Cell

            FADE IN:

 

            A SPECK OF DUST

 

            Grains of sand dance in the wind.  As we glide over a VAST

            DESERT, the speck of dust becomes a HORSE AND RIDER.

            CATHERINE YOUNG straddles the beautiful black animal, her

            mesmerizing eyes scanning the horizon.  A curious breeze

            blows across her exquisite face and she drinks it in, as if

            the wind itself were telling something to her...

 

            Catherine sees a FLICKERING LIGHT in the sand.  She pulls the

            reins and the horse stops moments before the dune drops into

            nothingness.  She dismounts, affectionately scratches the

            horse's neck, and follows the LIGHT.  When she looks over her

            shoulder, the Arabian is now a child's WOODEN HOBBY HORSE.

            Not surprised, Catherine smiles and walks down a dune, sand

            sliding beneath her feet...

 

            She finds herself in a valley of dead trees whose decayed

            gnarled limbs appear to form hands.  The light dances across

            her face.  She shades her eyes and pinpoints the source...

 

            A SMALL MIRROR reflecting rays of bright sun, housed within a

            locket and chain.  It's held by EDWARD, a haunted-looking boy

            of seven with a precocious grin and piercing eyes.  He sits

            on a fallen tree trunk, patiently waiting for her arrival.

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Thanks for the horse.

 

            He's a shy child, yet comfortable with Catherine.

 

                                EDWARD

                      You liked him?

 

                                CATHERINE

                      He's beautiful...

 

            Edward smiles, delighted he made her happy.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      But I thought we were going sailing.

 

            The boy frowns.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      You promised.

 

            A devilish glint in his eye, Edward redirects the mirror.

            Catherine follows the flicker to a TOY BOAT in the sand.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      We can't fit into that!

 

            Edward shines light in her eyes, momentarily blinding her,

            then snaps the locket shut.  When her vision clears,

            Catherine sees a GIANT SHIP perched among the dunes.  A craft

            weighing hundreds of tons just sitting there in the desert.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      That'll do.

 

            She walks toward it, but Edward doesn't follow.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                          (coaxing him)

                      Come on, Mister E.

 

            She extends her hand, but he adamantly shakes his head no.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      What now?

 

                                EDWARD

                          (nods at the ship)

                      's broken.

 

            Undaunted, she... finds herself standing on the DECK.

 

                                CATHERINE

                          (calling to him)

                      Who says?

 

                                EDWARD

                      Mocky-Lock.

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Oh no... No you don't.

 

                                EDWARD

                      "Mocky-Lock is the bogeyman.  Mocky-Lock

                      wants me where I am."

 

                                CATHERINE

                      I bet we can fix it.

 

            She opens a rusted iron DOOR.  It makes an HORRIFIC

            SCREECHING SOUND.  Similar to metal-on-metal, but more

            piercing, more pained.  As if made by a living thing.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                          (familiar with the noise, a

                           warning to him)

                      Ed-ward...

 

            The boy's FACE CONTORTS, turning into something half-human,

            half-animal.  A monster.  Mocky-Lock.  He SCREECHES, trying

            to frighten Catherine, but she cocks her head...

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      We agreed.  No more Mocky-Lock.

 

            The creature sticks its tongue out and DIVES.

 

                                CATHERINE (CONT'D)

                      Edward!

 

            But it's too late!  Edward/Mocky Lock slithers into the sand

            and disappears.  Resigning herself to a failure, she opens

            the palm of her left hand, revealing a SMALL BUMP in the

            flesh between thumb and forefinger.  She presses hard and...

 

            PICTURE AND SOUND DISTORT AND CHANGE

 

            INT. LABORATORY - DAY

 

            We are looking at a large SCREEN showing an electronically

            generated three-dimensional view of a human brain featuring

            color-coded neurological activity.  In a specific section of

            the image, cells flash from yellow to red...

 

            PULL BACK TO REVEAL HENRY WEST surrounded by computers,

            monitors, electronics, and keyboards.  DR. MIRIAM KENT stands

            before a peculiar diagnostic machine scrutinizing data and

            images.  Both wear garb favored by surgeons or microchip

            assemblers.  The impressive, weird computer system HUMS as it

            shifts programs, the unusual brain image changing colors. 

 

            THROUGH A LARGE WINDOW, we see into an ADJOINING ROOM within

            which a HUMAN FIGURE hangs suspended in mid-air by a series

            of cables designed to simulate flotation.

 

            AT THE CONSOLE, Miriam uses a pen to hit specific areas of

            the touch-sensitive screen, changing the complex CHEMICAL

            SYMBOLS displayed there.

 

            IN THE PROCEDURE ROOM, a series of pharmaceuticals are

            injected into an intravenous tube feeding the sleeve/arm of

            the figure.  A featherweight cloth MASK electronically rises,

            revealing the sleeping face of Catherine.

 

            AT THE CONSOLE, Miriam hits a button and speaks into an

            intercom microphone.

 

                                MIRIAM

                      Sing a song of sixpence...

 

            IN THE PROCEDURE ROOM, there is no reaction from Catherine.

 

                                MIRIAM (O.S.) (CONT'D)

                      Sing a song of sixpence...

 

                                CATHERINE

                          (hoarse, groggy)

                      A pocketful of rye...

 

                                MIRIAM (O.S.)

                      Four-and-twenty blackbirds.

 

            Catherine's eyes open.

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Baked in a pie...

 

            IN THE CONTROL ROOM, Henry hits a switch and Catherine is

            lowered to the pedestal.  Miriam checks Monitors displaying

            Catherine's vital signs and continuing what must be a

            routine, presses numbers on a keypad to open the PRESSURIZED

            AIRTIGHT DOOR separating the two areas.

 

            IN THE PROCEDURE ROOM, lights come on and Miriam eases

            Catherine out of the apparatus.  She checks her pupil

            dilation, pulse, throat, and reflexes.  She pokes and prods

            with a familiarity that would seem rude to an outside

            observer, but is nothing to them.  Getting to her feet, we

            see that Catherine's BODYSUIT is made of an unusual dark

            fabric almost liquid in consistency.

 

            AT THE CONSOLE, Henry moves to another section and for the

            first time, we see there are two elaborate neural monitors.

            And the "brain" pictured here is smaller.  Younger...

 

                                HENRY

                      "Mister E." is doing fine.

 

            REVEAL A SECOND FIGURE suspended from the ceiling in the

            PROCEDURE ROOM.  A SMALL BOY is lowered to the pedestal and

            as Miriam records data, Catherine removes the child's "mask,"

            displaying the haunted face of Edward.  Clearly, the boy is

            in some kind of catatonic state.

 

                                MIRIAM

                      Did we go sailing?

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Almost.  Mocky-Lock showed up.

 

                                MIRIAM

                      "Mocky-Lock is the bogeyman, Mocky-Lock

                      wants me where I am."

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Mocky-Lock is a pain in the ass.

 

            Henry communicates with them via the intercom.

 

                                HENRY

                      Where did that come from again?

 

            Catherine looks annoyed - How could he forget?

 

                                CATHERINE

                      A nursery rhyme.

 

            Catherine detaches the cables and eases Edward's frail body

            into a waiting wheelchair.  Miriam takes a penlight and

            examines the boy's eyes... An emotionless void, oddly

            beautiful.

 

                                MIRIAM

                          (thinking aloud)

                      Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, the

                      bogeyman... All preparation for the

                      horrors of the real world.

 

            Making certain the child is comfortable, Catherine covers him

            with a blanket, rests a teddy bear on his lap, and pushes him

            into the CONTROL ROOM, accompanied by Miriam.  Henry types in

            a command and moves to join them.

 

                                HENRY

                      Anybody hungry?  I'm hungry...

 

            A BUZZER sounds and ANOTHER DOOR HISSES OPEN... A constantly

            fretting administrator, BARRY COOPERMAN, is waiting for them

            in the corridor.

 

                                COOPERMAN

                      Edward's parents are here.

 

            We can see it in Catherine's face - this isn't good news.

 

            EXT. CAMPBELL CENTER - DAY

 

            Situated in a corporate/industrial area north of San Diego,

            California, a series of well-secured buildings form a mini

            compound.  A sign near the gate reads CAMPBELL CENTER - A

            DIVISION OF SUNERSET INDUSTRIES.

 

            INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - EDWARD'S ROOM - DAY

 

            Although this is a hospital room filled with medical

            equipment, its sterility has been camouflaged with toys,

            posters, photographs, and drawings to make it more "homey."

            (Some hint at aspects of Edward's fantasy world).  Every

            comfort has been provided and no expense spared.

 

            Henry, Miriam, and Catherine, now wearing funky/casual

            clothes under a lab coat, stand opposite Cooperman.  Sitting

            on the bed with Edward is ELLA BAINES, an elegantly dressed

            woman in her mid-40's.  There is a soulfulness to her, but

            the husband, LUCIEN BAINES, 60's, possesses the icy demeanor

            of a corporate tycoon.  One might write him off as cold, but

            we sense a genuine love for his wife and child.  Ella smiles

            and caresses Edward's hair.

 

                                ELLA

                      He needs a haircut.

 

                                CATHERINE

                      I'll tell the nurse.

                          (sensing something in Edward)

                      God, he loves when you visit.

 

                                ELLA

                      My husband wonders if that's true.

                          (delivering bad news)

                      He wants to place Edward in a hospital.

 

            Seeing an unfunded future, Henry's ready to disassociate

            himself from Miriam and Catherine...

 

                                HENRY

                      There are other applications for the

                      scanner, Mr. Baines...

 

                                LUCIEN

                      I realize that, Henry...

                          (to Miriam)

                      And I know your work, Dr. Kent, is

                      invaluable to this company...

 

                                CATHERINE

                      You don't know about me, though, do you?

 

                                LUCIEN

                      Catherine, we've waited eighteen months

                      for signs of progress...

 

                                CATHERINE

                      There's been progress.

 

                                LUCIEN

                      Yes, but there is no proof the procedure

                      works.  All I have is a belief that your

                      interaction with my son is not a

                      hallucination.

 

            Catherine is hurt and vulnerable due to exhaustion and the

            intensity of her experience with Edward, but feels she must

            defend herself.

 

                                CATHERINE

                          (to Cooperman, Miriam, Henry)

                      You picked me, remember?  And I took the

                      job.  Gladly.  This is the next wave and

                      I want to be part of it...

 

                                COOPERMAN

                      No one is doubting your ability.

 

                                CATHERINE

                      Then what is it?

 

            Introspective and solemn-eyed, Lucien takes a moment, then:

 

                                LUCIEN

                      I've invested millions of dollars in

                      this study... And I've convinced others

                      to do the same.  I suppose I should feel

                      responsible to them, but I don't.  I

                      could care less if they see a profit.

                      I'm responsible to my boy, that's all

                      that matters.

                          (looks her in the eye)

                      You tell me... Am I doing the right

                      thing?

 

            OFF CATHERINE'S FACE...

 

            INT. WHITE ROOM - DAY

 

            At first, we're not sure where we are or what's happening.

            It's too bright, the space confining.  As our eyes adjust, we

            seem to be in a bathroom or shower stall.  We HEAR a WOMAN

            CRYING and the camera finds ANNE VICKSEY.  Dark circles

            beneath eyes red and puffy from crying.  Hair wet and ratted.

            Sweater and pants damp and stained.  Barefoot, she shivers

            from cold and fear...

 

            PULL BACK to show more of her surroundings.  The white-tiled

            10' x 8' room features a SHOWER HEAD, TOILET, and a push

            button SPIGOT for drinking water.  Two walls are SOLID, the

            other two MIRRORED, the glass covered by thick clear plastic.

 

            The floor is littered with empty food wrappers - candy bars,

            juice boxes.  In the center of the floor is a DRAIN and above

            her, on the ceiling, a FLUORESCENT LAMP, also encased in

            clear plastic.

 

            There is no door.

 

            A mechanism CLICKS. Then a RUMBLING... Anne seems to know

            what's coming.  She presses against the wall, removes her

            arms from the sleeves of the sweater, hunches down, and

            raises the garment over her head, forming a tent.

 

            WATER ERUPTS from the shower head.  There is no steam, so

            this water must be cold.  Shaking, Anne whispers a count to

            herself - "One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three..." and

            so on.  The spray hits everything in the room - mirror,

            toilet, floor - and a food wrapper drifts toward the drain.

 

                                ANNE

                      Thirty.

 

            She peeks up from the tent, but the water has not stopped,

            and that isn't what she expected.  We hear a soft SUCKING

            NOISE and a CLICK.  The wrapper rises on a puddle of water.

            Anne POUNDS her fist on the wall.

 

                                ANNE (CONT'D)

                          (angry, scared)

                      THIRTY!

 

            A puddle forms around her feet and she realizes the drain has

            somehow been sealed shut.  Her panic intensifies as we hear

            another CLICK and the water pressure increases.

 

            INT. CAMPBELL CENTER - LABORATORY - DAY

 

            In the darkened procedure room, Miriam finds Catherine

            standing between the two suspension devices, alone.

 

                                MIRIAM

                      You okay?