Dexter Page #2

DONOVAN:

(rhetorical, plaintive)

Why?

DEXTER:

I have standards.

And then in a flash, Dexter pulls a syringe out of his

pocket, PLUNGES the needle deep into Donovan's neck. His eyes

instantly roll up and into the back of his head and when we

see nothing but white, he collapses onto the floor.

Dexter leans down, picks him up by his collar, drags him up

the stairs.

CUT TO:

INT. SECOND FLOOR, OLD HOUSE - OUTSKIRTS MIAMI, FL - LATER

Flood lamps illuminate the clean, white, freshly painted

room.

The windows are sealed with thick plastic sheets and on the

table in the middle of the room -

7.

Donovan lies naked, but his arms and legs are strapped down

with duct tape. His eyes wide open and his mouth is stuffed

with thick wads of white gauze.

Placed strategically around the room are boxes lined with

white garbage bags and on a smaller table next to the Choir

Master are bottles of chemicals, small saws, drills, scalpels

and knives of every shape and size. It's an unseemly display

of gleaming metallic, sterile utensils.

Dexter, now wearing a clean set of pressed surgical blues and

a pair of surgical gloves, looks down at Donovan.

DEXTER:

Soon, you'll be packed into a few

neatly wrapped Hefties and my own

small corner of the world will be a

neater, happier place. A better place.

Dexter lifts a very sharp scalpel and an eye dropper off the

table, leans over Donovan and with the scalpel makes a small

precise little incision on the man's forehead.

Blood trickles out and using the eyedropper, Dexter very

carefully, sucks a few blood droplets up and into the small

tube of glass.

DEXTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Blood. Sometimes it sets my teeth on

edge.

When he sees the blood, Dexter clearly gets excited -

But after a beat, he controls himself, then very carefully

squeezes the rubber top of the eye dropper over a glass slide

and a few tear drops of blood gently spatter onto the slide,

then he presses a second piece of glass over it, seals the

two slides together --

FREEZE ON THE BLOOD SLIDE

DEXTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Other times, it helps me control the

chaos.

BACK TO SCENE:

Dexter slips the glass slide into his shirt pocket, smiles,

then grabs a small surgical saw off the table -- we HEAR the

whirl of its motor running and as Dexter slowly brings the

saw down toward Donovan's crotch --

We fade to -

8.

BLACK.

FADE BACK UP ON:

EXT. BOSTON WHALER - CANALS - MIAMI, FL - 4:30AM

Dexter stands behind the wheel of his little whaler, put-putputtering

past the early morning fishing boats -- a huge

smile on his face.

Dexter eyes a leather-skinned FISHERMEN standing on his

commercial fishing boat -- waves to him.

DEXTER:

Ahoy -- Ahoy there, Captain. Any big

Marlin out there today?

The fisherman smiles, waves back and Dexter smiles wide as he

navigates his boat out of the bay.

DEXTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Whatever made me the way I am left me

hollow, empty inside. People fake a

lot of human interactions -- but I

fake it all and I fake it very well.

A couple of speed boats cross dangerously in front of him.

DEXTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And that's my plight -- I care about

people as much as I care about lawn

furniture but I can't blame my foster

parents for that. Harry and Doris

Morgan did a wonderful job raising me.

But they're both dead now.

(beat)

I didn't kill them.

(beat)

Honest.

And just then a testosterone injected CIGARETTE BOAT cuts

across his bow causing a large wave to SPLASH over Dexter's

deck and we -

FLASHBACK TO:

EXT. CAMPGROUNDS - CENTRAL FL - LATE AFTERNOON

It's a beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon in the bucolic woods,

overlooking a small, lazy river.

9.

HARRY (50's), Dexter's foster father -- a diamond in the

rough, tough exterior, but soft at heart -- pulls a flask out

of his pants pocket, slowly unscrews the top, downs a slug of

booze, then slips the flask back into his pants.

YOUNG DEXTER (12) watches his father very carefully, then

picks up a small bottle of milk, unscrews the top, takes a

sip, screws the top back on, then tries to slip it into his

pants -- just like his father, but it doesn't fit so he sets

it aside.

Harry stares into nothingness -- then turns to his adopted

son and says very softly, simply -

HARRY:

You're different, aren't you, Dexter?

Dexter swallows hard, looks nervously at his dad.

YOUNG DEXTER:

(haltingly)

What do you mean, Pop?

HARRY:

The Billups say Buddy disappeared.

Little Dexter turns away.

HARRY (CONT'D)

(softly)

I found the grave, son.

YOUNG DEXTER:

(defensive)

That dog was a noisy little creep,

Pop. He was barking all night and Mom

couldn't sleep and she's very, very

sick and that lousy dog was yapping at

every leaf that blew down the

sidewalk.

Harry looks at Dexter.

HARRY:

There were a lot of bones in there,

Dexter and...not just Buddy's.

Little Dexter fidgets.

HARRY (CONT'D)

How long have you been doing this,

son?

10.

Dexter looks away then looks back into his father's eyes.

YOUNG DEXTER:

About a year and a half.

(beat)

Pop...Are you mad?

Harry stares at little Dexter, then slowly drapes his arm

around his son and pulls him close. And as they stare into

the river water, we're suddenly --

BACK ON:

DEXTER:

And as his boat disappears into the morning fog, we see the

back of the Whaler and it's named the ÒSLICE OF LIFE.Ó

CUT TO:

INT. DEXTER'S APARTMENT - COCONUT GROVE, FL - DAWN

Dexter walks into his apartment, closes the door behind him.

It appears more like a library than a home -- book shelves

are everywhere and all the books are categorized,

alphabetized and lined up perfectly.

Dexter walks past a stack of files, all labeled ÒMISSING

PERSONS:
PROPERTY OF MIAMI P.D.,Ó heads to the air

conditioner stuck in the window -- turns it up even colder.

In the middle of the room is a large desk -- with a computer

and the book Gray's Anatomy on top.

Dexter whips out a set of keys, unlocks the bottom desk

drawer, pulls out a long rectangular wood box, sets it on his

desk, lifts off the lid and from his shirt pocket, pulls out

the slide of blood we saw him extract from Donovan.

Dexter stares at it for a beat, then --

DEXTER (V.O.)

At least the code of Harry, my

wonderful father, is satisfied.

(beat)

And so am I.

He files it amongst many other slides inside the box, slams

the drawer shut, locks it, then picks up a Miami Police

Department folder entitled: ÒJAWORSKI.Ó

11.

DEXTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

He was a great cop here in Miami,

taught me how to think like one, even

though I'm not. Taught me how to cover

my tracks.

(beat)

I'm a very neat monster.

As he puts the folder down, he notices his answering machine

is BLINKING. Dexter eyes it, presses a button and we HEAR -

DEBRA (O.S.)

Dexter...DEXTER, YOU THERE?! ANSWER

THE FUCKEN PHONE.

SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. PARKING LOT - LA MAMACITA HOTEL - MIAMI, FL - SAME

And we see DEBRA (20's -- Dexter's outstanding-looking foster

sister) dressed as a classic cheap whore, her shapely body

shrink wrapped tight in a pink neon tube-top, mini-skirt,

fishnet stockings and high heels, talking urgently into her

cell phone.

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