"Hey." "Are you OK?" "Yeah." "You need some help?" "No." "Annie?" "What are you doing?" "I'm fine, Dad." "What's the matter?" "What's going on?" "Annie?" "Dad." "Hey." "I love you." "I know." "I know." "I just wanted you and Mom to know how much I love you." "Dad, I'm sorry I can be such a shit to you sometimes." "I don't know why I do that." "Just know that I love you, OK?" "I just really love you both." "Hey, Jay." "Hey." "What's up?" "Nothing." "Paul and Yara are here." "We're gonna watch a movie, if you feel like it?" "Actually, I'm going out tonight." "That guy?" "I like him." "Me, too." "I see you." "You will have access to advanced information, relative to the time and strength of the forthcoming atomic tests." "What about it?" "You will provide us with that information as soon as it is available." "I see." "You're afraid of an overload." "You can't tap enough electricity wherever you get it from to control... a strong enough charge." "You are a clever man, doctor." "Perhaps too clever." "And what makes you think I'll give you any information?" "It is the only way you can save your own life when the time comes." "You will be transported to one of our platforms in space..." "What are you reading?" "The Idiot." "Is it any good?" "I don't know yet." "It's about Paul." "Hey, Jay." "Hey, Paul." "Stop." "Hey, I have an idea." "What?" "It got away." "You ever play the trade game?" "No." "What is that?" "It's a people watching game." "My sister and I used to play it when we were bored." "You're bored right now?" "No." "Shut up." "Let me finish." "OK." "How do you play?" "You start by watching the crowd." "Casually scope out the people around you." "OK." "Now without telling me, pick a person you'd want to trade places with." "It can be anyone for whatever reason." "OK, I got it." "Now I get two guesses to figure out who you picked and why you want to trade places with them." "OK, good luck." "That guy." "Nope." "OK then." "Who'd you pick?" "Him." "The dad?" "No, the son." "I mean how cool would that be to have your whole life ahead of you, you know?" "Come on, it's not like you're old." "You're 21." "I know, but... look how happy that kid is." "Plus, at that age you could go to the bathroom any time time you want." " Total freedom." " Yeah." "He's probably taking a shit right now." "Yeah, exactly." "I can never get away with that." "OK, my turn." "OK." "OK, got it." "How about the girl in the yellow dress?" "Where?" "Right there." "I don't see her." "Right there." "Are you teasing me?" "I'm sorry, I just..." "I don't..." "I don't see who you're talking about." "Can we go?" "I'm sorry." "I just, I just don't feel well." "Can we, can we go back to the car?" "Is there someone in there that made you want to leave?" "Like an ex-girlfriend or something?" "You said you saw a girl with a yellow dress." "Is that someone that you knew?" "No." "I just felt sick." "I feel better being outside." "Thanks for walking with me." "Mom knows you smoke." "Yeah, but she'll cry if she actually sees it happening." "Or she'll just steal your cigarettes." "How's it going with Hugh?" "Good." "Mostly." "I don't know." "He was acting kind of weird last night." "Why?" "He said he wasn't feeling well but... it seemed like something was on his mind." "Have you..." " No." " No." "I know he wants to." "But..." "I don't know." "It seemed different last night." "Do I smell bad?" "Like, uh, cherry coke, banana nicotine." "That's my favorite flavor." "Mom will love it." "Let's go back to the car." "It's funny, we used to daydream about being old enough to go on dates, and drive around with friends in their cars." "I had this image of myself holding hands with a really cute guy, listening to the radio... driving along some pretty road up north maybe." "And the trees started to change colors." "It's never about going anywhere really." "Just having some sort of freedom, I guess." "Now that we're old enough, where the hell do we go?" "Jay?" "You awake?" "I'm sorry." "What are you doing?" "I'm not gonna hurt you." "Don't worry." "You're not gonna believe me, but I need you to remember what I'm saying." "OK?" "This thing it's gonna follow you." "Somebody gave it to me and I passed it to you back in the car." "It could look like someone you know or it could be a stranger in a crowd." "Whatever helps it get close to you." "It can look like anyone but there's only one of it." "Help." "Help!" "Sometimes, sometimes I think it looks like people you love just to hurt you." "I see it." "I see it." "Who is it?" "You get rid of it, OK." "Just sleep with someone as soon as you can." "Just pass it along." "If it kills you, it'll come after me." "Do you understand?" "What the fuck do you want?" "Jay, I'm doing this to help you." "Just so you know it's real." "Help!" "Help me!" "Never go into a place that doesn't have more than one exit." "It's very slow, but it's not dumb." "Can I have some?" "Yeah." "Listen to this." ""I think that if one is faced by inevitable destruction, if a house is falling upon you, for instance, one must feel a great longing to sit down, close one's eyes and wait, come what may."" "That's why we're drinking on the porch." "Is your Mom asleep already?" "Almost for sure." "She wakes up at 5:15." "That would kill me." "So, where's Jay at?" "On a date." "Your turn." "Who is he?" "Somebody new." "Of course." "Your sister's so pretty, it's annoying." "It is annoying." "Well, at least she's nice." "Is everything OK?" "Just don't let it touch you." "Jay!" "What happened?" "I don't know." "Those people are such a mess." "It was consensual?" "Yeah." "And you've never seen the woman before?" "No." "OK." "Have you ever been to his home?" "I know where it is, but" "I've never been inside." "He said he was embarrassed of where he lived." "Did she catch anything?" "I don't think so." "Oh, poor Jamie." "Apparently, he used a fake name to rent a house in the city." "The police searched the place." "They can't find him." "Oh, my God!" "Breaks my heart, the things he said to her." "So weird and sick." ""I should have been a pair of ragged claws" "Scuttling across floors of silent seas." "And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully." "Smoothed by long fingers," "Asleep... tired... or it malingers," "Stretched out on the floor, here beside you and me," "Should I, after tea and cakes and ices," "Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?" "But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed," "Though I have seen my head, grown slightly bald, brought in upon a platter," "I am no prophet and here's no great matter;" "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker," "And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker," "And in short, I was afraid." "And would it have been worth it, after all," "After the cups, the marmalade, the tea," "Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me," "Would it have been worthwhile" "To have bitten off the matter with a smile?" "To have squeezed the universe into a ball?" "To roll it toward some overwhelming question?" "To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead," "Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'" "If one, settling a pillow by her head," "Should say, 'That is not what I meant at all;" "That is not it, at all.'"" "Excuse me!" "Excuse me!" "Hello?" "Hello." "There was an old woman at school today." "And she was staring at me." "It was like she was following me." "Did you know her?" "No, but she freaked me out." "I didn't go back to class." "Did she say something to you?" "Hugh told me that he passed it on to me." "That something was gonna follow me." "That's all bullshit, Jamie." "Yeah, I know." "What exactly is supposed to be following you?" "I don't know." "You should tell Mom what you saw." "No." "Well, Jay, I'm worried about you." "I could stay over tonight if it would make you feel any better." " No." " No." "Just on the couch or something." "No." "Maybe just on the couch." "You should be more worried about waking up and finding Paul humping your leg." "Um..." "I'm choosing to ignore these insults to my character." "Just keep your door locked." "Look," "I'm gonna stay up all night and keep an eye out for anything weird." "Nothing's gonna happen, OK?" "Almost sounds like a girl." "A girl?" "Perhaps." "Or a... monster." "Andre!" "Andre!" "Stop teasing him, Hans." "He's in love." "I can't sleep." "Not in there." "That's OK." "Just sleep here." "He hit us!" "He's turning around!" " Maybe not." " We're in for it now." "He knows we're here." " Lock." " Take it now." "Here he comes." "Don't miss, Andre." "Are you OK?" "Everything's gonna be cool." "It's funny." "I haven't spent the night over here since we were kids." "There's a reason for that." "Shut up." "I'm serious." "It's cool spending time with you." "Yeah." "You're my first kiss, you know." "I know." "Was I not yours?" "No, uh, you were." "And then you kissed Kelly." "She told me." "You kissed two sisters." "That's kind of gross." "Do you remember the time that we found those porno magazines in the alley behind Barry's Pizza?" "Yeah." "We were such stupid kids." "Ridiculous." "Yeah, we're all sitting out on Greg's front lawn with a dozen dirty magazines just sprawled out everywhere." "And we're laughing." "We didn't even realize how bad it was." "Oh, and Greg's mom, remember her face when she came out and saw us reading that shit?" "And she scooped it up so fast." "And then she called my mom." "Kelly and I got the sex ed talk the next day." "I got one too." "What the fuck?" "Go look." "There's a broken window in the kitchen, but... there's no one there." "Are you sure?" "Yeah." "I mean whoever broke it must have run away." "Maybe we should call the police." "I'm going to go wake up your sister." "She should call." "Jay?" "Jay, can you open the door?" "It's in the house." "What's going on?" "There's nothing in the house, Jay." "I saw it." "Open the door, OK?" "It's in the kitchen." "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." "Open the door and we'll figure this out." "There's nothing out here." "Get in." "Jay, why don't you sit down?" "I need water." "Oh my God, I need water." "OK, I'll get you some." "No!" "Stay here!" "There's something wrong with me." "Look, somebody broke the window." "That really happened." "Well, I saw a girl in the kitchen." "Jay," "I love you." "You're OK." "You don't believe me." "Mom?" "Mom, is that you?" "No, it's me." "Yara?" "Yeah." "Don't open the door!" "See?" "Everything's OK." "Ahhhh!" "God!" "Wait!" "Jay!" "What are you doing?" "Hey, Jay, wait!" "Jay!" "Jay!" "You could have hurt yourself." "What are you doing?" "I'm scared." "Me too." "We'll figure it out." "You can't tell Mom, cause she'll freak out and she won't believe me." "I know." "It's OK." "What are you running from?" "Do you see that?" "I do." "It's... it's a person." "Greg?" "What the hell's going on?" "You OK?" "Someone broke into their house." "Shit." "Did you call the police?" "I don't want to go home." "Where do you want to go?" "I..." "I need to find him." "The person who broke into your house?" "No." "Hugh?" "What did he really do to you?" "OK." "Are you leaving?" "No." "I'm getting my car." "Someone's got to drive, right?" "Ahhhh!" "God." "Ha ha ha!" "Hey, come look at this." "What?" "Is this him?" "You recognize the jacket?" "Lawson High School." "Somebody's got to know his real name." "Hello students, it's time for your afternoon announcements." "Attention all girls interested in playing club lacrosse this spring." "There will be an informational meeting held in the LT431 room right after school today." "Final reminder for all wrestlers." "Please hand in your permission forms to Mr. Dwiggins today." "Also, your banquet is this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. here at the high school." "It's time again for the high school musical." "This year is, The Mouse That Roared, starting at 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 a show and another performance tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m." "Tickets will be $5 per student and $7 for adults." "Hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll see you here on Monday." " Did they know?" " Yep." "His real name is Jeff." "Not Hugh?" "Jeff Redmond." "Do we tell the police?" "No." "Hello?" "Hi, um... is Jeff here?" "Yeah." "Yeah, he is." "Do you want to come in?" "Yeah." "Your friends?" "Look, even though it's following you," "I can still see it." "It's not done with me either, OK?" "Like I told you, all you can do is pass it along to someone else." "What the fuck are you talking about?" "Look, she can do the same thing I did." "I mean, it should be easy for her." "She's a girl." "Any guy would be with you." "Just sleep with someone else and tell him to do the same thing." "Maybe it'll never come back." "This isn't real." "I swear to you." "This is just some fucked up game!" "Look, I'm not safe either, OK?" "We shouldn't even be in the same place." "I'm sorry." "You guys need to get the fuck out." "Hey!" "Watch it." "If it kills her, it gets me." "And goes straight down the line to whoever started it." "Jay," "I'm sorry." "I wasn't trying to hurt you, OK?" "Someone did this to me too, OK?" "Who did it to you?" "I met a girl at a bar." "It was a one night stand." "I don't even remember her name." "I think that's where it came from." "Jeff, I don't believe you." "And, well, she might." "But I think you're a fucking liar and what you're doing to her is some fucked up shit!" "Do you guys see that girl right there?" " Yeah." " Uh-huh." " Yes." "Yeah." "OK." "OK, good." "Jay, listen." "Wherever you are, it's somewhere walking straight for you." "But it is walking." "If you drive far enough, you could buy yourself some time to think." "Decide if you want to give it to someone else." "Um, Greg?" "Yeah?" "Your mom's not gonna freak out?" "She won't even know." "It's really nice of you." "I love coming up here." "My dad, he, um he used to take me hunting a couple times a year." "It's not like super nice, but... it's cool." "Have you thought about what he said?" "What?" "Maybe passing it on?" "I don't know." "Sucks sticking around when everyone's gone home." "It's a bit lonely." "I'm right across the street, you know." "I remember." "I guess I should have been nicer to you." "You guys should get in the water." "You want to?" "Maybe in a little bit." "Come on." "Oh!" "Oh my God!" "Help me!" "Jay, what is it?" "Please, help!" "Help me!" "What are you doing?" "Jay, please!" "Stop shooting!" " What the hell are you guys doing?" " Don't open the door!" " What did you do to the door?" " We didn't do that!" "It's trying to come in!" "There's nothing out here!" "Yes, there is." "Fucking son of a..." "Greg?" "Greg, are you OK?" "Greg?" "Jay, what do you see?" "Jay!" "Jay, wait!" "Hey, that's my fucking car!" "Have you seen it?" "Nothing." "I'm waiting." "Looking." "It's been three days." "I don't think it's coming." "You believe me, right?" "You're not just playing along?" "No, I.." "I.." "I believe you." "I just..." "I just don't think it's following me." "Isn't that a good thing?" "Yeah." "Hey." "How are you guys?" "OK." "How's, uh, how's Jay?" "Not great." "Have you seen anything?" "No." "Is, is it cool if I go in?" "I don't think so." "She doesn't want to open her door." "She's just hiding in there." "I thought she'd be doing better." "I can have her call you later?" "Yeah." "OK." "You really haven't seen anything?" "Nope." "She didn't make it up." "We'll know sooner or later, alright?" "That chair broke in midair." "I mean, something knocked me over, and the door didn't break on its own." "Look, something happened." "But it's not what she thinks, OK?" "What do you think it was then?" "I'll see you guys." " Bye, Greg." " Bye." "Hi." "You've reached Greg." "Leave a message." "Greg!" "Open the door, Greg!" "Greg, watch out!" "Greg, don't open the door!" "What the fuck, Mom?" "Who is it?" "Paul." "Hang on." "It's gonna be here soon or later." "You could pass it on." "You did once." "I shouldn't have." "I could..." "No." "I liked you too, you know." "Why'd you pick Greg?" "I thought he'd be OK." "He wasn't scared." "We slept together in high school." "It wasn't a big deal." "I want to help." "Do you?" "Yeah, I do." "Jay?" "Yeah?" "Do you trust me?" "Do you remember where we were the first time we kissed?" "Know where to go?" "I know how to get there... mostly." "I haven't been to the pool since I was 14." "Who brought you there?" "OK." "That's where I had my first beer." "I threw up the whole night." "Into the pool?" " No." "Outside the car." " And in the car." "Paul used to pee in it." "Eww, that's disgusting." "Whatever." "There's chlorine." "When I was a little girl, my parents wouldn't allow me to go south of Eight Mile." "And I didn't even know what that meant until I got a little older." "And I started realizing that that's where the city started and the suburbs ended." "And I used to think about how shitty and weird that was." "I mean," "I had to ask permission to go to the state fair with my best friend and her parents only because it was a few blocks past the border." "My mom said the same thing." "How long do you think it'll be?" "I don't know." "Hours, I bet." "Oh, my God!" "It just walked in the room." "It's right there." "It's here?" "Right there!" "Jay?" "What do you see?" "I don't want to tell you." "Jay, I..." "I need you to point at it, OK?" "Keep your finger aimed at it so we can see where it is." "Is it getting in the water?" "It's just standing there staring at me." "It's moving." "What's it doing?" "It's walking." "It's just walking." " Paul, I want to get out!" " No." "Just wait for it to get in." "No." "I don't want to do this." "I just want to get out!" " What the fuck?" " Jay!" "Get out of there!" "She's going to get electrocuted!" "No, it didn't work!" " You OK?" " Yeah." " It didn't work." " Thank God!" "Jay, look out!" " Oh, my God!" "Somebody help her!" " What do we do?" "What the hell is going on?" "Jay, just keep pointing at it!" "It's right there!" "Where is it?" "Watch out!" "Don't get too close!" "It's right there!" "Yara!" "Where?" "Here?" " Here?" " Right there!" "Where is it?" " Jay!" " Come on, Jay!" " Give me your hand!" " Come on, come on, come on!" "Jay!" "Jay, do you see it?" "Is it still down there?" "Do you feel any different?" "Do you?" "No." ""When there is torture, there is pain and wounds." "Physical agony and all this distracts the mind from mental suffering so that one is tormented by the wounds until the moment of death." "And the most terrible agony may not be in the wounds themselves but in knowing for certain that within an hour, then within 10 minutes, then within half a minute, now at this very instant, your soul will leave your body" "and you will no longer be a person." "And that this is certain, the worst thing is that it is certain.""