INT. DIRK’S CAR —NIGHT
Dirk spins the wheel sharply to the right, turning his car off Main Street and onto South 8th. The festival, now silent, lumbering in the cloud-covered dark like a petrified jungle, and harboring several drunk carnies who watch with glassy eyes, attends his passing. Shelly sits quietly in the passenger’s seat. She obviously wants to say something.
The computers from the Treehouse are stacked in the back seat of Dirk’s car. Shelly turns around to look at them as Dirk bounces the car over the railroad tracks. Then she turns back to Dirk.
SHELLY
(gesturing to the computers)
Do you think you can set them up at home?
Dirk silently turns his car onto Frank Street, then spins it onto 9th. Shelly watches him intently.
SHELLY (CONT’D)
It was nice of Leo to let you —
Shelly can’t seem to finish her sentence. Dirk speeds across Highway 60 and back onto 9th, which loses its sidewalks and becomes smaller. This far out, the roads are covered in sand from last winter and full of potholes, but Dirk is familiar with the landscape and speeds up.
Shelly watches Dirk quietly as they make one turn, one more, and then another, when he turns the car onto Woodlawn Village.
SHELLY (CONT’D)
Everything
will be alright.
They drive into a sudden wood, and the darkness becomes even darker.
SHELLY (CONT’D)
I’m sure that we can fix it…
Dirk turns the car left onto Woodlawn Drive. They leave the trees and come to a small addition with a circular drive. Dirk and Shelly’s house sits on the left, situated in front of a cornfield and soaked in moonlight.
SHELLY (CONT’D)
Hannah will have it fixed tomorrow.
DIRK
(unsatisfied)
Maybe…
Dirk eases the car past his family’s mailbox and into their driveway. He puts the car in park and turns to Shelly.
You can almost see reality setting over for Dirk, like concrete sealing up a grave. He is 24, a burden to his parents, hopelessly dependent on his teenage friends, has no prospects, holds no job, and apparently has no clue what to do about any of it. Shelly can see it all settling, too. The strain is written on his face, and his shoulders sag under that metaphorical weight.
DIRK (CONT’D)
I just don’t want to be useless anymore,
you know?
Shelly doesn’t answer. Maybe she can’t. Dirk turns the car off and slouches in his seat.
DIRK (CONT’D)
It feels like there’s not really a way
out of becoming one of them.
SHELLY
Of who?
DIRK
An afterversion of yourself. A ghost.
Not by dying — that’s not right, somehow,
it’s terrifying really — but by living
in the way they want you to, and not the way
you want to live. The way the people who own
Hereafter want you to live. The people who own
the schools, the businesses, the highways, all
the hospitals, and the graveyards — how they
want you to live. I feel like I was tricked
by TV and the school counselors
and Dad and everybody else into
thinking that I could be happy and
successful as an engineer, but look,
I suck at it. And if I didn’t suck at it,
somebody would just take advantage of me.
I don’t know anyone from school who’s building
something they can call their own. And it sucks…
I just want to be useful…for me…
and for you and everybody else. For Flori.
I just wish that I could help somehow.
Shelly stares at Dirk, who gets out of the car before she can say anything. She watches him walk up the brick walkway. He pauses at the porch, waiting for her.
EXT. DIRK AND SHELLY’S HOUSE
Shelly gets out of the car and walks up to Dirk.
DIRK
(forcing a smile)
You’re right. It’s going to be OK.
SHELLY
(confused by her own
uncertain apology)
I’m sorry…
Shelly walks past Dirk. She unlocks the door and they step inside the house.
INT. THE FOYER AT DIRK AND SHELLY’S HOUSE
Dirk and Shelly pause in the foyer. Officer Sharp, who is sitting in the living room, pins them to the wall with his gaze.
Shelly’s eyes widen, perhaps, you could assume, with the sudden realization of what it was she threw into Carpenter’s earlier to distract the cops. Officer Sharp is holding her phone up. The screen is shattered, but it still shines faintly.
OFFICER SHARP
(coldly, to Shelly)
I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Shelly understands. She turns immediately and heads up the stairs. But then she pauses and turns to Dirk.
SHELLY
I’ll be up later
in case you want to talk.
Shelly turns back around. Her footsteps echo through the ceiling, her door opens above and shuts with a muffled click, and then everything is quiet.
DIRK
(breaking the silence)
Go easy on her.
OFFICER SHARP
(trying to make a joke,
and ruining it)
I was easy on you, and look how you turned out.
For the third time this night, Dirk looks like he might hit something. He takes a step towards Officer Sharp.
OFFICER SHARP (CONT’D)
(countering anger with an
unexpected smile)
A letter came for you — from Rose.
DIRK
(confused and unsure of
what to say)
I wasn’t
expecting anything.
Officer Sharp waves the letter towards Dirk. Dirk walks over, taking it from him.
OFFICER SHARP
Maybe they want
you back.
DIRK
Or maybe they are asking for
donations.
OFFICER SHARP
(fumbling before he
can stop himself)
It’s not like you graduated.
Dirk crumples the letter in his fist and stomps upstairs. The door to his room slams shut, and Officer Sharp is left alone.
CUT TO:
