Unwell Season 5/Episode 9 - Echo Chamber
by Jessica Best
I’m remembering now
Who’s in there?
You’re making it worse.
Content Advisories for this episode can be found here.
Support Unwell and HartLife NFP on Patreon at www.patreon.com/hartlifenfp
This episode features: Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Ella Watts as the Documentary Narrator, Michael Turrentine as Wes, Symphony Sanders as Young Lily, Hilary Williams as Joey, Dallis Seeker as Grant, Matt Young as Tim, Regina Renee Russell as Evelyn Wesley, David S Dear as Thomas Wesley, Jeffrey Nils Gardner as a Wolf, and Mark Soloff as Silas.
Written by Jessica Best, sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, assistant director Lauren Grace Thompson, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer Ani Enghdahl, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, produced by haydée r. souffrant, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.
—-
RAIN POUNDING THE ROOF.
NATURE DOCUMENTARY MUSIC PLAYING.
TV ANNOUNCER —this forest holds a rare secret.
A DROP OF WATER DRIPS FROM THE CEILING.
TV ANNOUNCER
The roughly 47,000 aspen trees are all part of a single organism.
A DROP OF WATER DRIPS FROM THE CEILING
WES
Lily, are you hearing this?
LILY (FROM THE NEXT ROOM)
Pando!
A DROP OF WATER DRIPS FROM THE CEILING
WES
What?
LILY (FROM THE NEXT ROOM)
It’s called Pando.
TV ANNOUNCER
It’s called...Pando.
WES
I meant the water. How’d you do that?
LILY (FROM THE NEXT ROOM)
It’s a re-run. (WALKING IN) What water?
TV ANNOUNCER
The nickname is Latin for “I spread,” and spread it does...Scientists
estimate Pando has been growing for 80,000 years.
DRIP, DRIP, DRIP.
LILY
Goddammit.
TRANSITION.
RAIN POUNDING THE ROOF. TWO
SETS OF FOOTSTEPS GOING
DOWN THE BASEMENT STAIRS.
LILY
Okay. To sum up.
WES
Sure.
LILY
There’s water dripping from the living room ceiling. Meaning the room
above it has a leak. We can’t find any other room in the house with a
water problem, so leak must be coming directly from the attic, making that
the room above the living room. Which we can only reach through the
basement stairs, because right now, what was the basement storage
room is now the attic.
WES
Correct. (A BEAT) Did that help?
LILY
As much as it ever does. Man, with the storm and the diner wolves and
everything just creaking apart, the house sure picked one hell of a time to
play 52 card pickup.
WES
Oh, you think it’s a coincidence?
LILY
...you don’t?
WES
I think the house is confused. What’s happening, it’s a lot to keep straight.
Something’s bound to get lost in the shuffle.
LILY
Have we been walking down these steps a long time?
WES
Here we are.
FOOTSTEPS THROUGH THE
BASEMENT.
LILY
Every time I come down here, I feel like it’s gonna be filled with water. But
with the house doing its thing, maybe it won’t even be the basement first.
Maybe it’ll be the first story bathroom, suddenly overflowing and then we’ll
have to climb three flights of stairs just to—
THE DOOR TO THE ATTIC,
SLIGHTLY AJAR, IS WHISKED
OPEN.
THUNDER. THE THUNDER
FADES. DRIP, DRIP DRIP OF
WATER TO THE FLOOR.
LILY
Alright, deploy the buckets.
A PLASTIC BUCKET IS SET
UNDER THE WATER. IT CATCHES
THE DRIPS.
WES
Kind of a stopgap solution.
LILY
Yeah. Good thing we’ve got more than one bucket.
A BIRD TWEETS, THEN SMACKS INTO THE HOUSE.
LILY
Look who’s back.
WES
Poor thing.
LILY
Yeah, I feel so bad for the little guy. By now, he’s got to have a bird-sized
concussion. I wish there was something we could do.
WES
Oh yeah, that’s simple enough. You draw lines with soap.
LILY
What?
WES
Bar soap on the glass. You make the lines close enough and the bird can
see them. It’ll fly away every time. Only trouble is, we’ll have to open the
window, apply it from the outside.
LILY
Is this a Boy Scouts thing? Birds and Barsoap badge?
WES
No. I don’t know how I know it. How do I—where did I—it’s in my head,
where did it come from?
LILY
Don’t worry about it, Wes, the important thing is you know. I’ll go grab
some—
WES
I can’t—I don’t—It’s in my head— “The trouble is, the bird sees the
reflection of the sky or the trees, thinks it’s got a clear path. You’ve gotta
let ‘em know gently there’s something in the way—”
WES BEGINS TO BECOME TIM. IT
IS NOT A CLEAN “POOF, TIM
NOW”. IT IS A DISTURBINGLY
ORGANIC SOUND. BONES
SHIFTING, SKIN MOVING
AROUND, MUSCLES POPPING.
THINK ANIMORPHS.
WES/TIM
So you draw lines with soap, scramble the image a little for them.
TIM
The soap can wash away with a sponge, but it won’t rinse off with the
rain. Simple.
LILY
...hi, Uncle Tim.
TIM
Hey there, Lil Lilybelle! You okay? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.
LILY
You were, uh, you were my friend Wes.
TIM
I bet I was! Nice fella?
LILY
One of the nicest.
TIM
Hey, if it isn’t the Fenwood attic! Looks like you’ve got yourself a roof leak.
LILY
Yeah, we’re just, you know. We’re trying to contain it until the rain clears up and we can call a roofer. Is, uh, Wes still...in there?
TIM
That spot of floor has really taken a beating. Is the ceiling under it
dripping?
LILY
...something like that.
TIM
Tell you what you do, you get your oldest screwdriver, and poke a hole in
the wettest part of the floor.
LILY
A hole?
TIM
The point is to relieve the pressure. What you don’t want is water pooling
on your floor, that can take the whole damn thing down. A little poke now,
and you can save yourself a lot of trouble later.
LILY
Thanks.
TIM BEGINS TO BECOME WES.
AGAIN, ANIMORPHS.
TIM/WES
Don’t mention it. The house mostly wants to run, right, it just needs—
WES
A little bit of help. (DEEP BREATH) Hi.
LILY
Hey. Are you okay?
WES
Fine. Really good.
LILY
Are you sure? You were, uh—
WES
I was a handyman named Tim, yes. And I think...I think, what we need to
do is open the window, draw lines on the outside, poke a hole in the floor,
and then.
LILY
Yeah?
WES
I need to pay a visit to Silas. (A BEAT) Don’t ask me if I’m sure. I’m sure.
LILY
Do you...want a ride?
WES
That’s kind but I don’t need it.
LILY
Maybe not, but I feel like. I need to drive you.
WES
Lily...
LILY
Please?
WES
Okay.
TRANSITION. WE’RE IN LILY’S
CAR, WHICH IS DRIVING.
WINDSHIELD WIPERS SWISHING.
SPLASH.
LILY
Wow, it’s not gonna be safe to be a car in this much longer.
WES
Lily, you can go back to the house if you want. I can do this on my own.
LILY
Wes.
WES
Yeah?
LILY
I’m proud of you.
WES
Thanks.
LILY
No, I mean it. You have been through so much bullshit, and you had to do
it without any kind of a map. Like, every teenager in history has to kind of
figure themselves out, but you had to figure out even existing again as
yourself, and you did a damn good job. You’re still Wes, but you’re
growing up and I don’t know, it’s cool to see.
WES
That’s kind, but saying I’m growing up is like trying to measure whale
song with a teaspoon. Time doesn’t really apply to me in the same way,
you know?
LILY
That’s fair. All the same, I really don’t think you should do this by yourself.
WES
I think I can do a lot more than I thought.
LILY
Still, if you wind up needing an extra pair of hands...
WES
Where are we going?
LILY
I figured we’d hit up all the spots where we’ve seen him. Outside
DeSouza’s, the Witches’ Altar, probably not the edge of town since he
doesn’t have a reason to be there anymore, but—
WES (IMMEDIATELY)
He’s at the remains of the observatory.
LILY
How do you know?
WES
Oh, I knew when we got into the car, I just. Didn’t want to weird you out.
LILY
Very considerate.
TRANSITION
RAIN. CAR DOORS SLAM. WES
AND LILY CLIMB UP THE SOGGY
HILL OF THE OBSERVATORY.
LILY
Wonder why he chose the observatory ruins.
WES
It wasn’t always ruins. And before it was an observatory, it was a chapel.
LILY
His chapel. I remember.
WES
You know, you can wait in the car.
LILY
I know. And here I am.
WOLF GROWLS
LILY
Hello, wolf. Have some pocket jerky.
LILY TOSSES SOME JERKY ON
THE GROUND A WAYS AWAY. THE
WOLF SNIFFS DISMISSIVELY.
WOLF (KIND OF)
Turrrrn back! Turn baaaack!
LILY
Not loving this turn of events.
WES AND LILY CONTINUE
CLIMBING.
WOLF (KIND OF)
Ssssstay awwwwway!
LILY
Wes? Any insights into what to do about talking wolves?
WES
No. And I don’t think Tim knows either.
MOLOCH AND ABBADON RUN
OVER, BARKING.
LILY
At least those two are still dogs.
MOLOCH AND ABBADON RUN
EVEN CLOSER. VERY CLOSE.
LILY
Ahh, very close, hello, you two.
SILAS Evening.
WES
Evening. Do you think you could get Moloch and Abbadon to give my
friend some room?
SILAS
They’ll do what they want to, most of the time. It’s in their nature.
WES
They could really hurt her.
SILAS
Then she’ll be hurt. What’s the point? They all get hurt in the end. It’s in
their nature.
WES
Forget it, Silas. It’s over. Call off the wolves, call off the rain. You don’t
even know what you want.
SILAS
It feels as if we have already had this conversation before. Back when
you were playing detective, young man. What makes you think it will be
any different this time?
WES
Because I’m not just me, am I? I’m also—I can be—I’m—
LILY
Wes, are you okay?
WES
...I can’t find him.
SILAS (LAUGHS)
AS SILAS LAUGHS, SILAS
BECOMES JOEY. AGAIN, THE
SOUND IS ORGANIC AND GROSS.
JOEY (LAUGHS)
You still don’t get it, do you? You’re like a little bug in a jar with
a stick and a leaf who thinks it can see the whole world.
LILY
Hi again.
JOEY
It’s you. The old you. Careful, those dogs are real close.
LILY
I know, I can see them.
WES
Joey? You’re in league with Silas?
JOEY
I’m not in league with him, that sounds like we go bowling together or
something. Bowling is stupid.
LILY
Okay, but you just morphed out of Silas like a werewolf, so can we—
JOEY
You’re boring now. How’d you get so boring? You used to be fun, Lily.
WES
Joey—
JOEY
Where did the new one go?
LILY
The new one?
WES
She means Spikes.
JOEY
Spikes, yeah. I miss her.
LILY
We told her she couldn’t come by when the town was infested with wolves
and threatening to flood.
WES
If you feel like changing that, maybe you could help us, and—
JOEY
I miss her. I miss her so bad.
WES
She misses you, too.
JOEY
I miss all of them. I stay here, and fun, and twelve, and they grow up, or
they leave, or they grow up and leave. And I can’t stop, I can never stop, I
just have to be fun for the next one. Everything is always being ruined.
You’re ruining it, you’re ruining it, and I know you’re gonna ruin it again
and I have to stay here and say, “Hey, let’s race leaves in the creek!”
“Let’s whistle through grass blades and make up rude songs!” “Let’s make
up curses to haunt our enemies, your enemies!” It’s all I am, and I can’t
be this anymore!
WES
Things are pretty bad right now, but maybe you can help us change that.
JOEY
Weren’t you listening?
WES
I was, and do you think it’s a picnic to always be sixteen? Everyone
treating me like a kid even when I know that’s one thing I am not, and
even so, I have to believe there’s something I can do, something we can
do—
JOEY
No thanks, that sounds like work. (MAKES A FART SOUND WITH HER
MOUTH)
WES STARTS TO BECOME
YOUNG LILY
WES/YOUNG LILY
What are you—
JOEY (MOUTH-FARTS “ODE TO JOY”)
YOUNG LILY (GIGGLING)
You’re so funny, Joey!
LILY
Hey there...me.
YOUNG LILY (TALKING TO A GROWNUP, BORING)
Hi.
(TO JOEY) Joey, where are we going today? Are we sneaking out to the
Witches’ Altar? Are we gonna do an archaeologist dig through the guts of
that old house on Oak Street? (DELIGHTED) What if we find real bones?
JOEY
What if we do? There are bones everywhere.
YOUNG LILY
Not everywhere. Not...inside octopuses.
Octopi? Octop—
Not inside an octopus.
JOEY
Everywhere that counts. You live your whole lives on top of someone’s
bones and then you always act like it won’t be your bones someday, but it
always is.
LILY
Hey Joey, can you—tone it down a little?
YOUNG LILY (TO JOEY)
Maybe you’re right, everyone kicks the bucket at some point,
but. Okay, so. There’s parts of us that are hurt and afraid, and fear tells us
all kinds of things, “this will never be good again,” or “there’s no point in
trying” or “your dad will leave you just like your mom left you because
maybe the problem is you”—
LILY
Oh, kid...
YOUNG LILY
But you have to remember.
JOEY (SCORNFULLY)
Remember what?
YOUNG LILY
You have to...remember. Things can get better a little tiny bit at a time.
You don’t jump into the deep end all at once. You can take it slowly. Inch
by inch. Like getting into water.
JOEY
Whoever told you that is gonna die someday.
YOUNG LILY
I...know that. (SHE HAS ACTUALLY NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT
BEFORE) It doesn’t mean she was wrong.
JOEY
She’s gonna die, Lily. Forever. Her blood will water the fields, and her
bones will nurse the maggots.
YOUNG LILY (SCARED)
Um, Joey? Why are you doing this to me?
LILY
Jesus, she’s just a—
YOUNG LILY
I am not just a kid!
JOEY
And the maggots will grow up and sprout into flies—
JOEY BECOMES SILAS
JOEY/SILAS
—and her name will be forgotten in their endless drone, and the name of
her descendants will be ashes on the tongues of the maggots of their
descendents—
SILAS
Nothing will be left. This Earth will be cleansed of all of you.
YOUNG LILY
Who are you?
SILAS
And only then will the rivers and the lakes tremble and rise, signifying
their approval, and only then will the trees and grass grow strong and
true, and only then will the birds rejoice and sing their true song, knowing
finally that this green valley has been spared the blight, the pestilence, the
disease of you.
YOUNG LILY (VERY FREAKED OUT)
Umm...
LILY
Hey, me, are you okay?
YOUNG LILY
Why’s he saying all of this? What did I do? What did I do wrong?
LILY
You didn’t do anything. C’mere—
MOLOCH AND ABADDON GROWL.
LILY
Okay, not getting in the way of the dogs, got it.
YOUNG LILY
They’re gonna bite you!
LILY
I don’t...dream logic, young me, I think if I stay right here, they won’t
touch me.
SILAS
The problem is, you still believe there are rules you can follow that will
keep you safe. You think you can protect yourself from the dire tidings I
bring.
YOUNG LILY
Um, Lily?
LILY (GRASPING AT STRAWS)
Hey, c’mon, Reverend, is that any way to treat
your good buddy? All those walks we went on, remember? And your
persimmon brandy, so good. Plus I invited you to Thanksgiving, wasn’t
that fun?
SILAS
You can name a wolf. You can feed a wolf. You can invite it into your
home and tell it the names of all you know. But none of that will make it
tame. It will do—
LILY
What’s in its nature, right. Got it.
SILAS
It is not in my nature to protect you. It is in my nature to serve as witness
to what will follow when all will get what they deserve.
LILY
Is that what you want, Silas?
SILAS
That word again. I am above wanting. I am beyond wanting. When all is
gone, I will remain.
LILY
And will you be happy then?
SILAS
That is not the question you should be asking.
THUNDER CRASHES
YOUNG LILY
Um, I think. I want to leave.
SILAS
Then GO!
THUNDER CRASHES
YOUNG LILY
Hey, uh. Silas. Are you—? Are you sad?
SILAS
Sad is a word for the living.
YOUNG LILY
People leave sometimes. Even when they don’t want to. You—
YOUNG LILY BECOMES TIM
YOUNG LILY/TIM
—might wanna say your peace while you can. Life’s full of difficulties, and
you know what they say,—
TIM
—many hands make light work.
THUNDER CRASHES
TIM
Christ, that’s loud. It’s the water that’s the trouble, you know.
SILAS
The water is the solution.
TIM
See, the water—it gets trapped in the pipe, and then the steam—the
incoming steam—tries to force its way past that water, and that trapped
water bangs around on the inside of the pipe. Makes an awful racket, I
used to say, like—
SILAS BECOMES GRANT
SILAS/GRANT
Jacob Marley’s ghost.
GRANT
It’s so loud. I can’t sleep.
TIM
That’s fixable, Grant, just shim up the low end, free the water.
GRANT
There’s possums in the basement. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I don’t know
how it got so bad—
TIM
That’s fixable, too. All we’ve gotta do is get rid of their food source and set
up a trap.
GRANT
And what, kill them?
TIM
No, just to trap them, move ‘em somewhere they’ll be happier. They like
sweet food.
GRANT
We can make them cupcakes.
TIM (LAUGHING)
I don’t think they need fresh-made baked goods, babe.
GRANT
I was gonna use box mix! And really skimp on the icing.
LILY
Uncle Grant?
GRANT
Hi again, Lilybelle. You got so tall.
LILY
Taller than a six-year-old.
GRANT
I’m sorry we couldn’t be around. We missed so much. Lost teeth, first
girlfriends, graduation—
LILY
I know. Things would’ve been different if you’d been able to stay.
GRANT
We lost so much time. It isn’t right, you know? It isn’t fair.
TIM
It’s fixable. We can fix it. A house will tell you what it needs if you listen.
We need to wait until the water shuts off, and then catch the damage
that’s been slowly eating away at the boards—
UH-OH, TIM BECOMES SILAS
TIM/SILAS
—catch the rot, the sickness, that’s been spreading—
LILY
Uncle Tim? Uh, Wes? Are you...still in there?
SILAS
The rot that only looks like growth, like life, but instead devours, and we
must rip the rot out! Be free of it!
LILY
Oh my God Silas, now? Can’t you let them have this one nice thing?
GRANT
You again. The Specter Waiting at the Border.
SILAS
I haven’t answered to that name in a long time.
GRANT
You shouldn’t be here.
SILAS
I follow the will of the One Who Blooms. And I would call it heresy to
suggest things are not as they should be.
GRANT
What did you do to Tim?
SILAS
He didn’t leave. He can’t leave. He is—
GRANT
Listen, I swear, if you tell me some crap about how Tim is always in our
hearts—what did you do to him?
SILAS
I did nothing. It doesn’t work that way. I—
SILAS BECOMES WES
SILAS/WES
—didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything, why am I—
WES
I don’t understand.
GRANT BECOMES SILAS
GRANT/SILAS
Still? Even now?
SILAS
Are you certain?
WES
I was you. Why was I you? I don’t—we’re not the same. I want to help
people, I want to do something about all the suffering in the world and
you—you kill people.
SILAS
I must say, you are trying to measure whalesong with a teaspoon.
WES
How do you know—were you watching us?
SILAS
Have you ever heard The Tale of The Boy Who Bore Two Faces?
WES
Janus?
SILAS
What.
WES
From Greek m—
SILAS (OVERLAPPING)
From Greek mythology, no.
There once was a couple, a pair of young lovers. And their son, the first
new child of a fledgling little settlement, they named Albert. At first.
LILY
And then he died, we get it.
SILAS
No.
As the very first child of their brand new town, the people watched him
carefully. As they were in an unknown place, they were afraid, and as
they were afraid, they soon became superstitious. They told themselves
this young boy was an omen of what was to come, of whether the people
would suffer or prosper. At every laugh, every moment of patience or
grace, the people sighed and nodded. And at every cry, every moment he
showed the cruelty that is common in a child, the people sighed and
shook their heads. Gradually, a strange thing happened.
LILY
A strange thing? Here?
SILAS
Silence.
When the child, Albert, behaved in the ways the people considered good,
helpful, or blessed, his parents called him Al. When he was contrary, or
quarrelsome, or capricious, his parents called him Bert. And as the years
went by, without noticing, the people of the town began to do this as well.
“Didn’t you hear? Al helped me birth the filly’s new baby horse,” they
would say, or “Didn’t you hear? Bert stole a pie from the church bake sale
and ate the whole thing himself.”
Day after day, year after year. He grew to be a man, and still when he was
good, he was known as Al, and when he was bad, he was known as Bert.
Can you imagine, can you even comprehend, what that would to do a
person? Wondering for the rest of his days who he was, if deep down he
was Al or deep down he was Bert?
LILY
What happened to him?
WES
...he died, didn’t he. Cholera.
SILAS
Yes, it was Cholera.
LILY
Shit, Silas, why the fuck did you tell us that story?
SILAS
Hm?
LILY
What was the moral of that little parable?
SILAS
Not everything that happens has a moral.
In fact, I am— I am reminded of the story of The Worst Winter—
LILY
Are you serious.
SILAS
First the ground grew hard and frosty. Then the river froze over. Then the
snow fell, in piles, in heaps, in something akin to an avalanche, and the
people were trapped shivering inside their hastily built wooden houses,
with only the firewood they had gathered that autumn to warm
themselves, beat back the terrible chill.
When the spring thaw came, one by one, the little families emerged from
their little cabins. Except for one, a clan of eight, who were found dead,
huddled together before a barren fireplace, where they had frozen almost
solid.
LILY
They’d forgotten to gather any firewood.
WES
No.
SILAS
They were found dead before an empty fireplace, a woodpile as tall as the
tallest brother at their backs, flint and steel and tinder all in place. And
though the townspeople tried to uncover a purpose, a lesson, a warning
even, there was none. They had simply died. And though the Reverend
tried to speak to his God, to bear that godly and divine message back to
his flock as solace, no word from the almighty came. The town was left
with nothing, with answers as empty as that pristine and unused fireplace.
Why did they receive no answer? Why was there nothing for them?
(GROWING MANIC) They froze because people freeze. People shrink
away, bit by bit, from disease. People leave this Earth gasping for breath.
People are cooked by electricity, their hearts burn out from seizure, and
when they go, holy holy holy, the darkness hides them. Perfect in power,
holy holy holy. Falling down before Thee, which wert and art and
evermore shalt be, holy holy holy!
WES
Silas, do you think any of this is news to us? Do you think that we, and I
mean Lily and me, don’t know how fragile life can be?
SILAS (NOT LISTENING)
Blessed are the tears and the pleading of the
orphaned. Blessed are the weeping and the wails of the widowed.
Blessed are the sighs and the cries of the friendless. Blessed are the
sobs and the silent screams of those who have had their children, their
child, their only child, torn away from them.
SILAS BEGINS TO CALL UP
ECHOES. THE HILL IS A
CACOPHONY OF SOUND. THIS
RESOLVES INTO A MOMENT
FROM EPISODE 3.11:
THOMAS: (AFTER A PAUSE)
“I miss him, Evelyn.”
EVELYN:
“I know.”
THOMAS:
“I miss our boy.”
SILAS
Blessed are they, for only in that moment can they comprehend the
narrowest sliver of the pain and the rage that I have borne for centuries!
WES
How dare you use my mom and dad like that!
MOLOCH AND ABADDON BARK.
WES
Call off your dogs, Silas. Call them off or I will!
SILAS
How?
WES
You think I can’t? You think I won’t be able to figure out how?
LILY
“The pain and the rage you’ve borne for centuries.” You’ve had over two
hundred years to work this out and you’re still running around having a
tantrum and making everyone around you miserable just because you
can? What is that? Fuck parable, tell me: what happened that made any
of this feel worth it?
SILAS
...I don’t know.
LILY
You don’t know?
WES
He’s telling the truth.
SILAS
I cannot think of it. I can only feel it, feel the violence with which life,
sound, movement, warmth was ripped away from me.
LILY
You mean...you’re fucking over the whole town based on a feeling?
WES
Uh, Lily, is this the best way to—?
LILY
Do you think you’re the only one who’s ever lost anything? Do you think
you’re the only one who’s ever been sad? You don’t get to make the rest
of the world miserable just because of something you don’t even
remember! Jesus Chirst, we’re standing in six inches of mud because you
can’t keep it together! Now tell me what’s going on so we can fix it!
SILAS
I can’t. I can’t. I—
SILAS BECOMES JOEY
JOEY
I know, I always know they’ll never come back. They’re gone and nothing
will ever, ever fix it.
LILY
Oh, so you’re hiding behind a kid now? Real mature, Silas.
JOEY
Get it through your head. He’s not hiding behind me any more than ice is
hiding behind water. It does not work like that.
LILY
Then how does it work?
JOEY
You won’t listen.
LILY
Joey, I drove out in horrible rain in the middle of the night and climbed a
hill past angry wolves in order to try to help figure out what’s going on and
how to stop it. Trust me, I’m fucking listening.
JOEY (MIMICKING)
“Oh Joey, help me, it’s raining!”
Boo hoo.
LILY
Joey, grow the Hell up and show me Silas again, or—
JOEY BECOMES GRANT
GRANT
Where is he?
LILY
I don’t know. Uncle Grant, I’m sorry, but can you—can you bring back
Silas for a sec?
GRANT
Where is Tim?
LILY
Uncle Grant, Tim has been dead since the seventies, now please—
GRANT
He’s dead? He’s gone?
LILY
He’s here all the goddamn time, Uncle Grant. Can’t you just close your
eyes and I don’t know, think Silas-y thoughts?
GRANT
The Spectre—
LILY
The Spectre at the Border, yeah. Please, you can do it.
GRANT BECOMES TIM
LILY
Oh my God, Tim?
TIM
Lilybelle, are you okay?
LILY
What the Hell is your timing? You’re a handyman, right? Can’t you tell me
how to repair whatever’s—
TIM
I don’t know! I don’t know how to fix it! There’s no—map, there’s no
diagram, no sense of how the parts work together and I’m tired!
TIM BECOMES SILAS
SILAS
It takes more out of me than you can wrap your mind around.
LILY
Silas! Quit fucking around and—
WES
Hey Lily?
LILY
Yeah?
WES
...I’m sad, too. I can feel myself starting to—
WES BECOMES YOUNG LILY
YOUNG LILY
—shut down, like a computer.
LILY
Young me? Are you okay?
YOUNG LILY
I’m not tired, I’m wide awake! I’m staying up ‘til MIDNIGHT!
LILY
You’re clearly exhausted, so why don’t you—
YOUNG LILY
Don’t tell me what I am! You don’t know what I am! You don’t know
because you weren’t there!
LILY
Then what are you?
SILAS
The other child knows. I am—
SILAS BECOMES WES
WES
—not a child.
Josephine Pratt, 1876 to 1889, tuberculosis. Tim Anderson, 1928 to 1978,
lung cancer. Grant Fenwood, 1930 to 1996, stroke. Reverend Silas
Lodge, 1761 to 1804, murder. Lily Harper, 1985 to present, still living.
YOUNG LILY
How do you know all this? Who told you, Wes?
WES
Nobody told me. I know it the same way you know who I am.
YOUNG LILY
Oh! Oops!
YOUNG LILY VANISHES.
LILY
Great. She’s gone. He’s gone. Oh my god, can one of you stay longer
than thirty seconds?
WES (EXHAUSTED.)
I think I understand now. There never was a Bert or an
Al.
LILY
You’re right, it’s the same as the rest of his bullshit stories. Okay, Wes. It’s
just you and me. Do your thing and help.
WES
Is that all I am to you?
LILY
Of course not! How can you say that?
Silas! Silas, come back and tell us what will end this! Cut the creepy shit,
cut the metaphors, and just tell us—
WES STARTS TO BECOME SILAS.
WES/SILAS
Lily—
LILY
Wes, don’t leave!
SILAS
I have nothing more to tell you, Lily. Nothing you’ll hear.
LILY
Like Hell you don’t.
SILAS
There. Is. Nothing!
THUNDER. A LIGHTNING BOLT
SLICES A TREE IN HALF. THE
TREE COLLAPSES.
LILY
Shit!
SILAS
Do not ask me again.
LILY
What am I supposed to tell the others?
SILAS
Tell them the story of the boy with two faces. There is nothing else to say.
LILY
Silas!
SILAS Come on, Abbadon, Moloch.
THE DOGS WHINE.
SILAS
Let’s go.
LILY
Silas, you can’t do this! Give me back Wes! Silas! Silas!
SILAS, ABBADON, AND MOLOCH’S
FOOTSTEPS RECEDE IN THE DISTANCE.
THUNDER. THE RAIN IS NOW
ABSOLUTELY POURING.
LILY
Shit.