Where’s Kimmy?
ADULT ERIC turns to YOUNG JANICE, who cannot see or hear him. Tears are in his eyes. ADULT ERIC
I’m sorry, Jan-Jan. Oh, God, I’m so sorry. It was all my fault.
YOUNG ERIC looks up at the mention of KIMMY. A look of guilt flashes across his face. YOUNG ERIC
Kimmy’s fine. She’s fine. I think… she went out walking. Yeah, she’s out in front. YOUNG JANICE
I can’t stand this! I feel like things are crawling all over me. Eric, what are we going to do about Topher? ADULT ERIC
I’m so, so sorry…
YOUNG ERIC
It’s okay. We’re all tripping — we’re just high, having a bit of a freak-out. Stay with me. Stay with me. It’ll be okay. Y
OUNG JANICE (wanting to believe)
You think so? Will you put your arms around me? I’m really scared.
YOUNG ERIC wraps his arms around her and they stand swaying in the middle of the living room.
ADULT ERIC slowly reaches his hand out to the two of them, then lets it drop as we SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
INT. — PIERSON HOUSE, NOW — NIGHT, SAME TIME
ADULT JANICE stands in a darkened, deserted hallway of the present-day house, moonlight coming in through the windows. A few objects left when the house was emptied and some windblown leaves lie on the floors. After a moment, she hears a sniffling sound — someone CRYING. Frightened, she makes her way slowly down the hallway, listening, until she stops in front of one of the doors. She opens that door, but instead of a room, there’s ANOTHER HALLWAY — incredibly long, equally dark, with a huddled shape sitting at the far end. The crying is louder.
JANICE
K-Kimmy?
KIMMY
You never came back for me.
JANICE is suddenly near tears. Music rises quietly — ELO’s “Telephone”.
JANICE
I… I didn’t know…
KIMMY
You followed Eric like you were his dog. He was so much more important to you than me — your best friend…!
JANICE moves toward her but the hallway does not seem to get any shorter. KIMMY is still far away, her back to JANICE, face hidden.
JANICE
I didn’t know any better. He was my boyfriend… Oh, Kimmy, that was twenty-five years ago!
KIMMY (a cracked laugh)
Not for me. For me it’s still happening. For me, it’s always happening…
JANICE
I’m so sorry!
The distance suddenly telescopes — JANICE is right on top of KIMMY. She reaches out to touch her.
JANICE
Kimmy? Can I do anything… anything to make it better?
KIMMY turns, except it isn’t KIMMY, it’s YOUNG JANICE, but still with KIMMY’s voice. YOUNG JANICE lifts BLOODY HANDS.
YOUNG JANICE/KIMMY
You betrayed me…!
ADULT JANICE screams; it echoes down the long corridor, twisting, growing fainter as we follow it around many twists and turns, until it fades back into the music of Hendrix, still playing somewhere. ADULT BRENT is standing in a corridor of his own, an Escher-like impossibilty of stairs and weird angles. He turns, bewildered. A little SMOKE drifts along the passageway.
BRENT is frightened and clearly lost. He takes a step, then another. A shadow falls on the wall across from him, and he turns with eyes wide. A dark figure steps
from an open door — it’s the ADULT ERIC.
ERIC
Brent? That you?
BRENT
Oh my God. Oh my God. I’ve been in here for hours — where did you go? Where’s Janice?
ERIC
I don’t know. Everything’s… strange.
BRENT
We have to get out of here. We should never have come. He’s going to…
ERIC
There must be some kind of sense to it, like Janice said. A reason. We were his friends…!
BRENT
No! He’s crazy. It wasn’t anybody’s fault — things just went wrong.
ERIC
Really? I thought you said it was all your fault.
BRENT
Let’s just get out of here.
ERIC
No, you distinctly said it was your fault. In fact, you were going to say that you betrayed him, weren’t you?
BRENT
What… what are you talking about?
ERIC
Come on… Brent. You know what betrayal is, don’t you?
ERIC steps closer, resting his hands on BRENT’s shoulders. BRENT is struggling, but he can’t get away.
ERIC
“You don’t know who your friends really are until you trip with them… ” Remember that? Remember?
BRENT (struggling)
Let go of me!
ERIC’s face is beginning to change — to harden and grow brittle. BRENT struggles harder, but it’s like being held by a statue. ERIC’s face grows completely rigid, like TOPHER’s SHELL. Then it cracks, and falls away, to reveal the YOUNG TOPHER beneath.
YOUNG TOPHER (big grin)
It’s all about the Court of the Crimson King, Brent. And hell has a special place saved for traitors…
BRENT’s clothes start to smolder where TOPHER is holding them. BRENT shrieks and flails and at last breaks away, falling backward.
YOUNG TOPHER
Wait! There’s still the big finale…
TOPHER reaches up and PEELS AWAY his face, revealing YOUNG BRENT’s FACE underneath. ADULT BRENT doesn’t stay to watch — he drags himself to his feet, running down the distorted corridor, shrieking and crying, as we CUT TO:
INT. — LIVING ROOM — THEN AND NOW
ADULT ERIC is miserably watching his YOUNG ERIC self combing through the carpet of the living room floor
