by James Eddy
breath)
I guess that works both ways
JOHNNY
(A beat)
Besides you know that she’s noticed too
OLIVER
Who?
JOHNNY
(Looking at
him intently)
Oh, yer know. Nice girl, kind of delicious. The one who’s so pretty it actually hurts yer feelings!
OLIVER
Oh right... She’s not even real
JOHNNY
And you're completely sure about that?
Oliver
No, but...
JoHNNY
Take a chance on something mate. She seems sweet and it's not a coincidence that yer keep seeing her
OLIVER
It’s not reality either
JOHNNY
JESUS CHRIST! Haven't you ever met someone and felt like you'd known them forever?
(Oliver shrugs
his shoulders
and Johnny
walks all
the way
up to him)
Please don't make yourself into a lost cause my friend. I'm trying to help yer. These things happen all the time. It just isn’t usually like this. When people meet in dreams, it’s because they're meant to get to know them. That's why there's sort of deja vu when they see each other in reality. It's cool that it happens but it's usually only one way... I dunno why, but you two have both been in each other’s dreams. And now she's started giving yer clues to finding her in the daytime
OLIVER
So?
JOHNNY
So, she seems like a sweetheart.
Oliver shakes his head.
OLIVER
Then why doesn’t she just tell me where she is?
JOHNNY
Because she can't. I don't really understand why. It’s just that you’re not meant to use other people's dreams to directly affect their reality. Or something like that anyway. I dunno... It just means that giving yer clues is a pretty big deal...
(A beat)
Look, I can’t tell yer what to do but in the end you've gotta make up yer own mind on what yer wanna believe mate
OLIVER
(A beat or two)
All right... But why did she... Well you know...
JOHNNY
Disappear? She woke up. Simple as that. That's how you ended up here and that's why yer probably haven't got long left
They start walking again until the school building appears in the background behind them.
JOHNNY
(Gesturing towards
the building)
Shall we?
OLIVER
I can’t! I can’t go back!
JOHNNY
What’s the matter? Are yer afraid something bad’s gonna happen to yer?
(A beat or
two as they
look at each
other and
then Johnny
looks at
his watch)
SHIT! I’ve gotta leave... Help me to pack will yer?
OLIVER
What?
JOHNNY
Help me put my stuff in the car
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET - DAY
Oliver and Johnny stand by a black car, which is parked in a cul-de-sac. Boxes surround them.
OLIVER
Oh, Okay
Oliver and Johnny pick up the boxes and put them in the car. Johnny stops and turns to Oliver.
JOHNNY
I need some money! Can you help me with money?
OLIVER
Right... Okay I’ll uh see what I can do
Oliver runs down the road away from Johnny and the car. He looks around as he runs and when he notices something ahead of him he runs even faster towards it. He stops at the foot of a tree, looking at what appear to be the leaves on its branches but on closer inspection they turn out to be book tokens. He grabs several handfuls of these tokens and runs back to Johnny and the car.
OLIVER
(Slightly out
of breath)
Couldn’t... Couldn’t find money... I got these though
He holds out the book tokens to Johnny.
JOHNNY
(Taking the
book tokens)
That’ll do fine...
(A beat)
Now get in
Oliver and Johnny get in the car with Johnny on the driver’s side and Oliver as the front passenger.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR - DAY
Johnny starts the car.
OLIVER
Where are we going?
Johnny doesn’t answer and simply starts to drive. He drives to the bottom of the cul-de-sac to turn the car around. As he does this Oliver tries to put on his seatbelt. The seatbelt is missing and he fumbles around trying to find it. He turns to where Johnny had been but the person he sees isn't Johnny. Oliver is looking into the face of Jim Brady, who immediately puts his foot down hard on the accelerator. Oliver looks on as Brady drives along the cul-de-sac at high speed and heads straight towards a house. He drives straight through the small front garden and smashes into the front of the house.
END DREAM SEQUENCE.
INT. BEDROOM - MORNING
Oliver wakes suddenly and is lying in his bed in the morning light.
Fade TO:
INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Oliver sits on the sofa, eating his breakfast cereal. He stands, walks to a bookshelf, and looks at the books. A calendar, pinned to one of the shelves and covering some of the books, is pushed out of the way as he reaches past it and pulls out one of the books. He opens it and looks through it quickly, scanning its pages, until he eventually stops on a page. The page of the encyclopaedia is about Admiral Horatio Nelson. He reads through it until he stops on the word ‘Trafalgar.’
CUT TO:
EXT. TRAFALGAR SQUARE - MORNING
Trafalgar Square is full of people walking around. Oliver wanders around quickly but more or less aimlessly looking for something of some significance in the fountains or Nelson's Column itself. He finds nothing and eventually gives up and walks away.
CUT TO:
INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
Oliver looks at a piece of paper. On the paper the words - Nelson, Wellington, Knickers, Off, Ready, When, I, Come, Home are written. Added to this are the letters K, O, R, W, I, C, H, which are jumbled into a number of different orders - W, O, R, K, I, C, H, W, I, C, H, R, O, K, etc. Oliver sits on the sofa with this piece of paper on his lap. He gets up and walks to the bookshelf. He stops to look at the calendar hanging from it. The calendar illustrates 'February' with a photograph of 'Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland'. Oliver takes the calendar off the pin it is hanging from. He folds over one page, followed by several others.
OLIVER
Fuck!
Oliver looks at the photograph for September. The photograph is of a statue - described as “Statue of the Duke of Wellington in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral.” Oliver moves quickly over to the bookshelf, takes an encyclopaedia off the shelf and goes through the pages. He moves to the sofa and sits down to look at the words written on the page. He goes through the page on Admiral Nelson he had read earlier. He turns the page and stops on the words ‘educated in Norwich'.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
Oliver runs around the room looking for and putting whatever he can find into a suitcase, which lies open on the bed.
CUT TO:
EXT. LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET STATION - DAY
Oliver walks into the station.
CUT TO:
INT. LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET STATION - DAY
Oliver walks through the station and then along one of the platforms before getting aboard the train to Norwich.
CUT TO:
INT. TRAIN - EVENING
Oliver smiles as he looks out of the train window as it travels at high speed through the English countryside.
CUT TO:
<
br /> INT. NORWICH STATION - EVENING
The train pulls into the station and comes to a stop. Oliver steps onto the platform along with many other people who were on the train. He walks through the ticket barriers and then out of the station.
CUT TO:
EXT. NORWICH STATION - EVENING
Oliver pauses to take a deep breath of the fresh air and then starts walking again. He walks another 50 yards through the station car park before he stops and looks to his left. He sees a building with an illuminated sign on its side that reads “The Nelson".
CUT TO:
EXT. HOTEL NELSON - EVENING
Oliver walks along the pavement that leads to the hotel. He turns left and walks inside.
CUT TO:
INT. HOTEL RECEPTION - EVENING
He walks up to the reception desk.
OLIVER
(To the
receptionist)
Hi there, I’d uh like a room please
CUT TO:
INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING
Oliver walks into the room with his suitcase and shuts the door behind him.
FADE TO:
INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING
Oliver is alone in the room. He takes things out of his suitcase. The last thing he does is put an alarm clock on his bedside table before moving the suitcase off the bed.
FADE TO:
INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Oliver is in bed. He leans across to turn his bedside light off.
CUT TO:
BLACK SCREEN:
SUPER: "Three Nights Earlier"
FADE IN:
BEGIN DREAM SEQUENCE:
INT. THEATRE - Evening
There is a large audience looking at the empty stage. Actors then walk in from the right - These are ROMEO, OLIVER AS MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with 5 or 6 others in masks and several torch bearers. It is a performance of Romeo and Juliet, Act I Scene IV.
ROMEO
What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?
Or shall we without apology
BENVOLIO
The date is out of such prolixity
We’ll have no cupid hoodwinked with a scarf,
Bearing a tartars painted bow of lath,
Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper;
Nor no without book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance;
But, let them measure us by what they will,
We’ll measure them a measure and be gone
ROMEO
Give me a torch; I am not for this ambling;
Being but heavy, I will bear the light
There is silence as Oliver struggles to remember Mercutio’s line.
EMILY
(Off screen)
Nay gentle Romeo, we must have you dance
Oliver looks up and sees that Emily is floating in the air above him. He looks back
