welcome to the SAB manuscript page!
episode 5
dream a little dream of me
manuscript format
Mortem is unconscious, laying on the bathroom floor holding Kat’s empty bottle of sleeping pills. The reflection on the tiles shows a blue cloudy sky. He has a relieved expression on his face. He opens his eyes to a winding patch of grass and endless skies. He smiles as he turns around to see a glowing depiction of his dead mother. But as he reaches out to her, a shadowy hand pulls him back, and he falls through a dark night sky. He opens his eyes again, but this time he’s back on the bathroom floor, dazed, with Kat hovering over him. Kat How many did you take? Mortem …wha-? Kat How many. Mortem I don’t… no,I- I wanna go back. Let me go back! Kat C’mon, get up. Mortem Don’t touch me Get away! Kat tries to force Mortem to sit up, but Mortem pushes him away and then kicks him in the gut, scrambling to escape. Mortem ( shouting ) Mama take me back- Kat quickly puts a hand over Mortem’s mouth and pulls him back. Mortem Let me go! Kat If I do, will you stop shouting? Mortem … yes Kat releases Mortem and looks awkwardly to the side as Mortem rocks and holds himself. Kat Nasri’s gonna be here in a minute. She can help you. Mortem I don’t want help. Kat You begged me to help you in a fucking alley. Why go through all the trouble if you just wanted to die anyway? Mortem I don’t…wanna die. B-but being alive is too… hard. Kat If you don’t wanna die, you better throw up all those pills you just downed. Mortem N-No, I don’t wanna do that either There’s a loud knock at his front door and Kat gets up. Kat Alright, let’s go. I’m not leaving you on the floor so you can get into something else. Kat offers his hand to Mortem. Kat C’mon. Mortem takes his hand and pulls himself up, but collapses into him when he stands. The knocking gets louder. Kat Coming! Kat opens the door. Mortem is hanging off of him to keep himself upright. Kat Hey- Nasri brushes past him. Nasri You owe me big-time. Kat I know… Nasri Why are the lights out? Kat They aren’t… working. Nasri Since when? Kat A while… Nasri Kat. Kat Sorry… Nasri sits on the couch and digs around her first aid kit. Kat leads Mortem to sit on the couch with them, but he’s still out of it. Nasri Alright, fill me in. How many did he take? Kat I’m not really sure. He finished off the bottle. I didn’t have too many left, but I don’t know the exact number. Nasri You try asking him? Kat He’s really bad at answering questions. Nasri *sigh* You sure know how to pick em’ Kat What’s that supposed to mean?? Nasri takes out a syringe and fills it with injectable naloxone. Mortem notices and starts panicking, clinging to Kat’s arm and trying to get away from the needle. Nasri That seemed to wake him up. You don’t like needles, huh? Relax, this won’t hurt a bit. Just hold still. Nasri rolls down his sleeve and Kat holds him in place, but he bites Kat’s hand and tries to get away. Kat pulls Mortem onto his lap to restrain him. Kat Shit- Mortem No! I don’t want it! You can’t make me! Kat Nasri, now- do it now. Nasri Listen, if you squirm around, this is gonna hurt a lot more. You don’t want that do you? Kat ( in the background) Now now now- Mortem I don’t care. I don’t want it. I don’t wanna be fixed. I don’t wanna be saved. I thought I did, but I don’t. I just want… to disappear. Mortem has another hallucination, this time with him falling through a sky with multiple moons as his mother falls with him. Mortem It’s too exhausting. Mom That’s right. It doesn’t need to be so hard. Mortem It doesn’t? Mom Of course not. You’ve suffered far too much. It’s time to rest. Mortem’s mom cups his face in her hands. As he closes his eyes, her hands transform into claws, and her teeth become sharp. She starts to drool on him and he opens his eyes again. Mortem You’re not… mother. Wh-who are you? The figure begins to transform into someone else. Her necklace breaks apart and her hair starts to disintegrate. The creature slams its claws on either side of Mortem‘s head, causing the tile floor to shatter around him. Creature You think what you did was right. Mortem I-I don’t understand. Creature I think you do. The creature pins one of Mortem’s wrists to the floor, and a sharp object extrudes from its other hand. The shard turns into a butcher knife and it stabs Mortem in the hand. Mortem screams. Creature Do you know how many times you stabbed him? Mortem N-no? Creature 27! Isn’t that incredible? The creature stabs Mortem in the other hand. Mortem screams in agony. The room begins to shift into a distorted mirage of his kitchen, with colorful versions of old appliances floating and shifting into one another. Creature Oh, glorious! Absolutely glorious! You have such a wonderful scream! Mortem Wh-who are you? What do you want? Creature Irrelevant. I can be whoever you want me to be. As the creature turns around, its eyes are a hypnotic swirl of neon colors, and it transforms back into the image of Mortem’s mom, but with the sharp teeth still intact. Creature What matters is how deliciously pitiful you are. Mortem glances down, but otherwise it doesn’t react. Creature All out of tears, hm? That’s a shame. We can fix that! The creature manifests another knife and as it goes in to stab him again, Nasri injects him with the naloxone. Mortem starts to foam at the mouth and twitch his arms. His eyes are hazy and unfocused. Kat is gripping tightly onto him, trying to stop the shaking. Nasri No, no. Don’t restrain him. Roll him on his side. Let him thrash it out. Kat That’s it? Can’t we do anything else? Nasri Not right now. We’ve gotta wait this part out. Kat lays Mortem down on the couch and rolls him over as he continues to spasm. He anxiously bites his nails as he waits. Nasri … you really do care, huh? Kat Yes, I care. Why is that so hard for you to believe? Nasri Oh c’mon Kat, I didn’t mean it like that. Kat How else am I supposed to take it? Mortem slowly regains consciousness and reaches his hand out to Kat as his vision adjusts. Mortem Y-you… Kat Ah, h-hey! Mortem takes Kat’s hand, but gets hit with a wave of nausea. Kat Uh- N-Nasri- Nasri On it. Nasri grabs a waste basket for Mortem to throw up in. Nasri Here. Mortem Wh-what happened? Nasri You had a seizure. Pretty sure you have a concussion too. I don’t think those pills would do you in by themselves, but it’s not a good combination. I’d rather take extra precautions. (To Kat) do you have any plastic cups? I don’t trust him with a glass. Kat Uhh, I think I have some paper ones in the bathroom. Would that work? Nasri That’s fine. I’m gonna grab some. Nasri goes to Kats’s bathroom to grab the cups, Mortem starts throwing up into the bin. Mortem S-sorry. Kat It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy watching someone barf. Mortem S-still. I don’t even know you… Kat Well that’s an easy fix. I’m Katsumi. And you are? Mortem M-Mortem. Nasri All right kiddo, once you’re done with that, I want you to drink- Nasri comes out of the bathroom holding a Dixie cup filled with charcoal water. Mortem snatches it out of her hand and drinks it immediately, but then starts coughing at the gritty texture. Nasri Wow, I expected more of a fight. Mortem I can’t risk it. If that’s what it’s like, I can’t… risk it. If those are my options… I’d rather be here. Kat and Nasri stare at him with confusion and concern. Mortem F-forget, I said that. Do you have any straws? Mortem sits on the couch and drinks the rest of the charcoal water with a straw.end of episode
