5 EXT. JAKE’S HOUSE - DAY
John approaches his vehicle and hops inside.
Moments after he gets in, his phone rings. It's Sara.
John hesitates, then answers.
JOHN Sara?
John listens to the sound of static for minute. Then
UNCLE VO Sure I can't get you anything else to drink, bud?
Uncle's voice comes through the phone!
John is scared, so he drops the phone.
The phone screen says "Line Disconnected".
John looks up at the doorway of Jake's house. Uncle stands there and waves with a creepy smile on his face.
INT. JOHN'S CAR - NIGHT
John drives home late at night.
He seems to be nodding off in the car. His phone shows 19 missed calls from Sara.
As he nods off, black hands reach around his seat from behind him, and grab his throat, causing him to feel terror. He slams on his brakes and swerves the car over to the side of the road.
He's awake now, shuddering. He looks at his phone.
Another call comes in from Sara. He picks it up.
SARA Finally! I've been calling you forever. Where are you?
JOHN Went for a drive. Got a little lost.
SARA Well, get home soon. I've been waiting here forever, but I'm going to go home now. Its late. Drive carefully. The roads are dangerous this late at night.
John listens, with a nod of his head.
JOHN Sara...
SARA Yeah?
JOHN I love you.
SARA I love you too. I'm going to hang up now, okay?
JOHN Yeah.
Sara hangs up. John looks in his rear-view mirror. A shadow creature sits back there calmly, without moving.
JOHN I can't run, can I?
INT. PSYCHOLOGY OFFICE - DAY
John sits in front of Dr. Linda, a hot mess.
DR. LINDA John, have you gotten any sleep since the last time I saw you?
JOHN None.
DR. LINDA You can't keep this up, John. You need to sleep.
JOHN Don't you think I know that?!
DR. LINDA John, why are you so anxious?
JOHN I'm afraid.
DR. LINDA Of what?
JOHN Of being alone.
DR. LINDA Have you been taking your pills, John?
JOHN No.
DR. LINDA No wonder you're feeling like this, John. Give me a minute
Dr. Linda leans over and grabs a phone. She dials a number, and it picks up.
DR. LINDA Cindy, please go get a bottle of John Hash's medication from the pharmacy, go ahead and authorize a refill on his prescription. Yes, thank you.
John stares at the phone intently.
DR. LINDA John, the pills I put you on are commonly used to treat mental disorders like bipolar depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.
JOHN So, what, I'm on some kind of psychotic break?
DR. LINDA Yes. It seems that since you decided to go cold turkey on your old medication without something else to replace it, you're experiencing some pretty harsh side effects. Similar to withdrawal.
JOHN Withdrawal...? What, like, I'm an addict?
DR. LINDA No, not like an addict. Without your medication your brain is scrambling to keep itself together.
JOHN So... like an addict?
DR. LINDA Look, a heroin addict needs heroin. They can't switch it with another drug on any given day. You can, so long as your brain can hold itself together. There's no dependency on any specific drug.
JOHN What are the symptoms?
DR. LINDA Based on your medication? Probably hallucinations, panic attacks, drowsiness, paranoia, sleep paralysis. This can be very dangerous if you're not careful.
JOHN So what do I do?
DR. LINDA Take the medication. Go home. Have some dinner. Watch something funny. And for gods' sakes, go to sleep. You need it.
John nods his head. The phone rings by Dr. Linda. She picks it up.
DR. LINDA Yes? Excellent.
She faces John.
DR. LINDA Your prescription is in the lobby. Take it before you leave. It'll help you calm down before you get home.
JOHN Thanks.
DR. LINDA Anytime. See you soon, John.
John exits the office.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY
John stares at the ceiling, lost in thought.
He closes his eyes.
He breathes deeply.
MATCH CUT ON EYES
EXT. FOGGY ROAD - NIGHT
DREAM SEQUENCE:
John stands on a foggy road, in the middle of the night.
He holds a lamp, and looks around, but sees nothing through the fog.
In the distance he hears footsteps. They seem to be drawing closer.
JOHN Hello?
His voice echoes into the fog with no reply.
The footsteps stop abruptly. Then they start running, approaching him quickly.
John freaks and starts running. He comes to the end of a road, and there's a sign pointing Left and Right.
He looks left, and he sees Sara, gesturing at him to come to her.
the Footsteps grow louder. John goes RIGHT and runs away from the footsteps and from Sara.
He trips! The footsteps grow louder! He crawls away frantically, and squeezes his eyes shut.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY
John's eyes are squeezed shut, and he opens them to find himself once more in his bedroom.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM - DAY
When he opens his eyes, he is standing in front of the mirror, shaving. He nicks himself and blood falls on his pill bottle.
He picks up the bottle, and immediately takes a pill. He looks in the mirror, but his father doesn't show up. He leaves the bathroom, pills in hand.
INT. OFFICE SPACE - DAY
John works at his computer. He taps at it rhythmically.
HIGH-HEELED FOOTSTEPS approach.
CYNTHIA (OS) You okay, John? You look a little depressed.
John says nothing, continues typing.
CYNTHIA (OS) We'll need that next set of coding by the end of your shift.
John grunts. Cynthia walks away, heels TAPPING as she moves.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY
John scrolls through the internet and comes across a post from Jake.
It reads "I don't think I can handle it anymore..."
John clicks on Jake's post, and then visits his page.
People have been posting mourning statuses ever since he died.
John shakes his head and shuts off his computer. As soon as he does, his phone rings.
He answers without hesitation.
SARA John?
JOHN Hey, Sara, what's up?
SARA Well, I was thinking about coming over tonight. Sound okay?
JOHN Sure, you know the address.
SARA Sure do! See you soon!
JOHN Yep.
John hangs up. He looks at his webcam and seems to think of something.
He steps out of his room, and installs his webcam above his doorway, looking down like a security camera.
He runs the wire through the corner of his doorway.
From his room, he looks at his computer monitor, and observes the hallway.
Everything seems normal. John grows complacent, and then nods off in his chair.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...
John wakes up. He stretches and looks at his impromptu security camera.
There's nobody there.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...
John's confusion deepens.
He goes to his door and looks out through the peephole.
Sara is clearly standing there, wearing something red. John opens the door.
JOHN Hey, sorry, I installed a camera. I couldn't see you on it, so I thought I was going crazy.
SARA Really? That's so weird, maybe you had it angled bad.
JOHN Must have.
SARA Going to let me in?
John steps out of the way, and Sara goes inside. He stares at the camera with a frown.
SARA So, I was thinking we should order some pizza, what do you think?
JOHN Sounds good to me.
John enters the apartment, closing the door behind him.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY
John and Sara cuddle while watching a movie. There's a knock at the door, and John gets up to answer it.
JOHN Sounds like Pizza's here. Let me get my wallet.
John walks to his room.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY
John picks up his WALLET, and glances over at his computer. He can see the pizza guy waiting there.
He doesn't think twice about it, and turns to leave, then pauses, reconsidering.
He looks back at the monitor and sees the pizza boy move to knock again. He never leaves the frame and is totally visible.
John looks back out towards Sara in the Living Room.
SARA Everything okay, John?
JOHN Everything's fine. I think I forgot to take my pills.
John shakes his head. He leaves his room.
SARA Oh, well, take them during dinner!
JOHN Yeah, I will.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - LIVING ROOM - DAY
John serves up the pizza on paper plates and pops a pill into his mouth before walking over to Sara in the living room.
SARA So what are we going to watch, tonight?
JOHN I don't know. Nothing romantic.
SARA Lame...
JOHN You're going to sleep through it anyways, what do you care?
SARA That's true... I don't know, what do you feel like watching?
JOHN Hm. Cartoons.
SARA Ok.
John looks at her weirdly.
JOHN Sara, you hate cartoons.
SARA I'm going to sleep anyways. What does it matter?
JOHN Okay...
John gets comfy next to Sara. He changes the channel with his remote.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
John and Sara are both sleeping. John wakes up.
Seeing Sara asleep, he extricates himself, and heads over to his room.
INT. JOHN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT
John sits in front of his computer and rewinds the footage on his camera.
He sees the pizza boy in reverse.
As the footage continues, he sees no sign of Sara.
His confusion deepens as he watches. He sees himself step out of his apartment and look at camera in confusion.
He sees himself talking to thin air. But he doesn't see Sara.
SARA What are you looking at, John?
John jumps out of his skin.
JOHN Shit. You scared me.
He turns to look at Sara and sees her eyes. They are milky white, and creepy as all hell. He swallows his saliva, and starts panicking, but manages to contain it.
JOHN I was just... Just going through the security footage.
SARA Oh? See anything of interest?
JOHN No. I saw nothing.
Sara smiles at him.
JOHN Hey... Could I get you to get me a glass of water, or something? I'm a little thirsty.
SARA Sure, John. No problem.
Sara turns and walks out of the room. As soon as she leaves, John closes the door behind her and locks it.
He's freaking out.
He doesn't know what else to do, so he escapes out of his window.
EXT. DR. LINDA'S HOUSE - NIGHT
John KNOCKS on Dr. Linda's door.
Moments later, a light flickers on and Dr. Linda appears, in a bathrobe and something red. She opens the door.
DR. LINDA John? What are you doing here?
JOHN I need your help.
INT. DR. LINDA'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Dr. Linda's house is spotless, and neat.
DR. LINDA So you're saying that some kind of evil demon has taken over your girlfriend, and you have to find out how to stop it?
JOHN Yes.
DR. LINDA John, I'm sure you know exactly how crazy this sounds.
JOHN Yes.
Dr. Linda considers for a moment, then comes to a decision.
DR. LINDA What do you need?
JOHN I need to find out exactly what happened the night my mother died.
DR. LINDA Don't you know?
JOHN I was seven... If I'm being honest, I can barely remember what my mother even looked like.
DR. LINDA I see.
Dr. Linda stands, and paces.
DR. LINDA There is a way to get in there, if it's not buried too deep. Hypnosis.
JOHN Seriously?
DR. LINDA It sounds crazier than it is, trust me. The problem is that we don't even know if it will work. Some people have a resistance to it.
JOHN A resistance?
DR. LINDA It requires cooperation. An innate disbelief in the powers of hypnosis may lead to one being able to resist it.
JOHN So how are you going to hypnotize me?
DR. LINDA I already have. Just let it happen.
