Chasing Sleep Page #13

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INT. HALLWAY

Ed is in a panic. The baby's cries echo around him as he backs away from the bathroom.

INT. KITCHEN

Ed finds himself in the kitchen. He looks at his hands which are covered with bloody muck from the tub. He washes them off in the sink. He looks over at the kitchen knife which has been drying in the dish rack.

INT. HALLWAY

Ed walks slowly, purposefully to the bathroom. The crying baby gets louder as he approaches.

INT. BATHROOM

He comes into the bathroom, but in the tub, instead of the baby, there is a grown man's body. It is Ed, staring up at himself from under the water. We only see a very tight shot of BATHTUB ED's head and part of his neck. His head is under water and he looks up, unable to move.

We then see the reverse shot of this and it is also of Ed, so that Ed is, in effect, looking up at himself through the cloudy water.

The baby cries continue, although the baby is no longer in the scene.

From Bathtub Ed's point of view, we see the other Ed takes the kitchen knife and lean forward and to the right, off-camera.

Bathtub Ed, who can move his eyes, tries to look to his arm, where the other Ed is cutting. Soon, blood starts to mix with the water, diffusing over Bathtub Ed's face.

The blood also diffuses over Bathtub Ed's P.O.V., as he looks up at the other Ed cutting him. When the other Ed is finished cutting, Bathtub Ed sees him put the knife aside and then reach down, off-camera. After a short struggle, the other Ed pulls up Bathtub Ed's severed arm and slips it into a garbage bag he has already prepared.

The blood from Bathtub Ed's cut fills the water with dark blood, turning the film red.

The red dissolves into a pool of blood that is in the hallway.

INT. HALLWAY

Ed, with a bucket and sponge, is cleaning pockets of blood from the floor and walls. He is crying while he does this.

He squeezes the sponge for the last time, then inspects the hallway as closely as he can, searching for any spots he might have missed.

Then he picks up the bucket and takes it into the bathroom.

INT. BATHROOM

He dumps the water from the bucket into the bathtub. The water is pink and dirty. He sits down on the edge of the bathtub and watches the water go down the drain.

He stares at the drain in a trance until he hears a knock on the front door. He turns to listen to it in the other room.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

As he opens the bathroom door, he sees that the sun is shining in from the living room.

INT. LIVING ROOM

Geoffrey stands patiently outside as Ed opens the door. He carries his briefcase and looks dressed for work. His appearance is a stark contrast to the half-dressed, blood-shot Ed.

GEOFFREY:

Hi. I wanted to see how you were getting along.

ED:

Getting along?

GEOFFREY:

I have to say, you don't look well.

ED:

I'm not well.

GEOFFREY:

Have you slept?

ED:

I don't know. Maybe. It's difficult to tell. I have these lapses, but I'd hardly call it sleep.

GEOFFREY:

Did you take the pills?

ED:

The pills are f***ing useless.

GEOFFREY:

But you took them?

ED:

Yes.

GEOFFREY:

I see. May I take your blood pressure?

ED:

OK, fine.

Geoffrey comes in and places his briefcase on the table. He takes a stethoscope and the rest of his blood pressure kit and starts to take Ed's blood pressure.

ED:

I feel like a lab rat. Like one of those lab rats they drug up and study. You know what I mean?

GEOFFREY:

You feel like a rat.

ED:

They put them in a maze and they give them shocks and drugs and they see what they do. They try to prod them in the direction they want them to go.

GEOFFREY:

Try to relax.

ED:

I feel like a rat who took all the turns, took all the drugs, went down the right path and then, when I got to the end, they shocked me anyway, right up the sphincter, like it was all just a big joke. I guess they thought I'd be too drugged up to notice.

GEOFFREY:

It's been a few days, hasn't it, since your wife disappeared?

ED:

Days? Yes. I guess.

GEOFFREY:

Has there been any word from the police?

ED:

Haven't you talked to them?

GEOFFREY:

No. But if you'd like me to, I will, on your behalf. They know me and I've been through this before.

ED:

With others?

GEOFFREY:

With others, and myself. My wife was taken from me about three years ago.

ED:

What happened?

GEOFFREY:

It was a similar situation to yours. The police found her car in the parking lot of a mall. They found her body about a week later in some woods nearby.

ED:

She was murdered.

GEOFFREY:

Yes.

ED:

Did they ever catch the man who did it?

GEOFFREY:

No.

ED:

Why would somebody do that?

GEOFFREY:

Sometimes a man, when faced with his own problems or inadequacies, takes it out on someone weaker than themselves.

ED:

I'm sorry.

GEOFFREY:

Do you feel responsible at all for your wife's disappearance?

ED:

Why?

GEOFFREY:

People often blame themselves for events that they have no control over, especially when the events seem so random and cruel. Action leading up to tragedy tend to become more significant. Details weigh on the conscience.

ED:

I do seem to be having problems with my conscience.

GEOFFREY:

I see.

ED:

Do you think that's why I can't sleep?

GEOFFREY:

Could be.

ED:

Is there anything you can give me?

GEOFFREY:

A prescription? For your conscience? Of course not.

ED:

Then what's the point?

GEOFFREY:

There are other ways I can be of help.

ED:

A shoulder to cry on?

GEOFFREY:

Would you like me to call the police? There might be some news.

ED:

The police called last night, late last night. They found Eve's body.

GEOFFREY:

Oh, no.

ED:

They found her buried in the woods, near where they found her car.

GEOFFREY:

I'm sorry. I didn't know.

Geoffrey's watch alarm goes off. He looks at the time and then, habitually takes a shiny silver pillbox from his pocket. He takes two pills out.

GEOFFREY:

Excuse me.

ED:

I never knew I could feel so alone.

Geoffrey takes a thermos from his briefcase, pours some hot tea into the lid and swallows the pills with a mouthful of tea.

GEOFFREY:

He hasn't called since last night?

ED:

No.

GEOFFREY:

It's been a while. Why don't you let me call him? Maybe there's some news.

When Ed doesn't object, Geoffrey takes his address book from his briefcase, along with a cellular phone and dials the number.

GEOFFREY:

Detective Derm, please. Hi, Charlie, it's Geoffrey. I'm over at Ed Saxon's house. Yeah. He was hoping to get some information on his wife. Uh-huh. Well, he said you called him last night and told him that you had found her body. Uh-huh. I see. In the woods, near where you found her car. I don't know. Yes. Well, I did give him something to help him sleep. Right. Yes.

Then Geoffrey turns away from Ed and says a few words quietly, so that Ed can't hear. Then...

GEOFFREY:

Yes. Yes. I'll tell him. Yes. OK. Bye.

Geoffrey hangs up and turns back to Ed.

ED:

What?

GEOFFREY:

He says he never called you last night.

ED:

What?

GEOFFREY:

He told me to tell you to wait here for him; that he's coming over.

ED:

I don't understand.

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