Tad Williams: A Stark And Wormy Knight

JANICE

K-Kimmy?

KIMMY

You never came back for me.

JANICE is suddenly near tears. Music rises quietly — ELO’s “Telephone”.

JANICE

I… I didn’t know…

KIMMY

You followed Eric like you were his dog. He was so much more important to you than me — your best friend…!

JANICE moves toward her but the hallway does not seem to get any shorter. KIMMY is still far away, her back to JANICE, face hidden.

JANICE

I didn’t know any better. He was my boyfriend… Oh, Kimmy, that was twenty-five years ago!

KIMMY (a cracked laugh)

Not for me. For me it’s still happening. For me, it’s always happening…

JANICE

I’m so sorry!

The distance suddenly telescopes — JANICE is right on top of KIMMY. She reaches out to touch her.

JANICE

Kimmy? Can I do anything… anything to make it better?

KIMMY turns, except it isn’t KIMMY, it’s YOUNG JANICE, but still with KIMMY’s voice. YOUNG JANICE lifts BLOODY HANDS.

YOUNG JANICE/KIMMY

You betrayed me…!

ADULT JANICE screams; it echoes down the long corridor, twisting, growing fainter as we follow it around many twists and turns, until it fades back into the music of Hendrix, still playing somewhere. ADULT BRENT is standing in a corridor of his own, an Escher-like impossibilty of stairs and weird angles. He turns, bewildered. A little SMOKE drifts along the passageway.

BRENT is frightened and clearly lost. He takes a step, then another. A shadow falls on the wall across from him, and he turns with eyes wide. A dark figure steps

from an open door — it’s the ADULT ERIC.

ERIC

Brent? That you?

BRENT

Oh my God. Oh my God. I’ve been in here for hours — where did you go? Where’s Janice?

ERIC

I don’t know. Everything’s… strange.

BRENT

We have to get out of here. We should never have come. He’s going to…

ERIC

There must be some kind of sense to it, like Janice said. A reason. We were his friends…!

BRENT

No! He’s crazy. It wasn’t anybody’s fault — things just went wrong.

ERIC

Really? I thought you said it was all your fault.

BRENT

Let’s just get out of here.

ERIC

No, you distinctly said it was your fault. In fact, you were going to say that you betrayed him, weren’t you?

BRENT

What… what are you talking about?

ERIC

Come on… Brent. You know what betrayal is, don’t you?

ERIC steps closer, resting his hands on BRENT’s shoulders. BRENT is struggling, but he can’t get away.

ERIC

“You don’t know who your friends really are until you trip with them… ” Remember that? Remember?

BRENT (struggling)

Let go of me!

ERIC’s face is beginning to change — to harden and grow brittle. BRENT struggles harder, but it’s like being held by a statue. ERIC’s face grows completely rigid, like TOPHER’s SHELL. Then it cracks, and falls away, to reveal the YOUNG TOPHER beneath.

YOUNG TOPHER (big grin)

It’s all about the Court of the Crimson King, Brent. And hell has a special place saved for traitors…

BRENT’s clothes start to smolder where TOPHER is holding them. BRENT shrieks and flails and at last breaks away, falling backward.

YOUNG TOPHER

Wait! There’s still the big finale…

TOPHER reaches up and PEELS AWAY his face, revealing YOUNG BRENT’s FACE underneath. ADULT BRENT doesn’t stay to watch — he drags himself to his feet, running down the distorted corridor, shrieking and crying, as we CUT TO:

INT. — LIVING ROOM — THEN AND NOW

ADULT ERIC is miserably watching his YOUNG ERIC self combing through the carpet of the living room floor while YOUNG JANICE watches him, worried. No music is playing.

YOUNG JANICE

Eric? Eric, what are you doing?

YOUNG ERIC

He’s faking. He has to be faking. He couldn’t have taken all of those pills…

YOUNG BRENT looks up from his records.

YOUNG BRENT

Hey, where’s Kimmy?

ADULT ERIC (a hopeless whisper)

Just tell them…

YOUNG ERIC (hurriedly)

Outside! She went for a walk!

BRENT rises and heads for the front door. He pauses in the open doorway.

YOUNG BRENT

The moon! It’s fucking huge — like a big eye!

As he goes out, YOUNG ERIC is still on his hands and knees, running his fingers through the carpet, searching.

YOUNG ERIC

It’s all bullshit. It has to be! We’re just too high.

YOUNG JANICE

What are you talking about?

YOUNG ERIC (looks up, desperate-eyed)

It’s not real. We’re all just tripping. Topher’s trying to freak us out. He just pretended to catch those pills, but they’re here somewhere. I’ll find them. That’ll prove it.

He goes back to his relentless combing of the carpet, crawling with his face practically down against the fibers. YOUNG BRENT comes back in and walks past them, then heads up the stairs. ADULT ERIC looks after him, then closes his eyes.

YOUNG JANICE doesn’t know what to do. She looks up at the stairway, then toward the front door. She watches YOUNG ERIC for a moment then sits back, hugging herself and looking very frightened. ADULT ERIC moves toward her, and although she can’t see him, he kneels in front of her.

ERIC

You were right. Oh, God, I was a fucking idiot, a terrified kid, trying to talk myself into thinking everything made sense. (a beat)

And now I’m a just a ghost and you can’t hear me…

For a moment YOUNG JANICE almost does seems to hear him: she tilts her head, as though searching for a tiny sound. Abruptly, the stereo comes on full-blast — “Iron Man”, by Black Sabbath — and she jerks her head back around to stare at it. There’s no one nearby: it has turned on by itself.

We begin to experience the first scene over again, but this time from ADULT ERIC’s viewpoint.

YOUNG JANICE

Eric! Eric, talk to me!

YOUNG ERIC looks up blearily from the carpet.

YOUNG JANICE

Eric, I want to get out of here right now…!

YOUNG BRENT, staggers down the stairs, clutching his hands against his stomach, panicky but trying to stay calm.

YOUNG BRENT

Shit, it’s bad — Topher’s freaking out for real up there.

YOUNG JANICE

Where’s Kimmy, Brent? What’s going on?

YOUNG BRENT

I don’t know! I can’t find her. I think… I think something bad happened! I…

As if finally realizing something, BRENT lifts his hands away from his body and stares at them. They are covered in blood, smeared to the elbows. His eyes bug out. Y

OUNG JANICE

Oh my God!

ADULT ERIC stares at BRENT, then looks up at the ceiling. He SEES something no one else can see, and cowers back in horror, gasping in panic, covering his face.

YOUNG JANICE

Eric! Eric, what’s going on? Stop that!

YOUNG BRENT has just noticed the music playing.

YOUNG BRENT

Why is this on? Who put on Sabbath? I hid the Sabbath!

YOUNG JANICE (panicked, overwhelmed)

It just… came on. Why do you have blood on you?

YOUNG BRENT

No, no, no! It’s all wrong! It’ll fuck everything up!

BRENT runs to the stereo and starts trying to turn it off, but can’t make the buttons work. Blood is smearing on the stereo knobs. He takes out the record and throws it on the floor, but “Iron Man” keeps on playing. He picks the record up and breaks it. He’s crying. The music keeps on playing. Something begins thumping on the ceiling — weird sounds, like there’s a large animal thrashing around up there.

YOUNG JANICE (suddenly certain)

Oh, no. Kimmy’s up there. With him. (to YOUNG ERIC)

She’s up there.

YOUNG ERIC shakes his head, but it’s not a denial.

YOUNG ERIC (gesturing frantically at carpet)