Glass Page #8

Daryl:
Take a little bit of grape seed extract, and it'll keep it all in there. You'll absorb it into your body faster. Let me ask you, how much water you drinking?

Joe:
Not enough.

Daryl:
Yeah. I know.

[In Kevin's cell, Patricia is sitting on the bed, moping. When the cell door suddenly opens, she seems surprised]

Patricia:
How? How did you get here without anyone seeing?

[Elijah, enveloped in shadows, folds his hands and rests them on his knees]

Elijah:
(in a gravelly voice) The sound of a car backfiring occurs when unburned fuel vapor is ignited by a very hot muffler upon the car being turned off. Daryl, who takes over at eleven p.m., suffers from this particular vehicular malady. It happened seven minutes ago. Couple that with the fact that I've overheard complaints about how long it takes him to get to his desk - he's a bit of a talker, you see - I estimate I have two to three minutes left.

Patricia:
(playfully) Someone has been pretending.

[He opens up a secret compartment in the arm of his wheelchair, filled with pills]

Elijah:
Pilfered the aspirin bottle. Replaced the original dose of medicine with the same amount of aspirin. Did sleight of hand with the pills given to me to take daily.

Patricia:
What do you want?

Elijah:
Ma'am. I'm here to see if the tales of the extraordinary being are real. The half-man, half-creature.

Patricia:
Patricia. But I appreciate your manners. I don't know anymore.

Elijah:
I'm a comic book expert, Patricia. I believe comic books are a continuation of documentation that has gone on for centuries of what humans are capable of. That they are what someone somewhere saw or felt. Are you aware that spandex, the underwear on the outside, and boots come from strongmen in the circus in the 1930s?

Patricia:
No.

Elijah:
The freakshow men who could do incredible feats of strength. I urge you to look past the capes and monologuing villains. Are you with me?

Patricia:
(a bit confused) Yes.

Elijah:
I only have a minute left. I believe The Beast may be part of this. There are references to man slash animal characters. The dual character, the man who has abilities like animals. I'd like to meet The Beast, see if he's real. If he is, then I'll get us all out of here tomorrow night.

[Patricia sniffs]

Elijah:
What's upsetting you, Patricia?

Patricia:
(unsure) What if he can't do these extraordinary things? What if he is just unwell? Like you.

[Elijah wheels himself forward, out of the doorway, towards Patricia]

Elijah:
Everything extraordinary can be explained away, and yet it is true. I think deep down you know this. Everything we will see and do will have a basis in science. But it will have limits. This is the real world, not a cartoon. And yet some of us don't die from bullets. Some of us can still bend steel. That is not a fantasy.

[The matriarch seems somewhat comforted, reassured in her beliefs]

Patricia:
Hmm. If you really think you can get us all out, then you may meet The Beast. But for your sake, I hope he likes you.

Elijah:
Tomorrow night. Call a board meeting or whatever.

[He goes back to the door. Patricia asks him a final question]

Patricia:
What do we call you, sir?

Elijah:
(turns his head back) First name, "Mister". Last name, "Glass."

[He leaves and the door slams shut. We then cut to Elijah lying in his bed, the very next day. Suddenly, the lights are turned on and orderlies are restraining him]

Elijah:
What's going on?

Dr. Staple:
Be careful.

[During the scuffle, Elijah gets injected with something]

Elijah:
What... Oh.

Dr. Staple:
(to the caretakers) Not too much pressure when restraining him.

Elijah:
Dr. Staple, what are you doing?

Dr. Staple:
It's a sedative.

Elijah:
What?

Dr. Staple:
I'm sorry to do this, Elijah.

Elijah:
Ow!

Dr. Staple:
We saw footage of you leaving your room last night.

Elijah:
No. No.

Dr. Staple:
It seems you have been duping us. I've moved up the procedure to this morning.

Elijah:
Wait, I...

[The patient loses consciousness. He is put on a stretcher and wheeled to the operation room. Daryl is walking next to him]

Dr. Staple (vo):
Thank you for being careful, everyone.

Daryl:
(smiling) Good luck, Elijah.

[As Elijah starts to wake up, the doctor leans forward, smiling]

Dr. Staple:
Nothing essential is going to change about who you are. I promise, my friend.

[The surgical device is activated and a red cross is projected on Elijah's head. The procedure begins and Elijah closes his eyes. He has a flashback in the form of another deleted Unbreakable scene. Elijah, at the age of thirteen, walks around in an amusement park, holding stuffed animals under his arms, possibly to protect himself from breaking something. His mother walks around, trying to find her boy]

Mrs. Price:
Elijah! Elijah!

[He sits down in an attraction and puts the stuffed animals next to him as a provisional airbag. He pulls the safety bar down and winds his sweater around it for good measure. The ride starts, the cabins starts to spin]

Announcer (vo):
So let's all scream!

[The child raises his arms and yells in joy. Mrs. Price then sees him and runs to the attraction, trying to save her son from being hurt]

Mr. Price:
Elijah!

Security Guard:
Ma'am, get ahold of yourself.

[Elijah lowers his arms and notices that the movement of his seat has caused the stuffed animals to fall down. The sweater around the safety bar unwinds and falls off. The child becomes frightful]

Elijah:
(crying) Mama!

Mrs. Price:
Elijah!

[Suddenly, Elijah flings to his left and breaks his shoulder on the car's side]

Mrs. Price:
(terrified) Stop the ride!

Security Guard:
Ma'am, step down.

Mrs. Price:
Stop the ride!

[The child falls out of his car, moping and in grave pain, while the ride powers down. The young Elijah just lies there, unable to move. We leave the flashback through adult Elijah's eye while the original rendition of Elijah's theme plays. After the procedure, Elijah is put back in his room. He seems to have returned to his catatonic state when Daryl enters to bring him something to eat]

Daryl:
Dinner, Elijah. (puts the platter of food on a nearby table) How you doing? You'll feel better tomorrow. (looks at the photos of Elijah and his mother) Pictures are crooked. (sits down in front of Elijah) Hey.

[The seemingly incapacitated Elijah then looks up and slices Daryl's throat with a shard of glass. The unfortunate caretaker grabs his throat, trying to stop the bleeding]

Elijah:
Took a b*tch-ass long time to find the right piece.

[The track Escape, a more fast paced version of Elijah's theme with a ticking clock added for good measure, starts to make itself heard. Elijah grabs the orderly's key card and drops the bloodstained glass shard on the ground, on other pieces of glass. Daryl gurgles, stumbles and falls on Elijah's bed, while the patient wheels to the table, looking through a surgery lens. A flashback fills us in on the details]

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