Inaffection: The Absence Part III
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EXT. THE ROAD GOING INTO TOWN - AFTERNOON
Q and V walk in the middle of a main road that's completely empty. There is absolutely nobody around or any signs that there have been for quite some time.
V
You remember that film, Lost in Translation?
Q
I thought you only watched kids films?
V
Did you see it or not?
Q
Yeah, that romantic comedy one.
V
I had a thought. It's not a romance--well, it is... but, first and foremost it's a sci-fi picture.
Q
First and foremost? How comes I didn't notice it then?
V
Maybe not first and foremost, but you get what I mean.
Q
No, not really.
V
Well, it's a time travel film.
Q
Who was travelling through time?
V
It's who traveled through time. And the answer, well... maybe nobody actually got in a time machine, but--
Q
(mocking)
In their minds they did.
V
(sighs)
Not when you say it like that.
Q
Oh, so sorry.
V
The film is like a dream, a projection of a couple's mind. The couple being: Bob and Lydia, slash, Charlotte and John, slash, Bob and Charlotte.
Q
Too many names.
V
Bill Murray's character and his wife. Scarlett Johansson's character and Giovanni Ribisi's. And lastly, Bill Murray's character and Scarlett Johansson's character.
Q
But you said there was one couple?
V
Yeah, that's because Charlotte is Bob's wife on the phone and Bob is John, her boyfriend--or was it husband?
Q
But, if your two selves from different times meet doesn't that screw things up?
V
There's no such thing as a perfect time travel movie.
Q
But, they look nothing alike.
V
Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks nothing like Bruce Willis, give me a break.
Q
(laughs)
Fine.
V
Anyway, the film is about this couple who were never in the same place. Though they may have loved each other at certain times, it just didn't last long. The film implies that Charlotte started out as not having a clue about who she was and what she wanted to be. Bob's wife's character implies that she'll become a mother, probably nothing else. A passive aggressive control freak that is set in her ways. Bob started out as John, this dopey, clueless goof who's pushing to become someone in the entertainment industry.
Q
I'm going to have to stop you there. All the characters have back stories, they don't all align.
V
Maybe the two different couples are from two different, but similar, timelines. Maybe that's as close as it got.
Q
And where is that implied in the film?
V
I don't know.
Q
It's all deflating now. Just face it, it's not a sci-fi.
V
Hold on...
Q
You can't just go making stuff up.
V
Of course I can, it's sci-fi.
(thinks, snaps fingers)
The nights! The characters that have travelled through time have trouble sleeping. That could be a side effect of time travel.
Q
But, then that means that both Bob and Charlotte have time travelled.
V
Yeah.
Q
And John hasn't?
V
No, John isn't there. He's a representation of how Charlotte saw Bob. That explains why they look different and have different names. The time travel device must work on the principles of them dreaming. When you dream, ideas are contorted, condensed, you know, Freud and such.
Q
You are really taking liberties here.
V
Just go with it. They have problems dreaming because they are dreaming in the real world. Tokyo is just a place where they can interact. You know how they are crazy with their technology--as shown in the film. I'm pretty sure that in the future they'd be doing time travel and have sorted it out so you could go back in time as long as you stayed in Tokyo--in the past that is. That also links into the idea of them being trapped.
Q
But, Bob's wife calls him. Did she just call through time?
V
No, we could just write that off as another representation.
Q
Write her off?
V
Yeah. Now, back on track -
Q
Hold on, if they both traveled back in time, then why is Charlotte so young? And if they travelled back in time to a reality, a real place, why do apparent laws of dreaming apply?
V
Ok, forget time travel. There's a device that puts you to sleep and lets you explore Tokyo. Bob and his wife went in, Bob's wife dreamed she was younger--
Q
What about the side effects of time travel? Now they're gone what happens to that idea?
V
You don't ever dream that your sleeping.
Q
Well...
V
No, you don't.
Q
But, they do sleep.
V
Forget the dream machine, we're back to time travel.
Q
(laughs)
I think you should maybe let it go.
V
No, I got it now. Bob travels back in time to when he was living in Tokyo with his wife, Charlotte. He can't be recognised as John because that's going to screw things up. So, he's in disguise and he fabricates the truth. He also can't change too much about Charlotte because he doesn't want to affect the future. That's why they don't have sex and they kind of stay friends. Bob can't split himself from his wife.
Q
But, their marriage isn't good.
V
No, the point is -
Q
Hold on.
(coming around to the idea)
Maybe he did want to change the future. Maybe we, the camera, are some kind of invigilator, the system administrator. Maybe that's why it's Tokyo--nobody speaks English. All the millions of people, programs, are there to ensure that whatever Bob does doesn't affect the future too much. By watching the film we are watching a controlled, monitored experience, but... and there's a big but, there's a problem. Something we don't quite catch. The whisper! Bob is changing his future for the better by going against the administrator-- that's us. He whispers something we can't hear that'll change Charlotte or their relationship for the better.
V
And what could he say?
Q
The screenwriter doesn't know, why should I?
V
No, nobody knows, not even Bob, not even Bill Murray, could come up with a sentence that could fix a relationship like that.
Q
Whatever.
V
What I was going to say was: the point of the time travel is to let people interact at their most compatible. The film argues that maybe couples are couples because there's something within us that draws us to each other. That something hasn't got a great grasp on time. Some people get together because there's simply something between them. Who knows what? Their friends don't see it, their parents don't see it, they hate each other most of the time, but they're still together. Why? I don't know, maybe we can blame biology or psychology. But, Bob's time traveling is a way of bypassing that time lapse in connection and allows the couple to be together when they are most compatible--when they work. You know, forget inevitability, futility, fate, destiny and maybe just time. The film presents this ideal world in which one can simply piece together bits of spacetime to experience a better segment of one's life. A chance to ignore fate for a while, because in the end of the film, they were falling into bad times, but that's when Bob had to leave. You know: 'wedding bells have a such a sweet sound but such a sour echo'. Keaton. Leave it while it's sweet, before they get in each other's way. Sounds like marriage therapy, a way for couples of the future to stand each other by remembering that there is that something that drew them together.
Q nods along a moment.
Q
It's nice, it's fanciful, it's romantic... but there are problems with your argument.
They walk in silence for a moment more, V expecting Q to carry on.
V
You're not going to point out the problems?
Q
Nah, I like it as it is. There's no such thing as a perfect time travel movie.
EXT. THE HIGH STREET - AFTERNOON
V and Q are walking past a row of shops, each one is completely lifeless, the whole high street in fact is dormant, there isn't a soul to be seen anywhere.
They continue walking past shop after empty shop until they reach the car park of a big hardware shop.
They walk through the car park and toward the shop.
When they reach the automatic doors they don't open up, so they pull them open and walk in.
INT. THE HARDWARE STORE - AFTERNOON
Inside the shop is equally as desolate as outside.
V and Q walk around until they find the 'metals' aisle.
V
What kind of aluminium do we need again?
Q
Grade ten fifty A, H fourteen.
V
There doesn't seem to be any here. Why don't we go check the store room?
They walk to the back of the shop and through doors indicating 'staff only'.
INT. STAFF SECTION - SAME
Walking through the doors they see a spotty 17 year old KID with an apron on, wiping sawdust from his trousers.
V
Hey, we're looking for some aluminium, err, I think it's grade ten twenty, H--
KID
That's not my problem, man.
He pushes past Q and V and walks through the doors.
V
Fucking prick. I'm sure we'll find some ourselves anyhow.
Q follows V through some plastic curtains into the storage area.
INT. STORAGE AREA
They walk up and down a few aisles until they find the aluminum they're after.
Q
Ok, you go back to where the kid was with the sheet and cut it down. He was probably using a bandsaw nearby. I'm going to get two chainsaws.
V
All right, but what's the measurements again?
Q
Three hundred millimetres by three hundred millimetres. Please be precise.
V nods.
They both walk toward the plastic curtains.
EXT. THE HARDWARE SHOP CAR PARK - AFTERNOON
Q is pushing a trolley with two chainsaws, the aluminum and a few other tools in.
V walks beside him swinging around a curtain pole as if it were a lightsaber.
He's coming dangerously close to smacking Q in the head with it.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - EVENING
The trolley sits by the front door with the curtain pole snapped in two pieced in it, various tools on the floor around the trolley.
Q tapes the aluminum to REX with duct tape.
V sits with a chainsaw next to him and a square patch of carpet with a hole running through it in his hand.
The floorboards have been cut and pulled up around the exchange point, leaving a lot of mess as well as a hole below.
Q
Ok, REX is taped up, let's drop it in.
Q walks over to the exchange point to drop REX.
Q
Ready?
V
Can't I do it?
Q just tuts.
Q
Three, two, one.
He drops REX.
Not all the aluminium comes into contact with the vacuum, what doesn't falls into hole in the floor.
Almost simultaneously shards of REX drop from the exchange point.
Q
Ah, shit!
Q kicks a nearby piece of wood.
Q
Why didn't it work?
V
(calms)
It did. Just not the way we thought it would. REX came back, just in pieces... probably because all the particles weren't in the right places at the right time for REX to stop and turn back into matter. I guess the conductors weren't rotating at the right speed to ensure this. Fuck...
Q
What about the aluminum, why didn't REX take it through?
V
(sighs)
I don't know. How about you figure that out whilst I put together a new REX.
V starts up the stairs.
Q
Where are you going to get the parts?
V
Don't worry I've got enough parts to make six more REXs and a washing machine.
Q walks through to the kitchen and lies on the sofa.
INT. Q'S ROOM - EVENING
Q turns on his camera to begin another video log.
Q
The world right now is a bit more than an empty place. It's a world waiting. I was always patient. To wait was never an issue for me because I have never thought I was more than a moment. And anyway, to feel boredom is to seriously overestimate one's own control or purpose. It's not as if there's a known greater purpose for us humans, so to search for more is to believe we will be allowed to know the unthinkable or to even have purpose beyond simply being. This all probably sounds pretentious coming from me, the guy who's going to discover true reality. But, you must remember that anyone could have, it's just that there's no one else around to do so. Moreover, to be human is too often to be pretentious, to believe perfect is a tangible idea when instead it's a carrot on the end of a stick that'll keep a mule walking forward. To say I don't see that carrot and want to reach out to it would be a lie. We're all programmed to do so. But, why the restraints around us? That's not to say the carrot is reachable, it's not supposed to be, otherwise people would stop moving forward. But, why must we pretend that the carrot isn't there then put ourselves out stretching for it when nobody's looking? There's just somethings I won't put up with and I guess that's one of them...
He loses the thought, staring blankly at the camera.
After a moment, Q gets up to look out the window, cracking the curtains open ever so slightly.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Q's asleep on the floor with sheets of paper all around him.
V walks down stairs, picks up the sheet of paper closest to the bottom of the staircase and starts reading.
V
So, you've figured why the aluminium doesn't go through then.
Q jolts awake and rubs his face.
Q
(stretching)
What?
V
(reading out loud)
The aluminum didn't go through because it simply wasn't water, the atomic composition of the metal isn't able to manipulate the superpositional projection without H two-O because blah, blah, blah... it goes on for a while here.
Q
I know what I wrote.
Q stands up and takes the piece of paper out of V's hand, he then collects all the other pieces from the floor.
V walks into the kitchen and pulls a bowl from the cupboard.
V
So, we can test REX the second now?
Q
You and these stupid names. No, we've got to retrofit the drop zone for REX.
V
Will we need to go out again? I can't really be bothered today. Slowly suffocating in here doesn't seem a bad way to go recently.
Q
No, we should have everything we need around the house. What we'll have to do is cut a bigger hole in the floor so that the bathtub can be lowered down into it. We'll then need to get some ropes around it so that when they are pulled the bath gets lifted up, letting the contents come into contact with the exchange point. When we stop pulling the ropes the bath should fall with REX and the water in it.
V
Well... breakfast first.
V pours milk into his bowl of cereal.
INT. LIVING ROOM - MIDDAY
VROOOOOOOM
Q cuts into the floorboards with a chainsaw.
INT. UPSTAIRS
V cuts through the floor with his chainsaw.
KATHUNK
A big chunk falls away.
Q looks through the hole. V stands, arms out stretched.
Q
What an asshole.
The chunk just missed him.
EXT. THE BACK GARDEN - MIDDAY
Q catches some rope that V throws from a window on the second floor of the house.
After catching the rope V pulls it a little so that there's only a little slack. Q drops the rope and walks into the living room through the kitchen.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM
He takes some coiled rope on the floor and drops it into the hole meant for the bathtub.
V comes down the stairs.
Q
Bring the bath over here.
Q lays the rope across the hole whilst avoiding the exchange point and pulls it out on the other side.
There is now a straight line running from Q, near the front door...
... through the hole under the exchange point...
INT. UPSTAIRS
... up to the second floor through the hole V cut...
... through one of the bedrooms with the mouldy doors...
EXT. BACK GARDEN
... and out a window into the back garden.
INT. LIVING ROOM
V slides the bath tub near the front door.
Q
Ok, we'll pick up the tub and put it into the hole so that the exchange point takes a hole out of the front end here.
Q points to the the head of the bath.
Q
Then you tie the rope here to the taps and call out when you're done.
Q and V on the count of three lift the tub up and slide it into the exchange point so that a hole is punched into front end.
V then picks up the rope whilst Q moves through the kitchen and out into the back garden where he picks up the rope.
EXT. THE BACK GARDEN
V (O.S)
(after few seconds)
Ok.
Q then tugs on the rope a little...
INT. LIVING ROOM
... this causes the front end of the bath to lift up.
V
Yep, it works.
Q moves into the kitchen to pick up a little bit of scrap metal from the side as he makes his way into the living room.
Q
Ok, you screw this over the hole like you did before and I'll go pick up REX.
V
REX the second.
Q ignores him and walks up the stairs.
INT. UPSTAIRS
Q walks into V's room, picks up what looks like a car battery from the desk before walking back down stairs.
INT. KITCHEN
Q walks through to the kitchen from the living room and puts REX down on the side where the scrap metal was, he carries on out the kitchen, into the garden.
EXT. BACK GARDEN
He unwinds the garden hose and takes it through with him to the living room.
INT. LIVING ROOM
He drops the hose into the bathtub, then walks back out into the garden to turn the water on.
V drills a fourth hole into the bathtub and the scrap metal. He starts screwing the metal to the tub.
Q walks back into the room.
V
How long will the water have to run?
Q
Until it reaches this mark here.
Q indicates a black line drawn with pen on the inside of the tub.
V
Won't that just rub off?
Q
Not if you leave it alone.
V
But, isn't that kind of inaccurate, we can never get a truly precise volume with this method.
Q
None of that matters, the interaction between our universe and the alpha wave isn't exactly rational or precise. We only need a rough measurement, there's quite a wide margin for error.
V
Then what's with all the calculations if this doesn't need to be precise?
Q, tired, grows annoyed.
Q
Stop with the fucking questions and just screw the fucking plate on to the fucking tub, please.
He walks into the kitchen and sits on the sofa.
INT. KITCHEN
As Q sits a screw driver goes flying past his head and...
BANG
... hits the back door.
V
I'm done here, so bring REX over and let's get this over with.
Q looks over his shoulder to see the screwdriver on the floor.
Q
(calmly)
The bath isn't full yet, dipshit.
After a stagnant, V walks into the kitchen and sits down beside Q.
They sit in silent contempt, both tired.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - AFTERNOON.
The water in the bath is up to the black line.
V holds REX above the exchange point.
EXT. BACK GARDEN - SAME
Q is in the back garden holding the rope, looking at his watch on his wrist.
Q
(shouting)
Ok, five, four, three, two...
INT. LIVING ROOM
V drops REX...
EXT. BACK GARDEN
Q simultaneously pulls the rope hard....
INT. LIVING ROOM
The bathtub tips upward violently, water thrown as REX drops toward the exchange point.
REX touches the exchange point at the exact same time as the body of water begins to.
Instantaneously they both stop falling upward, but begin to fall downwards from the exchange point.
SPLASH
REX and the water drop into the tub...
EXT. BACK GARDEN
.. causing Q to release the rope.
INT. LIVING ROOM
Water splashes upward from the tub, some getting caught by the exchange point and disappearing.
Q runs into the living room and looks at V, who is dripping wet.
Q smiles.
V
Next time I pull the rope.
Q looks in the tub, shocked and proud. V only smiles, tapping Q's shoulder.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
V stands in front front of the window with the curtains wide open. He unhooks the net curtain and throws it away.
V pulls up a small stool and stares outside, a troubled look in his eye festering.
INT. THE LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Q walks down the stairs and past V who is still staring out the window.
Q
(yawning)
Nice morning?
V
It's quiet.
Q walks through to the kitchen and sits on the sofa.
V
It's kind of strange, I'd say that a person never truly knows what it means to be anything other than lonely.
Q
What does that mean?
A flash of anger sparks across V's face upon hearing Q. His neck very subtly twitches, he then starts lightly tapping his knee with his index finger.
V
(slow and methodical)
It's kind of strange, I'd say that a person never truly knows what it means to be anything other than lonely.
Q tilts his head in confusion.
V
From the second we are born we are stuck inside these...
He tugs at his clothes, runs his hand through his hair, rubs the grime between his fingers and thumb then flicks the dirt away in disgust.
V
... bodies... these heads, this thing we call consciousness. Yet to be happy or to be considered normal we must be sociable, compliant, self denying, contradictory, simply mindless and out of our own heads. How can this be the way of things?
Q
It always has been. Society needs the individual, it doesn't want it.
V
(under his breath)
What the fuck do you know?
Q
Just about as much as you.
Q stands up and walks toward the stairs, as he walks up he pauses for a second.
Q
It's not how, it's why. Why is this the way of things?
He walks off upstairs.
EXT. THE BACK GARDEN - MIDDAY
V is laying on the grass looking up at the sky. It's a warm breezy day, the sky is clear, there are no clouds to be seen.
Q walks out of the backdoor, he stands by V for a second and looks straight at the sun.
V
I don't want to be inside today.
Q
(looking down at V)
Huh?
V
(sighs)
For fuck sake.
V stands up and pulls himself into the neighbour's back garden.
He walks over to their back door and peers in through the glass.
Q stands, confused.
Q
There's nobody in.
BANG
V punches the door, shattering the glass.
In a rage he picks up the child's swing set and throws it at the house.
BOOM
Q
What are you doing!?
Q jumps over the fence and walks right up to V's face.
He stands still, eyes on the ground.
Q
(quietly)
Get your shit together.
V pulls an apologetic smile and taps Q on the shoulder, he then jumps over the fence and walks back into the house.
Q picks up the swing set and carefully puts it back to where it sat before.
Pulling at his bottom lip Q looks at the shattered glass.
INT. THE KITCHEN - MIDDAY
V's on the sofa. Q walks in the open back door and closes it behind him.
He then gets a bowl out of a cupboard above the sink as well as some cereal to make himself a late breakfast.
He sits beside V on the sofa to eat it.
They both stare into the T.V for a second.
V sighs, letting his sullen attitude fade.
He walks over to the plug socket behind the T.V and unplugs it. He picks up the T.V and puts it in front of Q.
V then walks out of the room, but soon returns with a box. He places this on top of the T.V and pulls the T.V cabinet underneath him as he sits opposite Q.
He unpacks a chess set from the box and sets up a game.
When done he takes a seat next to Q.
V
What shall be our first move?
Q
Pawn to D four?
V makes the move.
They then both stand up and sit on the T.V cabinet the other side of the board.
V
Pawn to E three?
Q
Go on.
They continue with the game. Their attempt at reconciliation.
EXT. BACK GARDEN - EVENING
Q and V have pulled the red sofa from the kitchen into the back garden, they sit on the sofa looking at the tree.
Q
There was this thing I once read and I've never been able to properly see it until maybe now. Trees are supposed to be made in fractals, you know, DNA and genes can't be bothered to create new structures for each specific part of an organism and so they take one structure and use it over and over, again and again. So, with the trees the shape of the first branch separation or the trunk separation will be like the shape of the main branches and then the branches connected to them and so on until we reach the leaf.
V studies the tree for a second.
V
Oh shit, I think I see it. It's like the tree has these identical and repeating patterns that extend outward.
Q
Much like a person in a certain sense.
V
As in our body structure repeats itself?
(looks down at himself)
I don't see it.
Q
No, in terms of behaviour and the self. The fundamental core of every person is to survive, it's what we're programmed to do. This is reflected in all levels of behavior, if it be simple or complex. Picking your nose, gets the shit from the air that gets caught up by the body's primary defence away from our bodies. This saves us from getting diseases and dying, hence, we pick our nose to survive. However, it's not likely that you'd pick your nose in front of someone...
V puts his finger up his nose but Q takes no notice.
Q
... much less so if that person you are around is a stranger or possible sexual partner. This is a means of social survival, a more complex phenomena because it's usually born of contradiction. In the case of not picking one's nose because you're on a date, people attribute picking your nose with, not getting disease away from a person's insides, instead smearing it on their outsides, a part of the body much more likely to be used for interaction and so on. Hands. So, to pick your nose is to seem aggressively disease ridden, hence, we pose a threat to other people, which isn't taken too lightly. As a result, the use of tissue, handkerchiefs and so on.
V
You talk about disease in terms of being unattractive, but what about the eternal endemic that kills us all? Life. Why are people attracted to life and lively people when they know they will one day die?
Q
That's a simple one, because diseases are thought to be transmittable, whether it be the common cold or inherited diseases. I could argue that life is thought to be transferred in terms of feeding off the life of a lively environment, a circumstance that gives us reasoning to live on, or the ability to reproduce and instill part of our own being into a life that'll carry on beyond us. In short we are attracted to life because we can steal it and keep it as our own, which gives reasoning as to why people like to destroy social atmospheres: to gain what is lost.
V
But, why must we survive? You say we're programmed, but you never say why. It's like you're displacing your very own reasoning to external forces you can't comprehend.
Q
Maybe I don't know why and can only displace reasoning, but this wouldn't be the first thing I don't understand. In fact I never claimed to know everything or even everything about something.
The conversation turning passive/aggressive:
V
You sure act like you know a lot about reality.
Q
It's one thing to pretend and another thing to aspire, to accept that all I am is that mule walking endlessly to reach that carrot.
V
So, nobody can truly know anything?
Q
That truly depends on how you want to look at things.
V
You must think of my outlook as bleak.
Q
It might as well be, it's not like I understand you or could ever come to.
V
There's a contradiction. Somebody needs to write that one down!
Q
Ahh, but there is nobody around to do that, and that's what scares you. That's why you're comfortable asking me why, why, why but never yourself. You're too scared of some truth you'd find under your surface. You should be asking yourself how do you live with a perception that makes you peer through windows in the hope that some kids are still about. Why do you need other people so much? Loneliness scares you and it'll surely end up killing you.
V
Well, not knowing scares you. To not be able to find a solution to push away all the lies you feed yourself. It'll be your quest for this knowledge that kills you.
Q
Is that a fact?
V
Where are your answers? Where's the 'why'?
Q just turns away from him.
V
You're no different from me. Do you really need me to prove that to you?
Q
That must be exactly what I need!
V storms off into the house.
Q stands in the garden, looking down at the grass, anger bubbling.
He kicks the grass, turfing up a bit of mud.
V re-emerges with REX in his hands.
V
Here's some fucking reality for you!
V smashes REX against the house, he then marches over to Q and pushes him to the ground.
V
I'm fucking done. Fuck you and true reality, you fucking... ridiculous person.
V jumps over the next door neighbour's fence and starts making his way around the side of their house.
Q gets up and follows him over the gate.
Q
You want some fucking reality!?
Q walks over to the back door of the next door neighbour's house and...
BANG
... kicks it in.
V is about to turn the corner, but stops in his tracks.
Q
Follow me, I've got something to show you, a tour to take you on, you fucking asshole.
Q walks into the house whilst V stands outside shifting his weight from left to right.
CRASH
A chair comes flying through the kitchen window.
Q continues to destroy the house, sounds of destruction passing through the different rooms.
V walks over to the chair, picks it up and sits on it facing away from the house.
From outside the sounds of Q smashing things in the house grow louder. V sits on the chair flinching at the bigger smashes.
V's hand balls into a fist, his face hardens, his eyes are sharp and cold as his fists start to tremble.
The sounds of destruction from within the neighbour's house start getting closer to the back door again until it all stops.
Silence.
V knows Q is standing in the doorway.
In the fiercest rage V thunders toward him.
Q knows what's coming and so his face hardens and his eyes focus, but his hands remain by his sides, calm, still.
BLAM
V socks Q right across the jaw, the dull thud resonates in the silence.
Q is thrown slightly off balance, but stands up again.
V grabs his shirt and throws him into the swing set.
Maybe Q felt like he deserved the first punch, but now he's had enough.
Q rolls over the metal frame and gets his feet back under him.
Still slightly dizzy and out of his senses Q swings at V as he approaches.
BAM
The punch connects with V's left eye.
V stumbles and falls on the grass spread flat out.
In a second V jumps on top of Q and gets his hands around his neck.
All the rage fades from Q's face.
With stone cold concentration he continues to squeeze harder, pushing with all his might until his full weight pins V's neck in the mud.
With little light in his eyes, Q stares V straight in his.
V doesn't struggle much, he tries to push Q's body off him but to no effect.
His arms and legs soon go limp.
V's face turns deep purple.
His eyes are the only part of his face that don't show distress. Instead they are concentrated on Q's.
A great silence consumes all as the life fades from V's eyes...
V umoving, Q's grip doesn't loosen.
For a few seconds after V's eyes turn away from Q's, lifeless, Q holds on...
His grip loosens on V's neck, the anger starts to reappear on his face, as if it had only sunk below the surface.
Q stands up above V's motionless body.
All is silent until a slight breeze hits Q. At this moment he treads over his body and slowly walks to the fence, pulling himself over it.
Back in his own garden Q's face begins to soften, but his eyes remain cold and distant.
He walks past the sofa and into his house.
INT. Q'S HOUSE
Q moves through the kitchen.
As he pases the T.V cabinet he picks it up and walks through to the living room.
He places the cabinet at the foot of the bath tub and stands on it.
Q's eyes loose their distance and focus on the water in the tub below him.
He takes a breath.
Q steps down from the cabinet and goes back into the kitchen. He picks up a watch from the side and straps it on, looking at the time.
Q
Time to go.
Q makes his way back into the living room where he stands on top of the cabinet looking into the tub again.
He turns his back to the water...
Takes one last look at the watch...
And drops backwards.
He falls into the exchange point.
As soon as Q's back touches the exchange point, his face crumples in pain, his eyes squeezing shut.
The pain fades away from his face and his eyes open.
Complete silence.
All goes dark for a fraction of a second.
Q's face is illuminated by a bright light.
Wonder glazes over his eyes.
The light gets brighter and brighter, Q refusing shut his eyes, they only widen.
The light burns stronger, consuming everything in a brilliant, blinding white for a few seconds.
The light begins to soften, the outline of the living room faintly rising from obscurity.
The room is still.
The carpet is wet.
Out of the bath hangs Q's legs.
Bright light screams white, blinding.
>FADE OUT
END
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