Episode 23: The Fall

ext. darkness -

A formless dark. Only the voice of the Moon, our faithful narrator, is heard.

MOON
The stars see all things great and small. Hopes, fears, love, disdain. We see it all laid bare before the night’s sky. People imagine things dreamed at night, longed for or scorned, remain hidden under the blanketed black hole that takes hold after dusk, but it isn’t so. The universe remembers all. And tonight, dear friends, we remember Alice.

ext. hospital roof night

The dead of night. A cold breeze whips across the flat graveled roof of a hospital. Metal antenna shake in the breeze. Several tall buildings dwarf this particular roof, the towers winking gold with the turning on and off of window lights. A bright red neon cross casts a crimson hue on the otherwise gray roof. The sky is bedazzled with stars impossibly bright and a moon just a little too big.

The roof access door swings open with a soft scrape of metal on gravel.

First we see feet- gray white slippers with floppy bunny ears, hospital socks peaking out of them giving way to thin, poky legs enveloped by an open, itchy looking robe, baggy gym short, a black hoodie, the drawstrings dangling as the feet shuffle forward.

The face within the hood is Alice’s. It is pale. Lithe. Drawn. Bloodless. Her gray eyes cloudier than ever.

She shuffles to the edge of the roof, holding her robe closed in an effort to keep out the cold breeze. She stops a few steps from the lip of the roof. She peers over the edge- grass, concrete, an abstract concrete sculpture of a horse kicking upward, surrounded by a fountain.

With a little effort she slips the robe off. It falls to a swaddled lump at her feet. She next removes her black hoodie. This takes some time as her arms and head get lost within the overly large garment. When finally removed, she stands in shorts and a loose tank, her shoulder blades poking through her back like latent wings. Her forearms, bandaged, betray dark stains bleeding through gauzy wrist wraps.

Alice wads up the sweatshirt and measures an invisible distance. She tosses the hoodie over the side and watches it fall. The hoodie unfurls in the air and lands soundlessly over the head of the horse statue.

Alice notes this trajectory. She looks up, taking in the light of the buildings around her. As if by cue, the towers begin to light up- a few windows at first, but then entire floors, like a great sound equalizer coming alive. Dark outlines of figures can be seen gathering at windows. In Alice’s eyes, the murky reflection of the red cross.

Feet shuffling. Blades of light from electric torches. The murmuring of concerned men. 3 pairs of booted feet hit the gravel of the roof, their owners men outlined in the darkness, obscured by their burning flashlights.

MAN
Miss Alice. step back from the ledge. We need to return you to your room.

The breeze kicks up some gravel near Alice’s feet. She stares upwards into the night sky, her eyes falling onto a cluster of stars not too far from the moon itself. One small, dim star in particular blinks back at her.

MAN
Alice, what is it you want.

ALICE
(to no one in particular)
I don’t want anything.

MAN
If you just take a step back, we can talk about why you’re here, what it is you think you need-

Alice turns into the harsh light of the torches. She can see only faint outlines of the men, her eyes red and squinting.

ALICE
I don’t want anything. That’s why I’m here. I. Want. Nothing.

Alice takes a step back, her heel hitting the lip of the roof. She sways a bit at this.

MAN
Careful!

Alice steadies herself with a swaying arm, her other shielding her eyes.

MAN
(to other man)
Do we have her parents here? A partner? Anything?

OTHER MAN
(quietly)
Couldn’t even reach her doctor. Nurse hardly realized she was gone. Someone checked her in, but they disappeared after visiting hours and left no number-

MAN
Come on Alice, it’s time to get down. You have folks waiting for you. Somewhere.

The beams of light converge on Alice as the men step forward to seize her.

Alice instinctively begins to backpedal.

ALICE
(her lips move, time seemingly frozen…)
People really should be held responsible for what they do to someone else’s heart.

Upon saying this, time ramps forward and Alice again hits her heel on the lip of the roof, harder this time. She stumbles. Alice attempts to stabilize herself with a swinging arm, fails, and begins to topple. One of the men grabs her wrist but only grips the gauzy, which comes loose with a rip, the bloody, deep gashes gouged into thin skin revealed in the pale red light of the hospital cross light.

Alice tips backwards, plummeting backward off the hospital roof, her heels over head, her back flat to the rapidly approaching ground. She has a moment- long enough to blink, look wards into the vast night sky and see a small star blinking back at her. Alice wraps herself up into a small ball and squints her eyes shut.

She shoots past the abstract horse statue and hits the pool surrounding the statue fountain with a harsh, sharp splash, water shooting upward as the pool receives her like a volley of grapeshot.

Her body unfurls beneath the surface of the fountain pool. Her limbs float with no tension.

Alice’s eyes snap open. The gray, red-worn retinas are gone, replaced with a dull, glowing purple.

ext. darkness -

The dark, once again, only dark.

MOON
Tonight , dear friends, we remember Alice. She barely remembers herself. But we remember for her. And when the time is right, we will remind her of all she has forgotten…