As often happens when I am driving on an extended road trip my mind is want to wander. The music or audio book that I am listening to triggers an image or thought and I start to tell myself a story to entertain me over the boring miles.
One such recent trip resulted in the following idea stuck in my head.On this particular drive I had been listening to mostly BBC radio comedy programs (Miranda Hart's Joke Shop,Mighty Boosh) and radio comedy programs (My Favorite Husband,featuring Lucille Ball in a role that basically became Lucy on TV). So not sure where the heck this idea crawled up out from,but here it is.
In this story, I instantly pictured the Actress Amanda Wyss in the role of performing the character telling her story.
The Conversation:
Two woman characters sitting in a psychologist office.The room has a feeling of coziness.Dim lights and dark mahogany.Curtains drawn.The outside world is not seen or heard.
The story is told over the course of one session primarily through Doctor and Patient conversations and the resulting revelations.As the "Patient" speaks, we occasionally see flashbacks to better times and the traumatic event that happened prior to the start of our story.
Some of these flashbacks are extended scenes.Some might even be unexpected bursts of images,quick flashes on screen, like memories returning to the forgotten, mid sentence.
Some even could be flashes of the "killers" face during conversations that have absolutely nothing directly to do with that night.Just a single word that triggers a flash.Or the face once again invading her peace.
The before images contrast how different this Patient was,and how effected she is now.Now, she is a weary widow.Someone who chooses to not leave her apartment if possible.Avoiding life.Wake,Work,Home.Sleep.With very little straying from that pattern.
In these "memories", we see her living her active life with her friends.Significant moments and conversations that led to them all ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time.Do we see someone in the background of these moments,a shadow watching?
The "Patient" is a survivor of a terrible experience.An event not unlike a 80's slasher movie .
She has lost several of her best friends to a violent end.And is still dealing with the trauma.It has been roughly a year since the event.She still struggles with the pain of losing so many close friends in one night.
I've always been intrigued about the "what happens next?" to a person who survives a scary story.How WOULD you cope with that?Yes,you survived,but now what?Your whole world has been upended in one evening.People you've built your life around and on have suddenly been pulled out from under your feet.
She struggles with survivors guilt.Because of the event, she has lost even more friends in her life who abandoned her in fear.Some, because they blamed her for "letting" the other friends die.
She struggles with trust.She can't trust new friends and or especially dating for fear that they were seeking fame by association -messages such as "look everyone !I'm hanging with the Cascade Killer survivor!" posted with pictures on social media.
Sick individuals would prank call her and threaten that they were coming to get her.Leave messages and or copies of the now infamous mask on her car at work or front door at home.
She would be constantly reminded of that night.People always wanting to interview her for various media articles.Some telling exaggerated made up stories about her and the events of that night.So much, that she would have to constantly correct people about what really happened.Maybe, even at one point during her session, the patient begins to describe a memory but is interrupted by the Doctor who corrects her.Doctor: " You said before that what happened was this,not that" The patient apologizing that she has been reading so many web pages lately and postings online that described that moment in this different way that she had actually forgotten how it really happened.Memories are blurring with fiction.Timelines are fuzzy.
This is in part because she still struggles to actually remember every thing about that night.She recalls seeing the bodies of her friends.She recalls being attacked.She remembers what the killer looked like.But try as hard as she can she has never been able to remember exactly how she survived and got away from the killer in the end.
Not every session with the Doctor had dwelled on that night.Some were simply about how she was coping this week with everyday life.But today's session was important.With an anniversary approaching, it was yet another attempt for her to work her way through the events of that evening.Recall what happened.For her sanity, and potentially for her freedom.For the police are seriously considering that she might have actually been the killer based on some newly discovered evidence and have been asking the patient some serious implicating questions.
Her last memory of that night is actually from the next morning waking inside a drainage pipe under a rural road.No idea of how she got there or how long she had been hiding.Barely remembering her name. Bruised,bloodied,and clutching a torn Halloween mask she stumbled in a daze down the road till someone eventually drove by and brought her to help.
Every new person she meets would eventually start asking that question-"how does it feel?Surviving?". She has told this story many times.Answered the same questions again and again and again.She is tired of living and reliving this story.But can not stop herself from thinking about it.
Every day, everywhere she would go,when just trying to go about her daily life, she would be stared at.There would be pointing and whispers.People avoiding her. People fearing she may be cursed and being around her was to put oneself in danger.
For the "killer" was never caught.
The only way that we the viewer and for that matter the world of characters in this story know anything about what happened is through the "Patients" eyes.There would be forensic evidence that helped to corroborate events,and the good Doctor would read from official statements and reports to help fill in some blanks when applicable.
The Patient was the only survivor to tell the story.She could not explain any connection to the killer. No "Why?"
As the story progresses,the flashbacks begin to lessen in frequency. We stay with the Patient and see the story through her words and expressions.As if the memories are not clear enough for her to visualize. She is afraid to look at them directly
But as she gets closer to how it all ended.How she managed to survive this attack.Rapid fire flashes of memories start to inter cut her words.
Until she unconsciously reveals a secret about that night
Does she know who the killer is?Was she the killer?But didn't actually remember committing the crime? Or has she remembered all along?And now the good Doctor sitting across from her is in danger?The two having a knock down dragged out fight around the office until only one survives.
Oh,and I couldn't help myself. I pictured the Doctor as performed by Heather Langenkamp.Recently, I saw a picture posted of the two Actresses sharing a smile together and my mind just thought it would be fun to see them performing together again on screen across from each other.Like longtime friends having a serious conversation.
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