to run or scream,
even though several STUDENTS pass on the nearby sidewalk. This
reassures ROD just a little.
ROD
Your old man thinks I did it,
don’t he?
NANCY
He doesn’t know you.
(eyeing the blood)
Couldn’t you change?
ROD
The cops were all over my house.
(shivers)
They’ll kill me for sure.
NANCY
Nobody’s gonna kill you.
He runs his hands down his face, trying to believe that. The two
study each other.
ROD
I never touched her.
NANCY
You were screaming like crazy.
NANCY says this without accusation, just cool observation.
ROD
Someone else was there.
NANCY
The door was locked from your
side.
ROD grabs her hard. His muscular body tenses.
ROD
Don’t look at me like I’m some
kind of fucking fruitcake or
something, I’m warning you.
VOICE (O.S.)
Morning, Mr. Lane.
42. The boy jerks around. NANCY’s father, his .38 leveled right at 42.
ROD’s belly, eases out of the bushes.
LT THOMPSON
Now just step away from her, son.
Like your ass depended on it.
I’m warning you.
ROD backs away, looking once at NANCY with a look of terrible
sadness. Then he dives out of the bushes and runs like hell.
THOMPSON snaps his revolver to fire — but instinctively NANCY
jumps between —
NANCY
No!
THOMPSON jerks his gun into the air, furious.
THOMPSON
Jesus — are you crazy!?
He plunges past the girl.
42A. EXT. STREET. DAY. 42A.
ROD races like a frightened animal across the lawns — but is
soon cut off by the PLANECLOTHESMAN NANCY saw watching her before
— and then TWO UNIFORMED POLICEMAN, who close from another
angle. The chase is short and pitifully off-balance, and ROD is
soon wrestled to the ground. Next moment one of the cops is
holding ROD’S knife into the air for THOMPSON to see. THOMPSON
looks at NANCY, as if to say ‘I told you.’ Background, ROD’S
SHOUTS can be heard as he’s shoved into a SQUAD CAR.
ROD (O.S.)
I didn’t do it — !
(fading)
I didn’t kill her, Nancy!
The car’s door slams and ROD is gone. NANCY turns to her father,
livid.
NANCY
You used me, daddy!
LT THOMPSON
(exasperated)
What the hell you doing going to
school today, anyway — your
mother told me you didn’t even
sleep last night!
NANCY spins angrily and walks away.
LT THOMPSON
Nancy! Hey!
But she just keeps going.
FADE TO BLACK
43. INT. CLASSROOM. DAY. 43.
FADE UP ON an ENGLISH TEACHER and CLASS, NANCY among the kids,
trying to concentrate.
TEACHER
According to Shakespeare, there
was something operating in Nature,
perhaps inside human nature itself,
that was rotten — a canker, as
he put it.
The TEACHER’S eyes glance across the room. ANGLE ON NANCY;
yawning but listening.
TEACHER (CONTD)
Of course Hamlet’s response to
this, and to his mother’s lies,
was to continually probe and
dig — just like the gravediggers —
always trying to get beneath the
surface. The same was true in a
different way in Julius Caesar.
Jon, go ahead…
She nods to a SURFER who’s been waiting uncomfortably in front of
the class. He squints at his book and begins, the recitation a
struggle between baked and salted brain and the poetry of the
Bard.
SURFER
(reading aloud)
Uh, In the most high and palmy
state of Rome…
WISEGUY STUDENT (O.S.)
California’s the most high and
palmy state, man.
The SURFER halts with a grin; KIDS snicker.
ENGLISH TEACHER
Can it.
She glares them back into silence. The SURFER starts over, as we
CUT TO NANCY.
She’s nodding off now, barely able to keep her eyes open in the
warm, close boredom of the classroom.
SURFER (O.S.)
In the most high and palmy state
of Rome, a little ere the mightiest
Julius fell…
(NANCY’s head pitches
forward; she jerks it
back up, barely awake)
The graves stood tenantless, and
the sheeted dead did squeak and
gibber in the Roman street…
44. NANCY’s head has sunk again, eyelids drawn as if by enormous 44.
weight. By the time her cheek’s against the desk, the SURFER’S
VOICE is ECHOED and DISTANT. But another voice, TINA’S, is very
near, very much present. A sad, thin plaint.
TINA (O.S.)
Nancy.
NANCY gives a start. Her eyes lock onto something.
45. REVERSE. TILTED SIDEWAYS, IN HER HEAD’S POV, we look straight 45.
out through the open doorway of the classroom into the hall.
There, standing in a black pool of fluid, is a full-sized rubber
body bag. Dark red and yellow. Weaving slightly, the merest
suggesting of movement within it.
46. BACK ON NANCY, sitting upright, wiping the sleep from her eyes, 46.
shaking her head like a punchy prozefighter. She looks back out
the door.
47. REVERSE IN ‘NORMAL’ POV — the hallway is empty. But there’s a 47.
dark smear on its floor tiles.
48. NANCY looks nervously towards the rest of the class. No one else 48.
has noticed a thing outside the door. All are dumbly spellbound
by the SURFER, who now recites like a deep-voiced robot, his face
wreathed by white hair.
SURFER
O God, I could be bounded in a
nutshell and count myself a king
of infinite space, were it not
that I have bad dreams…
49. ANGLE BACK ON NANCY. She slips from her seat, eye warily on the 49.
teacher and class. But no one turns as she disappears through
the doorway.
50. INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY. DAY. 50.
NANCY turns and looks both directions. No sign of anybody.
TINA (O.S.)
(distant)
Nancy.
NANCY wheels and sees the bag, prone on the tiles at the far end
of the hall, at the end of a long snail’s trail of slime. A pale
hand thrusts out of it. A moment later, as if pulled by
invisible gravity, the bag slides out of sight into an
intersecting corridor.
NANCY
Tina!
NANCY starts running for it.
51. ANGLE AT THE CORNER as NANCY races blindly around the turn and 51.
smashes straight into a BODY lunging at her from the opposite
direction! Both go down.
52. ANGLE AT THE FLOOR. A dazed freshman HALLGUARD cranks herself up 52.
on one elbow. She wears a plastic plaque on her red and yellow
sweater that reads ‘Hall Guard’. Her nose is bleeding from the
impact.
HALLGUARD
Y-you’re not supposed to run.
W-where’s your pass — you got a
pass?
NANCY leaps up —
NANCY
Screw your stupid pass!
53. She turns — sees the body bag halfway down this darker, narrower 53.
hall, upright again. But just as she sees it, it tips and
pitches headlong through a doorway — like some godawful rotten
tree finally timbering down. She can hear the sickening
CRUNCHING of it falling down a long flight of stairs.
NANCY runs for it again. The HALLGUARD staggers up FOREGROUND,
bleeding profusely from her eyes and ears.
HALLGUARD
Hey, no running in the halls!
The HALLGUARD raises her hand and we see it’s tipped with long
metal spikes.
REVERSE ANGLE AT THE DOOR as NANCY runs up. NANCY turns to check
out the HALLGUARD. She’s vanished. NANCY turns and looks down
through the open door. The MUSIC sweeps through a strange,
brooding movement of strings, mounting towards the NIGHTMARE
THEME.
54. INT. A STAIRWELL. 54.
NANCY edges into the stairwell and looks down. Looks like
there’s a fire somewhere down there, from the way the orange
light dances. But there’s only a low WHITE NOISE.
NANCY
Tina?
No answer. NANCY starts down the stairs.
55. INT. BOILER ROOM. DAY. 55.
NANCY comes off the stairs into a dank boiler room. The smear
trail is there. It runs behind a cracking, red-hot boiler the
size of a diesel locomotive. Everything about the place feels
dreadfully wrong, and the MUSIC is deep into the NIGHTMARE THEME
when it pauses.
TIGHT ON NANCY. Slow terror moves into her face. There’s a low,
sinister GIGGLE.
56. REVERSE IN HER POV — we see a tangle of pipes, shadows, and the 56.
tainted fire of the huge boiler. Then from behind this, deeply
shadowed but still identifiable, steps TINA’s KILLER. The same
filthy red and yellow sweater and slouch hat, the same melted
face twisting into a smile, the same GARBLED LAUGH as he slides
the long blades from beneath his shirt and fans them on the ends
of his bony fingers.
NANCY
Who are you?
MAN
Gonna get you.
57. The leering MAN brings the bloodied scalpel-fingernails across 57.
his own chest, splitting a nipple. Yellow fluid pours out.
MAGGOTS and WORMS.
NANCY forgets the question — jerks around and flees in blind
panic into the first opening she sees — a dark pipe tunnel.
58. INT. PIPE TUNNEL. 58.
ANGLE IN THE NARROW PASSAGEWAY. In the BACKGROUND the killer
shambles towards her; FOREGROUND NANCY breaks into a run.
The killer sprints — NANCY tears ahead into darkness.
She flees deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of steaming,
SIZZLING pipes, squeezing through smaller and smaller openings.
The killer is just yards behind her, and soon she’s trapped, just
as TINA was before her.
She presses her back to the wet bricks. There’s no hope of
fighting him off, for NANCY is not as strong as TINA. But she is
smart as hell, and thinking even in this nightmare. So by the
time the creep has raised his knives to strike, NANCY has
realized something. She wheels and shoves her arm against one of
the scalding steam pipes. In the sme split second we HEAR her
flesh scald, we
CUT TO:
59. INT. ENGLISH CLASS. DAY. 59.
NANCY lurches up SCREAMING, arm raised to ward off the invisible
blow, books clattering to the floor — other GIRLS nearby SCREAM
in surprise as she stumbles over them. Then she stops, confused
and groggy from the nightmare.
WIDER ANGLE. EVERYBODY is staring at NANCY as if she’s gone
mad. The ENGLISH TEACHER rushes over, herself frightened by the
terror in the girl’s eyes.
TEACHER
Okay — Okay, Thompson! Every-
thing’s all right now — Nancy!.
60. NANCY jerks around with panicked eyes, expecting the killer to 60.
leap from any direction. But there’s only the sea of staring
eyes.
NANCY begins methodically picking up her books.
TEACHER
I’ll call your mother.
NANCY
No! No, really, I’m fine. I’ll go
straight home. I’m okay.
She marches for the door.
TEACHER
You’ll need a hall pass!
But the girl’s gone.
61. EXT. THE SCHOOL. DAY. 61.
NANCY walks out of the building, shaken. Then she pauses at one
of the big pine trees out front, stops and rests her head against
its bark, teeth set. NANCY starts to shake, and next second
she’s sobbing like a broken-hearted, frightened child. OMIT 61A.
OMIT 61A.
62. But she shakes herself silent. Wipes the tears away with a slash 62.
of sleeve. She rubs her arm absently, lost in thought, then
reacts in surprise and pain. She lifts her arm and stares at the
spot she’s touched.
INSERT ON HER ARM and the BURN there; about the size and shape of
a half-dollar.
WIDER ON NANCY. Utterly, chillingly confused.
62A. TINA, against the tree inches from NANCY, (SC 7) — turns to her and
says —
TINA
Couldn’t get back to sleep
at all.
(beat)
What you dream?
63. EXT. A BUSY STREET. DAY. 63.
NANCY is walking quickly, head erect, jaw set. Then she enters
her father’s Police Station.
64. INT. VAN NUYS POLICE STATION. DAY. 64.
NANCY crosses directly to the GARCIA.
NANCY
My dad here?
GARCIA looks up from his paperwork.
SERGEANT GARCIA
Lieutenant.
LT THOMPSON emerges from another room, uneasy to see NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
Decide to take a day off after
all?
NANCY
Dad, I want to see Rod Lane.
THOMPSON doesn’t miss a beat.
LT THOMPSON
Only family allowed, Nancy. You
know the drill.
NANCY
Just want to talk to him a second.
LT THOMPSON
He’s dangerous.
NANCY
You don’t know he did it.
LT THOMPSON
No, I know, thanks to your
own testimony, that he was
locked in a room with a girl
who went in alive and came
out in a rubber bag.
NANCY flinches; her father shows the first signs of color in his
neck.
NANCY
I just want to talk to him.
(beat, lower)
Please, Dad.
THOMPSON shifts almost imperceptibly towards GARCIA, then turns
back to NANCY.
LT THOMPSON
Make it fast.
DISSOLVE TO:
65. INT. CELL AREA. DAY. 65.
A GUARD exits pushing a cart of food trays. NANCY waits warily
until he’s gone, then looks back to ROD LANE. ROD looks more
like a captured coyote than a human; haggard, ribbed, expecting
poisoned bait. His hair is wet, his clothes are borrowed jeans
and work shirt.
NANCY
(low)
And then what happened?
ROD
I told you.
(reluctantly)
It was dark, but I’m sure there
was someone else IN there, under
the covers with her.
NANCY reacts.
NANCY
How could somebody get under
the covers with you guys
without you knowing it?
ROD
How the fuck do I know?
(beat)
I don’t expect you to believe
me.
NANCY studies his encrypted eyes. Surprisingly, she looks like
she just might believe him. She leans closer with a new
thought.
NANCY
What he look like? You get
a look at him?
He looks away.
ROD
No.
NANCY
Well then how can you say
somebody else was there?
ROD
Because somebody cut her. While
I watched.
Now the place is so quiet you can hear heartbeats.
NANCY
Somebody cut her while you watched
and you don’t know what he looked
like?
ROD smiles an insane smile, stuck with a reality no one will
buy.
ROD
You couldn’t see the fucker.
You could just see the cuts
happening, all at once.
NANCY gives a twitch.
NANCY
What you mean ‘all at once’?
ROD
(low)
I mean, it was as if there were
four razors cutting her at the
same time. But invisible razors.
She just… opened up…
By now he’s picking at a clot of dark blood on his jacket, as if
it was a scab on his own body. Then he catches NANCY watching
and turns away to the back of the cell. He smashes his fist into
the wall — bone-crushing blows that scare the wits out of
NANCY.
NANCY
Rod!
He stops, and his fist is dripping blood as he says in a small,
sad voice.
ROD
I probably could’ve saved her
if I’d moved sooner… But I
thought it was just another
nightmare, like the one I had
the night before.
(beat)
There… was this guy who had
knives for fingers…
CLOSE ON NANCY, unable to swallow the gorge rising in her
throat. ROD turns to her, and to his surprise she’s ashen.
ROD (CONTD)
Do you think I did it?
NANCY
No.
FADE TO BLACK
