A Stark and Wormy Knight

by Tad Williams

  KIMMY

  Yes. Like we’re ghosts, maybe. I never knew that there were so many places outside the world, Eric. I never thought there was any place I could really talk to you.

  She turns to him, very intent.

  KIMMY (cont.)

  I could never say this to you in real life, but since this is a dream it doesn’t matter — I’m just talking to myself. I’ve been in love with you since 9th grade, Eric. Since we were in that Social Studies class together and did that project. When Janice started to go out with you, it hurt so much…

  (smiling but teary-eyed)

  And I just thought, I can never say it, she’s my best friend. But now you and I are dreaming the same dream.

  ERIC, overwhelmed, just stares.

  KIMMY (cont.)

  You’ll never know how much I wished this could happen for real. I used to imagine that we met at a party, and that you didn’t know Janice, and that we…

  (she turns her head away; when she turns back, her expression is almost feverish)

  Sometimes I think about that at night, when I’m in bed, and I… I touch myself.

  YOUNG ERIC

  Jesus, Kimmy, I…

  She leans over and puts her finger against his lips.

  KIMMY

  Ssshhh. I know — it doesn’t matter. I never understood that before, but I do now. Because there are places like this where we can be together — where we were always together.

  (she giggles)

  I wonder if I’m asleep now? Lying on the floor, and you guys are trying to wake me up…

  KIMMY takes off her glasses.

  KIMMY (cont.)

  I want to learn everything, do everything. I probably won’t even remember this when I stop dreaming, but…

  She suddenly leans forward and kisses him. ERIC, still stunned, almost pulls back, but the intensity of her kiss is compelling and he is drawn into it. After a moment they roll over onto the bed. A couple of times ERIC starts to draw away, more from overload than moral resistance, but KIMMY is uninhibitedly PASSIONATE — kissing and even licking his face and neck, climbing onto him, slithering her body over his with abandon. The kissing grows more intense; both of them have their hands in each others’ shirts and pants — ERIC has begun pulling KIMMY’s pants down over her hips when he suddenly hears JANICE’s voice loud in the hall just outside the door.

  YOUNG JANICE

  No, I don’t know where the Led Zeppelin is, Brent. You’ve got the records all over the place, how am I supposed to know?

  Startled, ERIC slides away from KIMMY and onto the floor with a painful thump, almost tipping over the lamp table. He begins zipping himself up. KIMMY shows no such guilt, still deep in her “dream”.

  KIMMY

  Eric… ? What are you doing?

  ERIC hurriedly finishes, then gets his hand on the door just as JANICE starts to open it. For a moment they stand face-to-face.

  YOUNG JANICE

  What… ?

  YOUNG ERIC

  (blustering)

  Where have you been?

  YOUNG JANICE

  What do you mean, where have I been? You’re really sweating again.

  YOUNG ERIC

  I’m high, Janice. I’m tripping. But I was… I was worried about you.

  (he begins to move toward the stairs, leading her away from the bedroom.)

  Topher’s acting crazy. Completely crazy. It’s fucking with my mind. Do you think he really took all those pills?

  YOUNG JANICE

  I don’t want to think about him. Maybe I should just go home — I don’t feel very good. Besides, my mom didn’t answer the phone, so I couldn’t tell her I was staying at Kimmy’s. She’ll be pissed if she comes back and I’m not there.

  YOUNG ERIC

  What are you talking about? You already called her. Jesus, Janice, you call her again and she’ll know you’re high.

  YOUNG JANICE

  I called her already? Really?

  (looks distraught)

  Is that cause I’m tripping? I don’t like this stuff, Eric. I want to come down.

  ERIC puts and arm around her, leads her back downstairs.

  YOUNG ERIC

  I think there’s some of that sinsemillan left. We should have a couple of hits, mellow us out…

  As they reach the bottom of the stairs, BRENT suddenly lurches into view, holding a monstrous pile of records; some are slipping out of their jackets onto the floor, but he doesn’t even notice.

  YOUNG BRENT

  I figured it out. It’s okay. It’s all handled.

  YOUNG JANICE

  What are you talking about?

  YOUNG BRENT

  See, I was thinking, “Stairway to Heaven”, but that’s so obvious, but Jimmy Page used to play in the Yardbirds, just like Clapton, and Clapton was in Blind Faith. And “Yardbird” means “prisoner”, see?

  YOUNG ERIC

  You need to calm down, man.

  YOUNG BRENT

  No, no, you’re not thinking. You remember that Blind Faith song, “Sea of Joy”? Get how it connects? Because “Sea” is not only “Sea” like “ocean”, but it’s “C” like “Clapton” and also “Crimson”, right? “Court of the Crimson King”, and that’s the devil, right, the devil’s court — that’s hell. So how do you get out of hell, that’s the Stairway to Heaven. Blind Faith. So it’s also “C” like “see” — seeing. With your eyes. You have to just… close your eyes, and you’ll get out. We’ll all get out, someday, even… even if it takes a thousand years.

  (a long pause; BRENT looks haunted)

  Don’t you get it?

  Before ERIC or JANICE can answer, the FRONT DOOR swings open. TOPHER stands framed in it, feet wide apart, head down, face obscured by dangling hair. When he lifts it, we see that his face is streaked with dirt and scratches and his eyes are wild and lost.

  TOPHER

  It’s… getting too big…

  He staggers forward, raising his hand to his friends. He looks so deranged that ERIC, JANICE and BRENT all step back from him.

  TOPHER (cont.)

  (a moment of focus; a cracked smile)

  Hey, Erky, check it out.

  (sings)

  “‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me… ”

  He suddenly stumbles and falls to his knees in front of them, head back, this time the eyes rolled up until only the whites show.

  TOPHER (cont.)

  (almost whispering)

  Help me…

  DISSOLVE TO:

  EXT. — PIERSON HOUSE, NOW – NIGHT

  ADULT ERIC stands by himself on the front porch of the house. He looks around. There’s no one in sight, no lights but the strong glow of a full moon. The house itself is dark, too, and everything is dead silent. ERIC takes a breath, opens the front door and steps through. He is tensed, but moonlight streaming through the windows shows the house is stripped, EMPTY.

  Coming up from silence, slowly, is T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong”. As ERIC hears it, he shudders and turns to locate the sound of the noise, and as he turns the MUSIC and LIGHT and MOVEMENT all EXPLODE simultaneously. “Bang a Gong” is playing earsplittingly loud, and the room is suddenly the LIVING ROOM, CIRCA 1976. But this time, the ADULT ERIC is right in the middle, a witness to everything, including the younger version of himself.

  ADULT ERIC stands in the middle of the floor, blinking, astonished, as YOUNG TOPHER collapses to the floor and YOUNG ERIC, YOUNG BRENT, and YOUNG JANICE stand staring.

  YOUNG ERIC

  Oh, man, why did you take that shit?

  As he bends over TOPHER, who is shaking violently, JANICE grabs at YOUNG ERIC’s arm.

  YOUNG JANICE

  We have to call an ambulance.

  YOUNG BRENT

  No fucking way. The cops will be all over this place!

  YOUNG JANICE

  He might be dying!

  YOUNG ERIC

  Topher? Can you hear me, man? You’re jus
t tripping.

  YOUNG JANICE

  We have to get him to a doctor!

  YOUNG ERIC

  Topher?

  TOPHER looks up, ragged and pale, but suddenly smiling.

  TOPHER

  Tripping? You wish, man. I’m… I’m becoming.

  YOUNG ERIC

  Let me help you…

  He reaches down to pull TOPHER to his feet, but TOPHER simply shrugs and is three feet to one side. He has MOVED INSTANTANOUSLY, like a jump-cut. YOUNG ERIC is holding empty air. He is stunned, and looks up at the others. YOUNG JANICE is blankly terrified. YOUNG BRENT suddenly turns away, scuttling toward the stereo.

  YOUNG BRENT

  I definitely gotta put something else on…

  He takes off T.Rex with a jagged scratch and begins scrambling among the albums scattered all over the floor.

  ADULT ERIC has been watching this. Now he takes a step forward toward his younger self, reaching out as if to take himself in his own arms, but ADULT ERIC’s hand passes right through YOUNG ERIC, who is still staring after TOPHER.

  YOUNG ERIC

  What… what’s going on?

  YOUNG TOPHER

  Don’t touch me, Erky. You can’t stop it.

  YOUNG JANICE

  Topher, you’re scaring me…

  She cautiously reaches toward him, as though he might be hot to the touch, but TOPHER is suddenly GONE again, having moved instantaneously to the base of the stairway leading upstairs.

  ADULT ERIC

  (shouts)

  Just get out of the house!

  (no one can hear him; his face crumples in misery)

  Get Kimmy…

  YOUNG BRENT

  Topher, man, I couldn’t find the Sabbath, but check this out! You love this! You love this, man!

  The choppy opening licks of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” come out of the speakers.

  YOUNG BRENT (cont.)

  Just sit down and listen to Jimi, man.

  YOUNG TOPHER

  (a big grin)

  Listen to him? I’m talking to him, bro! I’m talking to all the dead people…

  TOPHER turns and makes his way up the stairs into the darkness.

  YOUNG ERIC

  It’s the acid. I didn’t see it. It’s the acid. It’s the acid…

  YOUNG JANICE

  What are we going to do? We have to call an ambulance, the police, something…

  (sudden realization)

  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.

  YOUNG 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 h
is 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 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.