" Bradley?" " Hi." "Come in." "Thanks." "All right." "So, feel free to order whatever you want for dinner tonight." "I will cover that." "Um, shouldn't be too late." "I will text you with updates along the way, okay?" "Where is your son?" "Oh, he's in the bathroom." "He'll be right out." "Hey, Ralph, come out here and meet, uh..." "Meg." "Come meet Meg." "He's a little shy." "He's a great kid." "Active imagination." "Probably could take care of himself." "So, he could pretty much watch and eat whatever he wants." "Preferably I have him in bed around 9:00." "I probably won't be much later than 10:00." "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice." "I really..." "You're really helping me out." "Wait, did you want to see my references?" "Oh, no, it's okay." "You seem like a nice girl." "Hey, Ralph, be a good boy tonight." "Just give him a few minutes." "Ralph?" "Hello?" "My name is Meg and I'm really excited to meet you." "Do you wanna come out?" "Hey!" "Sorry." "Why did you slam the door on me?" "I had to." "Why?" "You wouldn't understand." "Do you wanna try me?" "I'm really easy to talk to." "Would you like to come out so I can introduce myself?" " Okay." " Okay." "Great." "Could you move away from the door, please?" "Yeah, sure." "Hi, I'm Ralph." "Meg." "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you, too." "I can explain." "Okay." "It's just that Ralphie has a bit of a temper." " Ralphie?" " Yes, Ralphie." "Is that one of your nicknames?" "I'm Ralph." "I'm not Ralphie." "I'm very different than Ralphie is." "I see." "So, who's Ralphie?" "You... you don't wanna know Ralphie." "Why not?" "'Cause he's kind of bad." "But don't worry, that's why I locked him in the bathroom." "He won't bother us." "Well, good." "Why don't you and I just forget about Ralphie and have some fun?" " You hungry?" " Yes." "Well, you can't blame Grace." "You know what I mean?" "I actually kind of like this show." "I hope there's another one." "My dad used to make me watch it and I hated it then, but now I kind of think it's funny." " You watched TV with your dad?" " Sure." "Cool." "Well, it's almost 9:00 PM, so..." "Come on, can we watch one more, please?" "I told your dad I'd get you to bed by 9:00 PM and he's coming back soon, so..." "He won't be back soon." " Of course he will." " No, he won't." "He's out on a date." "Okay, so?" "So, when he goes out on dates, he stays out really late." "Well, he told me he was coming back by 10:00 PM." "He says a lot of things." "Not all of them are true." "Well, either way, I think that you should have a bath before bedtime." "I don't wanna take a bath." "Why not?" "Because Ralphie's in there." "Ah." "Ralphie, right." "You forgot, didn't you?" "I did." "I never forget about Ralphie." "Would you like me to go have a talk with Ralphie and ask him if it's okay if you could have a bath?" "I don't think that's a good idea." "Why not?" "Because he doesn't like girls." " He doesn't?" " No." "Hmm." " How do you know?" " I just know." " What?" " I have an idea." "Okay." " Oh, Ralphie!" "I know..." " Shh!" "Hey!" "That's not okay." " Shh." "Quiet." " What?" " You're gonna wake up Ralphie." " I was just making a joke." "Well, it's not funny." "Ralph, come on." "We both know that there is no one in the bathroom." "Damn it." " What?" " He heard you." "And now he wants to talk to me." " Tell him no." " I can't." "Why not?" "You wouldn't understand." "I'll be back." "_" "_" "Ah!" "I'm gonna get you!" "Ah!" "What are you doing?" "!" "No, stop it!" "I'm gonna get you!" "What the fuck?" "The fuck?" "Hello?" "Meg?" "Are you okay?" "Did he come after you?" "Did he get you?" "Ralph," "I understand that this might be a fun game for you, but this is not fun for me." "This isn't a game." "Well, whatever it is, it needs to stop now, okay?" "'Cause you're scaring me." "I wish I could stop it." "_" "I'm sorry." "Do you have any children, Meg?" "Let's just close our eyes and get back to sleep, okay, Ralph?" " But I can't sleep." " Yes, you can." "It's way past your bedtime and your dad's gonna be home any minute." "No, he won't." "Why do you keep saying that?" "So, you don't have kids?" "No, I don't." "I think you'd be a great mom." "Thanks, Ralph." "Now, let's just get back to bed." "But I wanna talk." "It's just so late." "Please?" "I never get to talk to any girls, and you're so nice." "Fine." "Five minutes." "Yes!" "What do you wanna talk about?" "Sex." "Where did you hear that word?" "My dad." "I think it's something that you should talk to your dad about." "I already did." "And what did he say?" "That it's for grown-ups." "That's definitely true." "And that he'll tell me when I get older." "I think that sounds right." "Maybe we just leave it at that." "But I always hear him talking about it with his friends, about how he has sex with all the girls he goes on dates with." "And I don't know what it is and he won't tell me." "Please tell me." "I just don't think that it's my place to talk to you about that sort of thing." " Why not?" " Well, I'm not your parent." "But my dad won't tell me and I don't have a mom." "What happened to your mom, sweetie?" "She's... gone." "Where did she go?" "It's hard to explain." "Well, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." "No, it's okay." "I wanna talk about it." "It's just, well... there's the story me and my dad always tell, and then there's what really happened." "What do you mean?" "My dad." "He made up a story and that's the one we tell." "But it's not the truth." "You know what, I think our five minutes of talking are up, so maybe you should try to get back to bed now, okay?" "Can I just tell you the story that my dad made up first?" "And then I'll go to sleep." " Ralph." " Please?" "And then you promise me you'll get back to bed?" "I promise." "Pinkie swear?" "Pinkie swear." "All right." "So, one day, I was waiting for my mom to pick me up for school." "And she didn't come." "And when my dad finally came, he bought me a Happy Meal, which he never does before." "And he told me that Mom was going through a hard time and that... she was so sad, she wanted to escape everything." "So she put a rope in her closet and she put her..." "She put her neck in it." "And when she jumped, she kind of..." "She hung there until she couldn't breathe anymore." "And she escaped everything." "Ralph, sweetie, I'm..." "I'm so sorry." "You don't have to be sorry." "It's just a story." "You mean that that was...?" "It wasn't real." "Okay, then." "Well, thanks for the story." "Now, let's just get to bed." " But..." " No, remember, you promised." "One story and you were gonna go to bed." "Okay, fine." "Good night, Ralph." "Sleep well." "_" "_" "The true story is that Ralphie killed my mom." "Ralph, I told you that we were not going to play this game anymore." "Shh!" "If Ralphie hears me telling you this, he's gonna get very angry." "Ralph, I understand that you're having a hard time and that this game might be whatever for you, but you're starting to scare me!" "He scares me every day." "He killed my mom and he says I'm gonna be next." "He chases me around my room at night saying, "I'm gonna get you."" " Ralph, stop it!" " Shh!" " Stop this!" " He'll hear you!" "Don't touch me." "Oh, you woke him up!" "Why did you do that?" "!" "Oh, no, no, no." "Hi, you've reached Bradley." "Leave a message." "Hey, Brad, this is Meg." "I need you to come here as soon as you possibly can or just call me back." "Please just call me back." "No!" "Yes!" "Ah, stop it!" "Please, you're hurting me!" "911, what's your emergency?" "Hi, hi, yes, um, I'm here..." "I'm babysitting a little boy and I think he's crazy or I'm not sure if he's a danger to himself." " His father is not calling me back." " Die, die, die!" "Yes, I'm at the motel off the parkway." " Mm-hmm, okay." " Yes, room 104." "Please come here as soon as you possibly can." "Please hurry." " All right, we'll send someone." " Thank you." "I'm so sorry, Meg." "He's just too strong for me." "I'm gonna get you." "Let me go!" " No!" " I need to get her!" "No, I won't let you!" "No!" " No, get off of him!" " Stop it!" "Get off!" "Ralph?" "Ralph?" "Oh, my God, Ralph!" "Ralph!" "What did you do to him?" "!" "Oh, my God, Ralph." "Ralph?" "Wake up, Ralph!" "Breathe." "Breathe!" "What did you do?" "!" "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "Wake up." "Come on." "Breathe, please." "Breathe." "Breathe, you gotta breathe." "No, it was Ralphie." "Ralphie..." "Ralphie tried to kill me, okay?" "!" "Ralphie was trying to strangle me!" " No." " Please." "Breathe." "You gotta breathe." "Oh, my God." "Please wake up." "Wake up." "Breathe." "Breathe." "Please." "Please." "Sorry." "I'm sorry."