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Friday, October 26, 2012

Holly, Part 7

[OK, I give up. I can't draw this episode. I just don't have the chops at the moment. So I'm posting the script and possibly a few sketches if I can come up with some. Please do read this, if you're following the story;  there's a lot of critical info in it.]

[Actually, this is at least two episodes worth of material]

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Dave and Holly continue to be locked in their embrace. Liz is getting very uncomfortable, edging toward anger.

Danielle steps in and takes Liz's hand 

Danielle: Come on, let's let them get reacquainted.

Liz: I think they're reacquainted enough already

Danielle drags her past the ex-lovers and into the kitchen. They sit at the kitchen table.

Liz: I don't know what I think of all this. That looked a lot like a love affair re-kindling.

Danielle: Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. They have a lot of history, and a lot of repressed emotions about each other.

Liz: That's easy for you to say. You have an open relationship. You wouldn't care if they wound up fucking in the tall grass for old times' sake.

Danielle: I think it's more likely they'll wind up next door, introducing Holly to Dave's folks. I know they worried about her a lot

Liz: I don't know. I haven't seen her that passionate since...well, since we first started dating. I think I should go break this up.

Danielle: (looking off to the side) Nah, they're still doing the same thing. No clothing has been removed, hands above the waist, some kissing but no tongue. Everything's under control.

Dave and Holly have released their embrace and are now regarding each other, holding outstretched hands, both smiling beatifically.

Dave: You got tall.

Holly: You stayed short.

Dave: (eyebrow raised, mischievous smirk) You grew boobies.

Holly: (looking pointedly down) Awww, you're still horny for me. That's so sweet.

Dave: Uh, <ahem> yeah. How about you?

Holly: (thinks about it) Well, yeah, actually.

They release hands; both feeling a little awkward now.

Dave: I'm in an open relationship.

Holly: I'm not.

They look deeply into each other's eyes, laugh, then embrace again.

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A few minutes later. Dave and Holly are sitting on the couch, holding hands.

Dave: (nervously) Holly, I gotta ask. The baby...

Holly: I miscarried in the beginning of the second trimester, thank God.

Dave: Was it...was it a boy or a girl?

Holly: Does it matter?

Dave: No. No it doesn't. I'm sorry.

Holly edges away from Dave on the couch, lets go of his hand.

Holly: Look, Dave, you need to know. A lot happened to me after I left. 

Holly pauses, pensive, then pained

Holly: The signs were there even before then...his behavior toward me...

Dave: His?

Holly: My dad.

Dave: (thought bubble) Oh, boy.

Holly stands up and turns away from Dave.

Holly: After we moved away, he started...visiting me in my room at night.

Dave: Oh God...

The next frame shows Dave's confrontation with Holly's father, in silhouette -- Samuel holding Dave up by the collar and screaming at him, as Holly continues.

Holly: If you've ever wondered why he was quite so over the top with you that day...it wasn't just that you'd "deflowered" me or that you'd gotten me pregnant. It was that he was...saving me...for himself. You'd tarnished his property.

Dave: (head in hands) Oh God. Oh Jesus God.

Holly: The visits...the rapes...went on for 2 years. Until I finally...I couldn't take it anymore. 

The next frame shows, in silhouette, Samuel on top of Holly in her bed, with Holly brandishing two sharp objects.

Holly: I borrowed two knitting needles from my mom's sewing room -- really big ones -- and hid them under my pillow. The next time he was on top of me, I grabbed them and plunged them into his eyes. Then pulled them out with a bunch of his brain attached.

She turns to Dave with a look of malevolent glee

Holly: (gesturing to recreate the act) Knit one, purl two, motherfucker!

Dave: (eyes wide) Wow. Not that he didn't deserve it, but...ouch.

Holly: (still gleeful) Yeah. They say I actually hit the inside back of his skull with one of the needles. He was dead even before I pulled them out again.

Wordless panel: Dave tries to take all of this in. He is thoughtful and distraught in any number of ways.

Dave: So, how often do you wake up screaming?

Holly sits back down next to Dave, takes his hand, and looks him in the eye.

Holly: David, I sleep like a baby. I've spent years in therapy trying to undo the really deep damage he did. But the truth is, the act of killing him transformed me. I had nightmares every night of my life from the day the molestation started until it ended. Since then, I haven't dreamed about him once, any more than you'd dream about a bug you stepped on. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm fucked up, I'm still in therapy - but that sonofabitch no longer rules my nights.

Holly nuzzles closer to Dave. They cuddle. Dave is caught between bliss in the moment and grief over the past.

Holly: But the best part is, despite two years of being molested by my own father, I still manage to have a healthy sex life and I don't hate men. And that's because of you, Dave. You were so sweet and kind and gentle, and you got to me before he did. It may have been crazy -- a couple of twelve year olds -- but it was just in time for me. I'll always be grateful for that.

Dave: I don't know what to say. Truly. About any of this. Except, thanks for saving me the trouble of murdering your dad. I'd have probably botched it.

Frame: Dave and Holly cuddle closer. 

Frame: From the kitchen, Liz gazes at them, jealousy rising. 





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