A Psychodrama Set to the Tune of "Smooth Criminal"

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

I altered this primarily for spelling, punctuation, and SEO.

FADE IN:

The setting is sometime in London in the late 1890s and specifically at the city home of Anne (age twenty-nine) and Arthur Hathshire (thirty-four), two weeks after Anne, shy and retiring, was assaulted there whilst alone, her strength  recovered enough for her to be interviewed by the police, who have now been given permission to conduct a far more thorough investigation of the crime scene…

INT. DOWNSTAIRS FOYER-DAY

ARTHUR

There’s nothing to be worried about at all, Anne; I’ll be by your side the whole time.

ANNE

Thank you, Arthur.

Together, they squeeze each other’s hand in solidarity, and Anne sighs; together, they walk into a drawing room crawling with cops, all busy dusting, measuring, examining, and photographing everything, surrounding the POLICE CHIEF, standing in the middle, surveying, and conferring with everyone.  Upon their entry, the CHIEF looks up, and immediately walks towards them.

INT. DRAWING ROOM-DAY

CHIEF

Good to see you, Arthur.

They firmly shake.

ARTHUR

Likewise, Nigel.

The CHIEF then shakes Anne’s hand, too…

CHIEF

Anne.

Anne nervously shakes, smiling weakly…

ANNE

Sir…

Chief, curtly, turns and motions for the couple to enter the room, which they do, making Anne increasingly uneasy.

2.

ARTHUR

(Looking around.)

So the maid let you in, like I instructed?

The chief nods.

CHIEF

 She did indeed.  She let us in at eight sharp, and we’ve been working…

He glances down at his pocket watch.

CHIEF

Just under four hours, straight.

He puts his watch away, stopping in the room’s center, to which Arthur and Anne follow suit.  Pausing, the three of them take in the scene of the crime; chief sticks hands in his pockets, observing the shattered glass by the broken window.  Anne’s eyes zero in on one tall, dark-haired gentleman with intense eyes by the panes staring at the glass scattered on the floor; noticing the new arrivals, he looks up only to stare at Anne, compelling her to gasp uncontrollably.

ARTHUR

(Startled.)

Anne!  What is it?

ANNE

 N-nothing…

For his part, the chief is unperturbed by this reaction.

CHIEF

 If the perpetrator left anything——

Someone walks over to photograph the scattered glass.

CHIEF

——We’ll find it.

He shrugs, as Arthur’s focus is diverted from his wife to the chief.

ARTHUR

 And…have you yet…found…?

Anne grimaces, yet no one takes heed.

CHIEF

We’re working on it, Mr. Hathshire.

3.

ARTHUR

Fingerprints?

Anne blanches.  Gravely.

CHIEF

As of now?  No.

ARTHUR

 Blood?

CHIEF

Yes.

Arthur, tentatively and nervously, leans in.

ARTHUR

You haven’t found anything…else——

At this, Anne blushes crimson.

ARTHUR

——Have you?

Chief simply shakes his head.

CHIEF

 I know what you’re driving at, but no.

Arthur looks down and deeply sighs.

ARTHUR

So no leads…

CHIEF

I wouldn’t go that far.

He motions to the intense-eyed dark-haired gent.

CHIEF

May I introduce to you Mr. Frank Longcastle.

Mr. Longcastle again looks up and Anne’s way, compelling her to flush once more….

ARTHUR

Anne!  What——

The chief continues.

4.

CHIEF

He’s a specialist we sometimes bring in to consult…

Anne’s face shows increased dismay; for his part, her husband looks back at the chief in puzzlement.

CHIEF

His style may be…unusual…

Anne starts to tremble, ever so slightly.

CHIEF

…But let’s just see if he has any insights.

Longcastle nods the chief’s ways, to which the chief nods back, theatrically waving his hand in the detective’s direction...

CHIEF

Frank…

And with that, he proceeds to leap and jump around on all fours as the music sets in, with an abjectly appalled Anne looking on in horror.…

LONGCASTLE

AS HE CAME INTO THE WINDOW

Frank energetically crawls to the other side of the room obscenely fast.

LONGCASTLE

IT WAS THE SOUND OF A CRESCENDO

There's a flash of lightning surrounding Anne, briefly transporting her into a flashback when she was assaulted in the room at NIGHT.

LONGCASTLE

HE CAME INTO HER APARTMENT

In her flashback, Anne looks on as the shadow of an ANONYMOUS FIGURE falls on her.

LONGCASTLE

HE LEFT THE BLOODSTAINS ON THE CARPET

In the present, Frank, still on all fours, points to the blood covering the shattered panes in front of the window before pointing to an overturned table on Frank's right(facing away from the the window).

5.

LONGCASTLE

SHE RAN UNDERNEATH THE TABLE

In the flashback, we see Anne cowering under the table. In the present, Frank continues.

LONGCASTLE

HE COULD SEE SHE WAS UNABLE

The ANONYMOUS FIGURE advances on Anne inside the flashback.

LONGCASTLE

SO SHE RAN INTO THE BEDROOM

In the flashback, Anne runs to BEDROOM DOOR on the far side right-hand side of the drawing room, facing away from the window.

LONGCASTLE

SHE WAS STRUCK DOWN

INT. BEDROOM - DAY

In side the flashback, Anne stumbles to the ground, before looking back terrified at her attacker, as his shadow closes over her.

In the present, Frank leaps to his feet with a flying somersault, landing right in front of Anne, jamming his finder right in front of her nose.

LONGCASTLE

IT WAS HER DOOM!

Arthur, noticing his wife's unease, turns to his wife, shaking her shoulder, as the room's lighting continually shifts from light to dark.

ARTHUR

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Annie simply stares straight ahead, stuck inside a catatonic stupor.

ARTHUR

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Anne is only looking down at herself lying prone on the floor in a flashback.

6.

ARTHUR

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

Back within the flashback, Arthur is comforting his wife in shock on the floor of the bedroom.

ARTHUR

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

In the present, Anne closes he eyes to escape the cacophony.

ARTHUR

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

Anne opens her eyes, only to find herself back in the flashback, lying in bed whilst surrounded by doctors, nurses, maids, and policemen staring back at her.

ENSEMBLE

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

WILL YOU TELL US THAT YOU'RE OKAY?

Anne stares back them all, only somehow to have taken the form of a child. Anne looks up, to see her father seated next to her.

FATHER

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

She blinks, and now we're once again back in the ensemble of present.

ENSEMBLE

SO ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Anne looks around, terrified, as all her audiences sternly look on in judgment, arms folded, etc.

ENSEMBLE

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

Frank leans into the chief's face.

LONGCASTLE

SHE'S BEEN HIT BY——

7.

Cue a slow-motion version of Anne falling down in the bedroom; meantime, Frank in the present leans into Arthur, compelling him to tilt back, intimidated.

LONGCASTLE

SHE'S BEEN STRUCK BY——

In the flashback, the stranger strikes her, knocking her to the floor again. The present, Frank, frowning, turns to the camera, a far-off look in his eye.

LONGCASTLE

A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!

At this, for some reason known only to him, Frank smiles to himself. In the flashback, Anne is standing alone in the spot where she stood with Arthur when the song began, only with Frank monologuing by the broken glass those two functioning as ghosts, whilst people tend to the aftermath of Anne's assault.

LONGCASTLE

SO THEY CAME IN THE THE OUTWAY

IT WAS SUNDAY, WHAT A BLACK DAY

As people flit past, Tom and Anne take note, their heads tracking as they go by.

LONGCASTLE

MOUTH-TO-MOUTH RESUSCITATION

SOUNDING HEARTBEATS, INTIMIDATIONS

Frank turns Anne's way.

LONGCASTLE

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Anne's head snaps Frank's way, taking up her full attention, even as a shadow enters the room, coming from Frank's left, and moving towards Anne.

LONGCASTLE

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Frank takes a step her way; the shadow keeps advancing.

LONGCASTLE

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

The shadow is now right on top of her; she turns to face it in abject terror.

LONGCASTLE

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

8.

The shadow still gets closer.

LONGCASTLE

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Finally the girl breaks and runs out into the foyer as Frank gestures to her with open arms. In the foyer, Anne attempts to run up the stairs, only to be accosted by Frank, standing at the fork, where the stairs lead in two separate side directions.

LONGCASTLE

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

ARTHUR (V.O.)

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Anne's head snaps around to spot Arthur at the top of the right hand fork of the stairs.

FATHER (V.O.)

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Anne, or I should say Annie, back in her child form, snaps her head around again to spot her father atop the left fork.

FATHER

ARE YOU OKAY?

CHIEF (V.O.)

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Annie spins around, only to witness the chief standing right behind her.

LONGCASTLE

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

FATHER

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

Appalled, Annie looks on as the chief, Frank, Arthur, and her father all take a step her way.

ALL

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Once again, that mysterious shadow has resumed stalking her from the room's periphery, as yet unnoticed.

LONGCASTLE

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Everyone just takes another step forward.

9.

ALL

ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE?

Annie finally spies the shadow as it disturbingly falls on her.

ANNIE

(Shocked.)

NO!

And with that Annie duly heads back to her bedroom, where she proceeds to cower under her bed. Even as she does, Annie hears…

POLICEMAN (V.O.)

Everyone, I want you now to clear the area!

Shivering alone, and clutching a teddy bear as lightning flashes, Annie's solitude is broken with Frank jutting his upside-down head in, parting the sheet overhang, troubling her still more.

LONGCASTLE

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

ANNIE

(Close to tears.)

I don't know.

There's another flashback to Annie (still in the bedroom) being cared for by doctors.

DOCTOR

WILL YOU TELL US THAT YOU'RE OKAY?

Annie, still under her bed, just shakes her head.

ANNIE

(Sobbing, eyes closed.)

I don't know.

In the place of Frank's face staring at her under the bed, there's that of the chief's.

CHIEF

THERE'S A SOUND AT THE WINDOW

ANNIE

I don't know.

10.

CHIEF

THEN HE STRUCK YOU, A CRESCENDO ANNIE?

ANNIE

I don't know.

CHIEF

HE CAME INTO YOUR APARTMENT

ANNIE

(Eyes still clamped shut.)

I don't know.

Annie opens her eyes again, and now we're back in the dark drawing room, with the chief standing over and beside her, and Frank again front and center, standing by the shattered glass.

CHIEF

HE LEFT BLOODSTAINS ON THE CARPET

Annie answers by rubbing her eyes with both fists.

ANNIE

I-I'm sorry.

CHIEF

AND THEN YOU RAN INTO THE BEDROOM

ANNIE

Help me!

Annie sinks to the floor.

CHIEF

YOU WERE STRUCK DOWN

Frank points his finger at her.

LONGCASTLE

IT WAS YOUR DOOM ANNIE!

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

Annie is back in the bedroom, crumpled in her father's lap, seated on the bed; unconsolable, of course.

FATHER

Just stop wailing, Annie!

11.

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

SO, ANNIE, ARE YOU OKAY?

The stricken girl continues to sob.

FATHER

That tears it, Annie.

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

WON'T YOU TELL US THAT YOU OKAY?

FATHER

(Annoyed.)

Just stop it, Annie!

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

YOU'VE BEEN HIT BY——

Cue a slow-motion cut of the youthful Annie getting chased and falling down in the bedroom just like before, save for the age difference.

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

YOU'VE BEEN STRUCK BY——

Cue Annie getting knocked down same as before, except for the age difference.

ENSEMBLE (V.O.)

——A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!

Young Annie's face hits the floor, just like her older self did, whilst outside all the flashbacks poor Annie in the present just can't take it any more, and faints dead away.

ARTHUR

(Noticing.)

Anne.

He catches her.

ARTHUR

My God!

Everyone in the room is in shock, as everyone rushes around to aid…except for Frank, who looks up from his ongoing theatrics. He pauses to observe Annie, surrounded by doctors, nurses, and calling for daddy, and mysteriously smiles.

FADE TO BLACK.