Unwell Season 2/Episode 11- The Gang Goes In

by Jessica Wright Buha

Sleepy afternoon cuddles
Above the roof, under the floor
The worst possible moment.

----

Content Advisories for this episode can be found below.

Support Unwell and HartLife NFP on Patreon at www.patreon.com/hartlifenfp

This episode features: Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Amelia Bethel as Marisol, Marsha Harman as Dot, Kathleen Hoil as Abbie, Joshua K. Harris as Rudy, Anuja Vaidya as Norah Tendulkar, Symphony Sanders as Young Lily, and Hilary Williams as Joey, and Michael Turrentine as Wes.

Written by Jessica Wright Buha, sound design by Alexander Danner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, Unwell lead sound designer Ryan Schile, Executives Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.

This episode contains:

Frightening supernatural sounds
Oblique discussion of suicide
Mortal Peril
Falling
Jump scares
Aggressive parental figures
Implied (but not explicit/heard) intimacy/sex

SCENE 1.
LILY’S BEDROOM, LATE AFTERNOON.
MARISOL AND LILY SLEEP.
PHONE BUZZES. SLEEPY STIRRING.

MARISOL: Mmmm.

LILY: That my phone?

MARISOL: Yeah—mine’s downstairs.

LILY STRETCHES.

LILY: Mmmm. Afternoon naps. Yes.

MARISOL: They are the best.

PHONE IS STILL BUZZING.

LILY: Guess I should get that.

PHONE STOPS BUZZING.

Andddd missed it.

MARISOL: Gotta be quick.

LILY: Oh I’m quick. Quicker than Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. When she gets that whip out.

THE MEMORY IS DELICIOUS.

MARISOL: (remembering) Ooh.

LILY: (remembering) Mmmm.

MARISOL: You’re cuter.

LILY: STOP.

MARISOL: You’re like if Michelle Pfeiffer and Lupita Nyong’o had a
baby and then they set the baby on fire—

LILY: WHAT.

MARISOL: —so it’d be even hotter.

LILY: Oh, Marisol, child maiming’s not funny...

MARISOL: Sorry not sorry for being accurate.

LILY: ...But that is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me and I
really want to kiss you right now because YOU look like if
Penelope Cruz and—where’s your mom from again?
Scotland?

MARISOL: Wales.

LILY: Wales! Okay, so get Catherine Zeta-Jones and Penelope
Cruz together, let em have a baby, then give that kid a
lovely warm bath so it is just off the charts hot, but you
know, still medically safe.
MARISOL IS LAUGHING.

And that’s you.

MARISOL: Glad the baby’s safe.

LILY: Child safety is important.

MARISOL: You’re so reasonable.

LILY: Sometimes.

SMOOCHES!
PHONE BUZZES AGAIN.

Okay, where’s my phone.

MARISOL: They’ll call back if it’s important.

LILY: I think this is the call back.
(sigh) No idea where it is.

MARISOL: I see it.

SCRAPE OF PHONE BEING PICKED UP.

It's Rudy.

LILY: Oh yeah, he had a question about his coffeemaker.
Speakerphone it.

TAP OF SPEAKERPHONE ON.

LILY [cont’d]: Hey, Rudy!

NORAH: (on phone) Hello?

LILY: Hello?

NORAH: (on phone) Can I speak to Abbie?

LILY: Who's this.

NORAH: (on phone) It's (d) Norah Tendulkar.

LILY: It's who?

MARISOL: Where’s Rudy?

NORAH: (on phone) Tell Abbie it's open.

MARISOL: I don’t know what’s going on.

LILY: What’s open.

NORAH: (on phone) It's open! It's been open for three days and he refuses to go down! / It’s a disgrace!

LILY: Okay, okay!

NORAH: (on phone) Come quickly!

CALL IS DISCONNECTED.

LILY: Okay. Time to get up.

MARISOL: Yep.

LILY: Where're my underpants.

SCENE 2.

ABBIE’S ROOM. SCIENCE SOUNDS. ABBIE
THROWS SPELUNKING EQUIPMENT INTO A
BAG.

ABBIE: It’s open?

LILY: That’s what she said.

MARISOL: I still don’t understand.

LILY: Rudy was digging a hole in the floor.

ABBIE: In the roof.

MARISOL: The what?

ABBIE: The floor!
LILY: The roof!

MARISOL: Is it a roof or a floor.

ABBIE: BOTH. Do you know when.

LILY: Three days ago.

ABBIE: Three days? What’s he been doing? Stalling, the dipshit.

MARISOL: Why is there a roof in the floor.

ABBIE: WHY INDEED. DOT! DOTTT!

DOT: (off) WHAT?

ABBIE: Where is the ROPE.

DOT: (off) What do you need fucking rope for.

ABBIE: To go into a hole!

DOT ENTERS.

DOT: What hole.

ABBIE: There’s a building buried underneath the observatory, I’m
not explaining it again. KEEP UP.

DOT: Ooo. Hm.

LILY: Hm?

DOT: I feel like that’s forbidden.

LILY: What? Why? Do you know something.

DOT: No, I just think I heard somewhere it was forbidden. I
dunno. Sounds fun. Forbidden pleasures. Ooooo.

ABBIE: I don’t have my headlamp. GodDAMMIT. I need duct
tape and a hard hat ASAP.

DOT: Hey easy, friend.

ABBIE: What, you think I’m going to let RUDY be the first one
down there? Ahhhhh, where is my laser range finder
JESUS I think I left it in New York.

LILY: Oh yes. Can’t go spelunking without your laser range
finder.

ABBIE: YOU CAN’T.

WES: (off) Who’s going spelunking?

LILY: Hey, Wes!

MARISOL: Oh no, don’t involve him.

LILY: Why not?

MARISOL: (low) It’s dangerous.

LILY: (low) What, so he’ll die again?

Wes! What do you know about tying knots?

WES: (off) EVERYTHING.

SCENE 3.

THE OBSERVATORY. RUDY, ALONE,
ADJUSTS A MICROSCOPE.

RUDY: I’m not sure. It’s not dust. It’s not malachite,
not mica, not a copolymer plastic or titanium dioxide—is it
what? Is it organic? Spencer, what are you eating—no
snacking in the lab. Okay but—yes, fine, just—chew your
food first, then ask. (Pause)Yes, I believe it is organic, but I
honesty can’t be sure. Like nothing I’ve / ever seen before.

DOOR CREAKS OPEN. DOT ENTERS.

DOT: Imaginary class, you are dismissed.

RUDY: Dot, what’re you—

DOT: What’s this about a hole?

RUDY: No no, Dot, you gotta give me some time to figure all this
out. It’s filled with this dust that is—[odd.]

LILY, WES, AND MARISOL ENTER.

LILY: Hey, Rudy.

MARISOL: (low) I just don’t think we need to be cavalier.

LILY: (low) Okay, okay.

WES: Echo!!! Echo!!! That never gets old.

RUDY: Lily, Marisol, Wes, greetings. (singing) Hey, hey, the
gang’s all here.

WES: I hope there’s time to look through the telescope. I really

want to see Saturn.

ABBIE ENTERS.

ABBIE: Ugh, Saturn.

WES: (horrified) Excuse me, Abbie? UGH SATURN???

ABBIE: EVERYONE loves Saturn.

WES: Because it’s beautiful! And people like beautiful things,
which is not a crime. Just like how spelunking into a
possibly forbidden building is not a crime. I sometimes
talk when I’m nervous. Can we look through the telescope?
I know it’s not completely dark out / yet but—

ABBIE: RUDY.

SILENCE.

RUDY: Abbie.

ABBIE: What’s this about you being too chickenshit to go in.

RUDY: Abbie, no, I am discovering. I am observing.

AN ECHOING SOUND AS NORAH APPEARS.

NORAH: He is / delaying.

WES: AHHH.

ABBIE: This is new.

RUDY: Everyone, meet Norah.

WES: WHAT?

RUDY: (to Norah) How’d you get em here?

NORAH: Managed to access your most recent calls. Only took an
hour.


WES IS STILL SPUTTERING.

WES: WHAT? Is this a trick.

RUDY: No.

NORAH: Hello.

RUDY: She’s a ghost.

DOT: Ghost in the observatory. Classic.

WES: Ghosts are real?

ABBIE: Oh my God.

LILY: Yes. Ghosts are real.

WES: No one else is completely shocked by this.

MARISOL: I’m shocked. Whoa! A ghost! Never talked to one of those
before.

TAPE RECORDER CLICKS ON.

ABBIE: (into tape recorder) Subject is markedly different
from other observed specters. Note: add new columns to
spreadsheet.

WES: Abbie?? This isn’t absolutely the most extraordinary thing
you’ve ever experienced in your life?

ABBIE: I will give you “odd.” (into tape recorder) 90% corporeal,
5% loss of color saturation, subject wears a cream buttoned
blouse, pleated blue skirt, length mid-calf.

MARISOL: Wes, here—

MARISOL RUMMAGES THROUGH HER
PURSE.

I got almonds somewhere, here! Have an almond. Anyone
else want almonds? Who’s got low blood sugar.

WES EATS AN ALMOND.

WES: But there’s a ghost.

NORAH: Let’s focus on the task at hand.

ABBIE: Yes. To the chapel.

LILY: Wait, wait, what? What’s this about a—[chapel?] WHO
SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A CHAPEL.

ABBIE: We’re standing on Chapel Hill. What else could
the mysterious buried structure be? Lily, that can’t be the
mystery, I mean my God. You got rope down there?

NORAH: I do. Right this way.

RUDY: Abbie, the analysis is incomplete.

ABBIE: Analyze up here.

JINGLE OF HARNESS.
I’m gonna put on my harness. See you the basement. Or
not.

ABBIE AND NORAH GO DOWN THE STAIRS.

ABBIE: (off) Wes! I need your boy scout skills!

MARISOL: Wes, wait!

LILY: It’s okay, you can go.

ABBIE: (off) Wes!

WES: Coming!

WES’S FOOTSTEPS ECHO DOWN THE
STAIRS.

MARISOL: So you’re putting him in a dangerous situation—

LILY: This isn’t dangerous.

MARISOL: --and then if something horrible happens, you’ll tell him
well, you can’t die because ps, you’re a ghost.

LILY: He has to find out sometime.

MARISOL: He doesn’t. Let him be happy. Let him have a favorite
planet and just get to be sixteen and full of wonder.

DOT: I agree. Why tell him? Who cares? We never “told” Uncle
Tim. We were just glad he was around. All right Rudy,
show us this hole.

RUDY: It’s downstairs.

DOT: You coming?

RUDY: Yeah.
Yeah.

SCENE 4.
BASEMENT OF THE OBSERVATORY. WES,
ABBIE AND NORAH EXAMINE THE ROPE.

WES: We could anchor it here. I’ll do a bowline.

ABBIE: Is it going to be long enough?

NORAH: That’s nearly two hundred feet.

ABBIE: Is there more somewhere?

WES: Holy mackerel, Abbie, how much do you think we’ll need?

DOT, LILY, RUDY, AND MARISOL COME
DOWN THE STAIRS.

DOT: Nice harness, Abbie!

ABBIE: Does the job.

DOT: Looks like good rope. Let’s give it the ol thunk test.

THUNK OF ROPE HITTING STONE.

We got good rope here!

LILY: Mom, that looks like it’s a hundred years old.

MARISOL: Should we be / using—[that rope?]

DOT: Which means it’s lasted a hundred years! Sturdy. Don’t
make em like this anymore.

LILY: All right, where’s this hole.

LILY AND MARISOL WALK OVER TO THE
HOLE.

LILY: Wow.

MARISOL: Weird. You got a flashlight?

LILY: I got my phone.

MARISOL: Don’t drop it!

SOFT TAP OF A PHONE FLASHLIGHT
TURNING ON. THE FOG GLITTERS IN THE
LIGHT.

LILY: Whoa, who dropped glitter down there.

MARISOL: What is that, dust? Water vapor?

RUDY: And we were slain by a sparkling fog.

ABBIE: It’s probably harmless.

MARISOL: But what is it?

RUDY: Not sure.

LILY: How deep is it?

ABBIE JINGLES OVER IN THEIR HARNESS.

ABBIE: No idea. The laser’s just bouncing off the particulate
matter.

LILY: Echo!

LONG ECHO.

MARISOL: Shouldn’t you know how deep it is before you go in?

ABBIE: Ideally. The tensile strength of that rope is not infinite.

LILY: Hm?

WES: When the rope reaches a certain length, it’ll break.

LILY: OH.

MARISOL: Okay. I have some thoughts. Maybe don’t.

DOT: Not gonna break. This is good rope.

WES: We still need to keep track of how far down you are—
I’ll... here! I’ll use my forearm to measure off feet as I
belay you.

NORAH: Good idea!

WES: Thanks! Are you friendly?

NORAH: Yes.

LILY: Why’s the, uh—mist all sparkly again?

RUDY: I don’t know.

NORAH: It doesn’t really / matter what it is

RUDY: It does, and I need more time to figure it out, but I’m / not
an organic chemist, so—

ABBIE: As long as we know it won’t kill us, it’s FINE.

RUDY: What is the rush here?

ABBIE: Why don’t you go upstairs.

RUDY: Why don’t you listen to me for a moment.

ABBIE: Get out of my way!

CRASH AS THE MAGLITE FALLS ON ABBIE’S
FOOT AND ROLLS AWAY.

Shit, my foot. Shit. Someone hand me the Maglite. I gotta
get new duct tape. (putting weight on their foot.) AH.

RUDY: Is your foot okay?

ABBIE: Yeah, eh, it’s just a little bruised. AHH.

DOT: Let’s go up and ice it.


RUDY: I don’t have any ice.

DOT: Let’s cold-water it.

ABBIE: Shit. What’m I going to do.

DOT: You’re going to rest up and try again another day. I got
some pills in my purse.

LILY: Mom!

DOT: Just over-the-counter painkillers, but good stuff. We’ll get
you all fixed up and ready to fight the good fight another
day.

MARISOL: Dot, let me help you

DOT: Foot’s gonna feel brand-spanking new tomorrow. Up we
go.

ABBIE: Dammit. Dammit.

ABBIE’S HARNESS JINGLES AS THEY, DOT,
AND MARISOL GO UP THE STAIRS.
BASEMENT DOOR CLOSES.

NORAH: Rudy, it has to be you.

SILENCE.


The longer we wait, the better chance the order will /
discover—[the hole.]

RUDY: THERE IS NO RUSH.

A SHOCKED SILENCE.

Everything’s fine.

LILY: Do you want to talk about it.

RUDY: I’m not going in. I’m not doing it. No one’s doing it.

LILY: Why?

RUDY: It doesn’t matter.

NORAH: He had a friend who died and thinks her ghost is down
there.

WES: There are ghosts down there?

NORAH: (a little flippantly) Rudy thinks there might be a door
leading to the place where the ghosts come from, and so
maybe she’s just hanging around down there and he doesn’t
want / to see her.

RUDY: No. That’s not—no.

LILY: (to RUDY) Hey. You lost a friend? Rudy, I’m so sorry.

RUDY: My mom.

LILY: Your mom?

RUDY SHRUGS, BUT THE TEARS STILL
FLOW.

RUDY: It was my mom.

LILY: Hey. Hey, it’s okay. Come here. It’s okay. That sounds so
hard. I’m so sorry.

RUDY: Someone needs to go down there and tell her it’s okay, that
there’s nothing between us, that I don’t have any questions.
Lily, please—go tell her it’s fine and, and, and that she
doesn’t have to answer any questions because I understand.
Okay? Yes, at the time, it was all very fraught and I said
some unkind things, but...

LILY: Rudy, / I’m sure—

RUDY: Tell her I don’t need to know why. I don’t need to know.
No questions. I just want her to know it’s all fine. And I
love her. Okay?

LILY: Okay.

RUDY: You’ll go?

LILY: Rudy, I don’t know if she’s down there? I can’t imagine
she would be. But I will tell her it’s all fine if she is.


RUDY: Thank you.

MARISOL COMES DOWN THE STAIRS.

LILY: So what do we got equipment-wise.

WES: Well... we’ve got the parts of Abbie’s, ah, “headlamp.”

LILY: Do we just tape it back on?

WES: I think so

SOUND OF LOTS OF DUCT TAPE.

MARISOL: Hey friends, I think we should reschedule. I don’t think
things are—[going to get better in time.]

MARISOL SEES LILY WITH THE ROPE.

What are you doing?

LILY: Hey! Think I’m gonna head down real quick.

MARISOL: No!

LILY: I have to.

MARISOL: Send Norah down!


NORAH: Impossible. My degree of corporality makes a harness...
impractical.

RUDY: She’ll just fall through and go splat.

NORAH: I’d rather be a last resort.

LILY: I really don’t think it’ll be too bad.

MARISOL: But you—you won’t even be able to see what’s down there
anyway cause of the sparkly doom-fog.

LILY: Maybe. Maybe not.

MARISOL: And you don’t have a harness.

LILY: Oh, I can rig up a harness.

MARISOL: Outta what, rope?

LILY: Sure.

I have pursuits where I’m familiar with rope harnesses.

WES: I also like spelunking!

LILY: Watch how fast I do this.

SOUND OF KNOTS BEING TIED AND ROPE
SLIDING OVER CLOTH.


MARISOL: Um. Hm. I don’t think this is a
good idea. Do you really think—[this is a
good idea]

LILY: Slide here, knot here, over the
shoulders, under the ladyparts,

WES: That’s fast!

LILY: Done! Wes! Walkie-talkie me!

WES: What?

MARISOL: Lily.

LILY: Tape a walkie-talkie to my hand.

WES: Oh.

DUCT TAPE SOUND.

LILY: Want to be my mission control, Mari?

MARISOL: This seems foolhardy.

WES: No, it’s not. It’s brave.

LILY: Thanks, Wes.

One, two, check, check.
Well?

MARISOL TAKES A WALKIE TALKIE AND
CLICKS IT ON.

MARISOL: Can you hear me? Over?

LILY: Loud and clear, Marisol!

NORAH: Good luck. Be careful—

LILY: Thanks!

NORAH: But not too careful. Experiments should feel just a tiny bit

dangerous.

LILY: Good advice. Rudy, you helping with the rope?

RUDY: I am.

LILY: Here we go. Do I just step in?

WES: Ehhh, maybe try lying on your stomach and easing
your legs in, then your hips, then your torso, then your...
whole self! Hokey pokey it.

LILY: Oh noooo, the last joke I ever hear is going to be a hokey-
pokey reference. Ahhh.

MARISOL: So try not to die.

LILY: Will do.


RUDY: Lily. Thanks.

LILY DOES THE “CLICK-SNAP HER FINGERS
WHILE WINKING AT THE PERSON” THING.

LILY: Hey. Anytime.
Annnnnd going in.

SCRAPE OF ROPE AGAINST THE FLOOR.
WHOOSH OF CLOTH AS LILY PUSHES HER
STOMACH OFF THE LEDGE

WES: One foot. Two feet. Three feet.

LILY: Just need the numbers, Wes.

WES: Four. Five. Six. Seven.

WES CONTINUES TO COUNT SOFTLY.

LILY: (through the walkie-talkie) I can breathe. I think it’s water
vapor. Can you hear me? Over.

MARISOL: Yep! Over.

LILY: (through the walkie-talkie) Okay. WHOA!

WES STOPS COUNTING.

WES: Should we pull her up?

MARISOL: Lily!

NORAH: Are you all right? Over.

LILY: (through the walkie-talkie) Yeah, sorry, just—something
brushed my arm. Maybe ignore anything that sounds
panicky.

MARISOL: Yeah, that seems unwise.

LILY: (through the walkie-talkie) My safe word is “up,” okay?
If and only if I say UP, pull me up. AHHHH.

WES: What?

LILY: (through the walkie-talkie) Think there are bats. Ignore the
screams! Okay. Keep going!

MARISOL: (to herself, sighing) Oh, God.

WES RESUMES COUNTING.

WES: Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen.

WES CONTINUES TO WHISPER THE FEET
THROUGHOUT THIS NEXT SCENE.

LILY: (d) So far so good. Visibility’s awful. I can see maybe six
inches. Like being in a snow globe. A very very scary snow
globe of doom. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic?

MARISOL: Are you?

LILY: (d) Didn’t think so. That might change.

RUDY: Hang in there! Ha. Hilarious.

PERSPECTIVE SHIFT. IN THE HOLE. LILY
DESCENDS.
LILY HUMS A TUNE TO HERSELF.

MARISOL: (d) Just passed thirty feet. Over.

LILY: Cool!

(singing) Do do do. Going down and singing a song.

DOT: (soothing) Lily?

LILY: What / was—[that]?

DOT: (angry) Lily!

LILY: Mom?

DOT: (soothing) Lily.....

LILY: Mari, where’s Dot? Over.


DOT: (angry) Lily!

LILY: Where’s Dot? Over!
OVER MEANS TALK NOW. ANSWER ME.

MARISOL: (d) She’s upstairs!

NORAH: (d) She’s still with Abbie.

LILY: Mom?

A RUSHING WIND. THE DUST AROUND HER
SWIRLS AND SPARKLES.

DOT: (soothing, to a baby) Try to get some sleep, okay? I’m here.

LILY AND JOEY LAUGH AND SPLASH IN A
CREEK.

(gently singing) Lily, belle of the morning,
Lily, belle of the ball
Lily, I want you to know that
Lily’s the best babe of all
A SPRINKLER HUMS AND SPLASHES IN THE
EARLY MORNING OF A PERFECT JUNE DAY.

(angry, to a tween) LILY SHUT UP.

(soothing, to a baby) I’m here. You’ll feel better tomorrow.
(angry, to a tween) Don’t YELL AT ME. I don’t care what
you want to do. I decide.
RAIN. LILY, TEN YEARS OLD, JUMPS IN
PUDDLES AND LAUGHS.
(angry, to a tween) I have to take care of you.
(soothing, to a baby) I will take care of you. Go back to
sleep.
(angry, to a tween) Go back to your dad’s.
(soft) Go back
(screaming) Go back
(soft) Go back
(SCREAMING) GO BACK GO BACK GO BACK

LILY: UP! UP! UP-UP-UPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!

PERSPECTIVE SHIFT. IN THE BASEMENT,
THE WALKIE-TALKIE IS SCREAMING.

LILY: (d) UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!

RUDY: Pull! Wes!

WES: AGHHHHHHHH.

THEY PULL HER UP.

MARISOL: Is she all right?

RUDY: I don’t know.

NORAH: LILY!

RUDY AND WES PULL.

MARISOL: Lily, they’re pulling you up. Lily, can you hear me? Over!

LILY: (from just inside the hole) I’m here!

WES: Lily!

RUDY: Two more pulls!

RUDY AND WES PULL.

LILY: (from just inside the hole) Almost there!

RUDY: Lies, one more big pull errrgh.

LILY: Got the edge!

RUDY AND WES PULL ON THE ROPE. LILY
PULLS HERSELF UP OVER THE EDGE. LOTS
OF SOUNDS OF EXERTION.

Whew! Whoa! Oh man. Where’s Mom.

WES: Upstairs.

RUDY: What happened down there?


LILY: Did you hear all that?

RUDY: Hear what? You yelling “up”?

LILY: Before that.

NORAH: There was nothing.

WES: A little static.

MARISOL: Okay, a little static. But that was it.

RUDY: Did you hear her?

LILY: Didn’t hear your mom. Just heard mine.

RUDY: Huh. Okay. Good to know. How many feet was that.

WES: Forty. But she didn’t hit bottom.

LILY: It wasn’t much further. The walkie fell off after I yelled
UP, and I heard it hit the ground. Maybe ten feet more.

RUDY: Well, I, for one, think we learned a lot tonight. Time for a
stiff drink. Shall we reconvene at the house?

LILY: Sounds good.

THEY HEAD UP THE STAIRS.

WES: Norah! Come with us!

NORAH: I can't leave.

WES: Why?

NORAH: This is my haunting place.

WES: Oh. Sorry.

RUDY, LILY, WES, NORAH, AND MARISOL
FINISH GOING UP THE STAIRS AND ENTER
THE ECHO-Y ROTUNDA.

LILY: Mom, we’re heading out.

DOT: Let’s get going, hon.

ABBIE: So what was at the bottom.

RUDY: Didn’t quite get there. Left it for you.

LILY: Abbie, I’m leaving your headlamp right here. It’ll be ready
and waiting when you’re all healed up.

ABBIE: Thanks.

CLATTER OF HEADLAMP ON THE FLOOR.
FOOTSTEPS TO THE DOOR. DOOR CREAKS
OPEN.

DOT, LILY, MARISOL: Bye, Norah. / Nice meeting you. / Thanks. / We’ll see you.

RUDY: See you tomorrow, Norah.

EVERYONE BUT WES FILES OUT.

LILY: (off) Got any more of that celery liquor.

RUDY: (off) I do.

WES: Bye, Norah. Sorry you have to stay.

NORAH: How do you do it?

WES: Do what?

NORAH: How do you eat, how do you tie a rope, how do you leave.

WES: I guess cause I’m alive.

NORAH: But you’re dead.

WES: What?

LILY’S FOOTSTEPS BACK IN.

I’m not dead.

LILY: Wes?

WES: Why would she say that? I’m not dead. That’s not true.

SILENCE.

LILY.

LILY: It’s true.

WES: No. I have a family. My mom, my dad, I have a house. I
don’t have a haunting place—

LILY: Wes.

WES: —I’m not like her. She’s stuck in the observatory all alone.

NORAH: I thought I was the only one.

DOT ENTERS.

DOT: What’s the holdup?

LILY: Norah told him.

WES: I have a family. I have people who love me.


DOT: We do love you, Wes. We love you so much, and it doesn’t
matter, okay? I don’t even know why we’re talking about
this.

WES: Where’s my mom.

DOT: I don’t know, honey.

WES: Why are you telling me this and not my mom.

Where’s my MOM.

DOT: Wes, baby—

WES: MOM!

A WHOOSH. SILENCE.

DOT: Wes. Wes, come back.

LILY: Wes!

DOT: Wes, we love you!

FRONT DOOR OPENS. RUDY ENTERS.

RUDY: Everything okay?

DOT: Wes, honey, sweetie.

RUDY: Where is he?

DOT: Rudy, he’s somewhere else and he’s scared.

LILY: He whooshed when he vanished. That was new. New is
bad.

DOT: Fuck.

RUDY: He’s gone.

DOT: NORAH, GO GET HIM.

NORAH: It’s his choice to rematerialize.

DOT: WES!

LILY: WES!

NORAH: Perhaps he needs time.

DOT: WHERE IS HE WES!

FOOTSTEPS TO THE FRONT DOOR. DOOR IS
THROWN OPEN.

(into the night) WES!

NIGHT SOUNDS. SOFT SOBS.

I can hear him.

SOFT CRIES.
There.

LILY and JOINS DOT JUST OUTSIDE THE
OPEN FRONT DOOR.

LILY: WES!

RUDY: No moon. Damn. / WES!

DOT: Spread out. Try to find him. / WES.

LILY: No, I have to stay with you, IT’S DARK, / YOU’LL GET
LOST.

DOT: Let go of me!

RUDY: Let me get the / headlamp.

DOT: I have to / go.

RUDY: WAIT. RIGHT. HERE.

RUDY COMES BACK INTO THE
OBSERVATORY. DOOR SLAMS BEHIND HIM.
A SOMEWHAT ECHOEY, EERIE SILENCE.

Headlamp.

NORAH: There.

RUDY WALKS TO THE HEADLAMP AND
SCOOPS IT UP.

I wanted someone to talk to.

RUDY: He was a really nice kid.

NORAH: I could tell.

LILY and DOT: (distant) Wes! Wes!!!

RUDY: WES!

RUDY’S VOICE ECHOES IN THE ROTUNDA.
NO RESPONSE.
END.

END MUSIC, CREDITS.

POST-CREDITS: There is no mention of Chapel Hill in any state or local record prior to 1820.