Sunday 4 April 2021

The Needs of The ACTIVE Non-Living





“It does not matter where that phone call came from. 


What matters is that there is a little girl who needs my help.”





SCENE 1
US NAVAL STATION 
SAN DIEGO, CA 
DECEMBER 21

BILL SCULLY'S HOUSE

(A hand reaches to a manger scene and adjusts the baby Jesus. The hand pulls back and caresses her baby in her body. It is Bill's wife, Tara, very pregnant. She takes a Christmas card from a table and puts it on another table. We hear Scully in the distance.)

SCULLY: 
Hello? Merry Christmas!

TARA: 
Hello! (She smiles and goes to greet Scully and Mrs. Scully at the door.)

MARGARET: 
Oh, my God. 
Look at you. (She hugs Tara)

TARA: 
Can you believe it?

MARGARET: 
How am I going to get my arms around you? 
(Bill is behind Scully with suitcases. Mrs. Scully walks into the living room.)

SCULLY: 
You're huge. 
(They hug.)

TARA: 
Oh, I know. 
Welcome. Welcome. 
(Kisses Bill.) 
Oh, hi, Sweetie.

BILL: 
Let's get you two settled. Sorry about the digs, Mom. 
I know you hoped like hell you didn't have to spend another night in base housing. 

(Scully walks into the living room.)

MARGARET: 
Are you kidding? 
This is wonderful.

SCULLY: 
This is the exact same layout as our old house.

BILL: 
That's the Navy for ya.

TARA: 
Yeah. Bill tells me, Mom, that you'll be staying in your old room. 
And the nursery is going to be in Dana and Melissa's room.

BILL: 
That's right. 
(He struggles with the suitcases up the stairs.)

TARA: 
I got it. Bill! 
(She takes a suitcase from him)

BILL: 
Thanks. 
(He goes upstairs. Tara behind him. Margaret looks at the tree. Scully joins her.)

SCULLY: 
Mom? You okay?

MARGARET: 
oh, yeah. 
I was just thinking about your Dad... 
and Melissa... 
and how much I miss them. 
(She walks past Scully to the stairs. Scully is about to follow her when the phone rings. She looks upstairs.)

SCULLY: 
Bill? 
(No answer, the phone rings again. She answers it.) 
Scully residence...

WOMAN: 
Dana? 
(Pause, it sounds like Melissa)

SCULLY: 
Yes, sorry, who is this?

WOMAN: 
Dana... 
She needs your help. 
She needs you, Dana. 
Go to her.

SCULLY: 
Who... who is this? 
(She hangs up. Dana hangs up and calls a number.)

MAN ON PHONE: 
FBI, San Diego.

SCULLY: 
This is Special Agent, Dana Scully. 
My badge number is 2317616. 
Can you transfer me to your sound agent, please? 
I would like to trace the last number that was dialed into this phone.



SCENE 2 
SIM'S HOUSE
(They have a pleasant home. There are people mingling and an ambulance parked outside. Bill and Dana drive up. Scully shows her badge to a cop and walks into the house. A photographer is taking pictures of a phone off the hook. Scully walks upstairs. She walks past the photographer to the bathroom where there are policemen)

KRESGE: 
Whoa, whoa, whoa. 
Who are you?

SCULLY: 
Scully, FBI. 
Can you tell me what's going on here?

KRESGE: 
Well, no offense, Scully, FBI, 
but what's it to you?

SCULLY: 
I received a phone call from this address. 
It was a woman's voice. 
She said that somebody here needed help.

KRESGE: 
When was this?

SCULLY: 
About 20 minutes ago.

KRESGE: 
I've been here 30 minutes. 
Guarantee you no one's called out to you or anyone else. Phone's off the hook. 

(Scully is confused. She looks to the bathroom.)

SCULLY: 
Please, can you tell me what happened here?

(Kresge brings her into the bathroom. A photographer is taking pictures of the crime scene. Kresge allows Scully to pass to the body. A woman in a bathtub. Wrists slashed, blood pooled on the floor and in the tub)

KRESGE: 
This is Mrs. Roberta Sim. 
Age 40. Suicide. 
She's been dead at least three hours. 
If you got a call from her, she must have dialed 1-800-the great beyond.




SCENE 3 
OUTSIDE
(Scully leaves the house. There is still a lot of activity. Scully walks to Bill on the porch.)

BILL: 
Dana, what's going on? 
They're joking that you got a call from a dead woman.

SCULLY: 
I thought it was a dead woman, 
just not the one in there.

BILL: 
What are you talking about?

SCULLY: 
I know it's not possible, Bill, 
but it sounded just like her.

BILL: 
Who?

SCULLY: 
Our sister... Melissa.

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