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PAINKILLERS A
film by Dave Moseley Screenplay
by Mike Horn and Dave Moseley FADE IN: INT.
HOUSE - MORNING A
flash of a camera lights up a woman’s body lying on the floor. She is young,
with long brown hair and an expression of horror frozen on her face. Blood flows
from a large wound in her chest. Cut to a shot of MIKE holding a camera,
kneeling down. He is a young man, with short blonde hair, glasses, and wearing a
white shirt with rubber gloves. Police are in the small living room, dusting and
examining the scene, trying to find clues. They cover the body with a sheet.
RYAN enters the room. He is a similar age to MIKE, wearing a white shirt, dark
green tie, black trousers and a long coat. He looks anxious as he approaches
MIKE. RYAN Tell me. MIKE
looks down at the body. MIKE Caucasian,
twenty-three. Brown hair, brown eyes. Stabbed once in the back, five times in
the chest. RYAN Anything
else? MIKE shakes his head. MIKE Not a thing. No prints, no weapon... no sign to suggest it’s the same guy. RYAN It’s the same guy. MIKE sighs. RYAN Just
give me a call if you find anything. MIKE Sure. RYAN leaves the room. CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE – MORNING RYAN walks out the front door and the camera follows him as he ducks under the yellow police tape across the driveway, and walks to his car parked a little down the street. He opens the door. CUT TO: INT. CAR – MORNING Already sat in the passenger’s seat is DANIEL. He has long hair and wears similar clothes to Ryan, implying he is also a cop. RYAN sits down in the driver’s seat and closes his door. He sighs, stressed and exhausted. He pulls a small tub of pills from his pocket and pops one in his mouth. DANIEL So? RYAN It was him again. DANIEL Is that what the professional forensics team thinks, or what you think? RYAN fires a glance at DANIEL. RYAN Hey... he killed Amy. (under his breath as he starts the car) I know when it’s him. CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE – MORNING The car drives off down the street. CUT TO: EXT. PARK – DAY RYAN is sitting on a park bench, deep in thought. MIKE walks up and takes a seat next to him. MIKE You missed the briefing. RYAN doesn’t seem to care. MIKE Look, Ryan... I suggested to the chief that you take a few days off. RYAN What?! MIKE Just listen to me... I’m a doctor, but I’m your friend as well. And I’m worried about you. I think these last few cases are putting too much stress on you. Are you sleeping all right? RYAN looks away, avoiding the question. MIKE I didn’t think so. (he sighs) I’m sorry about Amy. I am, and we’ll find who killed her, but Ryan... you have to open your mind to the possibility that there’s more than one guy killing people out there. RYAN I know this is the same guy who killed her, Mike... he’s taunting me. (pause) I’m gonna find him. MIKE sighs, admitting defeat. He stands up. MIKE The chief doesn’t agree that you need time off... yet. But try and take it easy. RYAN laughs to himself, knowing he can’t. MIKE walks away. FADE TO BLACK. CUT TO: INT. DARK ROOM In strobe-like shots, we see a woman struggling with an attacker. She gets knocked to the ground, and the attacker pulls out a knife, stabbing her multiple times. CUT TO: INT. BEDROOM – EARLY MORNING RYAN wakes up with a start in his bed, dripping with sweat. His phone is ringing next to his alarm clock. He reaches and picks it up. RYAN Yeah? Spencer... okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. He hangs up. CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE – MORNING Police cars are parked outside a house, the front door open and police tape closing off the area. CUT TO: INT. HOUSE – MORNING Police are examining the room. A white sheet on the floor covers a body. MIKE is there. RYAN enters the room urgently. IMPORTANT: from this point on, Ryan wears a silver tie. RYAN Same again? MIKE It appears so, yes. RYAN Tell me you found something. MIKE Well actually, we may have. MIKE reaches into his pocket for a plastic bag of small scrapings of skin. MIKE It’s not as much as we’d like, but it appears to be some skin flakes. We found them on her fingernails, seems she put up a fight. As MIKE says the last sentence, RYAN’s eyes open wider and he looks at the body. He reaches down and holds her hand, sticking out of the sheet. He sees small skin flakes on her fingernails. We see a flash of the murder, where the woman scratches someone’s arm as she struggles. He slowly reaches up and pulls the sheet away from her face. He sees the face of the woman from his dream, which bears a strong resemblance to the first murder victim. MIKE Of course, we’re just speculating, it could be her own skin, but we’re going to run it through the lab anyway. RYAN stands up and turns to MIKE. RYAN I want to know who’s it is, as soon as possible. Do it right now. RYAN turns and leaves the room. In the hallway, he rests against the wall and pulls his pills out of his pocket again. He puts one in his mouth and walks out the door. CUT TO: INT. CAFÉ – AFTERNOON RYAN is sat opposite DANIEL at a table, staring at him thoughtfully. By their side are two meals, one completely uneaten. The cafeteria is completely empty. IMPORTANT: DANIEL is now wearing the green tie from the first scene. Eventually, he talks. RYAN You know, Daniel... how long have you been my partner? DANIEL Two months today, I’m surprised you remembered. RYAN obviously hasn’t. RYAN ... that’s right. And, uhh... I just realised that apart from your name, I really don’t know anything about you. DANIEL There’s really not much to know... graduated from the academy 18 months ago, transferred here from Albion... RYAN ... really. I was at Albion... I don’t remember seeing you. DANIEL I don’t remember seeing you there either. It was a big place... RYAN nods, clearly not believing him. DANIEL Look, no offence, but I really don’t like talking about myself much, at least not with people I haven’t gotten a chance to know too well yet. RYAN Sure,
I understand. Sorry. DANIEL It’s no problem, really. I’m sure we’ll get to be close in time, right? RYAN Sure. (pause) Hey, what time is it? DANIEL looks at his watch. RYAN looks closely at his sleeve as he pulls it up, revealing the bottom of what appear to be scratches on his arm. DANIEL 6:48. RYAN sees a flash of the murder: the victim scratches DANIEL’s arm, and he pushes her back and stabs her. RYAN I gotta get some stuff done at the station. (gets up to leave) DANIEL Alright, I’ll catch up with you later. RYAN Sure. He walks away. When he’s out of sight, he pulls his phone out of his pocket. He dials a number. We hear MIKE on the other end. As RYAN walks he pulls his pills out again and takes one. MIKE Hello? RYAN Mike, it’s me. Have you got the results of the tests yet? MIKE I was on my way to the lab to get them. RYAN Okay, get them and come straight to the station. I need to talk to you face-to-face. MIKE Alright, are you okay? RYAN Yeah, I’m fine. See you then. He hangs up and walks out of frame. CUT TO: INT. POLICE STATION – NIGHT RYAN is sat at his computer. RYAN (to himself) Who are you, Daniel? On the computer screen, he types the name “DANIEL RICCONE” into a search box. The computer starts a search of records. RYAN waits anxiously. Soon, the words “NO RECORDS FOUND” appear on the screen. RYAN What? He tries again, with the same result. He gets out of his chair and walks down a hall to a woman behind a window, MICHELLE. MICHELLE Hey Ryan! RYAN Hey Michelle... can you run a search for me? MICHELLE Sure thing cutie, what’s the name? RYAN Daniel Riccone. MICHELLE types at the computer. MICHELLE Nope, don’t see it. Sorry. RYAN What the Hell? You’re searching cops, right? MICHELLE What do you mean? RYAN What do you mean, what do I mean? The guy’s my partner, he’s gotta have a file on record. MICHELLE Sorry, but no one is coming up with that name. Flash to the murder. RYAN grabs his head. MICHELLE Ry, are you okay? Another flash of the murder. RYAN starts to back away, holding his head. MICHELLE answers a ringing phone. MICHELLE Yeah, he’s right here, but he doesn’t look too good. (Her eyes go wide.) Okay... yeah, I’ll take care of it. (She hangs up the phone. MICHELLE Hey Ry, Mike’s on his way. That was him. So why don’t you have a seat and I’ll get you some coffee? RYAN brings his hands down from his head and looks at his wrist. IMPORTANT: he is wearing the same watch as DANIEL. He sees the scratches on his arm. In a panic he runs out. MICHELLE Ryan! (Looks behind her) Captain! CUT TO: EXT. POLICE STATION – NIGHT RYAN bursts out the door and runs down the streets furiously. He reaches his home. CUT TO: INT. HOUSE – NIGHT RYAN runs into his living room and breaks down, his head in his hands. He fumbles in his pocket to produce his pills, only to find the tub is empty. He throws it away in a rage, and holds his head. DANIEL Something wrong, buddy? RYAN grabs his gun and turns around, to see DANIEL standing in the doorway. He points the gun at his chest. RYAN Who the Hell are you? DANIEL I’m you, Ryan. RYAN
looks confused, still holding the gun at him. DANIEL Well,
in a manner of speaking, anyway... let me try and explain. Do you remember the
night we killed Amy? CUT TO: INT.
DARK ROOM Flashback
as AMY spins around and struggles as RYAN pushes her to the ground and stabs her
with a knife. When she’s dead, he
realises what he’s done and breaks down. CUT TO: INT.
HOUSE – NIGHT RYAN’s
eyes widen. DANIEL That’s right... we did that. Don’t you remember? She cheated on you... she was going to leave. We couldn’t have that... but you couldn’t do it alone. So you didn’t. CUT TO: EXT. STREET – NIGHT A police car races down the street, siren on and lights flashing. CUT TO: INT. POLICE CAR – NIGHT MIKE is talking into the police radio while another OFFICER drives. MIKE All units proceed to 104 Saint Michael’s Avenue, suspect’s name is Ryan Daniel Levinson, he is considered armed and unstable, use extreme caution... CUT TO: INT. HOUSE – NIGHT DANIEL is walking further into the room. RYAN never looks away from him. DANIEL You repressed your memory of it ever happening. As far as you knew, the killer got away... RYAN No...
I don’t believe this... DANIEL ... but the pain didn’t stop with Amy. No, it didn’t. You started remembering things... putting the pieces together again. And it hurt! So we had to kill her again, and again, and again! We had to stop the pain! RYAN No! Stop it! Just stop it! You’re a murderer! DANIEL RYAN starts to lose it, and looks defeated. DANIEL steps a little closer. We hear police sirens approaching. DANIEL Ryan,
you’re hurting. We’re hurting. Let me help you.
Let me help you again. RYAN
nods. RYAN You’re right. It’s time to stop the pain. CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE – NIGHT The police car pulls up outside. MIKE and the OFFICER get out. CUT TO: INT. HOUSE – NIGHT RYAN looks at the doorway, knowing he doesn’t have long. He slowly pulls the gun up to the side of his head. DANIEL lunges at him. DANIEL No! CUT TO: EXT. HOUSE – NIGHT A gunshot is heard. MIKE and the OFFICER both spin around, and look at each other. The OFFICER arms his gun and they run into the house. CUT TO: INT. HOUSE – NIGHT The OFFICER walks in first and checks the room out, where he sees RYAN lying on the floor in a pool of blood. DANIEL is nowhere around. MIKE pushes past him and looks down at his friend with regret as the OFFICER walks out of the room talking into his radio. OFFICER Suspect is down, repeat, suspect is down. CUT
TO BLACK, CREDITS. END
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"Painkillers" Copyright 2005 Twelve Point Productions.