What Lies Beneath Page #16

CLAIRE:

And his face... it seemed so gentle,

and I knew... in that second I knew

that I'd imagined the whole thing.

Dr. Drayton takes this in. She seems genuinely frightened.

CLAIRE:

What's happening to me?

DR. DRAYTON

Well, that's what we're here for.

He watches her calmly, some empathy on his face.

DR. DRAYTON

Whether you imagined it or not, you

actually saw and heard things that

frightened you... that gave you reason

for concern.

CLAIRE:

Yes, but...

DR. DRAYTON

Your friend saw them.

CLAIRE:

Isn't there something called group

hysteria?

DR. DRAYTON

You think you influenced her?

CLAIRE:

Maybe. I don't know. I just know

that when all this was happening, I

felt, some part of me felt... alive.

Like somebody needed me. And the

more I reached out to, it, the fuller

it became.

DR. DRAYTON

You're saying you willed these events

to happen?

CLAIRE:

I don't know, I'm very confused right

now.

Beat.

DR. DRAYTON

Did you ever find out what it wanted?

Claire remembers.

CLAIRE:

She said, "You know." That I know.

DR. DRAYTON

Do you?

CLAIRE:

No.

DR. DRAYTON

What do you think?

(beat)

Guess.

Claire ponders this.

CLAIRE:

I felt... pain. That she'd been hurt

by someone.

(beat)

This is great. I'm trying to intuit

the emotions of a figment of my --

DR. DRAYTON

Have you been hurt?

CLAIRE:

Me? No. Well, in the accident I was

injured, but...

DR. DRAYTON

You were in an accident?

CLAIRE:

Last year. I drove my car up a tree.

Nothing serious, this...

(she indicates her

scar)

...a minor concussion. But the car

looked bad. It could have been bad.

I think it scared the hell out of

Norman.

Beat.

DR. DRAYTON

How's your marriage?

Claire's eyes widen.

CLAIRE:

Listen, don't hold back.

Dr. Drayton smiles kindly.

CLAIRE:

Well, he's been amazing throughout

this whole thing. Patient and

caring...

(beat)

I mean, sure, he can be obsessed

with his work, and... it's a very

important time right now with all

that. But, sometimes... I mean with

everybody, right? Sometimes it's

like...

She trails off.

DR. DRAYTON

What?

CLAIRE:

That he doesn't... see me, or, you

know, that I'm... that's something's

wrong... with me.

DR. DRAYTON

That can't feel good.

CLAIRE:

No, it doesn't... Okay, look, I see

what you're doing here, and that's,

I'm sorry, but that's not it. My

marriage is fine. I've had some kind

of "empty-nest" episode where I saw

some things that weren't there. Let's

deal with that. I'm willing to deal

with that.

(beat)

I just don't want to go conjuring

problems where none exist.

Claire finishes her tirade. Dr. Drayton lets her settle for

a moment.

DR. DRAYTON

Fair enough. But you should know

that I'm far less concerned with

whether things you saw "existed,"

than I am with why you saw them.

She takes in the ramifications of that.

EXT. PORCH - DAY

Claire's carrying some cuttings into the house. She hears a

knock at the gate, walks over and opens it to discover...

Mrs. Feur. The real one.

MRS. FEUR

I wanted to apologize.

CLAIRE:

You do?

MRS. FEUR

For scaring you like I did. When I

thought about what that must have

seemed like that day...

CLAIRE:

And then you weren't there.

MRS. FEUR

Right. I'm sorry.

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