The Tall Man

1

(FEMALE DISPATCHER SPEAKING

INDISTINCTLY ON RADIO)

(MALE DISPATCHER SPEAKING

INDISTINCTLY ON RADIO)

CHESTNUT:
Not a single thing.

- What do we do?

- Police line.

No one goes in or out.

But there are other entrances.

Just make it look good.

(SIRENS WAILING)

(MOANING)

(BREATH ES SHAKILY)

- (MOANING)

- Shh, shh, shh, shh.

(DOOR OPENS)

How are you, Mrs. Denning?

We haven't found him.

Not him, not the others.

(HORN BLARING)

(DOG BARKING)

JENNY:
Our town has been dead for six years.

At first, we blamed the closing of the mine,

the lack of jobs,

the lack of money,

the lack of everything.

But then, we had much worse to blame,

for something had come to Cold Rock.

Something bad

that was destroying our town even more.

That morning, nobody knew the Cold Rock

case was reaching its conclusion.

WOMAN:
Don't drink out

in the street, Crawley.

What street?

(TIRES SQUEALING)

(WHIMPERS)

(GROANING)

(SCREAMS)

Julia!

(SCREAMING)

Julia! Some help here, please!

What happened?

I don't know.

She just started screaming

all of a sudden, out of nowhere.

How long has she been like this?

I don't know.

Oh, my God!

You didn't know?

- I'm not equipped for this, Tracy.

- (SCREAMING)

Push! Yes. You're doing it. You're doing it.

Good, good.

Now when the contraction comes again,

push where you feel my fingers, okay?

Push where my fingers are.

Down, push deep and down.

- Push.

- (GROANING)

Good, push. Push.

You're doing it. You're doing it.

You're doing it. Very good, very good.

Now do it again.

- (SCREAMING)

- Come on. There you go.

Here it comes, here it comes.

Good girl. That's it.

Okay.

Okay, it's breech,

which means the feet are coming first,

but it's fine. It's fine.

- I just need you to push really, really hard.

- Yes, you can.

- JULIA:
Really big push for me.

- Come on, let's go.

(SCREAMING)

Push. Push, Carol!

(SCREAMS)

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

You did it. There it is. There it is. You did it.

Why is there no sound?

The baby's fine. It's good. It's good.

Take her out. Take her out!

(GROANING)

TRACY:
Good work.

Good work. That is my girl.

You did such a good job.

- CAROL:
But the baby...

- I know, honey...

Julia is going to take

very good care of him.

I promise you. I promise.

JULIA:
Come on, baby. Come on, wake up.

Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Come on.

Take a breath. Take a breath.

You can make it. You can make it.

(INHALES DEEPLY)

Come on. Breathe. Come on, now. Breathe.

Breathe. Breathe for me. Come on.

Come on.

Okay. Come on.

Breathe.

Breathe.

You can do this.

Come on, come on. You can make it.

Open your eyes. Open your eyes.

(SOFT WAIL)

(LAUGHS) Okay.

(BABY COUGHS)

There you are. There you are.

- Hello.

- (WAILING)

(LOUD WAILING)

It's a big boy.

No hospital, Julia.

He needs monitoring, Tracy.

No. No way.

TRACY:
Steven.

That bastard never made

a secret of the fact he likes my girls.

He's always parading around

in front of them like a rooster,

bare-chested and cocky

with those stupid cowboy boots.

Always showing them

things and teaching them this and that

and Carol falling for all of it.

Did you realize?

No! God, no.

If I had, I would have shot him, bang-bang.

Goodbye, cowboy.

- Get rid of him.

- (SCOFFS)

(LAUGHS HUMORLESSLY)

This is nobody else's business,

Julia, but ours.

No hospital.

They won't ask any questions.

No, we won't go.

I won't put Carol through that shame.

She's not even 18.

We take care of our own problems, okay?

JENNY:
In Cold ROCK,

sometimes children were born

when they were not wanted.

People just managed,

and they didn't go

hollering it from the rooftops.

It may have been a bit sad,

but it was just good sense.

Because a lot worse things were happening

when it came to the children.

Wanted or not,

boys and girls,

some of them just disappeared.

Something had come to Cold Rock

that was taking the children.

Something so menacing,

so terrifying,

that the people finally gave it a name.

She was in her room,

a few minutes earlier

and I came back and...

And she was gone. She was just gone.

There wasn't a sound.

There was no screaming.

There was nothing. I just...

I went outside and he was gone.

I just wish. ..

I just wish I could have been there.

I couldn't believe it.

I looked up and down the street.

I couldn't see her anywhere. I panicked.

And all I could think of was the Tall Man.

I think he's the Devil.

What kind of people take people's kids?

You're talking about the Tall Man?

No, that's a myth. There's no Tall Man.

He exists.

MAN:
The only Tall Man

I've ever is seen is the one

the kids built of that scarecrow over there.

If this was a rich town, we'd have

the whole army here looking for those kids.

I saw him two times,

going into the forest at night time.

It was right there

like he was trying to avoid the bridge.

It's such a big place.

We've got so many places

for someone to hide.

(SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING)

What're you talking about?

What else could it be?

Of course it's a child molester.

The kind of a**hole

who really hurts the kids, you know?

All I'm saying is...

Well, what you say is bullshit, Chestnut.

It's not the bogeyman or the Devil

or any of that old wives' tale crap.

Tall man, my ass.

The guy's got a name

and he'll sh*t himself like anyone else

when we drag him to the chair.

DODD:
You know about a lot of things,

don't you, Douglas?

Give me another hit there, Beth.

I was sitting back there

listening to you tell us your...

Your life story.

Yeah, well, all I'm sayin' is,

you aren't here to catch a ghost, right?

Noted.

I'm just making conversation.

I hear that.

Cheers. Cheers!

Yeah.

Ladies. Gents.

The dark knight is back.

TRISH:
Arrived this morning.

He's already on his fourth cup of coffee.

Short black, no sugar.

Well, he's got to sit up all night in his car.

Hi, guys.

- Hey.

- Hi, Julia.

He's going to start messing about,

making his bullshit rounds

and all that for what?

You mean Dodd?

DOUGLAS:
I mean Sherlock Holmes.

CHESTNUT:
Yeah, like clockwork.

The last kid disappeared

two months ago.

Won't be long before the next one goes.

Dodd's back on the trail.

What difference will that make, huh, Julia?

This town's already finished.

Yeah, I guess everyone's feeling pretty down.

Tell me about that.

- Mrs. Johnson.

- She's gone.

Oh, I haven't seen her in weeks.

CHESTNUT:
Sweet Jesus!

She looks even worse than before.

She wouldn't mind a cup of coffee.

She wouldn't mind a winning lottery ticket.

For you, Mrs. Johnson, from Trish.

Don't you want it?

I think it might do you some good.

- (DOG BARKING)

- STEVEN:
Whoa!

I know I might have blacked out last night

celebrating the birth of my baby boy

but I know I didn't order up no nurse.

Good morning to you too, Steven.

What the hell you doin' here?

Just picking up the pieces.

Really? And who do you think you are?

I know who I am.

And what the f*** that's supposed to mean?

I'm talking to ya.

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