Gothika Page #3

MIRANDA:

I want to talk to my husband.

PETE:

You can't to that. Sit down,

please. Try to relax.

MIRANDA:

Why would I pretend to be in anyway relaxed?

PETE:

I understand you're upset. But we

need to put some things in order.

MIRANDA:

Two massive understatements.

He hesitates, unsure where to begin.

PETE:

How long have you been here?

MIRANDA:

(laughs)

What is this? Why are you doingthis to me?

PETE:

Just answer the question. Humor

me.

(CONTINUED)

13.

CONTINUED:

MIRANDA:

Hi, my name is Miranda Grey. I'm a

psychiatrist. I transferred here to

the Woodward Forensic Institute a

little over a year ago. My jobentails dealing with a ward ofschizophrenic women between theages of eighteen and fifty-fife -

PETE:

I don't mean how long you'veworked here, I mean how longyou've been staying here.

This stops her. Wanting desperately to whip out acomeback but realizing she doesn't know the answer.

MIRANDA:

I'm a doctor, yes? Or was medical

school just an elaborate dream?

PETE:

Of course you're a doctor. Agreat doctor in fact.

The hint of sadness in his voice alarms her.

MIRANDA:

Pete, how long have I been here?

PETE:

Five days.

MIRANDA:

(barely audible)

What?

PETE:

You were admitted to the

neurosurgical unit seizingviolently. That lasted three

days. Scans revealed left-sided

weakness, numbness and severe

fontal lobe deficits.

Miranda shakes her head in disbelief, but we -

FLASHBACK - INT. NEUROSURGICAL UNIT

Miranda seizing violently FROM HER POV: Doctors

struggling to contain her. Arms thrashing, legs.

FLASHES of the wall, the floor. Head crashing against acart, out of control.

(CONTINUED)

14.

CONTINUED:

PETE (V.O.)

You came out of it and tested

negative for PCP, underwentextensive hypnosis and receivedamytal injections.

FLASH:
Miranda being tied down. A nurse with a

syringe -

INT. MIRANDA'S CELL - CONTINUOUS ACTION (PRESENT)

She looks down at her wrists with the reddish marks.

PETE:

You were tied down for a day and ahalf so you wouldn't hurt yourselfand then you went into a state of,

well -

(how to put this?)

You've been pretty much catatonic.

(beat)

This is the first time you speak.

Miranda, speechless. Reality sinking in.

MIRANDA:

Doug must be worried sick. I need

to call him -

Pete shakes his head emphatically.

PETE:

You're the most logical person Iknow, bar none. Plus you have aphotographic memory -- unconfirmed,

but you do remember events andphrases more accurately than anyonearound. Why am I telling you this?

MIRANDA:

You're establishing my personalityas fairly intellectual, you don'tconsider me impulsive or emotional.

PETE:

And that's a fair assessment, no?

MIRANDA:

Yes, that's fair. And followingthis pattern of analysis, we'reabout to discuss a traumatic event

that rendered this psychologicalprofile useless, correct?

(CONTINUED)

15.

CONTINUED:

PETE:

Two hundred percent.

A pause here. He's waiting for her to continue. She's

not used to being on the other side of the therapist'stable.

MIRANDA:

You think I'm in denial. That I'm

putting on a brave show -- that

this is a 'cover' for some

unbearable emotion I'm hiding.

Why?

PETE:

Don't analyze yourself, just focus

on remembering.

MIRANDA:

I remember Friday night after

work, if you say that was five

days ago -

(pushing on)

Anyway, I asked you what you were

doing for the weekend and you said

the usual and you made a joke

about writing country songs and

drinking yourself to sleep and I

told you I was going to look at

some real estate in Willows Creek

with Doug.

PETE:

And then what?

MIRANDA:

Then I drove home.

PETE:

And then what?

MIRANDA:

I got home, I guess, and had

dinner by myself because -

(pauses, struggling)

Because Doug had an alumni meeting

at his school and he was going to

get a ride back. He's the

principal now, as you well know.

She stops here. Pete waits. The silence is deafening.

She pushes on, but her hands shake a little.

(CONTINUED)

16.

CONTINUED:

MIRANDA:

But wait -- there was an accident

before that, wasn't there? A girl-- she had been beaten. I took

her to the hospital, right?

PETE:

There was indeed an accident, youwere detoured by the cops. But

there's no report of any girl.

MIRANDA:

No, the cops weren't there. Theywere back on Main Road. A

knocked-down telephone post,

correct?

Pete nods. Miranda is all foggy on the details:

MIRANDA:

I saw the girl after that. She

was bleeding.

FLASHBACK - ANTIQUE WIND CHIMES

sway in the night breeze with their gentle tinklingSOUND, more menacing than joyful -

FLASH CUT TO:

INT. MIRANDA AND DOUG'S HOUSE - NIGHT

A breathless Miranda wipes her face, leaving a thickstreak of blood on it.

FLASH CUT TO:

EXTREME CLOSEUP - MIRANDA'S EYE

Jittery, alert. We scour her every blood vessel, iris,

pupil. FILLING the SCREEN and now we distinctly make outan eerie shape reflected inside of it. But just for a

sec -

The teenage girl.

PETE (V.O.)

What about your husband, what canyou tell me about him?

17.

INT. MIRANDA'S CELL - CONTINUOUS ACTION (PRESENT)

Miranda shakes the puzzling images out of her head:

MIRANDA:

Excuse me?

PETE:

What's the last memory you have ofhim that night?

MIRANDA:

My last -- ?

(frowns)

Tell me nothing happened to Doug.

PETE:

Let's backtrack a second. You left

your office, you were driving home,

you got detoured by the police -Did

you call someone on the phonethat night?

MIRANDA:

I don't know. I might have.

PETE:

Who would you call?

MIRANDA:

I might have called Doug to tellhim something. Or checked myanswering service.

PETE:

Were you seeing someone else thatnight?

MIRANDA:

I beg your pardon?

PETE:

There was some trouble in yourmarriage, wasn't there?

MIRANDA:

Of course not.

She shakes her head emphatically as we:

FLASH CUT TO:

FLASHBACK - INT. LOFT - NIGHT

CAMERA PANS ACROSS the large space to find Miranda and aMAN (whose face we don't see) kissing heatedly.

(CONTINUED)

18.

CONTINUED:

PETE (V.O.)

Wasn't there?

INT. MIRANDA'S CELL - CONTINUOUS ACTION (PRESENT)

Miranda chases the disconcerting image out of her head.

MIRANDA:

No. There was no trouble in mymarriage, I don't know what -

(stops herself)

There is no trouble in mymarriage. You just used the pasttense; why?

His face says he doesn't know how to tell her.

MIRANDA:

Did something happen to Doug?

PETE:

You don't remember anything else.

Anything at all?

Frustrated, she snatches his cell phone and starts todial:

MIRANDA:

This is preposterous. What's

wrong with Doug?

PETE:

He's dead.

This stops her cold. Time stands eerily still. She

stares at Pete as if by looking at him long enough, hewill contradict his statement.

MIRANDA:

No, he's not. Don't tell me that.

Don't tell me that.

(sickened)

Are you -- sure?

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