while YOUNG JANICE watches him, worried. No music is playing.
YOUNG JANICE
Eric? Eric, what are you doing?
YOUNG ERIC
He’s faking. He has to be faking. He couldn’t have taken all of those pills…
YOUNG BRENT looks up from his records.
YOUNG BRENT
Hey, where’s Kimmy?
ADULT ERIC (a hopeless whisper)
Just tell them…
YOUNG ERIC (hurriedly)
Outside! She went for a walk!
BRENT rises and heads for the front door. He pauses in the open doorway.
YOUNG BRENT
The moon! It’s fucking huge — like a big eye!
As he goes out, YOUNG ERIC is still on his hands and knees, running his fingers through the carpet, searching.
YOUNG ERIC
It’s all bullshit. It has to be! We’re just too high.
YOUNG JANICE
What are you talking about?
YOUNG ERIC (looks up, desperate-eyed)
It’s not real. We’re all just tripping. Topher’s trying to freak us out. He just pretended to catch those pills, but they’re here somewhere. I’ll find them. That’ll prove it.
He goes back to his relentless combing of the carpet, crawling with his face practically down against the fibers. YOUNG BRENT comes back in and walks past them, then heads up the stairs. ADULT ERIC looks after him, then closes his eyes.
YOUNG JANICE doesn’t know what to do. She looks up at the stairway, then toward the front door. She watches YOUNG ERIC for a moment then sits back, hugging herself and looking very frightened. ADULT ERIC moves toward her, and although she can’t see him, he kneels in front of her.
ERIC
You were right. Oh, God, I was a fucking idiot, a terrified kid, trying to talk myself into thinking everything made sense. (a beat)
And now I’m a just a ghost and you can’t hear me…
For a moment YOUNG JANICE almost does seems to hear him: she tilts her head, as though searching for a tiny sound. Abruptly, the stereo comes on full-blast — “Iron Man”, by Black Sabbath — and she jerks her head back around to stare at it. There’s no one nearby: it has turned on by itself.
We begin to experience the first scene over again, but this time from ADULT ERIC’s viewpoint.
YOUNG JANICE
Eric! Eric, talk to me!
YOUNG ERIC looks up blearily from the carpet.
YOUNG JANICE
Eric, I want to get out of here right now…!
YOUNG BRENT, staggers down the stairs, clutching his hands against his stomach, panicky but trying to stay calm.
YOUNG BRENT
Shit, it’s bad — Topher’s freaking out for real up there.
YOUNG JANICE
Where’s Kimmy, Brent? What’s going on?
YOUNG BRENT
I don’t know! I can’t find her. I think… I think something bad happened! I…
As if finally realizing something, BRENT lifts his hands away from his body and stares at them. They are covered in blood, smeared to the elbows. His eyes bug out. Y
OUNG JANICE
Oh my God!
ADULT ERIC stares at BRENT, then looks up at the ceiling. He SEES something no one else can see, and cowers back in horror, gasping in panic, covering his face.
YOUNG JANICE
Eric! Eric, what’s going on? Stop that!
YOUNG BRENT has just noticed the music playing.
YOUNG BRENT
Why is this on? Who put on Sabbath? I hid the Sabbath!
YOUNG JANICE (panicked, overwhelmed)
It just… came on. Why do you have blood on you?
YOUNG BRENT
No, no, no! It’s all wrong! It’ll fuck everything up!
BRENT runs to the stereo and starts trying to turn it off, but can’t make the buttons work. Blood is smearing on the stereo knobs. He takes out the record and throws it on the floor, but “Iron Man” keeps on playing. He picks the record up and breaks it. He’s crying. The music keeps on playing. Something begins thumping on the ceiling — weird sounds, like there’s a large animal thrashing around up there.
YOUNG JANICE (suddenly certain)
Oh, no. Kimmy’s up there. With him. (to YOUNG ERIC)
She’s up there.
YOUNG ERIC shakes his head, but it’s not a denial.
YOUNG ERIC (gesturing frantically at carpet)
He didn’t take all the pills. They’re around here somewhere. It’s okay! Everything’s going to be okay…!
An even stranger NOISE comes through the roof, a long muffled shriek. The three teenagers look up. For a moment none of them move or speak, although the music continues loud. YOUNG JANICE
I’m going to get her.
She reaches the stairs, then turns to the two boys. She’s clearly terrified, but trying to be brave.
YOUNG JANICE
Well? Are you coming with me?
YOUNG ERIC
Everything will be all right.
YOUNG BRENT (dropping the bits of shattered record)
No. It won’t.
JANICE waits until YOUNG ERIC drags himself off the carpet and stands. ADULT ERIC leaps to the stairs and tries to block the way with his body.
ADULT ERIC
Don’t go up there! Don’t…!
But he’s insubstantial — they walk THROUGH HIM as we DISSOLVE TO:
INT. — STAIRS, THEN — MOMENTS LATER
We’ve dropped back into the shaky, distorted perspective from the beginning of the film, more or less YOUNG ERIC’s POV. YOUNG JANICE leads, YOUNG ERIC and YOUNG BRENT right behind. We can still hear the music, but it seems odd, underwater.
Everything upstairs is very trippy — angles seem strange. The hall lights are FLICKERING between bright and dim. It makes for an eerie, almost “strobelight” effect. YOUNG JANICE
Kimmy! Kimmy, where are you?
