Nightmare on Bramble Street Part 2

A Screen-Play

immy wakes in the next morning, tired but refreshed. Its some time since that fateful night with Lisa, but he does not really regret the fact that she loved and left him.

(Flashback to them making love. Have the camera scanning up and down their backs so that it looks like a pulsating forty foot mound of writhing flesh (ED well I suppose this is a horror movie!))

Recently though, Timmy hasn't been feeling very well, and he's putting this down to her giving him a hard time. (ED scratched his back, did she now!)(Grr!) Therefore he intends to pay her back if he ever sees her again. He realises that he can't get her through her dreams because she is immune to his direct advances since that fatal night. However he is always looking out for other avenues to his goal.

This morning he notices that one of his knees seems very swollen and while examining it closely, realises that there seems to be something growing there. After much soul searching (ED had to find a deceased "Witch doktor" for a diagnosis), he concludes that he is pregnant. (ED Don't you think this is all a bit far fetched.)(No not really. Its all based on fact, well sort of!) This unusual phenomenon can only happen due to Timmie's unearthly will to live, and the fact that Lisa accidentally provided enough physical protoplasm for the event to happen. Suddenly it all becomes clear! As Lisa is the mother (ED Father) of his child, he thinks he can control her through it. Thats just as well, he thinks as its obvious he's not going anywhere quickly with his bad leg today!

(Scene switches to Lisa.)

Away in a different part of town, Lisa is just leaving Poly on her way home. She decides to take the short cut through the park as the evenings are still light. She has almost forgotten about Timmy, but occasionally meets him in a dream of her own creation. Thinking of him always reminded her of a couple of paragraphs she had once read in a book.

(Quote read out in best Austrian doktors(SIC)(ED You're telling me!) voice)

Mental Typecasting

People who have a healthy sex life don't usually dream about sex. Conversely, the opposite is true. Therefore we can state the hypothesis that if you get the girl (boy) for real, you don't need to dream one up. This leads on to the premises that if you don't get the girl (boy) for real, then you get one in your dreams because your mind is trying to balance out the unbalanceble. Of course, this is largely untrue. Sexual dreaming has an associated guilt factor. This is normally below the conscious level. However after reaching puberty (ED The stage in life at which you start going to the pub.), it builds up for every dream substitution to fulfill unfulfilled love (lust). The net effect of this is that eventually, members of the opposite sex just laugh and walk away in dreams, just like they (would) do in real life. This is the general form of Mental Typecasting, based on a true (but unaccepted) view of the opposite sex. The conscious mind knows its not true in the general sense, but in the specific sense (ie that persons sexual relations) then it is almost always definitely true.

Mental Typecasting is an extension of the characterisation we all give to people when we interact with them in dreams. Enough information is stored about ones friends and acquaintances for instance, that one part of the brain can convince another part that it is actually having a conversation with them. (In extreme cases this can last into consciousness and cause a sensation of "deja vu" when the two people do actually next meet.) Mental Typecasting extends this process to add flesh and dialogue to conversations with people unknown to the dreamer, or merely viewed at a distance. (eg across a crowded dance )

The book was rubbish, but funny, (ED Even more funny when you realise it was created by "you know who" especially for this film!)(I DID NOT create it for the film!)(ED No, just had it lying around on the bookshelf!)(GRR!) but at least the theory accounted for meeting Timmy in a dream and not dying.

(The scene flashes back to Bramble Street.)

Timmy is lying on his bed watching Lisa in a piece of broken mirror hanging on the wall. The baby is sleeping, so Timmy wanders into its mind and starts to manipulate Lisa's reality.

(Camera follows through mirror to switch back to Lisa.)

It is while musing over this memory that Lisa becomes aware of some noises. The clouds have covered the Sun, and wafting on the breeze that has picked up, she hears childrens voices. She is now some way into the park, and realises that she is alone. However after turning the the next corner, sees a small group of little girls. (ED "Come to me little Girl !!")(Tut Tut, remember the protagonist is female)(ED Well maybe she's a bit funny that way. She did spend a night with Timmy remember.)(That's different. Lisa sleeping with a dead man is okay, but going with little girls would be positively disgusting!)(ED ..and I thought you did it all the time!) They are all dressed in white dresses and are skipping to a chant.

(Chant as follows. Slow down film for this sequence.)

One, two, (ED "Buckle my shoe"!)
Three, four, lock your door,
Five, six, (ED "Pick up sticks"!)
Seven, eight, better stay awake,
Nine, ten, Timmie's back again!

Suddenly they notice her and run off laughing, into the thick undergrowth. Lisa follows.

They lose her fairly quickly, and as it is beginning to rain, she finds herself in a clearing beneath a massive flight of marble steps (ED Liverpool Street station.)(Hmm.). Not wanting to get any wetter, Lisa rushes up them, hardly noticing the old crumbling sign which says:

Welcome to Priory Prison.
We hope your stay will be
Comfortable!

As she climbs them, it becomes obvious that they lead up to to huge sprawling Gothic building, apparently abandoned, but with the merest hint of light from some of the upper windows. After a short while, she reaches the top, and stands before a large oaken door which is slightly ajar.

By this time, Lisa is a bit miffed. She knows this place doesn't exist in this park and she knows she is still awake. That last fact would seem to rule out Timmie's involvement, but she doesn't know who else could do this to her. Deciding that there's no use getting wet pondering the problem, she enters, accidentally slamming the door behind her as she does.

Just in time too it seems, as Timmie's talons gouge at the door behind her!

(Scene cuts to inside the prison. It is dark and dank, but not quite dead.)

Lisa finds herself in a long corridor leading down the length of the building. The place is in a bad state of repair and the light switch doesn't work. However enough moonlight (ED But it was afternoon only a few paragraphs before!)(Time compression Ed, Time compression. Happens when you drink too much, too!) seeps in to stop her falling over the debris and tripping on the scuttling rats.

She starts to run along it. Strange sounds emanate from behind some of the doors she passes, but although Timmy is behind her, she doesn't have the nerve to try any of the handles yet.

(Scene cuts back to Timmy, still having trouble.)

Timmy is left standing outside the door, cursing and trying to extricate his talons from the woodwork. He had intended catching Lisa at the bottom of the steps, but his bad leg had delayed him, and he was just too late!

"Unfortunate really.", he muses to himself (ED And the audience). "The outside of Priory Prison is an excellent hunting ground, but inside are things even I don't have full control over!"

(Scene cuts back to Lisa.)

After a few hours running around and no more sign of Timmy, Lisa rests against a wall somewhere in the middle of the building to catch her breath. For some time now she has been able to hear music. It is still far away, but not as far as it had been. It is not like the children chanting. Instead, it is loud music, brash music, ancient primeval sixties music!

Allowing curiosity to get the better of good judgement, Lisa strides towards it. Thinking anything is better than spending a night here alone with Timmy on her trail.

After about another ten minutes wandering, Lisa notices a barely perceptual change in the light level in the corridor. From around a corner she can see orange light seeping into her vision and mixing with the pale soft glow of the moonlight that has guided her way so far. The music is much louder know, and she imagines that she can hear voices there too. Turning the corner, she finds its source. An orange panelled door with light seeping through the edges. With trepidation Lisa knocks. The noise stops and the door swung open.

(Haunted House creak #1.)

"Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly, Ha ha ha!", says the black apparition who opens the door.

"Oh,.. Okay.", replies Lisa, somewhat startled.

This throws Count Hugo for a moment. He is used to people breaking down into lumps of gibbering protoplasm when they meet him, and Lisa doesn't seem to be much concerned.

"Come in, come in. Make yourself at home.", he continues.

The Count ushers (ED I suppose this is going to be a cheap rip off of the "The Fall of the House of Usher"!)(Ha ha, very funny.) her into a small box like room, with indeterminable boundaries and a very murky atmosphere. Despite appearing quite normal at first glance, the walls appear to slope off at strange angles and vanish into multi dimensional corners. There are already several other people in the room.

Lisa stands awkwardly in a corner beside a Gothic hand basin. Every ten seconds or so, a little greenie-black tentacle lunges up out of the plug hole, and makes a grab for the toothpaste tube. This appears to be made of welded lead and marked with radiation symbols. It also appears to be place just out of reach of the tentacle.

"Let me introduce myself and my friends.", the Count begins. "I am Count Hugo, and my esteemed friends are: Vlad Givanski, Chris Barbie, Butcher of Coventry, and Her Adrian Lashman, NAZI extraordinaire!"

Three sets beady eyes peer back at Lisa through the murk. Beneath each are white toothy grins, tinged with the merest hint of red.

"As you can see, we are gathered here tonight to prepare to film "The Call of Ctholera.", hence the terrible sixties music. Unfortunately, we don't have any vacancies for young females at the moment."

The Count waves his arm around, gesturing at the other people and the various props lying around the room. These include such articles as a large Bakelite field telephone, an old fashioned recording machine and numerous old books which manage to stay just out of focus.

"Oh.", replies Lisa, not really understanding and rather lost for words.

"Well,... And who might you be?", the Count continues.

"Umm, well, my name's Lisa, an- and I didn't really come looking for a part anyway.", mutters Lisa eventually.

"Have a can.", interjects Vlad, sensing that both Lisa and the Count are running out of words.

Vlad reaches behind the bed he is sitting on and passes Lisa a soft drinks can, not unlike that of a diet CokeTM (ED "...Just for the taste of it, la laa la la la, just for the style"!). Lisa is about to open it when she notices the label actually says:

RACKed BLOOD TM

"Oh, don't worry about about the label.", adds Vlad hastily. "Its your dream so you can make it anything you feel like. Remember, its not reality which counts, but how you perceive it that matters."

"I'm beginning to wonder.", starts Lisa. "I don't think I would have dreamed all this up, and as for.. ah!", she cuts herself off in mid sentence.

"Do you people happen to know a Mr T. Kruger?", she finishes lamely.

"Timmy.", sighs Barbie.

"Timothy.", barks Lashman.

"Timotae.", laughs Givanski.

"Yes, we know about Timmy Kruger.", speaks up Hugo. "Has he been bothering you?"

"You could say that!", replies Lisa vehemently.

"You're not the first,", explains Chris, "although most don't live long enough to appreciate that fact."

"We do have a solution,", offers Lashman, "but I fear it will be only temporary."

With that comment, the Nazi gets up and starts to rummage in one of the cupboards adorning the room. After a few seconds he pulls out a metallic contraption consisting of a cylindrical body connected to a length of piping. Holding it up for all to see:

"We call it the VAC.", he says. "Temporary protection from most things, but with Timmy, something more is generally needed."

"What?", inquires Lisa.

"The 'Timotae' of course, but we've run out of it.", the Nazi answers off handedly.

"Too bad, too bad", they all mutter in unison.

"But can't we get some more?", probes Lisa.

"Oh, you'll have to see Amanda about that.", answers Chris.

"Who's Amanda, and where can I find her?", asks Lisa.

"A friend. Go straight along the corridor, and up to the top of the tower.", the Counts directs. "However, you might like to stop off at the Mangrove swamp on the way up. She's often found there."

Lisa leaves them, and clutching the VAC follows the directions to the swamp. After a short walk, and no sign of Timmy, she reaches a stretch of corridor, damp with moisture and covered in all manner of tropical pot plants. In the middle of one of the walls, is a white cell door now nearly overgrown with hanging vines. Lisa goes to knock, but it is already open.

"Hello? Hello'oo!? Is anybody there?", she calls.

Silence. Lisa wanders in.

"Hello? Anybody there?", Lisa tries again.

"Squeak.", comes the response

"Amanda?"

"Squeak, squeak."

"Amanda? Is that you?"

A loud thundering of wings can be heard, and a black winged shape crashes down in front of Lisa.

"Hello.", it says."I'm Batman. Who are you?"

"Lisa,", Lisa replies,"and why all the squeaking?"

"Its expected of me.", replies the Bat. "Looking for Amanda are we? Well she's not here, unfortunately."

"Oh well. It was worth a try so the Count said."

"Ah, the Count, and I see you have the VAC anyway. A worthy fellow, that Count, but he does tend to poach on my hunting grounds. Anyway, if he let you pass then I suppose I'll not eat you either!"

"EAT ME!", stammers Lisa, horrified.

"Well, of course!", came the toothy reply. "Although Hugo would most likely drain your soul and leave the flesh to the others. Don't worry though.", he carries genially onwards,"Just go up the stairs to the top, and you can't miss Amanda's room."

Lisa says her thank yous.

"Thank you."

And makes a sharp (ED "Time for (s)Harp exit!") exit.

(Scene cuts to Timmy.)

All this time, Timmy has been prowling the corridors of Priory Prison. He has deliberately avoided the Count's room, even though he knows Lisa is most likely to end up there. Eventually he tracks her brain waves down to the far eastern tower. Lisa appears to be climbing up. Timmy knows he must reach her as Amanda lives up the top, and Timmy hates dealing with her as he always seems to lose. However, with a quick twist of reality, he transports himself to just behind Lisa, as she reaches the top of the stairs.

(Scene cuts to Lisa.)

Lisa has reached the top of the stairs and is about to knock on the door marked:

Amanda's Pit
Knock (or Die!)

When she is interrupted by a faint whistling in the air behind her. Turning around. Lisa is just in time to witness the taloned claw of Timmy Kruger whisk past her face and embed itself in the wooden door of the cell.

"Gasp!", exclaims Lisa.

"Drat, and double Drat!", exclaims Timmy.

Before Lisa knows what is happening, the door opens behind her and she is pulled in by a small, but powerful arm.

"Ouch!", gasps Lisa.

"Any more of that, and I'll give you a double Nelson!", exclaims the occupant.

"You must be Amanda?", asks Lisa.

"Maybe, maybe not.", the diminutive female answers. "What is it to you?"

"Well,", starts Lisa. "I'm having terrible trouble with this guy named Timmy. Timmy Kruger to be precise. Anyway, I bumped into this Count Hugo guy downstairs, and he told me that somebody named Amanda could help me, and if she wasn't at the Mangrove swamp, then she'd be upstairs in her room. Therefore I assumed it must be you." (ED Don't you think you're over doing things a bit here. It all sounds rather contrived, and you are repeating a lot of the plot for no apparent reason.)(No apparent reason! What about all the people who have just rolled out of the pub, and have missed half the film and are to drunk anyway to understand half of it unless the characters paraphrase it for them.)(ED Well why not just ignore them.)(Can't do that. They make up 90% of the audience!)

"Well Okay, perhaps I am. But I still don't see what you want me to do". says Amanda.

"Well neither do I,", says Lisa, "and it is my dream, or do everybody says! The others gave me this VAC, but said they had run out of the Timotae. I don't know what is it but they said you might have some."

"Hum, typical. Men! I s'pose they've been all washing their hair in it! Never can trust them!"

"Hair?!", questions Lisa.

"Yes Hair.", answers Amanda with a preoccupied voice. "I'm just thinking where I put my bottle. Timotae isn't strong enough for My hair (Amanda has long flowing red hair, which has a peculiar tinge to it). I use industrial cleaning solvent myself, but as Timmy was boiled alive in that, he's immune to it."

(Timmy trying to remove his hand from the door is still audible in the background.)

"Well, we've got to think of something quick because when Timmy gets his hand free he's bound to try and break down the door.", worries Lisa.

"We? Don't pull me into your problems! Anyway, I shouldn't worry too much if I were you, my room's built like a cell (ED Ha ha very funny.)"

After a short pause, she continues in a different tone. "On the other hand however you can't stay here for ever so just hang on, (ED HEAVY man!) and I'll go and look under the sink."

(The sounds of Timmy cursing and heaving (ED Kinky now are we?)(Shurrup, you pervert!) are getting louder.)

Amanda leaves the worried Lisa, and reappears shortly with a large plastic bottle of liquid.

"Here, shove this down the nozzle.", orders Amanda, gesturing at the VAC. "Quick, quick, I think he's breaking through!", panics Lisa.

(The sounds outside have reached deafening proportions.)

"Aha!", drools Timmy, wrenching the door away with one arm.

"Gasp!", gasps Lisa, frantically groping for the ON switch.

"My DOOR!", screams Amanda angrily, watching the destruction.

"Whooooshhhh...!", goes the VAC squirting foam all over Timmy.

"Argh!", utters Timmy, writhing in agony.

"Yippie!", exclaims Lisa as Timmy is defeated. (ED "Yippie"?! Yuk! What kind of exclamation is that?)(A cheap and nasty one, just like you would write!)

"Ha!", exclaims Amanda, seeing "justice" done.

"Phew!", sighs Lisa, and drops to the floor in a faint.

(Lights black out, and return gradually but out of focus.)

Lisa wakes up lying on her back in the middle of the park. At first she starts to panic, but then remembers what has happened and starts to relax. It is only at this point she notices the wheelbarrow chewing at the shoes!

(Lights cut, roll the credits, NO MUSIC! Empty the Cinema and get the next lot of punters in!)(ED That was a bit of an abrupt ending!)(Fraid so. Time is money, and money is time. Can't waste either!)

The End