(Setting: Somewhere in Washington, D.C. in an old apartment complex, The Vintage, Number 240. It's raining. And the thunder booms. Inside, a woman sits at her laptop typing and yelling into her phone on speaker) The woman: Listen, Harvey, you punctilious prick! You touch my column and I'm going to come down there and poke your eye out with the little red pen you love so much! Harvey! No! You will not bury it! After this long, you'll keep it on the front page! Harvey! Harvey! (Her phone disconnects and notifications flash and she disregards them and mutters merely, looking at her laptop) Woman: Shit. (The rain gets softer. Someone knocks at her front door and she continues typing on her laptop. Someone knocks again. She continues typing into her phone as more notifications go off. And she disregards them and continues typing on her laptop. From outside, someone looks through her window, although only his shadow is visible, since the curtains are drawn and the man says)
Man: Rachel? (She recognizes the voice and looks up) Man: Rachel, it's me. Would you open the door? (She considers and gulps and breathes. And she returns to typing on her laptop, trying to ignore him) Man: Rachel. Open the door. Or I will. (And she stops. And looks up at the shadow. And she walks over to the window and says) Woman: Aiden? (The rain stops totally. Time: 3:03 PM) Man: It's me, Rachel. (She goes to her front door and looks back at her phone as it lights up with more notifications. And she looks at her laptop as the screensaver comes on.) Man: Rachel, open the door. (And she grips the door handle and closes her eyes and opens it and sees - a man 21 years younger than her. He's dressed haphazardly in blue dress pants and a striped tank top and sneakers. He's wearing suspenders but they're down around his hips. He's vaping an Off-Stamp brand vaping device. Flavor: Miami Mint. He's wearing a pair of sunglasses. And, due to the rain, he's soaking wet)
Man: Hi. Woman: Hi. (Cast: Rachel Keller played by Naomi Watts and Aiden Keller played by David Dorfman) (And he takes off his sunglasses and looks at her and says) Aiden: What took you so long?
Rachel: Sorry. I was typing a column and yelling at Harvey and all these notifications were going off. And then... Aiden: I know. After everything, it's hard to trust a knock at the door. Rachel: Yeah... (Overhead through the clouds, the sun comes out slightly. And yet, Aiden doesn't put his sunglasses back on. He vapes and blows out a large plume and says) Aiden: Can I come in? Rachel: Of course. (He comes in and sees everything disorganized and yet somehow in a strange order) Rachel: You shouldn't vape, Aiden. It's - Aiden: It got me over smoking. Rachel: You're just trading one bad habit for another. I mean, popcorn lung alone - Aiden: Priorities. (He puts his sunglasses on her old coffee table on top of a bunch of stacked papers. And he looks around the living room. And then he sits down in an old blue leather chair and looks at her)
Aiden: How long have you been here in The Vintage now? (She sits down on her old loveseat and looks at him) Rachel: Almost nine years. Things have changed and all but it's a good place. Got a great deal when I moved in so even now, the rent's still pretty good. A lot of great people all things considered. And - (On her phone more notifications go off and her laptop goes dark. And she gazes at it for a moment and seems to see something. And then Aiden says) Aiden: What time is it, Rachel? Rachel: It's either really early or really late, depending on how - (She stops herself, remembering) Aiden: It's hard to remember now, isn't it? But, somehow, it all comes flooding back, doesn't it? For some reason, you forget things but are reminded every once in a while... something lulls you and then something suddenly pulls you back out. (And she closes her eyes, remembering a day long ago. On an Island. At a farmhouse. She sees herself on the porch next to an old man. And the man says) Man: (V.O.) You reporters. You take other people's tragedy and spread it like sickness. (And she sees a tree on a hill with red leaves. And the sunlight, at dusk, comes from behind the tree and lights them up like fire. And she remembers the man's voice) Man: (V.O.) What is it you think you know, Miss? (Beat) Man: (V.O.) Then leave it alone.
(She opens her eyes and looks at Aiden) Rachel: I remember now. What happened. It was so long ago. And I wanted to forget or didn't want to. Aiden: But we helped her, Rachel. We spread it. And it got worse. Rachel: Aiden - (She's looking at him and then she sees his nose start bleeding) Aiden: She never sleeps. Rachel: Aiden - (She takes a tissue from an off brand tissue box and hands it to him and he wipes the blood away and puts it in his lap) (A beat) Aiden: It's still out there. VHS died and DVD and blu-ray. But she kept transmitting it and changing and adapting. Into torrents and on random websites now. Changing with the medium, although her message remained the same. Even on torrents under assumed names. In different locations across the globe. Even here. In Washington. (And she closes her eyes again, seeing herself in Cabin 12 with Noah, as an Old TV comes unplugged and knocks her down into the well. And she falls into the water and learns the truth and wakes up in the well. And there in the well and now opening her eyes and looking at Aiden both versions of herself, in the well in 2002 and in her apartment in 2025 mutter) Rachels: She was still alive. (A beat) Aiden: She is still alive. In more forms than ever now. And we helped her then to stay alive and we spread it for her. Survival instinct. Rachel: We had no choice, Aiden. I had to save you from her. (She closes her eyes and sees herself in her Seattle apartment in 2002. And she opens her eyes and her flatscreen TV pops on and it's her in the scene. On the TV, she sees herself screaming at the tape)
Rachel: (On TV) What do you want? What do you want? (On the TV, the 2002 version of herself throws the original into the fire and it pops and the tape bubbles and hisses as it burns. The camera, from her perspective, tracks down under her chair to reveal another videotape marked "COPY". And then the shot returns to her face, in the 2002 apartment, and she mutters in the shot. And now also in her 2025 apartment in Washington, as they say in simultaneity) Rachels: I made a copy. (The television ends transmission and turns to one of her backdrops: "Combat of Love and Chastity" by Pietro Perugino) (She looks into the opposite direction away from Aiden, out onto her porch and then at a willow tree across the street in a condo complex. Past the willow tree, she sees an open window and someone is there looking at their laptop and typing as she was a few moments earlier) Aiden: It's funny, isn't it? Back then, it was pretty bad. People on their TVs and VHS dying and DVD coming around. So many copies. And yet now, with everything, notifications and social media and torrents and walled gardens and subscriptions... it's much worse. But she's still out there in all of that. And adapting. Her message adapts to every new media form. (She turns back and picks up a cup of water and takes a drink and then looks down to see a ring of water on the table from where her cup had been) Aiden: Even now, attempting to invade the real. (He hands her a piece of paper. There's an address on it to a public park. And a date and time, two days from now.) Rachel: What's this? Aiden: A barbecue. Rachel: A barbecue? Aiden: Yes, Rachel. A lot of people there. It was going to be a fun time. Lots of people were invited. But, now, it'll be something else. But there are people there that can help us, Rachel. You don't have to go alone. I'll go with you. And it's only a couple of blocks from here, actually. We can go together. You don't have to be alone, Rachel. (He places his hand on hers and smiles. And she closes her eyes and remembers her niece's funeral)
Her sister: (V.O.) You could look into it, couldn't you? It's what you do. Ask questions? (A beat as she continues to close her eyes) Her sister: (V.O.) I saw her face.
(Rachel springs up off the couch opening her eyes before she can see) Rachel: No! No! We did what we had to do! I had to save you! Aiden: Survival instinct. But surviving has consequences. (Now, she's across the room, looking at a wall.) Aiden: Rachel? (She grips her arm, like she did in the well, and a tear streams down her cheek) Aiden: Rachel. We've got to be at that barbecue. Rachel! (A beat as she says) Rachel: I'm here. (Aiden steps up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder) Aiden: And I'm here, too, Rachel. It's alright. We'll just talk tonight and catch up. I've missed you, Rachel. (She turns around and looks at him and nods) Rachel: Alright, small talk. The weather or something. We can go to Circle K or I can show you around my complex or take you to the shopping center on the corner and give you a tour, if you want. Aiden: Whatever works, Rachel. It's just good to be here with you. (The front door is still open and a child runs by and her father, talking in Spanish) Rachel: And there'll be people at this barbecue who can help us? Aiden: Yes, Rachel. But they don't know it yet. They're not aware of what's about to take place. They're just hanging out at a shopping mall in the food court eating chicken wings and talking about a philosopher and old TV. (Her flatscreen TV flips from the screensaver to Leave It To Beaver. Season 3, Episode 30: "Beaver Finds a Wallet") Aiden: About that show, actually. But we'll go and it'll all start to make sense. In a way, anyway. (On the TV, The Beaver mutters the line: "Yeah, I'm the one.")
Rachel: But not now... for now small talk... Aiden: Right not now. Now, small talk. (He takes her hand in his and puts up two fingers and says)
Aiden: In two days.