THE TELLER'S TALES Cast: Phillip Lovecraft....................James Woods Harry Allan..........................Rob Lowe Aimee Allan..........................Brigid Conley Walsh Mr Amil Tyce.........................Jon Voight Mr Krapotkin..........................Jason Alexander "The Voice"...........................Voice of Marilyn Manson by Jon Hodges (Scene opens in a dark asylum. POV flies down dark halls, past loud cries and murmurs of suffering. POV enters a dark office,the only light given off by a computer. On the computer is The Teller's Tales website, and on the webcam the shadowy form of the Teller appears) Teller: Things are never as they seem, my friends. A peaceful smile can cover dark thoughts, the glitter of gold hides poison. Our everyday world is filled with dreadful secrets waiting to be stumbled upon. They are the things man was not meant to know.......Take the case of Detective Phillip Lovecraft. He firmly believes in the reality of his dull world. He is about to discover, however, that there are other worlds within a stone's throw, worlds that drive the fragile human mind to the brink of insanity.... EPISODE 7: THE MAZE (Screen is dark. Lovecraft is heard in VO) Lovecraft: (VO) It started with a phone call.......It always starts with a phone call..... (Scene opens in his office. CU of answering machine as phone rings. Machine clicks on) Machine: This is Phil. I'm not here. Leave it or lose it. (Machine beeps) Harry: Ph-Phil..........it's Harry..........I gotta see you.......Nnnnngh!.......Look, I don't have much time....... (POV backs from phone. Jack is napping at his desk, but wakes with a start. He comes to his senses and picks up the phone. Lovecraft: Sorry, man. I always skip answering the damn telemarketers. You okay? Harry: Phil....something's wrong with me. Meet me at.....Nnng God!!! It hurts!!! The pain....is....t- too much. Meet me at the KD Memorial Park.....please..... Lovecraft: Harry....what's wrong???? Harry: Get here as soon as you can......I think I'm dying....... (Harry hangs up. Phillip looks at the phone,confused. Swiftly, he puts on his jacket and leaves his office. Mr Krapotkin, a short balding man, pokes his head out another door, watching him) Manager: Where are you going? LOVECRAFT!!! Lovecraft: Not NOW!! *********************************************************** (Ext. Park, late afternoon. It is pouring down rain. Harry, a young, pale man, sits drenched on a park bench. He coughs and holds his chest with pained expressions. His eyes are bloodshot, and dart to and fro with anxiety. Lovecraft pulls up and looks around. He spots Harry and gets out,protected only by a flimsy newspaper in the storm) Lovecraft: Harry???? Harry: Phil.......hurry, Phillip..... (Phil stares at him in shock at the young man's emaciated condition) Lovecraft: Jesus FUCKING Christ, Harry! What the hell happened to you? Harry: Phil....the world has to know...(cough cough!).......Nnnnnnnngggggod!!! Aaaaaaauuunnnnng! (Harry holds his chest tightly) Lovecraft: I'll call an ambulence! (Phil pulls out his cell phone. Harry smacks it out of his hand) Harry: NO!!! No doctors!!! No X-rays!!! They work for it!! They work for the beast!!! Lovecraft: What the fuck are you doing????? Harry: I saw the devil, Buddy......Satan caught me....*sob* I did something bad, Phil..... Lovecraft: Would you calm down? I think you're having a heart attack...I've got to get help.... (Harry holds him in a death grip) Harry: It's not my heart!! It's them!!! IT'S THEM!!!! They're coming out!! AAAAAAIIIIINNNNNG!!! Lovecraft: JESUS!!! What the.....?????? Harry: There's a hell, Lovecraft!! I've seen it!! So many rooms!!! So many damned souls!!!!........it's too late for me...I went into the maze!!! I took the challenge and LOST!!!! Lovecraft: Goddammit!! (Phil reaches for his phone and dials 911, barely able to see as the rain hits harder. Lightning and thunder intensify the atmosphere. Harry screams some more and collapses on the ground) Lovecraft: Hello, Operator?? I need assistance!! I'm at the KD Memorial on 23rd street! It's an emergency!! There's a man with- (He looks down at Harry and drops the phone in shock and terror. Harry rips open his shirt and shrieks in painful agony. Little "lumps" move and push against his ribcage) Harry: Ai!! Ai!! Nobu sthoggua!!! Shub Niggurath!!! Shub Niggurath!!! END IT!!! END THE PAIN!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! Lovecraft: What's going on!!!???? (Harry's chest bursts open, forced by hundreds of little gooey parasites that crawl out of his bloody hole. Phil falls on his knees and scoots away. He feels the cold terror even more when the little spongey creatures sound like they're "giggling". Harry begins to slip into death) Harry: I chose unwisely in the maze........ (The parasites scoot away to a storm drain. Blood trickles out of Harry's mouth. Phil almost gags and pukes) Lovecraft: Wh-what happened?? Harry: Eihort!! *gasp*.....*wheeze*......Eihort nemort aunkala vires......the choice was made, the skull laughed and daggers shot from its mouth!! Its horrible mouth!!! *gurglegurgle....* End to us, in our failing time......Eihort will rule this world....... Lovecraft: Harry?........HARRY???........ (Phillip feels something by his hand. He looks down and shrieks. CU of a slimey parasite by his fingers. He gets up and crushes it under his soggy shoe. He squirms and wipes his whole body with his hands, frantically checking to make sure there was nothing crawling on him. He stares at Harry's gruesome corpse. The giggling starts up again from the drain. CU of Phillip's terrified face as the giggling gets louder. The giggling is followed by a more sinister noise, a sound like a sick camel. The deep sound seems to greet the giggling noises. Scene fades to black....) ************************************************************* (Ext. a Cemetary, days later. The sun shines, but the beautiful weather provides no comfort to a small group of people dressed in black gathered around a lowered casket) Priest: Let us not dwell on Henry Allan's death. Let us dwell on his life, and all he did as a child of God on this world...... (Lovecraft is there among the mourners. He sits with his shades drawn close to the bridge of his nose. He's looking down at the casket. Something catches his eye. He looks out beyond the ceremony into the cemetary) Priest: ...And the Lord told lot to not look back upon the wicked city, lest ye be transformed to a pillar of salt....... (Phillip's eyes dart around. He sees a guy in dirty blue overalls tending to flowers at a nearby gravesite; An elderly couple walks by further out. They smile oddly as they watch the service performed) Priest: .....No man is truly ever dead until all the lives he's touched are gone........ (He spots a man in a black trenchcoat staring in his direction. The stranger is next to a huge mausoleum. He disappears into the mausoleum, causing Phil to stare hard at the doors) ******************************************************* (Thirty minutes later. Still in the cemetary, the service has ended. Phillip looks down at the lowered coffin as the crowd disperses. A young redheaded woman dressed in black approaches) Lovecraft: I'm, uhhh, terribly sorry, Aimee.... Aimee: It's okay. I'm glad you could make it, Phil. Lovecraft: I'd rather we met under better. Harry was like a brother to me. Aimee: I know. Lovecraft: What are you going to do? Aimee: Well, there's all the insurance I need to take care, maybe sell his house. Lovecraft: You still work in that small office up in Yoder? Aimee: Yeah. (They continue walking towards the cars) Lovecraft: If there's anything I can do... Aimee: Thank you. Maybe there is. Lovecraft: What? ************************************************************* (Int. Harry's house, early evening. Phillip and Aimee pack up some of Harry's things) Lovecraft: That boy always WAS a pack rat. Aimee: Too many memories here. I don't think I ever want to see this place again. Lovecraft: You sure you don't want to inherit this house? It could brighten up this sorry neighborhood to see you smiling here. Aimee: Thanks, but ever since Mom and Dad died, I've had to stay away from the city. Now that big brother's gone too.... (She pauses with grief, sighs and continues looking through stuff) Aimee: Did he die well? (The question shakes Phil. He looks at her silently for a moment) Lovecraft: You don't want to ask that. Aimee: I didn't get to see or hear the coroner's report. They felt it best- Lovecraft: Aimee, take it from me, you don't want to know. I saw it all, and I swore to myself I'd never repeat my experience with anybody. Not even you. Aimee: Well, you're a detective. Can't you give me the facts? Lovecraft: I will say this......Harry got involved in something that's CERTAINLY way out of MY league. For the first time in my career.....this is one case I'd rather leave unsolved. (She stares at him. A knock comes at the door. They go downstairs to answer the door. They open the door to see an older gentleman. Phil recognizes him as the trenchcoated man near the mausoleum) Amil: Hello, you don't know me. My name is Mr Tyce. Amil Tyce. Aimee: How can I help you? Amil: I was a client of Mr. Allan's. He was working on an assignment for me when he......passed on. Lovecraft: Maybe I can help. Phillip Lovecraft. Amil: Ah yes......you were there. Lovecraft: Excuse me? Amil: The young man was researching some ancient texts for me. His skills as a cryptographer are most amazing. Lovecraft: So, he had a few books of yours? Amil: Yes, and I'd like to have them returned. Aimee: They might be in his study.... (They go to his classy study room. A big oak desk is at the far end. Bookshelves line the room) Amil: Here they are.... (Amil charges towards several large tomes, thick with aged pages. Phillip gets next to him. Aimee waits by the door) Lovecraft: Hmmm.....Book of Eibon....Revelations of Glaaki? Kultes Des Ghoules? What are these? Ancient Sumerian comic books? Amil: They are none of your concern, Mr...? Lovecraft: Detective Lovecraft. You'll have to pardon me. Questions are my bread and butter, Curiosity a midnight snack. Amil: Some foods are high in calories, Mr Lovecraft. Knowledge is like chocolate. It is sweet when first tasted, but eventually rots your teeth. Lovecraft: I'll remember that when I attend the local metaphor seminar. Harry worked on these? Amil: He translated them, yes. Lovecraft: Must've been quite a bit of research for one man. These must be several hundred pages.... Amil: If you'll excuse me.... (Amil starts to leave) Lovecraft: Just one question. What's an Eihort? (Amil stops dead in his tracks. He turns slowly to Phil) Amil: Where did you hear that? Lovecraft: Harry mentioned it before he died. He was talking a lot of gibberrish......Said something about the maze. What is Eihort? Is it an animal? A person? An arabian vegetable? Amil: Remember what I said, sir......if you don't have a real good sweet tooth for chocolate like this, your dentist's bill will be very costly. Lovecraft: Cut the crap. What is this, Mr Metaphor man??? What's Eihort!?? Amil: Mr Lovecraft, Whatever Harry found out must die with Harry. Rest easy, knowing that his soul is in a good place. Aimee: What are you two talking about?? What happened to him?? Lovecraft: Something killed him, didn't it, Mr Tyce? Something he found in these books? Amil: I must be going. Good evening. (Amil heads for the door, but turns one last time) Amil: I'm going to tell you what I told Harry when I hired him......Don't get embroiled in something you can't handle. Harry ignored my warnings and paid the price. Aimee: What do you mean? Amil: Live your lives, accept your mundane ordinary lives. Go no further.... (Amil leaves. Aimee turns to Phil) Aimee: What the hell is going on??? Lovecraft: Look, I know this'll sound crazy, but Harry died in excruciating pain. He was infested by wierd parasites. Aimee: Parasites? Lovecraft: He was saying something about "The Maze"... "Eihort"....a whole bunch of nonsense. Amil knows what it is. Aimee: Mr Tyce helped kill my brother? Lovecraft: I don't know. Looks like Mr Tyce may be looking for whatever it is Harry found. Harry must've researched something significant, and like a poor dumb schmuck, he went out and found it. Aimee: What are you going to do? Lovecraft: I think I know where I'm going to start.... Aimee: This could be dangerous. I thought you wanted this case closed.... Lovecraft: Let's just say I'm suddenly in the mood for a midnite snack. (Phillip leaves) ********************************************************** (Ext. Graveyard. It is night time. Phillip hides not too far from where Harry was recently buried. He looks around for a moment. He spots an active flashlight and ducks down. POV watches as someone goes up to the large mausoleum Phil observed earlier that day) Lovecraft: Bingo.... (The stranger enters the mausoleum. Phillip follows close behind. A storm starts brewing. Rain falls just as Phil reaches the old mausoleum doors) Lovecraft: What the...? (The tomb is empty. Phil searches around. He discovers a loose tile in the concrete floor) Lovecraft: Yatzee..... (He pulls the tile back with effort. A staircase is revealed underneath. Slowly, he goes down the dark steps into what looks to be a ceremonial room. Old symbols line the walls. A pentagram is on the floor in the middle of the room) Lovecraft: Connect four... Amil: I thought you might give in to curiosity..... (Phillip jumps. He turns to see Mr Tyce, the man who first entered) Amil: Did I startle you? Lovecraft: Hardly. I figured you'd go here. You were here earlier. There had to be something about this old mummy-stuffer. Amil: Ahhh, you needed to know why..... Lovecraft: A good friend died because of those books and whatever they represent. Amil: Have you ever heard of "The Old Ones"? Lovecraft: The only "Old ones" I know of are Burns and Allen. You, I imagine, have a different couple in mind? Amil: Not just a couple per se, but a whole mythology of beings I consider.....special. Lovecraft: Again with the riddles. You play like a bad Stephen King adaptation. (Amil frowns) Amil: I'm sure you want to know more about Eihort? Lovecraft: And what do *you* know? Amil: Eihort is a being who guards the secret to eternal life under the city. The mausoleum is one of 18 known portals in the world that can lead us to the maze. Lovecraft: Starting to fit together. Keep talking, Obi-wan. Amil: Harry tried to do what I am about to do. Lovecraft: So, you think all this supernatural Casper the friendly ghost shit is real? Amil: You saw with your own eyes. You saw Eihort's children.... (Lovecraft turns away, annoyed and frightened) Amil: Now, you can see Eihort for yourself..... Lovecraft: What? Amil: Helios.....in spiritu mundi... (Lovecraft feels the floor give way under him as Amil does his incantation. The solid dirt is now thin like paper. Lovecraft falls through. Amil's laughter can be heard as Lovecraft falls and falls. It feels like he is floating down into the darkness, a cold hellish pit. As he floats further, he feels a sliminess coating the walls around him. He finally lands somewhat softly in the darkness. He looks around,trying to adjust his eyes. dripping water echoes around him. He starts to feel chilly as a light wind blows by) Amil: I forgot to tell you, Mr Lovecraft.... (Amil's voice sounds closer than it should, though still some distance away) Amil: A sacrifice is needed to distract Eihort. Harry went to his doom without realizing it. I came to Ms Allen, hoping to use her as bait. But you'll do..... Lovecraft: What is this??? SOME KIND OF FUCKING TRICK???? (A growl from the darkness snaps Lovecraft's attention from Tyce) Amil: No trick.....it is the maze. Eihort's home. He doesn't like intruders....Tata.... (Lovecraft looks around. He is in a HUGE tunnel, twice as big as a typical subway. As if it were made to accomodate something as big as an elephant. Little squeaking noises erupt around him. Not like rats, but the noises made by the parasites when Harry died. Phil realizes he is surrounded) Lovecraft: Shit.... (He breaks into a run in one direction. His steps squish, as if he were ankle deep in mud. He runs into a dirty soft wall. The tunnel braches off into new directions. Blindly, he picks a new direction and runs, almost having to feel his way through the tunnel) Lovecraft: What the hell is this shit? (He wipes his suit and hands, feeling the soft "mud" all over him, dripping on him. ECU of his fearful eyes when he gets a closer look at his hands. He is covered in the blobby parasites. They are dripping from the walls and ceiling. He can feel them squirm about, moving all over. He can even now feel their sickly presence around his shoes) Lovecraft: FUCK!!! (Phil starts jumping around in a panic. Though the creatures are harmless and slow, they send a chill down his spine. He runs in another blind panic, exhausting himself as he wipes his whole body,trying to get the ickiness off of himself. He screams and curses as the slimey residue remains after wiping the things off. He continues running. POV follows as one tunnel leads to more, and huge rooms are encountered containing dozens of new tunnels to choose from. A giant thud from one tunnel makes him stop dead in his tracks. Something big is coming. It breathes hard and loud. Like a herd of elephants it lumbers closer to the room. Terror stricken, Lovecraft backs away into another tunnel entance. He squints, trying to catch shadows in the dark) Amil: No! Noooo! HELP ME!!! Voice: O cacciati del ciel, gente dispetta.......cominicio elli in su l'orribil soglia.....ond esta oltracotanza in voi s'alletta......Why do you disturb my sleep? Why do you disturb my children? (The voice is deep, disharmonius. It is a voice so demonic Phil has to cover his face and mouth. Even in the dark, he sees the flailing shape of Amil Tyce, carried by a huge thing that can only be descibed as an elephant sized creature. It's multiple flat pacyderm feet thundering through the cavernous room. Its skin fleshy like a shark. Its head looked very shark-like, with the blackest eyes and a huge mouth of many teeth) Amil: A-attenti, e fa che feggia...uhh, uhhh...lo viso in te di quest-AAAAUGGH! Voice: I am not swayed by your tongue.....yet I am intrigued by your presence......like all the others..... Amil: I-I c-come for the secrets of the Great Ones!! It is my destiny!!! Voice: What are you? Amil: I am a professor of the dark arts.....I am a messenger of the dark Gods who would rule this world! Voice: You are nothing. All is as dust in this world, but all serves in its place.......You seek power? Amil: Yes. Voice: I can give you the power over life and death, strange one. Do you choose to take my gift? Amil: I come for the secret of immortality! I SEEK IT!!! Voice: Do you choose to take my gift? Amil: YESSSSSSS!!! HAHAHAAAAAA!!! I want the power over LIFE!!! AND DEATH!!! Voice: Then you shall have it..... (A tenticle protrudes from its mouth. The tenticle end is a long sharp needle-like point) Amil: No! NOOO! (The thing sticks it in his stomach. Amil Screams in terror and pain. A viscuous fluid flows through the needle's tube, being injected into him) Voice: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate! Now, you have the power of life, for you will feed and give birth to my young. You have the power over death.... your own, for you may take your own life should you choose to ease the suffering. The secret of immortality is yours, though it is I who shall be immortal..... (Amil runs screaming into a random tunnel, going mad with the realization of what has happened. He laughs, cries, blubbers and whines, running into any direction. Lovecraft pukes again and cries out in horror. The beastly shape turns to him) Voice: Ecco la fiera con la coda aguzza che passa i monti e rompe i muri e l'armi! Ecco colei che tutto 'I MONDO APPUZZA!!! Behold the beast who bears the pointed tail! My stench fills the world! (Eihort charges towards Phil. Lovecraft screams and runs for his life. Though he is faster than the lumbering beast, the slimy ground slows him down just enough to create more terror. He runs through tunnel after tunnel, the thing still behind him. A gust of wind hits him in the face) Lovecraft: Shit! Where there's wind, there's a SURFACE!! Voice: Your life is over, be it by my will or by thine. Give in, and suckle my young! Lovecraft: This is fucking great! The Goodyear blimp is trying to get me pregnant!! GET STUFFED!! (He slips, runs, approaching a source of dim light. The tunnel gets smaller and starts to climb upwards. Phil laughs, seeing his salvation nearby. The beast roars contemptuously) Lovecraft: Yeah, FUCK YOU TOO!! (Lovecraft reaches a set of stone steps past a small doorway. He runs up. The beast smashes into the doorway, but cannot get through. It continually slams into the entrance in vain. Lovecraft falls to his knees from the impacts. He watches from a safe distance as it tries to reach him. He is almost speechless at the site of the huge, amphibious looking thing from another time, another world. It bares its rows of teeth at him) Voice: Pensa la nova soma che tu hai. Remember the weight you now carry.... Lovecraft: Whatever, Gumby.....See ya in the funny papers!! (Lovecraft bolts for the top. He runs and runs for what seems like an hour or two. Finally he reaches a bright sunny entrance) Lovecraft: YES!! FREE!! (He exits into a new and weird place. The outside looks like a vast desert with a few green spots. Confused, he moves away from the stone entrance. He suddenly realizes he's not even in America anymore. He just exited from one of the great pyramids!) Lovecraft: Holy shit! (Several camel riders go by, muttering something in arabic. Dumbfounded, Lovecraft just looks around. POV pulls away) Lovecraft: (VO) They say curiosity kills the cat. They weren't kidding. Harry must've been seduced by the same ideals Tyce had. Both tried to play a game meant for Gods, and both lost big time. How did I get out of that mess and into this? I don't know. I may never know. Amil was right about one thing: I should've kept my nose in more conventional affairs. Even if I go back to my dull practice, the dull city, I'll never be the same. Never get a good night's sleep or get the stink off me. I'm doomed worse than Tyce perhaps, because I know what lies beneath our boring existence......There IS a Hell, one that will haunt me for the rest of my life. All I can say to that is......Thank God for credit cards....... (Scene fades to black) (Scene opens with the ominous Teller) Teller: Experience is a harsh teacher. She gives the test first, and the lessons second. Detective Phillip Lovecraft passed his test with flying colors, but it is a terrible price to pay to lose one's peace of mind. Some things are better left undiscovered. Until next time....... THE END