"Well..." " we love the characters." " But?" " It's a terrific story." " And?" "And the..." " The dialogue is great." " Paul." "I just wanna make sure you give them your best." "Oh, my God." "Look, don't get me wrong." "We do think it has a lot of potential." " Did you even read it?" " Of course I read it, Anna." "Calm down." "I am calm, but this is the third time you're telling me to rewrite my draft." "I mean, how am I even supposed to meet the deadline, Paul?" "Just take a look at the notes." " I'm sure it's an easy fix for you." " Yeah, that's what you said last time." "Why not let the studio decide if they like it or not?" "Because you only get one shot at this." "Listen, Anna." "This is me managing you." "I'm not trying to piss you off, but it's not like one of your blogs where people can look at photographs when they get bored of the writing." "Well, that got your attention, didn't it?" "I just don't want you to be one of those writers who screws up before anybody's even read their script." "I've got you this chance, now use it." "I've been experiencing sleep paralysis since I was a little kid." "Like my mind is awake." "I can see and hear and feel, but I can't move any part of my body." "It's terrifying." "It's me." "I don't like flowers." "You should know that." "Yeah, well, it's the effort that counts, doesn't it?" "Do you have any idea what time it is?" "It's never too late for an apology, is it?" "I just wanted to say sorry for this afternoon." "I think I was a bit rough on you." "I just don't want you to waste your first opportunity, that's all." "No, thanks." "Really?" "It's not like you to turn down a glass of wine." "I just had an Ambien." "Still popping the pills, then?" " I thought you came for an apology." " I did, but..." "Well, then stop talking and come to bed before I fall asleep." "Oh, I meant to tell you that I..." "I managed to buy you a little bit of extra time." "They agreed to..." "postpone the deadline on the script." "So I was thinking maybe we should get out of the city for a few days." "You know, just relax." "Get some good sleep." "Forget about the draft." "You know, take the heat off a little bit." "It'll be inspiring." "Remember I told you I have that little hideaway out in Joshua Tree?" "So around me is utter devastation with dead bodies floating down the street and buildings collapsing." "And I have nothing better to do but to go downstairs and underwear shop with Prince at what has turned into a Black Friday sales event at Wal-Mart." "Yeah." "Yeah, I started writing down my dreams again." "A better dream memory is supposed to help against nightmares." "Wow." "My therapist would make a fortune out of you." "Found some croutons in the cupboard." "I hope they're not expired." " Man, this place is gorgeous." " Yeah." "How come you've never taken me here before?" "It's been rented for the past year and a half or so." "Do you think you're gonna be able to relax while you're here?" "I don't know, but I think that's up to you." "I'll do my best." "Oh, fuck!" "Oh, shit." "Got you, you little fucker." "Come on, boy." "So I leave you for five minutes and you've destroyed my kitchen." "I just... fixed the garbage disposal." "Yeah, you don't wanna touch that thing." "It's a fucking death trap." " What's the matter?" " Nothing." "Listen, I..." "I got a call from the office." "You get reception?" "Yeah, about a mile down there's a hillside." "You get a few bars up there." "Yeah, anyway, they called and said they've had to put an emergency meeting together about one of my clients." "Apparently I'm the only guy who can..." "who can talk to him, so..." "Well, just tell them you're already with a client." "Anna, I..." "So we have to go?" "When?" "Kinda now." "Look, I'm really sorry." "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't an emergency, but I've tried him and he's not picking up." "And there's no..." "No, it's... it's fine." "I understand." "Oh, come on, baby." "Come on." "I'll make it up to you." "We can come back again in a few days if you'd like." "Well, if that's the case, why don't I just stay here?" "Well, 'cause I'm taking the car." "And you'd be here by yourself." "Yeah, but it's fine." "I mean, didn't we just buy enough food for a week?" "Well, yeah, but..." "And maybe if I'm left alone, I can get a little writing done." "I'm not a little girl, Paul." "All right." "I'll just do a little checklist of things you need to know about the house and I'll leave him for protection." "Protection from what?" " You never know." " Oh." " No, he's good company." " Sure, why not?" "Well, it's just me and you now, Shadow." "And my laptop." "All right, fuck it." "Hey, buddy." "Ready to go for a hike?" "Yeah?" "All right, let's do this." "Hey, buddy." "How you doing?" "Come on, Shadow." "Shadow, come on!" "Shadow, come!" " Hey!" " Oh!" "I'm sorry." " What are you doing here?" " I was just out on a hike." "You're out on a hike?" "Look, are you some sort of park ranger?" "No, I'm not a park ranger, but this is my home." "I live here." "I stay right over there." "Did you come from the glass house?" "Yeah." "Is there something wrong?" "No." "No, there's nothing wrong at all." "I just used to..." "I worked for the owner." "Paul." "What did you say your name was?" "Anna." "I guess we're neighbors, then." "Yeah." "Well... it's nice to meet you." "Let's go, Shadow." "Come on." "Shadow, come on." "Oh, God." "Oh, finally!" "This is Paul Wagner." "I can't get to the phone right now." "Please leave a message..." "Ford and Willis Agency." " How may I connect your call?" " Paul Wagner." "Mr. Wagner is in a meeting." "Would you like to leave a message?" "No, Emily." "It's Anna." "This is an emergency." "Can you get him on the phone right now?" "Hello, Ms. Parker." "I'm afraid Mr. Wagner cannot take your call right now." "No, Emily!" "You don't understand, okay." "It's an emergency!" "I need you to get him on the phone right now." "I'm just gonna keep calling back until you get him on." " One moment, please." " Thank you." " Anna." " Oh, thank God." "What's up?" "The... the house isn't safe, Paul." "What do you mean the house isn't safe?" "Has somebody broken in?" "No, I..." "I don't know, all right?" "Somebody's been there." " Did you call the police?" " No, I..." "I wanted to call you first." "When are you coming back?" "I don't..." "I don't know yet." "We've got another meeting tomorrow which could take a while." "Is everything okay?" "No, I'm not all right, Paul." "All right?" "I'm freaking freezing and I'm standing on a mountain in the middle of nowhere!" "All right, just calm down." "Tell me exactly what happened." "I don't know, but the power went out and this morning when I woke up, there were... there were all these numbers written all over the glass." "Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream?" "No, Paul, please!" "You don't understand, all right?" "This is different!" "I can show you when you get here." "Look, Anna, it's gonna take me all night to get there." "If you call the police, they'll be there much faster." "No, I don't want the police." "Do you get it?" "This place freaks me the fuck out!" "I wanna get out of here!" "Okay." "Okay, just calm down." "I'll tell them to push my schedule." "I'll be there as soon as I can." "Just lock yourself in the house and everything will be fine, all right?" "Fine." "Shit." "Oh, great." "Shit!" "Shit!" "Oh." "Good boy." "Good boy." "Yeah." "You're lucky you had the dog." "It was because of his persistent barking last night that I even bothered to come over." "How's your head?" "You must have a hell of a headache." "How did you get in here?" "Well, that would be your keys." "Give me those." " Give me my fucking keys." " Easy!" "Oh, what are you gonna do with that?" "I swear to God, if you don't give me my fucking keys," "I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!" "Okay." "All right." "Take your keys." "Nobody's threatening you." "Bullshit!" "You... you knocked me out and you dragged me here to..." " To do what?" " I don't know." "I saw you running around last night." "You recognized me, you tripped over a rock, you cracked your own head." "And the stuff on the wall, you... you put it there, didn't you?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Any idea what it means?" "Come out here." "Take a look at this." "These are all the same." "3-0-2-12." "It's a date." "March 2nd, 2012." "What?" "Who did this?" " I thought you did." " Why would I do this?" "I don't know." "I mean, you're the only one out here." "I just assumed." " I gotta go." " What does it mean?" " I don't know." " Yes, you do." " I don't know." " Okay, wait, just..." "Look, you don't have to talk about it, all right?" "Will you just... will you just stay until it gets light out?" "I don't feel safe here." "Hi." "How you feeling?" "What time is it?" "3:00 in the afternoon." "You slept quite a while." "What happened to your head?" "Did you see the numbers?" " What numbers?" " In the bedroom on the window." "No, I didn't see any numbers." "I saw the trash bags." "I took them down." "Was it too bright in there for you?" "This is ridiculous." "Anna." " It was all over the place." " Listen." "There were no numbers on the windows." "There were just a couple of trash bags." " I took them down, that's all." " You don't believe me." "No, it's not that I don't believe you." "I don't know, maybe you had another nightmare." "It wasn't a nightmare, Paul!" "It was a date." "March 2nd, 2012." " It was all over!" " Look, stop!" "Anna, please." "This has gone too far now." " Does that date mean anything to you?" " No, it doesn't." "You know what?" "Ask your housekeeper or groundskeeper, whatever he was." " He was here." "He saw it." " What, Jeremy?" " Yeah, I think that's what his name was." " What was he doing here?" "That's what I've been trying to tell you." "He helped me!" "He..." "Okay, pack up your things, get ready to leave." "I'm gonna talk to Jeremy now." "Jeremy." "I saw your little trick with the graffiti." "You can't hide from me, Jeremy!" "You try another stunt like that," "I'll have immigration send you back to Canada." "Little wanker." "Hey, Anna, are you in there?" "Yeah." " Are these bags ready to go now?" " Yeah, you can pack 'em." "Oh, listen, have you seen the key to the boiler room?" " The what?" " The key for the boiler room." "I need to turn the furnace off before we go." "Wait." " I haven't seen them." " Really?" "They're not in your jeans or something?" "Hold on a second." "I'll be right there." "All right." "Oh, listen, would you mind hurrying up a little bit?" "I don't wanna get snagged up in rush hour traffic." "Actually..." " Here they are." " Why don't we stay?" "Paul?" "Oh, hey." "Morning." "So why did you sleep on the couch last night?" "Was I that bad in bed?" "No, I..." "I just couldn't sleep." " Nightmares again?" " No, thank God." " All right, I won't be long." " Okay, I'm gonna go and get gas." "Okay." "Excuse me." " More coffee?" " No, thanks." "I'm sorry, this might seem a bit random, but do you know this woman?" "She built a modern style glass house out here, about 10 miles north of the old Gamma Ranch." "You may want to talk to Joe over there." "He knows everyone in town." "Thanks." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry to bother you, but... my name's Anna and I'm looking for someone from around here." "The bartender said that you might be able to help." "I'm staying at the glass house." "It's 10 miles north." "You know it?" "Yeah, I know that house." "What about it?" "I'm looking for the architect, Vera Palm." "Does that ring any bells?" "Let's talk outside." "I know her housekeeper." " Jeremy?" " Yes." "He..." " comes in for guidance now and then." " What sort of guidance?" "For $39 a session, you can find out." "I also offer a lot of original healing stones and native artwork." "My shop is right over there." "I think this has been a misunderstanding." "Are you sure?" "Hey, Anna, you ready?" "Look, I'm just trying to find this woman." "Well, you can't." "She's missing." "Since when?" " Last March." " Wait, what happened?" "Number's on the card." "Oh, it's freezing in here." "Why don't you take a little nap?" "Then when you wake up, I can grill up some of these... juicy local steaks I keep hearing about." "You know, I'm really glad we decided to stay in the end." "Why did you lie to me?" "What?" "Don't, Paul." "Why did you lie to me?" "And there was me thinking we might have a nice, quiet evening together." " You know what happened on March 2nd." " Who have you been talking to now?" "Doesn't matter." "What matters is you didn't tell me the truth and I wanna know why." "Okay... the truth is I didn't want to scare you." "It can be pretty intimidating out here when you're by yourself." "I just didn't wanna fuel your vivid imagination with legends about disappearing people in the desert." "Well, if it's just an urban legend, then why not tell me?" "Because that's what they are." "They're just..." "Okay." "The designer of this house, the architect of this house... got lost in the desert." "She went for a hike and never came back." "Apparently it happens all the time." "People get lost, but she didn't come back." " And you're saying you didn't know her." " Well, how would I?" "I don't believe you." "Anna." "I'm getting worried about you now, Anna." "It's... it's somewhere down here." " Well, I guess you cleaned it out." " The photograph?" "Yes, I did." "Because you didn't want me to see her with you." "Of course I didn't want you to see me with my ex." "I wouldn't want to see photographs of you lying around with your ex either." "You're hiding something from me." "And don't just keep blaming it on my vivid imagination." "Oh, really, Anna?" "Because considering your history of mental illness..." "Nightmares are not a mental illness, Paul!" "Well... judging by the amount of medication you're tak..." "I know what I've seen." "I made a terrible mistake." "What?" "You're right about one thing." "I've been hiding something from you." "I couldn't just watch you pounding these things down day after day." "They're placebos." "At least you've been having plenty of vitamin C the last few days." "You switched out my pills?" "Yeah." "That's why you've been having such extreme reactions." "I'm sorry." "I thought you could... do without them." "I was wrong." "What are you doing?" "Anna." "Don't touch me!" "You know, maybe this writing gig's just a bit too much pressure for you." " I can't stay here tonight." " Oh, God." " I'm gonna stay in town." " You serious?" " We'll talk tomorrow." " Okay, well, listen." "Take these." "Have a good night's sleep." "Who is it?" "It's Anna." "We met this afternoon." "I need to talk to you." "I'm closed." "You can come by again in the morning." "Are you sure?" "These are all handcrafted from various tribes." "Some from my own family, in fact." "Some I just picked up over the years." "Let me know if you're interested in anything and I'm sure we could work out some kind of a discount." "Could we just start the session?" "Yeah, of course." "Why don't you... pick one of these stones." " This one?" " Sure." "Good choice." " Really?" " I don't have a free hand for the drums." "This will work just fine." "Just relax." "Why don't you... take off your top." "You gotta be kidding me." "Do you want me to help you or not?" "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." "Now lay down." "Now..." "We'll search for the chakra with the most negative energy." "Whoa." "What was that?" "What just happened?" "What was that?" "Do you ever... feel a growing pressure in your chest when you... when you dream?" "A feeling of numbness in your limbs almost as if you were paralyzed?" "How did you know that?" "In the native culture, it's known that spirits can possess the body when you sleep." "They can capture the soul and take control of the flesh." "To do what?" "It depends what you've done." "But I haven't done anything." "No, I don't know what's happening to me, all right?" "You have to help me." "Please." "The only... only way to fight off this spirit is to control your dream and command it to leave." "We'll... induce a wake-initiated lucid dream and you'll become conscious." "When you reach that state, I need you to perform some sort of physical activity so that your muscles will echo that movement in this realm." "Lay down." "Just listen... and focus." "Listen and focus." "Let yourself sink deep into the bed." "Let your limbs go numb." "Okay." "Don't fight it." "That's it." "That's good." "You are awake... in your dream." "That's good." "You're in a state of pure awareness, but totally... paralyzed." "That's good." "That's good." "Stay in control." "Stay in control!" "Stay in control." "Stay in control!" "Anna!" "Anna!" "Oh, my God." "Paul?" "Have a good rest?" "'Cause I didn't." "Spent the night worried about you." "Feeling guilty about swapping out your drugs." "But then I discovered this." "Wednesday." "Thursday." "Friday." "Sunday." "Where's Saturday, Anna?" "I..." "I don't know." "That's weird because..." "Saturday's the night you were here by yourself." "Let me show you something." "I couldn't really care less about the surveillance cameras." "Well, it's not as though anything really happens around here, is it?" "But then Shadow found something out there." "And I thought to myself..." ""What is Jeremy's body doing buried in my backyard?"" "Look..." "I'm sure there is some... perfectly rational explanation for all of this." "And if there is... you should tell me before I call the police." "I'm gonna make the call." "You should stay here." "It can get pretty dangerous outside." "There's nowhere for you to go anyway." "Come on." "Come here." "All right, you stay here, Shadow." "All right?" "Stay." "So what now?" "You're not gonna go anywhere." "Neither are you." "Well, why would I?" "The police will be here in a minute." "Great, then you can tell them what happened to Vera Palm." "What?" "The blind woman who mysteriously went missing out on the salt lake." "Who you keep pretending not to know although her dog is standing right over there." "Yeah, he dug this up out on the salt lake." "So tell me, Paul." "How did she go missing if her guide dog was out there with her?" "Vera was my wife." "She was a very talented, but... unsuccessful architect." "This house was supposed to change all of that." "For two years, the only thing she did was work on this project." "Day in, day out." "She became obsessed with the place." "And by the time she laid the foundations... we were living completely separate lives." "We were like complete strangers." "She invited me out here to celebrate when it was completed." "Paul?" "Are you still there?" "But why would I?" "I wanted you to come out and celebrate." "This house had stolen my wife." "I can't believe you're doing this." "Paul?" "Paul, are you still there?" "On the way home that night... she fell asleep at the wheel from sheer exhaustion." "When they found the car, they said... that she was lucky because... the Joshua tree she hit stopped her from going over the cliff." "But a branch came in through the windscreen and... blinded her." "Then what happened?" "I became her scapegoat." "If I didn't already feel guilty, she made me feel guilty." "She didn't miss a chance to make me feel her pain." "I really tried, but I just couldn't imagine... being her caretaker for the rest of my life." "So when she started to get better," "I got her the dog." "And she came to live out here by herself." "My life was finally becoming normal again." "And then something fantastic happened." "I met someone new." "Someone I could fall in love with again." "Then Vera called me one day and said... said she wanted me to come out here to discuss something." "It was the best time we'd had for over a year." "Anyway, by the time we got to the salt lake," "I realized what it was all about." "She said she wanted to move back to Los Angeles, have another go at our marriage." "It was the last thing I wanted to hear." "So I told her about us." "She was furious." "She said she would divorce me." "I would lose everything." "All my savings, the house." "She said she would ruin me if I didn't stay with her." "Who wouldn't side with a blind woman whose husband had cheated on her?" "I couldn't let that happen." "You killed her." "We'd... we'd walked quite a long way into the salt lake." "And I just... took the dog and kept on walking." "They never found her body." "This happened on March 2nd." "Yeah." "And Jeremy knew." "He saw me coming home without Vera." "Started asking some questions." "But an illegal immigrant is easy to keep quiet." "You have to tell the police, Paul." "No, I'm not gonna let her ruin my life." "No, you don't understand." "You have to, all right?" "It's the only way she'll stop." "What are you talking about?" "It was Vera that killed Jeremy and she's gonna come after you next." "Have you gone completely nuts?" "If you don't tell the police, I will." "Well, be my guest." "I can't wait to see the expression on their faces when a... a drug-abusing writer with a history of mental illness tells them that my ex-wife's ghost is on some kind of revenge mission." "I'll let you do the talking." "She said she would ruin me if I didn't stay with her." "Who wouldn't side with a blind woman whose husband had cheated on her?" "Don't let her do this to us." "Don't let her separate us, Anna!" "Open the damn door!" "Shit." "Stand down!" "Officer, thank God you finally arrived." "You need to drop that rock, sir." " No, I know this looks a little weird." " Drop that rock." "Officer!" "Please, you have to help me!" "Don't listen to him!" "I need you to drop the rock, sir." "Right now!" " There's just been a bit of a mis..." " Drop the rock!" "Turn and face the window!" "Turn and face the window!" "Hands behind your head." "Tell your dog to back off!" "Oh, fuck." "Shit!" "Fuck!" "Ma'am?" "Are you all right?" "Can you move?" "Are you okay?" "Ma'am?"