03x05 - Backrooms

[bunniefuu]

["DREAM" BY THE PIED PIPERS PLAYING]

[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE]

♪ Dream ♪

♪ When you're feeling blue ♪

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[DOORBELL RINGS IN DISTANCE]

♪ Dream ♪

[KNOCKING CONTINUES]

♪ That's the thing to do ♪

- ♪ Dream... ♪
- [POUNDING ON WINDOW]

[AARON] Let me in, Daniel.

[DANIEL] I'm fine.

- Okay, actually, considering.
- [AARON] No.

No. Someone who's fine
doesn't ignore his best friend

when he calls and calls repeatedly.

- Not after what's happened.
- But I'm working.

That's what I do.
I can still work, thank Christ.

- I don't need you checking in.
- Oh, really?

When you isolate yourself,

the people who love you are going to insist

on knowing what the hell is going on, okay?

Got it?

We love you, all your friends, your family.

What are you doing?
Are you working on a script?

- Is that why you're not...
- Yeah.

So you'll have something to sell.

Oh, f*ck you.

Right, I'm just your as*h*le agent.

Wait, you think I need your business?

But while we're on the f*cking subject,

you have been offered a bunch of jobs,

and I keep covering for you
because you never respond.

I care deeply about you, Danny.

- What you've been through...
- What I've been through?

You tell me what it is I've been through,

then let's see how you do.

Okay? You'd go insane.

You'd go mad, you'd never stop
f*cking screaming.

"What I've been through"?

This is hell.

Well, then, talk to me.

My ten-year-old son vanishes into thin air.

Poof.

Who knows... do you know
where the mind goes?

What little I have left. I don't sleep.

The thoughts of the ditches he could be in,

of the cult that kidnapped
or sex-trafficked him.

Please. Christ, man, sex-trafficked?

I mean, you can't,
you cannot assume these...

What... d-do you know how many
kids end up in the hands

of Bulgarian sex traffickers?

- Have you not seen Taken?
- That's a f*cking movie.

Everyone is doing everything they can

- to find him.
- Everyone? Are they?

The police? The FBI? My ex-wife?

Is Riva doing anything
other than narcotizing herself

on tranquilizers?

The brilliant private eye has nothing

- to show for it.
- Danny, please,

we just want you to start
coming out into the world again.

Start living life again.

The world is over.

It's over. Out there, it's just a,

a cardboard cutout of the world,

with people reciting lines at my face.

I can't interact with those p...

They're not people, they're empty entities.

This picture I'm writing?

That's how I stay in the world.

But I'll never be part
of the outside world again.

Well, a movie about a man who loses his son

and goes mad.

Is that really the
healthiest project that...

You can leave now.

You can leave now, okay?

Last thing I need to do
is justify or explain

my feelings or actions to you.

Show yourself the f*ck out.

[DOOR CLATTERING]

[FLORESCENT LIGHTS BUZZING]

What the f*ck?

[ECHOES] Hello?

Hello?

Anybody here?

Where the f*ck am I?

What in the actual f*ck?

[WOMAN OVER P.A.]
Big savings means bigger smiles.

Ask a team member today

about our Endless Rewards program,

where the savings
are measured from ear to ear.

♪ Dream ♪

♪ When you're feeling blue ♪

I'm dreaming.

I'm lucid dreaming.

♪ Dream ♪

♪ That's the thing to do ♪

♪ Dream ♪

♪ While the smoke rings ♪

♪ Rise in the air ♪

♪ You'll find your share ♪

♪ Of memories... ♪

[WOMAN OVER P.A.] Don't move a muscle.

A team member is right around the corner.

♪ When you're feeling... ♪

Don't move a muscle.

- Don't move a muscle.
- f*ck.

- Don't move a m... don't move a musc...
- f*ck.

- Don't... don't... don't move a...
- f*ck. f*ck. f*ck. f*ck.

- f*ck!
- Don't move a muscle.

[DISTORTED] A team member
is right around the corner.

[FOOTSTEPS PATTERING]

Who's there?

- [CREAK]
- f*ck you, get out here.

Hey.

Are you okay?

- [DISTANT SCREECH]
- Hey. Who's there?

[CREAKING]

[CLICKS]

- [GRUNTS]
- [SOFT LAUGHTER]

[ROMAN] What are you doing, Daddy?

- Roman?
- Why are you on the floor?

Roman?

[ROMAN LAUGHING]

Roman!

[SNIFFLES]

[PHONE DIALING]

[LINE RINGING]

[AARON OVER PHONE] Where
the f*ck have you been, Danny?

I owe you an apology
for walking out on you.

Do you know how worried everyone is?

You kick me out when I try to help you,

then you disappear for three weeks?

Everyone has been sick with worry.

I need to see you right away.

- I've been gone for three weeks?
- Yes.

Jesus Christ. Where did you go?

What's the matter with you?

I-I-I can't talk about it
on the phone right now.

Um, could you meet me, please,
in an hour at Muse?

Hello, Danny.

Why is she here?

Why are you here, Riva? Is this...

Are you gonna try
some kind of intervention?

- Sit down. I need to tell you som...
- No!

- I'm not...
- Roman is dead.

They found him.

The police found him.

[CRYING SOFTLY] Last week.

In the woods behind
the playground on Latham Street.

Everyone is looking for you.

- To tell you. Where...
- [SIGHS]

Where were you?

They found Roman?

Where is he?

The morgue, the-the Westchester morgue.

He was... [SOBS QUIETLY]

Buried in the-the ground,

wrapped in a blanket, a-a red blanket.

Are there any clues? What are...

What do the police say?

[AARON] They don't have anything.

They're doing tests

for DNA and fingerprints.

It's finally real.

It's all real.

I'm not dreaming anymore.

Do you know we invented hell?

We made it, we manifested it.

[MAX] Hi, I'm Max. I'll be your server.

So the specials are very limited.

We have crab omelets with chive butter...

Could you leave us, please?

[SCOFFS]

I-I'm gonna k*ll

whoever did this, I swear to God.

I'm gonna k*ll them.

You can be in the world
one moment, and hell the next.

It is right here. It's right next to us.

[AARON] Danny, sit down.

Please. The funeral... We need to talk

- about arrangements...
- I need a moment. I need a moment.

- [AARON] Please.
- I ne...

What the f*ck?

Hey! Aaron!

Riva!

Aaron!

Hey!

What the f*ck?

Hello?

[CHILD'S VOICE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Roman...

Roman, are you here?

No.

No way.

Hey!

[SCUFFLING]

[EXHALES]

[INHALES, EXHALES]

[MAN ON TV NEARBY] You could tell me,

if you wanted to, all that happened.

[WOMAN ON TV] I do want to.

[MAN ON TV] You've always
had to hide the truth from me.

Your mind does it by itself
out of long habit.

[WOMAN ON TV]
But, but you know the truth now.

I'm not hiding anymore.

I'm trying to remember.

[MAN ON TV] Ann...

When did you first steal something?

Please tell me.

[WOMAN ON TV] In school.

Several times.

[MAN ON TV] When you married me, I insisted

that you start with me as...

[STATIC HISSING]

[DISTORTED SOUND]

[ANNOUNCER] And the Oscar goes to...

Daniel Hausman-Berger... The Chorus.

[APPLAUSE]

[MOANING]

Ah!

[GROANING]

[DANIEL YELPING]

[PANTING]

[EXHAUSTED PANTING]

Roman?

Dad?

Is that you?

[GROWLY VOICE] You!

[DANIEL SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY]

[SCREAMS]

- [SHOUTS]
- [ROMAN] Daddy...

[DANIEL] ...do better than that.

[ROMAN] Dad. Dad!

[SINGING INDISTINCTLY]

Dad!

[DISTORTED SINGING]

[DANIEL] Roman!

[PANTING]

[MOUSE WHEEL ROLLING]

[SHAKY EXHALE]

[ELI] Liminal space.

It's the area between here and there.

Here being reality,

there being anywhere else.

Now, this in-between area

would hypothetically be
accessible from either side.

I know this because I've been there.

So... [SIGHS] Yeah.

If you've been watching,

I was never able to capture sound.

Thought I was losing my sh*t for a while,

hallucinating, till...
till I got good footage.

Phones are useless, wherever this is,

so first attempts were a bust.

Super 8 works okay.

That's what we're looking at here.

Started carrying it around with me so I,

so I'd have it when I slip through.

[ELI EXHALES DEEPLY]

I'll reiterate: this is not fiction.

This is not some film school class project.

Not that you'll believe me.

I have been to this place.

It's not anywhere on Earth that I know of.

But it is nonetheless quite real.

Not sure why I'm putting this out there.

I know it sounds crazy, but...

if you know this place,

if anyone has been there,

please, I have theories.

Reach out.

Or don't.

Whatever.

[LOCK BUZZES, LATCH CLICKS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

[ELI] The best I've been able to figure,

what we're experiencing
is a form of temporal phasing

in which one bypasses

the-the normal boundaries
of spatial reality.

And in English, that means...?

Sorry.

I'm a coder, so I-I look at video games.

What you see on the screen
when you play a game is...

it's just a surface,
a veneer that covers up

a hugely complex system of inner workings.

But-but you as a player are firewalled

from seeing any of that.

Your hard wiring ensures
that all you see is the surface.

So, you think reality, the world,

- is-is like that veneer?
- Exactly.

Now, what keeps us tethered to reality?

Same thing.

Our-our hard wiring, our-our senses,

what we can see, what we can touch...

The tangible, yes,
but that's only half of it.

What's the other half?

The social contract.

The rules that exist for being
a member of this species.

When a person breaks those
rules, they can disconnect

from our collective perception of reality.

The person becomes...
ontologically challenged.

Free-floating.

And then they slip through
to the other side.

The other side, well...

there's only one way to get there.

But yes, I think they can slip into some...

middle area.

Uh, like a kind of purgatory

where I'm being sent to pay for my sins?

I-I don't speak that language.

I know science, that's all.

Why does it look like an office or a...?

My guess, you're still tied
to your human faculties.

Whatever this-this liminal...

Whatever this liminal space
actually looks like,

you're not wired to be able
to actually perceive it.

So, it appears instead
as somewhere familiar.

An-An office, a-a grocery store.

But only in just enough detail
to be tangible.

But it's not.

And you know about this 'cause,
'cause you've been there,

it happened to you. How?

I ended up there, uh, because of a woman.

Charlotte Hansley.

She was a triathlete.

She was also a wife, and a mom.

It was 6:49 a.m.

I ran a red light.

I was trying to, um...

click on a link
to claim a coupon for dog food.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

I wish she had died right then.

[DISTORTED] Uh, uh, okay.

It... It's okay.

Uh, um...

- I'm real... really sorry.
- [WOMAN CHOKING]

Um, um...

[HUFFING]

But she didn't.

She held on for a couple minutes.

I was the only one there.

[OFFICER] So, what?

Were you looking at your phone?

Or did she just come out of nowhere?

She was just... there.

I hadn't meant to lie.

[OFFICER] So, she ran the stop sign?

It just came out.

[SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE]

I didn't realize
I'd have to tell the same lie

every day for the rest of my life.

That lie became the center
of my whole identity.

A good person had died at my hands,

but it wasn't my fault.

[ELI SCOFFS]

I received... [LAUGHS]

So much sympathy.

Real sympathy that I was not owed.

And I was removed.

I was still physically there,

I could see everything around me, but I...

I couldn't break through
and be a part of it anymore.

Reality was getting
farther and farther away,

and then one day...

it was gone.

[SIGHS]

And I was there.

In that place.

Hello?

What is it exactly you think I've done?

You came to me.

I-I'm not your therapist,
I'm not your parole officer.

I'm not gonna ask you what it is.

All I can tell you is,
if you want out of this hell...

you better fix it.

The longer it festers,

the worse this whole thing is gonna get.

For me...

[DEEP BREATH]

I had to tell the truth.

Face the music.

[EXHALES NOISILY]

[SIGHS SHARPLY]

[SNIFFLES] I'll do it.

I'm so... I'm so, so sorry.

- [ROMAN'S LAUGHTER ECHOING]
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[EXHALES]

[VOICE BREAKING] I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

[SIGHS] I'm sorry. It wasn't right.

[SIRENS WAILING IN DISTANCE]

I'll do it.

[SIRENS APPROACHING]

- I'll do it.
- [SIRENS WHOOP]

[OFFICER OVER BULLHORN] This is the
Westchester County Sheriff's Department.

Daniel Hausman-Berger,

step outside with your hands up.

We have you surrounded.

I repeat, you are surrounded.

[POUNDING ON DOOR]

[PHONE BUZZES, BEEPS]

- Aaron, what's going on?
- [AARON] Come on, Daniel,

- you know what's going on.
- [POUNDING CONTINUES]

- It's over.
- I didn't do it, Aaron.

I didn't do it.

["DREAM" BY THE PIED PIPERS PLAYS]

[RIVA OVER PHONE] You f*cking monster!

You m*rder*d my baby!

Oh, God, my son!

[AARON] You've just got
to come out, go peacefully,

and they're gonna treat you fairly.

- I swear to you I didn't do it.
- [OFFICER] Daniel Hausman-Berger,

- open the door.
- [AARON] You don't have

to live with the lie anymore.

- I'm not lying!
- [POUNDING CONTINUES]

[AARON] They have you on video.

- There was a security cam...
- [OFFICER] Open the door!

At the golf course next door.

Why did you do it?!

Stay there. Don't move!

[g*nf*re CONTINUES]

- [ROMAN PLAYING]
- [LAUGHTER]

Hey, guys.

- He's back.
- Uh-huh. Uh-oh.

Looks like Daddy's
been having playtime, too.

Even though he told Mommy

he was coming straight home.

Yeah, well, Daddy got stuck
with the g*dd*mn studio

giving him notes, and then
they insisted on drinks,

and Daddy couldn't just walk
out on them, now, could he?

Well, we got approved for pre-K today.

Great. So everybody had a big day. Yay.

[ROMAN BABBLING]

Here, honey. Here.

What the f*ck is wrong with you, Daniel?

Is Hollywood so important to you
that you're just...

Are you still even human?

- [g*nf*re]
- [GLASS SHATTERING]

- [ROMAN SCREAMING UPSTAIRS]
- [POUNDING ON CEILING]

[RIVA] Yes, yes, Oscar winner.

- Artist. Artist!
- [SCREAMING, POUNDING CONTINUE]

Sensitive, brilliant genius.

But, oh, the second
things get tough in life,

real life, real life interferes with,

with-with your precious dreams of-of fame

and-and Hollywood greatness, you...

Do you think walking out on your family

means you are free?

Huh? Huh?!

[ROMAN] No, Daddy, no.

No!

f*ck you, Daniel.

f*ck you!

[DANIEL STRAINING]

[ROMAN CHOKING]

[GRUNTING]

[DANIEL GROWLS]

[PANTING]

[SNIFFS HARD]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[ESCALATOR CLATTERING]

[ROMAN'S VOICE] Hello, Father. You came.

[DANIEL] Can you... Can you...
Can you... Can you help me, please?

I-I have to get out of here.

I want to go home.

[ROMAN'S VOICE]
But you've only just arrived.

You traveled so far.

No one has ever come this deep before.

- Why am I here?
- You know why.

They're coming for you, Father.

[FIGURES GROANING]

Time to come clean.

You're a selfish f*ck.

Okay, okay, okay, I'll tell everyone...

I'll tell everyone the truth.

I will. I promise.

Just get me out of here, please!

- [ROMAN'S VOICE] Have you missed me, Daddy?
- Of course.

Of course. Every day.

Every day, my son.

Every day, my precious boy.

You're lying. I know you are.

- You're a liar.
- [GASPING]

You just want to leave me here.

[FIGURES] Liar.

- Liar...
- It's okay.

You can go if you want to.

All you ever had to do was follow the sign.

[CLOCK TICKING]

[CLOCK CONTINUES TICKING]

[MESSAGE BOARD CLATTERING]

[INHALES]

[CLOCK CONTINUES TICKING]