"I see your raise, and I call." "Bleed 'em and weep." "Spades beat hearts every time." "Oh, hello, creeps." "So glad you could join me for my weekly game." "My deal." "Hacks and chokers are wild." "Are you in?" "Good." "So is the man in tonight's terror tale, except his game is relationships." "It's a ghoulish little gamble I call "Only Skin Deep. "" "Carl, what the hell are you doing here?" "Great party, Bob." "Guess my invitation got lost in the mail, huh?" " Am I getting warm?" " Look, I just assumed that you..." "I don't get a "hello. " I get no "great costume. "" "I don't get, "Here's your drink. "" "Carl, if my wife sees you here, she's going to kill me." "What's she got to be angry about, huh?" "Let me ask you something, Bob." "Are you still my friend?" " Yeah, of course I am." " Of course." "Of course you are." "You got me." "Yet you believe Linda." "You believe everything she told you I did." "Look, Carl, I don't know what to believe, all right?" "All I know is that you've gotta go because Myra promised Linda you wouldn't be here tonight." "Well, I guess Myra lied, huh?" "Looks like I'm gonna have to get my own drink." " Where's the bar?" " Carl, come on." "Don't do this to me." "Don't do this to you?" "Hey, Bob, relax, man." "Just one drink, then I'm out of here." "Don't worry." "It'll be okay." "Look, no one will even know I'm here." "LINDA:" "Unbelievable." "You have to be the ballsiest guy on the planet, or the stupidest." "I'm fine, Linda." "How are you?" "I guess I'm gonna need a court order to keep you away from me after all." "Oh, you're always so melodramatic." "Why'd you come here?" "What did you think was gonna happen," "I was gonna see you and throw myself at your feet?" "You can't force people to love you, no matter how many times you hit them." "You think it's easy as that?" "You want out, it's over?" "Yeah, I do." "And it is." "You know, silly me, thinking I gave you what you deserved." "If I'd have done that," "I'd have killed you." "Oh, that's good." "Threaten me." "Hit me, why don't you?" "Or better yet, strangle me like you did to what's-her-name, the one that came before me." "Come on, hit me." "Right here, in front of all these people." "Maybe then you won't get away with it." "Come on, Carl, that's enough." "Time to go." "Let's go." " I haven't finished my drink." " Come on." "What are you going to do, Bob?" "You going to drag me out?" "You're welcome to try it." "You're lucky I think of you as my friend." "Nice seeing you again." "I've missed you." "That can't be very satisfying, demolishing a dormant vegetable." "Or are pumpkins fruit?" "Excuse me." "I thought I was alone." "Obviously." "You've got quite a temper, Carl." "And that girlfriend of yours..." "She's got a set of lungs on her like Voice of America." " Ex-girlfriend." " Oh." "Right." "I got that." "Look, it's..." "You know, I'm just..." "I'm not like she says." "I..." "Certain wrongs deserve certain justifiable actions." " I don't disagree." " Thanks." "Listen, not to be rude or anything, but what are you?" "No, I mean your costume." "I'm a body bag." "I thought the invitation said, "Come as you are. "" " Well, how are you a body bag?" " A synthetic shell with a corpse inside." "Yeah, well, you look pretty lively to me." "Yeah, well, don't we all?" "I've gotta hit the road before I lose what little mind I have left." "The creeps will be coming back in here any minute, and I am so weary of being hit on." "Hey, maybe I'll see you around, huh?" "Hell, tag along now if you ain't got nothing better to do." " Maybe I will." " All right." "Listen, what's your name?" "You know, if I'm not being too over..." "You got a preference?" " I've always liked Molly." " Oh, what a coincidence." "It's an interesting building." "I wouldn't think anybody would live here." "Yep, that's why I like it." "Quiet." "Private." "Beats a Maytag carton." " You still drinking gin?" " Yes, ma'am." "Cupboard above the stove." "I gotta get out of this thing before I keel over." "Wow." "Oh, I tell you, you could light a pack of Luckies between my thighs." "Come here." "Feel." "I'm thinking more like a carton." "Am I wrong, or are you making sexual overtures here?" "I don't do overtures." "The curtain either goes up or stays down." "We gonna have sex?" "Should we have sex?" "I don't know." "I just thought I'd kick back and let the breeze take me wherever it goes." "It's a shame, because you were doing so well up until then." "Okay, almost back on course." "Let's make a deal." "We know each other's first names." "We leave it at that." "Nothing else." "No last names, no bios, no pet peeves, nothing." "Not even faces." "We leave our masks on." "Anonymity in its purest form." "Let it go, baby." "All of it." "The hurt, the anger." "Give it to me." "Take it out on my flesh like you want to." "Come on." "I'm all of them." "Hurt them like they hurt you, Carl." "Hurt them!" " Like this?" " Harder." "More, you dumb son of a bitch!" "Molly?" "For Christ's sakes." "Molly!" " Were you calling me?" " Is there somebody else here?" "Is there what?" "Nothing." "What the hell are you doing?" " I'm making a stand." " Against what?" "I mean, okay, so you're making a stand." "What are you, some kind of artist or something?" "You certainly ask a lot of questions for a guy who wants it dark, dirty and anonymous." "Sorry." "I fixed something for you." "Not just the hair of the dog, but the whole goddamn dog that bit us." "Go ahead." "Make you feel better." "Guaranteed." "Good boy." " You know, last night was..." " It was only an hour ago." "Yeah, well, whatever." "But it was incredible." " I mean, I'm going to be sore for a week." " Yeah, it was something, all right." " There's still a lot I want to talk about." " Such as?" " What happens now?" " Sleep." " Deep." " Check this out." "No mask." "What are you doing?" "We had a deal." " That was before." " Nothing's changed." "No, everything's changed." "You freed me." "You showed me how to let it all go, and it's gone." "The anger, the need to hurt." "Congratulations." "I want to know everything about you, Molly, every detail, right down to your shoe size." "Well, that's unfortunate, Carl." "I'm not telling." "I don't want you to know me." "Don't belittle what happened to us last night." "I mean, I'm not like the rest of them." "I wouldn't hurt you." "I just want to enrich an already wonderful thing." "You hear me?" "Wake up." "You will not do this to me." "Wake up!" "I'm sorry." "I'm angry at you, but I don't understand." "My last name is Schlage." "I'm an accountant, CPA." "Please." "You will not be here when I wake up." "You will be gone, as in out of here, as in forever!" "You goddamn bitch." ""Take it out on me, on my flesh"?" "You just won the fucking lottery, baby." "Come on, for Christ's sake!" "Shit!" " What the fuck are you?" " Get off of me!" " Stop it!" " That wasn't just water." "Give me that!" "Carl, stop it!" "You got all those goddamn masks, bitch." "Let's see what's under yours." " No!" " Jesus!" "It was never a mask, Carl." "It's the way I was born." "Hair of the dog and a little something extra." "I swear, you must have the slowest metabolism in the whole goddamn world." "No!" "I guess that's one way to wear a guy out." "Still, I think Carl and Molly make a hell of a couple." "I mean, talk about boo of a kind." "Okay, I see your raise and raise you $20." "Call." "Now, that's a poker face."