Scene 01
[SFX]: A mail cart rolls in to a busy newspaper office, coming to a stop.
ANDREA: Please tell me there’s not a lot in there. I cannot handle anything crazy today, Heather’s in one of her moods.
HARRISON: Sorry, dude.
[SFX]: A pile of mail is dropped on Andrea’s desk.
ANDREA: Working for her is a total dream, but one of these days, I’m slipping an Ambien into her salad. Those bags under her eyes do not match her shoes.
HARRISON: At least yours still dresses well.
ANDREA: Says the girl wearing flannel in the office.
HARRISON: What? This is cool.
SEAN: Intern!
HARRISON: Save me.
ANDREA: Duty calls, intern.
HARRISON: Hate you.
ANDREA: Right back at ya.
Scene 02
[SFX]: An envelope is opened.
HARRISON: You shouted?
SEAN: New envelope. Pull up a chair.
[SFX]: An office chair pulls up as a computer is clicked.
Scene 03
BAILEY: Hey. Um, sorry to break the whole… Impersonal nature of this whole thing. Anika would kill me if she knew I was doing this, but I’m keeping my own log of everything. And the more time we spend alone together, the more I can feel her… not like, rubbing off on me, exactly, but its almost like. I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this. It’s like, if you spent all day hanging out with Bruce Banner, right? He’s not always hulked out, but he is always… radioactive. And it’s like, if anyone was around him for long enough, would they feel the effects of second-hand-gamma-radiation? It’s nothing serious, but I have started to notice… changes, I guess? I’ve tried googling it too – there’s there Erin Brokovich answer, of being so close to something that it just slowly slips into your bloodstream. And you don’t notice until it’s too late? Anika doesn’t know about it, obviously, but she wants to go see someone, about her? And I just, I don’t think it’s such a good idea –
[SFX]: The front door opens.
ANIKA: B? You here?
BAILEY: Hey! Yeah, in here!
[SFX]: A cane drops to the ground. It is picked up and handed to someone in the hallway.
NEIGHBOR: Oh, thank you.
ANIKA: No problem.
Scene 04
HARRISON: Wait, play that part again.
Scene 05
[SFX]: The front door opens.
ANIKA: B? You here?
BAILEY: Hey! Yeah, in here!
[SFX]: A cane drops to the ground. It is picked up and handed to someone in the hallway.
NEIGHBOR: Oh, thank you.
Scene 06
HARRISON: There! I know that voice.
SEAN: Okay?
HARRISON: No, you don’t get it. Sean, I know where they are.
SEAN: How?
HARRISON: Give me the computer?
[SFX]: Typing.
HARRISON: I take a lot of walks around the city when I need to think straight or take a break, and sometimes on my way in –
SEAN: Is that why the coffee’s never hot?
HARRISON: One-hundred percent not my job, dude. But that voice? The soft one that wasn’t Anika’s or Bailey’s?
SEAN: Yeah?
HARRISON: That’s my fucking neighbor.
SEAN: Are you fucking with me?
HARRISON: I genuinely, truly wish I was.
SEAN: Let’s go.
HARRISON: Go? I have like, six more hours on my shift.
SEAN: Tell Heather you’re sick.
HARRISON: Tell your girlfriend I need to go home with her boyfriend in the middle of the day because I don’t feel well?
SEAN: Then don’t tell her. Just, you know, leave. Control your own destiny, Intern. Look, I know you want to make a good impression, find some sort of job out of this whole thing. But you’re here to learn how to be a reporter. And this? Chasing down a good story that might help someone, or a ton of someone’s — this is what being a reporter is all about. You don’t need a pristine intern hour sheet to be good at this job. You’ve gotta have that need in your stomach to make the world a more knowledgeable place.
[SFX]: Office chair pushes away from desk and Harrison stands.
HARRISON: Fine. But you get Heather to sign my hours sheet. I don’t care if you’ve gotta get real freaky.
SEAN: Jesus Christ.
Scene 07
[SFX]: A rattling subway car.
HARRISON: You’re really gonna sit on that?
SEAN: That’s what it’s made for.
HARRISON: People pee on those, dude. I’ve seen it happen.
[SFX]: Sean stands.
SEAN: Cannot believe I’m going to Bushwick.
HARRISON: Good place to hide. No one cares what happens in Bushwick. How am I supposed to be a good reporter when they’ve literally been sending these envelopes from my apartment building?
SEAN: Not that easy.
HARRISON: Sure.
SEAN: If you’re looking for a pep talk, you’re talking to the wrong guy.
HARRISON: We’ve been listening to these tapes for weeks –
SEAN: And most of them were recorded before those kids ever got a place in your apartment building.
HARRISON: I found her high school before I found her.
SEAN: Why do you care so much?
HARRISON: What?
SEAN: I know why I care about this story. But what’s your angle? Why did you practically stalk your way onto this story, why do you care about how long it takes us to find her?
HARRISON: ’Cause I wish someone had spent even half this much time trying to help me.
[SFX]: The train comes to a stop.
HARRISON: This is us.
Scene 08
HARRISON: It’s a mess, okay? And a shoebox. And I am ninety-seven percent sure I left a bra on top of a pizza box on the couch.
SEAN: I… don’t really want to know why.
HARRISON: I’m only ever home to like, eat, sleep, and blog, okay? Just don’t judge me.
[SFX]: Keys in the lock, Harrison pushes the door open and walks into the apartment.
HARRISON: Sorry, God, the door sticks sometimes so just push –
[SFX]: Harrison rushes around the room, picking things up. Sean pushes the door closed behind him.
HARRISON: Yeah, awesome, thanks.
SEAN: You eat anything besides pizza?
HARRISON: Duh, dude. Sometimes I have those little pizza bagels?
SEAN: Drink anything other than beer?
HARRISON: Okay, I am a college student. This is the vibe, dude.
SEAN: Where should I sit?
HARRISON: Just – move that box and take a spot on the couch.
[SFX]: Sean walks across the room. He stops in front of the couch.
HARRISON: Jesus, Sean, it’s a bra, it’s not radioactive.
SEAN: Could you tell what apartment they were in? From the recording?
HARRISON: I’m not a psychic. But the neighbor on the tape was Mrs. Sacks, she’s on the second floor. Always has trouble getting her groceries up.
SEAN: Let’s go.
HARRISON: What? Is your plan just to knock on every door until we find them?
Scene 09
[SFX]: Sean knocks on a door. Dogs bark from inside the apartment. He knocks on the next door. No response.
HARRISON: Oh my God, dude, it’s the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. No one’s gonna be –
[SFX]: Sean knocks on the next door.
BAILEY (from inside the apartment): No thank you!
HARRISON: Holy shit.
SEAN: That’s her.
[SFX]: Sean pounds on the door.
BAILEY: I said we don’t want whatever you’re selling –
[SFX]: Door opens.
BAILEY (CONT’D): – oh. Can I help you?
SEAN: You’ve been sending me packages.
BAILEY: Well, technically –
ANIKA: Technically, I’ve been sending them. To her.
HARRISON: But I’m an intern.
ANIKA: I like your blog.
HARRISON: Oh.
BAILEY: As fun as it is to watch you guys flirt, do you think we could come inside before someone sees us?
Scene 10
[SFX]: Everyone follows Bailey inside, and the door is shut behind them.
BAILEY: Can I get you guys anything? Coffee? Water?
ANIKA: Are you shaking?
HARRISON: What? No. This is just. This is fine.
SEAN: How are you guys affording this place?
ANIKA: First of all, rude.
BAILEY: Second of all, it’s my aunt’s. She doesn’t exactly know we’re here.
ANIKA: By exactly, she means at all.
BAILEY: Is it technically squatting if your last name is on the lease?
HARRISON: Yes. Technically, yes.
BAILEY: Did I offer you guys water? I’m gonna get us some water.
[SFX]: Bailey walks to the kitchen and turns on the sink.
ANIKA: How’d you find us anyways?
[SFX]: Dishes are fumbled.
ANIKA (CONT’D): What did you do, B?
BAILEY: I didn’t do anything, I just gave them a very small hint. What! They were taking forever, we’re literally living underneath Harrison.
HARRISON: Okay, whatever, it’s not like you’re attending building meetings.
ANIKA: We’ll deal with your super sleuth skills later, guys. I want to talk to Sean.
SEAN: Great, that’s what I’m here for.
ANIKA: We’ve given you more than enough information for a story. Plenty of fodder for Harrison’s blog. But neither of you have published a single thing. I said I wanted my side of the story out there, not dying in your musty office.
HARRISON: How’d you know it was musty?
ANIKA: He looks like he’d have a musty office.
BAILEY: Rude.
ANIKA: Sorry. Impulse control isn’t really my thing.
To punctuate her point, items around the room begin to shake.
SEAN: Impulse control is a thing in journalism. I have to build a story before I just run around publishing something.
[SFX]: Static starts to creep into the recording, and items around them start to shake.
SEAN (CONT’D): And threatening a reporter isn’t a great way to get an unbiased story told.
[SFX]: The shaking and static stop.
ANIKA: What do you need from me?
SEAN: An interview. On the record, where I can ask questions and you answer them honestly.
ANIKA: Fine. But I want Harrison to broadcast it while we do it.
SEAN: Absolutely not.
ANIKA: Fine. Then get out of my apartment.
SEAN: Come on, don’t be unreasonable. I can’t publish a story that’s already on the internet.
HARRISON: I don’t really have that many followers, or anything. It’s really just like… a public thought bubble? You know? While I worked out my theories.
ANIKA: There are people who read it. I read it. And people who want me to be… Want me to be better than the media thinks I am, okay? So I want it out there, unedited. Then you can write whatever version of the story you want.
SEAN: Is that something you can do?
HARRISON: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
ANIKA: Then we have a deal?
SEAN: We have a deal.
Scene 11
[SFX]: A beep as Harrison goes live.
HARRISON: Should I introduce you guys? I’m gonna – Uh, hey, listeners. Harrison the intern, here. Bringing you a sick opportunity. God, I just realized that none of you have ever heard my voice before, and that’s absolutely a blessing. Right! Um, live from the benefits of my super cool internship, I bring you the first interview ever with the girl behind the doom and gloom that’s been terrorizing the city.
ANIKA: Thanks.
HARRISON: Sorry.
SEAN: Let’s start with the basics. We all know about New York.
ANIKA: I don’t want to talk about that.
Scene 12
ANDREA: Oh my God.
[SFX]: Andrea stands from her desk, rushing into the next room.
ANDREA (CONT’D): Heather? You’re going to need to hear this.
The rest of the recording plays through speakers in Heather’s office as she and Andrea listen.
ANIKA: You’ve all made up your minds up about that.
SEAN: People were hurt.
ANIKA: Because three other people brought a building down.
SEAN: You don’t take any responsibility for that?
ANIKA: We were trying to ask for help. But clearly, that was the wrong move.
SEAN: How did you think they could help you?
ANIKA: These things I can do, they’re not just… people call them powers, and I guess that’s true, but they’re intertwined with something else, and I thought if these people had the same powers as me, the same kind of… condition, they were managing it a lot better than I was. I thought they might be able to –
[SFX]: The front door is BROKEN DOWN.
BAILEY: What are you doing? Stop!
MAX: Get out of the way!
[SFX]: Aiden lets out a focused scream, and things around them begin to shake like a low grade earth-quake.
MAX (CONT’D): Aiden, stop! This kid is out like a light.
JEN: Kid, you need to let us take care of this.
[SFX]: As Anika starts to panic, glass starts to break, and the building shaking becomes more prominent.
ANIKA: Leave me alone!
HARRISON: Hey, it’s cool. We’re all cool. Let’s just calm down.
ANIKA: This is an ambush!
JEN: She’s dangerous!
HARRISON: Hey, it’s okay. It’s cool. Let’s take a deep breath.
MAX: Guys, we’ve seriously got a situation here. She’s bleeding.
ANIKA: Bailey?
[SFX]: Something FLIES across the room, crashing into the wall.
ANIKA (CONT’D): Bailey, answer me!
[SFX]: Something solid hits Aiden.
AIDEN: Fuck!
ANIKA: BAILEY!
MAX: Aiden, I can’t get her to calm down – I can’t box it up.
JEN: We’ve gotta go.
MAX: She’s totally prone, there’s no way she survives this mess.
[SFX]: Aiden tosses Bailey over his shoulder.
AIDEN: Let’s GO.
[SFX]: Running as Jen, Max, and Aiden leave the apartment with Bailey.
HARRISON: Sean?
SEAN: I’m fine.
HEATHER: Oh, thank God.
[SFX]: Static starts to come over the broadcast as Anika’s breath shortens.
ANIKA: Where’s – where is she, where’s Bailey?
HARRISON: Hey, calm down –
ANIKA: WHERE IS SHE?
[SFX]: The static increases, the room around them shaking.
ANIKA (CONT’D): BAILEY! Bailey!
[SFX]: Static increases until the phone broadcasting completely fries, ending the broadcast.
HEATHER: Sean?
END OF SEASON 1