Asylum

A man and a woman are walking down a dilapidated hallway in an insane asylum toward a thick glass door, on the opposite side in a straight jacket sits VANCE HOLDIN, notorious serial killer incarcerated for life. The two people are whispering harshly, in a quiet argument. SELENA WORTH holds a tape recorder and a large leather bag while ROGER MEYER, her agent, sports a fedora and pinstripe suit. SELENA stops at the door and turns to ROGER.

SELENA: Rodge, please just stay here, okay? I can handle this myself. I'm not a green reporter anymore; I know what to do. We didn't spend half my salary on the Director of this place to get nothing.

ROGER: Lena, I don't want this to explode in your face again. You were almost on the streets because you asked the wrong questions. You have to dig when the story comes out, no matter what the cost. This guy is a monster. Treat him like one.

SELENA (nods, she looks stern and prepared) Okay, let's get this done.

The door buzzes letting SELENA into the room. ROGER sits down just outside where a black phone rests low on the wall for him to listen. SELENA takes a seat as the door closes and places the tape recorder on a white plastic table where VANCE sits staring into space. The intercom on the table connected to ROGER's phone blinks indicating it is connected and working.

SELENA: Good Afternoon, Mr Holdin.

VANCE ignores her, a dribble of saliva running down the side of his mouth. He begins to hum and stare at the crumbing ceiling absently..

SELENA: (Taps the record button and leans forward) Reporter Selena Worth with Vance Holdin, Tape One.

VANCE: Such a pretty lady shouldn't waste her time with filth like me. Everyone else sneers and waves their disgusting fingers. They don't know.

SELENA: (ignoring him as she pulls out a yellow legal pad and pen from her bag) Now, Mr. Holdin, I'm going to ask you a few questions about your life and motives for killing the twelve boys the police recovered in the basement of your home. Now, if you don't mind I'd like to begin with your motive.

VANCE continues to hum and stare at the ceiling tiles.

SELENA: Mr. Holdin, before your arrest you'd murdered over a dozen young men, do you have a reason for your preference of teenaged boys?

VANCE: (ignoring her) They all want the same thing, don't they, Mother? They all want what they can't have—

SELENA: Mr. Holdin, Your first victim, David Froth, he was only twelve when they found his body, your youngest victim, in fact. Was there any real reason behind his brutal murder?

VANCE: Filthy squirmy boy, Davey was, mother hates grimy boys who all want what they can't have. (He shudders) Mother didn't like the way he looked at her little boy. No, no, she didn't like it at all.

SELENA: Yes, but the reason, Mr. Holdin, why did you kill him? Did you have feelings for him? Is that why you killed him?

VANCE: (shakes his head) Mother didn't like him, she wanted him gone. He reminded me…. No, no, Mother, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, so sorry (rocks back and forth whispering) sorry, so sorry…

SELENA: (looking annoyed, she jams her finger into the button of the intercom to speak to ROGER) Hey Rodge, can you get someone to give this guy some meds? I'm not getting anywhere like this.

The cell door buzzes and ROGER walks in, a bottle of pills in his hand. VANCE flinches at the sight of him and shies away when he tries to feed him the pills. ROGER forcefully grabs his head and pries his mouth open, forcing the pills down his throat before smiling at SELENA and exiting the room.

SELENA: (her tone annoyed) Let's try this again Mr. Holdin. Is there a reason behind your prefernce of teenaged boys?

VANCE: : (his tone lifeless from the medication) Mother didn't like what the little boys became. She saw their corruption at such young ages and she wanted me to cleanse them. I was only obeying Mother. She tells me what to do and I do it.

SELENA: And David Froth? What about him?

VANCE: Mother didn't like my friendship with the boy. She thought it distasteful. I don't like it when Mother is displeased so I cleansed him. My Mother doesn't like when I love anyone other than her, she get's angry. (He shudders)

SELENA: Who is Mother, Mr. Holdin?

VANCE: (He finally looks straight at her, face pained as if coming out of a trance) Please, make her stop torturing me! Help me! Just make Mother stop!

SELENA: (Uncomfortable) Mr. Holdin, please answer the question.

VANCE: (Once again lifeless, staring into space) Mother speaks to only me. She governs my actions with a firm hand. She doesn't like you Miss Worth. She doesn't like your prying questions.

The intercom on the table crackles to life and Roger's voice startles the two people in the cell.

ROGER: Come on, Lena, the medication is finally kicking in, you can get anything out of him now, hon. Try asking about his family, delve in a little there.

SELENA: (Still annoyed, she rolls her eyes) I know Rodge, I didn't risk my career for mindless chattering, I'll get to the good questions, I know I need this.

ROGER: (His tone harsher) Then stop hedging and hit him hard! You want that job with the Times you better step it up before you get tossed out again. You were almost homeless once, you can end up right back there if you don't get this right.

SELENA: (flinching at the crude reminder, she nods, her voice small) Thanks for the reminder, Rodge.

ROGER: You know I'm only trying to keep you on track.

SELENA: Yeah, I got it. (She returns her attention to VANCE as the intercom cracks to silence)

VANCE: Mother thinks you're wasting your time, Miss Worth. She won't let me answer any more of your meddling questions. She doesn't like you at all, Miss Worth.

SELENA: (fed up with his useless babbling she flips a few pages in her notebook and glares at him) Mr. Holdin, Tell me about the death of your brother Kyle. He died at fourteen. Did that have any influence on the age of your victims who are all around the ages of fourteen to sixteen?

VANCE: Kyle? Poor Kyle… So sorry…. Mother, she asked about--- (he whimpers and shakes his head) No Kyle, please, no Kyle. (His eyes widen and he begins to hum loudly shaking his head and staring at the ceiling.)

SELENA: Mr. Holdin, what happened to Kyle?

VANCE: (his humming and rocking become almost violent until he stops and blurts--) Mother, make the vicious lady stop, Vance can't talk about Kyle, , poor Kyle. No, mother please, don't hurt me, I didn't mean to--! (He begins twitching and whimpering in pain) STOP MOTHER PLEASE!

SELENA: (Startled, her annoyance evaporated she clears her throat and tires again) Mr. Holdin, please tell me about Kyle.

VANCE: NO. I can't, Mother doesn't like… No more Kyle. (He winces in pain) Don't hurt me Mother, please! It wasn't my fault!

SELENA: Please, Mr. Holdin, calm down. No one Is hurting you.

VANCE begins to wail in agony, his eyes rolling in his head from some sort of inner turmoil.

SELENA: Was Kyle your sibling?

VANCE: NO! (He falls from his chair still twitching and whimpering before he goes still)

SELENA: (presses the intercom while VANCE whimpers and groans on the floor) Rodge—

ROGER: (His voice is excited through the cracking of the system) You got him now Lena, hit him where it hurts!

SELENA: Rodge, I don't—

ROGER: --'ve got the story of a century from this guy, you'll be all over the place with this one!

SELENA: RODGE!

ROGER: What?

SELENA: I don't think he deserves this. Maybe before but now..?

ROGER: Are you nuts? This is your story, Lena. Who cares about this lunatic, you need this!

SELENA: Yeah, I know, but—

ROGER: Selena Katrina Worth, listen to me. You're a sheep in a pack of wolves, hon. They already tore you to shreds once with that bogus lead and scammed you until you were within and inch of being tossed onto the streets. Now either you can continue to write for that ridiculous nonsense magazine that barely pays your cell phone bill or you can finish this and get the money you deserve. What'll it be?

SELENA: Fine. I'll try this one more time. Let me see if he's okay and then come in here and give him his meds so I can get sense out of him. (She moves over to VANCE and kneels beside him) M-Mr. Holdin? Are you---?

VANCE: : (takes a deep breath and opens his eyes as SELENA watches him) Please, just make mother go away. Please, Mother, go away. Go away. Go away. Silence. Vance just wants the silence. Peaceful, silence…. Eyes always staring….

Selena hesitantly helps VANCE return to his chair. The door buzzes and ROGER reappears with the pills. VANCE's eyes lock on the bottle hanging loosely from ROGER's hand and she realizes what he means. ROGER feeds VANCE the pills, bumping to SELENA on his way out. She appears to tuck something into her pocket before returning to her seat to replace the tape and reorganize herself.

SELENA: Are you alright now, Vance?

VANCE: (whispering, the medicine has not yet kicked in) Please, don't make me talk about Kyle, Mother never wants talk to Kyle…

SELENA: Okay, we'll talk about your last victim, Edward Coleson. What possessed you to kill such a promising young man? He was on his way to valedictorian of his class, beloved by his parents?

VANCE: (the medication now kicking in, his face blank and his tone distant and flat) Mother saw his impurities, just like me. She doesn't understand, I just wanted a friend and Edward helped me. But Mother didn't want Edward around; she just wanted him cleansed, so I cleansed him.

SELENA: Did Edward remind you of Kyle?

VANCE: (Nodding, his eyes drift back toward the ceiling) Edward so much like Kyle… Acted like him…. Kyle… Only Kyle was my friend. Lyssa and Robert hated us. They never liked our friendship…

SELENA: Who are Lyssa and Robert?

VANCE: Siblings… older siblings… Mother hates them…. Hates them more than the filthy boys she made poor Vance cleanse….

SELENA: And what did Lyssa and Robert do to Kyle, Vance? Did they hurt him?

VANCE: (A stricken look crosses his face, his eyes wide in terror but glazed as he remembers) Robbie and Lyssa… brutalized Kyle. Right in front of me. Only a little boy… he was… I was… so much blood. They hated us so much… our friendship…Jealous of Kyle.. my best friend… he understood me… Understood my differences because he had them too…. Eleven years old… so much blood… Pretty blue eyes always staring… just staring at me while they laughed.

SELENA: (Shocked, she leans forward, her expression comforting as the pain in VANCE's features increase, he begins to sweat and breathe heavily) U-uh, What did they do to Kyle exactly, Vance?

VANCE: Hit him, over and over with his own baseball bat… Made me watch… so much blood (he begins to wipe his hands together as if trying to wipe something from them) everywhere, rivers of poor Kyle's blood… Lyssa and Robbie hurt me too… but they paid for it… Mother saw to that, yesss, mother saw to that.

SELENA: (horrified but she tries her hardest to remain stoic and calm) Is that when Mother began talking to you? After Kyle?

VANCE nods.

SELENA takes a deep breath as the story hits her. She stares at VANCE who still looks as if he's in pain, wiping his hands furiously as he continues to whisper "so much blood" repeatedly. SELENA takes a few more calming breaths, trying to keep her cool when the intercom crackles to life yet again.

ROGER: You got it Lena, great job! I can smell the money we're gonna make from this deal!

SELENA: I think we're done Rodge, I can't push this any further…

ROGER: Who cares? The guys on death row, he'll be dead in a few years… not like he's gonna care anyway.. I mean, Jesus, he killed twelve kids.

SELENA: I know, Roger.

ROGER: Then try and get a little more out of him, this is juicier than I expected. Try for more on Lyssa and Robert, they seem to be interesting characters.

SELENA: I don't think I can handle this anymore. We should leave him alone.

ROGER: Lena, remember the big money, okay? We're getting you off the streets. No more stealing bread and living in a dilapidated shack, sweetie.

SELENA: (Annoyed) I'm cutting off now, Roger. (She lifts her finger from the intercom and mutes it) Vance, can you tell me what you did to Lyssa and Robbie?

VANCE: Vance didn't hurt them…. It was Mother. Mother hated them for hurting Kyle. Mother wanted blood, Vance just watched, he didn't hurt them. Mother hurt them… Mother hurt them….. badly.

SELENA: And Mother killed those little boys?

VANCE: (wincing) Mother doesn't like you Miss Worth… Mother wants to hurt you. .. Mother wants me to hurt you…. But I don't—

SELENA: It's alright, Vance, I think we're finished.

VANCE: (whispering) No, mother, I don't want to. I don't want to. Please don't make me. She didn't hurt me, Mother. She just wanted to ask a few questions.

SELENA: (Stands and moves over to VANCE as he rocks slightly in his straight jacket) Vance, thank you for your time.

VANCE: Mother, no, I can't. She didn't hurt young Vance. (He looks at SELENA) Please, make mother go away. Make her stop hurting me. (He looks back at the wall) No, Mother, please. I don't like you anymore. Stop.

SELENA: (Pulls the bottle of pills from her pocket and pours a handful of pills into her hand.) Here, Vance, these will help you. It'll all be over after you take these.

VANCE: Mother please, Vance just wants the quiet. (Looks at SELENA as she feeds him the first pill) Kill me. PLEASE!

SELENA nods and feeds him the rest of the pills. She watches him close his eyes and gathers her tape recorder and moves toward the door.

RODER: I think you got it, Lena. The Times will be watering at the mouth over this story.

SELENA: Rodge, fuck off.

ROGER: Lena? What are you doing? Your story!

SELENA( pulls out the tapes with VANCE's interview.) Rodge, if I publish these I'd be going against everything I've accomplished in my entire career even if it was torn down because I got too ambitious. I'm not about to make the same mistake again.

ROGER: But your career! The Times! The Bog Money!?

SELENA: No, Rodge, I want that job fair and square, and I don't need you breathing down my neck just to get it. Yeah the guy was a mass murderer, he did some fucked up shit but that man in there was not the mass murdering psycho I was expecting. What I saw was a man who was tortured to insanity by a clearly fuck to hell family. Now if you want me to publish this, I'm going to give the people the truth, not twist this into some cracked out guilt story to feed the public. And I don't give a shot about the money, Rodge. I want my credibily back. If you can get that for me with what I want to write, the wonderful, I'd love to see that but you can't can you?

ROGER: Uh—No, I don't… not with… Lena.. baby.. Come on…

SELENA: Yeah, that's what I thought.

ROGER: Lena, Lena, please you don't mean that.

SELENA: Yes, I do, (She throws the tapes away) Rodge, you're fired. Oh, and I'm not your sweetie, so fuck off.

SELENA leaves Roger gaping after her as he stands in the open cell doorway. After a beat he exits. Behind him, VANCE falls to the floor, a peaceful look on his face as he expels his last breath.

END