THE IMPERFECTION, PART 6
INT. UBER IN MANHATTAN - DAY
Amber, Pauline, and Charlie are back in Manhattan, getting out of an Uber. They just escaped from the underground borough of the East River stop.
CHARLIE
Its over here, left hand side.
PAULINE
Where are we going?
CHARLIE
Right here, thanks.
(to Pauline)
Come on.
EXT. STREET OUTSIDE CHINESE RESTAURANT - AFTERNOON
They get out of the car.
CHARLIE
Fuck!
AMBER
What, what is it?
CHARLIE
The Chinese restaurant! Its closed!
AMBER
Really closed. Like, it has for a FOR LEASE sign on it.
CHARLIE
Oh man. They’re on to us.
PAULINE
This is the place where the waitress told you about the Arena and the Old Factory?
We hear him knocking on the window.
AMBER
I don’t think anyone’s in there, dude.
CHARLIE
God damn it! We need answers.
PAULINE
What a shit hole.
AMBER
Oh no, man, this place is good. I get food from here sometimes when I’m working.
PAULINE
You work that close?
AMBER
Yeah just around--
CHARLIE
That’s her!
PAULINE
What?
CHARLIE
That’s the waitress. Uh oh, she saw us. Where the fuck is she going?
He starts to yell down the street.
CHARLIE
Yuling! Hey its me! Hey YULING OVER HERE!
AMBER
She’s running away! Are you sure you didn’t grab her ass?
CHARLIE
Come on!
PAULINE
I wore the wrong fucking shoes today.
AMBER
Oh fuck I am not built for chasing people!
They run around the corner.
CHARLIE
(tugging on the door)
Shit. She went in this door but its locked.
AMBER
That door? You sure it was THAT door?!
PAULINE
What?
AMBER
Oh fuck. Fuck me. That’s where I work man! That’s the door to MY JOB!
PAULINE
So you have the key?
AMBER
Well, yeah. But we can’t go in.
CHARLIE
(Angry)
Amber, we need to get in there! Now!
AMBER
Fuck you Charlie, that’s my money you’re talking about! I can’t fuck up my job! I have a life!
CHARLIE
Open the goddamn door Amber! She’s getting away!
AMBER
Charlie, what the fuck man? They clock it- every time you use your key card it’s recorded, and the records go to the managers. I’m not losing my fucking job over this craziness, no fucking way.
CHARLIE
Dammit! We need to know what that waitress knows! We need to find Sadler!
PAULINE
Charlie, you’re right, but so is Amber.
AMBER
Thank you.
CHARLIE
FUCK!!!
PAULINE
Amber, when’s your next shift?
AMBER
Tonight. I work graveyard tonight, I go on at ten.
PAULINE
Do you think you can at least look around, see if you can find out where she went, or why she went down there?
AMBER
(hatching a plan)
Maybe. Actually... yeah. But you’re going to have to buy me some food. Is there a grocery store around? What do spiders eat?
PAULINE
Wait. What?
INT. MEGASTORE WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Amber is coming in for her shift that night. She’s carrying a bunch of plastic bags full of food.
AMBER
What up, Rico?
RICO
Hey Amber.
AMBER
What’s up dude, you sound down.
RICO
Nah man, I’m good. Just tired. And bored as fuck.
AMBER
Oh yeah. Ha. That.
RICO
Its like, what the fuck are we doing down here? Making some fucking billionaire richer while we watch other people’s stuff for minimum wage?
AMBER
Yeah man, I hear you.
RICO
I don’t know. I don’t know if its worth it.
AMBER
Ok, Occupy Wall Street, just clock out, go have a drink and get some sleep. Are you hungry? I have, like, a lot of food here...
RICO
What’ve you got?
AMBER
Chicken, some cold cuts, a raw steak.
RICO
I’m a vegetarian.
AMBER
Oh. I got nothing. Sorry.
RICO
All of that is meat? All of it?
AMBER
Uh, yeah.
RICO
You gotta eat some fruits and vegetables, dude.
AMBER
Look at Rico with the lifestyle changes.
We hear locker doors close, and Amber walks into the tunnel where she has to guard the door.
AMBER
Yo! Legs?! Legs! Spider guy! Are you here? I know you can hear me. Or smell me, or whatever you do.
She pauses, waits.
AMBER
Come on man! I brought you some food! I got a LOT of shit here, man. Steak, sausage, chicken... Chow time! Ding a ling! Get your chow on! No? Ok, man, your loss. Guess I’ll get on the express train to funk town.
Amber puts in her earbuds and cranks some Prince, probably the Black Album. Then we hear the SLITHER that says Legs is approaching.
LEGS
Hey Amber.
She’s rocking out, singing along.
LEGS
Amber! Dude!
Amber screams in terror.
AMBER
FUUUUUUUUCK. Man you gave me a fucking heart attack mother fucker!! Goddamn it!
LEGS
Sorry! Sorry, I really tried to get your attention but you had your headphones on.
AMBER
Shit on top of another shit!
LEGS
You were rocking out.
AMBER
Oh fuck you.
LEGS
No really, you have a great voice.
AMBER
Well, that’s nice, I guess. And- sorry I screamed and shit. I was just in the zone.
LEGS
You really were.
AMBER
The Prince Zone.
LEGS
What’s that?
AMBER
Oh, the guy I was listening to, Prince. You don’t know Prince?
LEGS
No. We don’t get a lot of music down here.
AMBER
Oh man, Prince is like, its like having sex on silk sheets. You want to check it out?
LEGS
Its ok, only half of me understands what music is anyways.
AMBER
Huh. You’re an interesting dude, aren’t you, Legs.
LEGS
And you’re the nicest human ever! Look at all that food man!
AMBER
Oh yeah its like, major feast time. You’re a carnivore, right?
LEGS
Fuck yeah I am.
AMBER
Ok cool, cause I looked it up and it said Spiders pretty much eat other animals, like flies and stuff.
LEGS
Yeah both sides of me are straight up meat eaters. My mom ate rats and bugs, things would get stuck in her webs. And my dad, well I didn’t know him, but I guess he ate normal spider stuff-- flies, gnats, that sort of thing.
AMBER
Forgive me if this sounds, like narrow minded or culturally insensitive, but that is disgusting.
LEGS
Nah, its cool. Hey, do you mind...
He grabs one of the bags.
AMBER
That’s what its there for! Get into it man!
Gross, ravenous sounds.
AMBER
Oh you are hungry. Ok. I’m just going to look over here at the wall. And not watch that. I didn’t know you another mouth thing.
LEGS
(mouth stuffed)
Mandible.
AMBER
What now?
LEGS
Its called a mandible.
AMBER
You just get your chow on. Didn’t your mother tell you not to talk with your mouths full?
LEGS
(still stuffing his face)
Mom didn’t talk. She communicated with chemical secretions.
AMBER
Aw fuck I’m going to be sick.
LEGS
I can wait to eat the rest of this later.
AMBER
Yeah maybe that’s a good idea.
LEGS
Fuck is that good. Steak? You are a legend.
AMBER
Listen, tho, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had a motive here.
LEGS
I know, I know. I’m ok with that. We had a deal.
AMBER
We did.
LEGS
Well, I was paying attention to your door, here. Its interesting. Whenever you’re NOT here, a LOT of people come and go. Like, probably 40 people. And then as soon as you show up, silence. Not a sound. Its like they stop moving.
AMBER
You mean they stop coming in and out of the door?
LEGS
No like they literally stop moving. Or disappear. But I still smell them, so I don’t think they vanish or anything. Its like they go to sleep. No movement. No sounds. Nothing.
AMBER
Does that strike you as very weird?
LEGS
I’m a half-spider half-man, so my barometer for weird is a little off.
AMBER
I feel like that all the time. Up top.
They high five.
AMBER
So yesterday this woman, cute little asian woman about yay tall, she ran down here... you didn’t happen to see her, did you?
LEGS
Like this tall? Glasses, pony tail?
AMBER
Yeah that’s her.
LEGS
Oh totally. Yuling. She’s down here all the time.
AMBER
Wait what? She is?
LEGS
Yeah. The chick who works at the Chinese restaurant around the corner, right?
AMBER
Yes exactly, that’s who I’m talking about.
LEGS
Yeah, she’s really cool man. She brings me food sometimes. She’s into swing dancing. She tried to show me some moves, but, you know, I don’t really understand rhythm, so...
AMBER
Problematic.
LEGS
Plus the leg situation. But yeah, she’s cool.
AMBER
And what does she do down here?
LEGS
Oh I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention, and these tunnels go on for miles man. They go all over the city. But she’s definitely in the neighborhood a lot, I see her at least once a week.
AMBER
Well that is very interesting, Legs. Thanks man, that’s super helpful.
LEGS
And thank you for the food! This is rad.
AMBER
Don’t sweat it.
LEGS
Ok I’ve gotta run. Web maintenance. It never ends.
AMBER
I can only imagine. Later.
LEGS
Later.
Legs walks away with the accompanying slither pitter patter SFX.
INT. CHARLIE'S HOUSE - DAY
Amber has come over to Charlie’s house. She knocks on the door.
AMBER
(from the otherside of the door)
Charlie! Yo!
SFX of foot steps and a door being opened.
CHARLIE
(from the other room)
Hey what’s up! Come on in!
Amber walks into the apartment.
AMBER
So this is what your place looks like? I always wondered... could’ve gone a few different ways.
CHARLIE
What do you mean?
AMBER
I mean, you’re a white guy with glasses and a college degree, so it could be very, like, Ikea but in a good way? Or it could have been majorly OCD clean, like, you have special booties you put on over your shoes and a lot of wipes.
CHARLIE
That sounds like me.
AMBER
Then there’s always the possibility that there’s human flesh in the freezer.
CHARLIE
Nope, Not my thing.
AMBER
I’m just saying it seems like a possibility.
CHARLIE
(sincerely)
Hey, I’m sorry. About yesterday, yelling at you when we were chasing that waitress.
AMBER
Its ok. I get it.
CHARLIE
No, it wasn’t cool. I’m just... I feel like finding Sadler is this mission, and I have to complete it or else...
He trails off.
AMBER
Or else what?
CHARLIE
Or else I’ll never know what’s real!! Sadler helps me sort through these hallucinations that seems SO REAL, but its not. Its just a figment of my imagination. And I wind up doubting everything, all the time. Are you real? Is this kitchen real? I KNOW it is, but I have to QUESTION it. Everyday.
AMBER
I understand.
CHARLIE
I know, I know you do. And that’s a lot. Maybe that’s more important than knowing what’s real. Is just knowing that other people deal with the same shit.
AMBER
Are you having a breakthrough? Oh shit!
CHARLIE
Oh leave me alone.
AMBER
Hold on I have to call Pauline. You know how she loves a crazy person break through.
CHARLIE
Fuck. Off.
AMBER
I get it, man. I do. Life is hard enough without this bullshit. I’m with you. I want to know the truth.
CHARLIE
So let’s figure this thing out.
AMBER
I’m down.
CHARLIE
But I am sorry, when I was yelling and saying we should go into your work- that was dumb. I wasn’t thinking about it from your perspective.
AMBER
Its cool man. I can stand up for me. Plus it was kind of funny.
CHARLIE
What do you mean?
AMBER
Like, I’ve never seen you run before. You look like really funny when you run. Who holds their hands like this?
You hear the patter of her feet as she fake runs, mocking him.
CHARLIE
I don’t run like that!
AMBER
You totally do. Plus, that waitress could HUSTLE, right? She’s so fast.
CHARLIE
So fast.
AMBER
On those tiny legs.
CHARLIE
She’s not that short.
AMBER
Like a little duck.
(beat)
But for real, apology accepted.
CHARLIE
You want coffee?
AMBER
You got oat milk?
CHARLIE
Nope.
AMBER
Fuck off.
CHARLIE
I know.
A heavy sigh from Amber.
AMBER
I can’t fucking believe we can’t go to the coffee shop, man.
CHARLIE
We can, we will... I just need a couple of days to let it settle. I texted Inés, but...
AMBER
She didn’t hit you back, huh?
CHARLIE
No.
AMBER
I called it! I told you when you guys went on that date, I knew it would get fucked up, and then we couldn’t go to our coffee shop man! I hate trying to find a new coffee joint- it wears me out, Charlie.
CHARLIE
I’ll fix it! I will. Inés just needs to understand what we were really doing outside her building- that I wasn’t stalking her.
AMBER
I know, it was shit luck. Just bad timing. But if you look at it from her side, well... You do seem like a super creep.
CHARLIE
I really like her. I can’t believe I’m going to fuck it up. I mean, I CAN believe it, it seems like a pretty sure thing actually, but still... It sucks.
AMBER
Ouch. Yeah. That feeling. I know that feeling way too well. What do you think its like being a black woman with a debilitating mental illness?
CHARLIE
I have no idea.
AMBER
Well take the amount your life sucks, and then multiply it by racism, add misogyny, and then give it another solid 25% of the entire world actively wants to keep you down.
CHARLIE
That sounds hard.
AMBER
Its a hard life, man!
CHARLIE
No I mean that math problem sounds hard.
(abruptly)
Fuck, we have to call in.
AMBER
Leave it to Pauline to set up a conference call.
CHARLIE
Well, it’ll be good to get the rest of the group on this. I mean, they have to be in bad shape if they haven’t been getting their meds, right? They need to know that Marcello hooked them up, they can go back to the pharmacy. And maybe someone has talked to Sadler...
AMBER
Yeah its just, I don’t know. Conference calls are very upper middle class. I’m a security guard, I don’t have a lot of conference calls in my life.
CHARLIE
Don’t worry, they suck too.
He dials in, and now we’re in the conference call. Everyone’s voice is telephonic and cut off by one another.
CONFERENCE CALL ANNOUNCER
Hi! Thanks for using CallingAllCalls. Please enter your PIN, followed by the hash key.
Beep boop.
PAULINE
Oh, someone just popped on. Who’s that?
AMBER
Hey Pauline, its me and Charlie.
PAULINE
Ok great. So far we have Hamish, and Sue Ellen.
CHARLIE
Oh hey guys.
HAMISH
Hi--
SUE ELLEN
(cutting off Hamish)
-ello you guys
The voices are briefly a mishmash of people talking over each and cutting each other off.
AMBER
This is what a college degree gets you?
PAULINE
Sorry Amber I couldn’t hear that, can you get a little closer to the phone?
AMBER
Nothing. We’re good.
PAULINE
Ok let’s give it a minute and see if anyone else can join.
CHARLIE
How many people did you invite?
PAULINE
Fifteen.
CHARLIE
I didn’t realize Sadler had that many patients. I thought Acute Dementia from Hypo Occular Cyclothymia was rare.
PAULINE
Oh it is, very rare. We’re pretty much everyone in both America’s and Europe that have it. I heard there’s a clinic in China, but that’s the only other one.
HAMISH
Hey! Put that down! Now! Down! Sorry guys, my dog is eating the pillows again.
PAULINE
Hamish, there’s no dog.
HAMISH
No really, I just-- wait, where’d he go?
PAULINE
Hamish, you have to name it.
HAMISH
I’m hallucinating. I don’t have a dog.
PAULINE
(talking to him a little bit like you talk to a dog)
That’s right. That’s right! Good job.
Hamish starts sobbing.
AMBER
Hey Hamish, hit the mute button if you’re going to cry ok? That’s a real trigger for me.
CHARLIE
Amber! Come on. Its ok, Hamish. Let it out, bud.
HAMISH
(crying)
I really love that dog...
PAULINE
(getting down to business)
Well, we’re missing a lot of people here but let’s just make this quick. Sue Ellen, Hamish, have either of you guys heard from Dr Sadler?
SUE ELLEN
No, nothing.
HAMISH
No.
PAULINE
Ok. Well we filed a missing person’s report with the police, so if you hear anything let me know so I can forward that info along, ok?
SUE ELLEN
Absolutely.
PAULINE
Now how are we doing on our meds? Does everyone have refills?
SUE ELLEN
Uh, Sue Ellen here. I have about a week left.
PAULINE
Hamish?
HAMISH
Maybe two weeks.
PAULINE
Ok well Dr Marcello was able to get refills for every one, they’re at the DrugMart near Sadler’s office. Just ask for Mahmoud.
CHARLIE
Ugh I hate that guy.
PAULINE
(annoyed)
Well, whatever, Charlie. They’ve got the refills.
CHARLIE
Does anyone know if Sadler was affiliated with a hospital? There’s must be a hospital he worked with, right?
HAMISH
I never heard him mention one.
SUE ELLEN
I think he said there was a hospital underground.
AMBER
What?
SUE ELLEN
I think I remember him saying something about his hospital was underground, or, like, in a basement.
PAULINE
Sue Ellen, I think we talked about this...
SUE ELLEN
No really!
PAULINE
Really?
SUE ELLEN
Maybe not. Maybe I heard that wrong.
PAULINE
And what do we call it when we ‘hear things wrong?’
SUE ELLEN
A hallucination.
PAULINE
That’s right!
There’s a beep.
PAULINE
Ok who’s that? Is someone joining?
CLARENCE
(running and freaking out)
Oh god! Oh fuck! They’re after me!
PAULINE
Clarence, is that you? What’s going on?
CLARENCE
(breathing hard, street sounds underneath)
There’s like 5 or 6 of them. Fucking commandos or something. They want to kill me!
PAULINE
Why do they want to kill you Clarence?
CLARENCE
I broke into Sadler’s office! I thought maybe he was in there, maybe he needed help! Ahhh!
A car screeches and the phone bangs around.
CHARLIE
Clarence? Clarence are you there.
City ambience SFX. People gather around- it sounds like he got hit by a car. We hear two voices from Clarence’s line.
UNKOWN VOICE 1
(Male subway voice)
Problem resolved. Case file complete. Return to The Meadow.
UNKNOWN VOICE 2
(Female boss voice)
Correct. Success. Returning to The Meadow. End of line.
PAULINE
Clarence? Oh god Clarence are you there?
CHARLIE
Where are you? Can you tell me where you are?
AMBER
Oh fuck Charlie.
PAULINE
Sue Ellen?
SUE ELLEN
Oh Jesus what happened?
PAULINE
Ok we’re cutting this short guys. I’ll call an ambulance. Charlie, you live near Sadler’s office- go over there and see if you find him, ok? Call me if you see anything!
They hang up.
CHARLIE
Come on let’s go.
EXT. ACCIDENT NEAR SADLER’S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER
Charlie and Amber have run the few blocks to Sadler’s office. Sirens are wailing as they approach the scene of the accident.
AMBER
Oh fuck!
CHARLIE
Is that him? Is that Clarence?
AMBER
Oh fuck man. Is he dead? There’s blood coming out of his mouth. That’s not good. That’s never good.
PARAMEDIC
You know him?
AMBER
Yeah we know him. Clarence, Clarence can you hear me?
Clarence groans.
PARAMEDIC
We have to get him to the hospital stat. Stand back.
AMBER
Clarence, can you hear me man? What happened?
CLARENCE
(whispering in his death throes)
They were real. Can you fucking believe it?
AMBER
I believe it Clarence. I do, I really do. Don’t talk, though, ok? They’re going to get you to the hospital.
CLARENCE
What a joke.
AMBER
Clarence? Clarence!!! Wake the fuck up man! Now! Clarence!
PARAMEDIC
I’m sorry.
CHARLIE
Amber. He’s gone.
Amber’s crying, this is just too much.
AMBER
What does this mean Charlie? Is some one after us? Is it the Arena?
CHARLIE
I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Except...
AMBER
What?
CHARLIE
We gotta find Sadler. I don’t know about you, but I have some questions for that fucker.
AMBER
You know where he is?
CHARLIE
I think so. We’ve talked to the Arena, and we’ve been to the Old Factory, so there’s only one place left to look.
AMBER
The Inventor’s Basement.
CHARLIE
Exactly. Let’s go.