Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 33
INT. SHELLY’S ROOM — THE WITCHING HOUR
Shelly has stayed up all this time to help Dirk if he needs it. She sits at her computer, looking at a website offering information about a Hoosier Uplands program that helps people finish their college degrees at state universities.
She pauses and looks up when she hears Dirk open his door across the hall. The door closes softly, and Shelly gets up. She seems to be waiting for her own door to open at any moment, but it never does. Instead, Dirk starts down the stairs.
When Shelly hears the front door open and close, she darts out of her room and runs down the hall after Dirk. She nearly falls down the stairs, she takes them so quickly.
As Shelly is coming to the end of the stairs, the headlights of a car shine a beam through the living room window. The light swims around the room, unpacking that shadowy midnight reality into strange shapes. Blinded, Shelly trips down the last stair, picks herself up, and throws the front door open.
Dirk is already gone. Shelly watches the taillights of her own car disappear beneath the trees. Then, looking nightmarishly dreamy, she turns around and yells for her parents.
Rod appears in the swirl of dust Dirk has left behind. He looks sadly at Shelly.
ROD
Nothing ever ends the way we think,
especially the endings on the brink
of new beginnings we can’t comprehend.
CUT TO:
EXT. BEDFORD AIRPORT
Dirk drives across the grass runway at the Bedford Airport. If it wasn’t for the small orange windvane, you might not even know it was an airport, it’s so wild and overgrown.
Everything seems unreal. The grass blows wildly around him, as if he is driving into a tornado, and Dirk is astonished by bright lights that shine just ahead. You can almost imagine that a UFO or a chariot full of angels has descended to greet him.
Dirk stops his car and steps out to find that he has parked close to a helicopter. The rotors of the helicopter seem to spin too lightly for all of the disturbance they work up.
Dirk squints. A man, Jason Justoaff, hidden in shadow, is standing beside the helicopter. He speaks in an eerily familiar, mechanical tone.
JASON JUSTOAFF
Dirk, we need your help.
DIRK
Who are you…?
JASON JUSTOAFF
I’ve been spying on you for a
long time, for the higher-ups at
Neverland. Something’s happened
to the databases at the
factory. The higher-ups want
me to bring you in because it’s
like what happened back when you were
working on the app at Rose. I need
you to come with me as soon as
possible. We’ll take the helicopter.
The helicopter rotors start to spin faster, as if anticipating the trip. Dirk stays put behind the car door.
DIRK (confusingly relieved)
And why should I trust you, whoever you are?
And why should I get on that helicopter,
to go to who knows where? It seems a little strange
that after all this time — the spying, shutting
me out, and making sure I got kicked out
of school after the wreck — that Neverland
would suddenly need my help with something, doesn’t it?
JASON JUSTOAFF
It’s unfortunate that I can’t
tell you where we’re going. Someone
might be listening. But you will
have your reconciliation
if you take this chance and come with
me, this instant. And surely, Dirk…
Jason Justoaff steps into the light, revealing himself. He is dressed in a blue pinstripe suit, and the silicone stretchiness of his skin, combined with his mechanical voice, makes it seem like the pinstripes are wires connecting unseen circuits. Even so, now that he is up close and not sailing by on a parade float, Dirk realizes who he is — the mayor and, judging by the sudden look of realization on Dirk’s face, apparently somehow, strangely also, a surprising acquaintance.
JASON JUSTOAFF (CONT’D) (smiling, revealing his pearly plastic teeth)
Don’t you recognize an old classmate?
CUT TO:
Coming Soon