Glass Page #7

Dr. Staple:
You're certain?

[Apparently, he's not. Not anymore, at least]

David:
You're... creating a chain of thoughts that never happened.

[Next to David, Patricia has taken the light. She smiles while she slowly and mockingly applauds the doctor. David briefly turns his head to her]

Patricia:
You really dissected him, Doctor. Good for you.

Dr. Staple:
As I understand it, there were many videos of world-class rock climbers on the computer in your office at the zoo. It was kind of an obsession. Some of those climbers could actually scale a literal wall, couldn't they?

Patricia:
(annoyed) What's your point, Doctor?

Dr. Staple:
It was a practical observation that produced a practical skill set in an alter.

Patricia:
Mm. Then how did he bend the bars? The iron bars at the zoo? You did see those, didn't you? That's not in our heads.

Dr. Staple:
The cages beneath the zoo were made in 1874, when the zoo first opened. I was able to bend them by putting a wrench between them and leaning back. Difficult, again, but possible.

[Patricia seems to get upset]

Patricia:
No. What about the shotgun? He was shot. Not once, but twice. What does your sleeping mind think of that?

Dr. Staple:
We've analyzed the shotgun and the cartridges. They were very old. There was a lot of moisture from the boiler room down in the locker area where they were kept. The cartridges were possibly compromised. And some of the pellets hit the inside of the bars. It is at least possible that there is a practical explanation for this.

[The alter shakes its head, she nearly cries]

Dr. Staple:
What if I suggested something upsetting, Patricia? Like The Beast isn't as powerful as you think. He's not much more powerful than a strong man. The facts you are basing your belief in are wrong. If superheroes exist, why are there only three of you?

[Both David and Patricia are visibly shook by the doctor's explanations. Elijah, however, almost seems like sees through everything, not through what's happening around him, but through the doctor herself. We cut to a comic book store, where Casey is talking to the clerk who runs it. The clerk is played, quite fittingly, by Bostin Christopher, who also played that same role in Unbreakable]

Casey:
When was the first comic book written?

Comic Book Clerk: The first reprints of newspaper strips in tabloid size happened in 1929. And then, in 1938, the apotheosis happened. Action Comics Number One launched, with the man in the cape and the blue tights on the cover. Booyah!

[He puts the comics that Casey bought in a plastic bag]

Comic Book Clerk: Here we are.

Casey:
Thank you.

[The girl leaves. The clerk then hears someone in the back of the store]

Comic Book Clerk: What are you doing back there? You're not one of those Hello Kitty pervs?

[It's Joseph, who has apparently been looking through the Heroes section of the store]

Joseph:
I'm just looking for something. Prove to someone I'm not crazy. I'm leaving.

[Just as he's about to leave, he turns back. He didn't check the Villains section. He pulls out an issue of Whisperman, with the title "Who Are His Parents?". Back at the store, Joseph continues his research, looking through several news articles and subsequent blog posts of people making their opinions about superhumans heard. After he notices an article about Kevin Wendell Crumb, he starts Googleing for his parents. When he opens a news article about the man's father, Clarence Wendell Crumb, he makes a shocking discovery]

Joseph:
Oh, my God.

[We then cut to Casey's foster family, where she is reading a comic. One of her foster sisters hugs her before she joins the other children]

Kids:
Catch. You're it. Let's play hot potato, guys. Let's play hot potato! Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato. Hot potato...

[In the comic, she sees a bulky man pulling metal bars apart. The children's voices down out while she flashes back to when The Beast was bending the bars in Split. She starts to believe. In the mental hospital, Pierce is talking over the phone to someone]

Pierce:
(talking to his phone) I'm just asking you to bring in a package if you see one instead of stepping over it to come in the house.

[He then passes Elijah's cell. He hangs up and shines his flashlight through the small window. Elijah sits in the middle of the room]

Pierce:
Hello?

[He enters the room with his key card. He steps to the patient and squats down to make eye contact]

Pierce:
If, by mistake, I-I drop this... heavy flashlight on your paper legs… no one would come check on you for some time, not until Daryl gets here for his shift. Have you been getting out of your room, Elijah?

[Elijah remains silent. The sadistic orderly drops the flashlight, but Elijah keeps his cool while it falls down. Pierce grabs the flashlight just before it hits the patient's legs]

Pierce:
I must be losing my mind.

[He leaves Elijah's room. He briefly looks at Elijah before he closes the cell door. Outside of Raven Hill, a car stops and gets parked. When the motor gets turned off, a loud bang is heard, the car backfires. In the hospital, we see the shadow of someone in a wheelchair moving himself forward. No one notices it, the orderly who has done the evening shift just leaves the building, while Daryl gets out of his car]

Orderly:
Night, Joe.

[The security guard, Joe, notices Daryl]

Joe:
Have a good night.

[The unnamed orderly meets his colleague halfway]

Orderly:
Daryl.

Daryl:
Hey, my man.

Orderly:
You almost made it.

Daryl:
I think your watch is fast.

[The orderly leaves while Daryl gives his buddy Joe a firm handshake]

Daryl:
Joe, my man.

Joe:
How's it going?

Daryl:
What's going on?

Joe:
What's happening?

Daryl:
Looking tired, man. You still taking that multivitamin?

Joe:
Not like I should.

Daryl:
Yeah, but, listen, you got to take the D. If you don't take vitamin D, none of that stuff's gonna absorb into your body.

[In the control room, someone is looking through several news articles about David and Kevin. In the reflection of the monitor, we see that it's Elijah. The facade has been dropped, he's looking through the articles as if he's looking for something. He notices a nearby magazine. He picks it up and looks at the cover. "The Osaka Tower: A True Marvel", it reads. After that, he looks through the patient dossiers and finds Kevin's file. All of his twenty four personalities have been listed, including The Beast. He also finds the names of Kevin's parents, Penelope and Clarence Wendell Crumb. That last name appears to ring a distant bell in Elijah's mind]

Elijah:
(whispering to himself) Clarence Wendell Crumb...

[Then it clicks. Elijah drops the dossier and appears to be shocked, but laughs nervously. At the main entrance, Daryl is leaning against the door frame, continuing his conversation with Joe. Apparently, he has no rush to get to his desk]

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