NYC MIDNIGHT ENTRY

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: