The Vanishing of Sidney Hall Page #8

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Just hurry. Please.

Honey,

just hang in there,

it'll be all right.

It'll be all right. Please.

I'm sorry

I'm so sorry.

Mel

I failed

You deserve so much

better than this.

You deserve more than me.

I'm right here. Can you hear

that? Can you hear that?

They're almost here,

just a few more minutes, okay?

All right?

I'm here. I'm right here

with you. Just calm down.

Breathe

The entire

Southwest on wildfire alert

I'll be back, the day before.

We'll get some dinner,

I'll take you out

with all your buddies.

I look forward to meeting her.

Sidney Hall was

recently declared deceased

All right, I love you too

has reemerged

an hour ago.

All right, goodbye.

Renowned author was admitted

to Taos General Hospital,

in Taos, New Mexico.

This is the first time that

the notoriously reclusive

Mr. Hall has been heard from

or seen in public

in over seven years.

Those at the hospital

say his condition is critical.

Hello?

When he gained consciousness,

we asked him

who he wanted us to call.

You were the only one

he mentioned.

You're the only person

he wants in the room.

What happened to him?

There are indications

of scarring

on the right side of his brain.

His liver is barely functioning.

And he has a history of

seizures. Simply put

He's been going for years with

no medication or treatment.

Is he going to be all right?

His body is failing

him, Mr. Bishop.

But his mind still seems sharp.

He claims it's the comfiest

bed he's slept in, in years.

Well, I guess I'll go in then.

This is the home we've

been waiting for, all right?

I haven't seen her in

a long time.

Almost forgot.

I swore I'd never forget this.

Mr. Hall.

Call me Sidney, for f***'s sake.

Okay.

Where's Homer?

He's at the house.

I promise you

I'll take care of him

until you get out of here.

You see that, right there?

There's a package

It's just a portion of

my writings.

And scribblings. Just stuff

from over the years.

It's yours if you want it.

Use it.

Do what you want with it.

There are three reasons why

I called you here today.

One is that

I want you to write

this little book of yours.

Two.

is that there's something

I never documented

that I need to get off my chest.

And the third is

You're the only person I know.

Where do you want to start?

We'll start with the person

Suburban Tragedy is based on.

His name was Brett Newport.

And this is how I killed him.

What's in it?

None of your business.

Here, hide this. Now! Go

Get out of the car!

Remember, you hold the key.

All right You hold the key!

He wasn't in school on Monday.

He was probably grounded

and beaten,

which would have explained

the bruises I saw on his face

later that week.

Hey, so, um,

you still have that thing?

Yeah. Yeah.

I can bring it

to the finals on

Monday if you want.

I stared at that lunch box

for over half an hour.

What was the best way

to go about this?

Melody was still forefront

on my mind.

Somehow I felt obligated

to bring closure

to this current development.

Even now, deep down I knew

that once I opened that box,

it would ultimately not be

the ending

or rather the beginning

of something very unfortunate.

Did you watch it?

Look man, it's, uh

It's really none of my business.

Did you watch it?

There, documented on video

was Brett's Father,

Judge George Newport, having

sex with an underage girl.

And when it was finally over,

he would arrange for a car

to take her back to school,

middle-school by

the looks of it.

And then just minutes

after the Judge left,

it all came together.

Smart kid.

Who would have known

underneath that football helmet

was such a damaged soul.

A soul that may well have been

on its way to greatness

had it not been stilted

by an upbringing

I couldn't even begin

to imagine.

I'm gonna kill him,

I swear to God,

next time he tries to touch me,

I'm gonna take a knife

and I'm gonna stab him

in his f***ing neck.

Okay, look, man,

if you turn the tape

in to the authorities,

he won't be around anymore.

You know?

He rapes Darcy

Okay. You're going to have to

turn in the tape

as soon as possible.

She doesn't say anything,

but I know he does it, man.

Because I can hear her cry,

some nights, through the wall.

Listen.

Listen, this has to end.

All right. This has to end

and that's why

we dug it up. Right?

That's why we dug it up.

So this can end.

I'm gonna stab

the f***ing bastard.

Listen to me, man,

don't do anything stupid.

Alright? Just wait until

Monday, we'll turn it in.

I'll go in with you.

Okay? I'll go with you.

I should have turned

that tape in.

I should have listened

to his words

and taken them more seriously.

But I didn't.

- This is Melody.

- Hi.

Are those my notebooks?

What's going on?

I found this in your VCR.

No No,

it's not what you think.

I don't know what to think.

I mean,

I don't know if it's porn

or some black market S'n'M sh*t

but it is much sicker than

I imagined you to have.

You know.

And after watching this,

I thought I better

read your journals,

because I better get

some insight into my son.

And all I read about

was drugs and masturbation

and black high school teachers,

and let's not forget about

the beautiful passages

about your mother, the whore!

The high school cheerleader

that got knocked up

by the tight end.

You don't understand, all right?

- Just give me

- Don't understand?

- Stop it.

- F*** you!

No! No! No!

You will learn about respect

when you write

about your mother!

Maybe next time

you'll think twice!

- No! No! Stop it! Stop it!

- Oh, f***ing

No. No.

Brett called me to

ask when we should meet up.

And I had to tell him

the tape was gone.

And he hung up on me.

He died on an unusually

cold Sunday.

Stabbed himself, in the stomach.

There were rumors

that he did it to

avoid military school.

But I knew the truth.

I killed him

You can't blame

yourself for that.

I may not have been there

when the knife went in,

but I was there ever since.

He's been with me.

I know the entire

course of a person's life

can change, in a millisecond.

Do something.

- Do something. Do something.

- I'm trying to.

I'm trying to,

let me do something.

Sing.

- Sing what?

- Sing

- Sing?

- Sing.

What do you want me to sing?

What do you want me to sing?

I'll sing anything you want.

All right I'll sing.

I will.

Yeah

If today was not

a crooked highway

If tonight I could

finally stand up tall

If tomorrow wasn't

such a long time.

Then lonesome would

mean nothing to me at all

Stay with me

Stay with me

If only my love was

standing by me

If I could hear her

heart a-softly poundin'

If only she was lyin' by me

I'd lie in my bed

Once again

Stay with me.

I only know the first verse.

I don't know the second verse.

You want me to keep singing,

I'll keep singing for you.

If today was

like a crooked highway

If tonight I could

finally stand up tall

If tomorrow wasn't

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