Room 6 FLASH CUT INT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, OFFICE - EARLIER CLOSE on key holder showing room keys 1, 4 and 6 are missing. END FLASH CUT EXT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, PARKING LOT - NIGHT Judy half-crawls toward room 4, staying low and out of sight of the office. JUDY (V.O.) I made my way to room four. Judy TAPS on the door. JUDY (whispers loudly.) Is anyone in there? Please help me. Someone’s trying to kill me. She reaches up and tries the door knob. She TAPS a little louder. JUDY (V.O.) No answer. I couldn’t hear anything inside. I was afraid to make any more noise, so I moved on. INT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 4 - NIGHT The locked door knob moves, but will not open. The room is quiet save for a faint STATIC noise and the blue light from a TV. JUDY (V.O.) As I passed by the window I saw the curtains were open a crack. I looked inside. JUDY’S POV - A COUPLE sit up in bed. They stare blank-eyed and unmoving. The flickering light form the TV reflects on their dead faces. EXT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 4 - NIGHT Judy gasps! JUDY (V.O.) They were just sitting there in bed. Dead. INT. KNIGHTON POLICE DEPARTMENT, SHERIFF’S OFFICE - DAY SHERIFF WEST They were dead? So everyone in this motel is dead or dying? Judy looks down at her hands. JUDY I’m telling you what I saw. The Sheriff nods. SHERIFF WEST Okay. Please go on. JUDY There were only two rooms left. EXT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 5 - NIGHT Judy scurries further. She tries room 5’s door. Locked. She arrives at room 6. Weak, pale and bloody. She looks like she might pass out. JUDY (V.O.) I barely made it to room six. I was woozy. Vision blurry. Freezing. She tries the doorknob. It turns. JUDY (V.O.) It was unlocked. INT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 6 - NIGHT Judy slips inside the room and shuts and locks the door. She crumbles to the floor, shaking, crying in relief. JUDY (V.O.) I thought I was safe. A TV was on. No channel, just static. The room is lit only by the blue light and STATIC of a TV drifting between stations. The sound grows louder, as if someone was pushing the volume button up slowly. Judy smashes her hands to her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. JUDY (V.O.) That static kept growing. Like spikes drilling into my brain. I was ready to scream when... Sudden silence. JUDY (V.O.) It all stopped. She pulls her hand away and opens her eyes. She looks around the room. She notices a WOMAN, laying on her side asleep in the bed. A light is visible from a crack beneath the bathroom door. The bathroom door opens. PETER STAHL, 40’S well-built, steps out of the bathroom, wearing only boxers. He stops as he spots his wife. PETER Judy? What are you doing here? JUDY Peter? Judy looks confused. Peter walks towards her. He notices the bloody tire iron in her hand. PETER Is that blood? Oh my god, Judy what have you done? JUDY I-I was just trying to help. The WOMAN in the bed - CELIA 30’s - opens her eyes. She blinks, confused. WOMAN What is she doing here? Judy looks up at the woman and recognizes her. She’s the same woman from room 4. JUDY You tried to kill me! CELIA What? Who the fuck are you? Celia rises from the bed. The left side of her head is a bloody mess. She wears only panties. She joins Peter. Peter puts his arm around Celia as they move in on Judy. JUDY No! Stay away from me! Peter what is happening? PETER You don’t know? SCREEN GOES BLACK. INT. KNIGHTON POLICE DEPARTMENT, SHERIFF’S OFFICE - DAY The Sheriff leans back in his chair. He sips from his stained coffee mug as he scrutinizes Judy. SHERIFF WEST That’s quite a tale. Too bad none of it’s true. JUDY It’s all true. West shakes his head. No. SHERIFF WEST Not exactly. Oh the events all occurred. And maybe even in some of the same order that you laid out. But not in the way you said. JUDY Oh? Do tell. FLASHBACK EXT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, OFFICE - NIGHT Judy examines the clerk on the floor. Only instead of blood it’s obvious now that it’s spilled booze and he’s just passed out drunk. SHERIFF WEST (V.O.) The clerk you found, Old Hank, wasn’t dying. He was just passed out drunk. He does that most nights. EXT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 1 - NIGHT Judy is outside the door listening. But now it’s obvious that the sounds are from passionate, very physical love making. SHERIFF WEST (V.O.) The couple in room one, Jack and Rita Stanhope, were just having a what you might call an aggressive tryst of lovemaking. JUDY (V.O.) That’s absolute bullshit. They were fighting! She told me he was trying to kill her! Jack pulls open the door to Judy’s POUNDING and SHOUTING. JACK What the fuck do you want? Rita stands beside him, her arms protective around his shoulder. RITA Careful babe. She looks crazy. Like she might kill someone. SHERIFF WEST (V.O.) You attacked them. Smashed him up a bit before he knocked you out. BLACKNESS JUDY (V.O.) (voice less confident) I don’t buy any of this, but go on. INT. KNIGHTY NITE MOTOR INN, ROOM 1 - NIGHT Judy lays on the bed. Rita has her back to her smoking a cigarette. Judy wakes up. She sees Rita. SHERIFF WEST (V.O.) Jack went to the office to try to call for help on the CB. All the phones are out from the storm. You managed to over power Rita and run out. INT. KNIGHTON POLICE DEPARTMENT, SHERIFF’S OFFICE Judy is shaken. JUDY No. None of this makes sense. West regards in quiet sympathy. SHERIFF WEST I know. To you. Judy lowers her head. JUDY And the dead couple in room 4? Are you going to pin that one on me? SHERIFF WEST Room 4 was empty. JUDY What? I don’t believe you. SHERIFF WEST Key 4 was still hanging on the rack when we arrived. And there were only two cars in the lot. JUDY Maybe they left. SHERIFF WEST You said they were dead. Judy is at a loss. West’s voice is soft, sympathetic. SHERIFF WEST Do you remember killing Celia? Judy looks up. JUDY No! She was dead when I got there. Her head was bashed in. I know that for certain! SHERIFF WEST We found her in the trunk of your car with your bloody tire iron. She was wearing your parka. You tried to drive off, but forgot you had a flat tire. You barely made it out of the driveway, before you crashed. Judy has a sudden realization. JUDY Then Peter killed her! He must have! Don’t you see? He set me up! He’s the one who ordered the tow truck! The Sheriff pulls a prescription bottle from his desk and places it in front of her. CLOSE ON BOTTLE: RISPERIDONE. PATIENT: JUDY STAHL. SHERIFF WEST How long have you been off your meds? JUDY I’ve never been off my meds. SHERIFF WEST Peter said stopped taking them. That you became insane when you were off them. JUDY He’s the insane one. SHERIFF WEST He said he told you that the woman was just a distraction, an escape from you. But you went into another one of your rages and... Judy draws her knees up to her chest and hugs them. She shakes her head ‘no’ over and over. The sound of rising STATIC fills her brain overriding everything. FADE OUT:
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Larry D. Hansen
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