INT. — DIRK’S ROOM — AFTERNOON
The light streaming through Dirk’s window is getting dim. Leo sits in a chair beside the window, playing a game on his phone. Rich and Shelly, careful not to disturb the covers, sit at the edge of Dirk’s bed. Shelly stares at a blank space on the far wall, and Rich distracts her by passing his hand in front of her face.
Mr. Kidderman continues to scribble on his notepad. Five or so note pages, filled with Morse code and seemingly incoherent interpretations, are stuck to the computer tower and to Dirk’s desk. Hannah watches him intently the way a kid watches a magician when they know the trick.
At last, somewhat hesitantly, Mr. Kidderman stops. He watches the blue light flash through another series of blinks, and then he sets his pen down on his latest note. Puzzled and angry, he turns to the others.
MR. KIDDERMAN
(hesitantly)
Well gang, that’s it. It’s all repeating now…
SHELLY
But…
MR. KIDDERMAN
I can’t make heads or tails of it.
Leo sets his phone on the windowsill, stands up, and pulls one of the note pages off the computer tower. For a second it looks like he might have found some sort of through line, a thread that could lead them to the next clue, but then he looks up in defeat.
LEO
It looks like gibberish to me.
Hannah snatches the note from Leo’s hand.
HANNAH
It’s not.
RICH
(standing up)
I think I get it now.
Hannah peeks over the page in her hand, daring Rich to continue.
SHELLY
(ignoring Rich, who clicks
his mouth shut)
What is it, Han?
Hannah grabs another note page, this one from Dirk’s desk, and eyes the pages together.
HANNAH
(unable to hide her
disbelief)
Instructions. They tell us how to put them
in a flip phone.
LEO
You think that Flori made them?
MR. KIDDERMAN
(to Rich)
Who…?
HANNAH
Who knows…
RICH
(to Mr. Kidderman,
repeating the earlier
explanation)
Remember the afterversions
we talked about? She’s one of them. The brains,
of everything, to tell the truth. RJ
is just about as smart as he used to be,
AI or not…
LEO
But do you think it’ll work?
HANNAH
Can’t say. But that’s what it is.
Shelly, who has been rummaging around in her purse this whole time, lifts up an old phone.
SHELLY
(zealously)
Can we use this?
Surprised by the sudden turn of fortune, Hannah takes the plastic-looking red phone from Shelly and flips the screen open. The number pad glows red and the screen flashes to life with a hitch and a sputter.
MR. KIDDERMAN
I’ll be — I haven’t seen a thing like that in years.
LEO
Where’d you dig up that antique?
RICH
Her purse —
LEO
No shit.
SHELLY
My parents gave it to me when
I broke my phone, remember…at the Treehouse.
Everyone wonders quietly, remembering, except for Mr. Kidderman, who quietly grows more confused.
LEO
(already ready and
breaking the spell)
We can do it.
RICH
We have to try.
HANNAH
(picking up another note)
I think
that I can make it work.
Hannah, Rich, and Leo turn to Shelly, who seems trapped in her own thoughts and holds the phone with an unshakable hand, expectantly.
MR. KIDDERMAN
(picking up on the tension)
Well then, Shelly?
SHELLY
(snapping back)
Rich is right, we have to try…
LEO
…But?
SHELLY
Everybody has to leave.
RICH
Right now — ?
SHELLY
Except for Hannah.
Hannah and Shelly share a look that sings in the sudden silence.
MR. KIDDERMAN
(perceptively prying)
Is everything alright?
SHELLY
No. My mom and dad will be here soon.
CUT TO:
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