Season 2, Episode 1

Reflections

[The Frankenstein house. Day. Henry and Christine are standing in the living room]

CHRISTINE

Looks like someone had a long night.

HENRY

I can’t remember the last time I actually saw him sleep. Guess the middle of the floor is better than nothing. 

[There is a beat of silence as Henry moves to the next room, then we hear running water and the clink of dishes]

CHRISTINE

What are you doing?

HENRY 

Dirty dishes in the sink stresses him out. 

CHRISTINE

Could've fooled me. I take it this place used to be a little….

HENRY 

Less of a shithole? Yeah. Hold my cane while I finish this up?

CHRISTINE

Yeah, sure thing. 

HENRY

...How’ve you been?

CHRISTINE

Hmm?

HENRY

I said, how have you been holding up?

CHRISTINE

Fine? Why, should I not be?

HENRY

No, just… you’re always the one to check up on us. Someone’s gotta make sure you’re okay from time to time, too. It gets tiring when it’s one-sided.

CHRISTINE

I get the feeling you know all about that.

HENRY

[After a beat, changing the subject]

Any updates on Crane?

CHRISTINE

No. Nothing.

HENRY

Take it you’re still convinced something’s up.

CHRISTINE

I’m positive. Hamlet, Act IV, Scene VI. Horatio gets a letter telling him that Hamlet was captured by pirates. A weird thing to bring up out of the blue, don’t you think?

HENRY

I mean, yeah, but you said you called the school and he hasn’t been missing any classes.

CHRISTINE

I know. Still… something about it feels off. ...I dunno, I'm probably overthinking it.

HENRY

No, something's definitely up. Hell, even I could tell that when he called. 

[He shuts the water off]

You're selling yourself short. Second guessing, overthinking. 

CHRISTINE 

Do you tell Victor that, too?

HENRY

He overthinks shit on a whole other level. Just last week, he nearly had an anxiety attack because the guy working at the Dunkin he goes to every single day knew his name. Came down from it quick, though. Cane?

CHRISTINE

Cane.

HENRY

Oh shit, you met up with that journalist yesterday, right? How’d that go?

CHRISTINE

Good! I mean, obviously I was a bit anxious at first. Last time I was interviewed, it was after what happened with Erik, so that wasn’t exactly a great experience. But if Laura knows anything about all that, she didn’t mention it. 

HENRY

Well that’s good. 

CHRISTINE

Yeah, it was nice. Not a lot of love for stagehands these days, especially in local theater. I’m surprised she wanted to write a story on it.

HENRY

When do you think you’ll go back to the spotlight?

CHRISTINE

Baby steps, Henry.

HENRY

Right, sorry. 

CHRISTINE

Anyway, she said she might wanna meet up again eventually for some more details. I'm not sure what else I can give her, but hey, why not?

HENRY

You could tell her about the time we helped vanquish some fuckin' plague demon or whatever the hell. [He laughs] I'm sure she'd love it.

CHRISTINE

[Laughs]

Yeah, I'll get right on that.

HENRY

Hey, it'd give her a story.

CHRISTINE

Speaking of stories….

HENRY

No.

CHRISTINE

I know something happened, Henry.

HENRY

Nothing happened.

CHRISTINE

Not home from vacation for twenty minutes, and you looked scared out of your mind. Something happened.

HENRY

Look, it’s… nothing. It’s nothing, okay? 

[A pause as Christine clearly gives him a Look, then he sighs]

Our room was on the fourth floor, pretty much right across from the elevator. It was a nice room, actually, better than what we usually got when we used to go there when I was a kid. I guess being the off-season, my mom got it at a good price. 

HENRY (Cont.)

In the room next to us, there was this guy. Older, a veteran, I guess. My parents would talk to him sometimes, he and dad would tell war stories. I never paid much attention, I’ve heard enough of them over the years to last me a lifetime. 

The day before we left, I had to sit down in the lobby ‘cause I had a headache like you wouldn’t believe. One of the guys at the reception desk was…. Well, he was freaking out. Said that he saw that soldier guy leave the hotel that night. Only problem was… he died about five minutes before that. Natural causes, I guess he’d been sick for a while, but… he was sure he saw him.

CHRISTINE

I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts?

HENRY

I dunno what I believe. But-- Look, it’s not about this guy. That night, I woke up around 5:00 or so. There was a note on the side table from my parents saying they’d gone for a walk on the beach. Why the hell they’d wanna do that when it’s 50 degrees out and it’s still dark is beyond me, but whatever. So I roll over, and--

[He cuts off, then takes a breath]

And standing by the window was Elliot fucking Lavenza. 

CHRISTINE

Oh, God.

HENRY

He didn’t say anything, he just…. He just stared at me. He had bruises around his neck, and he-- He was crying, he looked so scared. I mean…. God, I’ve never seen him like that. I tried to talk to him, but like I said, he never spoke. He just shook his head and left the room. I tried to follow him, but I didn’t think to grab my cane, so I kept losing my balance, and it took me a while. By the time I got to the hallway, he was gone. It couldn’t have lasted more than two minutes, but…

[He takes another long breath, once again trying to play it cool]

...I’ve had worse nightmares. 

CHRISTINE

...And you’re sure it was a nightmare?

HENRY

I’m choosing to. Besides, the place we were staying was like an hour away from where he died, two hours from here. If he were a ghost, why would he show up at a place he’d probably never been?

CHRISTINE

Even if it was a dream, it still sounds awful.

HENRY

...Yeah. [Beat.] Do you think it was my fault?

CHRISTINE

What do you mean?

HENRY

He died because Victor never finished his fucked up second experiment. If I’d just listened, maybe I wouldn’t have tried to stop him, maybe Elliot would still be alive.

CHRISTINE

Do you really think you’d have let him go through with it?

HENRY

...I don’t know. Like, obviously the whole concept is just a mess of issues that would make any member of an ethics committee crawl out of their goddamn skin. But… the way I look at it, people are…. I’m gonna say “complicated”, for lack of a better word. Cliche, but bear with me. There are no good or bad people, we’re constantly shifting in morality based on our actions in any given situation. Knowing what I know now, Victor was doing what, at the time, he felt was morally right. I’m sure he’s rambled to you about why he started researching all that shit, the second attempt was his idea of damage control. So… maybe I would’ve seen that. Maybe I would have understood, maybe I wouldn’t have fucked everyone over.

CHRISTINE

Henry, you didn’t fuck anyone over. I can’t imagine what it was like to walk in on that. You were probably in shock, and I’m sure Victor wasn’t exactly completely coherent. 

[A haunting melody cuts in]

CHRISTINE

...That's not my ringtone.

HENRY

You gonna answer it?

CHRISTINE

Fuck no!

[The music stops as she hits Ignore on the call]

HENRY

...Well, I was going to ask if you’d had any more creepy shit happen, but I guess that answers that question. 

CHRISTINE

It's calmed down a lot, though. I think that's the first thing I've seen in a few days. 

HENRY

[Deep in thought]

Yeah.

CHRISTINE

You good?

HENRY

...It should've stopped though, right? Like, I assumed that.... What'd Crane call her? Red Death?

CHRISTINE

I think so, yeah. 

HENRY

I figured our little excursion with her was the answer. I don't know why I thought that, but…. Plus, how do we know that the receptionist at the hotel didn’t actually see a dead guy walking around? What if he did, and now we’re starting to… I guess spread this shit? I mean, this isn't gonna be one of those situations where we keep having to take down worse and worse shit until we finally get to the bottom of everything, is it? Because I know those stories. And they always have one thing in common. 

CHRISTINE

And what's that?

HENRY

...Not everyone makes it out alive. 

VICTOR

Hello...?

HENRY

[Switching to a less worried tone]

Hey, Sleeping Beauty. 

VICTOR

What’re you guys doing here so early?

CHRISTINE

...Victor, it’s 3 PM.

VICTOR

[A beat as he presumably looks at a clock]

...So it is. What's up, everything okay? 

HENRY

Yeah, fine. We were just in the neighborhood. 

VICTOR

...Henry, you live in the neighborhood.

HENRY

Not in the rich people part of it, though.

CHRISTINE

We're taking you to lunch. 

VICTOR

What?

HENRY

You heard her. Rumor has it you haven't left the house in four days. That means that whatever you have eaten has probably been garbage. 

VICTOR

Old Man Dan ratted me out, didn't he?

HENRY

The ultimate treasonous act of making sure you don't die.

CHRISTINE

So go change, get ready, and we'll head out. 

VICTOR

I-- Guys, I'm really busy with--

CHRISTINE

The journal can wait, Victor. It’ll still be here when you get back. 

VICTOR

I…. [He sighs. He's not winning this fight] Can I wake up a bit first?

HENRY

Sure thing. Oh, this was on your porch, by the way.

CHRISTINE

Fancy writing. Your sister send you a care package?

VICTOR

...No, I don't think so. Even if she did decide to write like that, she'd put a return address.

HENRY

And you didn't order anything?

VICTOR

No, nothing. ...We're all thinking the same thing, right? Like, this is obviously a trap.

CHRISTINE

Why would anyone want to hurt you?

[Silence as he just looks at her]

...Right. Still, that doesn't really seem like Erik's style, and if there's anything else out there that's got its eye on you, a mystery package doesn't really seem like the way it'd go. The last one could kill people just by looking at them. Don't you think a rigged box seems a little… boring?

VICTOR

...Fine, but if it's a bomb and we all die, I'm gonna be pissed.

[We hear him opening the box]

HENRY

VHS tape. That's… something.

CHRISTINE

"Golden Girls, April 10, 1993"

VICTOR

...That's mom's handwriting.

HENRY 

Do you have a VCR?

VICTOR

Why would I have a VCR?

HENRY

I am looking at a victrola right now.

VICTOR

...No, I don't have a VCR. 

CHRISTINE

Well I think you'd best find someone who does. Because I don't think I need to tell you that that's probably not Golden Girls.

HENRY

Betcha Old Man Dan has one.

CHRISTINE

Well let's go see, we--

VICTOR

Later. [He sighs, this is clearly difficult for him]

I… need to take a break from all this.… everything.

HENRY

[Soft, clearly smiling]

Yeah, you're right. 

VICTOR

…I'm gonna get dressed.