Vapors: The Essential G. Wayne Miller Fiction Vol. 2
Page 23
EXT. SUMMER HOUSE - EVENING
A wide shot of the house, with Ben’s Cherokee parked in the drive. Serena pulls up in her Mustang, parks, and goes in. She is wearing cut-off jeans and a white blouse, the tails tied across her tummy. She also has on her pearls. She looks as breath-taking as ever.
INT. SUMMER HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Ben is sitting on a couch. He has been drinking and is near intoxication, although not quite there yet. Serena sits next to him and gives him a light kiss. He is not interested.
SERENA
I’m sorry I’m late. Some important business came up that I couldn’t ignore. Did you get my note?
BEN
I did.
SERENA
You sound... detached... not yourself. Is something wrong?
BEN
Something’s very wrong.
SERENA
Tell me.
BEN
Why don’t you tell me.
SERENA
Is it the last two days — are you having doubts?
(a beat)
Not me, Ben. I thought we were in love... like before.
BEN
I know what you are.
Serena seems perplexed.
BEN (CONT’D)
You’re a mermaid.
SERENA
A what?
BEN
A mermaid.
SERENA
You mean like with scales?
(laughs)
I may not be Angelina Jolie, but I like to think
I’m better-looking than a fish.
BEN
You can’t bullshit me any more. I know all about you. How you’ve been around since ancient Greece. How you steal men’s souls. How nothing can stop you.
SERENA
I think you’ve had too much wine, my love.
Serena bends to kiss Ben. Ben grabs her arm, holding it tightly.
BEN
You’re trying to destroy me.
SERENA
Let me go, Ben.
BEN
All this bullshit about never forgetting me and feelings that wouldn’t die and a love for all eternity — that’s all it is, bullshit. You don’t want me. You want my soul.
Serena begins to cry softly. Ben releases her arm.
SERENA
You still can’t let yourself believe, can you. You’ve been sleep-walking so long that you’ve lost the ability to see.
(a beat)
You’re in love now, Ben, and it’s set you free. No one owns you any more. Not your father, not your past, not this place, nothing. This is where you’ve always wanted to be, where you belong. You have me now. You’ve got to let go of everything else.
BEN
I have Stephanie.
SERENA
Stephanie is like everything else now, Ben. She doesn’t matter.
BEN
Why did you send her the photos?
SERENA
I wanted her to know about us. Is that so very wrong? Wanting to tell the world about the best thing I ever had? Maybe the best love in all of history? I don’t mean Stephanie any harm. But she never should have happened. She was never supposed to be part of the story.
BEN
You’re jealous.
SERENA
I’m insane with love.
Serena becomes aware of the sound of distant FIREWORKS.
A WIDE ANGLE of the open windows. The curtains are still. In the distance, spectacular fireworks are breaking over Old Harbor. Reluctantly at first, Ben allows Serena to hold his hand.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Do you remember that summer? That
Fourth of July?
BEN
My father had his clambake.
SERENA
We made love during the fireworks. I gave you a ring.
BEN
I still have it.
SERENA
I know.
Serena takes the ring from her blouse pocket.
BEN
Where’d you find it?
SERENA
Does it matter? Wear it for me.
Please, Ben?
Ben allows her to place it on his finger.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Now make love to me.
(a beat)
Like the first time.
No hesitation this time. They make love with violent passion, there on the couch.
A WIDE ANGLE
CUT TO:
The open windows. The curtains are billowing, we hear SHUTTERS BANGING, and it’s raining. In the distance, no more fireworks, only pitch black. Almost midnight. Ben is asleep on the couch. Serena is standing over him, an axe in her hand. She raises it, as if to strike him, but at the exact moment it seems she will, Ben snaps awake.
BEN
What are you doing?
SERENA
We’re going away, you and me, to a place all our own. But before we leave, there are some final touches. Come.
Moving as if drugged, Ben dresses in boat shoes, shorts, and T-shirt.
Serena beckons him to the wall on which pictures of Ben and Stephanie at their wedding still hang. Many of Ben’s father’s trophies remain on a desk and the mounted swordfish is still over the fireplace. Serena puts the axe in Ben’s hands.
SERENA (CONT’D)
You know what you have to do.
BEN
I can’t.
SERENA
Hurry. Time is fleeting.
Ben takes a tentative swing at the swordfish. Then another, less hesitant. Soon, he’s into it — smashing trophies and mementos. He pauses when he comes to the model ship he made when he was in eighth grade, then smashes that, too. When he gets to his wedding photos, he pauses again.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Do it.
Ben doesn’t.
SERENA (CONT’D)
(angry now)
Do it!
Ben smashes the photos.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Very good, Ben. There’s just one last thing.
Serena reaches for a can of lighter fluid, which we now see on a table. Serena douses the furniture and floor.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Lighter fluid. I found it in the carriage house.
Serena hands matches to Ben.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Go on, Ben. You’ve come too far to turn back now.
EXT. BLOCK ISLAND AIRPORT - MIDNIGHT
A small two-runway facility a short distance from Old Harbor. Landing lights appear out of the rainy darkness and a twin- engine airplane touches down.
Stephanie steps out, sees the closed terminal, and realizes she has no choice but to travel on foot. She runs down a darkened road to Old Harbor, twinkling in the distance.
EXT. HARBORMASTER’S BUILDING - MIDNIGHT.
Ben’s studio is dark and there is a CLOSED sign on the door. Drenched from the storm, Stephanie knocks on Steve McAfferty’s door. A light comes on and Steve appears. He’s half awake.
STEVE
Steffie. What are you doing here at this hour?
He invites her in.
INT. HARBORMASTER’S BUILDING - MIDNIGHT
STEPHANIE
(agitated)
I tried calling you on the way from. Boston but I couldn’t get through.
STEVE
The phones have been on and off all night. You know the island. Happens anytime there’s a big storm.
STEPHANIE
(more agitated)
I missed the last ferry... I had to charter a plane... Have you ever chartered a plane... I never had... I ended up calling my boss, the AG, he knows a pilot, then I nearly killed myself driving to the airport—
STEVE
Stop. Calm down. What’s going on?
Stephanie composes herself — a bit.
STEPHANIE
Ben and I had an argument, one like never before. I threw him out of my office. When I finally cooled down, I went home, but he was
n’t there, so I figured he must have taken the ferry back here. I couldn’t reach him. All I got was machines. Then Professor Bergman’s housekeeper knocked on my door. She said Bergman was coming here, she told me this ridiculous reason why. But she swore it was true. Have you seen him?
STEVE
You mean that friend of Ben’s father I met at the wake?
STEPHANIE
Yes, him.
STEVE
I haven’t seen him. Can you please tell me what the hell’s going on?
STEPHANIE
Ben’s in trouble, STEVE. His life’s in danger. We have to get to the summer place right away.
STEVE
OK, OK.
STEPHANIE
Do you have a gun?
STEVE
Yes.
STEPHANIE
Bring it.
INT. SUMMER HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - MIDNIGHT
Ben is holding the matches, seemingly paralyzed. Serena strikes one, and hands it to Ben.
SERENA
Let me make it easier for you. Go on.
Ben drops the match onto the floor. The fire spreads through the living room, slowly but steadily, as Serena and Ben pause at the door.
EXT. SUMMER HOUSE - MIDNIGHT
Against a backdrop of flames inside the living room (but none of the rest of the house yet), Ben and Serena cross the lawn to the stairway, and walk down to the pier. Houghtie’s Glory rides a restless sea. They climb aboard and Ben starts the engine.
BEN
Where are we going?
SERENA
Out.
Serena casts the lines, then wraps her arms around Ben and kisses him.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Trust me.
Ben pushes the throttle forward. The engine ROARS to life and the boat disappears into the darkness.
A SERIES OF SHOTS
Of STEVE and Stephanie in the harbormaster’s truck racing toward the summer place. As they draw closer, we SEE that the house is on fire.
STEPHANIE
Oh my God!
STEVE
(into his cell)
Central dispatch, this is harbormaster. Code red, Houghton place.
EXT. OCEAN - THE MOTORBOAT - MIDNIGHT
Houghtie’s Glory is racing across a black, angry sea. Nothing else can be seen — no shore, no boats, nothing. Ben is robotic at the helm. Serena has her arms around him.
CLOSE ON THE DEPTH FINDER
It’s registering deeper and deeper water. Serena sees a reading that she likes.
SERENA
(loudly)
Kill the motor.
Ben throttles back. The sound of diesel is replaced by THUNDER. Lightning splits the sky. Ben and Serena are soaked. Ben looks bedraggled. Serena has never looked better.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Kiss me.
Ben does not. He doesn’t move at all.
SERENA (CONT’D)
Are you afraid?
BEN
Yes.
SERENA
Don’t be. The sea is our friend. Kiss me, Ben.
This time, Ben does. Soon, he is locked in passionate embrace with Serena. This is an incredibly erotic scene — and between their lovemaking and the storm, we understand why Ben doesn’t notice Serena’s free hand, feeling along on the bottom of the boat for the drain.
CLOSE ON SERENA’S HAND
She unscrews the plug. Water begins flooding into the boat. Ben does not notice at first.
EXT. SUMMER HOUSE - MIDNIGHT
STEVE and Stephanie speed up the drive. The house is fully engulfed now. Stephanie screams, dashes out of STEVE’s truck, and runs madly toward the house.
STEPHANIE
Ben!
STEVE follows her.
STEPHANIE (CONT’D)
(hysterical)
Ben!
STEVE restrains Stephanie.
STEVE
Listen to me! If there’s anyone in there, it’s too late. But after what you said, I’m betting it’s empty. Come with me.
STEVE and Stephanie run down the stairs to the empty dock.
STEPHANIE
They’re on the boat.
Stephanie shouts into the storm.
STEPHANIE (CONT’D)
Ben! Come back! I love you!
But her voice is all but drowned out by the sounds of SURF and THUNDER as STEVE sweeps the roiling sea with a flashlight. All we see are waves. STEVE dials his cell.
STEVE
Coast Guard Block Island, this is the harbormaster. We have a code twelve, off Mohegan Bluffs. Repeat, code twelve, Mohegan Bluffs.
EXT. OCEAN - THE MOTORBOAT - MIDNIGHT
As Houghtie’s Glory slips lower into the water, the import of what’s happening finally registers on Ben.
BEN
We’re going to drown.
SERENA
No, Ben, we’re going to live forever.
Houghtie’s Glory has sunk low enough that with the next big wave, the boat will probably go under. Fishing gear floats like jetsam. Ben removes the scrimshaw ring from his finger.
BEN
Take it.
He hands it to Serena, who refuses it.
SERENA
It’s yours.
BEN
Take it!
Serena still refuses. Ben forces it onto her finger.
SERENA
Don’t do this, Ben.
Ben opens a tackle box that’s been dislodged and pulls out a large fishing knife.
Professor Bergman’s words are in his head.
BERGMAN (O.S.)
It must be on the sea. It must involve bleeding. And it must be by the hand of the one she covets...
Serena sees the knife. The power in her voice weakens.
SERENA
This isn’t what you want, Ben. This is them holding you back again. Hand me the knife. We’ll pretend this never happened.
Ben raises the knife and for a moment, he is frozen. Then he buries the knife in Serena’s chest. Blood spurts everywhere — thick, black, evidently non-human blood. Serena clutches the knife, but doesn’t remove it.
SERENA (CONT’D)
I searched centuries before I found you, Ben. You don’t know what it’s like, doomed to wander as I have, never satisfied. So many other men, but none like you. None that I was destined for.
We could have been like Romeo and Juliet, together for all eternity.
EXT. HOUGHTON DOCK - MIDNIGHT
A Coast Guard helicopter materializes out of the dark and touches down on the wave-crashed beach. STEVE recognizes the pilot COMMANDER and CREW MEMBERS. The commander, a clean-cut man of about 40, opens the door.
STEVE
Are we having fun yet, Commander?
COMMANDER
Life’s a beach and then you die.
Where we going this time, STEVE?
STEVE
‘Thattaway’ is about all I can tell you.
STEVE boards. Stephanie starts to get in, too.